trying to get back in the groove

I don't know about you, but certainly in my part of the world, scrapping, and the time (and energy) in which to do so sometimes isn't abundant. Or the motivation to be honest.  But the other day I got my act together and ordered some prints, and in the meantime did a page digitally with some I didn't get printed.

Wholly inspired by this found somewhere around the goodness of the www.  Nothing like a bit of scrap lifting, even if its just an interpretation, to get one going.

and here, my finished (digital page)

I had lots of photos I wanted to include and so kept the whole thing very linear and graphic. As always with my digital pages, I bear in mind that I have to print them at home, and this 8.5 x 11  double spread allows for plenty of room for trimming or adding any "real life" embellishments I may feel like when I'm sticking this down. I envision that I will "hide" the patterned paper when I go to print (or not, depends how lazy I am feeling!)  and add real paper to the empty spaces, and mount both pages on dark brown (java probably!) cardstock.

So folks, how has your scrapping time been going? As you can see, all of us here at Simple Aussie Girls have been afflicted the same way, life just gets BUSY!

laziness abounds

Not sure this page was executed quite like what was in my head, but its done.

And that's all, she wrote!

buy yourself a gold lotto ticket

the planets have aligned, and I have finally done a page, for the first time in eons. So, without further ado:

And because I am so rusty, I confess this is a blatant, straight-out scrap lift of a page I had saved on my pinterest board. I could go back and follow the links to see who the original belongs to, but I might leave that fun follow-the-breadcrumbs expedition for you, if you are so inclined!

This is a fully digital page above, but I do have slightly different plans for it once I print out the important bits. I'll share that once I'm done, first I have to clear the accumulated clutter off my desk in order to do the real life cutting and pasting ;-)

Here's the story:

I even made the template above, even CZ failing to provide anything that tickled my fancy or get the creative juices flowing (I KNOW! how is that even possible).

Hopefully, now I've started again, I will be able to remove those mental blocks that prevented me from just getting in and making some pages (no lack of stories or photos to be used) before these grey cells of mine loose any more data!

Thanks for stopping by!

Sharon

oh krafty day...

OK so kraft is not a problem colour for us here at Simple Aussie Girls. It goes with pretty much everything, a bit like how white is the perfect backdrop as well, but just a wee bit tastier and forgiving. And it doesn't get lonely when its out there by itself, with just a bit of a doily to keep it company. (and isn't this digi doily amazing? honestly, well to me anyhow, this page looks pretty darned "real"!)

I've got oodles of stories I want to tell, but felt like doing this one today, completely inspired by this photo someone else took at my brothers wedding recently. I was one of the photographers, but here I am liking the photo that someone else took ;-) you can hardly even see my little boy in this shot, but still I love it.

Because this was such a big exciting event in my kids lives I plan on doing one of two things; using this as an introductory page, slotted into each of their albums, and following with one or two pages of collage photos from the day. Or perhaps just get a little photo books made each. But that is more expensive so I think I will just do the couple-of-pages thing, and follow the kraft & white theme I have started with this page. If you've read my blog you would have seen the gorgeous bright colours of the wedding party, which just glowed against the stark dirt paddock (kraft coloured perhaps ;-) ?) where the wedding ceremony was held. The same effect will be achieved in sticking to the plainest possible colour scheme in these pages, allowing the bright colours to glow.

A lot of thought and breakdown behind something I have done more or less just because I liked it!

And if the page design looks familiar, you'd be right, I've borrowed one of Amy's templates. Usually I have lots of photos and lots to say and wouldn't normally fit both on this pared down design, but for today, just perfect.

I've left room at the bottom beside the date, for a little bitty white brad to go in when its printed.

One more thing: what would you like to see more of here readers? More sketches? more scraplifting? pages with more photos? pages with more writing? or just shush and be quiet girls?! please, we'd love to hear from you!

how many song titles have BLUE in them?

I have no idea, but two popped into my head straight away..

ANYHOW: on with the show. Blue. Obviously a popular colour with the Simple Girls, and I seem to use it a lot as well. Love me a nice strong navy blue, or a washed out more denim like I have used today, its a very versatile colour.

Another one of those that don't get any simpler, with not one jot of patterned paper anywhere! Created using a CZ template, printed at home and dropped onto some heavy doublesided blue paper (there was an awful pattern on the other side, but I like this plain, linen like blue). Some brads and done.

I could have gone the smaller 8.5x11 size, but I love the white space and the expanse of blue on the double page. It just looked so busy in the smaller page format.

Don't be shy folks, we would love to see your own pages of blue, or green or orange or yellow etc, you know the drill, just leave a link in the comments or upload to flickr, just make sure to tell us!

oh so lovely orange

I like orange. I scrap with it more than I thought I did, it is quite a versatile colour, very much like green.

A fully digital paper (you may notice that the paper is the same as Amy used on Monday) printed out on photo paper at home, I will mount on some kraft I think and of course I will have to whack a brad on there in front of the title.

