Tuesday, November 25, 2014

December Daily 2014: Foundation Pages Day 1&2

DECEMBER DAILY, HERE WE GO!!!

OK first of all, for the most up to date DD posts, you can visit my Creative Instagram: @ScrapperEmily, since I will be posting there as I complete everything, but will probably have to post to my blog in batches.

I bought the Ali Edwards December Daily kit and received it in the mail last week, then the album came as I was getting started on my first page this past weekend! I got the off-white album and love it!! I'm not too much into altering the outside of albums, so I will probably end up keeping it as is and just labeling the spine. That's not fun for me, the fun is what's inside! So here we go...

So the first thing I did was go back and read this blog post that was my Day 25 last year and the conclusions I had. I've done December Daily twice now, and have finished both albums successfully! However, 2012 I did no prep and did not finish until September 2013. Last year I prepped and finished a few days after Christmas! This year I have no expectations to repeat last year, since last year I had a full extra month to work on prep work. My goal is to finish this album before I preorder 2015's album :) But I am going to try to keep up as much as I can, but not feel like I am behind if I do in fact fall behind!

Anyway, then I did the same as Ali Edwards, and put in my page protectors in a semi-random order, except I did not want any page spreads that had one side with 4 3x4 cards and the other side 2 3x4 with 1 4x6 - basically that would be too many 3x4 cards for one spread for my liking. Next I added a few of the 6x8 sheets that I knew I def wanted throughout (the big gold foil 25 def on Day 25). And then I cut up sheets of paper that I knew I would want to be cut up, example, a lot of sheets have 2 3x4 cards and 1 4x6.


Then for this first page, I simply used the transparency with the gold Ali Edwards' writing on it - I knew I just loved that page so I wanted to use it first! I added one rubber label (love these!!) and decided to go big with the gold numbers!


Last year I couldn't really imagine my album with photos, as it was the first pocket page album I ever worked with, so the first few pages I did prep, I over-prepped and tried to fill every pocket. This time I want to be intentional about where I will place photos and how it will look

As I wrote on Instagram, here is my plan of attack: get some papers in; pick a number and a couple of basic embellishments; don't adhere anything; if there's time (prob not) then go back and do more detailed work such as stitching/stamping.

So my plan with this Day 1 layout is to have 1 square or vertical photo on the left and 1 horizontal square or 4x6 for the bottom right. Depending on the spacing, I will add my story alongside either photo and leave the two 3x4 pockets for embellishing.


For day 2, again just keeping it very simple and easily changeable, I first chose where my photos would probably go (lower left and upper right), and then picked some papers. I added the wood veneer 2 (I plan to use those wood veneer as much as I can), and added another rubber label here there I thought would go as well.


I'm not adhering anything this time because last year there were certain cards that I embellished that I would've liked to have changed slightly once I had my photos (because of colors or arrangement etc), so then I was stuck. This will allow me to change as I see fit. Also, since I changed my goal - from finishing by end of this year, to finishing before preorder next year, I know I can spend some more time on some of these later.

My other goal is to use mostly just the kit and the digital overlays that I purchased from Ali Edwards' site. I bought the combo pack to have the various sizes. I'm not sure yet how I will incorporate these, but I will have them if I need them! I love the look of them, but not sure I am so good at playing off the simple look like Ali does, so I might end up using them more for overlaying the photos, we'll see.

Anyway, good luck to everyone who is participating this year!!

Friday, November 21, 2014

A Hot Dog Party!

ABOUT THE PHOTO(S):
Well, we had a hot dog themed birthday party for Natalie's 1st birthday! It was awesome, but such a whirlwind! Luckily Chris took on the task of planning all the big stuff - our friend Mike's hot dog truck and transporting it, the tent, tables + chairs, and even staking the "Pin the Topping on the Hot Dog" game into the ground for me so the kids could play! It was a success, thanks to his help and all I took care of were the decorations and small details!


LAYOUT DESIGN:
I really was having trouble where to begin with these photos because I had so many and I didn't know how I was going to get them all scrapped! I found a solution and selected a double page layout Sketch Template from Simple Scrapper's Premium membership to work with! Once I had that selected, I was able to overcome my mental hurdle and get started!


MY PROCESS/PRODUCTS USED:
Then the next hardest part was figuring out what paper to use, since my current Studio Calico kit wouldn't work with these bright summery photos... off to my stash I went! I figured the kids in the picture would pair well with the Sidewalks collection from October Afternoon... and I was right, the papers and embellishments (that I still had all of) went perfectly with my hot dog themed party pictures as well!



The Premium Membership at Simple Scrapper provides skills and shortcuts to help you simplify and find more meaning in your memory keeping.

Tuesday, November 18, 2014

Instagram Snapshot

ABOUT THE PHOTO(S):
I decided to use a Sketch Template from Simple Scrapper's Premium Membership and make a layout of my last 12 Instagrams as sort of a feed capture right now!


LAYOUT DESIGN:
The sketch template made it easy to get going on this, but I changed it up a little with my placement of the Instagram captions.


