December Layouts

For the last few months, I have been scrapbooking a ton. (Anyone getting sick of seeing my layouts yet?) I've been super productive - and it's definitely the designer templates from Kiwi Lane that have sparked my creativity. Since finding them, I've been able to do more layouts than ever.

First up, this sweet layout of my baby boys many years ago (it seems). I know it looks like Jack is scowling at the camera, but really, it was just 150 degrees on this July day in Missouri...

The title is cut from the Silhouette - most everything may have been from a Scrapbook Circle kit but I can't find the link for sure right now. Oh well.

Next, a fun layouts about crazy, silly boys.

These October Afternoon papers and embellishments are vintage but perfect for boys.

This next layout is from a Scrapbook Circle kit as well, I think. Plus those great designer templates from Kiwi Lane, of course.

I also created a couple of cover pages for our Christmas album. Each page will head up the section for that year.

The ornaments and borders are both from Kiwi Lane templates...

I created a few layouts based on one of Shimelle Lane's classes from True Scrap called The Perfect Collection. In the class, Shimelle showed how to cut up a pad of 12x12 paper to create a set of layouts. I used the techniques to create some Christmas pages. Love them...simple but complete.

Lastly, I created a quick layout using a page kit I purchased a few years ago. Love using up my stash.

So those are the layouts I created last month. I love feeling productive and creative. Thanks for looking!

Laptop Crashes and Sketch Challenges

I've been away from the blog for a bit, but I've been super busy with lots
of small home projects and crafts - more to come on those very soon, I promise.

First, I have to say I've (barely) lived through 2 laptop crashes this month and finally had to rebuild my entire machine, causing me to have to re-download my entire online backup. Thank goodness I had an online backup. I used Backblaze, and it's working great. I can't imagine what I would do if I lost my 20K photos (not to mention movies and documents and music) forever.

On the other hand, let me tell you how long it takes to download your entire 20K photo library - it takes FOREVER. I have more than 200GB in my backup - and I know that's not even a huge amount compared to others. But to download that 200GB is a time-consuming and painstaking process because you have to truly verify that each file made it intact. Sometimes you download an entire 4GB zip file and find that just 2 files in the whole thing didn't make it. Other times, all of them did. And then the next time, none of them.

It's certainly faster to download than it is to upload, but it still takes a long time. I think I'll be completely done by this weekend. If that's the case, it will have taken a week and a half to get everything back in place. That's compared to the more than a month that it took to upload everything to my online backup in the first place. But again, I'm just so so thankful I had that backup.

So - on to more positive things.

I've been getting Scrapbook Circle's monthly scrapbooking kits for a few months now, and I still love them. They always have the best combinations of colors and patterns - and I love that I don't have to match anything together. The kits always have the newest stuff too, which I love.

May 2012's kit The Story is a great one - full of subtle and bright colors. It was a fun one to play with. I used the sketch for this month to create this layout.

A simple but fun layout - everything is from the kit except the large cream letters, the mists, and the little date punch strip (both from my stash).

And then, just for fun, I thought I'd share this layout I made with last month's Scrapbook Circle kit. It was a super bright and happy kit, great for these photos of a day spent at the amusement park.

I printed out the photo collages on 8x10 photo paper, and I love them! I think I'm addicted to these collages now as I've made a bunch (before my laptop died). They are a great way to get a bunch of photos on the page.

I'll be back (hopefully) soon with my latest home projects - as soon as my laptop is back in shape.

Scrapbook Circle April 2012 Sketch Challenge

I've been a member of Scrapbook Circle for the last few months and I couldn't be happier with their kits. They are so well put together and include the newest and best scrapbooking supplies. I seriously get so happy when the kit arrives each month. They have a great blog too, with lots of ideas, inspiration, and challenges.

One of the challenges each month is a sketch challenge. They post a sketch and then challenge you to create a layout with the monthly kit. So, this is the first month I've participated. The Daydreamer kit is a very fun kit with lot of bright colors and ledger papers, perfect for fun and happy layouts.

Here's the layout I created of my sweet boys way back in 2006, not even three years old yet.

I love the bright, fun colors. For the title, I used some American Crafts Thickers from my stash. The tag behind the title is also from my stash but not sure where I originally got it. I used a color mist from October Afternoon - Comet Tail orange - to color the Heidi Swapp banner and to add some drops of color to the background paper. The journaling spot is die cut from Spellbinders Nestabilities Labels One.

I'll be sharing this layout with the Scrapbook Circle blog for their challenge too. Thanks for looking!