Journaling Tips | Digital Scrapbooking Words on Wednesday

Journaling? We all do it. Our pages need it. Why do we procrastinate? Why is it sometimes so hard to write it? Imagine we were sitting on your porch looking through some pictures. Just “tell” me about the activity, what were you doing, why you were doing it, why you took the picture, etc. Don’t worry about grammar or sentences, Just write! Years from now, you won’t be around to explain. Make sure you get down these snippets about your family life. Here are the 2 LO’s from the Creative Team.


Lynett’s digital scrapbooking LO talks about her daughter’s experience serving as a page for a week for their state senator.

Nee Nee’s LO tells the story of her ongoing battle with bacteria & infections and how she battles to keep her family germ-free.

Lynette and Nee Nee used these products from Chelle.

 

 

 

 

 

Taste of Home Bonus Papers are available through November 7th as part of Chelle’s PU Grab Bag. I don’t know about you, but that turkey, ham, & pie sure look yummy to me. Use your gift for gab to journal like you were talking!

Hugs!

Sayings | Digital Scrapbooking Words on Wednesday

Hello Friends! Numbers, they’re around us. Everything has numbers, elevators, street signs, price tags. Why not use them in your digital scrapbooking? I was thinking about a family history book I typed back between 2002-2004. Here are some ideas I thought of. # of great grandparents (2) # of children (12) # of grandchildren (51) # of pictures scanned (479) # of weeks to type the history (104).

I have 4 GREAT LO’s to show you. I even talked Chelle into letting me show you one of hers.

Now for the larger images:
Chelle’s up first.

Mel N (KSCroppyChic) provides us with a baseball layout. She used Batter Up.

Jan (quiltymom) used “Apple Of My Eye” Love this idea.

Karen (karen32) She used “Rainbow Collections: Greens.” It’s only available as part of the collection. 

Get creative. Use #’s to add and subtract the elements on your LO. Hugs!

Words on Wednesday: Sayings | Digital Scrapbooking Tips

Hi Fellow Scrappers!  Does your family have a favorite saying…maybe it’s a movie quote…or a phrase from an inside joke. Those sayings make great words for your scrapbooks. Sayings… boy, my family has a bunch of them. I can only think of a few of them, but I know we have/had a zillion of ’em.”

  • “Were you born in a barn?” (question asked when someone didn’t shut the entrance door to the house. Usually on Sunday night’s as my Mom & Dad’s. Culprits were usually the grandkids racing out the door to play.)
  • “You make a better door than a window!” (asked when someone crossed in front of the TV and blocked their vision.)
  • “Live or Die. It’s up to you.” (said by Grandma Pitcher when she transplanted something)
  • “Those potatoes are so creamy!” (said to change the subject. Quote from the movie While You Were Sleeping)
  • “That must have happened while I was in the mission field!” (of my father’s 9 children, 5 daughters and 2 son’s have served mission’s for our church! )  Said whenever someone brought up a memory you had no idea what they were talking about. It didn’t have to happen during the actual mission, it could be yesterday, but we would always that. It eventually morphed in “Mission Memory! Also funny because they were actually non-mission memories! LOL
  • Too many accessories clutter an outfit!” (said when commenting about someone’s outfit or jewelry. Quote from the movie Troop Beverly Hills”)
  • “Green means go in Utah!” (said to any driver who doesn’t drive as fast through the intersection as we might have liked.)
  • Stupid Announcer Comment! (said when watching sports and the play by play guys makes an absolutely ridiculously statement!)
  • Chelle’s Dad says, “Because it’s colder in the mountains than in the spring!” I find this one funny because I’ve never heard him say it.
  • Another I remember him saying was “Act, Not React!”

More recently I will say:

  • Dude! Really?
  • Seriously? That’s what your going with!”

Think about the phrases that you and your family use.  Then scrap about it!   Let me show you what the CT Members created (links to the products are in the caption under the photo):

Melissa N. (KSCroppyChic) shared what she found out after polling her friends and family.”I polled my family on what I say most. Come to find out, it was unanimous among the 4 of them. It’s not so much a saying as a word, so I asked my sister, my mom and 2 best friends and again unanimous. I was struggling with this topic for some reason so I decided to go with a word more than a saying, hope it works. On the other hand, I think I need to find something else to say! Seriously! LOL” Here’s her LO.

