Ten on the Tenth in May

10 Things in May brings you... 10 pages/photos/projects on my scrappy to-do list:

1. A photo of my friend Lesley, heavily pregnant with her beautiful baby bump number two. The photo was taken at least two years ago as my Goddaughter (said bump) is now over two years old and I have had the photo waiting to be scrapped for an age. 
2. Jack's 4D scan photos. I've just booked a 4D scan for Jack's little brother so it's really about time I got my scrap on. And it's the last of Jack's scan photos I would like to scrap although I think I'll include a scan photo for Jack's Gramdma's album so coming in at number 3...
3. A 2D scan photo of Jack for my Mum's album.
4. Which reminds me - look through my Mum's 'Jack' album and take a note of what is missing.
5. Work on my neice's and nephew's albums. I have five on the go and a neice on the way. Love it!
6. A Disney page. Just because I haven't scrapped a Disney page in so long and I really want to start filling up my American Crafts D-ring album and putting my WRMK divided page protectors to good use. Specifically I'd like to scrap the Hollyday Hollywood Parade we watched at MGM Studios in December 2007 as I have a lot of photos that I would like to include in my album but don't want to commit a whole 12x12 page to each photo so the divided page protectors will come in really handy here. 
7. Scrap The Bump's scan photos. So far I've have three scans and no scrapping. But The Bump is still in that too scared to start, too important a project to 'mess it up' stage in my scrappy thought process so maybe that's one for after August. And I haven't found an album that makes me go oooh buy, buy, buy yet... 
8. Which brings me nicely on to number 8. Decide on an album for The Bump.  American Crafts Blue Clouds postbound album is a front runner at the moment.
9. Organise, remove duplicates and order more photos for Jack's 'normal' photo albums and add journaling.
10. Back-up photos from old and new laptop, and take external hard-drive to my Mum's for her to copy and keep a second back-up. 

Not too much to be getting on with. Hopefully I'll be back soon with some progress to report!

Every month, we blog ten things on the tenth.  Your ten things can be absolutely anything you feel like sharing.  Pop on over to Shimelle's blog and link to your specific blog post so we can all come read your own list of ten.

This post was also inspired by Shimelle Laine's new class Cover to Cover. 

what i LOVE about you... {take two}

...or should that be take three... I scraplifted my what i LOVE about you... page which was orginally a scraplift of Jaime Warren's page as part of the recent online scrapbooking event Shimelle Laine ran. Are you still with me? what i LOVE about you {lets just call it take two} is a page for my little neice or nephew's album.

Again I used Echo Park's Dots and Stripes Metropolitan and Candy Shoppe kits, but this time I added a lot more pink, some paper blooms and a pretty Petaloo bloom. I used my new Big Shot flower die to cut the layered flower and to add some dark blue embellishments - who knew it was possible to be dark blue embellishmentallty challenged..? And some of my new Queen & Co Trendy Tape (I'm loving the tape but had to reign myself in from using too much - it's addictive!). The alphas are a mixed of Thickers, Bo Bunny Boo to You and AdornIt. I've added some buttons, ribbon, tulle and a decorative pin as well. I've left lots of space for their Mummy to add some journalling too. Aren't they the cutest??

It's all about the photos

I am an online printer kinda gal, I don't even own a home printer (at least not one that doesn't live in a cupboard under the stairs without any ink or any idea of whether it actually works or not...). I order all my prints online from Truprint. It's more economical for me and I like the professional finish of a photo from a professional printer rather than from a home printer.I mainly print 4x6. I like how it looks on the page and I like that you can easily add more than one to a 12x12 layout.

