Learning by experimentation...

Ok...I'm going to speed scrap tonight, but I did a page rather quickly this morning as a gift for my MiL for watching the furbabies while we're in California this weekend (down the street from Disneyland and we're NOT going!!! :::::tears::::::) But as consolation, I scrapped our "magic shots" from California Adventure with one of my favorites: Stitch! Next one of these, I WILL have an ice cream cone. :) To make it, I used Park Pals from FranB Designs. I used a template from Wyld Peas Designs that was a freebie from a template challenge over at Mousescrappers. It was a quickie page, but I like how it turned out (for once!). I messed with more shadows and played with the font; I must be getting brave LOL! So here it is:

I hope it looks as good printed out as it did on the screen! We'll see in a couple hours. :)

My first speed scrap

I participated in my first speed scrap last Thursday. I think my page turned out ok. I think I took the directions too literal though because my page was pretty boring compared to some of the pages that were posted. Of course I used Rescue Me by Trixie Scraps again since it's my favorite kit and the speed scrap was hosted by her.

These were the directions:
Step 1: Choose at least 3 background papers and stack them.
Step 2: Choose 3 photos from the same event or day and place your photos in a straight line.
Step 3: Add a frame to one of the photos.
Step 4: Use 5 of any of the following: flowers, ribbons, strings, stars or scatters.
Step 5: Add a journal box and write at least 3 sentences about the day/photos used.
Step 6: Add a large title to your page.
Step 7: Add a date tag to your layout and rock your shadows.

I found some cute pictures of the kitties playing with their scratchy post ramp and used those. I think I spend more time deciding what pictures to use than I do putting the layouts together. So here is my finished page:

My page pales in comparison to the other ones posted, but it was neat to see all the different pages. I would like to think that I'm learning how to do this better and create fancier layouts. I suck at the clustering. I need to get out of the mindset that "less is more" because some people create crazy clusters that look awesome or know how to use that one element that is so perfect and ties the whole page together. I will get halfway through a page and then I just can't seem to get the colors the way I want them and it all falls apart and I start over. Hopefully my mind's eye will get a little better and I will quit doing double work. :) I like the idea of a speed scrap though because it forces you to FINISH the page. Just do it; quit over thinking it and messing with it. So that's enough babbling from this newb. I wanted to at least post my page before it was "old news."

June Challenges...

So being on vacation this weekend, I have been able to actually participate in some various monthly challenges and finish them during the BEGINNING of the month instead of slipping it in towards the end of the month.

The first challenge was a fun one from Blue Hearts Scraps to create a new Facebook timeline cover using the provided template. I used a kit from KellyBell Designs to create a new cover using the pictures from last year's Disneyland trip for my birthday. It's gotten several "likes" so I'm guessing I did a good job. ;)

The next challenge was the June Template Challenge with Gingerscraps and a template provided by Connie Price. I had a picture that I was dying to scrap and as soon as I saw the template, I knew it was perfect. I actually used a kit from Connie Price too called Cats and Dogs that is really cute to scrap my little angels. The picture at the bottom was just too adorable to not scrap. I completely lucked out that it turned out because that moment was literally the second the picture was taken and I only had one chance at it. They were all grooming each other and the sound the camera makes when it turns on got their attention. They went right back to their business after the flash went off so there was no "take twenty pictures and hope one turns out" type of photography there. ;)

Who knows what I can pump out the rest of tonight and tomorrow before I have to get back into the whole "work" groove...

Rescue Me

Ok...finally my first scrapbooking page posted to my blog. I made it for my mother-in-law as a guide for the furbabies when she babysits them for me in three weeks. They are ALL rescues. Some have better back stories than others, but they are all family. The kitties are going to be a constant theme in my scrapbooking so this is like their introduction. I'm not a crazy cat lady...it just happened...darn bleeding heart.

The first five I had before I got married (and I call the Fab Five) and they came from the Humane Society. My husband had the next two, Coco and Shadow, before we got married and they were rescued off the street. The next three orange ones, Morris, Allie (Alanis) and Bruce, "came with our house." They were "neighborhood" cats that I started taking care of and after an incident, I took inside permanently. Nizzle, the fluffy, black kitty was the only kitten we could save from a litter from another cat on our street last July. The next five babies are also from the same mama that I finally got off the street. I couldn't save her, but she had six beautiful babies that I could save. I managed to adopt out only one to a new home, but despite their constant insanity, they always make me laugh. The last one, Geordi, was living in the weeds in my backyard and after a week of looking for his owner, I got him fixed and he's been here ever since. 

To scrapbook this, I used Rescue Me by Trixie Scraps Designs. I love her kits; she is one of my favorite digital scrapbooking designers. I found her site through Google while looking for a kitty related kit and hers was my favorite...then I bought a bunch of other kits too LOL. I used an Instagram template from Connie Price since it had so many photos available here: InstaTemp Vol 1.

This is only the ninth page I've ever digitally scrapbooked so go easy on me; I'm still getting the hang of it.

Ok...now I must get packed for Michigan tomorrow. Happy scrapping everyone! :)

A first for everything I suppose...

Ok...so I guess I have officially started my own blog. It will mostly be used to share my new digital scrapbooking endeavors which will probably be centered around Disney, baseball and my furbabies. I have only created six pages, but so far, I love digital scrapbooking. It is so much more up my alley than paper scrapbooking. There are so many fantastic designers out there (thank you Google!) that I was surprised at first. I will link the designers I use to my pages that I post so you can check them out for yourselves. :) Happy scrapping everyone!