Scrapbooking Made Simple

I took this photo on Saturday as my kids were waiting for DS's friend to arrive for a sleepover. They were siting in the doorway keeping a lookout and my daughter got a pillow put it in my sons lap and put her head down. My son then sat there stroking her hair while they waited. It was such a lovely moment I of course had to snap and photo but now am having difficulty coming up with a title to go with it...... any suggestions would be gratefully accepted.

Here at last are the photos I promised you of my scrapbook space makeover. I've started decorating my scrapspace to make it brighter and more cheerful (less boring). I was given these drawers and thought they'd make a great place to store my chipboard letters. Now when I'm doing a tittle I simply get the letters from in front of me rather than digging through a large box. Plus it makes it more interesting for mixing and matching fonts. I've used the Kaiser Scrapbook beyond the page range and have also done a "Tabe Tidy" and "Magazine Holder" and then covered them in Kaiser paper. I chose these papers because they're perfectly co-ordinated and very bright and colourful. I wanted to go with a pink, orange and lime green colour scheme so thought this paper perfect for the job! I'm planning to do the ribbon storer, rubbish bin and 12 x 12 paper storer also. But will have to wait a little while as the paper storer is $50 in it's raw form....l

Here's a layout I did of my sons's 5th birthday present. I used some dry embossing techniques here so if you've just watched my free video on this topic you'll know how I did it....lol Here I used the dry embossing technique and then chalked over the top to make it stand out. I got the embossing plate free with a magazine too so I especially love this techniqe for it's money saving aspects. By embossing my titles and tags I find that I am saving alot on overall supply purchases. I embossed the tags and then chalked them so they'd stand out a bit more and then used these to hold my journalling.

Here's a layout I did of my mum's friend Bess and her husband Merv. They were over here from Perth a month ago and I got a late call from my dad (11am that day) to say that they were here and did I want to see them? So because Bess had been such a good friend of my mum's and so special to her I really did want to see them! So all plans for that day were cancelled and around I went with my daughter. Unfortunately my son was at school so Bess didn't get to see him. But I'm glad I got this photo for my kids scrapbook as it helps them get an idea of who their Grandmother was!

Here's a layout I completed this morning. I had a bit of time between folding the washing. I'm also waiting for my battery to be recharged so I can take a photo of my completed scrapspace draws etc to show you. They turned out GREAT by the way! Also for those of you not on my mail list Part 2 of the video on Dry Embossing was uploaded yesterday. (Check You Tube)

It's Sunday night and the end of another great weekend with the family. I am lucky enough to live in a seaside suburb of Brisbane. And we take advantage of that fact whenever possible. Of course with all the rain of late there hasn't been much chance to enjoy the beach. For instance yesterday we had a picnic in our carport because it was raining and therefore not pleasant enough to go out somewhere. But today it was really lovely between overcast periods. So we went down the beach for a picnic. I also took the kids roller blades and they skated around a basket ball court that has been made on the foreshore. the kids had a ball but because they hadn't done alot of outdoor stuff lately I decided to go for a bike ride. As we only live two blocks from the sea I prefer to ride along the bike paths at the beach whenever we ride as the view is so nice. So off we set! (My bike had flat tyres so DH stayed home and I took his bike). DS rode his bi sleef!ke and DD sat on the seat on

This layout is one of my more boring offerings. BUT it's true to the real point of scrapbooking. Preserving memories. So I'm including it regardless. The title here was cut out using a cricut machine using a shadow font. The little envelope was from a gift tag and holds the journalling about this photo. This photo shows how DD couldn't put her feet into first position for the first year of her dancing and how she used to have to bend over and place her feet in the right position using her hands. I thought it was so cute! I've used a piece of patterned cardstock for the background and then embellished the photo to add interest. I love the little pair of ballerina shoes I found and stuck in the bottom left hand corner of the photo.

