Gave it a Try and Finished!

Do you remember this post?   The one where I declared to you all that I was giving Quilting a try and taking a class.  Well here's my finished product.  You'll have to excuse the numerous photos but to quite honest I am proud of this one.

I really did learn quite a bit in the class even though I have made a quilt before and now that I am armed with more knowledge I think I might make a few more.  I just need to find an easier way to do binding because that part (hand sewn) is not my favorite thing to do, plus my finger tips were killing me come the end!

Do I Have To?

And here it is. The last page of my Jamaica 2011 album.   What a pouty face I have.  It was a horrible and blurry photo but I decided I would use it anyway!  This was the first vacation I was truly sad to see end, hence the pout from the bus window.  I was not ready to go home.  Both the hubby and I were sick on this trip so we really only had the day we got there and the day before we left together where we both weren't sick.  It seemed like such a shame to have to go home.  I think if you are that sick that you can't leave the room for three days, your trip should be extended three days.  It's like sick days for your holidays!  Who do I have to talk to in order to get the ball rolling on that one?!

Ok how funny is it that the big sticker in the top right corner says AND?  The whole time I had it I would of swore it said SAND.  Even when I stuck it down I thought it said SAND.  And now that I see it on here I see that it says AND.  That is hillarious, so much so I had to make fun of myself!

I love sticker borders but I have a huge pet peeve that they do not reach edge to edge on a 12 x 12 sheet piece of paper.  Come on Manufacturers ... let's make stickers that go the distance!  To make mine stretch I actually cut them underneath where I have my glass bead (top border) and my date spot (bottom border) so that there was a small gap so that the ends reached the edges of my sheet.

I got this pretty acryllic butterfly from a dear scrappy friend for my birthday (Thanks Dana!) and I thought it worked perfectly on this layout.  I folded up the wings so that they would pop up and then just adhered the butterfly's body to layout.  I'm sure once this puppy makes it into an album he will be squished back down but until then it looks like he just landed there.

Supplies: Patterned Paper: Basic Grey - Indian Summer Collection; Cardstock:Bazzills ; Alphabet Stickers: Doodlebug Alphas; Embellishments: Glass Beads, Jillibean Border Stickers, Jamaica Stickers and Scenic Route - Beach Chipboards.

Jamaica 2011

I am almost done my 2011 trip to Jamaica pictures, just one more post after this one! I tend to take enough pictures on all my trips that I am known to fill a whole album per trip (the record is four albums for one trip but that was a trip of a lifetime on the other side of the world ... that's my excuse and I am sticking to it!). With every trip album comes a title page and this is my one for Jamaica.

My sweetheart husband found this map of the Caribbean showing Jamaica for me at the airport before we left the island. He is such a dear, keeping his eye out for neat items I can throw in my albums. I love this map and thought it would be so cute to put a heart around the island. Originally I was going to stamp and emboss a heart but my luck with embossing is not the best and seeing as I only had one map I didn't want to mess it up so I decided on stitching the heart instead. Isn't it cute!

Supplies: Patterned Paper: My Minds Eye - Stella Rose Collection; Cardstock:Kraft Cardstock; Embellishments: Embroidery Thread, Prima Flowers, and Travel Book Plates; Tools: EK Success Scalloped Edger Punch and Black Zip Pen.

Our Spot

A quick layout I did about our favorite place to hang out on the resort. It's funny really that we would get up earlier than we do at home just to secure the best seats on the resort! So worth it though, the beach only had a few grass huts and they were snatched up fast and without a grass hut I would of been burnt like a crispy critter!

Supplies: Patterned Paper: My Minds Eye - Good Day Sunshine Collection; Cardstock: Bazzills; Alphabet Stickers: American Crafts - Thickers; Embellishments: Basic Grey - Wanderer Felt Flowers, Scenic Route - Beach Chipboards, and Fancy Pants Journalling Spot; Sketch: Sketches for Scrapbooking; Tools: EK Success Double Scalloped Edger Punch.

Behind the Scenes - Part 1

I thought for a change I would give you a little peek behind the curtain to see my process of scrapbooking. I am always curious on how people do it so I thought maybe I would do a post on it which might encourage some others to give a peek too! If you do (or have) leave a link in the comments, I would love to see it!

So I scrapbook in two stages and today's post is all about my first stage. So grab your coffee and sit back as I lead you through the twists and turns of the crazy creative process!

I tend to print my photos in batches when there is a sale on. This time around, I printed all of my Jamaica 2011 photos along with picture for three weddings (I am doing albums for two of the couples) and some ones I have had floating around from last year. So when I get home I have hoards of sorting to do. Normally I plop myself on the couch and sort each photo into piles that will eventually end up on layouts.

 I will then start looking through each group trying to decide what I want to do with the layout. Sometimes I am inspired and this comes easily, other times I go to sketches to help me out. If I am decided on a sketch, I will normally crop my photos at this time.

Next I start flipping through my hoards of paper to find paper to use for each layout. I usually have an idea of what kinds of paper I am looking for and that will usually pair down the amount of paper I have to go through. I try to find at least three to four sheets of paper that go together and match my photos that way I have some leeway when I actually sit down to scrap! I usually take this opportunity to look at what's in my odds and ends box (mostly strips of patterned paper) for stuff I can use.

Once I have all this figured out, I will clip it all together with a bull dog clip and put it in my to be scrapped bin.

The best part is in about the time it took to watch a movie (about 2 hours), I planned about 12 two page layouts! 

I am now ready for whatever comes my way ... a crop, a trip to a friends house, or a 1 am creative, I can't sleep surge. I find it motivates me to scrap more because most of the hard stuff is done and all that is left do is assemble and play!