Getting an Entire Previous Year Scrapbooked (Digi)

Storyteller Subscription, 6.99 per month

So, back in 2010, I had a one-year-old, I was working and trying to balance being a mom. I did not get one page scrapbooked from that year, but I did take lots of cute photos. This year I am new to the Just Jaimee Creative Team, but I'm not new to her amazing design work. If you don't know StoryTeller, you need to check it out.

Another great thing that she creates are Ready-To-Go Pages, and they are exactly what you think they are. They come out every week, in time for you to keep up with your Project Life style pages and they are glorious. They are editable, too. By that, I mean you can move things around, or delete pieces that don't quite fit with your photos. Or, leave it exactly as it is and be done super quick.

So, you guessed it, I decided to use the Ready-To-Go 2017 design to go back to my archives and document our lives at my daughter's second year. I found that the first layout required the most photoshop work to change the title year to 2010 and a few other spots where the year needed changing. If you subscribe to Storyteller, you will get all the pieces you need to make adjustments with alphas and elements. The large black 2010 was just recreated with a similar font.

Here is week 6, when we went on a family trip to a vacation rental home that fit our gigantic family. It feels so great to be documenting 2010!

And this is incredible! Right now there is a retirement sale going on at The LilyPad, which ends on March 26, just a few days away. You can get the entire Ready-To-Go Weekly Templates from 2015 for a great deal. Don't let the year 2015 hold you back. I changed 2017 templates very easily to go with 2010. Even the weekly cards! Stay tuned for another blog post with a lot more detail on that. 

Happy Memory Keeping!

Holly Genc

Off-Theme Scrapbook Layouts

What is an Off-Theme Scrapbook Layout? Well, let me start by saying there are many "everyday" type scrapbooking kits that can fit most typical Project Life pages, or everyday life type layouts. Then, there are themed kits. I'm talking about birthday, holiday, baby, Valentine's Day, etc. So, an "Off-Theme" layout could be a page you create with a kit that is themed for something else. For instance, a baby kit for a ballet class page (those soft pinks could be perfect!).  

OUTER SPACE THEME to GRADUATION LAYOUT!

Let's take a look at some examples, because I love seeing examples! This first one is by Stacia Hall. She used Outer Limits cards and elements (which is a great star gazer kit) to document a graduation. "Never Stop Exploring" is perfect for this page!

BABY THEME to GEM OF A HUSBAND

Here's an example of a baby kit being repurposed! Lynette used Brave New World to highlight "what a gem" her husband is.

GRADUATION THEME to HERITAGE LAYOUT
This beautiful heritage page by Luly G. uses a graduation kit, Life's Journey. I love the old world feel of this kit and think it is perfect for using with old family photos.

FALL THEME to CALIFORNIA MISSIONS
Jan created this layout about the California Missions using some Fall themed papers, Golden. The colors in these fall papers go wonderfully with the architecture of the Missions she photographed.

BABY THEME to KITTEN'S FIRST SNOW
Here's another off-theme layout using Brave New World. Diana documented a cute little adventure of her kitten getting its first snow experience. Brave New World, indeed!

BIRTHDAY THEME to POOL DAY
And one last one that I created using the new birthday kit, Cake Smash. What a fun, colorful kit perfect for a summer day at the pool.

I hope this post has inspired you to take a fresh new look at some of your themed kits! I'd love to hear what off-theme pages you have created!

This post was also published over at www.amberlabau.com, here.
Holly Genc

In the Orchard

Fall is just around the corner in my neck of the woods. We are still having warm days, but rain and chilly weather pop up, too (Welcome to Chicago weather). What better time than now to share some Apple Picking Layouts with you? Are you going to an orchard soon? Have you already been? We love this family activity.

Amber LaBau Designs has a wonder kit to document your day at the orchard. It's called In the Orchard, and you can find a list of all supplies linked at the bottom of this blog post. I came home with so many photos from that day that I decided to do two two-page spreads. Above is the first page. I wanted to use a larger photo for the first page, so I grabbed a template to achieve that. This is no new tip, but in case you haven't heard it, I always try to take at least a few pictures that have a lot of sky or grass. That way, I have a great background for a title.

The bottom right corner is a 4x6 template that I modified to fit the theme. (link at bottom of this post). Templates are a great way to get a little more into your layout!

I used another large scale photo on the next layout, using a photo of my daughter holding a cute little apple she picked out in front of her. I love the look of a repeated stamp, like I did here with the "Apples" stamp in the elements kit.

I had so many stories to squeeze in from this memorable day! Write them down, or record them somewhere so that you have them when you are ready to scrap. (Or ask your sister with the better memory, as I did.)

Page 1 and 2 together.

