sorry i've been gone

between things going on around here and Christmas - scrapbooking is on a serious back burner. However, I anticipate getting back to a regular schedule once the holidays have been packed away for another year. This is often the way for us Suzy's and I am really not apologizing about not scrapbooking. You have to work it in when you can and that is not right now for this Suzy. So happy holidays to all - see you in the New Year!

How to fix those not-so-good pictures

does anyone know?

Oh you thought I was going to tell YOU?!

Silly.

First of all - 21 years ago there were no digital cameras (at least not that I know of). I was using a Pentax - not anything automatic and I really hadn't a clue what I was doing. Sort of a hit or miss affair. Back then - I just wanted to take the pictures and for the most part i did ok. These are evidence of my lack of skill with that camera however I have photos and that's what I cared about.

When i pulled out these pictures they looked decidedly Christmas-y.

And they are not Christmas pictures.

Really.

My husband's Aunt had sent this adorable bear to my son as a gift. And I had good intentions of taking photos of our son every month (after receiving it) with the bear to chart our son's growth - seeing as the bear was so large I thought it would be funny to see when our son actually overtook him - sizewise (of course if you'll notice in the photos, my dear son had some major double chins goin on - gawd the child was adorable - if you only knew what he looked like now you'd fully appreciate the irony - think very slim). Anyway that didn't happen - the monthly photo taking - but I do have these photos (and some others with the bear that you'll see soon).
And they looked like Christmas. Until I decided to pair the photos with this paper by KI Memories and some Bazzill cardstock. I wanted to take the Christmas out so i opted for blues and greens. And actually i think it worked. The alpha stickers are also KI.

That's all for today folks. Go make a page!

First Halloween

Now i'm actually to the first Halloween (and folks - this would mean my son was 4 months old - I've got a lot of stuff to do huh? LOL)

I am happy with this one - the pictures kinda just fell into place and I just needed to add some paper and a little journaling. I used some Doodlebug paper and cardstock, a Hero Arts stitching stamp, some black ink, my Martha Stewart writing pen and a little ribbon. The alpha stamps are, once again, from Purple Onion Designs - this time Garamouche Small. Oh and a little bit of ribbon on the tag. And I did use a small circle punch for the reinforcement on the tag. The only thing I think I would think about adding is maybe some more of that stitching stamp on the borders at top or bottom. I didn't do it because lining it up to go across the page was more effort than I wanted to expend LOL. I could just as easily use my sewing machine to get the same job done with a lot less effort.

A Father Son Talk and Classic products

You may have noticed I've been using a particular color scheme for this album of my son's baby pictures. Not really a conscious choice on my part. More of a manufacturer's decision. Most of the baby stuff out there for sale is in some form or other of pastel shades. It varies slightly from year to year - some years there is an influx of the hot color combinations - but they are always pastelled down (i made that word up LOL - but you know what i mean). And actually all the papers I'd bought over the years I liked just fine. I bought them right? But you do notice that is what people expect to find for baby stuff - I have noticed some primary colored items but for the most part - pastel. And it can get a little boring. I pulled out theese photos of my husband and son and thought - no Making Memory boy paper for this layout. It just won't work. BUT... some Making Memories Kid Collection Embellishment Paper - Sam - will be just right! No I'm not a shill for Making Memories but I am a huge fan. I think they have made some of the nicest scrapbooking products ever. The word Classic comes to mind. How much more classic can you get than the paper I used in this layout? It will always look good - and on a variety of layouts. I also threw on some of their buttons (of which i have a huge supply) - I like buttons. And i was in desperate need of something to fill that space. The title is stamped using (another of what i consider classic) Purple Onion Designs Garamouche Medium. I used a Martha Stewart writing pen for the journaling - I keep forgetting to mention these wondeful little pens! Get some. They're great- and they come in a ton of colors (make sure if you're looking for the writing pen you don't pick up the permanent marker - totally different tip!) And of course then there are the photos. I just love these pictures of my husband and son.

scrapbook therapy

Things have been busy around here but i decided i needed to get back to my scrapbooking. Making pages can be almost therapeutic. You kind of forget what is going on about you and just concentrate on what you're making. I bet you know what I mean.

I went back to where i left off with the baby pictures and picked up the next 2 photos and put them on a page. I used that Making Memories boy paper, some cardstock, my scallop circle punch and my circle cutter from Creative Memories, as well as the Garamouche alpha from Purple Onion Designs.

Oh and guess what - i actually completed 2 more layouts this week. I'll post them tomorrow and Sunday - how's that! Hope you're getting some pages done!

Jumping Around

Chronologically speaking - jumping around.

