I haven’t done any digital scrapbooking lately, but today I was compelled to do so. Hubby had some fun with his camera while I was at work, and I just had to put it into a Cathy Zielske template. This was really fun to make. Life really is good, and I am always happy to document it. Enjoy!
I have not received the rest of my bookmaking supplies (where are you, Mr. UPS man?), so I am fiddling around in Photoshop, having some fun. I have some photos on my desk that are begging me to scrap them, so I have.
This is a layout in honor of Peter Weis, a fellow blogger whom I have come to admire. Although I only know him from his blog, what I do know is pretty awesome. One of his posts really touched me, and I loved the photo he posted. He gave me permission to use it.
the text used is from his post.
Happy scrapping!
thank you, Mr. UPS man!
Yesterday I found presents on our porch from the friendly UPS man (nice guy; he knows us pretty well by now…): big stuff that took two trips to get inside the house! My kind of presents!! We received our first shipment from Bookmaker’s Inc.; an awl, waxed Irish linen thread, PVA glue, book cloth, and davey board (book board). The needles and photo tissue will hopefully be coming today or tomorrow (fingers crossed), but I don’t see why I can’t go ahead and start cutting the fabric and starting the planning since Hubby has already taken the board to a framing place to get it cut to size. Boy, are those boards thick and sturdy! I know what kind of stab binding I want to use, I just need to get some more directions on how to
make the extra stitches. I am SO nervous! I have never done this before, and I am so afraid to make a mistake! I suppose the only way to get over that is to roll up my sleeves and just get on with it! So today, after this post is finished, I will. I’m having fun
The hubby and I liked this color fabric best.
documenting the process just for my own sense of posterity, so I will more than likely have more photos and progress notes here tomorrow. Please: if there is anyone out there reading this that has any advice or thoughts to send my way, by all means, DO! I can use all the encouragement/help/advice/ideas/warnings etc. that I can get!
I also did manage to get one more layout completed before I get too involved in book binding. We had gone to dinner at a friend’s house last Saturday evening, which was our first time there, and we had a really great time. Of course, being myself, I had to take some photos. There were just too many things I wanted to capture and document! I forbade myself from bringing the camera since I know it always irritates my family when I become “mammarazzi”, but I just couldn’t help myself, and used my iPhone, instead. Ha! The pics I got are not the best, primarily because I was trying to photograph quickly and covertly. At least I have a sense of the evening and the good time that we had. I first put the photos into a template, then I made another hybrid version for my scrapbook. Just for fun, here are both versions:
digital version
hybrid version, and yes, I did change the 8!
In both, I used Ormolu tags–she now has digital ones available on her web site, which is so awesome, I think. For the title on my non-digital version, I used a white Sharpie poster paint pen and a stencil right on top of the photo. So Ali Edwards! Not much else used, except kraft cardstock; I just wanted the layouts to be about the photos. I am hoping to sneak in some time to do a Mother’s Day layout at some point, I know Hubby is going to be cracking the whip here, about this book we’re doing! Anyway, thanks for dropping by, and happy crafting!
What do you do when you are not completely happy with something you’ve done? Do it over. And do it better, if you can. I am a firm believer in do-overs, and that’s what I’ve done this evening. Doing digital layouts is fun, easy, and makes no mess, but for me, there’s nothing quite like working with papers, adhesive, embellishments and the like. I wasn’t thrilled with the layout I did last night (excuse #1: I was tired.), which was done digitally. Tonight, I was perusing Ali Edwards’ blog looking for inspiration, and something to blog about, when I came across one of her layouts, and inspiration smacked me in the face. I love what she did, and this gave me the oomph to do another layout with the photo of Hubby that I so love. I think the photo deserves it.
Ali’s layout:
My layout:
[My black and white photos never scan well; the photo does not really look this green or muddy]
Now, I could never hope in a trillion years for my layouts to be anywhere near as good as Ali’s (she’s a genius), but I love trying, and I think it looks better than last nights:
A little too blah, a little too monochromatic. Being unique and eclectic is more fun, in my opinion. So, go back to some of those layouts you may have been unhappy and be not afraid to just do it all over again. You may be happy that you did. Happy scrappin’!
Here we are, pages 1, 2, and 3 of the month of March. I am a little behind because I’ve been so busy, but so far I am being good about doing my monthly retrospectives. I have a binder I keep these in, and I think I will appreciate going through it one day to see what our lives were like at this time, from month to month. It is not as elaborate as Becky Higgins’ Project Life, but that is so much more time-consuming than this. I would love to participate in that project, and perhaps I will next year, but I was not able to purchase the kit because they were sold out, and it really does take a committment to keep up with it. For now, I do like taking monthly photos and putting together a montage of that month to put into my binder. Simple and easy. If you are interested in doing something similar, there are some wonderful Photoshop templates you can get on either Designer Digitals (by Cathy Zielske), or Oscraps (by Biograffiti). Documenting your months today may make you really glad you did someday! Happy scrapping!
I didn’t know what to write about today. I just know that my blog posts don’t feel complete without a photo, and as I have mentioned before here, when I don’t know what to say, I go fishing through my photos to see what inspires me. I love this photo of my nephew and my brother’s dog; I “stole” it from my brother’s Picasa web album with the intention of putting it into a layout. So tonight, I didn’t quite know how to do it justice (I guess I must be tired), so I started playing around with templates I have not used yet, and different photo effects to see what would happen. It would be interesting to take one great photo, and see how many ways it can be manipulated into new pieces of art. Some day. For tonight, this is what I did: I wanted to combine black and white with the original color photo. I love grids, and I love word art. So here you go; nothing special, but it was a learning experience nonetheless. Until next time, everyone.
thank you for your help, Anna Aspnes.
A Conversation with Noelle
I have noticed lately that instead of choosing between doing a layout digitally or traditionally, I have been doing both. In the class I’m taking with Ali Edwards, Yesterday/Today (www.bigpictureclasses.com), I have been creating my layouts in Photoshop Elements first, and then creating the layout again with paper, by hand. I enjoy the process both ways because I can do so much planning on the computer; manipulate it, change it, rearrange it, edit my journaling, etc. It’s easy on the computer, and then when I get it close to the way I like it, I do it again with papers and stickers I have around the studio. Working digitally is great because I can change things around so easily, and if I don’t like something, nothing is ruined while taking it apart. But the feel of the paper, the smell of the glue (yes, it’s weird, and no, I don’t get high), the textures and dimension cannot be replicated suffiently on a computer for my taste. Plus, I enjoy the process both ways. Truthfully, though, I tend to favor the results I get non-digitally, but I love to play with the templates and plan things digitally. It works for me. This layout is another example of that process, that I just undertook a few minutes ago. It’s the Story Guide Template no. 1 from Cathy Zielske,at Designer Digitals which you can get here. I’m having so much fun scrapbooking lately, I hope you do, too. Happy scrapping!
Retrospect 