31.5.12

LOAD 512 Day 31

The final day of LOAD 512!

It's Who Woulda Thunk Thursday and the prompt is "found photo": a picture that you didn't take yourself.


A friend of mine is getting married tomorrow and I still had to get a page done for their surprise wedding album (yes, my middle name is "procrastinator"...).
Anyways, I dug up some photos of us from the last 23 years and used a digital template to make this page. Three out of the 4 photos were not taken by me (as is obvious since I'm also in them!), so I say this fits the challenge perfectly!

And we're done! Woohoo!

30.5.12

LOAD 512 Day 30

Our final Wicked Wednesday of the month is themed "Easy Does It".
That meant the only supplies we got to use were cardstock, photo(s), letter stickers, one embellishment and journaling.



I was inspired to get out my punches by the example page featured in today's LOAD video and used a scalloped circle punch and a cupcake punch (that I've had for 4 years and so far hadn't used!). My embellishment is the washi tape that I used for my journaling block.
The photos are from a recent visit to a local castle where my aunt and I couldn't decide on the sweets in the tearoom and picked a couple of the tastiest looking ones to share ;-)

Only one more day to go!

29.5.12

LOAD 512 Day 29

The end is nigh!

Our last Tough Topic Tuesday was themed "Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day".


A difficult one for me. I feel like I've done my share of tough pages these last few weeks, and didn't feel like doing one yet again. So I went in the completely opposite direction and made a page about something that makes me happy instead: my favourite season of the year, Spring! ;-)




The background is made up of patterned paper squares in similar shades of green (the scan shows it to be more yellow-ish than it actually is). I ran our of e's so I 'mutilated' some a's for my title - can you tell??


I like the freshness of this page - love the patchwork effect!

28.5.12

LOAD 512 Day 28

Manic Monday: Grab & Go!
In other words, don't give it too much thought, just go with the first thing that catches your attention.


Flipping through my stack of photos, I came across these unscrapped ones from our 2008 trip to the US East coast. I really liked the pretty sky against the silhouet of the Washington Monument, so I decided to enlarge that to a full A4 size. As with most of my layouts about that trip, I used a red, white and blue colour scheme.


27.5.12

LOAD 512 Day 27

Our last Sketchy Sunday of the month!

I did my usual flipping around to get the format I liked, added a few extra photos and changed it into a 2-page spread.



Since the subject is all the churches I visited in Israel, I went with a traditional colour scheme: the blue and ochre are supposed to mimic the Royal blue (purper) and gold used in Medieval Christian art.

I'm very happy with how this page turned out!   

26.5.12

LOAD 512 Day 26

Today's challenge was to scraplift yourself, i.e. use elements from a previous page on a new page.

I had a leftover strip of cupcake paper from yesterday, and took that as my starting point. In addition, last year's bakesale (and the resulting sore arm from having to use a handmixer several days in a row...), sparked my indulgence in getting the gorgeous Kitchen Aid mixer I had been coveting for years, so I let that be the subject of today's page.


25.5.12

LOAD 512 Day 25

We're counting down, people! Less than a week left to go!

Five Senses Friday again, and this time it's 'taste'. And 'taste' = 'food', so I made a page about last year's bakesale at work. I spent 4 night it the kitchen whipping up several kinds of cakes and cupcakes, as did other colleagues. We managed to raise a few 100 Euros for the World Food Program!


24.5.12

LOAD 512 Day 24

For today, another round of Who Woulda Thunk Thursday, we had to make a page featuring an overheard conversation. One of the suggestions that Lain gave was to use your pets' sounds, and with a couple of critters running around, it was a natural choice to go with that.


I used the same basic sketch as 2 days ago, flipped around.
I had to get a bit creative with my title letters: I didn't have any e's left, so I altered 3 a's... Shhhh - don't tell!