I had been talking about these dinosaur Halloween costume pictures on Small Smackerels. I had the photos out and thought - why not. Just cos I've been working on the baby pictures doesn't mean I can't skip ahead, whilst I'm in the mood, and scrapbook these right?

I hunted through my supplies and found some paper and stickers. I even found some twistel! Remember that?

It's not the greatest layout but i like it enough. Cute colors, papers etc. The minute i started to agonize that the little trick or treat tag as well as the title were "floating" i said to myself - who the heck cares? did i really care? No. Deep down i didn't. This isn't some graphic design project or a design team entry. It's a scrapbook page. One day, I like to think my son and his future wife (whomever she might be) will look at it and say - gee our son really looks like his dad. (or something like that). Or maybe they'll say - we gotta get Mom to make our son a costume for Halloween this year!

The point is my son and future generations will have these cute photos to look at and reminisce about and that's what it's all about. Isn't it?

For the record:

Patterned Paper - Creative Imaginations

Stickers: All stickers are by Doodlebug except the thin black and white stripe border stickers which I got from Creative Memories (maybe they're Mrs. Grossman's huh?)

Twistel and Brads are from Making Memories.

Bat Stamp is a foam stamp from Making Memories - it may be hard to see but the black cardstock is stamped using the bat stamp and Versamark.

Getting back to "jumping around"....

I'm more of a chronological scrapbooker. I know many people are - I'd even say most people work on scrapbooks in this manner. And ya know I tried to get into the Simple-Scrapbooks-Stacey-Julian thought process about forgetting the dates and working on themes (that's a simplistic explanation). I even thought about trying her Library Of Memories Class - which sounds really wonderful. I know someone who did indeed take the course and they really spoke extremely highly of it. I have both of Stacey Julian's books: Simple Scrapbooks and the newer Big Picture Scrapbooking. I really enjoyed them both. I guess bottom line, it's just not for me. I like scrapbooking all my photos. I don't mind (anymore) that I have a bazillion photos to scrap. Eventually (God-willing) I'll make the scrapbooks for those photos. I have taken what I learned from those books and incorporated them into my own process and that's okay, right?

Thought I'd check in

i wish i could say i've gotten some scrapping done.
I do have a layout on my drawing table right now which is almost complete.
It's been a while since I've had a layout on my table this long - pretty much all week. I was actually cranking out a steady stream for a while there.
I'm hoping to finish that one up today and then maybe work on some Ready-to-go files.
The RTG works great if you actually have small chunks of time to work on getting the items pulled together. And time has been at a premium lately. Lots of the spare time I've had lately has had to go into other creative endeavors (see Small Smackerels ). And with the holiday season coming up I know I'll have to start working on Christmas cards. But I'd really like to continue with my son's baby/childhood albums (if I ever plan to get to my daughter's!). We'll see. Hope you all are making headway in your scrappin. And if we all have to take a break on it lets all solemnly swear we won't beat ourselves up about it!

merry-hearted boys

some cute happy pics of my merry-hearted boy when he was just 3 or 4 months old.
how do you like those chins?
it's so funny to look at these pics and know this kid now - he's so slim and has these wonderful cheekbones and strong jaw. but then again such a cute baby would have to grow into a handsome man. the best man (other than his dad of course).
it's hard to see but the quote is
"it's the merry-hearted boys that make the best men"
Ingredients: assorted buttons (i think all Making Memories brand), embroidery thread, KI Memories paper and some eyelets

what a face

now ya see in person, you'd be able to see the photos on this one - they're really sweet. he was (and is) adorable. but most of the photos have a lot of shadow. you may be able to see better by clicking on the image i just am not sure.

Regardless - more Making Memories baby boy paper (every time i use it i kick myself for not picking up the pack for girls!) some brads and those cute Doodlebug cardstock tag alpha stickers.

Who's that in the mirror?

A fast page with pictures of my son loving his little mirror. I remember getting a kick out of watching him look at himself - wondering at what point he'd realize it was himself he was lookin at.
More of that cute Making Memories baby boy paper as well as Quickutz CK Handprint for the title

sorry my fellow suzy's

life around here has been so crazy.
certainly no scrapbooking going on (GASP!)
i do have some pages i need to post.
hopefully tomorrow.
lately i've had time to keep up Small Smackerels
but not Suzy postings. I'm gonna try harder this week!
This is, however, what real scrapbooking is about though now isn't it?
Fitting it in when you have time and actually enjoying it while you're doing it.
When i was working in the scrapbook store I would often tell frustrated scrapbookers - if it's making you crazy, you're doing it wrong.
I really believe it.
Scrapbooking can be what you make it -

• very elaborate with tons of embellishments
• simple design
• photo corners and labels with names and dates
• journaling
• no journaling
• chronological or not
• a store house for matchbooks, ticket stubs, maps and bar napkins ;-)

but it shouldn't be anxiety producing.

so that's where i'm at right now - on hold - til i can fit a few layouts in here and there.

hopefully i'll return tomorrow with some of those layouts i've already got photographed.

a picture is worth a thousand words

and also a few quotes. hence this layout of my husband and our son sleeping. sometimes my husband could get him to sleep by just laying down with him. i think maybe it was hearing his heartbeat that lulled our son to sleep? maybe. who knows but i do recall feeling very grateful at the time.

