Kiss and Tell Scrapbooking

Scrapbooking with Triangles & Staying in the Creative Zone

I made this triangles strip on a page a couple of weeks ago. 

I keep these "half-baked" pages in a folder.  When I'm feeling inspired, I don't always go to the folder and I make pages from scratch.  But sometimes, like today, when I'm not feeling particularly inspired, I go to the half baked pages folder. 

Before starting, since I knew I was feeling a bit creatively sluggish today, I decided that I would just blindly pick one page and use it - that no matter what it was I'd just pick it and use it.  If it would have been something I didn't feel like I could work with then this may have been more difficult and, while I'd be breaking my own rules, I might even allow myself to pick a second, but not a third.  But happily, this was an easy page base to work with.  I also had that photo collage strip already made and it just happened to be the firt in a drawer of enlarged photos so I decided I'd just go with it rather than digging through the drawer.  Then I added a title and a bit of journaling and this is a good page for my "Project Lifetime" album which has only one page for each month or season. 

Is this my favorite page ever?  Nope, but it is ok and I do like it.  What is more important for me is that I'm keeping myself in the process even when I'm not super inspired.  If I let it go for a day or two, sometimes that can turn into a week or two; and I prefer to be creative everyday so this is a good way to keep me in the creative zone.

How do you keep yourself in the creative zone when you aren't feeling inspired?

 

Happy Mail!

A BIG HAPPY THANK YOU!! to Ms. Smith from Flushing Michigan  for the Happy Mail!

I also sent out some happy mail full of a variety of 6x6 papers for my recent blog 200,000+ visits, it went up to New Jersey.  I'm feeling like maybe I should have made my envelope a little more crafty but my outgoing happy mail went in a Plain Jane envelope.

Our 1st Art Journaling Class and a Full Circle Moment.

Did I learn anything new?  Nope.

Am I glad I went? Oh, Yes!

I took my 8 year old to an art journal class at our local scrapbook store, Whim So Doodle, yesterday. 

When I was her age, my Grandpa Allen used to drive me to Saturday art classes, she is so ready for that sort of thing.

I had a full circle moment with modern scrapbooking.  Back in around the year 2000 - it might have even been earlier in 1998 or 1999, I'm not sure but maybe since I got married in 99 - I went into a small local scrapbook store here in St. Pete near the mall.  The store no longer exists.  I remember lots of patterned papers, Mrs. Grossman's stickers, frames and paper embellishments that were sold one by one etc. There were some sample scrapbooks in the back of the store.  I mentioned to the clerk that I have been doing this sort of thing with magazines since I was a kid.  She gasped and quickly told me how completely wrong it was to use magazines because they weren't acid free - and now I can say blah-blah-blah - we've all heard that bit before; but back then I felt like maybe this scrapbooking thing wasn't for me.  I do remember going home to check up on my albums from high school.  They were in magnetic albums and full of magazine clippings and they looked totally fine, seriously.  Maybe a few of them had yellow around the edges of the album pages, but the magazine clippings were vibrant and my pictures looked fine too.  A few years after that I tore apart my magentic ablums to "save" them.  I sort of wish I didn't do that now.  I also wish that lady's comment hadn't felt like such a personal attack, but somehow, at that time, it did. 

So fast forward to yesterday and my daughter and I packed up our 90 weight watercolor paper pads, that I made smash book style at home; and our tackle boxes of watercolors, pastels, glue sticks, patterened papers, and OLD MAGAZINES!!!!  I was amused that our first assignment in class at the scrapbook store was to cut up old magazines and make a collage in our art journals.  Um, right. 

With the exception that I was using watercolor paper instead of magnetic albums, it could have been 1986.  It was fun to revisit an old friend - cutting up magazines - I'm pretty sure 99.9% of girls in the 80s did this at one point or another, whether it was to make something to decorate your locker with or it was to make a cool birthday card for a friend or even - gasp - to make an art journal (except we didn't call it that back then) - if you had a subscription to Seventeen Magazine - I'm betting you made something along these lines.

It was fun and there were familar faces in the class - sort of a loose sisterhood of scrapbookers.  I should really get out more so that I could remember everyone's names better, I am so horribly bad at that.  But I "know" these women, I should get out and hang out with them more.