On a side note - isn't Amber's little face looking up completely adorable??
I love all my babies, but I have a particularly soft spot for her ;-)

23.5.12

LOAD 512 Day 23 | December Daily 2011 Day 22 + 23

Today's challenge was to scrapbook a page half the size of what you'd normally use (so 6x12 if you'd normally scrap 12x12, or, in my case, A5 i/o A4)

My December Daily album is still a work in progress, and probably will be for some time to come - odds are I won't be finished until December comes around!
Anyways, since my December Daily album is close to A5-format, I made not one but two photocollages.  


Still have to do the righthand sides with the journaling, but for now, I'm calling it good!

22.5.12

LOAD 512 Day 22

Today's LOAD-challenge was a tough one: journal from the perspective of an inanimate object (!).
Since I haven't been very active in bringing my own lunch to work lately, I decided to make a page about my bento boxes and how neglected they must feel ;-)


The design is from a sketch via Studio Calico I saw on Pinterest earlier today:

5.13.12 sketch, based on a layout by Heidi Swapp from our 35mm gallery.



21.5.12

LOAD 512 Day 21 | PLOAW Week 21

Wow - 3 weeks in already! I must admit that scrapbook fatigue is lurking, but I'm taking it one day at a time...

For this Manic Monday {whoa oooh whoa*}, our challenge was 5-5-5: spend 5 minutes on picking photos, 5 minutes on chosing papers and 5 minutes on journaling your story. You could spend more time on completing the page, but the idea was to 'grab 'n' go'.

I don't know if I quite managed that (I had to reprint the photo 'cause it got damaged and then had to recut the mat as well...), but all in all it's a pretty quick page for me.



This week's PLOAW-challenge was to use contrast. I used big & small in the title and dark & light in the background paper and photomat. I guess you could also consider the photo itself to show dark/light contrast.

* Manic Monday - the Bangles

20.5.12

LOAD 512 Day 20

The 3rd Sketchy Sunday of this month. I did my usual "flipping around" to kick-off the brainstorming:


Not too many options this time since the sketch is fairly symmetrical to begin with.

Since I've been doing mostly single pages lately, I decided to turn this into a double-page spread. I rummaged through my old travel photos and found these 5  that I'd kept together for a work-themed page.


I store most of my papers by colour, but have a few theme-trays on certain topics such as 'travel'. This paper conveniently was in my 'Asia'-pile, and I teamed it up with a neutral kraft cardstock that matches the browns in the photos.
I wanted to print the journaling on a sticker instead of writing it by hand, but despite several test runs, it came out skewed anyway. Since I only had one of these stickers I decided to use it anyway - it's hard for a self-confessed OCD-er, but I'm trying to embrace imperfection! {thank you Ali Edwards}

19.5.12

LOAD 512 Day 19

Today's prompt: Pete/Repeat. As in:
Pete and Repeat were sitting in a boat. Pete fell out, who was left? Repeat!
Pete and Repeat were sitting.... etcetc.

In other words: repeat something from your previous LO: scraps, colours, topic, whatever.

A tough one for me. Yesterday I made a digi-page, so it's not like I had any scraps leftover.
I decided to print out the background paper on cardstock and used that as my starting point for picking out photos and other supplies.

Here's the result:


18.5.12

LOAD 512 Day 18

Today's subject for Five Senses Friday was "smell".
I took the obvious route and made a page about my favourite perfumes:


I didn't feel like cutting and pasting in my craft room today, so made my own digital template based on the sketch of day 13. I find that I like to mix things up occasionally and switch from traditional to hybrid to all-digi when the mood strikes me - it keeps this hobby interesting! I know I'll never go completely digi, but it's nice to do every once in a while.

17.5.12

LOAD 512 Day 17

Another round of Who Woulda Thunk Thursday! Today's topic: the cartoon connection.
Or: use a cartoon (printed or animated) as inspiration, for instance with regard to the colour scheme.

