an album for my brother

At the start of this year, I started collecting photographs for a project I wanted to complete and give to my brother. Knowing an engagement and then a wedding would be in the very near future, I thought that now would be the perfect time to make this special book of memories for him. Each time I was able to fly down South, I would look forward to spending some time perusing through our old family albums and handpicking favorite pictures of my brother and me growing up.

I laughed, cried and smiled throughout the whole making of this album. I was so happy with the end result and was thrilled that I decided to make a duplicate copy for myself so that I could reminisce over the memories as often as I wanted to! (My husband is thrilled that I finished it too...more so because my scrap area has been clean and organized for several weeks now...for the time being anyway... :))

Here are a few pages and details to share...

(simple simple simple pages. Loved the pictures on this layout. :) used old school paper and embellishments, but thought it added to the theme nicely. ha!)

...included a good bit of hidden journaling throughout the book. I love journaling in scrapbooks, but don't always like it to be front and center.

...we both loved Christmastime with our family. Our mom and dad have always made it so much fun for us! Love that we always shared the special holiday with family...love the crazy and exciting times we had with our cousins when we'd get together...loved the homemade goodies that Aunt Polly would bring to us in her signature tins several times during the season (the fudge always went first!)...loved our mix of handmade, funky boutique, and formal ornaments that always adorned our tree...love the traditions...loved our Christmas pjs...love the memories of sitting in the little living room next to the fireplace staring at the white lights on the tree...loved all the special seasonal goodies that we unpacked from the attic each year (the walking snowman, the New England Village and its sweet accessories, the Nativity, the handmade felt advent calendar that hung in our hallway, the miniature Christmas trees that were placed on our dressers and decorated with mini ornaments...how could we ever forget the Christmas Muppets? ha! ...and so many more)...loved the many Christmas books mama would set out for us to read each night through the month...loved the Christmas Eve Candlelight service, the Christmas musical and Christmas plays at our church...love how our parents made it fun for us in every way possible and through all the hooplah always reminded us the Real Reason for the season. I could go on and on and on and on about the many things I remember and will always cherish from our childhood Christmas memories.

I hope I can pass this same feeling on to our children so that they will look back with a warm heart and smile.

Enjoyed creating the layouts about our school days, youth group and church trips and events...this brought back many, many memories.

Paperclipped behind the title of the above page are some of my favorite quotes/sayings on family.

LOVE this page for the poem my mom wrote about us and the pictures to fit! (notice the far left and far right pics!!)

Towards the end I included a letter to Taylor.

One final page will be added after Taylor and Fair's wedding...to include the whole family. The last page of the book though, is the page shown below of the two of us at Taylor's Senior pictures.

I am so very thankful for my family and love my brother very much. He is about to marry the girl of his dreams and I couldn't be happier for both of them. Before he says "I do" on December 11, I wanted him to be able to look back and smile on the last 25 years of his life...we have been so blessed to have the parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and friends that we do. I am thrilled that he is about to "officially" join a precious family that will also have him smiling over the next 25 years!!!

I love you Taylor and couldn't be a prouder sister. Thank you for all the memories of the past and the memories to come!

P.S. Reminder to self: show Taylor where hidden journaling is otherwise he won't have a clue it's there!!!

Album and page protectors: American Crafts

a book about Parker

This afternoon I put together this little 5 1/2" x 8 1/2" book as a tool for Parker's new daycare provider. He will only be going one day a week, so this will help as an introduction to him. It will hopefully assist her as she gets to know him and his personality. Included in the small album are his likes, dislikes, emergency contact info, about his family, etc.

I would love to take credit for this great project, but I totally got the idea from Ali Edwards. I love how she documents everyday life as well as historical family memorabilia.

Below are a few of the pages from the album. I was thrilled to get to use paper from the "Zoom Collection"; I had used it on an older layout of Parker's, but was waiting for an opportunity to use it again. I love the distressed, solid colors and the fun, vintage print from this Crate Paper collection.