That sort of energy was exciting.  My daugther picked up on it.  While taking a trip to the ladies room she said "I LOVE THIS!!" and she went on and on in a very fast excited voice, a more grown up voice, one that means she's seriously loving this - sort of like the vibe she gets when she watches Victorious or Jessee or those pre-teen types of shows; A sort of "this is new and I love it" feeling. 

"Can we come back tomorrow?"  she asked, reverting to her knees together bouncing up and down with her hands in prayer position stance.  "Oh honey, they don't do this tomorrow but I will sign us up for next month."  I said.  "Next MONTH??!!"  Totally unacceptable she let me know.  I offered "we could do this at home, we have all the supplies."  "BUT ITS NOT THE SAME AT HOME!"  she said.  She is right, there's something about being around other people doing the same thing.  I think I will sign us up for some art classes at the art center and we'll be back down to the scrapbooking store next month for more art journaling.

If you'd like to support this blog and stock up on some art journaling supplies, please click through to one of the affiliate links:

DCWV #21 Layout & It's Full Bleed :)

Ok Scrapbookers, True Confession here.  I'm a bit tired of that old Die Cuts With a View Stack.  I still like it, but I'm thinking its about time to put it away for a while until it feels new to me again.  But before I do, I'm committed to completing the 24 layouts.  This is #21 and I used the yellow-green paper as a base cardstock page, the weight of the paper is very nice, it is cardstock weight so you can use it for a solid base for your page.  What has been exiting me lately is the concept of "full bleed" so the photo strip in this layout is full bleed - meaning going to the edge of the page - or at least that's how I'm defining this concept for my scrapbooking purposes and play.

 

So I think a strip of photos that show a series is a great way to accomplish full bleed, my more favorite is a huge photo on 2/3 of the page or on one page of a 2 page layout.  In order to get the huge photo, since I prefer to send my prints out to printing at home, I'll have to do a bit of pre-planning to accomplish this.  This morning I did picked two photos from yesterday - I took these after we got home from the mall.  She is seriously proud of the hat and the suspenders btw & I picked out that shirt but it was the only thing I picked out that she liked.

Let me say we almost never go to the mall - like its been years - so it was a nice little happy experience for me and my daugther.  She had a rough day with her friends at school and it reminded me of that Taylor Swift song "The Best Day" (which my daughter and I love) and the song lyrics tell the story of how when she was young and kids were mean, her mom would drive her to another town and they'd go window shopping and she'd forget all about those mean kids.  So the mall trip was an intentional memory / quality time kind of experience that I wanted to create and it was awesome.

So I'm planing to print up these two photos for the purpose of some full bleed layouts.

Later, when we got home, I inadvertently hurt my daughter's feelings - I was thinking about this when I was listening to  Nancy Nally & Noell Hyman's Paperclipping Roundtable podcast, you can listen to it for free by clicking here - This week's show is about school scrapbooking. 

I left this comment over at Paperclipping:

On the topic of whether your kids will care about your scrapbooks: 

My experience with this: I recently inadvertently offended / hurt the feeling of each of my kids:  {1. I was talking to my sister about my son and saying oh he's always on the computer lately..., I was talking while my kids were swimming in the pool and I didn't think they could even hear me and I wasn't saying anything offensive but my son made a bee line out of the pool and came over soaking wet and told me not to tell people how he was!  2. Last night after taking my daughter for some retail therapy - something we don't normally do but she was thrilled about - when we got home we watched the Simpsons and Lisa & Marge were shopping & Lisa didn't like anything Marge was picking out - and I said - oh that's just like us at the mall!  }    Maybe my kids are just a bit dramatic, but the thing I noticed both times is that they don't like for me to make sweeping statements about how they are.  Maybe its an age thing.  I hope so.

My concern:  My scrapbooks are full of layouts where I make sweeping statements about how they are, what they are like, etc.  I seriously hope that someday they will LIKE them and not be offended by them!   I know I've inadvertently offended members of my extended family with scrapbook layouts, not because I wrote anything negative, but because they didn't like the way they looked in a photo or because I put it on my blog (I've stopped that btw).   I betcha I'm not the only one who does this sort of thing.

Show Topic Idea:  (maybe?)  How not to inadvertently offend people with well meaning scrapbooking.  and/or The effect of your scrapbooking on your own life and that of your family &  friends.   -  Maybe Stephanie Medley Rath would have some insightful things to say about this.

Do you have any thoughts on this topic?  Please share in the comments here or over there.