A few years ago I made a page for BPC's Design Your Life class by Cathy Zielske about a trip to Portugal where I forgot the key to my suitcase on my nightstand at home and my mother forced the lock by using a teaspoon. Her nickname for the rest of the trip was Teaspoon Lady ("Vrouwtje Theelepel"), after a 1980's cartoon character that had a magic teaspoon.


I was never really happy about the page, something always felt a bit "off" but I couldn't put my finger on it.
Then I had a brainwave today: an A4 redo with the same papers but in different proportions!



I scanned in the photos from my old page (they were from before the digital era...), omitted 2 of them and used a new image plucked from the internet of Mrs Pepperpot (which is the English name of Vrouwtje Theelepel).
And there you have it, a much more pleasing page (in my opinion anyway)

16.5.12

LOAD 512 Day 16

We're passed the halfway point - woohoo!

For today's Wicked Wednesday challenge we were asked to use someone else's journaling.
A tough one for me - I don't have a husband or kids whose stories I could tell, and I don't get much more than a "Wheeeek" out of my guinea pigs ;-)

Flipping through the photo pile on my desk, I came across this photo from my recent trip to Israel.


The photo is blurry since I took it through the window of the bus while driving. But it's a funny story: "The Banal Story of the Blue Banana", as told by our travel guide when someone asked why the bananas on the plantations we passed in the Jordan Valley were covered in blue plastic bags (for those of you who'd like to know: it's makes the fruit ripen more evenly and protects against pests... - not very exciting as the title already predicted).
I say that counts for the challenge!

15.5.12

LOAD 512 Day 15

Another Tough Topic Tuesday: scrapbook about conflict. This could be as serious or as playful as you wanted it to be.



2 Weeks in I'm starting to feel the scrapbook fatigue and I had trouble coming up with what to do for this challenge. In the end I made a page about my ongoing struggle of getting up in the morning and continuous failure to go to bed on time at night...
The photo was take a few weeks ago during Week of the Life (another project waiting to be completed...) and I decided to use the same design as on Day 12. For the 2nd day in a row, I used my Silhouette for diecutting - go me!

14.5.12

LOAD 512 Day 14

For this Manic Monday, we were given a 3-2-1-challenge: 3 embellishments, 2 pieces of paper and one photo.


I was so focussed on using a minimum of supplies, that I kinda overlooked the exact specifications: I used 4 photos instead of just the 1 and 3 pieces of cardstock instead of only 2...
Other than that, I used a date sticker, the packaging of a cling stamp for my journaling block (recycling!) and I dusted off my Silhouette for some diecutting (maple leaf + title)






13.5.12

LOAD 512 Day 13 | PLOAW Week 20

Today's Mother's Day and LOAD's 2nd Sketchy Sunday.
Lain provided a new sketch for today's challenge, which I flipped around again to get the ideas coming (this helps me to visualize the possibilities).


In the end I decided to stick with the original sketch and made a page about the similarities between my mom and me. I've done a mini-album a few years ago using the same photos and concept, but I liked the idea of having a page on this topic in my regular album as well.


It's a very simple page: just cardstock, 3 pieces of patterned paper, a printed title and handwritten journaling. For all those people who argue that scrapbooking is expensive: it really isn't. You can make a page as simple or as elaborate as you choose!

12.5.12

LOAD 512 Day 12

Today's challenge was to use trash. As in repurposed packaging, old photos, scraps etc.
Actually very similar to the PLOAW-chalenge for week 14...

Anyways, I went the obvious route and used strips of papers from my box of scraps:


The design is a lift of a page that Shimelle Laine did at 2Peas for National Scrapbook Day 2012. I just happened to view the video today and was inspired to use it as a starting point for my page.

11.5.12

LOAD 512 Day 11

Five-Senses-Friday again, and the topic for today's page is "touch".

I had difficulty coming up with something and ended up doing a page with an old (scanned) photo from my childhood of me playing in the mud.


The striped paper is actually from an Autumn line but I liked the vintage feel of it.

