scrapbooking.... visual journaling

 Awhile ago a friend said to me "why do you do this hobby? i think it's a ridiculous thing to do... i mean, i guess it's great that you like to do it and all but i don't get it."

and this really got me thinking. why DO i scrapbook? the thought knocked around in my head all winter  without coming to a truly satisfying answer. now, i haven't done any scrapbooking all season... i've been too busy to make time to do something i was questioning. today, though, the urge hit me. i got out my books & was flipping through the pages, trying to "see where i was" when i realized just why it is that i do this. gratitude. i know it might sound strange but, for me, it's all about gratitude. i tend to lose sight of exactly how amazingly wonderful my life is if i'm not reminded to be grateful. as i looked back over the photos & read the journaling i just felt a wave of sweet, warm calm wash over me. this is my life. it is wonderful! all those little moments captured... things that i definitely would've forgotten, like lars running around with the wii remote just laughing his head off. or when we dyed sami's hair red & it was SOOOO cool. the light in any given season. the unknown blaze orange flower in the garden. chives. tricycles. cousins. cookies. rainstorms. bbqs.  little things like that. we always remember the big stuff... but i think it's the day to day things that really help remind us that life is good all the time, even when it's hard or dreary or boring.  so that is why i scrapbook... to hold the gratitude for a wonderful life in my hands & say "look. it is good."

for the love of fonts

i {heart} fonts!
you can use them to create your own art papers for collage or mixed media projects. and you don't need a fancy program...just open your note pad, type something up & save it. then when you need some script all you have to do is go in & change the font to suit your project. you can do it over & over, just don't save it & the original is always gonna be there! or, if you make one you want to save, that's as easy as choosing "save AS" from the file menu...just enter a new file name & it will create a seperate file & leave the original unchanged :)  i have found that fonts are one of my major go-to art supplies... just as essential to what i do as scissors & glue. get a cup of coffee and just go browse!

these sites are free, have alot to pick from AND user friendly instructions for how to download, view & install the files. also, you can type in your own text to see a sample before you d/l.
i've never had any problems with their downloads...which is a real plus, i tell ya! i use'em all the time!
http://www.dafont.com/
http://www.1001fonts.com/
http://www.urbanfonts.com/
http://www.abstractfonts.com/


 there are so many great font artists out there doing really fun work.
*like this guy... his stuff is, ahhh.... a bit different, but i really like it! he has all kinds of interesting stuff on his site. http://www.misprintedtype.com/v3/fonts.php


oh and make sure to check out the dingbat sections! http://www.urbanfonts.com/dingbats.htm   they are offer a wealth of goodness. sounds funny i know... but dingbats are not letter fonts, they are images! think of them as a way to "stamp" on your computer. each character is assigned an image instead of a letter so each keystroke results in what is essentially a stamped image on your printed page. very cool!


if you're anything like me you'll get a bunch of cool new fonts & then need a way to organize & look at them....so you'll need to go here to download a great font viewer
 http://download.cnet.com/Free-Easy-Font-Viewer/3000-2316_4-10070090.html
it's good to have because you can go open that program to view & preview your fonts on a character map instead of in the tiny little box most progams give you! :)


have fun!   :)

scrapbook pages...done! part 2

scrapbook pages...done!

my scrapbook is growing!

this is a 6x6 postbound scrapbook that I altered yesterday...
it was just a plain olive green fabric cover & i hated it so i did this to it!
now i love it & can't wait to put stuff in it!
*the clock here is actually a copper color with a nice sheen to it (not as pink as it appears to be) but i can't seem to get it to photograph properly.

I may still take out the plastic pages & replace them with paper pages ala vintage scrapbook style.

I showed it to Josh & when he saw the back he said it looked like it was stained lol
i told him that i did that on purpose & that was the look i was going for.
he just looked at me funny & said ...oooookaaaaaaaay.
boys.
geez.

A page in process....I think all of the embellishment stuff is done
but you never know, once I add the photo I might tack on a couple more "bits"
*hmmm....maybe some ribbon?

Made this a few months ago when I was working out a technique...figured I would try it out on the "w" cuz I'd would probably never need it for anything. ha ha

I cut out this branch out of vellum using my cricut & then I inked it up & used embossing powder on both sides to make a "ghost".

Used my new Tim Holtz {*sigh*} mask on the corner here... too cool!

These are the layouts in my "regular" scrapbook album...
they are more flat & less "feely"!

So far I tend to like the 2 page spread look better than the single page...

...but I'm working on it.

This album is meant to have more pics & be somewhat more simple than my other album.
I am learning that keeping the pages flat & non-textural is difficult for me...
I want to do it though because it would take way too long to
scrapbook all the pics I want if I only do it the "feely" way.

Here are a couple of my original layouts.
They are both in the "feely" album.

This one still needs the journaling...
I love the self-photo of Josh

I wanted to keep the flower stem that was "growing" up this page,
so I used my craft-knife & cut around the edges of it
and then slid the graph paper underneath .

The journaling on this page was a happy accident...
I wanted to see if the brown pen looked right
so I wrote on some scraps & then laid them on the page to see
& I ended up liking how it looked
so I chalked the edges to pop them a bit.
I really like the dimension it gives it.

This flower was why I bought this paper so
I wanted to make sure it stood out.
I embossed it & then added some
shimmer and embossed it again.
It is very "feely"!

These are some fun things I made at classes up in Alexandria...

this one I am going to jazz up a bit more to cover up the crack in the mirror
and I'll put up another pic when I get it finished.

These two are layouts I made at a class
given by Lauren Ferguson at Scrapbooking Up North...
super fun!
The one with Lars is going to go into a shadowbox
because it is made on cardboard
and is too thick to put in a book.

This one went into the "touchy-feely" scrapbook.

*I have one scrapbook without plastic page protectors so you can touch & feel the pages.
It will end up being very thick, but I think it will be fun.