MY PROCESS/PRODUCTS USED:
I used very little product in this - a piece of paper from the Pine Hill add-on kit from Studio Calico, letter thickers and 4x6 papers cut up from the Walden main scrapbook kit, and thin washi tape that was part of the Bluegrass PL kit from Studio Calico back in April.


The Premium Membership at Simple Scrapper provides skills and shortcuts to help you simplify and find more meaning in your memory keeping.

Sunday, November 16, 2014

Shine

ABOUT THE PHOTOS:
This photo was taken last year on December 1st for December Daily! Why am I just now scrapping this photo? I began this layout "story first" by using a Story Starter from Simple Scrapper's Premium Membership. I had a story that I started to write, and ended up with a much deeper story that I printed and slipped into the glassine bag pocket. It's been interesting how using these prompts has really made my pages seem more meaningful, when I honestly didn't think much would change!


LAYOUT DESIGN:
Onto the layout design, I again used an older Sketch Template from Simple Scrapper's Premium Membership! I really stuck closely to the sketch template, even though it was for an 8.5x11, I easily stretched it to work with 12x12. At first I was thinking I didn't "change" it enough from the template, but then I realized that's why I love the templates - when someone goes back to look at my pages years from now, they will not be thinking, "Oh, this is like an exact replica of such and such Sketch Template from Simple Scrapper" haha! (I'd be impressed if they did!) Anyway, I love how the membership includes these templates, that come to you as a layered PSD template as well as just sketch image, so I can drop my photo(s) in and see how the end result might look and move things around even if I don't work fully digital!


MY PROCESS/PRODUCTS USED:
I used this month's Christmas themed add-on kit, Pine Hill, from Studio Calico, as well as a few items from my stash. The 3x4 card was from a printable set by Geralyn Sy for In A Creative Bubble from last year and the vellum label is from Crate Paper a couple year's ago. The glassine pocket came with this month's kit and Chris just came downstairs and looked at it and goes "that's cool you used an eggroll bag" hahaha.


The Premium Membership at Simple Scrapper provides skills and shortcuts to help you simplify and find more meaning in your memory keeping.

Sunday, November 9, 2014

Hello Deer

ABOUT THE PHOTO/STORY:
I love that this photo looks like, ah nice fall day with Natalie at the park. But looks can be deceiving, in fact, Chris was feeling quite ill but he still offered to take me to the park to snap some photos of me after hearing me fret about not having a good head shot for the Simple Scrapper Creative Team!


LAYOUT DESIGN:
I used a Sketch template from the Simple Scrapper's Premium membership - something I've done quite a bit, but this is my first layout for the Creative Team; how fitting!


MY PROCESS/PRODUCTS USED:
I ended up printing up one large photo and wanted to make it look like a "window". Originally I was going to cut out the squares, but to save me a little work lining them all up perfectly, I just kept them on the photo paper and went with a piece of white card stock to hide it. I used some older leaves from Amy Tangerine and a gray tag I had in my stash. This was a fun one - I really love working with the sketch templates from the Simple Scrapper!


The Premium Membership at Simple Scrapper provides skills and shortcuts to help you simplify and find more meaning in your memory keeping.

Monday, November 3, 2014

Exciting News!

A few weeks ago, there was a call to be on the Simple Scrapper Creative Team, and without hesitation, I began filling out the application! I joined the Premium Membership to the Simple Scrapper back in April and have absolutely loved it and found great value in the membership ever since - in fact, every month I'd be saying to Chris, this is how I used my Simple Scrapper membership and why I need to keep it and best of all, he totally agreed! We don't have much superfluous money to toss around anymore now that I am not working so it was a big deal that he let me have and keep this membership.


Anyway, after I hit "send" on the application, which I did hastily because Natalie was waking from her nap, I was feeling like I should've really proofread more and expounded upon my desire and qualifications etc, thinking I rushed through it and wouldn't get on the team. Then last week, I got an email and saw that it was from Jennifer Wilson and I read the first couple of lines thinking I didn't get on the team, but lo and behold, I did - I couldn't believe it!! I started yelling woohoo and dancing around outside (Chris and I were just returning from a walk to the store with Natalie) and my whole family rejoiced with me haha! I am officially on the Creative Team for the Simple Scrapper!! Here's the official announcement!


So now what? Well I will still be posting my layouts to this blog, but I am drawing my inspiration from the new and archived sketch templates provided with the Simple Scrapper Premium Membership every month! I will also be using Story Starters to scrap the stories I want to tell and remember down the road. The layouts will then be featured in the Membership e-magazine "Spark" along with the other team layouts as well as articles written by Jennifer.

I have to say I am excited for so many reasons, but mostly that this couldn't seem like a better fit for me. I already utilize the sketch templates a ton - in fact, I went back and counted 27 sketch templates that I have used since April!! It is something I love to do and am very comfortable with. Then the added bonus that I will be challenged to use the Story Starters - I am excited to do this because I love the few pages I have created "story first" instead of "photo first" - I think the pages are richer and have such a deeper meaning! I can't wait to get started!



The Premium Membership at Simple Scrapper provides skills and shortcuts to help you simplify and find more meaning in your memory keeping.