I also want to show the page that one of the other LOADsters, Danielle, did. It made me laugh because it's a bit naughty and nicely showcases the man candy that is Adam Levine of Maroon Five...
Gotta love a fit man with tatts! ;-)


10.5.12

LOAD 512 Day 10

Today's challenge was another original one: take your inspiration from a cereal box!


I used this All Bran box as inspiration and mimicked the blue swirl (the colour of which matched perfectly with the blue sky in my photos), the white background, the red letters and yellow accents.


9.5.12

LOAD 512 Day 9

Today's LOAD-prompt was to use 6+ photos on your page.
I used some another set of long-overdue photos from our 2008-trip to the States.


I still have to finish the journaling, but my mind was too fried tonight to write a nice story on the page.

I did some photo-editing on the 3 pictures on the right with the buildings. The perspective was distorted in the original photos so I corrected it in Photoshop (I actually liked the effect of the leaning buildings in the main photo, so I kept that one as-is).
I found this easy tutorial online that shows exactly how to correct distorted perspective in your photos.

To compare, here are the SOOC* and edited version of the Betsy Ross House:

SOOC

edited version


*SOOC = Straight Out Of Camera


8.5.12

LOAD 512 Day 8

Today was another Tough Topic Tuesday, and the prompt was to scrapbook someone else's story.
I decided to make a page about my grandfather, and how he told us shortly before his death last year that he'd had a near-death experience as a young man and how that helped him not to fear dying.
Though the subject was serious, the story itself was actually a bit funny: during his near-death experience, my grandfather felt himself surrounded by bunch of beautiful women - he was almost ticked off when he was revived since he didn't want to leave them! ;-)
Fortunately for us he did come back and lived for another 60+ years.


A journaling-heavy page this time, which is unusual for me. In order not to cover the background paper (from an old Club Scrap kit), I printed the title and journaling on a sheet of thin vellum. Two photos of my grandfather, one of him as a young soldier and one taken more recently.

7.5.12

LOAD 512 Day 7

Today's challenge was to make a page in 30 mins or less.
I don't think I quite managed that, but this is a fairly fast page for me - most time took adding the journaling in Photoshop!


The subject (my favourite brand of sneakers!) was an idea that came to me during my recent sketching session.
Another very simple page. I tried to break out of my anal-retentive tendencies by glueing the paper strips a bit askew ;-)

6.5.12

LOAD 512 Day 6

Today's LOAD-challenge was to use a sketch provided by Lain. However, the catch was that you couldn't use it as-is, but had to change it around a bit.

I flipped it a couple of times to get the creative juices flowing...


Since I wasn't feeling too well tonight, I didn't want to bother with printing out photos etc, so I decided to stay in bed with my mini-notebook and try my hand at an all-digi page.
Some time ago I downloaded a bunch of freebies from the internet, which came in very handy now!
Here's the result of 2,5 hrs blood, sweat and tears:


It took that long to get it done because I created it entirely from scratch (i.e. without a ready-made template), and had to learn how to use drop shadows. (BTW, great video tutorial here)
All in all I'm quite pleased with the result!


Stamped birthday card

It's been ages since I sat down and made some cards.

Today my cousin, with whom I visited London a few weeks ago, celebrated her birthday, so I decided to break out the stamps and ink and make an old-fashioned handmade birthday card.


And you know what? I felt good getting my hands dirty ;-)
I need to do some more stamping soon...

5.5.12

LOAD 512 Day 5 | PLOAW Week 19

Today's LOAD-challenge was a fun one: enter your name in the search box at eBay, and use an item from the 1st page of results as your inspiration.

I was a bit astonished that my name yielded nearly 11000 (!) results... What struck me was that a lot of the items were handbags - which prompted me to make a page about my most frequently used handbags and the stuff I haul around in them (an idea that has been on my mind from time to time).

