Simple Pages and lots of Photos

About a year ago, I posted some scrapbook pages that I was making with a friend who was doing a single album for each of her grown children.  The pages are full of photos and there are just a few accents and embellishments - mostly titles.  That post can be found HERE.  This style of scrapbooking does not seem to be in fashion, most of the layouts you see in magazines have only one or two photos and lots of embellishments.

When I asked last year, a lot of you said you also liked to scrapbook with lots of photos on the pages.  I think of it as "paving the page" with the photos and letting them tell the story, with a bit of journaling to jog the memory!

I was looking for some photos that I took almost four years ago in New York City.  I was there with some friends for the weekend and all of the tulips were in bloom (I have more photos of the tulips to share another day - I got a bit off track in my idea about what I'd post today). 

I couldn't quite remember the date of our trip and, as I looked for those photos, I came across photos of some layouts I did for a "fast scrap" challenge.  The goal was to complete 10 pages in a day - in as few hours as possible.  These pages were done within a few months after I started my blog and I posted them only on the old cricut messageboard.   I wanted to add them to the blog - even though they are four years late!

When we were living in England, we took a trip over to the Netherlands to see the tulips.  My husband's parents came along on the trip.  I worked with the actual printed photos and did not scan and adjust them to exact sizes - I had to crop my way through the pile!

It took a little courage to post these - I am not sure that I would do everything just the same - but I thought you might like to see them.

I remember welding the "windmill" title and thinking about it as "windblown" but now I'll probably go back and make it more legible!

 The photo of our younger son smelling the red and yellow tulips in his green rain slicker is a favorite - I love the bright colors and the way he is leaning into the flowers.

The photos of the layouts are a little off center - I have learned a lot about taking photos of my work since these were done.  I could pull out the pages and take new photos but I think you can see the basic idea of simple and story/photo focused.

One of the most amusing things I remember from the trip was the gigantic wooden shoes at every tourist attraction.  We had a lot of fun taking "shoe pictures?" 

I don't think I ever went back and added the journaling - so I'll have to do that soon.  I did plan to get more scrapbooking done this year, unfortunately, I haven't been able to set aside the time.  I got involved with die cutting machines to help me do scrapbooks and I seem to do everything but work on the books!

Are any of you in the same boat?  Is anyone interested in taking on a "get it scrapped" challenge?  I know that I have a hard time deciding between traditional and digital.  I enjoy the digital process, but I also like to get paper in my hands!

I'll think about a way to set this up over the weekend - please leave a comment if you have any ideas for the structure or just to tell me that you'd like to get some of your older photos on pages and in albums!

I have to keep reminding myself - "finished is better than perfect!"

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Egg Shaped Card adapted from Free Silhouette Studio Shape

Every Tuesday, there is a free shape offered through the Silhouette online store accessed through the free Silhouette Studio software.  The shape is available for one week so there is plenty of time to log in to the software and add it to your collection. 

This week the free shape was this stitched egg candy pouch.  I thought it could easily be turned into a card so I made a few changes to the design.  I ungrouped the elements and then released the compound path to separate the egg shape from the stitching holes.

I mirrored the egg shape to the left and added a small oval at the edge between the two eggs, then welded all three shapes to produce the card base.  I adjusted the shape slightly to make the an A2 size.  To create the ring of "frosting," I grouped the remaining stitching circles and added a contour of .150.  Then I selected both the holes and the outline and made a compound path.  I stretched the shape slightly to fit the slightly resized card.

I used the Core'dinations Gemstone cardstock for all of the pieces.  It comes in such lovely spring colors and the pearly shine is perfect for Easter items.  I remember the large chocolate eggs we used to get in our Easter baskets usually had a ring of white frosting and some flowers so I added three sparkled flowers from Creative Charms in white, yellow and purple.

I put the letters and background of the sentiment on a straight line when I added them to the card.  The original design has them angling up to the right a bit.  I probably should have changed the angle of the cut on the mat, turning it 10 or 11 degrees to have the cut line up with the linen texture in the cardstock.  If you were using a solid color flat cardstock, it wouldn't matter.

I decided to leave well enough alone - it's probably one of those things that most people wouldn't notice!
(If I cut another card from this cardstock, I probably will straighten it - that's just the way I am...).

I liked the look with the holes in the center of the border, however, you can easily omit the holes to get the look in this screen shot.  It's fun to play around with the alternatives - just start over if you end up with something that doesn't appeal to you!

I am happy to share this simple .studio file - you can download it by clicking on the link below.

Easter Egg Shaped Card

It's great to have the ability to change these free shapes - it makes them even more useful and fun to use.