Mel N (KSCroppyChic) Mel used Apple of my Eye and Fill-Me-In-Bundle

Nee Nee (neenee) She used Ladybug Hugs!

Ophelia (navaja77) She used Rainbow Collection, Oh Snap! & Fill Me In {Marker}

Hope this post gives you lots of great ideas.
Hugs!

Lists | Digital Scrapbooking Words on Wednesday

Hello Everyone. Today is the first day of my vacation. Tomorrow is the last day. I’m in Rexburg, Idaho, at my brother’s house with his 6 kids. My sister Barb is here also. My brother and his wife are on a adult sleepover in Spokane. So I get to play with my “Little’s.” I also played with them last Saturday. Amazingly enough, my sweet little 3 year-old boy, Zion” managed to give me a fat lip. I was catching him as he came down the slide, and I misjudged. His little head smacked into my face and I bit down really hard on my lip & nearly bit through it. I look like I have a big raspberry shaped stain above my lip, although it’s now draining into my lip.  My list isn’t all that exact, but it is what I think of when I consider my fat lip experience. So, let’s talk lists:

  • owie/ouchie
  • pain
  • ice bag
  • talking out of the left side of my mouth
  • making it difficult to spend all day on the phone at work
  • pain medication

Let me show you the list ideas from the Creative Team. Mel N used an interview format to create lists of her children’s favorite things.

Mel N (KSCroppyChick)

Kayla used a list of what her kid’s needed for back 2 school. Leading is a good thing to use when you want to make your list line up on a lined paper. She altered the letter Q to become a check mark!

Kayla (keepscrappin’)

Jenn V used different shapes to create her “list.”

Jenn V

Last up we have Jan who used #’s in her list to identify the different animals they saw on a vacation.Jan (Quilty Mom)

Chelle provided the following ideas about lists for your consideration.

  • Sometimes
your
journaling
doesn’t
fit
in
a
tidy
paragraph.
  • Sometimes
your
journaling
isn’t
complete
sentences.
  • Sometimes
your
journaling is just a few words or phrases.
  • It’s
time
for
a
list.

Remember, when using a list for your journaling, the format of the items is important. In general you want the items in your list to be consistent. For example:

  • Spinning
  • Twirling
  • Swaying
  • Run←See?  It doesn’t belong.

I look forward to seeing the designs you create using lists.

Hugs!

Perspective | Digital Scrapbooking Words on Wednesday

Hey everybody! Hope your Wednesday is going G-R-E-A-T! This week’s topic is perspective. I was talking with Chelle last night and we were brainstorming perspective. She gave these ideas: What if your “things” could talk to you? Your purse: “Would you quit stuffing things in me? I am getting SO overweight? Besides, if you put less in here, then you could FIND your keys.”Your paypal account: “Holy Moses! You are working me to the BONE this week. Look at all these fantastic things you’ve found.”Your alarm clock: “Hey. Quit hitting me. It’s not my fault you went to bed at _____. Come on. Get up. You’ve got a busy day ahead of you. If you don’t hurry the kids will miss the school bus.”So, if you nightstand could talk, what would it say? How about your cell phone? Remote Control? Garage Door?

So I set out thinking about other ideas during my workday. What about plants, what do they think? “Blah Blah Blah, she says the same thing everyday…. over and over again. Does she think I’m deaf or have Alzheimer’s? Here comes that woman with the mister (hose). Does she think we aren’t thirsty, I don’t care about optimum watering times, I want a drink now! Shiny leaf spray? Whoppie! Those bugs/insects are going slide right off of me!”

Or weeds at the side of the road? “Here comes that dog again. Wish I had a sneeze screen that could spray him instead of him spraying me. Ooh!  Here comes a kid with shoelaces, I’m gonna attach myself to them and go for a little ride around the yard. I’ll get out of this (barrow) pit yet. Here comes that Swather (tractor), it’ll probably run right over me AND cut my head off!”