This layout takes photos from  a years worth of swimming, mud and water play. There was a LOT of them :-) And its nice to see how the faces and hair have changed during that period of time!

red and yellow and pink and green...PURPLE

I guess you've worked out the sequence of events around here by now?

my take on purple, in which I delved into the archives and found some purple pages from when the girls were little and oh so cute...look at those little chubby cheeks...awww.

love the simplicity of this design, although it doesn't allow room for saying much, but sometimes not much has to be said. Seeing this page reminds me of how that little one used to plonk herself in that bike and hope that her sister would come along and take her for a ride....and I love that paper. Think there might be bits of it in my scrap drawer still.

here is a bit more of it on the next purple page, with even more brevity of words :-) That cake was a true masterpiece from my kitchen, double iced and all. Flowers were from my garden. That plant has long since died. That kid is still a ratbag though, at two she was just hitting her straps.

Does looking at your old scrapbook pages, or even your photo albums, send you on a trip down memory lane? Funny how one photo strikes a memory chord, which leads one off on a tangent and one ends up in a completely different place than from where one started....

thinking green

I love green. So it came as a surprise to find that this green page (which you may be mistakenly thinking is brown) was terribly hard to assemble. Took ages. I realised that I don't normally scrap by colour, but am governed by the photos that I want to use more so than anything. (and I find myself frustrated that there aren't more mainstream scrapbook paper manufacturers that aren't taking the simple-I-would-think move to go digital).
May I present my take on green:
This is how I envision the finished product, plonked on a nice bit of brown bazzill.
and the main bit so you can read the little bit of journaling. This isn't the layout to expand on the strange wiring of daughter #2 but as I was doing it I was thinking about how this child will either run the country or end up in jail, most of her escapades come from her little brain keeping itself occupied. The hard part is keeping it occupied for good rather than evil.
And there you have it, I have written the journaling, or the starting of, for another layout right there. Next week perhaps! :-)

better late than never - pink

sorry folks, have been caught up in the real world that is living in rural Australia, mustering cattle and long story short, nothing went as planned or expected. ANYHOW, I am back now and here to share my pink page.

One would think, that having two daughters, pink would be a colour that predominately featured on my pages, but as I look through them this is not the case. Sure there is pink but more of an accent, same as the yellow. I do quite like pink, and hot pink in particular and it is one colour that you will find in my wardrobe in small doses (love a hot pink blouse with dark blue jeans or even white linen pants!)

Just a few little snippets of memory about daughters 7th birthday, I have a couple of more photos I wanted to include that speak for themselves, but after not being able to include them in a pleasing fashion digitally I have decided to print them and include in a 6x12 photo sleeve beside this layout in her album.

Don't you love the way scrapbooking is evolving?  Love the use of photo pockets everywhere....

yellow - day three

I find that I don't use yellow a lot either, not that I don't like it. Its such a cheery, gorgeous colour, but it is one that is pretty strong and I find that its best used in small doses. Just like in clothing, its a brave or vibrant person that can wear it full strength. But team it with some other deeper, more muted colours (navy and yellow? so crisp and perfect) and it all becomes terribly delicious.

As you can see I am a lazy cow and again reverted to the tried and true CZ templates to save my bacon. Not a lot of yellow, but just enough to make an impact.  The page is a few of my favourite instagram shots - late to the game I know, but I don't own an i-phone but recently upgraded to a cheap android version, to which instagram has just been introduced. Its got me, hook line and sinker. I love it.  You can see my instagram page link on my blog.

So tell me, do you like yellow? do you scrap with it, wear it? decorate your house with it? (I had a secret, rather impractical ambition to have a yellow handbag. It would not get a lot of use, but geewhiz, I've seen a few of them around. Yellow is IN people!)

Red - Day Three

Sorry I'm a bit late posting today, but I'm here now :-)

So, RED. I like red. Red shoes, red handbags, red accessories.  Funny then, when it comes to making a page, red isn't my first choice of colour.  Like in real life, I like red as an accent, an accessory.  So that is how red came to be on my page.

(template by CZ) A digi page, when it comes to printing I will turn off the background, print the white bit and stick it down on a bit of blue bazzill (I don't know the colour names like Nic does).

And reading the journaling through again  it seems I need to revise my English skills, I've used two different words that mean exactly the same thing in the one sentence. I can't remember the term for that (grey matter not firing on all cylinders today) but see if you can pick it.

What do you think about red?

no photos

A quick simple page with no photos.
6x12 in size. Should use this size more often.
A little story about my little boy when he was a bit over one years old, not recognising his dad. It was very funny at the time. I have to admit, his father did look a bit scary when he came home. I really should have taken a photo :-)

Sharon

where I use some more of those darned stickers

Not much to say. Easter school holidays. No making school lunches for two weeks.

A hybrid page using a CZ template. Now I think about it she has used this block and column style a few different times in different templates, but I don't mind. I like it. Plunked the printed down bit on some card, and then scratching my head wondering what I could do to give it a little something else, spied the everlasting, never ending page of stickers that came with an Echo Park pack of paper.

