1/2 of rework of Little Baby to Little Lady

This layout was one of the first ones I did digitally, only I did it in powerpoint intending to do hybrid (years ago for me) so I had to start over in PS to get a printable version. I just love having this much information about the girls and I know they will really treasure it when they have their own children.

There will be a facing page that takes them from 2 years thru 10 years - right up to a little lady.

This is also a great example of how much they have looked alike & different over time.



Background papers from Wild Sorbet by Michelle Coleman
Title Alpha - Bohemian Summer by Michelle Coleman
Stitched flowers from Bad Sewing Machine XIV - Flueriffic by Traci Reed
fonts - Jayne Print, 2 peas Old Type, 2 peas chatter, old typewriter

One Year (and now they are almost 5)

This is one that has been sitting waiting for me. It was one of my old hybrid projects that never got finished and I am determined to get those redone completely digital. It started off as a powerpoint presentation and I think I could have actually printed it from there as a jpeg, but I have learned a bit more about photo editing and think I improved my photos the 2nd go around, the original post is here.




Page idea from a layout years ago on 2 Peas in a Bucket
Paper kit – Sweet Sprinkles by Shabby Princess
Tape – Mellykat
Staple – L. Riordan
Fonts – 2 peas duck duck goose, pea johanna

Lovin' Lambie

Some more cute photos of the girlies from just after they turned one - they still love that lamb and he is so adorable. They were from the Kohl's Cares for Kids campaign at the time of the girls baby shower back in '05.

Another scraplift of course, don't know what I'd do without inspiration from other folks. I love the effect of the felt action on the title word lambie and then adding the black stroke outside.

I really want to make a little halloween kit - I have colors inspired by my girls' new witch costume and a few ideas, now just to find time to execute. This weekend is going to be a mad dash to do the newsletter. Hurricane Ike certainly put me behind schedule, but at least my power was restored after 7 days. Many of my friends here are about to enter their 2nd week with no power - ick!





Page Idea from Life's a Beach by babycake @ SSD
Papers, ribbon wrapped heart & alpha all from Bohemian Summer by Michelle Coleman
Ric Rac from Sugar from Heaven by Jeann Gaidecki at TDC
Actions - felt & inked edge by Atomic Cupcake
Alpha - CK Penman & Hiccup

Girls Just Gotta Have Fun

A big thanks to Brittney from Britt-ish Designs for the big assist in getting this LO done. This was another photo that caught my eye on my screen saver and I decided it would be the next one to scrap and then when I went looking for inspiration I found this great LO by Brittney at DST and it was perfect because it let me use 3 pictures instead of just one - and then I realized that some of her kits would fit the color scheme perfectly! I did have to alter some of the colors a bit, but the gingham ribbon and the alpha (fun) are is the only things that I completely recolored.

DH & I love these photos and these are the few that we have that we didn't take. We had a fabulous babysitter back in VA and she snapped these while she was there one day. I loved that toy too - it was the perfect baby gate between the game room and my office.



Page Idea from Small World by Designer Brittney at DigiShopTalk
Kits - Leave the World Behind & Dreams Do Come True by Britt-ish Designs
Flower from Little Athlete from Scraps from Sarah Belle
Green Polka Dot Ribbon from Give It to Me Straight by Amanda Heiman at TDC
Blue Ribbon from Straight Set by Natalie Braxton at The Lily Pad
Label Alpha from Label Maker Collection by Dani Alencar at TDC
Swirls from Floral Swirl Brush by Pixels & Ice Cream
Stitches from Basic Stitches by Britt-ish Designs
Date Tag from Label the Date by Mira Designs at TDC
Fonts - Schmutz, 1942 Report

Now Where's That Mouse?

I've had these photos in my stack of photos to scrap for a long time - I started a LO yesterday and got one finished, but wasn't happy so I threw it all away today and started over. I'm happier with the second LO, but it could still use a little something. I realize that I don't have much yellow in my digistash - and much less yellow with reds, blues & greens. I loved these little jumpers on the girls and they were in a stage where they would wear a hat pretty much all day inside - it didn't last long though, by the time we were spending more time outdoors they didn't want one anymore.

I tried to stick with one kit - so some recoloring and blending to make some of the colors pop just a bit more. Like I said - it still doesn't feel "right", but I'm still trying to ramp up my scrapping mojo again. I haven't been keeping up with all the blogs & freebies like I was before, and heavens knows I haven't taken a minute to think about creating a new kit.