My photo process goes a little something like this... point, shoot, delete, upload on to laptop in year/month order, delete, move 'working' photos (i.e. photos of layouts for blogging/design team work/items for sale) upload what is left to Truprint - share with friends/family depending on content of photos. If we have attended a birthday party in March then I'll share my March album with the relevant people via Truprint. I have a 'family' share list that get everything, like it or not. Some of them use my Truprint photos to create their own albums - my Gran has her own physical photo album of Jack that she orders directly from the photos I share with her on Truprint. She's 75 and that rocks as far as I am concerned! The last thought in my photo process is to back-up my photos on to my external hard drive - that still hasn't happened but 'one day' SOON!

I store my prints in a mix of Paperchase photo boxes and RUB photo boxes. They live on a shelf on my Expedit unit (behind the monkey). I would have pulled them out to take a photo but at 26 weeks pregnant and only 4' 11 leaning over my desk is a challenge I can live without.

The photos from my WDW 2007 live in the Paperchase boxes, one RUB houses Jack's photos and one RUB houses everything else - simple. I have a few photo wallets/envelopes for photos that have been given to me for my neices and nephews albums or baby scan photos (next to my recent addition - Monkey - I won him on the PlayMerrily Toys Blog - go check out their amazing toys).

I haven't placed an online photo order since before Christmas and I don't intend to place one anytime soon. Not for scrapbooking purposes anyway. I have plenty photos to scrap and it is my intention to work on these as much as possible before baby boy bump arrives in August. I am going to place an online order for 'normal' photo albums though. Jack has four 'normal' 4x6 photo albums (two full, two empty) and I would like to go through these taking out all the duplicates. I kept, printed, 'albummed' every photo I took of Jack in the first few months after he was born before realising that 10 shots of Jack in the exact same position is not neccessary and that I was going to need 10 albums just for his first year!

This post was inspired by Shimelle Laine's new class Cover to Cover.

Where Am I?

...with my scrapbooks/scrapbooking? I started off scrapping the cat. I spent many a Saturday snapping photos of him, buying catty supplies and I didn't even own a scrapbook album. I have a few pages to show for my efforts, a few, not many. Something else 'came up'; I went to Walt Disney World (twice) and I'm still scrapping those holidays. To be brutally honest, I'm got bored of scrapping the cat and I'm OK with that and so is he. He's 8 now and retired, he's happy the paparazzi photo shoots are no more.

My first trip to WDW in 2005 lives in three postbound albums (one bright pink Papermania album that was bought for another project entirely - that I never quite got around to - that's OK, there is always 'one day'), one Tinkerbell album all the way from WDW and one K&Co American travel themed album that I coveted for two whole years before buying it (cheaply in the states on my second trip in 2007). Although I think of my first holiday to WDW albums as 'finished' I am quite happy to return to them if I want to.

The bright pink album is also home to all my random layouts (and by random I mean anything that is not a WDW page or about my little boy; Jack) - the cat, a random Christmas page that I made for  a cybercrop on UKS and I think that's about as random as I've got. I'm not a 'Project Life' scrapbooker but maybe I will be 'one day'. There is no reason why my first trip to WDW lives with my random pages, only that there were enough page protectors left in the pink album to house all of these miscellaneous pages once I'd decleared my 2005 WDW trip 'closed' (but not officially).

My second trip to WDW has three albums. One postbound 12x12 DCWV Once Upon a Time album (it was our honeymoon - it would have been rude not to buy this album), one American Crafts ring binder with different sized page protectors (all empty at the moment - another 'one day' work in progress) and a 6x12 (by a manufacturer I can't remember). There was an EK Success Mickey Mouse 8x8 album but you can read all about its demise here. These pages in these albums aren't in order, there is no rhyme or reason to which photos are 6x12 or 12x12. I just scrap whatever I fancy at the time or I might follow one of the challenges on UKS or on the Disney Scrappers Ning, it's random, not thought out at all and unfinished and I am happy with that. Maybe 'one day' I'll go back, fill in the gaps, make sense of it all but I scrap for the enjoyment it gives me now and I don't mind if I've left out a day or two or three or four...

