*Gasp* A Layout?!

Could it be? Why yes! I did make a layout! Not only that, I made a 2-PAGER! It is rare I've been able to sit down to create for me lately...lacrosse, the middle school musical, band and chorus commitments, work, and chores...but I did it.

I started Saturday, making about 7 layouts (which were awful in my opinion, but what do you expect after what feels like months not making layouts?), and then yesterday, sat down to do this one. I loved how it turned out, so I thought I would share. Many people struggle to do multi-photo layouts, especially when there are a lot of great pictures, and resign themselves to creating a mini album instead. While that's a great solution, it can be quite time consuming. So here's an idea, using some old photos of the girls sledding in the yard from 2009:

 

Count it up -- that's 10 photos on the same page! This was extra tough since I recently had 200 photos printed out at York Photo, all 4X6, so I had to determine what size I wanted them all to be. Not only that, I didn't want to cut out any of the kids. Outdoor pics work great here, as there is usually a lot of unneeded background space that can be cut away without giving it a second thought. I tried to keep a consistent size going, but honestly, I wasn't keeping track of sizes towards the end. The hardest part of this layout was choosing a pleasing layout. that's where a lot of multi-photo layouts go horribly wrong. There's no rhyme or reason to photo placement, almost like they threw up all over the page!

I tried to keep it balanced, and after about eight minutes of shuffling photos around, came up with this. When I thought it was just right, I affixed the photos to the page starting at the bottom left hand corner and working my way across the first page, adding the second row afterwards, and then moving on to the second page of the layout. This allowed me to ensure perfect placement and spacing.

I pulled out an old sheet of Echo Park Winter Park element stickers to use up as much as I could. This allowed me to add things in random places without cluttering up the pics too much. The "Snow Day" sticker is a 3 Bugs In A Rug sticker from ages ago. One word of the title on one page and the other word on the second page, Pebbles alphabet stickers. Some great blue washi accenting the sides, and the journal box is Studio Calico Handbook journal cards. After the eight minutes of photo placement, another five or so minutes was spent placing embellishments. What a quick page!

 

 

And look at those kids! Hard to believe they are 14 and almost 12 (Rileigh's birthday is in one week!!) I am behind in my scrapping, for sure, but it's nice knowing I can catch up if I just keep it quick and easy. Yes, I'll still do pages that take me an hour, where embellishments, misting, and layers of patterned paper abound. However, I'll try to remember that it's okay to do up a page where it only takes a fraction of that hour. If it means getting caught up, I'm all for it! (Currently, I'm just starting to scrap 2009 in all of the kids albums!!!)

Alright, it's Monday, which means hubby is running errands for me. Work is done, looks like I'm getting some more scrapping done! Hope you're all having a great week!

xoxo
Khristen

Welcome!

My name is Khristen, and I created this blog to share my love of all things crafty! Maybe my work will inspire someone to create something of their own. I am a SAHM mom of 3 - 2 girls (10 and 7) and a boy (2) - with a wonderful hard-working husband. I have been crafting in general since I was a little girl. My grandmother was very crafty and loved taking me to the craft store to pick up a new project, and I loved learning all sorts of new things. I painted, knitted, cross-stitched, made suncatchers, painted ceramics, and all sorts of other fun projects - but the one thing that I ended up loving the most is scrapbooking. She taught me in 2nd grade how to place pictures and memorabilia in an album (of course, NOT acid free paper *GASP*!) with scotch tape, and I had a pretty big album going. After college, when pregnant with my 1st daughter 10 years ago, I discovered the world of scrapbooking as we know it today. I couldn't believe my eyes - pretty papers, stickers, and ribbons to decorate the pages with! Today, there is even more than ever before, a world of amazing embellishments and tools to make truly gorgeous works of art. Lately, however, I have found that my time for this wonderful craft is limited. With the kids and a hubby who works 3rd shift, it has been hard to sit myself down at the craft desk. There is always a chore to be done or an appointment to keep. How is a busy mom supposed to sit down to get her crafting "me-time?" Recently, it has been to find a decent scrapbook group online, one with many fun challenges. When you see others scrapping and completing fun challenges, sketch or product, it motivates you to participate. Well, that's what this blog is for. If you like my work, come back and take a peek every so often, and my hope is that it will motivate you to create something yourself. I hope to stay motivated daily to sit down and make something. It is the ultimate de-stresser, isn't it? I always feel better after a round with my glue and scissors! Thanks for stopping by. I will try to list all products used, but I have paper dating back to 1999, so it is a little hard in some cases. Hope you like my layouts! :)

This first one is my favorite, and of course, I don't have the info for the paper. The ribbon was given to me by a friend cleaning out her scrap supplies, so again, no maker there either. The metal slide on the ribbon and word stickers: MM. My scanner made the ribbon look crooked...grrrr!