Monthly Archives: February 2014

LOAD’s Not Over Yet!

LOAD’s Not Over Yet!

Yesterday was pretty productive. I did a little writing for a class I’m working on for you, and I made these three pages during Lain Ehmann’s monthly Scrapbook Improv. ( I followed the prompts and everything!)

first impression || noexcusescrapbooking.com

My scrap bin got a serious workout, but it still looks as full as when I started the month. Maybe I should do a grab bag of scraps as a giveaway. Anyone interested?

crafty vacay || noexcusescrapbooking.com

Some of the coolest things in the scrap bin are the partially finished collage pieces. Painted book leaf? I’ve got that. Misted stencil– that’s in there too. Well not anymore. Now they’re on a page. Woo hoo!

hams || noexcusescrapbooking.com

 

And I knew that Lego paper was going to come in handy. After all I do have a couple Lego fiends in the house. It’s only a couple years old…

So did you set any scrappy goals for yourself this month? How did you do? If I get two more pages done, I’ll have done a 3/4 LOAD. That works for me!

Some Days Just Make You Happy

Some Days Just Make You Happy

This. This page. This is why I do LOAD:

Live Laugh Play doodle! || noexcusescrapbooking.com

This page started with the photos. I love these glorious, hovering in mid-air pictures. They aren’t perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but they really capture how much fun the kids were having.

The next piece I decided to work with was the die cut pocket page card from Simple Stories. I love so much of their work. Lots of happy colors in their collections. I decided I wanted to use kraft cardstock as the background, and then discovered I had run out of the 12×12 paper. So then I pulled out some white, but that looked so anemic in comparison to the colorful photos that I pulled out some black instead.

There! That worked. But then I got hung up again on patterned paper. I wanted colorful and happy to go with the happy pictures, but throwing a lot of patterns together just made everything entirely too busy. And I really wanted to use the chevron/multi-color stripe paper, but I also loved the letters and arrows on the back.

Handy dandy paper trimmer to the rescue!

Rather than layering various papers on top of each other, and matting focal photos, I decided to keep it super simple and  cut one three inch strip, which I then cut into 4 inch pieces. Flipping one piece over, so the reverse pattern would show, I put everything into a simple grid arrangement, and walked away for a bit to get a fresh eye.

When I came back, I knew what I needed. Doodles. Lots of doodles. And maybe some enamel dots as well.

Why is doodling so much fun?

It’s definitely a happy page for a happy idea. And something I noticed, after I uploaded, and got a good distance view of the page? Can you see a heart? Let me know if you see it too. Maybe I’m imagining things.

I love how totally unplanned things make everything look like it was completely intentional.

So. Are you making anything you want to share? I’d love to see it!

Still Trucking Along

Still Trucking Along

Wow! I thought this month was going to be all about how you can make scrapbooking a priority in your life, even when life gets hectic. And then I had an unexpected trip to NYC, and everything’s been off for the rest of the month.

You know how, sometimes, you just need to drop every outside influence, and become a turtle? Maybe that’s just me. But that was how my month went. Full on avoidance of anything and everything. I tried to not go into turtle mode this month, but apparently I still haven’t learned that I need to embrace turtle mode, so that it doesn’t last as long as when I try to avoid it.

The result? I’m still in catch up mode, and working on getting to having the same number of layouts done as the number day of the month. I’ve got 15 done, and ideas for one more, ready for me to work on. I’ll get that done today.

I love the feeling of being back on track.

Want to see what I have gotten done?

Yes? Good. Cos I’m going to show you anyway! 😉

First up? Another college page. I used up more scraps from my scrap bin, including an altered piece from a kit from Messtaken Identity.

Sooner saves the day || noexcusescrapbooking.com

Then there’s some more pics from the family photo shoot. Don’t you just love that Q?!

Digi love || noexcusescrapbooking.com

One of the prompts for LOAD was black and white, which made me think of Pokemon. I got my son involved in the journaling, and used my Silhouette Portrait to cut out a Pokemon title in a font similar to the official one.

Pokemon Play || noexcusescrapbooking.com

And then, it was time to use more scraps from my scrap bin. I love using a winter photo with July Fourth themed paper for a topic unrelated to either theme.

Parenting Practice || noexcusescrapbooking.com

And then it was time for another college page. There are so many little stories to tell about college life. So many wonderful people to remember.

Lainie's harem || noexcusescrapbooking.com

And finally a page about what I love most about summer. And no, it’s not bathing suits! 😉 The two pocket page cards flip up and down to reveal journaling. This was a fun page to figure out.

I {heart} summer || noexcusescrapbooking.com

So that’s all I’ve gotten done this month, and the end is fast approaching. Am I going to get 28 pages done? Do I even want to?

I don’t know. I just know I am going to keep going though. Every page done is another story told, another thought shared with my family. That is why I do this after all.

And a Week Later…

And a Week Later…

How is it that it’s already a week since the last post? I guess five days of packing and unpacking can really mess up your schedule!

Let’s see, what’s been done since then?

Just two layouts.

The day before yesterday’s prompt was to start a page from an unusual (for me) starting point. Since I usually start with a story idea, and then pull out photos that flesh out or create a more focused story, I started with technique.

LOAD11 || Growing too fast noexcusescrapbooking.com

I played with some watercolor washes, stamped a title, grabbed some photos, added the journaling and a few little embellies, and it was done. And yes, the extremely light journaling was intentional, to make the whole page more dreamy/insubstantial.

Yesterday’s prompt was to create my own scrapbooking product. To me, that screamed the word search paper I had made for the alpha stamp video. I’ve been trying to decide how to use that for ages!

LOAD12 || wordsearch page noexcusescrapbooking.com

So glad this finally got used! I’m really happy with it. If you want to see how it was done, check out the original post: Alpha Stamp Love.

Today’s prompt calls for incomplete sentences. I think I can handle that. Maybe. We’ll see. 😉

Have you made anything lately? Do share!

LOAD Day 5 || Planning Ahead

LOAD Day 5 || Planning Ahead

You know how I said no excuses this month? Well, I actually have an excuse. A reason, more exactly.

I knew going into the month that I might be heading to my sister’s during my kids’ winter break. I was planning on scrapping digitally while down there, but plans have changed.

LOAD5 || house hunting break || noexcusescrapbooking.com

Now, I’m heading to my sister’s tomorrow. Sans kids. Because, well she’s moving, and she needs help packing, and kids would only get in the way.

LOAD5 || house hunting part 2 || noexcusescrapbooking.com

Since I’ll be helping with packing and baby wrangling, and her apartment will be filled with boxes, and her computer packed away, there’s no way I’ll be able to scrapbook while I’m down there. (There’s the reason right there to purchase a laptop!)

smitten by flutterbys || LOAD day 5 || noexcusescrapbooking.com

But, since I really want to complete 28 pages this month, I can make more than one layout a day for a few days to keep ahead/catch up with the days I’ll be missing.

So.

These three layouts were part of my effort to keep on track for my monthly goal of 28 completed pages. If I have time before I leave tomorrow, I’ll make another one.

Oh, and just for the record, these aren’t exactly prompt driven pages. Rather than digging through my stash to locate something really old, I just used what was closest to hand. The supplies for these pages are mostly from last May’s Gossamer Blue kit. I LOVE their kits, and if I were to subscribe to any kits, I’d probably use theirs, since they are so wonderfully color oriented.

Alrighty then, show me what you’ve been making! I’d love to see what you create!