One Year Later

My Zach just turned four years old, but I finally got his 3rd birthday scrapbooked today. I have been wanting to get all these pictures and memories documented, but stuck on exactly how to do it. I actually don't worry too much about scrapbooking everything, and I certainly don't go in chronological order... it stresses me out. I just do what I feel at the moment. But it is always a great feeling when I get one done that is important. This is also for one of the "Lucky in Love" challenges:

XOXOXO
Create a scrapbook page with a repeating pattern of some sort. This must be a pattern you create.

The tags, circles, and ribbons are my repeting elements.



{paper, tags, brads, and circles from Digital Scrapbook Memories "Moods" CD; number 3 from Digital Scrapbook Memories "Family Ties" CD; curled ribbon by Aja Abney; "Love Ya Like A Sister" font}

More Luv...

Today I took on this challenge:

I Love You
Create a scrapbook page about a person you love. Any kind of love is fine; it doesn’t need to be a romantic love.



The journaling reads:
Not many people can truthfully say they love their dentist the way I can. Sure that shot still hurts and my face is annoyingly numb (notice the lopsided smile?) , but there's just something about him...
It's so cool to see him hard at work doing something he loves. Plus, he looks super sexy in those glasses!

And I just had to do it... I added a title and some journaling to this layout:



{"I love... my dentist": papers and brads from Digital Scrapbook Memories "Playground" CD; white heart from Digital Scrapbook Memories "Family Ties" CD; "Harting" and "321 Impact" fonts}

{"Peek-a-boo": everything from Digital Scrapbook Memories: black paper from "Back to School" CD; paint strokes from "Oh Boy" CD; paperclip from "Collection One" CD; notebook paper and tape from "Family Ties" CD; "Cry Kitty" and "Harting" fonts}

More Than Words

I'm slowly getting these challenges done... this one was really hard! I think before I print and add it to my book I'll add some text. ;)

More Than Words
Work on your photography and keep taking pictures until you finally get a picture you love more than words can say. Just as all of the scrapbook pages for this contest need to be new, this picture must also be a new one taken specifically for this contest. Create a scrapbook page with that picture that involves no journaling at all. Not even a title.



{everything from Digital Scrapbook Memories: black paper from "Back to School" CD; notebook paper & tape from "Family Ties" CD; paper clip from "Collection One" CD; paint strokes from "Oh Boy" CD}

More "Lucky in Love" Challenges

He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not
Use flowers to decorate a new scrapbook page you create.



{papers & flowers from Digital Scrapbook Memories "Flower Patch" CD; grungy frame from DSM's "Collection Two" CD; floral brushes by Jason Gaylor; "Times New Roman" and "Pea Jenny Script" fonts}

Luck of the Irish
Change at least two Digital Scrapbook Memories papers or embellishments to green. Click here here if you need to learn how. Use these papers or embellishments to create a scrapbook page. The green parts of your page can be small if you like.



{alpha from Digital Scrapbook Memories "Seasons & Holidays" CD; papers & elements from DSM's "Oh Boy" CD; "Typewriter" font}

Beginner & Advanced Classes

Want to get started or need a refresher course? Digital Scrapbook Memories offers free online classes every month - I highly recommend them! This month's class is coming up soon, on Thursday, February 19, from 7-9 p.m. MST. Go here for more info and to sign up.

Also, there is an advanced class this month on Thursday, February 26, from 7-9 p.m. MST. You don't really have to be very advanced, as long as you know the basics of digital scrapbooking you'll be fine. Go here to sign up and see what we're learning this month.

Signs of Valentines

This is my first layout for Digital Scrapbook Memories "Lucky in Love" challenge. I posted about this earlier, but it's going on between Valentine's Day and St. Patrick's Day, and there are all kinds of challenges to scrapbook and great prizes to win! For more info, click the link in my sidebar.

Valentine Color Challenge:
Create a scrapbook page using pink, red and white. You can use other colors too, but pink, red and white should be the main colors on the page.



{everything is from Digital Scrapbook Memories "Moods" CD, "Love" kit; "MA Googly Bear" font}

My First Snowman

{papers & embellishments from "Jack Frost" kit by GG Digital Designs; "Pea Missy Cursive" font}

Back in the Saddle Again

I feel like it's been a long time since I did a layout. I have had no mojo lately so I decide to use a template (found here) to get going again.



{template by Trisha Burton; red and orange papers and clouds by Emily Merritt; white paper and button trim by Tiff Brady; kraft paper by Laurie Anderson; alpha by Emily Powers; "Pea Sarah Lynne" font}

A Little Love

I *love* Valentine's Day. I'm normally not a huge fan of pinks and reds but when I see all the Valentine decor in the stores I go nuts - seriously, it's one of my favorite holidays! I decided to test out the new printer by creating some hearts using digital scrapbook paper, printing, cutting, and turning it into some love for my windows. Here's what I did:

I started with this heart (found on the Back to School CD collection from Digital Scrapbook Memories):



Then I selected various digital scrapbook papers from my stash - I used my ACDSee Photo Manager program, which is what I use to organize all of my stuff, and searched for "pink", "red", and "purple" to find papers that would work for this. (It has taken me hours to go through everything and tag it, but it's so worth it! It makes it so easy to find just what you are looking for.)

In photoshop, I opened a blank document. Since I have lots of white 8x8 inch cardstock, I set my document to 8x8 inches. I resized my hearts so I could fit four smaller ones on a page, and two large ones one a page. Then I started adding the papers using clipping masks. (For more info on clipping masks, see my tutorial here. It's so easy and I use this trick all the time!)

Then I just printed and cut:



To assemble, all I used was scissors, string, and some glue. Easy as pie!



Also, since this heart isn't exactly symmetrical, I knew that they wouldn't match up when placed back to back. So I printed half one way, then I flipped the heart (in photoshop: Image>Rotate>Flip Layer Horizontal) and printed the other half the other way. You can kind of see the difference here:



Then just glue them together on the string:





And hang!





So although my light magenta ink cartridge is almost empty, I have these pretty little mobiles hanging from all my windows! :) Happy Valentine's Day!

xoxo,