Scrapbooking Made Simple

Here's my layout of my DS a his school dance as a Cowboy. I loved this photo. Found it on the school noticeboard. This one was taken by the principal who came to the dance as Jack Sparrow. he looked great! Last year he was Elvis. He's a great principal! Anyway when I saw this on the noticeboard I had to have it. This isn't a very miserly layout because I purchased a sheet of patterned paper especially for this layout but I did save with my embellishments. The little cowboy suit is a gift from my sister-in-law who had this as a left over from a layout of her own. The sheriff star is part of his outfit. I found the ribbon at my LSS and new the colours were a perfect match for his shirt so had to have them. The cowboy tittle is a leather look paper on chipboard letters. (Which I cut myself from free chipboard). Now for the photo: I printed it twice. Once A4 size on canvas paper and frayed the edges and once wallet size so the true colours could be shown. The materials used fo...

It's very simple. I've used one piece of cardstock and left over pieces of patterned paper and chipboard letters. I mixed up my fonts and the use of the outside of the letters as well as the punched out centres for more contrast. The faux metal pieces were a gift and come on a sheet that you cut out the bits you want. I really felt that this layout needed to be rather simple as the photo was so beautiful it needed to take centre stage. Also as the photo is so large (A4) I had very little page left so I added the two little rub-ons onto the photo. So if you like it feel free to leave me a comment. Alternatively I'm open to suggestions on how I could improve it. I think I have save money here by using off cuts of patterned paper to cover my chipboard rather than buying premade ones. Also I cut my own chipboard letters to save money whenever possible.

I'm excited guys. I'm having a day off from the kids and going with my best scrap buddy to the paper crafts festival at the RNA Showgrounds. I'm not going to be spending much money as I don't have any spare at the moment. All my usual fail safe's have been used up already and with DH not having worked in 3 months reserves are running low. So this will be a look and get ideas adventure today. I'm taking my camera too! In case I see anything fabulous to share with you all. I'm also taking a packed lunch (miser tip for all). I've budgeted $30 for me to spend today and $10 to get in and I decided I wasn't going to waste $10 on lunch so I've packed us a sandwich and drink to take along... I learnt this one the hard way last time. The little kiosk's they have set up at these events charge exorbitant prices and last time I went to a fair I had to go take extra money out of the bank to have lunch... $3.80 for a bottle of water? I know we're in a ...

2 Peas Monday Blogger Today's Challenge~ When looking back at your past blog posts. Do you wish you could change anything about your writing or blog? I have to say NO. No I wouldn't change anything about my writing on my blog. Most of the time the topics I write about are very factual and written in my own voice. Sometime though I have sensored my voice. Whenever I've shared something personal in my blog I never lie but I will omit information or feelings and thoughts that would unduly harm others. I don't regret this even though it is sensoring my voice somewhat... Why do I do it? Well because my family and friends didn't chose to go into this journey with me. They've been dragged along without their knowledge or consent. I protect identies wherever possible but I do talk about them all as they're such a big part of my life. I chose to start a blog because I love scrapbooking and I wanted to share some of my findings on how to save money at this craft. I...

Getting your stash organised can seem impossible! I recently had to re-organise my re-organisation....... you see when I moved my scrap space to the laundry I organised all of my stash into a well organised easy to find shelving unit..... Now after scrapbooking in this space I discovered that although I could find my stuff easily it was a pain in the butt putting it all away again. You see when I start a project I pull out several paper and cardstock options and then chose the one I like best. So then I have to put everything away again.... Consequently I discovered that filing all my papers by colour doesn't really work for me. So sometimes even the best system won't work for you! It's all about finding a filing system for all you stuff that works best for you. For instance I was watching Scrapbook Lifestyle and they were looking at a desiners scrapspace. (Not sure which one) Anyway this designer put all of their chipboard letters away by letter. So each draw held letter...

The 2 Peas Wednesday Blogger challenge is to blog about a colour you have trouble scrapping. This is really weird but I can't think of a single colour that fits into this category. I love using all colours! Every colour evokes an emotion or mood to use in my layouts. I usually choose my layout colour schemes based on my photos so there isn't a colour I don't use at some time. Of course I have my favourites! I usually find though that I go through colour phases. For instance a while back I had a real pink and orange phase. During this time I was dressing my kids in alot of pink and orange without realising it so I could use some gorgeous pink and orange patterned papers I'd bought. Sometimes I find a beautiful paper and want to use it so much I'll look for backdrops and outfits to match. But over the last fortnight I've done an orange and green layout, a pink and yellow and now a pink and white layout. Before that a brown and gold layout and a very purple layout....

I LOVE THIS PHOTO! Can't wait to scrap it! As a friend of mine said it's the kind of shot you always dream of having but never usually get. The sunlight through her hair shows off her curls perfectly and creates a beautiful halo effect. The background blurred just adds to this and makes DD the focal point of the shot. I just love the look on her face. It's not the usual smile you get for photo's but it is an expression that is very like her. As many of you know we recently adopted a nana for my kids (as they didn't have one and I felt they were missing out). Our lovely nana came with a husband so the kids got a two for one deal. They now have a fabulous "poppy" too! This Saturday was my DD's ballet class and nana and poppy came along to watch. Poppy is a fabulous photographer and took this great shot for me. The "Lions Aunties and Uncles Program" is a great idea and is how we found our nana and poppy. (with a little help from a local TV sh...

