Category Archives: projects

Jun19

Summer Album Supplies

Posted on June 19, 2013 by Heather

After looking at my long to-do list for the summer, I decided to put together a quick digital template, so I can print up a little 5×7 photo book from Shutterfly at the end of the season.

Shutterfly has these helpful templates that take into account the trim and gutter around each page. They have a set for every size photo book they print. I downloaded the 5×7 version, and built a template to use, and to share with you!

Journaling page for each event.

Down load the zipped PSE journaling page: summer page.psd

One photo page

Download the PSE zipped one photo page: one photo 5×7 page.psd

Two photo page

Download the PSE zipped two photo page: two photo 5×7 page.psd

Three photo page

Download the PSE zipped three photo page: 3photo 5×7 page.psd

These are super simple pages. But that’s the cool thing about digital scrapbooking. It really lets you concentrate on the photos and story. That being said, I’m really excited to be using this kit from Traci Reed over at Sweet Shoppe Designs.

It has some super cool patterns and colors, and the embellishments will really complement the stories I hope to tell this year. The tone on tone papers will make great backgrounds for journaling blocks, and the brighter patterns will make the album soooo happy!

Quick note about using the templates. Make sure you have the guides turned on, so you can see what part of the page will be cut off when it is printed. If you have any questions, please add them below!

Jun17

Summer To Do List

Posted on June 17, 2013 by Heather

Summer To Do List

It’s the last week of school, and the kids and I are putting together a list of things we want to do over the summer. We do this every year, and have a rather mixed success rate.

Being able to check everything off the list isn’t the point, though. It’s more about having some ready made ideas for those days when the kids are bored, and to make sure we get in some adventuring before we get back into the daily grind of school.

Sun, sand, water, and kids = fun at Grafton Park

Some of the things we’ve got on the list so far:

Crafty ideas:

painting with marbles and string and other found objects
creating exploding paint canisters
masking tape road for cars
popsicle stick explosion
homemade popsicles– as often as I can stand it…

Local places to visit/explore:

NY State Museum. Great, FREE museum. It’s got a bit of everything, from cultural history to geology, all NY state related
5 Rivers– a local environmental center with walking trails and a small wildlife education center.
Grafton Lake State Park– our pick for the best local beach.
Pine Bush Preserve– another great place for walking trails and learning about our local ecology.

Road Trips (because every summer needs a road trip or two.)

NYC to visit my sister. We’ll probably do some or most of the following as well:
- NY Aquarium
- Bronx Zoo (Gotta see the dinosaurs!)
- Metropolitan Museum of Art
- Museum of Natural History
Niagara Falls– the kids haven’t gone yet, and I haven’t been since 1997 thereabouts. Definitely time to introduce them to one of the natural wonders of the world.

Get togethers:

A D&D night or two or three with family friends
A Magic:the Gathering get together for the big kid and his friends
Some kind of play date for the younger kid as well. Maybe a backyard camp out or movie night.

Sounds like a busy summer, doesn’t it? It won’t be, really. We’ll plan some fun and make sure we have down time. I’m a lazy mom, and firmly believe in the value of letting kids play and explore and find their own interests.

Now, what does all this have to do with scrapbooking? Well, I’ve got a plan for documenting it with a small photo book from Shutterfly. Come back later this week, and I’ll show you what I’ve got up my sleeve.

Jun4

Wrapping Up WITL: Title and Section pages

Posted on June 4, 2013 by Heather

Wrapping Up WITL: Title and Section pages

It’s done!

Here’s a little video for you that shows how I put together the title and section pages:

I used a little bit of technique to add color and continuity throughout the album. A common technique and uniform colors really help put the finishing touch on any project.

A big thank you to Kristie Sloan of Artful Adventures for reminding me of this fun and simple technique. And also to Gina at Messtaken Identity, for the fun and inspiring recycled supplies, and to Ali Edwards for the simple yet profound idea of documenting daily life in detail one week each year. She’ll be documenting her Week in the Life later this year, and you should really follow along as she does. The way she records her stories really captures a moment in time superbly.

If you have any questions, please add them below! I’m off to start on another project now. What are you working on?

May29

WITL: Wednesday and Thursday

Posted on May 29, 2013 by Heather

WITL: Wednesday and Thursday

I finished Wednesday’s and Thursday’s pages last week. Editing the video today, I was struck by how similar my process was to the previous days’. Rather than bore you with ten more minutes of me shuffling photos and paper, let’s just skip to the end, and see how the pages turned out.

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I LOVE the Thursday pages. Not because there’s a lot there (there aren’t) or because the photos are lovely (which I think they are) but because they include pictures taken by someone other than myself. I love when I get to add someone else’s viewpoint to our family’s stories.

The rest of the pages will be up the end of the week. If anyone wants me to record the process again, I’d be glad to, just let me know. It’s the same basic process for each day. Sort photos by chronology/story and by size/orientation. Slip in pockets, add journaling cards, and maybe a little embellishment, and call it done.

This is not hard. Just time consuming if you have too many choices. I have too many journaling cards! I’ll have to narrow it down next time.

Actually that’s one of things that you really have to think about and understand when you scrapbook. Many people don’t scrapbook because they think they need a lot of materials or supplies. In reality, an abundance of options can lead to indecision, and no scrapbooking at all.

Limiting your product choices is a great way to get pages done, and increase your creativity.

Now go scrap something!

May21

Setting Up the Binder and Monday’s Pages

Posted on May 21, 2013 by Heather

Setting Up the Binder and Monday’s Pages

The video walking you through the binder set up and the creation of Monday’s pages is ready for you. Yay!

Rather than add subtitles to the video, I’ve got some notes for you that will help explain my thought process.

1. I start off by sorting my photos by general time/subject, and by orientation. Orientation is important, because any vertical photos will need a creative solution if I want to keep the book in a standard orientation. I don’t want my readers to have to rotate the book repeatedly as they look at it, so I’ll have to either trim the vertical photos down, mount them on a cardstock page, or something even more interesting. It’s also important to keep related photos together, to create better story flow.

2. As I start trimming photos, I begin to decide whether I’m going to break the photo up between pockets, or trim the photo down to fit a single pocket.

3. When I’m flipping pages back and forth, I’m trying to keep track of the bigger picture, and the story of the day.

4. When I’m flipping endlessly through the cards, I’m realizing, I didn’t plan enough room for story telling, so am reevaluating the photo placement in regards to the day’s story.

5. Unmentioned product alert! Martha Stewart labels from her office supply line. Loving using them!

6. This is the easiest type of journaling to do: just tell what happened. No need to make it complicated.