Kit - Kayleigh's Kaleidoscope by Flergs
Frames by Yin Designs
Overlay (dot) from Texture Overlays #2 by Cinnamon Designs
Overlay (worn) from All Worn Out by Penny Springmann at SSD
Font - CK Keyboard

First Birthday Cake

Ok, I'm on a roll for simple completed pages this weekend. Nothing complicated here except trying to get all the photos to have the same contrast - had to play a bit with levels & brightness. I had the thought to scrap this event when I picked up this template in March - I should just go with impluses.

These photos are from their party back in Missouri - I think I got one photo on their actual first birthday that is scrapable. That one I'll probably embellish more.



Template #3 by Aly Dosdall
Kit - Haute Spring by Zoe Pearn
Fonts - Everytime I Miss You, Century Gothic

Easter Cutie

Ok, once again I don't feel like this is my best work, but these pictures have been out there for a while waiting to be scrapped and it feels good just to have the LO completed. Only this Easter to go (I think I only got one or two good photos this year too) and then on to Birthdays.

I had to spend some time with this LO recoloring everything. I really liked the designs in this kit, but the colors didn't coordinate with the photos. It took the longest to get the background paper changed from teal dots to green dots - it isn't really difficult, you just use the magic wand selector and select the color. Since it has a slight grunge effect the tone isn't 100% all over so I just had to select a bunch of times to get most of it, and then I enlarged the dots just a smidge and recolored.

If you'd really like some inspiration for this template check out these two LOs. This one by Tracyfish is a Spin A Lift - you'd hardly recognize the template. I think Dani Mogstad is a fabulous scrapper (and designer) and this LO is no exception.








Template #31 for Cookie Decorating 101 at Sweet Shoppe Designs
Kit - Trendy Pop Addon by Cori Gammom (all recolored)
Flowers from Promise by Shabby Princess (recolored)
Actions - Painted Metal, Colored Glass by Atomic Cupcake
Fonts - Mandingo, CK Journaling

Wrinkled Toes

I was so thrilled with how this latest kit turned out I just had to use it! I think I made a real design breakthrough and I really want to thank those that left comments with ideas. While all the elements really don't necessary follow a single theme, getting input really made my creative juices start pumping.

To make the picture "pop" I selected the girls feet that are in the middle of the photo and sharpened them so that the wrinkled part really stood out. For the title work, I typed the title, added a cumpled brush, then simplified the layer. Using the marque tool I "cut" each letter, then moved into place and rotated it. This way the text stays together in one layer. Other than that, it was just standard fair, with one custom shadow under the photo.



Page Idea by Maggie Holmes, June cover of Creating Keepsakes magazine
kit - Spring Swing by Scraps from Sarah Belle
Font - Arial

A BIG thank you to those that were kind enough to leave comments on the paper pack, I hope these elements allow you to create something wonderful. I truly hope that that this kit is LO worthy and that you'll let me know when you create something. Please leave me a comment with a link to your gallery or my e-mail is included in my TOU. It would mean so much to see something you've created. I also think this preview turned out pretty good too.


Pick up the element pack HERE.
pssst - there's an add-on below.
double pssst - the coordinating paper pack is in the previous entry

Again, comments are disabled in 4shared, so leave a little love here.

Once I started my scraplift for this page I needed a few extra things, which turned into a Add-On for the kit. No time for a preview, but it includes: 3 scalloped frames, 4 gem brads, 4 photo prongs, an alpha and a flattened quick page (from my LO).
Pick up the Add-On HERE.

Our Little Tomboys

I really took some shortcuts with this LO. During one of my earlier visits to Sweet Shoppe Designs Gallery for inspiration I noticed a LO and added it to my favorites for a future "lift". To my great surprise, the LO was chosen to the the cookie (template) of the week, which made it even easier to lift. It's almost an exact duplicate of the original because I already had the same kit that Kay Miller used in the original LO. So no originality here on my part - just knocking out another LO using one of my favorite pictures. I think its the outfit in the picture as much as anything - I loved those brown cords and that jean jacket, and they still love to wear Daddy's ball caps.

I did want to share a little tip I use for naming files. I start each file with the year the picture was taken followed by the month then a title. So this one is filed as "2006 10 Our Little Tomboys" In this way all the files are orderly and I can use the files to quickly organize a book since they are already in chronological order.



Template by Aggie Adviso for Cookie Decorating 101 at Sweet Shoppe Designs
Kit Haute Spring by Zoe Pearn
Demin from Spring in Denim by Dnadryad
Glitter by Flergs
Actions - inked edge by Atomic Cupcake
Font - Mom's Typewriter

Cherish Each Other

My computer/internet was not working last week - so I had to get the creative juices flowing again. Not having reliable computer access these days is difficult for me - I'm so accustomed to just being able to pop on anytime. Hopefully this time I've got it all set up ok so that the next big storm won't knock everything out again.

