Baby Shower Gift

 I have a baby shower to attend soon, and decided to make a little scrapbook to give.  I saw an idea in a magazine to make a scrapbook that would record each month of the baby's life for the first year. I basically set it up so each page could be used for a month, with a page for the birth, journaling pages, and a few extra thrown in for good measure.  Since the parents do not know the gender, I thought greens, peach, and some blue and pink would be appropriate.  Hope the new mother enjoys it!

Scrapbooker for Hire

Cover page

Yep, me!  The job I love best...someone actually paying me to make a scrapbook.  I mean, what could be better than that, right? My principal was recently named the high school principal of the year in New York State - pretty awesome! Our "sunshine" club hired me to make a scrapbook in her honor.

Inside cover and first page

 Article from the paper, some photos I found on-line, and with the use of one of my past Kit Klubs, I was off and scrapping.

Staff page

 Many, many letters were written in support of her getting the award, so this scrapbook was designed to keep them all in one place.  Some of the letters were written by the staff, and many by the students.

Keepsake pocket page

 A pocket page to add in any extras, perhaps the card we all signed for her, or a late letter writer...

Student page

Back of student page

 Luckily I found some pages of her with students, or of students.  My principal, Robin, takes care of the students like they were her own children.  Recently she fought a courageous battle with breast cancer and turned it into a learning experience for the students.  The boys soccer team started a "Pink Out" game to support her and breast cancer.  I think these photos will have a lot of meaning for her.

Inside back cover

 I had to add the "always stirring the pot" because she has always had that mischievous side to her, both as a teacher and principal.

Back cover, binding with the Cinch

I don't know who will have more fun with this...for me the joy of making the book...or for her to read over and over.

Celebrating Retirement (not me...)

I thought I would share with you the scrapbooks that I made for two retiring teachers. I was hired by our "Sunshine Committee" at school to design these. One is for a Math teacher and the other is for a Music teacher. Bet you can't guess from the photos which is which!



I kept the layouts fairly simple because I had minimal time to get these done. I cut small squares for all the folks at work to write a memory or note to the person and used these as the main focus of my book.

I had some extra pages to fill, so in one I added pages for photos, and in the other a number of sayings this teacher would often use.

I hope the books reflect their years as a teacher, and will bring many smiles to them in the future. I had to end the books with a page leading into their new "careers" - retirement!

edited: Posted by Maura (she's having trouble logging in to post, so I'm doing her posts for her until we get it cleared up.)

Sign me up.....again

I know that I have mentioned my Project 365 previously HERE. Basically you take a photo a day for an entire year, add a bit of daily journaling and at the end, you have a BIG scrapbook of your year.

I have to admit that I have enjoyed this process more than I thought that I would. Now, granted, you have to have the time to take photos and do the journaling and if you fall behind, it can become overwhelming.

I always tell Maura that we are in this hobby to have fun. It should not be stressful, feel like work or a chore, or take over our everyday lives. That is why Project 365 is just not for everyone.

However, apparently, it is for me. I have decided to undertake this process again for 2010. I just gave myself a gift of Project Life from Becky Higgins. Same basic idea all packaged up in a kit. Now, I do think that the kit takes a lot of the work out of the process. No time spent picking papers, embellishments or so forth...just shoot a picture, print it out and journal.

I just think that next year is going to be a great one to document and I don't want to miss it.

If the idea is appealing to you, but a year seems a bit too much, why not try Ali Edward's idea and document A Week In The Life? This approach focuses on documenting everyday details over the course of seven consecutive days. I think that you will be pleasantly surprised with the results.

Believe me, not every photo in my Project 365 is a great shot. Some are out of focus but capture what I wanted to remember, some days aren't even a photo but perhaps a note that my husband left for me, or a receipt, or even a card received from Maura in the mail. Just everyday details that I want to remember about my life at that point in time.

So, here's to documenting 2010!

Scrapbook in a tin

Anything can be a scrapbook. For instance, I had an empty Maya Road tin.
It was filled with their large bottle caps but when it was empty, I decided that it would make a great scrapbook. I put a large photo behind the front window and added a rub-on to the outside. I used the bottle caps to house the photos of a summer vacation at Maura's and I added journaling on the bottom of the tin.

I love how it turned out! So, don't be too quick to throw away the packaging...it just might be turned into a one of a kind scrapbook.

"P" is for Photos

Maura and I both love the 7Gypsies 97% Complete Stickers. I love the fact that I can use one sticker sheet to alter a blank journal cover, a lunchbox or even a blank tin like I did here with the black and white photo themed sheet.



I added some pop dots behind the center square to add dimension and tied on a metal camera charm to fit the theme.

Inside the tin, I made a pocket on the left hand side with two tags slipped inside and adhered a rubber stamped Photo Log image on the right hand side.



The tin measures 4 1/2" x 6 1/4" making it the perfect size for a stack of 4" x 6" photos inside.

I like finding items like this tin that can be easily made into a unique scrapbook.

Rubber stamp: Cat's Life Press

The start of it all...

When my husband and I were married over 19 years ago, he was finishing college. We moved to a very small town and he suggested that I find a hobby. I can remember looking through a Martha Stewart Living magazine and seeing a small article about stamping your own gift wrap. I thought that it sounded like fun and so I became a rubber stamper.

Then scrapbooking started appearing in my rubber stamping magazines and Creating Keepsakes was first published. I can even remember my very first issue. I enjoyed looking through the magazine but swore that I would never become a scrapbooker. After all, what would I scrapbook about?

Then my husband and I bought a camper. And I became a scrapbooker.



At first I only scrapbooked our camping adventures. Gradually I began making mini-books, then altering items, then home decor...and the rest is history.

To this day I thank my husband for suggesting that I needed a hobby.

Total Surprise

I just happened to be surfing the internet checking out the latest products from the CHA (Craft and Hobby) summer show that is going on in Orlando this week. I like to check out the sites that show photos from the show so that I can keep up with all the new products being released. While in the process of clicking on various links to sites, I stumbled upon The Everyday Scrapper.

(click on photo for link)

As I was scrolling down the front page, there was a post that talked about camping. Since my husband and I are big campers and a lot of what I scrapbook about are our camping trips, I was very interested. I scrolled further and this appeared....

Guest poster Michelle:Camp Kaboodles

To start your camping documentation, why stick to a regular page in an album? Wouldn’t it be fun to use a cute little lined, printed notebook as a camping journal? You could jot down thoughts on camping while there and add embellishments and photos once you’re home. These ones are cute:

This cute little trailer mini album would do the trick, by the aptly named Campfire Designs. (click on photo for link)

That's my little camper scrapbook from my little Etsy shop!!! I can't tell you how excited I was that someone liked my scrapbook enough to link to it on their blog. It was a total surprise and made my day.

And...there will be more of these little scrapbooks going in the shop shortly.