Jack has two 12x12 albums - one for his first year and one thereafter. This will change as I scrap more of his baby photos but for now this is my 'filing system'. Both albums are postbound and felty touchy feely works of art from Amanda Blu. I have big plans for 12x12 ring binders as well - I wanna mix it up - I want different sized page protectors - 'one day'. There is no rush.

All of these albums live on the shelves of our Expedit entertainment unit in the livnigroom where everyone can see them and everyone is encouraged to take a peek. Even Jack, although under supervision. He has form for trying to steal my embellishments.

I have one lonely DCWV Once Upon a Time 12x12 album that lives in Expedit unit/desk in the corner of my bedroom. I won it in a competition on the DCWV blog. I have no plans for it but maybe 'one day' I'll add pages of my boys adventures or their first trip to WDW... I hope you have enjoyed my trip down album lane.

This post was inspired by Shimelle Laine's class Cover to Cover.

I Will Scrap This {the one with the green man}

Jack arrived home from nursery recently armed with a masterpiece! Having been given free reign to paint anything he wanted he painted 'the green man'. At first the nursery teachers weren't sure what he was talking about but once they realised that he had painted a set of traffic lights with the correct colours and in the right order they were very impressed!! Well done little man. Love Mummy x

'The Green Man' by Jack Age 3 1/2

Back to the Magic

I picked up this cute 8x8 Mickey Mouse album while we were on honeymoon in Orlando in 2007. Once home and scrapping, I found 8x8 scrapping wasn't my thing. I just don't work well with this size, I don't know why as I love 4x6, 6x12 and 12x12 so what's up with 8x8? Who knows, but after a few pages I was sold on the idea of giving up gracefully. Recently, I sold the 8x8 album but was left with a stack of lonely pages sitting on my craft desk.

Continuing in the stash busting spirit (and generally clearing my craft desk) I decided to repurpose my pages for some 12x12 living.

I stuck each layout onto a sheet of 12x12 cardstock and added some embellishments. For some reason my original 8x8 pages didn't have many bulky embellies. I have no idea why. I wish I could ask my former scrappy self - why so flat? Did I have an aversion to foam pads perhaps?! I also added some long awaited journalling to each page. Hey younger me - why no journalling?! Now I have some new(ish) layouts for our honeymoon album and more space on my desk.

Where's your smiles for Mummy

Where's your smiles for Mummy is a phrase that Jack has heard a lot. Much to my enjoyment he is currently going through a happy to be photographed stage. I can't lie; never looking at the camera and the inability to stay still for one nano second was not my bag. I'm so pleased we've moved on to this new poser stage. I'm fully prepared that it won't last and I am making the most of it armed and dangerous with my point and shoot. But there was the captive audience stage where he couldn't move (much), didn't comment on his outfits and happily posed all the time (although it's safe to say he didn't have many other options).

Ages ago I made use of a special offer at Truprint for a collage print. I had no idea what I was going to do with my print but I think it was always my intention to chop it up. As a scrapper who relies on online photo printing I am always looking for ways to print in a size other than 4x6 (although I love my 4x6 dont' get me wrong) and this seemed like a great idea. It's really simple to create, just pick your photos and Truprint (or I'm sure any online photo printer) does the rest. 

In the spirit of using existing supplies, and I include my pre-printed photos in this, I thought it was about time I put this collage to good use. Three years sitting in my craft room was not part of my grand master scrapping plan (I just checked my Truprint order history which goes back to early 2010 - this order isn't even there). Time to get scrapping!

Keeping the layout Truprint had already given me all I had to do was cut the photos and stick them down in the same order (losing a column and a little from one of the photos on the left hand side to make this it fit onto a 12x12 sheet but I am sure you can order collages in A4 to get around this. 

I added a couple of strips of papers, a title, embellies and some journalling - a super quick layout with lots and lots of photos to look back on.

Supplies include; kraft cardstock, Bella Blvd. Baby Boy paper, stickers and chipboard, Simple Stories Baby Steps alphas, gems, brads and Thickers.