I used the color blending mode here to make the swirl brush and the title seem like the were part of the background paper - this way the texture shows through. The patterned papers were too bright so I applied a light sepia overlay to them (just used the sepia photo filter to change a piece of paper to sepia and then just changed the opacity). For the main phot to have that retro feel, I took a copy of the original and changed it to black & white and then layered them on top of each other and set the opacity of the B&W photo to 75% so just a hint of the soft colors from behind would show. I also applied an inner glow to the paper square to give them a bit more dimension.



Page Idea from Love You Always by d2vasquez at the digichick
Kit Haute Spring by Zoe Pearn
Ric Rac from Bows & Ribbons Vol 3 by Bannerwoman Designs
Brush from SwirlsII by Stephanie Shimerdia (obsidian dawn)
Stitched Button from Stitching by Petja24
Edge Overlay from Zoey by Clara Wallace
Fonts - Mom's typewriter, 4990810, IKHI00GLA3

I'm working on a freebie called Little Athlete - I just need to find some time to finish it and do a couple more layouts - I'd really hoped to get 12 done this month - if I hadn't lost that week I might have gotten it done.

Peek-A-Boo

I guess one shouldn't really admit when they've done something that looks so simple that they actually make it quite difficult - but that's exactly what I did. As I was once again struggling with this LO I was reading through some other blogs and there was someone applying for a CT who said it normally took her 1/2 to 2 hrs per LO - I'm probably still at 4-6 hrs and that's with digital - it took me so much longer with paper that its a good thing I switched.

I knew I wanted to do the flim strips and once again there they were just sitting in there in PSE. I really wanted the text on the strip to stand out as the title, but it's hard since it's so tiny - but I'm sure it will look bigger printed out 12x12. Then what to do with the background - there was already so much blue in the photos and pink once again just wasn't right - so what's the solution - WHITE - at least I learned that the other day. I found the funky circle paper and tried a bunch of different things with that, piddled around with some glitter, all kinds of things before settling on the 3 simple circles and the rectangle of blue - looks like it should have taken all of 10 minutes to do this LO - not two nights.



Paper from Kaylabugs by Raspberry Road Designs
Action - inked edge by Atomic Cupcake
Fonts - Imprint MT Shadow, Suzie's Hand

Berrylicious

I don't know that I really did these pictures justice, I couldn't get one to show the juice running down the girl's faces, but I like the LO anyway. It is a scraplift from a page that Megan Farrow (aka Flerg's) did. I piddled around with a bunch of different stuff, but most exciting is that I finally used a brush and actually created the "bling" myself with the help of Flerg's glitter styles. Now that I've figured that little bit of magic out I'll have to see what else I can do with it. Also, another big thanks to Atomic Cupcake, her actions are just amazing and so cool (how about those glass frames!?).



Papers, ribbon & flowers from Strawberry Cake by Amanda Kay
Background paper from Deacon's Closet by Flerg's
Alpha - Glitz Alphas by Vicki Stegall
Layer Styles - Glitter by Flerg's
Stitching by Natali
Actions - inked edge, colored glass by Atomic Cupcake
Font - 2Peas Flea Market

Seaside Beauty

Pages of the girls first trip to the Ocean. Of course we took many more pictures, but for me, these just captured the special moments and are my favorites. I love the one of Alena from behind - I wanted her to know it was her. She loved the ocean, pulling to go into it even though it was still quite chilly in May.

I can't believe that I'm scapping so many single pictures, but sometimes one does a better job than many. The rest are all in a photo album to be enjoyed.

This page is also a simple layout - I didn't want anything to compete with the picture.








Papers from Live for the Joy by Kay Miller
Stitching by Natali
Tag Hanger from Deacon's Closet Mini Kit by Flerg's
Actions - inked edges by Atomic Cupcake
Font - jayne print

This was also one of my first ventures into photo editing back in 2005. The picture was so cute, but there were so many people in the background. Luckily, sand, sea & sky are easy to duplicate, but it makes all the difference in the world to see Iva peaceful & alone on the beach vs. sharing it with all these other people. For the LO, I cropped it even tighter than a 4x6 - all I really did was remove all the people and the book & stuff in the foreground.

Mother's Day 2006

I'm so happy to post a new LO. December is flying by as well, and it didn't seem like I was making as much progress. Last week was terribly busy and this week is almost gone as well. Soon we'll be on our way to visit family & friends for the holidays and I haven't decided whether I'll bring my laptop with me or not.