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Full Bleed! Taking your photos to the Edge of the Scrapbooking Page

Taking photos to the edge of the page - what a cool little design trick that I've never really explored before - until last night!  This concept was one of the challenges in Elizabeth Dillow's Twelve Design Challenges in the Big Picture Classes I'm taking AND it was coincidentally the topic of an article I read at Get It Scrapped by Debbie Hodge (click here for the "Bleed Edge" article there).   

I was super inspired and made seven of my "half baked" pages using this technique and I gathered almost 200 examples on my Pinterest "Full Bleed" Board.   I still have about 4-5 more that I'd like to get started.  AND! I even finished one of these layouts last night!

I had that 5x7 photo from a long time ago, I had played with the colors on the computer and printed it with a focal color on her face with black and white in the rest of the photo.  The colors came out really intense and while her eyes are really very blue, they look a bit unnatural and I could never figure out how to use that particular print on a page.  While I was looking for photos to use for the full bleed approach, I figured I'd use it since I was just "practicing" this new to me concept with these pages.   

SCRAPBOOK TIP!  Having the mindset that you are just "practicing" with your pages gives you more creating freedom!  Chances are when you "practice" you'll come up with pages that you never would have otherwise and some of them you will end up adoring, like I do with this one.

 

Journaling: "Vision:  Its not about how you look, its about how you see. (adapted from a Henry David Thoreau quote).  / You have your own unique vision and you are so sure of yourself.  You come up with the most creative ways to do things and you make observations that let us know that you are a deep thinker."

And yes, those paper strips are from my new 6x6 Amy Tangerine paper pack - the neon-ish colors worked perfectly with the overly bright focal colors on this photo.

I have been scrapbooking for a long time so it is so fun to have a new perspective, to learn something new, which has really been there all along. 

Want to learn more about design priniciples to use in your scrapbooking?  Check out these affiliate links:

I'll have more of the completed pages coming up soon!

Online Scrap-happenings

Hey Scrapbookers:

I'm working on a couple pages and albums and will have more on those soon, in the meantime, here is a photo of my 6x6 patterened paper storage:

I picked up that little desk organizer at the scrapbooking yardsale and the opening is about 7 inches wide so its perfect for all my my 6x6 paper pads.  Love it.

And, Here are some links to cool internet scrapbooking stuff right now:

1. Short Journaling vs. Long Journaling Article by Debbie Hodge.  I loved this article.  I also love the Get It Scrapped website and I'm familiar with it through the Paperclipping Roundtable.  It has been on my "to do" list to poke around the Get It Scrapped site for a while now and they are currently having a Creative Team call which sparked my interest.  I don't normally apply for creative teams but I did apply for this one since somehow at a gut level I think I love this site even though I'm not very familiar with it.  So on my current "to do" lis is to get much more familiar with this site - there are is an amazing amount of free content articles there - sort of like a magazine; plus there are lots of in depth classes - like Big Picture I would imagine.  So I'm checking it out and I'll report back here.  I did start on a long journaling page this morning and will have a post soon comparing my longer journaling pages with my shorter journaling pages.  I create both types of pages and I think the mixture makes an album more interesting and gives me the flexibility to make whatever I feel like at the time - so I don't feel pressure to "journal more" or less.

P.S. If you want to apply for the Get It Scrapped Creative Team - there is still time  (deadline is May 23rd 2012) - Click Here for the Link to the Creative Team Call.

2.  I've been reading fiction again!  I came across a childhood book recently and remembered loving it and decided to read it to my kids.  Here's the comment I left over at the Big Picture Blog as a follow up to the Big Picture Classes Blog Post: Pop Culture Scrapbooking - The Hunger Games! which I did back in March:

Hey Wendy - A follow up & a recommended reading book for anyone who loves Katniss Everdeen from the Hunger Games: I started reading "Island of Blue Dolphins" by Scott O'Dell written in 1960. I read it when I was a kid and remember loving it but didn't remember the story - but the story is a true one about a girl whose tribe accidentally left her on a island alone and she lived there for years and years and its about her survival. It is awesome! I don't read much fiction because of time limitations but recently I read The Hunger Games series and fell in love with that triology. What is so cool is that the girl in the Island of Blue Dolphins book is SO MUCH like Katniss Everdeen from the Hunger Games. I love that suvivor girl type of story. The two books are quite different but both are written in the first person present tense and there's something about that which I just love. Plus: Girl Power!