A trampoline? “I have the best view of the starry sky each night. I’m the most romantic toy on the playground. Why do they keep on jumping and jumping and jumping? I can only stretch for so long. My stretch marks have stretch marks! Pul-ease, pul-ease don’t point your toenails!”

What could you see with a little change of perspective? Here’s what the CT came up with. Heather’s (aka snowdrop) up first with Chelle’s Oh Snap Kit. It’s amazing how often the team uses the Oh Snap! ellies. Great idea Heather!

Next we have Jenn Schultz. Love the teacup’s perspective. Funny! She used Chelle’s new Tea for Two Bundle.

I bet you have dozen’s of ideas simmering in your teapot.  Try changing up your LO’s with a change in perspective.

Hugs!

Getting More From Alphas | DIgital Scrapbooking Words on Wednesday

Hello Friends!

I wanted to highlight this digital scrapbooking tutorial from Chelle’s website. It works for alphas that are nearly black and white, like Jump Zone or Movie Night or even Fire Alpha.  If you use the tip at the bottom of this tutorial will work with the alphas in Boho Summer or Liberty. Start with one of the letters in the alpha. You can do all the letters at once if you flatten them to one layer (but not if they overlap…then just repeat this for every letter)


Add your favorite paper on the layer above and group the two together. (Ctrl-G or alt click when you mouse over the crack between them in your layers palette)

Now change the blending mode to lighten. (This won’t work for papers darker than the black of the letter, nor papers lighter than the white of the border…but stay tuned I have a tip for those borderline papers)

TA DA!
Here’s another twist to make it even more versatile…what if you don’t want white around the edge, what if black would suit your needs better. Go back to just the letter, but this time the first step is to invert the letter. Invert is found under Image or just use Ctrl-I. Now the alpha is white (kinda grey) with a black edge.

Add your favorite paper and clip, this time choosing darken as the blending mode:

If you look closely, some of the grey of the alpha is showing through. So here’s the extra tip (it works for those borderline papers too.) Use the levels command (ctrl-L with the alpha layer chosen) to adjust the original alpha. If you are working with the black version, move the far left slider (the black one) to the right. If you are working with the white version — like we are here–then move the far right slider to the left.

It’ll take out the light grey leaving our alpha perfectly aqua.

Here are some ideas from the Creative Team. Jenn J (jmljensen) provided this layout and instructions of what she did. She used Aviator, Liberty {alpha} and Teacher’s Pet. She recolored the alpha and Teacher’s Pet wordstrips by clipping a dark gray paper from the Aviator kit to each letter/wordstrip then changed the blend mode of the paper to lighten. Cool huh?

Jenn J

cc_teacherspet   cc_aviator   cc_liberty_ap

Go ahead. Try it. You’ll be surprised how easy it is.
by-Sari

 

8.15 Words On Wednesday: Then & Now | Digital Scrapbooking Words on Wednesday

Howdy! This month one of the challenges we gave the creative team was to create a then and now LO. I missed out on a perfect photo opportunity this last week. My little nephew Zion (age 2 1/2) got home from church and everyone went to change… except Zion. My brother rounded the corner into the kitchen just in time to catch Zion poking his finger in the last roll and deflating it. He saw his Dad and grinned from ear to ear and said, “I did it! I did it!” He was so proud of himself. I can never resist the “I’m-So-Cute-A-Boy-Smile.” His Mom makes rolls of some sort 3 of 4 times a week… so I’m sure he has wanted to “do it” before. He didn’t even get in trouble, they just all laughed. They did have dinner a little late…. after the rolls had a chance to rise again. LOL! Aunts who are 3 hours away don’t usually get “those” pictures. I wanted to share the idea because it was fun! A pan of “before” and “after” rolls with a cute little blonde-haired boy. What ideas do you think of with a then & now theme?
The ladies amazed me again. First up is Kassie showing us a delightful LO of her two girl’s wearing the same dress about 3 years apart. Polka dots make everyone smile & that headband is sooo darn cute. It’s a very simple design with great white spacing,  and the journaling is sweet. It’s a lovely timeless design. Makes me wonder if she’ll keep the dress and do the layout again with her first granddaughter. I just want to pick them up off the page and hugs those little darlings! Love the stitching!

