scrap-attack!

the truth is that if you let me i would gladly sit scrap booking for hours and hours and hours on end. i LOVE scrap booking and my only life's wish is that someone would pay me to sit and scrap. lol. one can dream right?? no actually that's not true- my only life's wish is for me to have a little bundle of my OWN to do a scrapbook for... yup! that'd be it.

anyway- i love seeing my friend's scrapbook pages they share on their blogs and so i thought i might do the same. since i have no biological children of my own (sigh) my latest scrapbook endeavor has been for my friends baby- kayedin. this child is gorgeous and ive loved creating this book for her. ive been working on it on and off for about the last year- it probably woulda been done a long time ago but her mom and i are always trying to coordinate getting pictures down here from ohio where she lives. SO- once it's finished i have a pretty good idea of where ill go next. ah hem... let's just say im at no loss for inspiration! :)

anyway- these are just a few of the pages for your viewing pleasure...

kaydin nicole in december 2010. isn't she a dumpling??

i believe this may have been january 2010- isn't she such a little diva??

i love the picture on the right of her cracking herself up. that happens to me too kayedin- a lot.

this might be my favorite page thus far- only because i love the whole 'pieces of me' theme. i love all the chunky little pics.



this is quite a busy page... but cute none the less. :)

sometimes simpler is sweet. this is kayedin and her mommy at the breast cancer walk last may.

so as you can see i prefer to do scrapbooks utilizing the same sort of color scheme throughout the whole book... in this case i went 'all girl' because that's just kayedin. of course for christmas and things like that i had special pages but i totally stuck to the theme. no bright reds/greens or any of that... i love combining multiple sheets with different prints on one scrap book page. you can see in the above picture how i typically just rip the additional (2nd/3rd) printed paper to add an additional element of texture to the page. those white uneven edges seem aesthetically pleasing to me for some reason. i love using ribbons on almost every page- again to add texture and a layered look when possible. plus there are a lot of ribbons out there that have super cute prints and i love that additional burst of color. 3D embellishments are huge for a girl like me. which sometimes stinks cause they can get pricey... but i just think they add so much to an otherwise boring page. i take chances by doing some pages with lots of different things and multiple pictures and i sometimes worry they might get too busy. others are just simpler. it would be impossible to have an entire book with just one picture on each page but sometimes that's nice here and there. both ways i usually end up happy once they're done.

anyway! for those of you who wish to scrap but have never done it ive got a few tid bits to share:

-i use a combination of hot glue and rubber cement. rubber cement rocks because if you mess something up big time (and this has happened to me plenty of times!) you can just take the whole page apart if needed. rubber cement adheres nicely but you don't HAVE to be married to the page if you need to make changes. hot glue is best for the ribbons and things like that.

-at target i always am able to find small packs of paper (with maybe 10 sheets a pack) for only 99 cents. i love going this route because the paper can get pricey! especially if you want to pick and choose from michaels or something like that! i think some are even 50 cents a page. YIKES!

-don't ever buy the 3D embellishments unless they're on sale! joanne fabrics has the BEST sales EVER! and they have them often too! plus if you sign up to get their coupons they'll send you 40% off coupons like once a month! love.

-i never EVER use an entire pack of embellishments on one page- a little goes a long way! and since these things are so expensive you'll find it works nicely to just use a couple here and there. combining from different packs also is a cute idea that's worked for me!

-don't ever glue your background onto the white page that comes in the scrapbook itself. ive made this mistake many times and realized later ive done it out of order or something- that's kind of a bummer.

aNyWaY.... i hope that if you aren't a scrap booker some of these little tips/pics have helped inspire you to give it a try. it's super easy and creates a lasting gift for your child to enjoy as they grow up and get married and have kids of their own. plus! it's fun.

hope you all are enjoying your saturday! be blessed friends and as always- be thankful.