Here is Page 4. As you can see, I am a pocket page scrapper. I used a lot of the cards from the In the Orchard Pocket Cards set, but I also like to add items from the coordinating paper collection, as in the top right card in this layout. I also used papers in the middle card below.

And here is the final layout. I really had to narrow down my photos from the day. I chose the best quality ones and the ones that told the story I wanted to document.

Layouts 3 and 4, side by side.

I hope I've inspired you to document your apple orchard adventures, or to get out and go apple picking!

Holly Genc 
Amber LaBau Creative Team Member
Original Post can be found at www.amberlabau.com

Supply List:
      

In the Orchard Papers                 
In the Orchard Elements           
In the Orchard Pocket Cards
Cork-abet Alphas

4x6 Template from the DISCOVER Memory Pockets Monthly

Make No Little Plans - 2016 Scrapping Goals

So when Holly and I started our blog last year we started with a joint post on our goals for scrapping. Well we have been at it for almost 1 year and I think we have both accomplished a lot... But still there is always more to get done.

2015 was the second year that I am 100% digital.  I am still loving every.single.minute... With my crazy work schedule I find that I can get short bits of time to work on layouts through out the day - commuting to and from work on the train, traveling on an airplane or in the evenings. I don't have to "find" my stuff or pull anything out other than my laptop which I have with me all the time anyways! I have completed challenges at various stores (you often win freebies this way), have a few assignments on digital CTs (Creative teams) and generally kept up with Project Life.

Here are some of my favorites:

Using Janet Phillips templates from the Daily Digi and kit by Just Jaimee Storytellers

Glamour Ghoul collab by Libby Pritchett and Amber Shaw at Sweet Shoppe

Using Chelle's Creations and Prismatic from Heidi Swapp for Project Life

I also started a project that I have mentioned before - my Christmas Card albums. I have 6 years of cards already printed in 2 books. In 2015 I will add my December Documented (like Ali's Edward's December Daily - just not daily stories)

Here is the first of 2 Christmas Card books I completed

Officially I am complete through middle Sept, with several other fall weeks completed in Project Life. I have a Shutterfly coupon which expires on 1-31-16 so I am trying furiously to finish up... This is the first year I have printed a bound book - 10x10 size and I am loving this size! I do love the printed 12x12 from Persnickety but I only have so many shelves so something has to give.

I also have worked (inconsistently) on my vacation album from our trip to Spain last Dec/Jan. I am using the Month of Challenges at The Lilypad to try and get some of these missing pages completed. So far I've been very successful at using the challenges to fill these holes.

By the numbers- PL layouts completed - 110+ ( I did a lot of pages from our summer vacation)
Fun/Challenge pages completed - 60+
Spain vacation pages -40+
Challenges completed- Iron Scrapper at Scrap Orchard - 24+
CT teams -2
Guest CT- 2 teams

Studio Basics Hello World at the Daily Digi

So what are my goals for 2016.. as Daniel Burnham said "Make No Little Plans..."

Finish was my One Little Word last year and I did get a lot finished but I was derailed mid year by some extended family health issues and did not finish My Week in the Life- but that is life (pun intended!). I will have a full blog post about my project and my process using the Project Life app.

Finish my Spain trip album - and take some of my favorite pages and create mini albums for each son so that they can have their own  This album I am printing 12x12 through Persnickety

Finish my December Documented and Christmas card album for 2015.  Depending on the number of pages I may combine this with 2016... I love the ease and size of the Shutterfly 10x10 books. (will link you direct to Shutterfly site with affliate link)

Finish my 2015 Project Life and continue in 2016 - I love this project.  I may change it up a bit this year - blog post to follow on this too.

Continue on 2 creative teams - realistically work and family come first but I find being on a CT really helps grow my digi skills and my productivity and proficiency...Plus I LOVE playing with pretty new stuff (you noticed I never said I spent less digi scrapping vs. paper scrapping...)

Finally and most importantly I want to document/scan lots and lots of old photos, scrapbook layouts and memorabilia.  To that end I got the BEST gift ever from my hubby - A Shotbox! I don't know if you have heard about this yet but it will revolutionize they way I am able to incorporate memorabilia.
I promise to do a whole blog post this weekend but for right now I'll share some pics and a link to their website...Shotbox.me. (This is an affliate link so if you are so inclined to purchase I would love it if you used my link.)

Extremely portable and comes with its own bag - which was a surprise to me

I also got the side shot to photograph 3D objects

As I said the carry bag is awesome - everything has its own spot and can be easily carried on your shoulder.

So that's it...of course that is plenty!! I also will be a much more regular blog contributor - Holly as been doing such a fantastic job and as you can tell I have been creating so I just need to share more and more regularly.