I recently obtained some acetate overlays 12 x 12 (pack of 6) very cheaply. Anyway I was looking through the overlays and really wanted to use this one. So I dug out some old photos (taken pre digital camera days). Usually when I'm doing a layout I'll pull out several papers that go with my theme, or colours or the mood I wish to convey, or perhaps that match my photos or the embellishments I wish use. Once I have pulled out all the possible choices available to me I'll make a decision. If this is too hard for me or if I'm conflicted I'll often take my choices to my DH along with the photos and ask for his opinion. Being an artist he has a good eye. Anyway this time I was able to make the entire layout on the acetate and then show him background choices. I think this is a great way to work on your own style and set out. It can teach you how to choose a good complimentary background for your photos. Below are the options I presented to him. 1. 2. 3. 4. What's...

For some time now I've been working on this travel album for my cousin and his wife. They are my favourite relatives! I can't explain adequately how much I love and appreciate them for everything they do for me and my kids. Last Christmas they went on holiday to Europe and I told them I'd do their photo album up for them on their return....... well...... It was August and I still didn't have any photo's to scrapbook so I decided the best thing I could do was make up the albums and then give them to them for them to add the photos when they have time to print them. This first tin is a CD tin to hold the CD's of their photos' for future save keeping. This little case is to hold all the memorabillia from their trip like coins and notes etc..... And these are the albums. I had them cut out of thick chipboard in the shape of a suitcase and then bound them so the albums are original and colour co-ordinated. I had a ball with this one. I chose papers that were bei...

I went to my LSS (Passion for Paper) of the most wonderful cupcakes I've ever had (very decidant!). We then had two raffles, neither of which I won (doh!) and then I got to try out "Opals Embossing Enamel" by Pipe Dream Ink.... Gotta tell you I'm hooked! This stuff takes embossing to a completely new level. I'll put up a photo of an example I did to show you the effect you get with this stuff. I then spent the rest of the evening die cutting with the shops' Big Shot, Sizzix and Sizzlet. I know most of the other women who attended got a page or two done but I really hate getting a layout half done and then having to abandone it because I don't have all the tools I need. And lets face it there's no way I could take every tool, embellishment and supply I have to an away scrap. I have the makings for around 20 pages now by just focusing on using her tools and getting the most out of them. All round though I think it was a very well spent evening. My $15 ...

I can't wait to scrap these photos. Tonight my DS's school had a dress up school dance... DS went as a cowboy..... I just need some time now! Darn it I've got stuff on every day for the next few days and I really can't wait to do these photos. Don't you hate that? You 've got some great photos.... you feel inspired and know what you're going to do and then you don't have the time to do them. With this shot I accidently got the effect I've been trying to get for weeks. This clear foreground and blurred background is an effect I've been going through all my old scrapbooking magazines to find the tutorial on it.... Which incidently didn't help me! When I found the tutorial it told me what to do but I didn't have corresponding buttons on my camera. So I went through the booklets for my camera but that didn't really help. So I randomly tried the different settings out... Still no luck and then BAM! This evening I fluke it! Probably can...

I received this comment on an old post (my reply is below). Anonymous said... Buy a Klick and Kut, A.K.A. KNK. It's a custom cutter, like cricut, but doesn't take cartridges, and it cuts any computer font you have and can cut chipboard. Pricey though. $549 in the U.S. But never need dies, new alphas, and can size everything. 11:24 PM The Scrap Miser said... This sounds like EXACTLY what I want! Thank You! Now I just have to wait for them to come to Australia. After I got your post I started checking out my usual online shopping haunts... to no avail.I was actually tossing up whether or not to get a cricuit or a whishblade a while ago but didn't do anything in the end as I really do more with chipboard so figured I should spend that money on sizzix dies..... I know you said it's fairly expensive but I figure it's worth it as you don't have to keep buying dies everytime you want to do something.... You could probably create most things you want in Adobe and then ...

I love this photo of my son. It's perfect in every way except for the blurriness . I love the spontaneity the smile the BIG blue eyes just dancing with merriment..... What I don't love is the blurriness . Now the problem is I don't understand why it is blurry. I had the settings on the camera set for automatic of kids and animals. So it is supposed to compensate for the fact that kids move..... and in other shots it has worked well but for some reason it came out blurry this time. Any ideas? Any advice on how I can stop this happening? .... please, please, please guys I'm desperate here!

My 20 year school reunion was this Saturday night! Here is a photo of me and my best friends as we left for the reunion. I'm in pink....... The evening was amazing. Catching up with people you didn't really talk to that much when you were at school is interesting...... You really get to know them for the first time more than renew your friendship. I don't know about everyone else but I think its kind of funny how people get caught up with remembering you as you were and pigeon holeing you? At least that's what seems to happen to me. I know I've had lots of therapy since those days and have changed ALOT! Not everyone I went to school with has changed or grown in the last 20 years though... SCARY! Quite a few people were exactly the same! But I did wonder why most of the guys got Fat, Bald and Grey whereas most of the women got better looking, more stylish and generally fabulous and they've had children? I did mention my blog to everyone there so be prepared for...