Here's my page:

I kept it extremely basic: 2 photos (with the journaling added in Photoshop), a sheet of practically ancient patterned paper (from one of the first Basic Grey lines - Aged and Confused), 2 paper lace strips and some letter stickers. Easy peasy!

I thought this prompt was so original that I posted it on the PLOAW-board as challenge for week 19 as well ;-)

LOAD 512 Day 4

Each Friday during this month's LOAD will focus on one of the 5 senses.
Today's theme was hearing. So basically anything to do with (the lack of) sound.

Since I recently did 2 pages that both featured quotes (view them here and here), I did not want to repeat myself and go that predictable route. I also didn't feel like digging up photos on the internet of my favourite bands/songs.

Then I had a bout of inspiration: today is Memorial Day in NL, and every year at 8pm sharp, the whole nation upholds 2 minutes of silence to commemmorate the victims (both military and civilian) of armed conflict from WWII on. So I decided to do a page on silence instead of sound.


The clocks symbolize the 2 minutes of silence during the memorial service. The image is a still from tonight's news broadcast.

Today also marks the 1-year anniversary of my grandmother's funeral (I cannot believe it's been a year already!), so that was also on my mind tonight.

3.5.12

LOAD 512 Day 3 | PLOAW Week 18

Today's LOAD-challenge was to use holiday colours on a non-holiday themed page.
I had already edited and printed these photos, and since purple is my friend A's favourite colour, I decided to go with a somewhat Halloween-y colour scheme in her honour. The yellow photomat is actually a bit more orange in RL.


The PLOAW-challenge for week 18 was to use 'special' paper instead of just regular ol' patterned paper and cardstock. I used 2 colours of handmade paper for the photomat and a background paper that almost looks like salt-paper.

I used some of Pioneer Woman's Photoshop Actions on the main photo (Old West and Burned Edge to be exact), and used photo frame brushes from Designer Digitals.

Here are the SOOC* and edited version of the main photo:

SOOC

edited version


SOOC = Straight Out Of Camera

2.5.12

LOAD 512 Day 2 | PLOAW Week 16

Today's LOAD-challenge was a tough one: do NOT use a photo on your page.
It seems a bit odd, doesn't it? Isn't the whole purpose of scrapbooking to put a dent in all those piles of photos?

Strictly speaking, recording any memory could be considered scrapbooking, whether by using photos, newspaper clippings, journaling, memorabilia/ephemera (think: ticket stubs, receipts, postcards), etc.
So, though most scrapbookers tend to focus primarily on using photos, it certainly isn't mandatory.
It just takes some thinking outside the box (hmmm... what a coincidence that that's the theme of this month of LOAD- not!)

Anyway, I struggled a bit with coming up with an idea so I browsed the gallery for some inspiration and came across a layout that another LOADster did for Day 1. I liked it so much that I decided to scraplift it.
Here's my version:


I stamped the journaling spots, and since the PLOAW-challenge for week 16 was to use stamps on your page, this layout was a 2-birds-with-1-stone page ;-)

1.5.12

LOAD 512 Day 1

And we're off for another round of LOAD!
This LOAD's theme is "Scrapbooking outside the box" - who knows what Lain will cook up for us this month...

The first challenge for this month was to scrapbook a self-portrait. I recently had some inspiration and drew a couple of sketches for page ideas as to not forget them (in fact, my PLOAW-15-page was thought up during the same inspiration-boost).
One of them happened to be about me being a avid photographer - whenever I take a walk or go for a bike ride and I bring my camera, it takes me 2-3 times longer to get to my destination than "normal" people: I take pictures of every leaf, flower, critter, statue, sign, window display [etc etc] that draws my attention (it drives my mom nuts when she's with me - LOL!)
So on this page are some photos that other people took of me while getting my photography-groove on (4 of them were taken by my aunt, who shares my interest in photography).


I tried to go for a bit of a visual triangle with the green accents - don't know if I quite succeeded ;-)
All in all I'm quite pleased with this page!