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Archive for the ‘Scrapbooking’ Category

The Secret to Increased Creativity

Posted in iPhone Photography, Scrapbooking, tagged , , on April 19, 2012 | 1 Comment »

Take the time to make cards and scrapbook pages together with other crafters! Hmmm, you say…that’s it…because that is hardly a secret. Well, perhaps not, but in the last year I have been to 4 Scrap-a-thons’ and much to my delight I have seen my creativity get a real boost.
Just a year ago I made my very first Scrapbook page. After 10+ years as a card maker I didn’t really think I was ever going to try my hand at it. But to date I have completed 15 layouts. I think that allows me to step out of the “beginner” stage and call myself a card maker and a scrapbooker.=)
This past weekend I attended Falköpings Scrapmara. Here’s a couple of layouts I made that day.

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The first one is the result of an experiment. After spray misting the background I die cut a few butterflies (SU!, Memory box, PTI) and attached them together with my photo. Next I experimented with a 12×12 piece of vellum. I wanted to tear an opening in the vellum and have the butterflies and the photo peak through. I got the idea of torn vellum from a Scrap 365 magazine and I figured if it didn’t work out I could always discard it. Turns out I really like the result! All soft and curled! Though I doubt I would get the same result if I tried it again.

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For my second layout I used a series of photos I took of the kids using the Hipstamatic app. The flag banners were cut from the Echo Park Playground collection. I have used it a ton! I love the bright colors and that the matching is already done for you. Each flag was treated to a little distressing before being attached to the background. To ground the images a bit I added a white border. It’s actually a heart border die. I hid the top of the hearts under the photos to get the look I wanted.

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Here’s a close up. I love that Joshua appears to have antlers! LOL

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The Scrap-a-thon was really a great deal of fun. I spent a large portion of it learning how to water color with my new Distress Markers. I’ll post those cards next.

Thanks for stopping by,

Sara

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A Rejuvenating Day

Posted in Scrapbooking, tagged , , on March 28, 2012 | 1 Comment »

Being a mother of two toddlers can be exhausting at times! Not that I would trade it for anything, it’s a precious season in life I treasure dearly.  But in order to keep a good attitude I welcome little breaks from the routine like “Vårgårda Scrapmara” hosted by Scraptrion.  A full day of crafting and time with good friends is a great way to rejuvenate a weary soul.

Here’s a few pictures of the layouts I made throughout the day.

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The first one was a “Title Challenge”. “Du har pippi på morfar” loosly translates to “you’re crazy about Grandpa”. That is particularly true of Joshua. The minute he sees Morfar he wants to sit on his shoulders. He doesn’t leave his side willingly. The feeling is mutual and it’s a real treat to watch those two.

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The second one was a challenge to do a layout about “Your life in Numbers”. I chose to make a list of 1 through 10. The journaling reads: One husband, Two Children, I have lived in Three countries, I attended a Four year college, Five times a day I prep food (for my little ones), Six Swedish miles to Mormor and Morfar, that is better than the 600+ miles to Grandma and Grandpa, I have studied Seven languages, An Eight day week would be great – more time for crafts, Nine hour time difference to my other home, Ten pair of shoes are not enough.

I literally threw it together in 10 minutes just so that I could participate in the prize drawing. Apparently I do well under pressure since I won! =) Fun!!

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The last one was a sketch challenge. It was a struggle, but I had a lot of fun putting it together. Our boys love, love, love to read. We have many Dr. Seuss books and they are real favorites. I found a little quote from “The cat in the hat” to add to my layout.

As I was taking photos of the pages, Caleb wanted to have a look. And to a boy of almost 4 years of age, looking means touching!

I’m sitting here smiling as I type this post. It was just so much fun! To be creative is truly a relaxing thing for me. Though I don’t do it nearly often enough I hope to get better at setting aside time for it. A big thank you to Anna, Malin and Eva for putting together such a fantastic day! And thank you to Helen at Scrapfabriken for bringing your entire store on site for us all to enjoy.

Thanks for stopping by,

Sara

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December Daily Covered

Posted in Christmas, December Daily, Project, Scrapbooking, tagged , , on December 9, 2011 | 3 Comments »

I finished the cover for my December Daily album! I had a blast making this. Glue and ink all over my fingers and paper scraps all over the floor. I went to town with all sort of products and techniques a la Tim Holtz!! Yes, my desk  is a complete mess.  I wanted to create a wintry scene using my “rickety house” die. Here’s what I came up with. I think that “scary house” looks pretty cute in its winter getup.

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An old cereal box made a great foundation for the cover. I simply cut out a 6″x 8″ piece and covered it with patterned paper. This particular one is from the Bo Bunny “Father Christmas” collection.

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The house has been distressed with several shades of green and brown distress inks. A wee bit of glimmer mist on top and a faintly stamped wood grain impression on top of it. I used Antique Linen Distress Stain directly on my stamp for this part. It worked like a charm. It’s a bit hard to see in this picture, but I covered the back of the house with packing tape to cover the windows. I then sprinkled glitter on the sticky side (showing through the front openings) to create that frosted look. The snow marker is a new product for me and I love how it turned out, all puffy and white!

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The alphabet stickers are from Sassafrass. To make them pop a bit more I colored around each letter with a brown marker. Then I covered them with a layer of Glossy. It gave them dimension and a pretty shine. I got that idea from one of Tim Holtz’ tags for Christmas posts.

