A New Passion

Wow! I can't believe it's been so long since I've updated my blog! So much has been going on. Since my last post I had been doing really well with my scrap diet. Only about 2 weeks ago I went to the scrap store to stock up on some essentials. I deserved it. I had gone a good 2 months without buying any scrapbooking products.

I've found a new passion...MINI ALBUMS! I'm in love. I have a whole list of albums I want to do. A few days ago I thought I would go through some older photos and I could not believe how many pictures I had taken of my son when he was born. TONS! And although I've done layouts of him as a baby it's only a tiny fraction of the great photos I have of him. This is where the mini books come in. It can actually give me a chance to 'catch up'. I don't scrapbook chronologically, but I want to do most of his baby pictures while the stories behind them are still fairly fresh in my memory. Last week he turned 8! I've been watching Youtube videos on mini albums and I was blown away by the awesome masterpieces that are posted. These ladies are so talented!

A few weeks ago I did my first mini album for a friend who recently had a baby girl. It's not perfect, but I'm pleased with it. And what I love about looking at it is that I get ideas on what I would do differently for future albums. The paper I used is the 8" x 8" K & Company Itsy Bitsy Collection -- I wanted to make it very girly. I coordinated it with the Martha Stewart 8.5" x 8.5" pastel paper pad. This took the guesswork out of selecting papers. Here are a few photos of the mini.

Hope you like it. This is the first of many more to come.

Blessings!

Confession

Okay. Time to confess. The 'Scrap Diet' isn't going so well. I've bought a couple of items. Okay a few items. I COULDN'T HELP IT! I love a great deal. I bought a few Cricut cartridges at a steal. And I REALLY wanted the 'Everyday Paper Dolls' cartridge (which I bought for ONLY $39.99 online, plus $5.00 shipping). So maybe I set the goal too high for this diet. But I have a new challenge for myself. I'm going on a paper diet. Meaning, I'm not allowed to buy any paper until I've completed at least 25 layouts! This is more reasonable because I'm actually running out of places to store my paper. It's a brand new day. THIS I can do! And as I work towards these 25 layouts, I'll post them along the way (as proof).

Heidi Swapp Calendar pages

I thought maybe it was time to post some of my layouts. The ones that follow are from calendars I made for my kids' godparents. They are all 9x9 and the calendars are by Heidi Swapp. Will also include pics of the actual calendar the pictures went into.I put this layout first because this is one of my all-time favorite photos of the kids together. This was for the month of May.


This autumn layout was for the month of November. Love the colors. It's after I finished the layout that I realized the 'N' in autumn was upside down! Oh well... Those letters and the brads in the upper right hand corner are actually from Dollarama. I had bumped into them a long time ago and they've been perfect for several layouts and cards.

Here is the layout for the month of March.


Can you guess which month this is for? Paper is from DCWV (Die Cuts with a View) paper stack.

Scrap Diet going strong

I'm really glad that I decided to do this scrap diet. I think even after I reach my goal (3 months, or 25 layouts, whichever comes first), I'm still going to do a paper diet. I'm sure by then I'll need some embellies, etc, but I know I won't need paper. I have SO MUCH PAPER, it's insane. I really think I can scrap for the next 6 months without having to buy a single sheet of paper. I actually still have papers from a few years ago. I can't help it...I LOVE PAPER! But I do need to get it under control. I would much prefer to see these great papers in scrapbooks, than in my paper storage unit.

Also, just finished my latest scrap calendar. I'll post some of the pics later on today or this week. Maybe, not all 12 layouts, just my faves.

Forgetful Mom...

I feel so bad. I just remembered that I was supposed to send money today for the kids' pizza lunch at school next week. And today is the absolute deadline. What annoys me about this is that I stuck the order form right on our big calendar so that I would not forget! I guess I'll have to make sure to give them pizza for lunch that day. And I also forgot to dress them up in green for St-Patrick's Day yesterday, since they didn't have to wear their uniform. Then I remembered that they don't have any green clothes. I mean they have NO GREEN CLOTHES! It's not intentional, I just never see anything I like for them in the colour green.

By the end of this weekend I should be finished with a scrapbook calendar I'm creating for Jasmin's godmother. I didn't want to do any other layouts until I completed that project. I'll post the pictures once it's completed. The last few pictures of my layouts did not come out so great so I have a different method that I'll be trying out this weekend. Actually it's just a better location, with better lighting. And I'll be using my tripod. Stay tuned...

It's a start...

So, here it is. I've finally started my blog. Please be patient with me, as it may take a little while for me to get consistent with my posts. I intend to incorporate a little bit of everything in this blog, but most of it will probably be about scrapbooking. I can't help it. I LOVE this art! It may take me a little while to get photos of my layouts posted, but they're on their way. I have so many photos and events to scrapbook! I have to keep telling myself to think one layout at a time. I usually don't scrapbook chronologically, but I realize I have a lot of my kids' baby pictures that haven't been scrapbooked, and I want to get them done while I still remember every detail about the time the photo was taken. Also, I've decided it's time for me to go on a SCRAP DIET. I had said this a few months ago, but this time it's for real. I need to use up a lot of my stash, or I'll run out of space. I have TONS of paper, and I don't want to waste any of it. I will give myself 3 months, or 30 layouts before buying any scrapbooking supplies. That excludes adhesive. I'm bound to run out of that. But that's as far as it goes. I think I can really stick to it this time. And since I've told my husband, I'll REALLY have to stick to it. I CAN DO IT!