Oh my! I can't believe I haven't told you this already....... Sunday was my 12th wedding anniversary and DH bought me a binding machine! What a lucky girl am I? Being married so long is great in one respect.... I know my partner really well and he obviously knows me well too! And in another respect it means I have lots of photos to scrap BUT therein lies my problem. I suddenly realised.... I've been married 12 YEARS! and I haven't scrapbooked my wedding yet! I've started it but never finished. At this rate I'll never get it all done. lol.... So this is the first year in our marriage we've been able to buy each other a present and I really wasn't expecting that we'd would break with the tradition but this year DH insisted on it ..... hence lucky me I'm the proud owner of a binding machine. I'm madly resizing digital layouts now to get them printed and ready to be bound... can't wait! So you're sure to see some new projects coming soon

This layout shows my kids painting one night. I didn't have any painting smocks so I cut up some shopping bags and laid out a plastic tablecloth and let the kids paint up a storm. These are the sorts of layouts I love doing. The ones that tell a story of their childhood for them. So if anything happened to me they'd have some explanations for the crazy things they did in their childhood. One of the things I had the minster talk about at my mum's funeral was how she made everything fun. There was a laugh in everything! That's something I think is really important and I try to concentrate on for my kids. Teaching an enjoyment of life and a joy in the everyday mundane stuff is sometimes hard but lots of fun!

Here's a layout I did using primarilyShabby Princess Designs. This layout commemorates all the faces DD gives me in a day..... and I love everyone of them. From thoughtful face to cranky face to happy face. When you see that smile it makes everything worthwhile!

Here's some digi layouts I completed today. The thing I love about digi scrapping is how quick and easy it is. Whenever I need a scrapbooking fix and I don't have alot of time to spare I can throw together a digi layout. These multi-photo layouts were completed using another kit from Shabby Princess. I've been investigating the costs of printing my layouts and have decided that I will print my digi layouts at the photo lab and then bind them together in a book (using free chipboard for the covers). This will allow me to make albums any size i like and give me the chance to decorate the covers. Now all I need is that binding machine I saw... lol I was thinking of laminating the pages. Can anyone tell me if that would be safe to do or would it ruin the photos?

Get Your 500 Scrapbooking Sketches Now... Click here! This layout is very simple and very cheap. I only used one sheet of cardstock, A quater of a packet of $2 rub ons, One chipboard letter from a packet of 26 costing $3.95 and some packaging off a christmas present. I have again blacked out the face of the child that isn't mine as i didn't have time to ask permisssion off her mother so I didn't want to risk it This is darling daughter's best friend. They started ballet together at the beginning of last year and here they are in their matching little outfits. When I was doing this layout I wanted to use the chipboard letter that I had but didn't have a patterned paper I liked. Then I remembered the packaging off the shower gel, moisturiser, bubble bath I got I think it was for Mother's Day? Anyway it was perfect. It was this simple strip of patterened cardstock still sticky on the back! The gift tag also came in handy as my journaling spot.

Have you thought about what you're doing for valentines day this year? I'd tell you all but as my DH reads my blog it would spoil the suprise so I'll let you know after the event. With Valentines Day coming up I thought I should do a valentines themed layout but didn't have a photo of my DH that I liked for the purpose (will have to take one on Valentines Day) so....... Here is a layout I did about my daughter's 1st Love. (I have blacked out the young man in questions' face as I don't have his mothers permission to use his photo on my site so I felt it would be unfair of me to show you his face.) I don't know if he's really her first love or not but what I do know is they're great friends and when they're playing together they only let one other person join their games (DD's best friend .. see ballet layouts). I loved this free digi kit from Shabby Princess and couldn't wait to find a way to use it. I love all the kits that they put

As you can see I don't scrap in order of event. That's because I get excited by the latest batch of photos that arrive and can't wait to scrap those. Well because I've been a bit busy lately I haven't had a chance to send any photos off for developing and consequently had to go back over projects that have been waiting a while. These photos are of DS's 5th Birthday. (I know I'm slack! Afterall I've only recently shown you photos of last Novembers' 6th Birthday!). As usual we had a ball organising this party. It was a Hi 5 Party. So there were Hi5 napkins, cups plates etc etc.... Then we got a Hi5 DVD of then teaching you how to do the dances to their songs. We moved all the furniture off the outdoor entertaining area so this resembled a stage (old packing crates with fence pailings nailed onto them.... another miserly invention) then we put the TV and DVD player on a Table outside and played the DVD so the kids could dance along. To do these la