More of those K&Co fortune cookie type quotes with the Making Memories paper, cardstock and a little ribbon. i originally thought i'd stitch those quotes down - who knows - i may go back and do that...

our little star

that making memories baby paper again.... i love this particular paper. all those polka dots - so cute. You know i had never bought a pack of patterned paper before this one. I'd always picked out paper by the sheet. I was never sure I'd use up a whole collection of papers - probably cos I'd never actually gotten this much scrapbooking done before! Yesterday, while i was out at Target, I looked for the girl paper - of course it wasn't there anymore. I coulda kicked myself for not buying it when i saw it. I learned long ago if you don't get it when you see it you might as well forget it! Oh well - i'm sure by the time i need the girl paper, i will find i have enough anyway. The boy stuff is always the problem - never girl stuff. I also used a doodlebug embellishment (the star in the upper right hand corner of the right page - can you see it?) as well as some K&Company "Proverbs to Go". I'd bought those proverbs on sale when the store was closing. They were quite popular at the time - the little strips of paper with preprinted things on them. I really loved the Proverbs version of this line - they seemed like chinese fortune cookie fortunes - all packaged up in a chinese food take out container. i thought let me see if i can find a few that would be appropos for this album. There are 400 two-sided pieces in the container - and i looked through them all to find suitable ones.

Yes - i'm nuts.

Baptism

I am quite behind in posting but that's the way things are right now. But i thought i'd sneak in a few of these baptism layouts. I used some more

of that wonderful Making Memories boy paper as well as a die cut of the cross I bought so long ago I can't even remember. It was a pretty die cut but it was black. Doesn't that seem odd? A black cross? Well I thought so - particularly for a baptism layout. So i covered it in versamark ink and then white embossing powder. Voila - now it's a white cross and looks more appropriate. Oh yes - there is also some vellum that has the word baptism all over it - i believe it is made by Rusty Pickle (but don't quote me on that!)

A conversation with you

i took some quick pictures last nite of the stack of layouts i've done to date that i hadn't posted. not the best pictures but i think its more important to get these up here - and hopefully show that i'm still plugging away and you can too!

this one is a two pager with pics of my cutie when he was somewhere between 2-3 months old. I would set him on the floor on a blanket and just start snapping pictures - talking to him all the time. I talked to that child all the time - I think it's really important to talk to babies. No baby talk - just regular chat. He seemed to love it. And was always talking right back to me - very animated as you can see by the pics. He'd babble and coo and squeal. We'd have a good old conversation. This continues today (sans the cooing - we definitely get some babbling and the occasional squeal!) The kid is a talker. He tells me everything (well probably not e-v-e-r-y-thing but most things - to the point I have to say hey... I'm your mother - I don't want to know that LOL!) He cracks us up most times. I recall a particular time - he was maybe 3 and he had woken up before us. He was quite happy and laughing and we all went downstairs to the kitchen to get breakfast. He told us he already had breakfast. We asked him what did he have? He brought me to the cabinet where the cereal was - I thought omigosh he got himself cereal - I said did you have some cereal? He said - No - I had cookies! He was laughing and thought he was hilarious - he knew he shouldn't have had cookies - but he also didn't lie about it. That's this kid. (can you tell i just adore this kid?) We did indeed have a discussion about cookies not making a good breakfast - just so you know.....

oops - in case you were wondering those alpha stickers are SEI (gosh i love using up my stuff!)

okay. gotta go.

3 faces of you

with a lot of things going on around my house i've not been able to post. i have a minute or two right now so i'm grabbing it. thank goodness i had taken a lot of pics but this is the last one - although i have a stack of layouts done i don't have them photographed.

this layout i used another one of those Making Memories Perspectives, some KI Memories paper and alpha stickers and a Doodlebug star embellishment.

we're so happy to meet you

some pics of my older sister and nephew meeting my son for the first time.
used a making memories "perspectives" (its like a big piece of cardstock with precut spaces for pictures - this one had 2 openings for pics), a papershaper square punch and my Purple Onion Garamouche alpha rubber stamps.