Kassie

Next up is Kayla. I love this idea. One of my niece-in-law’s wanted to decorate her home with pictures of her grandparents and my grandparent’s homes and some of the homes my family lived in before I was born. My sister, Arlene, took pictures of the houses (some while she was in high school) and a fellow elementary teacher painted the houses. (Arlene bought a photocopy of the paintings so that her siblings could each have those pictures. Chelle might have them too.) My Grandma Pitcher had a pink house, My Grandma Griffin’s was white. The home I grew up in was white with green trim. Now that all of the houses have changed ownership and colors, it’s nice to walk around my apartment and see those images from my childhood and youth. Look at what Kayla designed.

Kayla

I saw a story on the TODAY show just this morning about a group of 5 guys who took a picture of themselves in high school. Somewhere along the passage of years, they kept re-enacting that picture and updating it. They have redone that same picture several times through the years. I believe they do it ever 5 years. Shannon has one of her favorite pictures of her girls from 7 years ago and then a more recent picture. What a wonderful way to update and compare her girl’s. I’m sure this design will be a favorite of her girl’s for many years to come.

Shannon

Heather used the ivy growth as a marker for the passage of time at a baseball stadium since it opened in 2004. I think we all use pictures or something physical to help us mark the highlights of our lives. How many of us have a wall where we have pencil lines showing a child’s name and date marking the passage of time and growth?

Heather

Let me give you a wrap-up of the products the ladies used.

Hope we gave you lots of ideas for Then & Now.
Hugs!

Using One Word | Digital Scrapbooking Words on Wednesday

Hi Ladies! Have you ever been working on a layout and you can’t think of anything to say?  No journaling is coming to your mind?  Suzy shared a great idea for that kind of writer’s block:  Start with ONE WORD.  Just the first word that comes to mind when you look at the photos…or think about the memory.  Brainstorm about that one word.  When I do this the word often ends up as my title.  But it gives me a place to start…and it usually gets my journaling going again. For example, on this layout…when I looked at the photos, the story seemed kind of obvious.  Kids playing?  Teasing the baby?  Nothing really sounded right.  But when I thought of ONE WORD that described these photos, it was anticipation.  The anticipation that Em would come crawling around the corning kept my little man’s attention…and when she did, he would squeal with delight and try to climb on Nat’s head.

THAT was what I needed to get me going …. just one word.
Here are some other designs from the Creative Team, to give you some other ideas for using ONE WORD.

Mary

Carol

Lynett

Mel

What can you scrap by using ONE WORD as a jumping off point? Hugs!

Journaling In The White Spaces | DIgital Scrapbooking Words on Wednesday

Hey Scrappers! I’m always looking for fun & clever places to put my journaling.  I love it when a photo has “empty” space…that makes it an ideal spot for your journaling.
Here’s a few tips to make the journaling easier to read:
 * try a simpler font.
 * blur the photo behind the journaling.
 * darken the photo behind the journaling.
Here a a few examples from the creative team:

Roxana

 

Ophelia

 

Karen

Hugs!

All About Me Prompts (AAM) | Digital Scrapbooking Words on Wednesday

Hello Friends! Today I wanted to share some ideas about doing LO’s using All About Me (AAM) prompts and the different paths your albums can take. Chelle suggests the following ideas:

I was…
I am…
I think…
I wonder….
I wish…..
I save….
I always….
I can’t imagine……..
I believe….
I promise….
I love…