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The tree and the birds are PTI dies. After cutting the tree and distressing it with ink, I stamped it with a red flourish (also PTI). By this time I was so into adding lots of fun product that I went over it with red stickles too! I do like how it turned out. The little birds has a layer of Glossy to help them stand out. So cute, don’t you think? And the fence…this is another new Tim Holtz die that I think I will find lots of use for. So fun with the snow on top.

I know I already said it, but sitting down and just playing with all my craft supplies was a blast!! Next up is finishing up the first few days of December.

Thanks for stopping by,

Sara

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December Daily in the Works

Posted in Christmas, December Daily, Scrapbooking, tagged on December 5, 2011 | 2 Comments »

I’ve been working on my December Daily album, inspired by Ali Edwards. I still have a ways to go, but I am determined to make it happen this year. So determined that I started my assembly of paper and embellishments over a month and a half ago. Go me!! =)

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So far I have cut all my papers (Cosmo Cricket), Die Cut all my page numbers (PTI) and pulled out a few embellishments and alpha stickers that works with my color scheme.

I have also begun to take pictures everyday. I use my iPhone exclusively for this because that’s the only way I’ll get this done. I’m not a photographer so I use what I always have with me. A few pictures have already been uploaded for printing and I hope to see them this week.

To remember all the little stories throughout the day I am using Evernote on my computer and my iPhone to jot down short journaling paragraphs. This is tremendously helpful as I am prone to forget things very quickly!! That’s why I’m so excited about making this album this year. I know that in a few years from now all the details of the boys childhood and Christmases will be fuzzy so Scrapping my memories this way will be valuable for sure.

I hope to post actual pages within a few days.

Thanks for stopping by,

Sara

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Can We Fix it?

Posted in iPhone Photography, Scrapbooking on October 25, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

I’ve been so wrapped up in my iPhone photography class that I completely forgot to share the layouts I made during the Scrap-a-thon. October is almost over so I better hurry if I want to post these in the same month!

One of the things I really enjoyed this time were the many challenges us participants were presented with. For someone who is completely new at Scrapbooking, it helped to get me started  and keep going throughout the whole day. This particular layout was inspired by a movie poster. I’m afraid I forgot to take a picture of it but the idea is to let the colors, shapes and textures inspire your creation. We also had to use three elements from our welcome kit. Here’s what I came up with.

I just love these photos and I am so happy that I now have the memory of my boys and their tools documented. There’s not a single day that those tools don’t get a serious workout. Bob the Builder and Handy Manny are big favorites with my boys. Well, perhaps it’s mostly Caleb, but baby brother Joshua likes to do what big brother does, so for now they are both tool enthusiasts. =) As for the title…I couldn’t help myself. Those of you that watch Bob the Builder with your kids know that he really says “Can we fix it, yes we can!”, but Caleb’s very serious look made me change it. Don’t you dare question whether he can fix it or not!! LOL.

In this challenge I stretched myself to play with more patterned paper (I’m still a newbie at this) and I used Tim Holtz Distress Stains to create those fun splashes of color. I also found a great stamp set from Inkadinkado with steampunk type images. That corner flourish has little cogs in it! So perfect for my boys. I love to combine stamping with Scrapbooking. It’s the best of both worlds.

Before I’m done I just have to share a few more photos from my iShot That class.

I discovered that I really like Hipstamatic for outdoor photos

I’ve played around with Depth of Field

The PicFrame app, making collages

And more effects than I can count. So much fun!

Thanks for stopping by,

Sara

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A Fun Filled Weekend

Posted in Personal, Scrapbooking on October 3, 2011 | 2 Comments »

I cannot think of a better way to spend a Saturday than to get together and Scrapbook and make cards all day!! October 1st marked the second time I got to participate in the Vårgårda Scrapmara, a Scrap-a-thon hosted by none other than my wonderful sister Anna and her two friends Eva and Malin. These gals do an AMAZING job making this day a special event. From 10am to 10pm all I did was participating in Scrapbook and Card challenges, visiting with other like minded paper crazy ladies, shop in the store on site and eat lovely food. Scrapfabriken brought a ton of stuff and I really enjoyed meeting Helen, the owner.


I’ve never really done much Scrapbooking before but since moving here I have met some really awesome paper crafters such as Rimna and even a couple of Americans!! They have certainly played a role in building my interest for keeping memories in a more artful way. Couple that with having children and you have a really good reason to make sure you write all those sweet stories down somewhere.

So much fun, so much FUN!!! I hope for sunshine tomorrow so I can take photos of the layouts I made.

Thanks for stopping by,

Sara

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Srcappin’ Beautiful

Posted in Scrapbooking on October 2, 2008 | Leave a Comment »

My sister Anna makes beautiful Scrapbook pages and occasionally she sends me a few pictures via e-mail so that I can see what she has made. I am really impressed by her! She hasn't done this for very long but she just picked up on it really fast. Look at these two pages!

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Last time she was here in Portland visiting me we went to the zoo. As you can see from the pictures, my nephew Isak had a great time. We also visited a number of craft stores so that she could bring a whole bunch of scrap goodies with her back to Sweden.

Anna has tried to get me into scrapbooking too, but to no avail. =) I did a couple of pages in a book we made for my mother's birthday this year but it was hard!!!!! Since then I have tried it twice more, doing a couple of pages recording my pregnancy. Perhaps I'll show you those sometime soon. =)

Have a wonderful Thursday!

Sara

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