Supplies:
Paper: Crate Paper - Zoom Collection
Cover: Graphix Clear Craft Plastic
Binding: 7 Gypsies small binding rings

HAPPY WEEKEND!!!! :)

mini albums using the Bind-it-All

A cool tool that has joined my scrapbooking shelf: the Bind-it-all
I purchased this at the end of last summer & have enjoyed putting together several little projects for friends & family. Though the mini albums aren't perfect, they're special because they came from the heart & the books record precious memories. With the Bind-it-All you can create your own style, size & type of mini albums, which makes it fun & flexible for quick projects. I have seen amazing things done with this tool; one of these days I will be a little bit more "pro" with using it, but for now, I'm having fun playing! :)

-The most recent album I created using my Bind-it-All was for a girlfriend of mine who had a baby last year. I collected & printed my favorite pictures from the first 6 months of his life & included them in the thick creation you see below. I did make a front & back cover using chipboard (Tressa & her patient & precise little hands helped to make the sweet window & the covers! Thanks again! :))

This album was started & finished during our scrapbooking weekend. (I had done all the prep work prior to the weekend.) Brads, rub-ons, stickers, patterned paper, cardstock...it was all used. I used very simple & basic journaling in this album, recording birth day facts, how old he was in each picture, & main event titles. At the very back, I left an embellished space on cardstock for "mama" to write a note to her son on special memories from his first 6 months.

First page

- A childhood girlfriend of mine got married last year, so as a last minute happy I put together a mini album of a few favorite pictures of us growing up together & some recorded thoughts on now & then.

(The night before I had gotten married, she rang the doorbell to my mom's house & handed me a precious pink little spiral mini album she had put together for me with pictures from us when were preschool, elementary & jr high/highschool age. I remember how much that meant to me..she knew how important pictures/memories were to me and wanted to do something special. I still keep that album in a basket with other mini albums, pictures, etc. & pull it out frequently when I want to reminisce. :) )

I wanted to do something like that for her too! Once again, it was simple using new & old materials, and I had so much fun creating it! My mom wrote a short little poem for one of the dance pages from when we were little. There was more journaling in this one...I wanted to include "remember when's..." On the very back page was a single picture with a long note. I can be quite long-winded sometimes. :)

*The pink paper next to the album was actually a cd case that I created to hold the cd I had made from the weekend. I used simple rub-ons, adhesive & flowers with brads. It was a fun way to dress the packaging up a little!

-This was the very first album I created (last fall) using my Bind-it-All. It was a simple album made for my sister (in law) to help her document a few important & special memories from her first official year of teaching. The album itself wasn't one of my better ones, but at least it's a place for her to document a few fun memories...and I had a fun time experimenting with my new tool! :) Several of the pages were just blank (the cute patterned paper stood on its own) with the idea for her to place random pictures, tickets, memorabilia, etc. on them.

*I used an acrylic cover for this project
So, if you're into creating little mini books, the Bind-it-All would be a fun tool for you to add to your shelf! I'm happy with mine & look forward to making some fun summer projects with it! :)

scrappin' at the Embassy Suites

Every girl needs a Girl's Weekend every now & then...wouldn't you agree? Laughing, joking, chatting, munching, scrappin'...ahhh, it soothes the soul. :)
So Friday, by the time I arrived at the Embassy Suites I was so exhausted I couldn't even think about a layout! We visited, munched on goodies down at Happy Hour, enjoyed a late night pizza...and then I was crashed in the bed at 10pm. I'm such a party animal.

Anyway, Saturday morning Tressa & I were wide awake (unfortunately) by 6am...what I would give to be able to naturally NOT wake up that early! We were down at breakfast showered, dressed & ready to go by 7:30am. Tressa had gotten 2 hotel rooms...one to sleep in & one to work in (she & I were sleeping in the one all 4 of us were working in...and boy oh boy you should've seen all of our things sprawled out all over that workroom...I sooo wish I had captured a picture of it! I got the individual tables, but wasn't able to get the whole room...thickers, cricut supplies, cardstock, stamps, inkpads, brads, eyelits...all over the place! Such fun!). So after our omelets, bagels, fruit, yogurt, & juice Tressa & I were back in the room ready to get to work on our creations! :) Tracy & Cristie joined us a little later on (it must be nice to be able to sleep in! :))

When the girls suggested food options for meal times that day I was like, "What, we're stopping to eat?!" ;) I was already planning on munching on the snacks & goodies we had brought with us. I'm so glad we did break for a bit though...we had such a great time playing a round of Spades, eating a relaxing dinner & visiting some more. Saturday evening I went crazy...I stayed up till 11pm. Whoohoo! Go me! I did pay for it the next morning though. :) Sunday, after breakfast & packing up (which was no quick nor easy task) we went home to join our families.

Thank you girls for such a fabulous laid-back & creative weekend! Thank you Tracy for lugging all of your stuff down from Kansas City to share with us! Thank you Tressa for treating us to the rooms & all to make the stay sooo very comfortable & fun! Thank you Cristie for missing your ballgame to hang out with us even longer! :) Love ya'll! Looking forward to next time!