playtime with andy

my husband has four sisters - 3 of whom are older than he. the oldest sister is quite a sewer. she's even got a serger. made a lot of great outfits for her own children including the most darling pj's with huge buttons - cute. anyhow she also took to making each nephew/niece a Raggedy Andy or Ann doll when they were born - andy for the boys and ann for the girls. Not too many Ann's - out of the 17 grandchildren on my husband's side there are only 5 girls! (yes, it's a testosterone fest when this family gets together)

Here's my son with his Andy - the doll was bigger than he was!

patterned paper is stampinup and that's quickutz paige for the title.

cheeky little monkey

the title is right on the money - agreed?

the funny thing now of course is those cheeks don't exist anymore - he's got a very strong jaw and high cheekbones - and not an ounce of fat anywhere. that he had these cheeks and chins to spare at one time is pretty hilarious to me.

Quickutz Paige lower, Making Memories baby boy paper and some ribbon

More bath time

a few more bath pics - he was just so cute. i'm having such fun looking at these pictures. He was less than 3 months old here.

I kept thinking while i was doing this - what title should i give it? Does it need one? But you know I don't really think every page or layout has to have a title do you? I mean just cos that's what is in the magazines i don't think its necessary. That white space is a little disconcerting. I thought perhaps I might throw something on there then I thought again. I like the circles - seems like bubbles, right?

I have a real cute page for tomorrow's post... wait'll you see!

Just a swingin

some of that Making Memories boy paper with cardstock and Quickutz Paige and QK flowers. I really need a sentence or two of journaling on this one about him liking the swing - for like 5 minutes at a time. He preferred me holding him to anything else - my arms were rarely empty as he wouldn't have it any other way.

Rub a dub dub

well the colors are a little bright - i'm really not into primary colors. However - it's what i had (the yellow) and what really coordinates - so there you have it LOL! I bought this paper so long ago - the cute little duckies and you know - i'm not apologizing one bit for liking it - HA! It's cute. And what is cuter than a baby in the tub. I ask you? I also used a Quickutz duckie die to make that little duck.

random cuteness

a little random cuteness!

its becoming ridiculously clear this album is going to be huge. a several volume affair I fear. I have so many pictures. Oh well. Maybe i'll actually use all the stuff I've bought that's blue! I do need more cardstock already. On this layout i used some of that Making Memories baby paper - which is like all their embellishment paper - a much heavier weight. It would serve well as the base but - while I love pattern I cannot take all that pattern with photos just straight. You've probably noticed already I always break up that pattern with cardstock. (here: the cardstock background in addition to each photo being matted).

I also need to mention i used my Quickutz Paige classic (i only have the lower case - so you'll see that a lot - maybe one day i'll pickup the upper on ebay!) and some ribbon. I keep forgetting to mention ribbon. I have a lot of that to use up. I also think it kinda cleans up the edges - crisps up the entire thing. more tomorrow!

my little charmer

When i pulled out these pictures that's what i thought. this child is a charmer. From the time he was tiny, the kid could charm anyone. He just has this way about him. And he can talk to anyone (or - as is evidenced in the photos)- anything LOL. The pictures look as if he's talking to his stuffed toys - and i actually recall him doing just that (and here he is perhaps maybe 3 months old? if that!). Over the years, i've told him on countless occasions he should be a lawyer or a politician - the kid can talk. (and argue any point for that matter). He of course has other ideas on that score (he's more into computer languages now) and that is fine by us.

Let's see - what did I use? Cardstock, that Making memories Boy patterned paper (its a really cute paisley that is nice boy paper) stampinup inks and probably my all time favorite Purple Onion alpha rubberstamps - Garamouche (a combo of the small and medium sizes i think)

A babe in a house

I had these sticker quotes hanging around and thought this was a cute one. I used the Making Memories Baby boy paper again, stamped the harlequin with paint on cardstock with Making Memories foam stamps, added some American crafts felt flowers and some buttons.
And yes - 2 posts for today cos i missed yesterday :-)

Out for a stroll - first set of wheels

Used more of that Making Memories baby boy paper (i'm a sucker for polka dots) and Studio Quickutz font. I was flipping thru a booklet of vellum quotes and saw this "first set of wheels" title and thought - why not. I could save it for pics of his first car but will i remember? probably not LOL so i just tucked it under the mat and said hey its cool.

sweet baby

i probably shoulda taken more time with the photographing of pages. but then that takes up too much of my suzy time so... bare (bear?) with me.

more stampinup patterned paper and a my minds eye (i believe) rub on (sweet baby).

I also realize i am not showing these in order. These photos are of my son in the first few days after we brought him home. I shoulda posted these before - oh well. it really doesnt make much difference now does it?

my cutie pie

if you look close you can see the Doodlebug alpha cardstock stickers - attached with little brads. The patterned paper is Me & My Big Ideas.

