Embellishments to Paper Ratio and Paper Ribbon

So my mom bought me some bath 3D stickers to use for scrapbooking my son.  I finally had picture of him in a bath that I wanted to use in a layout.  I bought the Me and My Big Idea Baby Boy stack when I found out I was having a boy because I was going to pre-make layouts to slap picture on later because I knew I would be too tired from nursing and taking care of a new life to scrapbook, but I knew I wanted him to have a baby album made by me.  I will do a blog on that some other time.  Back to the embellishments my mom bought.  She is not a crafter so she picks up things not really knowing how I will use them.  Have you had people buy you craft supplies without seeing if it is something you will really use?  That can be kind of frustrating because it may not be your style.  Anyway, I liked the stickers, but I have really been into buying coordinating things.  Like the stickers, cards, and paper are all the same line from the same company.  I usually get a few layout and a couple of cards out of that.  So I have the baby boy paper and I have 3 pictures.  I cut the photos down to 4 X 4 inches for my layout.  I have been loving that size.  I find with 4 x 6's you get a lot of background of the photo that is not important to the photo.  Also you lose quite a bit of space on your page that you could be seeing more of the paper patterns or embellishments. So for this layout I used 3 patterned papers.  The strip paper is .5 inches wide and cut into 8 inches and 4 inches.  The oh boy paper is 1 inch wide and cut into 5.5 and 6.5 inches.  The polka dots are also one inch and 6 inches each but I shortened them when I cut them into ribbons.  Which I show how I do that below.  This layout was complete very quickly since I didn't use much paper and required no punches.  Just stickers and 3 strips of paper.  Very good for a simple and low on supplies layout.

Scrapbooking kits

I enjoy creating my own layout, but I also enjoy getting kits.  They help me learn to scrapbook with new techniques or allow me to more worry about the photos than the layout.  The one I am sharing with you is from Scrapbook Generation.  I have talked about them before.  They are my local scrapbooking store.  This was a two page layout get about dad.  It is still available here. I always make my own adjustments.

Speaking of my own adjustments...funny story about at crop I went to.  It was a kit crop at their store.  I was with a friend and telling her an alteration I was making to the layout and another lady across from me corrects me on what I did wrong.  I was irritated, but polite.  Then I made another variation to their layout and the woman who had corrected me noticed, but this time she was like :i'm going to do that too."  I wanted to laugh to bad!

Okay back to this layout.  This layout is not too "matchy matchy."  Like same layout on both sides with slight embellishment variations. The kit cake with everything you see.  It also comes with a layout sketch instruction sheet.  I always keep these in a file for future layout ideas.  You will also get a photograph of the full layout so that you know where the embellishments are placed.  And in almost every kit you end up with extras.  There ones I had from this were enough to make a matching card, so that was a plus!

The variations/alterations I made when creating my layout was the 2 X 2 pictures.  I didn't have any photos that were good for cutting down to that size.  I really liked the lines on the card so I thought I would just use it for some journaling.  Journaling was something I use to really struggle with.  Okay...I still do.  I do not care for my hand writing. I do have a private journal so it is not the coming up with what to say that I struggle with.  I have a problem with the pressure to not mess up what I am writing and ruin the whole page haha! 

I encourage if you do not already to start smudging or inking the edges.  I like to use the chalk ink.  for this layout I chose branch bark.  I also used my Elmer's glue runner on everything.  I decided not to pop dot anything because I felt with all the different sizes of photos it had dimensions.   

I will post other kits I do as well in other posts.  I will try to do ones they are currently selling in case you really like them.

Summer time

I know I haven't blogged in while but that is because once school is out I become a stay at home mom.  Now that does not mean that I have not been scrapbooking because I have done quite a bit of that.  My son and I have gone to the park a few times.  We made his first trip to the Library story hour.  We also celebrated his 2nd birthday. I am excited to take him to the zoo this summer.  I also want to take him to see and feed the ducks. Another up date on myself is that I have not consumed any soda in 41 days.  I usually drink about 2 liters a day...I decided May 1st I was done.  I knew it wasn't good for me and I also don't want my son to drink it in such high amounts.  Eventually I hope to get to the point where I can have one occasionally, but I want to go as long at I can.  I really hate water.  So I am sticking with tea and juice.  I also do not care for milk. I apologize for going on about soda.  

So I have been published for the first time as a scrapbooker in the may edition of the CREATE magazine.  Here is the link.  It is free to download! I am on page 307. CREATE Magazine Feel free to submit yours.  The next due date is June 15 for the July issue.  

I started this blog with how busy I have been doing things with my son, well I have also been scrapping those activities as well.  If you would like to see more follow my facbook page IRunWithDecorativeScissors Enjoy:

Easter and layouts

So the votes were tied between Easter and Layouts.  I will just combine the two.  When I first began scrapbooking, I struggled with cutting up my pictures.  I just felt like photos were too valuable or something.  Anyway, what helped me get over it was copying others layout that forced me to cut my pictures down.  What I ended up realizing is that I was able to focus more on what the photo was about by cutting it down for a layout.  

For my first example I will give you what I call a 4X4 layout.  Its easy because all pictures and paper are 4 inches by 4 inches.  You can see how cutting down the photos helped the view focus on the main visual.

My second example is an Easter layout where I could not cut down my photos.  I made it this year, but the photos are from last year. I love finding papers with cards that are 4X6 pr 4X4. You will also notice I bordered both of these layouts.  The Christmas layout is with glitter ribbon and the Easter layout is with coordinating paper. If you use one of these please post!  I would love to see your work as well. Advice: To make a good layout there is not magic number of pictures. But I would have to say that I think if you but 3 sheets of double sided paper and some embellishment sheet you can make some magic. And I always use scraps for cards, but that could be in another blog on its own!