Tracy, Cristie, Tressa & Carrie

Hard at work

Tressa surprised us with a celebratory cake from Byerly's...Yum is all I can say.

I'll show some layouts soon! :)

letter to my daddy

Three years ago today, my daddy went to be with his Saviour in Heaven. Though he is missed greatly on earth, our family is so happy and thankful that he is in a Better Place...the best place! I have thought of him daily since his passing and seem to only miss him more each day that he is gone. I am, however, grateful for the many, many fond memories that our family was able to share together during his time on earth. Today, I sat down and created this layout in memory of him (and yes, I went through an entire box of tissues during the process!!!) The title is "Dear Daddy..."
1st page:
2nd page:

When I was gathering photos for the layout, I hadn't planned on using any particular ones. I just grabbed ones that I wanted to use as I saw them. When I stood back and viewed the final project, my mouth dropped...the picture on the left page of Daddy & me dancing was the last picture taken of the two of us together (2006). The baby picture below was taken my first Christmas(1983). And the family picture on the bottom of the right hand page was taken on our last family vacation together (2000).

I love and miss you so much Daddy! ...your baby girl

Bermuda scrapbook & details

Here's a peek into my latest completed project...do you remember this trip?

While on our trip to Bermuda, Tressa gave each of us girls a matching stack of scrapbooking supplies to use to help put together our individual albums. At the end of the post, I'll try & list as many of the supplies as I can remember. Anyway, I'm really looking forward to seeing the other girls' albums; it will be fun to see how everyone used the same supplies in totally different ways & techniques!

I started & almost completed this album shortly after we got back from our summer trips. ("almost completed" meaning I had put together all but about 4 of the pages & still had the journaling to do. I think it took me a total of somewhere around 8-10 hours to complete the 34 pages). I finished the journaling & put the finishing touches on it this week. I LOVE the feeling of a completed project...it's almost up there with chocolate!!!

In my scrapbooks, I like to not only include the details of the trip itself, but also the history & some fun facts about where we are visiting (because there is no possible way that I will remember ANY of it when we get back if I don't...the history of the place I mean!)

So here's what I did with all the memorabilia...I attached things like a postage stamp, a brochure, airline ticket stubs & a cut-out from a menu from my favorite restaurant that we visited while there...all of this went on the first page of the memorabilia stuff. Next, I slid the rest of my collection down into 2 clear pocket page protectors. (Before the brochures & such went in the album, they were in my "memorabilia box," which is this cute, black decorative box that sits on the floor in Parker's room. One of the reasons I get so excited about scrapbooking is that by completing albums I weed out "unnecessary" clutter that just sits in the memorabilia box. I go through the items cutting, trimming, tearing & only keeping the things I really want. I actually end up throwing away most of what I bring home from trips...Now, my husband who does not hold on to clutter, would say, "There wouldn't be clutter to go through in the first place if you just opted not to bring it home from the trip from the get-go." However, I will bring the "paper stuff" home because it's important to me...it should be a part of the scrapbook. So...my husband just shakes his head & loves me for it anyway! ;) To hold the things in place, I found some handy office clips & paper clips that added to the charm of the page, but also worked as nice little placement holders.

In the very back of the album, I included the story of how the four of us met & came together as friends.

One of the things I love to do in my scrapbooking is to include some trip memorabilia on the pages as embellishments! Postage stamps & postcards are favorites of mine! Some people collect match boxes & pilsner glasses...I collect postcards & postal stamps. :)

I had fun playing around with the rub-ons that came in our supply stash. As you can see in the picture below, some went right on the picture rather than on the paper itself.

Cost-saving techniques: Use your scraps as embellishments. Also, grab the stapler out of the office; it can present a fun look to the page!

My scrapbooking style is chronological...I have tried other ways, but it bugs me so much to not have the pages in order, that in the end, I have to go back & reorganize them all. So for this trip, the pages go from beginning to end & then I have a "summary of the trip" that has details & journaling. Next, is the memorabilia & then lastly, the story of the MN Girls.

The album is an 8x8 (which made it so much easier & faster to complete!).

Supplies: Euphoria by Basic Grey(basically used the entire line), Bazzill cardstock, Zip black & brown pen, Archival spray, adhesive, "our story" by Ali Edwards, misc: staples, office clips, paper clips