Sunday, June 21, 2015

Summer Mini


Its already that time of the year - Summer.  A few weeks ago, we took the Metrolink down to Oceanside and had lunch on the pier.  Its one of those things we can do on the cheap and my son loves trains.  We ended up having free Metrolink tickets to use and kids are free so.....our only cost was lunch at Ruby's on the pier.

I've had this Simple Stories I {Heart} Summer line laying around.  They just released a new Summer line that is on its way to me as I type this.  I'm super excited to use it but I figured I should crack open the old summer line before the new one arrives.  :)

This is an older Maya Rd chipboard album.  It actually came in a 3 ring binder of the same shape but I left the cover off.  I painted each piece of chipboard with a very light off white acrylic paint and then lined the edges with my trusty fine point Sharpie.  

Then I cut pieces of the paper to 3.25x4.5 to fit just inside the curves of this album.  I used to try and cover these things completely and they never looked right.  I used to throw a lot of unfinished albums out.  This way works better for me.  Depending on the paper line, you can leave the chipboard unfinished and it looks great.  This line needed some grounding and I went with the off white to match the off white of the paper line.


 Glossy Accents - One of my favorite things to do!  It turns paper into an embellishment!
 This flair is from the Simple Stories I {heart} Summer line and it was added to the camera on this page.

 The 'fun' flair is from A Flair For Button Easy shop and is part of the Fun Flair set.






Everything you see is from the Simple Stories I {Heart} Summer line except for the one flair button referenced above.  Happy start of summer!

Sunday, June 7, 2015

Documenting Disney

One of the projects I vowed to work on at the retreat last month was my Disney photos.  We've been going on and off for the last 8 years.  We only live 20 minutes from the CA location and whenever we visit my in-laws in Orlando, we stop in there.  It helps that my Father in Law is a Disney employee.  He chose to work there to supplement retirement income when they moved and retired down there.  Works for us!  (Have you SEEN the admission prices these days?)

Anyway, I took both Simple Stories themed lines, 8 years of photos and all the memorabilia I had saved up.  I never planned to document Disney because I don't use the overly themed papers available.  I was thinking I could get a Snapfish photo album done one of these days.  Until Simple Stories released these lines.  OMG how cute are the Disney lines now?  I love that they are themed but also generic.  The colors match everything because they're basic.  I love it. (Say Cheese I and II)

I started the album using a class kit from Layle Koncar.  She used to work for Scenic Route and Basic Grey but now she works for Simple Stories.  Her style is perfect and I love her classes.  Since I couldn't be physically present, it was awesome of the store holding the class to sell extra kits.  I was able to get my hands on one and it was the *perfect* jump start for this album.

 A red American Crafts cloth album altered with the Simple Stories papers and items from the sets.
 Page 1 - Part of the class kit from Layle.  I made a few minor changes.
 Back of page 1.  I like how she altered (cut) the size of this first page down to 3 4x6 slots.  There are small details like this throughout her kit/class that make the album fun.
Page 3 is actually a 12x12 layout.
 Page 4 is another layout designed by Layle.  Super simple but perfect for those one off photos that I don't want to try and fit into the pocket style.
 And here is where I veered off on my own.  I used the same pocket pages that Layle used but my own designs and cards.  Like I said, her pages were the perfect start to this album and they got me in the mood to do this.  Its going to be a major undertaking.  (These first pages are all from my sons first time at DL.  He was barely 9 months.  His favorite ride was the teacups.)
 Or maybe it was the Jungle Cruise.  Nope, the teacups.
 By this point, I was having too much fun mixing and matching.  I wish I had a photo of my table at the crop.  My entire 6 foot table was covered in the product line.

I even snuck in some flair from the A Flair For Buttons Easy shop.  Shelly designed some basic Mouse Words flair.

 The next time we went, he was a little older and could ride more of the big kid rides.  While I love Dumbo, Peter Pan etc, there are some fun rides that have height requirements. (The last time we went, he was finally tall enough for the last ride - Indiana Jones!)
 I love throwing memorabilia in there.  I realize now, that I stuck this in the wrong spot.  The next section was his first trip to Florida.  I think I switched the maps.  :)


A tip for anyone doing this kind of album and its not a new trick that I invented, just something I do.  When all but 1-2 of my photos work for a specific pocket layout, or if I particularly like that pocket layout, I go with it.  I make my photos work.  This last page (and some others above) have a split photo.  I really didn't plan this album out - its strictly on a whim.  So when I printed out photos before the retreat, I went with 4x6's and either cut them down to fit pockets or split them.  It works.  It doesn't disrupt the flow of the photo either.

** all products are from Simple Stories.  I purchased mine at either Scrapbook.com or ACherryontop.com.  Sticker letters are all Simple Stories.  I'm addicted to their sticker letters and they come in ALL colors.  I buy them whenever there is a coupon and have at least a 6 inch stack of them.  Sadly the local stores to me do not carry these lines so I did order them online.  If your local store carries them, I envy you.  Simple Stories is one of my favorite brands and they are hard to find in my area.***