Scrapbooking Made Simple

By the way here's a photo of my mother and father and my mothers parents at mum and dad's wedding. Nana had a scrawley spidery sort of handwritting that was typical of her era and mum's was so small and perfect it was beautiful. I don't have any of my pop's handwritting unfortunately as I would love to have seen what sort of handwrtting those large hands would produce.

So here it is my finished layout.... I did use my bark concept for my title... I used a piece of paper bark that I found in a park and I used my chipboard letters to trace around with a black marker and then I cut out the letters. I also used a handmade paper for "all" and the "leaves". I showed this layout to a friend of mine and she thought I had made the paper for "Boy" myself and when I told her it was bark off a tree she was a little blown away. Of course I'm not sure if in other parts of the world you have trees like the Australian Native Paper Bark Tree that so nicely provide flat sheets of soft bark for you to work with but you may be able to make your own paper with lots of leaves and things in it to get a similar effect. I used the zippered section to add my journalling. I like using handwritten journalling sometimes as it will be nice for the kids to look back on after I'm long gone. I still love using my nana's original receipes so

I recently had a clean out of the kids bedrooms. As usual there were lots of things to be thrown out and lots of things to give away but this time there were even things to go to my scrapbook room! These board books are an excellent example. The jigsaw pieces are all missing from the jigsaw book and the sticker book has long since lost it's stickers.... but the really interesting one is the one with the circle cut out of the middle. This was one of those books with a sound module that sat in the middle and as you read the story there were symbols showing you to press that sound.... well needless to say the sound module has gone to goodness knows where? But I thought these would be great for my scrapbooking. Instead of throwing these out I thought i could paint and alter these as mini albums.... I'm also wondering how I might turn the circle cut outs into shaker boxes.... I'll work on that one and let you know! The bit I like most is these were all gifts so they didn't c

Free Scrapbooking Ideas ...: School Holidays are upon us.

Here's another submission from Deb in Toowoomba. Deb is a creative memories consultant (or going to be soon? is that right Deb?). Here she has used a really great mosaic effect to place lots of photos on a page. I love the way this has turned out and may have to steal this idea at some point...

Here's another layout from my wedding album. This is my Maid of Honour. I saved here by using a hand cut title from patterned paper and by using recycled chipboard (off a notebook) for my gold circles. I used opals embossing powder to colour these.

I was just watching Craft TV Weekly and saw a webisode on using aluminium cans in your layout. I think this is a great idea but for any of you wanting to save time on the metal preparation check out my previous post and layout: http://cheap-scrapbooking-ideas.blogspot.com/2006/10/baby-formula-tin-yields-scrapbooking.html This will show you how I used the inside lid linning of my baby formula tins. You don't need to cut the can up or iron it flat! The metal is all prepared for you and in some cases has a pattern impressed into it. I love what he's done with this idea though check it out: www.crafttvweekly.com

This is quite funny, Enjoy!

After looking at the cost of a layout I'm going to challenge myself to do some cardstock only layouts (not for my wedding though). Do you think you could manage it? Well I'm not sure but I'm gonna give it a go. But it does get a little ridiculous the costs, con't you think? So I'm going to challenge myself to do a layout using cardstock and patterned paper only! Of course not having a cricuit or sizzix or anything this will mean hand cutting my title....... painstaking... BUT I think it'll be a challenge artistically too. These layouts were done by Deb of Toowoomba and you can see how she's used her paper and cardstock to acentuate her photo's theme.... I especially love the dolphin! When I went to a scrapbook evening recently one of the ladies did a fabulous layout using paper piecing. She made Dora the Explorer layous and her 'dora' was fantastic. I don't think I have that much patience but punching and tearing are right up my alley. Bu

Here's another submission from a reader. This one is also from Deb of Toowoomba. This is a great example of how to save money on your layouts by making all the titles and most of the embellishments from co-ordinating cardstock. Chalking and inking your edges add interest to the page too. I would even cut out the cardstock sitting behind each layer so that I can use that cardstock to cut out the tags and letters and flowers. That way you would use only one sheet of paper or cardstock instead of two.