You'll notice i don't mind including every picture i ever took of this child LOL! I know lots of scrapbooking people are very big into just picking the best photo to scrapbook but - not me! I use 'em all! Of course if a picture was very blurry or cutting off most of the subject i'm sure i wouldn't (but if i didnt have another photo - hey that blurry cut off photo would be on there too!) I have issues I guess. You know those photos they take in school every year? in the fall? Well here they also started taking them in the Spring (a good many years back i guess). Anyway i was annoyed. I knew that I would never be able to NOT by the pictures. They are of my child for heavensake! I just couldn't send them back to school saying "no thanks!". Okay, more tomorrow.

baby boy - bundle of joy

what's fun about waiting to do these pages is that i have all these things i've been saving to use and even though they're from different manufacturers they work nicely together. Course that may have much to do with my personal taste (which runs to the more classic kinda style) For example here - at the top i used a stampinup "welcome little one" stamp and the little journaling rectangle stamp with American Crafts patterned paper and a SEI sticker. If i'd done these pages a few years back I'm sure i'd have come up with a nice solution regardless but i''m happy that it works out these products work nicely together. (I'm just lookin at the picture and the ribbon really is straight - its just pushed outta shape). Okay.. another one tomorrow!

Next Project - baby boy!

Well I've been busy working on that baby album I mentioned last week. I'm starting on my son's album. You should know my son is now 21 years old. Why did it take me so long to do a baby album? When I began scrapbooking about 10 years ago I thought I'll never get anything done if I go back to the baby stuff. I'd be put off just by the shear magnitude of the undertaking. Even at that stage - when my son was only 11 yrs old - heck that would be 11 years of pictures (not to mention just the ones of his first year. First child = mega photo ops, right?) So at that time a few friends encouraged me to just jump in and work on a school album. That's just one small slice of a kid's life right? And that's what I did. In between I did other projects, but kept on putting off doing anything with the older photos. So here i am. He's 21 and its time!

I began by pulling out anything I'd ever bought for those baby albums. All the items I've been squirreling away for literally years. Patterned papers, rubons, rubberstamps, quickutz, and various and sundry embellishments. (I will admit to one purchase - the other day I was in Target - not looking for scrapping supplies but i can't resist looking. Well strangely enough they had the Making Memories embellishment paper packs marked down - the baby ones. How coincidental is that? So i just bought the boy pack - 24 pieces of that lovely Making Memories heavy weight patterned embellishment paper for 6.28... happy dancing ensued).

And I got to work. I think i'll post them all through the week. The first one is at the top of this post. I used my Purple Onion Pink Flamingo Large and small alphas and i believe that paper is StampinUp! I'll post some more tomorrow.

A little organization

I mentioned i'd be tidying up my Ready-to-go file.I planned on doing that yesterday - but best laid plans and all that.

My family likes to eat so i had to go to the grocery store .....

and then i had a little visit with my sister (and nephews) before they left today.

So this afternoon was the day to clean up that file and do a little more organizing.

Here's my RTG file - all tidied up. I had some StoreInStyle folders (they're big enough for 12x12 paper/cardstock) so i used those for dividers. I have slipped some stuff into the folders themselves (small items with no place to go kinda things - like movie ticket stubs). In between each section are those large ziplocs filled with items for a layout or series of layouts on a particular topic/event. If i have the photos i put them in the ziploc too. And when i have time i can pull out a bag and add paper, cardstock and embellishments. When the bag has all the elements - then its truly RTG!

So now at least thats back to being organized only now its even better - with dividers!

While i was on a roll I thought i'd organize all the finished layouts I have but have not put into albums as yet. That was a pretty big stack of layouts since I've made so much progress since I started this Suzy blog.

I had the stack in a pizza box. The box was overflowing and I've been asking my son (who works for a pizza chain) to bring me some more boxes. Well last night he finally remembered - which is good cos he will be leaving for school this weekend! He brought me about 10 boxes. My cat, Frankie is here posing with the boxes. I put some of the boxes together and got to work sorting the layouts.

And here they are. All sorted. When I finally decide what albums i want to put these in, they'll be ready to go. In the meantime I have a few empty, unconstructed boxes to to use as these fill up.

While i'm at it I thought i would show you my photo storage. This is most of my photos. There is another box of various and sundry photos but these are the bulk of the photos. I often wonder what I'll be doing with these boxes when I have finished putting all the pics into scrapbooks!

I'm wondering how does everyone else store their photos until they scrapbook them? I know some put them in albums (the kind with the divided up pages). How do you store yours?

I'm back and I'm done

well i might journal a bit more here and there

but essentially I'm done with the Wedding Album

can i hear a Hallelujah?

Hallelujah!

