Scrapping Photo Strips

You know those super-fun photo strips you can print at the mall or theme parks? They've gotten to be really trendy recently and I love 'em. We even had a photo booth at our wedding reception last fall! The company that ran the booth offered the option of having all the strips from the night printed and compiled into a scrapbook matching our wedding colors. Swoon. :)

At the wedding of our dearest friends last month, we popped in and out of a similar booth quite a few times throughout the night and I wanted to make sure I documented the strips rather than leaving them hang on the fridge. Though I've printed my fair share of fun photo strips over the years since junior high, I've never attempted to scrap them. So...I turned to Pinterest for some guidance. I found myself inspired by several layouts, but this one stood out to me the most:

From my beloved-but-discontinued favorite magazine, Scrapbooks Etc., 2011.

I loved the way the strips were placed in a jagged form, with a somewhat uniform patterned paper behind and loads of ephemera all on one side.

Here's what I came up with:

Since I am working on a scrapbook album that is made up of ONLY Dear Lizzy Lucky Charm collection (my favorite ever), it was easy to choose my color scheme and appropriate embellishments. This was a lot of fun. Thanks for reading along with me. :)

xoxo,

Emily

Back to Scrap!

Do any of you get stumped when it comes to scrapbooking, the thing you love the most?

Scrapbooking is what really opened the major door to crafting for me, in 2003, when I was 17 (!). Since then, I've run into some major scrap-roadblocks, mostly due to my fear of lack of organization. Confession: I can't stand the thought of completing a page or Scrapbook, only to discover later that I documented something inaccurately or in the wrong order. I mean, I obsess over the order of photos down to the week, day, even hour and minute as far as sequence. It's ridiculous. This has become a huge creative handicap for me, causing me to never really finish my scrapbooks.

Is that crazy? 10 years and not one real finished album to show for it. Oy. :(

We got married last October, and I told myself that day would be the official end to me putting off documenting because of this fear. I'm struggling with it for sure, but I am also getting back into scrapping (both 6x6 and 12x12) and I could not be more thrilled! I am happy to report that I had a day free from work the other day and had a scrapbook marathon day.. I completed quite a few pages, both large and mini, and even tried some new techniques! Here are some peeks at my 12x12 pages, complete with a technique I finally got brave enough to try: ink misting/masking!

Thanks so much for reading along. I hope I can be of some help or inspiration to someone else who struggles with the business end of scrapbooking, too. Just try to remember it doesn't have to be perfect (perfect is such a terrible word). At the end of the day, if you enjoy looking at the art you've created - and at least know the people in the photos and a rough year ;) - you've accomplished great things! Until next time..

HAPPY SCRAPPING!!
Emily

Mini Album: Olive the Kitten

Hello there! I'm on Spring Break from preschool, and along with household projects, I've been squeezing in some craft time. :-D

I've done some most of the work on this mini album of our kitten, Olive. I'm a self-professed Crazy Cat Lady, and couldn't resist documenting her first months with this itty-bitty Maya Road album.

Often times it's easy to say, "here's what I used to create this", and supply a bulleted list of products. Really, for this I used a TON of different products - I pulled out lots of different brands and themes all to attain the hodge-podge look I wanted to achieve. Here are most of them:

* various 6x6 patterned papers from: Cosmo Cricket (Matilda, Odds & Ends, Material Girl); American Crafts (Dear Lizzy Neapolitan); Lawn Fawn (Dewey Decimal); Sassafrass (Count Me In);  Basic Grey (Picalilly).
* Buttons (October Afternoon)
* Papertrey Ink perfect match cardstocks (Aqua Mist, Lemon Tart, Hibiscus Burst)
* various premium ribbons by American Crafts
* Element stickers from: Dear Lizzy 5th and Frolic, Maggie Holmes for Crate Paper, Basic Grey
* various pearls, gems and sequins from my stash
* tools: Crop a Dile; Corner Chomper (3/8"); QuikStik; Cutterbee scissors; ATG; This to That dot adhesive; foam dot adhesive; Memento London Fog pen.

Thanks so much for reading/watching! I thank you, and Olive thanks you. ;)
xoxo
Emily

Valentine using Mister Hueys & Dear Lizzy embellishments

Hello, valentines!

My husband and I celebrated our FIRST MARRIED VALENTINE'S DAY last weekend - out of town at a Cheesecake Factory, and of course some pitstops at Archiver's, Target, and so on... :)

Here is the card I made for my husband! I began by misting some white cardstock with the Dewey Mister Huey and the Chevron mask. I tied some grey baker's twine from Jillybean Soup around it into a bow, and used my ATG to adhere it to some Papertrey Ink Lavender Moon cardstock. I tilted a polaroid sticker from the Dear Lizzy Neapolitan sticker book, and added clear gemstones. I wanted them to have a sort of cascading look, so I used 4 or 5 different sizes, with the largest at the top and mixing them around with the itty bitties down at the bottom. I love it when you come up with a design idea in your head, make it come to life, and actually like the way it turns out!

I also made Valentine's for my mom and dad, but already delivered them, so I have no pictures. :( Dropped the ball! Maybe a #laterblog... I think I just made that term up.

Thanks for reading, and happy, HAPPY Valentine's day to you!

Lawn Fawn card + Class!

Wanted to share this fun little card I made for my friend Erin.

Materials used:
- gnome sweet gnome + you've got mail stamp sets
- peppermint cord
- textured golden yellow scrap
- stickles
- vintage photo distress ink/ink blender
- patterned paper from Dear Lizzy Neapolitan 6x6 pad
- sew easy stitch piercer/leprechaun floss
- diamond stickles
- memento tuxedo black ink
- copic markers
- cloud brads (recollections)

I am also really excited to share the news that on Saturday I'll be attending a LF class hosted by design team member Lynette, at one of my favorite papercraft stores, Papertrix. My new husband offered to travel the 5 hours round trip so that I could attend. I'm SO excited and I can't wait to share details of the class, I just know its going to be a blast!

Thanks for reading! See you soon.
xoxo,
Emily