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!

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!

paper scrappin'

A miracle has occurred. I have scrapped!! Only a page or two, and nothing very exciting (my creativity has currently left the building) but I will take what I can get. It is school holidays, a very rainy day, kids are all here watching old pixar movies, and I decided to sneak an hour and scrap! It was quite a shock to do something that I'd almost forgotten how to do!!  You can see by the date on the layout that I am more than slightly behind in my scrapbooking. I have so much that I want to scrap, that it's all quite overwhelming, but I just decided to pick up some photos and just do it. Not get wrapped up in what I should be scrapping or too overwhelmed at what needs to be scrapped - just pick up the first bundle of pics on my pile and just do it.  Some good old fashioned, quick, paper scrappin'. Wonder if I'll get another page in this afternoon?

I even drew up a very dodgy quick sketch for you in case you, like me, accidentally take way too many photos and need a layout for up to 10 pics!  Measurements of those little photos, to save you the hassle if you use the sketch are 6.5 x 8.5cm. This is my baby girl, who turned 8 yesterday.

Nicole x

one more thing

I know I have already posted today (see below) but following Emma's page about home/where she has lived yesterday I thought I would share this:

A digital page, I did end up putting it together  little differently when it got printed, but in essence its the same. All about my childhood home.

Remembering their toys

Meet Jesse and Woody from Toy Story.

Chances are you've already met them if you have kids! These two have been played with in our house for close to eight years now, and they have definitely seen better days. They get put in pot plants, endure makeovers, and have regular excursions to the back yard. They are still played with constantly and much loved. And it is for this reason I have wanted to record them down on paper for my girls. I did a double page layout for each of my younger daughters.

 

Both girls got the same first page (which is a Cathy Z template found here and then printed as an 8x10 photo), and the second page is an 8x10 enlargement of each girl.

Here's the other daughters second page photo.

If you want to see how I scrapped this toy cow for my eldest girl head over here.

 

I think it's a great thing to do, to scrap the play things that mean a lot to your kids. Won't they love to look back on it when they are all big and grown!

What favourite toys could you document for your kids? Or maybe you still have a special toy, from your childhood that you should record? Please share!

Nicole xx

Christmas...

yep I said it!! It's times ladies to embrace it, time to get into the spirit and time to watch the bank balance decline at an ever so rapid pace ;)

This is an oldie but a favourite. I do love the simple joy of taking kids decoration shopping. They get so excited at the first sighting of the decorations in the shops. It really is "the most magical time of year"!
What are some of the more simple things you enjoy at Christmas?

Diane

same template, different take

Amy posted a double page yesterday that she made from CZ's DYL class. Below is a layout I've done using the same template in the following years DYL class (I hope I haven't shared it here before)

As you can see, it still has the same bones, but with a strip of plain here and a splash of pattern there, the layout is very much different.

I've printed these pages, at home, and mounted them on white cardstock. Love how they turned out (sorry I can't find a pic of the finished product, I'll have to find the real layout in daylight hours and  take another photo).

Thanks for popping by.

Sharon

An Oldie ...

In the last two weeks I have posted brand new scrap pages, this week I have an older one. It's from the first round of Design Your Life by Cathy Zielske over at Big Picture Classes, I'll have you note ... it's a double page layout ... not my favourite sort.

Anyway, this is an entirely paper page and I used some thickers and Bazzill cardstock, I can't remember where the brad is from, to me it looks way too big for that position on the page, but that's how things go sometimes.
I think this class is still available and many of the templates are available in a digital format at Designer Digitals, have you taken DYL? Which sketches/templates were your favourites? Do you still use them?

Amy

the good life

ah, the sunny beaches of Far North Queensland, that is where I am right now...or I'd better be, as this is a pre-scheduled post!

another double page with lots of photos, that turned out OK, even though it was a disaster unfolding as I was putting it together! story of my life!

See you when I return to reality  home from our little holiday in the tropics...sigh....

Sharon

Challenge day...

and apparently the SAG girls found this one VERY challenging...

I really liked the layout of this magazine article.

Clean and simple, with lots of room for photos, patterned paper and text, as the requirement may be to tell your story. A double page with some oomph.

Amy whined, and moaned, and grumped about this page. Told me it was too hard. That her page was just awful.

And then I got it in my inbox, and how GREAT did it turn out!

Gosh she is a clever thing.

Mine, well you know me and pages, they sort of end up making their own direction.

As usual, not everything went to plan, and the printing didn't work how I wanted to, but not one to muck about too long (after all the story is told, its just something about the text margins or spacing that is bugging me) but its done, in the album and ticked off the list!

I find double pages quite hard to photograph. Please do excuse the pegs (but hey! solved my problem!)