Here are the last of the pages with photos

And here are the pages with a lot of memorabilia - shower invitations and cards, Pre-Cana stuff, wedding banns from the church bulletin, items from the reception venue; a swatch of faric from the bridesmaids dresses; receipt for my dress; receipt for my husbands ring; our receipts from our blood tests - you know that kinda thing. Yes, I'm a pack rat but for all pack rats everywhere - there's no better place to store your treasures than a scrapbook!

The only thing remaining is like i said a little journaling and actually purchasing a scrapbook to fill with all these pages. I saw a really pretty one the other day at AC Moore (it was a K&Company album. They make such pretty albums - especially for an extra special occasion like a Wedding album).

What else have i been up to? Well other than what you see on Small Smackerels - let's see. Yesterday i did a lot of cleaning in my room here. I also found a stack of my daughters artwork from elementary school. I know i put photos of some of them in her elementary school album but just to be on the safe side I took photos of all of them (it was a small stack - only the absolute musts I had to keep for her) and then put the originals in a page protector to add to that album. I'll get the pics printed and add that as well when i have a second.

While i was cleaning up in here I kept finding odds and ends - things that need to go on pages. Mostly memorabilia. My name should be Suzy the-pack-rat Scrapbooker okay. I threw those in my RTG file. Tomorrows project will be to get that RTG file back in order so I can actually work from it again - its trashed folks! In the interest of actually getting the cleaning up done around here, I couldnt get too fussy with how i put stuff into that file.

After that's done, I think I'm going to stick with my plan to work on my kids baby albums. I won't be as crazy as i was about getting them done as I was the wedding album. Afterall - the wedding album was pretty limited in its scope. A baby album for each kid will take a lot of time. Because I know it's just not "baby". It's really their lives up until they reach school.

And, as I'm sure all you parents know - that's some premium photo takin time.

It's gonna take a while but thats ok. I know I'm going to enjoy looking at those pictures again.

Not much done but i'm still

plugging away at my wedding album

i took a few pics yesterday of the additions i completed over the past week. Just too many other things to do to make more progress. But that's what Suzy is all about - working in the scrapbooking when she can!

I've been using these silver photo corners by 3L. They're self-adhesive and really handy. Because the pictures are one of a kind I really didn't want to permanently attach them to the pages so photo corners were the way to go. I realized the other day I'm almost out! For these pages I used some clear photo corners and I think it worked out nicely. However I'm going to need to track some more silver ones down to finish the album I think. (I'm going to have to look through the rest of the pictures to see what else might require the more formal looking silver ones.)

I used all Purple Onion Designs rubber stamps. The Great Circus alpha as well as the Zothique alphabet.

with a little bit of flourish and discontinued things

excuse the lousy photos.

i guess i could spend a lot of time getting these primo shots but then i'd be spending way too much time bloggin and not scrappin

so fuggetaboudit

I finished those 3 pages up yesterday after visiting my friend June. I mentioned i would be borrowing her Quickutz flourishes. You can see them (with a little bejewelment by me) in the second photo. In real life it looks pretty fun. And I'm the only one I have to please so I'm happy! In this first photo on your left i found that i had a piece of cardstock I wished I had for the entire album. It's this Making Memories patterned cardstock - which is imprinted with a lovely flourish! It's from the same group of patterend cardstock Making Memories put out a few years ago. I only wish I had been able to find this flourishy version to make the entire album. I had bought the striped paper which i used on a number of previous pages I've posted here. It's real classic stuff that i thought they might not discontinue.

And I was wrong. Well at least I believe I'm wrong. I looked all over online to see if anyone still had this particular cardtock but to no avail. And this brings up the "discontinued things" topic. Seeing as its CHA time (the craft & hobby industry trade show is going on right now)it seems like a good time for the discussion.

I understand why manufacturers have to discontinue things. I really do. If something is not selling it makes perfect sense to discontinue it. When a company wants to put out a new line it may be the most fiscally responsible thing for them to do, right? You can't have all your money behind old product when you want to be selling hip, new and cool. Problem is these companies barely put out the products and then they're dumping them in time for the next industry trade show. I know everyone wants NEW COOL STUFF. However, it kills me when they discontinue great classic things - like this flourish paper. Maybe it doesn't sell well anymore. I can see that. However I could also argue that they don't promote it anymore and they also are caught up in the frenzy of scrapbookers who need - crave - gotta have something new.

It's gonna drive them all out of business. This jumping on the bandwagon. I've seen it countless times in the years I've been scrapbooking. Someone - some company - becomes the new hot thing. And then every manufacturer copies it so they can get in on the action. Its understandable but - here comes this Suzy's long time opinion - not smart.

