I’m SUPER excited!  Today I am guest posting on ScrappingWonders.com. Scrapping Wonders is a great place to find scrapbooking ideas. My friend Beth Soler has a special knack for technology and she shares her knowledge, excitement, and recommendations for apps that will help you on your scrapbooking journey.

Check out my guest post HERE on Scrapping Wonders.

If you’d like a sneak peek before you head over…

 Yes, my title is from the famous poem by Elizabeth Barrett Browning!  Can you guess what I’m declaring my love for?

I’ve been participating in Monica Bradford’s class Your Life Inspired. One of Monica’s class prompts was the source of inspiration for this page. If you haven’t taken one of Monica’s classes, you are missing out! You can find her at ScrapInspired.com

Click here to visit Monica Bradford.
Here’s another quick peek…

I’ll share all of my tricks and techniques over on Scrapping Wonders! So pop over there now to find out what I’ve made a declaration of love for!

Happy scrappin’

Alice.

Did you know we are on Facebook?  Every weekday, and occasionally weekends too, on the Scrapbook Wonderland Facebook page there will be a post sharing a valuable resource related to scrapbooking.

Today’s Scrapbook Wonder may include (but is not limited to):

• an interesting blog post!
• a handy journaling tip!
• a creative embellishment!
• a fun technique!
• an entertaining (but useful) video!
• a super scrapbooking sketch!
• an informative article!
• a fantastic deal!
• a cool idea!
• an amazing opportunity!
• a wonderful source of inspiration!

 If you haven’t ‘liked’ the Scrapbook Wonderland Facebook page yet… now’s the time, so you don’t miss out on any of the wonderful ideas we’ll be sharing!

Click the ‘Follow’ link in the right hand column of this blog, or find the page HERE.

http://www.facebook.com/ScrapbookWonderland

I’m getting excited! LOAD213 is only a week away! What is LOAD213 you ask? You might want to check out my this blog post.

A quick recap:

ScrapHappier is the theme for LOAD213, LayOut A Day!  Yes… this February (2-13) I will be joining hundreds of others on an exciting adventure to scrapbook a layout EVERY day!  Does this sound a bit crazy? Well… yeah, it kinda is! But, that’s part of the fun!

The theme of scrapping happier was an appealing idea for me. I love it when scrapbooking is FUN! Lain Ehmann is the host of this exciting class, and she has consulted with Gretchen Rubin, author of The Happiness Project and Happier At Home, to get Gretchen’s secrets to living a happier life.

So…

If I’m going to scrapbook EVERY DAY in February I’m going to need a PLAN!  Here’s what I’m doing to get ready.

My kids helped me plan meals for the whole month

We cooked up a massive amount of hamburger. The boys are going to make most of our meals this month!

We made tons of meatballs to be ready for meals

I dug out my photo printer, so I'll be able to print photos on a whim

I'm stocking up on diet pepsi... wouldn't want to run out of that!

I hope these things will help to make this monumental goal more achievable!  Wish me luck! If you’d like to join me on this grande adventure you can still sign up HERE!

Happy Scrappin’,

Alice.

When I want my journaling to be more meaningful, and to tell a better story, one trick I use is to make a connection.

I ask myself, “Does this photo remind me of something?”

Maybe your son looks just like your dad did at that age. Maybe you went to the same beach as a child. Maybe you have many happy memories of ski-dooing with your dad. If you can include a photo of the ‘memory’ that is great. If not, don’t worry, just TELL the story of the connection!

In this layout, Winter Wonderland, I tied together a photo of my kids ski-dooing with my dad and a photo of my brother and I ski-dooing with my dad. My journaling reflects how special it is to me when I see my boys enjoying this activity with my father.

The journaling:

Sledding, or ski-dooing, as we called it when I was a kid, was always a favourite thing to do in the winter, and around here we get a LOT of winter. We’d all bundle up and head out into the brisk winter air. Soon the smell of ski-doo exhaust would be filling our noses as we joyously laughed and giggled over the bumps and hills in the back field.

My dad was the primary ski-doo driver. He spent hours with us kids, driving back and forth, and around and around until it was finally time to stop, for food, fuel, or to warm up frozen little fingers.

Watching my boys have the same experiences, and seeing the excitement shining in their eyes as they recount their own stories about ski-dooing with Grandpa is a beautiful thing.

The quotes from my kids:

“I like hanging out with Grandpa because we always have a really great time!” – Joe

“Ski-dooing with Grandpa is really fun! I like going up a hill and jumping at the top!” – Ryan

I think it’s important to note that although the photos of my boys are from 2006, the quotes are from now. It doesn’t really matter. They are still relevant to the page, and they share a part of the story that I can’t tell on my own.

I love to see the details on pages, so here’s some details:

Snowflake cluster with different styles of snowflakes.

The diecut (and glittered) title overlaps the felt title.

Page Elements:

• Paper: My Mind’s Eye
• Vellum: Creative Memories
• Chipboard Snowflakes: Maya Road
• Felt Alphabet: Close to My Heart
• Glitter Snowflakes: Jesse James Beads
• Chipboard Word: Deja Views
• Cricut cartridge: (to cut ‘winter’) Opposites Attract
• Snowflake Stamp: (to stamp on vellum with pigment ink) Close to My Heart
• Ink and Glitter Gel: Close to My Heart
• Font: Big Caslon

What connections would you like to add to your pages? If you like this tip please share it with your friends!