As promised I am featuring submissions from YOU my regular readers. This submission was sent to me by Deb of Toowoomba. Here's a great gift idea that one of my regulars recently made. Thanks for this Deb. The frame is decorated with patterned papers and ribbons. Deb said she bought this frame from a shop but thinks you could save by getting your frame from a secondhand store or ebay etc. (The faces are blanked out as we don't have permission to show them online). The "G" is the first letter of the family name. Deb added the rest of the letters after taking this photo to preserve annonymity. I think this looks great! And is such a great gift idea. Do you have a layout you love and would love to see here? Email it to: cheapscrapbookingideas@yahoo.com

These are the first two pages I have completed for my wedding album. I went with the die cuts with a view Once Upon a Time 12 x 12 paper stack because I just LOVED this page! My dress was my first miserly adventure. I purchased it second hand and paid less than they paid for the material! I still have it at home in case my daughter would like to wear it. My tiara hasn't survived being moved around and squished and such but the dress and veil are all still good. I really wanted to wear my mums dress (if she'd had one). My mum didn't really have a dress more of a coat and hat thing? So I had to go find a dress that would fit me which wasn't easy. Everything I tried on was too big! And then magic this dress fit perfectly! It was meant to be. So for $250 one embroidered raw silk dress with detachable train. Because the paper is so beautiful and it is hidden behind the photos I used my knife to cut out elements and tuck my photos behind them. I didn't want to lose all t

Hi everyone, well tomorrow is mothers day. I hope you all have a great day with your mums or your kids or both! Lol. We'll be having a very quiet day as DH is away at a conference this weekend. And as we're without the car and I'm not much of a walker we shan't be going far. Maybe just down to the beach for a picnic (it's only two blocks I think even I can manage that). Many years ago now BK (before kids) I went to Melbourne to see a friend of mine. Anyway I stayed with my husbands' brother while I was there and I was really shocked at what he thought walking distance was...... ESPECIALLY IN HEELS! OMG! My feet hurt after that! So after raisin toast for breakfast and opening my presents.... I can't wait to see what DS bought me... DD spoiled the surprise by telling me he'd hid a necklace under his pillow for me! LOL! We've managed not to let him know she spoiled his surprise. And I know DD has made something she's really proud of! I think we&#

This layout is also 8 x 8 size and utilizing the Die Cuts With a View glitter 4 x 6 mat paper stack. To save here I have used papers from the range to create my titles. All the elements are made from paper including the embellishments. The only acceptance to this rule is the jewel in the centre of the flower. And because there isn't alot of room left on a 8x 8 if you use two photos I made all my journalling go around the outside edge of the page like a border. To add interest some of the elements are raised off the page. (yeah for pop dots)!

I finished this 8 x 8 layout of my son at approx 2years old with our dog. I wanted to do a layout to remind my son when he's older of the special bond he had with our dog. She treated him like he was her puppy! It was very cute! This layout is pretty economical. I used the 6 x 4 mat stacks from Die Cuts with a View for my patterned paper, utilising left overs from a previous project. The plain orange background is from a bulk pack of paper. I was able to use paper for the background rather than cardstock as the patterned pieces are actually cardstock so they give the strength to the page. The stickers (letters) are a variety of stickers I've collected from $2 shops and the K&Co stickers used for Dog and Boy were in a discount bin at a scrapbok store for $2.95. The rub-on (Best Friends) was also from a discount store and cost me $3.95 a similar product from a scapbook store would retail at approx $8.95 and I have heaps left! I use my papers in a miserly fashion by placing a

I went with the beads! I sewed these pearl beads on for effect. Mostly because I've forgotten how to do my french knots. LOL! This is the final layout I did at the scrap night last week. For a multiphoto layout there is still lots of room to embellish which is nice. In these photos the kids were waiting for someone to arrive (can't remember who) and DD used the time to lavish lots of hugs and kisses on her big brother. I am undecided if I will sew french knots where the pencil dots are around my hand sewing swirl or if I'll attach little beads. I love the pink and brown papers I used here on the chipboard letters. They're from the Die Cuts With a View Glitter stack range. I inked the edges of the page for a little more interest and then used a gorgeous sparkly pink embroidery cotton to sew my swirls. I achieved these by using a tracing wheel (a sewing tool) in my doodle pro. Doodling is a great way to add something to your layout! My sister-in-law said she has found te

This is the layout I started but didn't finish at the scrap night. I'm sure many of you have seen this photo and concept before. I did a video using them ages ago! Anyway I'm planning on saying "underneath that model exterior you're all Boy!" I cut out sections of the photo to make a pretty pattern using my craft knife. The patterned paper under the zippered section has baseball caps and sneekers and boy stuff on it. I'm hoping to get some time to finish this layout over the weekend and will repost the finished product then. I'm tossing up using real bark for my title..... hmmm ..... it's a cheap title being free and all....... I'll let you know

This is one of the layouts I did at the scrap night last saturday. This one is actually finished! As usual the layout style is very simple. I coloured the chipboard using ink pads. Which is very quick drying. I then painted a glitter paint over the top for extra sparkle. The papers used are from the Die Cuts with a View Posies Paper Stack range. I tried to use the sewing machine at the crop night but wasn't able to finish it off as the machine had other ideas.... darn machines.... I don't know what it is with me and machines but they will work just fine for anyone but me?? So consequently there is only a small amount of stitching on the page. I have used these tiny pictures of the original for extra effect. More layouts from the scrapnight still to come.... stay tuned.