Not everyone wants doodles. Not everyone wants shabby. Not everyone wants vintage. (i think i've just named the last three big fads). I know the company is rare that does not jump on the bandwagon. But i swear I applaud them.

I have been known to want desperately some hot new item. It's been a while but I recall the feeling. I also remember thinking now that (for example) Making Memories is making these foam stamps - now everyone and their brother is making foam stamps (or metal, or flowers.... i could go on). If you didnt' like all that stuff you were pretty much screwed. The stores were filled with one company's vision. Just made by every single company (and a few new ones) that was around. You couldnt find anything different. And they keep doing it - over and over again. I think hoping to become the next HUGE thing - like Making Memories was for several years. (btw I still love Making Memories).

I think we're past that now kids. Now more scrapbook mania. I wish all these companies would figure out what they do best and make that and stop copying one another. Offer us some variety. ok.. little rant over!

Didjamissme?

well i'm back.

i got to thinkin last night as i was uploading pictures that this is moving along very nicely. i know i was complaining a wee bit about being bored. But i took a look at the old album, and how much i've pulled out of there and how much i have left to go and i feel a little renewed. I'm making terrific progress!

I've also been thinking about my next big project - beginning my kid's baby albums. Actually anything before they began school really. And, if you are a parent - you know what that means - a ba-zillion photos.

It's almost a little scarey.

The mind boggles.

I should take a picture of the boxes and boxes of photos i have.

However i'm not going to dwell on it.

I really am looking forward to it.

I have put it off for so long.

Way back when i began scrapbooking I thought how do i even begin. I had a few friends who advised me to just jump in and start working on my kid's school albums.

And it worked out ok.

It was a place to start.

School stuff gets a little monotonous. Course you can get on a rolll - so much of it is the same that you can repeat certain motifs and layouts and it really works out nicely.

But you do get bogged down in looking at the same stuff all the time.

I'm thinking to prevent that monotony with the kid albums i may just skip around.

Revise my Suzy schedule a bit to reflect the narrowed topic.

Or i may just set it aside and work on another topic which could get a little boring - Holiday layouts.

I'll have to do more thinking on it. I want to be productive but i wanna enjoy it.

In the meantime here are a few more pages I made. I have three more pages on my table in a semi-ready state. I know how the pictures will be laid out. Tomorrow i'm visiting my sweet friend June who is letting me use her Quickutz flourish dies. I think those flourishes will be the perfect touch on these three pages!

More Wedding and fighting the boredom

it's been a few days - sorry about that. i wish i could say i've gotten lots more layouts done but it wasn't to be. I did manage to finally finish this one - been on my drawing table for days.

As i was working on this i was thinking i've gotten a bunch of these done but ya know i'm a little bored. It's a project i've been dying to work on but ... at the same time you can get worn out working on page after page of the same topic/theme.

It's almost the same as birthday or Christmas layouts although with birthdays - well you can change up the papers and embellishments right? And then the photos look different year to year too. The Christmas pages - same thing really - i have quite a collection of different kinds of papers etc - i don't think i'll get too bored.

Yeah i think in this instance - with a whole book of wedding - its the theme. And trying to get it done and over with. I imagine if I was working on a Disney album I might feel the same way. Generally with a themed album you try to use the same papers and embellishments throughout to create continuity. With that wonderful continuity - you get boredom.

I could put aside this wedding album. Work it the same way i work the rest of my Suzy schedule but I think I'd like to stick it out and work on it some more. I hope you'll all be patient with me while i work it!

Some of the wedding pages

I'm still working on these. I wish i could scrapbook all day but thats not the way this Suzy's life goes. (especially when everyone

is still on vacation and are around every day. I keep reminding myself Monday is just around the corner)

I will admit to going a little crazy with embellishments which is something i don't ever do. I used my Martha hydrangea punch to create vellum flowers and a bunch of MME Bohemia clear gems (then i ran out. yeah i had to buy some more gems. i ended up with some Jewelry & Craft brand ones from Michaels). As I said i'm not normally one to put lots of shtuff on my pages but in this case - well i said what the heck. My wedding dress was very classic - princess-like really. But what made it really gorgeous was all these clear sequins sewn into the lace on top. I still remember my Aunt saying to me she thought i was wearing a diamonds around my wrist. It wasn't diamonds - it was my dress. It was very understated I assure you - i'm just not a sparkly kinda girl but that dress - i still remember finding it and saying now THAT'S my dress.

Oh i should also remind you these pictures were proofs we bought - not the best photos that were put into the final photographers album. But i still love these pictures.

