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.

Team Pink

Being a mamma to a handsome little boy I am thankful for my gorgeous Goddaughters for blessing me with the opportunity to join Team Pink!! Being a pink loving gal they allow me to get my fill of all things pink and pretty. And I thank my lucky stars I am able to do so. Because, not all girls are so lucky. Not all girls can play with pretty papers and ribbons. And that is what today's blog post is all about; helping girls who aren't as lucky as you and me (because if you are here you probably play with pretty papers and fancy ribbons right?).


Today Shimelle is donating 100% of all her class sales to Plan-UK. So if you fancy getting ahead with Journal Your Christmas or, my own personal favourite, stash busting with Something from Almost Nothing then pop on over to Shimelle's and grab yourself a seat on one of her classes. Go on, treat yourself. You can even gift a class to a friend.


Supplies; Echo Park Summer Days. Thanks for stopping by. Kx

Beep Beep

I made this page for a new Two Peas class 4x6 Photo Love with Shimelle Laine. The class is free and runs the whole of 2011 from one 4x6 photo in January to twelve 4x6 photos in December. Check it out if you are a 4x6 girl like me.

I am loving the new Little Boy collection from Echo Park and I couldn't face putting my supplies away just yet. So... I dug out all my photos of Jack with a car/train/truck, surprisingly there weren't as many as I thought there would be. I must sort that out! But I found one. A photo taken in his little red nee-naw on Christmas Day 2009. Back in the days when I would ask him to look at me and he would, look at that smile {heart melt}. I added some Queen and Co embellies; the little green photo anchors and the red felt cars and I think the cardstock is DCWV.
Thanks for stopping by Kxx

Playing Catch-up

I have fallen so far behind with LSNED but I am determind not to give up. I am going to finish one of Shimelle's classes ;p So here is my round-up from Day 10 to 21....

Today I learned...

• Day 10 - My local Tesco were sold out of neon pink nail polish!! How very dare they.
• Day 11 - How to be a cheerleader.
• Day 12 - Hangover + Toodler = Fun Times.
• Day 13 - I love the Fed Ex man. He brings parcels from far off places. Namely DCWV with my winnings!!!
• Day 14 - It's freezing. The office is cold. It must be about time to turn the heating on.
• Day 15 - An electric blow heater can warm a small office.
• Day 16 - It's better to be at home in bed when you are not well.
• Day 17 - That I'm not over this bug after all.
• Day 18 - The little man's playhouse is huge!
• Day 19 - It doesn't matter how much I sleep I am still tired.
• Day 20 - Welly Boot shopping for 2 year olds is lots of fun.
• Day 21 - Getting up at 6.15 sucks.

Phew, that feels better. Thanks for stopping by. Kx

Once upon a time

I bought three DCWV Once Upon a Time stacks in 2007 (the mat stack, the 8x8 and the 12x12) and until a couple of weeks ago all three stacks had remained unused in the paper mountain that I call my craft room. I couldn't let these gorgeous papers go unseen any longer so I decided to set them free. As they are so pretty I didn't want to hide them away behind a page protector so I opted for a 8x8 chipboard album by 7 Gypsies. Now each page can be stroked and oggled :)

This is what I have done so far...

This week has seen the start of Shimelle's new class Love your Pictures, Love your Pages. We are already on prompt 2 and I haven't even started. I have lots of ideas but haven't had a chance to take a photos yet. Maybe tomorrow... I'll wanna settle down, until tomorrow I'll just keep moving on - you gotta love that little Hobo ;p Thanks for stopping by. Kx

Blogging for Scrapbookers

Taking advantage of Heidi Swapps' Blog Sponsor Appreciation Day I've signed up for Shimelle's Blogging for Scrapbookers class. The first prompt asks why I have signed up for this class. So, why have I signed up for this class... I have no idea what to blog, what's interesting, and what's not, what's too much information, and what's not...? Any help I can get with that would be great but most of all I love the idea that I can add photos and details about my daily life here and preserve those memories so I can scrapbook them later when I have the time from my perspective now and not as I remember it in 1 month, 6 months, 2 years (honeymoon album) from now.

Today... when I asked my little man 'what does the sheep do' he said 'baa', he can also do a cat and a rooster. And if you ask him 'what's your name' he says 'dack'. Swoon xx

My 5 Favourite Pages

The final challenge on Saturday night at http://www.shimelle.com/ was to share your 5 favourite pages so here are mine and why...

My little man is 18 months and I've only just created the first page of his first scrapbook, after months of collecting papers and embellishments, jotting down ideas in two idea books and lots and lots of planning in my head I finally got the courage to make a start - so scared that I would do something wrong. I'm so happy to have made a start and I love this page too.

{Photo is missing in action}

This is a page that I did a couple of years ago. It was the first page I did that I think of as proper scrapping rather than my early scrapping of photos placed pretty much as they would be in a standard photo album along with a few stickers ;p

This page is special to me as I love the musical Beauty and the Beast and couldn't wait to see the version shown at Disney's MGM Studios. I'm pleased to have used those lovely Karen Foster papers and stickers that I have had for years too.

I love this page as is was my first attempt at 6x12 scrapping, a size that I now love. It also reminds me of the first day of our honeymoon and of all the gorgeous christmas decorations and music at WDW in Dec.

I just love this page as it's just so blooming colourful!! ;p Thanks for stopping by. Kx

I Heart Alligator Bayou

I've been working on this page as part of a challenge for Shimelle's Something from Almost Nothing class. The challenge was to pick a shape and use it over and over on a page. I picked a house as I thought I'd get some use out of my little house Sizzix die although it didn't quite work out like that but here is the result...

I only managed two houses - the photo mat and the little Sizzix die but I am happy to have finally used up a teeny tiny bit of the 18" little white picket fence I bought in Joanns/Michaels over two years ago and two wooden embellies that I bought it the same time. Some super stash busting I think ;)

I also used two sheets of cardstock that I received in one of my Sarah's Cards Grab Bags so I'm happy to have put that to good use. I added some Thickers (the brown vinyl ones were also in one of Sarah's Grab bags) for the title and added a Doodlebug Home Sweet Home charm aswell.

The photos were taken at Disney's Port Orleans Riverside Resort in 2007.

Thank Crunchie it's Friday!

I've been working on this page for a challenge set as part of Shimelle's Something from Nothing Class. Click here for more information on the class. The challenge is to create a page with lots and lots of colours.

Supplies include DCWV Nana's Kids Boy, Bazzill, Basic Grey rub-ons, Provo Craft wooden cloud and tree embellies, Abbey Road Whirlybird, Thickers, Making Memories alphas, gems and the little rainbow is from Tesco!