Am really pleased with how this one turned out. And yes, its from nearly 3 years ago, but I found some gaps in the kids albums and am filling them.

Happy Easter all!

title page

I like to have a title page that signifies or separates the  different years in the kids albums, as I have multiple years worth of pages in each ring bound album of the kids.  This time I used a couple of favourite photos that weren't used elsewhere on a layout. I never seem to have a problem in finding a spare photo :-)

I've been trying to make an effort to use those diecuts that come with some paper packs. In this case it made the page come together very quickly. I also used some of my favourite fabric thickers, which were white and didn't look right, so I "borrowed" one of the kids felt pens in an appropriate colour and bob's your uncle...it worked!

Gosh, three was a cute age for my boy. He is so big now (but not, all at the same time) He's gone off to school today insisting on wearing the saggiest bummed underpants ever (under his school shorts obviously!)  Says they are comf-a-bul. 

I'm rambling!  Share your title pages with us, do! we would love to see them. You know the drill, leave a comment with the details! (if I get my act together I'll do the Mr Linky thing)

he wanted a cow cake

its a lovely drizzly rainy day up here in the north. I love rain. And finally a NEW page for you. A quick digi one that I plan to print, add a number 4 thicker to that empty space, stick the whole lot on some cardstock and call it done. Love it.

hoping to whip up a few more of these quick digital pages soon, to fill some gaps (of course thanks to CZ for her great templates!)

That's it for today folks....

saturday sketch #5

Its been one of those weeks where I've had a few ideas wafting around in ether and lot of other things jostling for front place in my mind, so my plans of having a new sketch (swapping with Amy, who at this moment is helping her sister get married, and having a wonderful time).  So I didn't get a new sketch done, but instead I share with you this old favourite, originally torn from a magazine and converted to a sketch by Amy (so really, she has already played along today) some time ago, as OF COURSE I can't find the original magazine page.  Its one that you can follow "as is" or interpret as you see fit.
and here is what I did with it....remembering that I am pretty literal! (and have taken a very fast and dodgy photograph, so sorry Nicole! :-)

 

 this wasn't done digitally at all, just put the text in a word document and printed, then stuck down my photos and paper (I think I used a brilliant square punch for this)

hope that you can play along, and as always please link up below, and leave a comment, as otherwise we don't know you've left a link.....

Sharon

playing dress up

a simple little page with a simple little story...

and that's all I have for today....

just one more

the run of divided page protector pages is coming to an end, you will be relieved to find I am sure. But I am pleased that it got me back in the scrapping saddle after many months of not doing any at all.

This time I chose to print a photo I liked as an enlargement on my printer at home, I only had two photos and didn't really want to crop them both down for this big page. It makes a nice change, as I normally just use standard 4x6 photos.

(BTW, does anyone have any hints on how to get your printer calibrated with pse? The enlargement printed far darker than it showed on the screen. I have a canon iP4850)

I think I may have used those stickers last week :-) and finally, a use for those die cut journaling blocks, I never know what to do with them (not using my handwriting a lot on my pages, and yes I KNOW, Nicole, I should!)  great for title placement!

Anyone with any questions,  ideas or suggestions, for what you would like to see on the blog here, please don't hesitate to leave a comment anytime, we look forward to your feedback and love nothing better than a good discussion!

Sharon

no one's complained yet

so here is another instalment from me, using divided page protectors. Nope, I'm still not sick of them!

This time I decided to use a set or two of the freebie Project Life journalling cards that are around the web at the moment.  I typed the text in PSE, dropped them onto one canvas, printed and cropped.  The journalling contains some snippets and stories that didn't necessarily need a whole page each. I could have found a random photo to pop in I suppose, but I felt like NOT having one!

LOVE these stickers, had them for a long time.

I am having fun seeing what different things I can do with my divided pages, without getting complicated.  Still enjoying how quickly and simply they come together...

Anyone else had a go with divided page protectors too?

Saturday Sketch

Hello everyone, and welcome to this fine Saturday. My turn to give you a sketch to get you scrapping this weekend.

As usual, its very simple. Remembering that not every square or space has to be filled with something, as I will show you below.  This started off with a template from CZ, but as I tweaked and twiddled to suit my needs, I realised that end result was pretty much NOTHING like the starting point!
yep, pretty simple and straight forward, and could well lend itself to some colour blocking (and o/t I could really some pf those pinterest colour boards for inspiration when I do a sketch, couldn't I?!) Anyhow, this is what I ended up with.....
 
I've been trying to put into practise some of the ideas from Ten Tips for Better Type, alas PSE and I don't seem to be on the same page at the moment! Does anyone else have issues with their software suddenly doing, or NOT doing something, all by itself? Right now, mine has decided that it won't listen to my arrow keys when I want to nudge something along just a wee bit

I look forward to seeing what everyone comes up with! (don't forget to linky up, or even just leave a comment with the link to your page!)

Sharon