Join me for Scrapbook Live as I create two layouts using a kit from our NEW SPONSOR The Wild Hare Kits. 

Sunday, September 24 at 10am Pacific/1pm Eastern.

You’ll love the kits from The Wild Hare Kits. They are custom curated JUST FOR YOU! You tell them what kinds of products you like, and actually use, and that’s exactly what you’ll receive.

I can’t wait to show you what’s in my kit for September.

If you aren’t on the Scrapbook Wonderland email list yet… what are you waiting for?!!!

Sign up with the pink and blue box and you’ll receive the link to join the live event. It’s totally free, so grab your scrappy supplies and let’s get some pages done!

Alice.

Don’t you love it when inspiration strikes and you feel like you can take on the world?

This RARELY happens, but if the magic strikes I’m going to run with it!

Yesterday I was hit with a mega dose of inspiration and I was able to create an entire mini album IN ONE DAY!

See the video below!

Here’s the backstory.

A few years ago I’d seen a brilliant idea, probably on Pinterest (but I can’t find the pin), to create a mini album out of the Christmas cards you receive each year. Then you can pull out the album every year and it’s full of beautiful greetings from loved ones. Awe!

I’ve been saving my cards every year with the intention of putting one of these albums together. Let’s be real. It never happened.

I was chatting with my friends from ScrapHappy the other day and we talked a bit about whether or not we’d be doing a December Daily project this year, or about other holiday scrapping plans. I kind of hate talking about Christmas in September, but this is when the companies are releasing all of their gorgeous products so we couldn’t help ourselves! 😉

Yesterday I went up to my scraproom and decided that it was time to make one of those albums. I grabbed the cards, just the ones from 2016, and started cutting the holes with my Cinch.

I had a kit from December Daily sitting almost completely unused on my desk. I thought it was from 2016, but I recently remembered that I did have an album for it that I used for a different project and it has a 2015 tag on it… so it was even older. (Yes, it was still sitting on my desk… don’t judge!)

The products would be the perfect filler for this mini album of Christmas cards. As I looked through everything in the box I thought, “I should just print a few pictures to include. That would be cute!”

lol.

Just a few.

Next thing you know I’d used half a pack of photo paper and replaced the Yellow ink in my printer.

I printed photos from every holiday-related event we’d been part of.

I printed in various sizes, lots of 3×4, a few 4×6 and even a couple of 6×8’s.

Looking at the 3×4’s I thought I’d grab some page protectors and use them too.

Suddenly this project had become much bigger, and much more complicated. I was like a weightlifter in the gym just adding a bit more weight until I was staggering under the mass of it all.

And I still wasn’t worried. I was going to “keep it simple”.

lol.

I started tackling the pile of photos. I went from the end of the month and kept moving forward. After I’d get a section of photos done I’d add some cards and move to the next event.

I was keeping it pretty simple.

It was kind of amazing how smoothly it was going.

Eventually I realized that the beautiful bronze-coloured coil was going to be WAY TOO small. (It was only .75″)

I went digging through my supplies and found a bright pink 1″ coil. Perfect!

Well, not quite. It’s way too small too, but I didn’t have a larger one, so it works for now.

Then I had to take my son off to swim practice. We were gone for hours, but my excitement for this project didn’t wane. As soon as I was home, it was now 11pm, I started back up.

Around 1am I was finished. Every photo, card and embellishment had been placed in the album. I squished the bright pink coil to close the album.

Success!

Flipping through it I could barely believe how well it went. I was holding a finished album in my hand. From the conception of the project, to printing photos, to gathering supplies, to completion took about 7 hours.

Watch the Flip Through:

7 Tips to Get it DONE Fast:

1. Use a kit. Everything is coordinated, matches and is easy to work with.
2. Gather all of the photos, cards and supplies. Get it all ready first so you don’t get distracted looking for anything!
3. Just start. I started at then end and moved to the beginning. I think it tricked me into believing I’d finish, since the end was done!
4. Keep it simple. By keeping every page simple I was able to complete the project quickly. I added most of the embellishments after the base of ALL of the pages were complete.
5. Break it into mini projects. Each section of the album was based on a single event. I’d complete an event quickly, separate that section with some cards and move onto the next event.
6. No excuses. When I realized the coil wasn’t large enough that could have stopped me in my tracks. I pushed on and the project is DONE! Even if I never replace the coil it will still be done.
7. Let nothing stand in your way! Even though I couldn’t get it done in one sitting I kept it in mind and went back to finish up right away!