Nicole had a page that already followed the same basic premise of the magazine layout, but mirror image.

Di's version, using divided page protectors - I love how it turned out! and great focal photo.

Emma has been flat out with a new job and chasing around her kids, so she is going to link hers up when she gets a chance.

Anyhow, will keep it short and sweet, as I am in the far west of the state in Cloncurry at a field day. Gotta love modern technology!

A Week In The Life

Is over again for another year, and over here at Simple Aussie Girls, four of us took part this year. Nicole declared this to be far too big a commitment, and normally I share that opinion, but this year I decided to join in and give it a go. My plan was to keep the whole thing as simple and pain free as possible, so that I could reduce any self imposed hurdles that might prevent this from being yet another un-finished project.

This week we plan to share our respective takes on Ali Edwards Week In The Life, and hope you enjoy seeing a bit of how we've gone about things, and of our daily lives.

Like I mentioned before, my intention was to keep things as simple as possible for myself. I downloaded the PDF's thoughtfully provided by Ali, printed them and kept them accessible on my kitchen counter. With a pen tied to the bulldog clip holding them together so the kids couldn't run away with it. I kept basic notes about each day, and took photos. Not nearly as many as other people, but when it came down to the end, I wasn't able to use all of them anyhow!

I put the album together in a hybrid fashion.  My title page, using some word art from CZ.

I won't share every page as they are pretty much the same, but just give you a taste of how it came together.

I decided on a simple double page spread for each day, facing each other.

The above photos I printed and chopped up, and slid them into divided photo pockets. It looks great and I love the slight see through element of it all, but I am not sure I will do this again! It wasn't as fast as I would have liked it to have been!

And how it looks all put together:

I made a slight error when printing - I didn't "flip" the text - I printed them all the same, however when you flip the page the text doesn't lay at the centre of the main page, which gives a great big ole bit of trapped space in the middle. However, I didn't want to print or re-do those pages again do just left it be and made a mental note for "next time"!

And if you have done the mental math on the pages, you would realise that I would end with a blank divided page at the back - which I intend to fill with photos I didn't use already for the week.

I decided to include the daily pages that I had scribbled on.

  I've put them in a pocket, and as they are a bit messy, simple made a cover to put in front of them in the same pocket.

This has left me with a blank pocket on the other side of those daily pages...which I have filled with a special layout, that you will see more of in a few weeks time, involving Amy's next challenge.

If I do this again? Go into a little more depth, I think. I've skimmed the surface in keeping it so simple. Use some patterned paper, I think. While I don't mind the clean graphic look, a bit of pretty paper would have been nice. But I can't be bothered adding any now its done!  Other thoughts: include the front page of the newspaper, folded in a pocket. Print out some news headlines for one day, from an on line news service. For sure, include shopping dockets (I didn't actually go to the grocery shop during my WITL!) But now, I've done it once, and its pretty much done and away in its album.  I think I might do this every second year, and house it in the same album.

Pop by tomorrow and see how Amy put her WITL together! Feel free to share a link to your own Week in the Life in the comments, or on our Flickr page (just let us know so we know to have a look!)

why I like to do my pages in one sitting

I am not a person that likes to draw a project out, I like to do my pages in one sitting, one block of time. I do NOT like a layout that becomes prolonged, my interest in completing it wanes and I am mentally ready to move on. This can be said for pretty much any project I undertake - I can't get it done quickly, I lose interest!
This page, I had pretty much ready to stick down, when my printer chucked a wobbly. I had decided to print the photos I wanted at home...finally, I got a new printer, printed the photos and put the page together, using a CZ template. But my train of thought, my ideas I'd had at the time were gone...and so, this page annoys me. It follows the template but the finishing touches, the little "ah!" bits, didn't come to me. But again, its a page done, story told, moving on, even if it annoys me to look at the page!

And my apologies for slightly crooked page, Nic take a deeeep breath, I am not sure how to straighten it up.
Lots of white space on this mage....but no TRAPPED space! you might notice that the text is a bit close to the photo, but that would be me not thinking and sticking stuff down before realising...
and trying to use up these cheap and cheerful thickers, that I bought heaps of at the $2 shop.
Enough from me...following on from Amy's question yesterday: do you have a page that annoys you or bothers you, for whatever reason?  Do tell!

Sharon

double hybrid page

A true hybrid page, about the fantastic school camp my daughter went on to North Keppel Island (in the Whitsundays, Qld! Hello! I'm going along next time!)  I did the page using a template from CZ (top image) but after I printed it out at home on photo paper, I realised that I didn't want a white background. I cropped and plonked it onto some 12x12 blue , add some brads and called it done. Turned a double 8.5 x 11 into a 12x12, and I love it.