M’Lee  from Scrapbook-Bytes.com said: “I have done many albums, people have asked if I do them because I really like myself. The answer is a resounding NOT REALLY. I began doing All About Me albums as a form of therapy after the loss of a child. They were a catharsis for me, a way of dealing with a lot of pain in my life. They have since become my family’s favorite albums because they tell our family’s legacy – the stories of my childhood, our family’s past, my dreams for myself and for my children and it’s always from my perspective – something we don’t often put in our other albums and something that, as women, we don’t often say out loud to others. Some of the pages will be very personal, some will be very fun and some will just be factual but they will be about you, your life, your uniqueness. Most importantly, they will never be wrong because there is no right or wrong way to do an All About Me page. There will be some guidelines from time to time just because it is a “challenge,” but these are your pages for your albums – make them your own and enjoy the process, the journey… As she mentioned, this can be a challenge for you to create a page monthly from your perspective. I’m including a list of ideas used in the AAM Challenge.

  1. Dreams: A Dream Is A Wish The Heart Makes…
  2. Passion: What Is Your Passion?
  3. Fear: What is something that you have overcome a fear of? How did you address it & what is hte outcome today? Is there something you are still afraid of, flying, letting go, meeting new people, etc.?
  4. Time: Where do you spend most of your time when awake?
  5. Routines: They may vary depending on the season of the year, and they may not be what we want or should be doing, but if we look at our day as a whole, we can see patterns that have developed. What is your daily routine? Would you want to change something about it? What do you love about your routine? Does it revolve around anything in particular?
  6. Homes: Where do you live and why do you love it (or not, as the case may be)? What gives you joy about your home, or alternatively, what would you change about the place you rest your head?
  7. Travel: Scrap about something you would like to see or  your favorite place to vacation or where you would go on vacation if there was nothing to stop you (like lack of money, kids, danger, etc). Regardless of which direction you go, make sure you remember – this is YOUR album. It is all about YOU. What and why did you enjoy so much?
  8. Something You’d Like To Experience Again: A food you’ve eaten only once but would like again, a job you used to have and wish you could do again, a time of your life you would love to be able to go through again, your wedding, the birth of a child (or signing those adoption papers)…the ideas are endless.
  9. High School Memories: I’d like us to reach back (some of us farther than others!) to our high school years. These years may have been full of angst and anger, or could have been a picture perfect time in our lives. Regardless, something during that time brought joy to our lives, and that is what I would like us to focus on. So, for the All About Me Challenge, I’d like to see your layouts on your favorite memory from high school!
  10. Names: What’s In A Name? Where did your name come from? Are you named for a family member, a place, or just because your mom liked the sound?
  11. Thankful:  You can choose one thing, or many things. You can list them, show us photos, or a combination of them. Just remember, this album is all about YOU, so let us know why you are thankful for these things/people.
  12. Dislikes: Contrast our likes and dislikes. You can do it in list form or paragraph, but I’d like to see 3-7 likes/dislikes on your page. For example, you could choose the topic of food and say . . . I like M&M’s, but dislike Starburst. I like beef, but dislike fish. I like ice cream, but dislike cheesecake.
  13. I Want To Be Remembered For: This could be done with journaling, or it could be done with a photo, or both. Maybe you want to be remembered for being a wonderful mother – so you use a photo with your children gathered about you. Or you want to be remembered for the strides you’ve made in your chosen cause or job. You could use a photo and/or journaling to explain why that was important to you.
  14. People Who Are Special To Us: I’d like to see a layout about how you met that person/fell in love/became best friends/etc.
  15. Ancestry:  Not really a heritage page as much as a page that explains what your ancestry/ethnicity is. Some of us have really only one race or ethnicity in our ancestry and some have many.
  16. Spiritual Awareness: What do you believe? Why do you believe it? Is there a specific event that defined your beliefs?
  17. Music: You can do a list, put the lyrics of your most favorite, and add an explanation or even a photo of why that song is your favorite.
  18. Hobbies & Activities: What hobby or activity did you enjoy as a child that you still enjoy today?
Ziggle Scraps & Suzy Q Scraps have a blog dedicated to All About Me, called Project: Love Me.  Each week in 2011 they posted prompts & suggestions.  It’s a great resource no matter when you start this project.

Here are a couple of LOs from the Creative Team: Carol used I wonder….  Mel used I Love…

Remember to take some time to scrap about YOU!