Sunday 29 November 2015

Documenting December on a time-crunch

Happy Sunday to all!  I hope you are having, or had, an amazing day, or evening as the case may be wherever you are! Today is a bit of a blusetery, dreary day with just a touch of frost cover everywhere.  No real snow yet though.  How about where you are?

I love December, I love Christmas and the Christmas season - always have.  So of course, as a scrapbooker/crafter, I also love to document the season.   If you are like me, you do too but somedays there is just so little time, or so little activity.  There are days where I work 10-11 hour shifts, other days where between the baking, the errands and the chores, there is so little time left.  But I certainly don't want documenting this most festive time of year to be a negotiation with myself, to become a chore - it is fun, my stress relief, my creative me-time.

Furthermore, as an empty nester, with quite a small family (but lots of pets LOL), there isn't always something going on.

Here is my little formula :

Join the December Daily Inspiration Group - Anything Goes over on https://www.facebook.com/groups/1545693202341867/.  You will find a great community (we are growing by leaps and bounds), daily inspiration, fun prompts, challenges, videos and heaps of fun


Set aside 5 to 15 minutes a day to play, even on those days where time is at a premium. 

I have pre-prepared a few journaling cards, and filler cards for just those days.  Go through your pocket page type cards and select a few that match your colour scheme. You can cover up any wording that does not fit with the season.  Here are a few I made :




I decorated the cards minimally to leave lots of room for writing, or making a quick list. Keep them close to hand.

Now I have prepared a little game for us to put those  cards to good use ;) (you will find a .pdf document  in the files section of our facebook group).  It is a series of words that can be used as journaling/photo/list prompts.    Print the page, cut the words into little squares, fold them and put them in a bowl right on your work table.  Then pick one everyday or whenever you need inspiration.  The word can be used in anyway you want - as a journaling prompt, for a photo, to make a foundation page, to make an embellishment.  For instance, if you pick the word "window" .... you could

  • take a photo of one of your decorated window(s) (from the inside or the outside)
  • make a list of what you see looking out of your window that is Christmas related (there are some beautifully decorated houses in my little neighbourhood that I could describe)
  • Find a stamp in your stash that is a window scene and colour it, stamp it on a filler card, or as a background on your daily page or art journal
  • Use it more metaphorically, in the sense of "window on the world" where you journal about a tradition from a different country (your heritage maybe)

I hope you enjoy this little game.  I look forward to seeing your lovely creations over on the group.  Thanks for joining me today and  ....

Let the Christmas season begin.... you know the song "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas".... sing it !!!

Hugs 

Sunday 1 November 2015

A bloomin' layout, some catch-up and a few ramblings - Happy Sunday!

Happy Sunday to all!  I hope you had a fun-filled, candy-filled and safe Halloween.  I saw the most amazing costumes as I was going though my Instagram feed yesterday.  Wow, scrapbookers are creative, and talented, on so many levels :) ...  I hope the weather cooperated for you.  It was a lovely day here, and the rain arrived only once the festivities were over. Phew!!  Today is dreary and rainy so what better day to get this blog back on track.

You may have noticed that my blog took most of the summer off LOL.  Our summers are so short here that we have to get out an play as much as possible.  I did scrapbook quite a bit though but just didn't get over here to blog about it.  If you are interested in seeing my gallery, head on over to my facebook page where I put all my layouts into albums : https://www.facebook.com/lifescrapsbymoira

I played with Shimelle's True Stories collection a lot over the summer.  I received quite a bit of it in my Scraptastic June Can't Go Home kit and then prepared my own add-on with the 6X6 paper pad, the sticker book, the wooden buttons (love them, should have bought a gazillion packs LOL).  I added some bright coloured cardstock from my stash and off I went.  I admit to being a little intimidated by the collection to start - it is so bright and the colours are almost primary.  I tend to scrap a more subdued colour scheme usually. But the True Stories collection is so fresh, summery and fun that I just had to give it a go. And I absolutely loved it!  I went through all my photos and decided to work with my photos from the Spanish portion of my backpacking trip - a great match with the collection.  Here is the latest layout made with the collection (which is one of the only ones not from my Spanish trip) :


You will notice that there is one full 6X6 sheet as a layering piece (the navy polka dot one) but the rest of the patterned paper were taken from scraps that were lying on my desk; just bits left from other layouts that needed to either be sorted and put away or used.  Making a layout is so much more fun that tidying don't you think?

i had no real plan for this page at the outset and just placed the larger pieces on the red cardstock and went from there, looking at the shapes I had and punches I could use.  I really wasn't sure about this page to start, but in the end I am happy with the outcome.  They can't all be our favourites, right?

Pretty much everything on the page is from the Shimelle True Stories collections, with few exceptions :

  • The red cardstock is from Stampin' Up 
  • The enamel dots are from Pebbles
  • I used Mini Market, and Daily Flash, alphas in addition to the True Stories thickers
  • I don't have white mist in my stash so I just water down some white acrylic paint and use a round paint brush to splatter it on.  I like the opacity of the paint
There really isn't a story to this layout.  It is a photo of some flowers that were still in full bloom on the 1st of October, after we had had a week of unseasonally cold temperatures.

So there you have it :) !  Before leaving you, let me just show you a few more layouts I made with this collection. 





Thanks for joining me today and I promise I will get back to regular postings, at least until next summer LOL.  Have a wonderful day, or evening, whereever you are.  Hugs xo