Not many new techniques here - just reapplying the ones I learned late last month. I hope everyone has figured out when I post two LOs that look very similiar there is always one picture that is an individual picture of the girls, so they have a unique page in their baby book.








Template - Template 166 by Andrea Gold (Andrea posts a new template almost few days for free, but they are only available for a short time, so you have to keep up with her)
Kit - Chocolate Berry by Flergs
Layer Style - Chocolate Berry Glitter Styles by Flergs
Fonts - Scriptina, Jayne

2005, 2006 Christmas Card Photo Shoot Pics

Before I started digital scrapping I would have never used glitter even if it was the hottest trend going. Now I can't seem to get enough of it - it is so fun, maybe it's just a girl thing, but I really like it. I found a fabulous collab kit for Winter coming out and even though only 2 of the 12 parts were out there was plenty of inspiration. One background I had to make and in it I learned about adjustment layers and how to recolor a bunch of stuff for a LO. The green one is a QP (quick page) and I just had to plop my pictures behind it. Now to go do a design for this year's photo shoot which I hope to have done soon as it's time to get cards in the mail.










Kit - portion of collab kit Whimiscal Wonderland by Flergs
Chocolate Berry by Flergs
Embellishments - Cork Stars by Flergs
Font - fontdinerdotcom sparkly

Born with a Little Diva Inside

Another day where the photos to scrap were totally dependent on the freebies I found today. The Diva kit was just perfect for this pictures of the girls and their sunglasses which were not necessary to scrap, but were too cute not too. This is the true benefit of digital, I'm able to do scrap so many other moments that might have been just left behind because it just took too much time. My goal now is to do two LOs a week - one for fun and one that really belongs in a baby book.







Template - Clustered by Tracy Drane
Kit - Diva by Daniela Peuss
Stitching - by Natali
Overlays - Vintage Floral Overlay by Shabby Princess
Fonts - Tall Paul, Euphorigenic

On Your Own

A traditional paper LO. I love how it turned out, but as soon as I figure out how to "ink" edges I'll be doing this type of LO digitally. I thought it looked done, but now looking at the pictures I think I need to add just a touch of stitching here & there - hard to believe it needs more with all those papers on there - I love them and they are the reason I'll continue to do paper LOs in the future.




Fonts - Serrific Grunge, Jayne Print
Papers - Basic Grey: Ashbury Street & Sausalito from the Phoebe collection, Ratine &n Mila from the Urban Couture collection, and Beatrice from the Perhaps collection
Layout Idea - Scraplift of 'Wibbly Wobbly' by beaglesonthebrain at 2 Peas in a Bucket.

Your Own Style

This is one of our favorite pictures. It doesn't look like much really, but it captures such a special time when the girls were first moving around - Alena by crawling and Iva by creeping on her tummy. This meant that Alena was always in the lead, but Iva made pretty good time.

I was working on this LO when I decided to check for freebies and this template was right there - I knew it would be perfect for this picture. It took a while to get the background color - I tried green, brown & pink all from the patterned paper, but they distracted from the photo. Finally I just made it the same color as the blanket in the photo and it all just clicked. The hardest part of this one was learning to use the text mask - you can't just move the text around or resize it once you use a mask (or at least I couldn't find that you could) so it took a few trials to get it right.

And now I really must get to work on that paper LO that I've been meaning to work on - but keep letting the computer distract me.



Template - Template 11 by MOriginals
Digital Paper Kit - Live for the Joy by Kay Miller
Overlay - Zoey by Clara Wallace
Overlay - Vintage Christmas by Sunflowers
Fonts - Serrific Grunge, Euphorigenic, jayne print

Perfect Pumpkins

I'm just getting all the old holidays taken care of - this once again required learning a few things - like modifying the clip for color, the direction of the spring and then breaking it into two pieces so that the shadows could be applied properly. Shadows are what make the whole thing realistic and I think this turned out ok, but still more to learn in this area.



Paper Kit – Festival by Shabby Princess
Clip - from Manic Monday by Lizandherbabes
Bow & Ribbon - from Tis the Season by Retrodiva
Tape – Mellykat
Fonts - 2Peas FleaMarket, CK Journaling, Euphorigenic

My 2nd Christmas

I got it done! Christmas #2. Not only did I get this done today, but I'm headed off to the neighbor's tonight to work on paper LOs. And because I got these done I'm all ready for Christmas #3. I do love this kit.

only 1 page for this holiday-it's hard to take pics of toddlers!

Template - November by Bastelzauber
Kit - Tis the Season by Retrodiva
Overlay Edge - Edge Pack by Lauren Bavin (couldn't find the product again on her site)
font - 2Peas Flea Market