Scrapbooking Made Simple

I've been so hectic lately. Sorry guys I haven't posted for ages. I have been very busy though! I have made two more sets of the calendar/address book and notebook sets and I've made a bracelet, some body scrub and some christmas decorations. Photos will be supplied as soon as I get a chance. I've also been busy with all the preparations for my birthday and my DS's birthday and social events. There are two parties that we love going to every year! The first was held yesterday. This is a girls only event! One of my girlfriends' hosts this event and it is WONDERFUL! We sit around her pool and talk and catch up and eat delicious food and get a massage! We had the BEST time! Then the other annual christmas event we love attending is on today. We have friends who live across the road from the beach. Every year they have an all day pool party. (For those of you who don't know I live in Redcliffe, QLD, Australia.... our Christmas time is the hottest time of the yea...

Well I have been a busy little bee whilst not online and posting. I have been making Christmas Presents. I love this time of year. It's hard work and by Christmas Day I really deserve my day of rest! But no matter how tired I am I still manage to cram some more into it... So here is an example of one gift I have made. There's a Calendar/Note board, a receipe book and address book. I used a pink and brown theme for this project so all the items will co-ordinate. I actually used this colour scheme for my album of my childhood so you know it's a favourite. The Calendar/Note board is two sided. This is the noteboard side. (see the bulldog clip for storing notes or memo's) This is the calendar side. (It's a two year calendar which I purchased for $1.... easier than making it) The whole thing is done as a sandwich board so you can easily close it up to get it out of the way if you need the space. Here's my receipe book: I only divided it into two sections Savoury ...

Well as I said last night was a commencement of the Christmas Present making that I do....... a late night was endured and I'm no where near finished enough to show you any photos yet..... but I did design a coffee mug... You know how the photo labs alllow you to put a photo on a coffee cup? Well I decided to take that a step further and put a layout on a coffee mug. Here are the two cups I've done.... am waiting for them to be "processed".. but I love the idea! In fact I love these so much I think I'll have to get some for us too! I'm back to my work space to continue on the production line so hopefully I'll have something to show you tomorrow.

It's often hard to pick a colour scheme when you're dealing with multiple photos. In this case I used my largest photo as the indicator for my colour scheme. I loved this day at the show as it was the first time my DD was brave enough to ride the pony...... Now she loves horses and wants one just like I did. Unfortunately all the land where I kept my horse as a kid has been developed into housing estates now so I don't think I'll be able to get her a pony........ It's a shame but there really isn't any good adjistment land anywhere close by anymore. My DS has always loved animals (just like his mummy) and he would be ecstatic if we got a horse. He loved the pony ride! Our local show is very small by anyones standard but it's perfect for little kids. It's held every year during the winter holidays (hence the warm hat on DD hiding her curls). I took this layout and many of the ones I've shown you recently to my local photo printing lab to get a photo...

I had to share this layout with y'all..... I love this! It was a 1 in a million shot. We went to the zoo as a family and my husband said to my son "Say CHEESE". So my son looked at the camera and smiled. When my husband looked at the shot on the camera he thought it was really funny that the Lama also smiled for our photo. These are the sorts of moments I love to journal about most. Those spontaneously funny moments that just come out of the blue! I also love this colour combination. I'd love to redo my loungeroom in these shades but my DH isn't keen...... I'll work on him... Though I guess I can see his point. I do get attached to colour combinations for a while then I move on to my next favourite combination....... oh well there's always scrapbooking to let me explore my favourite colours.

Here is another one of those three second layouts! I used a free digi kit and just added a few touches of my own. The elements on the photo were added in Adobe Photoshop. The rest of the layout was achieved using Scrapbook Max. I'm planning on printing a synopsis of the year in digital layouts and then my paper scrapbooks will have everything else. So here is one of the layouts I have done of my daughter's 3rd birthday party. And here is another:

I did this layout early last year and haven't had a chance to share with you the cost saving ideas I used here. I stamped my title with paint directly onto the page, this saved alot on my title. Next I used a little paper rabbit I purchased for .50c at a show. I then used it as a template to punch out this little grey one. I added a ribbon to the page that came wrapped around a present I received and I used a piece of patterned paper that I got in a bulk packet. And the little rabbit charm came in a packet of six for $3.00. So even though I used alot of embellishments I haven't spent a great deal of money on this page. I loved these photos of my DS when he was a baby and dressed in these cute little bunny pjamas. For some reason at this stage he was mad for rabbits. Every night we had to read all 12 books that we had with rabbits in them. His toothbrush had a rabbit on it and his favourite television show was "Max and Ruby".... you guessed it rabbits!

I love to get alot of uses out of one purchase and this is a perfect example of how I do that. This butterfly is one of many strung together. The whole strand cost me $1.69 and was one of a couple I purchased to decorate out yard for my daughter's birthday part.... It was a butterfly party... anyway at the end of the party I took them down and have used them to decorate my daughters bedroom. Recently one of the butterfly's and one of the flowers fell off so I've confisgated them as scrapbooking supplies! Now I just need to find the photos of that party and we're good to start scrapping!

I always say I love to spend my budget on tools first. I was browsing in a store the other day and saw this punch on sale for $2.50. What a bargain! I thought it would be really good for titles as each letter of the title could be placed on each little tag. So todays tip is to keep your eyes open for specials! Always be browsing and thinking outside the box a bit, as you may find a wonderful supply or storage device in another part of the store other than the scrapbook section.