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Luly's December Memories..or my take on December Daily

So while Holly is doing her December Daily in a 6x8 album with the Take Ten kit ( which is adorable- take a look here at Holly's December Daily prep.....) I will doing a Digi version with some great products from The Lilypad. I'm already a regular subscriber to Just Jaimee's Storyteller Collection and Memory Pockets Monthly. They also have a fabulous DYD: Document Your December that they previewed for National Scrapbook Day in Nov. So of course at that point I was super excited to start my first official DD but life is crazy so I didn't quite get the prep time in that I wanted. But the great thing about digi is that you can catch up quickly!

I don't have young kids so I know I will not have a fun/cute/interesting story to tell every day so mine will be more of a compilation of December memories from 2015 as we tend to do lots of stuff right after Thanksgiving and right around Christmas when the boys are in from college.

I started the tradition of photographing my previous year's Christmas cards that I receive and adding them to a Shutterfly 10x10 photo book.  I have from 2009-2014 complete with a few more years photographed.  I think I have all the cards since 1990 (the year before hubby and I got married)- I know I am dating myself... so this is an on-going project.

My first attempt at this album 2012-2014 with 2009-2011 also completed.

I will add my DD pages to cards album.  I might add 2 years to the same album but I am ok with that as I might just do a monthly highlights page(s) in my regular Project Life album.. I have done plenty of December kit shopping to handle this (lol)

Here is my cover page

For this project I will use Just Jaimee's DYD  December Christmas Accents, 6 x 8 templates and papers, Just Jaimee's Riley Storyteller Collection (which has lots of gorgeous Christmas add-ons too), Story Cards No.2 by Sara Gleason, Amy Woods, Dots & DooDads,  Traci Reed's Stitched Grids templates and Ali's Intentions freebie on her blog on my cover.

I will do mostly 12x12 pages but I will add a mixture of 6x8 pages that I will cut down in width and add a washi tab to make it like a real insert in my Shutterfly book. I will be honest the different sized page protectors was one on my favorite parts of the physical project like that I did for 3 years.. I will use some of Just Jaimee's prepared 6 x 8 pages as an "insert" like in Ali's physical version.

Here is a 6 x 8  - fairly simple with great stories and a few embellishments

Just Jaimee's kit also has some great pre-done pages which I might include 1 or 2

I'll be back on Monday to show you my progress on the other days of December so far (although I won't be picky as long as it was after Thanksgiving!)

Week in the Life Day 7

I'm so glad I stuck with this project! Today's pics are more about outings since normally we are free to go out at least part of the day on Sunday. We also have obligations, and that includes taking care and visiting with my grandmother and mother in law. We are very fortunate to have them still with us- and the summer has seen some deteriorating health from both of them- so we are even more cognizant of the needs that they have and how we need to fill those gaps for them. 

But first we went to the Chicago Botanic Garden- one of my favorite places to go. We had wanted to go around my birthday, but schedules and weather didn't cooperate. It almost didn't cooperate on Sunday either - but it turns out it was a fantastic time to visit- not too hot or crowded and we got a great walk in to! Let me share a few images

This one ended up being my favorite picture of the wel. I love that my hubby likes the same things I do- and we just really enjoy these little mini adventures. It's something that we definitely have more time now that the boys are both off at school ( at least this week they will be..). 

Yea my hubby doesn't shave I. The weekends- drives me crazy sometimes, but after 25 years you can only bang your head so many times!

They have a super special plant that is about to flower at the Garden which we just happened to be there at the right time! This plant only blooms once every 3-7 years- and they have had this bulb/corn for 12 years so it's the first time for this particular plant. It was cool to see and now we are checking the 24 camera to see when it blooms ( for 36 hours only!). It's called a Corpse flower because of the strong smell when it blooms. 

While we walked around my son was at his last day at work. He's been a head life guard at one of the water park pools by our house. He is super conscientious and has done a great job. I got him to take a few pics at the pool ( sun finally came out!)

My other son was busy taking Marching Band photos and they also headed to the local water park with his section mates- a tradition they started last year when it was a 100 degrees!!

Visited with my mom in law and grandma as our Sunday tradition. Added to the now have to pay her bills look at the mil etc. still happy to be able to help!

And they are so happy for the company of each other. 

Terrible lighting but I don't care!

After dropping off my

Mother in Law with groceries ( my husband shopped while I chatted with the ladies) we stopped by my sister's house since she was babysitting her little granddaughter- crazy to think my younger sister has a granddaughter! She is adorable and we live her to pieces. 

A few snack before dinner

And furry visitors with my step-mom

And the most random Antique car parked in front of my house.  I thought this was a great way to end this fantastic week. I'll be back to share my digi version of WITL.  Thanks for looking and following my journey!