In other news - I actually used my Bind-It-All for the first time in ages.  My little neighbor had a school project (a comic book style book report) and she needed to keep the pages together.  She was very interested in the way the Bind-It- All worked and loved choosing some ribbons to add to the binding.  I asked her if she thought anyone else would put their book together this way and she said she didn't think so because, "not everybody has a Miss Diane on their street!" 

I hope you have a wonderful Wednesday!

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Last Minute Easter Treat Bags

I noticed that someone had pinned these simple Easter candy treat bags I made last year on Pinterest.  Since Easter is just around the corner, I thought it might be nice to share them again. 

Here are all of the bits and pieces you will need.  Any candy will do but these little foil covered chicks from our local candy shop looked very cute!  Click HERE to go to the original post with step by step photos and directions.

Someone asked me if the new universal format digital kits from Creative Memories can be used with the Silhouette Studio software.  These kits are in png and jpeg formats so you can simply open the file where they are located and drag the item you want over to the Silhouette Studio mat.  Then you add a cut line by tracing the outer edge of the image.  You can cut out images from any of the other Creative Memories digital content sets by first saving the element to a new file and tracing.  I'll try to post a step by step explanation soon.

You can set up the items to print on regular 8 1/2 x 11 cardstock in your home printer and then cut out the elements with the Silhouette Cameo or SD.

 I did a few quick samples.  The chick, "Happy Easter" words and the egg paper are from the new Bunny Hop Universal Format Kit. 

The floral design is one I created using a digital element from another collection.  I just love the blue and violet colors.  I think this will make a pretty card with a few more details added.

I got involved in a project on Monday that took forever - and it still isn't finished.  I think I am making it more complicated than it needs to be.  If I get it all worked out, I'll share it.

Have you finished decorating for Easter?

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Easter Egg Cards and Software Sale

I've been clearing up the gigantic mess in my craft room (and some other parts of the house too...).  I can finally see the top of the craft island again so I might be able to do that long-promised craft room tour before summer!  I came across these Easter Egg cards from a couple of years ago and I thought I'd share them again.  They look so pretty when you use the Core'dinations Gemstone cardstock (the combination of the texture and the pearly shine are perfect!).

Once you get started, you can easily make a lot of cards in a hurry.  There are two posts about these cards and the file is in the second post.  There are also a couple of videos to explain the design process.  I made this card with Design Studio but the process is easily transferred to the Gypsy or Craft Room.  I used the Easter 2010 cartridge.  There are some newer cartridges with similar shapes if you don't have that cartridge.  It is also available as a digital cartridge on Cricut.com.

You can find the first post HERE and the second post HERE.  There is a video in each post.

Last month I told you that Creative Memories would soon be offering digital artwork in a Universal Format (jpegs and pngs) and, as of yesterday, there are lots of digital items available that you can use in almost any digital scrapbooking software.  You can see what's new HERE. This universal format will allow people with Mac computers to use Creative Memories artwork.  The sbcStudio program (for Mac) has been discontinued.

If you are interested in the Memory Manager (photo editing and organization) or StoryBook Creator (digital scrapbooking) programs there is a great sale going on for April.  The prices have been reduced 35% so Memory Manager is only $25.97 and Storybook Creator is only $42.22  If you have an earlier version of the program, the upgrades are also on sale.

I use them both and highly recommend them.  If you have questions about these programs and don't have a regular consultant, I'd be happy to help you.  The creative possibilities with the Storybook program are fantastic and it is very user friendly.  There are also lots of great tutorials available on the CM site.  I have been enjoying the combination of using the StoryBook program with the Silhouette Studio software to make cutting files with some of the digital elements.

Have a wonderful crafty Monday!

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Palm Sunday

This is another of my original designs for the exhibit.  Tulips always make me think of Spring.  I hope that Spring is really here.  We had a few snow flurries on Saturday!

Since our son and daughter-in-law are living in Spain this year, they have been finding out about the differences in the way holidays are celebrated.  There are lots of processions during during Easter week (Santa Semana).  They saw a group practicing carrying a float earlier this month.  Apparently the floats are quite elaborate with Biblical scenes portrayed on top.  The group was practicing walking slowly and in unison so their float would stay steady.  I am looking forward to hearing more about the actual processions and seeing some photos.

I looked in Wikipedia to find out some more about Easter and Palm Sunday traditions in Spain.   There was an interesting proverb - Domingo de Ramos, quien no estrena algo, se le caen las manos ("On Palm Sunday, the hands drop off of those who fail to wear something new").

I've never heard of this tradition - we always had new things for Easter but not for Palm Sunday.  Have you heard this expression? 

I hope you are having a nice weekend - I think I'll be decorating some eggs this week...better late than never!

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