Now I’m looking around my scraproom and I’m wondering which project I should tackle next!

I’m going to try a December Daily album this year too. I’ve ordered my kit and I was excited that Ali re-stocked the supply of the album and transparency sheets so I was able to order them too.

What are you holiday scrapping plans?

Alice.

Do you have a collection of embellishment frames that you’d LOVE to use on your scrapbook layouts but just aren’t quite sure what to do with?

Today I’m bringing you an expert at using frames and she’s sharing all her best tips!

Hi, my name is Melinda Greer. I have been a scrapper for almost 21 years. I want to thank Alice for inviting me to share my ideas with you.

Frames frames frames I love them.  I didn’t realized just how many I had until I gathered them all together in a pile on my desk. There are big ones, small ones, chipboard ones and cardstock ones, some are square and others are rectangle. I use binder rings and store them but color. 

I think frames are very versatile item to have in your stash. I hope these ideas will sparked your creativity to use your frames more often. So with out further ado here is the 10 ways I use frames on my layouts.

1. Fill the page with them, some filled with pictures others with acetate or pattern paper. 

2 To draw attention to one picture in a group of pictures by framing it. 

3 To add interest to a group of pictures so they all don’t blend together. 

4 As an embellishment, the smaller ones are perfect for this. 

5 On top of a picture to highlight part of the picture. This was the only picture from my wedding that showed me at a side angle and that was the picture that told my story but I needed to bring the eye to what I wanted you to focus on and not on the cake. 

6 As a base for an embellishment cluster. 

7 On a Layout with much going on a bold frame can give the picture to proper importance. 

8 Just as a layer, with or without filling the frame, it adds color and texture. 

9 To house the title. In this layout. I cut the frame and added the cut off part at the bottom as a base for the embellishment cluster. 

10 On a busy layout you can use a frame to house the journaling so it does not get lost.  I used 3 frames on this layout, one cut in half and filled with paper to add to the layers, one as base for the embellishment cluster and the one for the title. 

Here is a bonus Layout that I have done recently for a challenge, Your Stash Video Hop, and the frames saved this layout from the trash can. I used the frames as layers, as the base for the embellishment cluster and to bring attention the title.

Melinda has such an amazing scrapbooking style. Please check out her YouTube channel as her videos are as fabulous as her gorgeous layouts. (Don’t forget to subscribe so you’ll see her newest videos!)

Thank you so much Melinda for sharing this blog post with us. It is super inspiring and I can’t wait to use your tips to get some gorgeous frames onto my layouts!

I’ve only used frames a couple of times on layouts but I really love this page that I made using 10 frames on one page. Here’s a sneak peek! Click on the photo to pop over to the blogpost about this layout. 

Do you like using frames on your pages? Do you just LOVE Melinda’s fabulous frames? Leave a comment and tell us about it!

Happy scrapping!

Alice.

Yay! Today I scrapbooked. Don’t you love it when you can say that?

I scrapbooked live online for Scrapbook Live. I used the August scrapbook kit and life pages kit from Gossamer Blue.

Today’s layouts focused on a recent trip I made with my family to British Columbia, Canada. (We live in Alberta, so it was a 9 hour car ride.)

Watch the replay:

Here’s a peek at the layouts I created. (Journaling was done off camera, after the Live event.)

12×12 Layout:

During the video I called this page View From The Top. After I decided that I’d rather call it View Of The Top so I changed it. I’m the boss of my layouts so I decided that would be just fine! 😉

I also added a couple more embellishments.

Pocket page: (Left)

I’m sure that watching me create the center card on the bottom was P A I N F U L. It sure felt that way to me. Ugh! As soon as I started embellishing it, as all the journaling was already told on the additional page, it totally made sense and now I think it’s wonderful!

I love to pop up die cuts on a layout. It’s something I do frequently.

Pocket page: (Right)

I did think of one more thing I hadn’t included in the journaling that I wanted to include so I was glad I had a space for it.

Journaling:

I decided that there just wasn’t going to be enough space on this layout for the journaling I wanted to include. Instead I decided to type my journaling and create a 6×12 page for the journaling. GREAT NEWS… I used my Fuse tool for the first time!

I bought a Fuse at the beginning of the summer and hadn’t taken it out of the packaging yet. I decided that I’d make a custom page protector and I was SO HAPPY with how it worked.

Are you ready to join me LIVE next time? Subscribe to the Scrapbook Wonderland email list!

Happy scrapping!

Alice.