I don't plan to spend this much time on the rest of the pages but who knows. Once you get started sometimes these projects take on a life of their own. And i know something else - i like the pages and i don't care if anyone but me and my family do! ha! (believe me this is brave Suzy talk but i'm thrilled that I can honestly say it doesnt matter to me what anyone else thinks)

ok i need to get moving. I've already got a few more pages setup to glue down. I'm gonna do that while i still have a little free time left to myself.

oh the suspense of it all

especially when i figure i'm talkin to myself most of the time here. (wink)

ok the last picture i posted was of this album

I bought this album in 1984 - shortly after I was married. We had a stack of photographers proofs, candid photos friends and family had given us, and various and sundry memorabilia i had collected - all wedding related. (actually there are a few relationshippy items too) I needed a place to put them so they would be safe.

Safe is the operative word in that sentence. When we moved here 10 years ago i had put all the photos together in i think 2 large boxes - this album and a few other albums included. I think that was the last time i looked at any of them. At the time they seemed fine. A few months ago i hauled out the unpacked box and pulled this album out and was a little concerned. There were obvious signs of deterioration - not to my photos - yet - but to the pages of the album. Since the album is over 20 years old I know now it is a very unsafe place for those pics etc to be. The pages have this glue on it - under the plastic protective peel up pages - i guess they really didn't mean "magnetic" its really just plain old sticky. Anyway that glue is turning brown. And fortunately for me my photos etc are not stuck to it. (I know how bad these kinds of albums really are: my mom had one and the photos and news clippings are stuck so bad to the pages you'd have to destroy the items to get them out of there. Bad. Really bad. When I made her an album a few years back i had some of those items colored copied to include in my album - as well as save them at that stage of deterioration.)

Here's a picture of the inside of my album. If you click on the photo you'll be able to see the browning at the edges of the pages.

So - finally it was time to get this project off my tadoo list. I don't want anything to happen to these pictures etc. They're old and there are no negatives. Yes, I have the photographers album (which is gorgeous and has the best photos of the day) but it doesn't have all these pictures and memorabilia.

I will post some of the pages i've made thus far. I'm not going totally Suzy and just getting it done - but i'm not going off the deepend either with papers and embellishments either. Sort of a happy medium.

Now i've come to the portion of our program kids where i'm gonna do my first little rant. I know its most unbecoming of Suzy to rant but allow me a small amount of latitude.

Preservation is important. Saving old photos is really important. And ensuring that original photos (where there is no negative available) are safe is a worthy use of your time. I think its very important to consider the products you're using. Most of the stuff out there for sale is pretty safe. But i've noticed a trend in scrapbooking where people are using anything and everything on their pages. Recently in particular i saw some people reusing packaging from different products to make things. Recycling is a wonderful thing - but not on your pages that have irreplaceable photos - ok kids? If you wanna make art do it with a copy of your irreplaceable photo - not the original.

Ok- that wasn't so bad now was it. Suzy doesn't like controversy so she tries staying away from all those boards and blogs that get nasty. It just isn't worth my time to be honest - i like to use what precious time i do have on my scrapbooking (and other small smackerels )

For now - i'm off to do some un-Suzy things and then get back to work on this album.

Wedding pages

I have had these pictures in my RTG file since probably right after the wedding (of my nephew) almost one year ago. It is the last large bunch of photos on one event in my file. The rest of the pages-in-waiting I will do when i have only a small amount of time to scrapbook. I knew these wedding pictures would take up a number of pages as well as a decent chunk of time. Right now I have a little time so it was the perfect project.
I originally set aside some Making Memories double sided patterned cardstock I thought would be very "wedding" - simple and elegant - and just right for these photos. I have also been planning on taking my own wedding photos out of the very-bad-unsafe album they have been in for 22-1/2 years. I decided - ya know - since I cannot find anymore of that Making Memories cardstock I'm keeping it for MY wedding pictures! Therefore I needed to find something else that would work with the pictures from my nephew's wedding. I flipped through all of my paper. Nothing. Not only did i have no cardstock that coordinated I had no paper. So yes that's right - I had to break my Suzy rule and go buy some cardstock. Hey - it's gonna happen as my supplies dwindle I figure. And I'm not gonna make a habit of it! I knew i needed to pick up a glue pen (i love the 2way glue pens by EK Success) so on Thursday I headed off to AC Moore. I don't know when they did this but AC Moore here has added some Bazzill-by-the-sheet. Perfect. I picked up the number of sheets i needed in a nice green. I also found a patterned paper by Basic Grey, Beatrice, from the Perhaps line I thought would go nicely. I used some Quickutz fonts (Empire Minis and Paige Classic lowercase) and some pens for journaling here and there. Overall i'm very pleased. I took about 40 photos and fit them onto 4 two-page spreads that are nice to look at and best of all they're out of my file and into the finished pile.

My next project is this:

What is it you say? Stay tuned!