Here are some links to those books in case you need some summer reading ideas:

 

3. Lain Ehmann's State of The SCRAPBOOKING Union!  Ok with the presidential election coming up, I thought this was so clever.  Go Lain!  Fun stuff.

 

Hey Twelvers: DOZEN DAY Scrapbook Layouts Videos *** PLUS A Winner for the 200,000+ Blog Page Views!

SCRAPBOOKING LAYOUTS VIDEOS - PALOOOZA!

I got a comment from Rhonda who is a scrapbooker who is in the Big Picture Class with Stacy Julian. 

Kate, Your presence is requested on the TWELVE CHIT CHAT board to help us learn how to produce our own videos for class!!! Thx, Rhonda

Stacy makes videos called "Dozen Day" in which she shares the last 12 layouts she made and explains them, so the students in class want to do some too.  Here was my answer to Rhonda:

Hi Rhonda! OH Funny :) Ok.  I have videos on ustream which I film with a Microsoft web cam and I film the 10 minute videos for you tube on my husband's ipad. I have also used my iphone on the fly - like when I was skiing - to film and upload. I am not technically awesome by any stretch so when I have glitches I call in the computer man (aka my husband) to fix things. I'll check in to class now. P.S. I'm in my scrapbook room now and am torn between making a scrapbook page or an art journal page. I would love to combine those two worlds more.

And then I made my own Dozen Day Scrapbook Videos (scroll down or head over to You Tube through one of those links below).

PLEASE NOTE:  That I really tried to keep the videos under 10 minutes because my iPad condenses them to under 10 but I went over a bit so when I uploaded them I labeled them as  #1, #3, #5, #7, and #9 in case I had to add in supplements - I didn't - so they are labeled with ODD numbers only on You Tube but there is 5 (five) of them.

Video #1 (#1 on Youtube): {video link}

 

{video link for the tail end of #1 - start around 1:15 I think}

 

Video #2 (#3 on Youtube): {video link}

  

Video #3 (#5 on Youtube): { video link}

 

Video #4 (#7 on Youtube): { video link }

 

Video #5 (#9 on youtube): {video link}

 

 Want to make videos of your own and support this blog?  Click through to the affiliate link here - once you over at Amazon, if you make any purchases (so you don't have to buy the stuff below)  you can buy anything and means I'll get 4-6% and that goes to support this blog (which costs about $150.00 /yearr to typad - so it would be cool to have the blog at least support itself :)

  

This is the one I use fpr  ustream videos - and I thinkI paid $100+ at Best Buy, so it looks like Amazon is less expensive. I used the iPad for the videos up top.

And NOW FOR THE BIG (or 6x6 inch) PRIZE - dun daaa naaa naaah!  The WINNER OF THE POST for the 200,000 blog hits is

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Laura T. said...

Laura - please email me your address at katiescottscrapbooking@gmail.com and I'll send you some papers from the 6x6 kits I bought last weekend from Heidi Swapp / Sugar Chic; Heidi Swapp / No Limits; Amy Tangerine / Sketchbook; Crate Paper / Story Teller;  and some older Basic Grey / Basics White and Infuse and Offbeat and probably some other stuff too!

P.S. I don't work for any scrapbook companies so this is just stuff from my stash - but that I think you'll like. 

P.S. Hey scrapbooking companies - if you ever want to provide me some free stuff to give away on the blog... just email me or leave a comment!

Thanks for visiting my little space on the internet :)

Katie.

How to Art Journal with Scrapbooking Supplies

I love scrapbooking. I am busy.  I also love art.  I am busy.  There is only so many things I can do.  I have to choose.  Somewhere along the way I decided I didn't have enough time for art.  I've resisted art journals, even though I secretly know I would love it.  I've been afraid it would steal me away from what I'm up to already.  Its a temptation I've been resisting (and not the paint kind of resisting).

Are you a scrapbooker like me who just doesn't want to open the pandora's box of art journaling because you are afraid of the time, space and supplies you'll need to add it to your already full plate?  I am.   But Here Goes:

I think maybe I've stayed away from paint because when the kids were small whenever I pulled out paint it quickly turned into a giant and fun, but giant mess for me to clean up so over the years I think I've been less motivated to get out the paints because of small children's short attention spans and the seriously quick way kids and paint can get everywhere.  My kids are a bit older now and I think my daughter would really love some art classes and for me to pull out the paint on a more regular basis; she's been in the paint on a daily basis for at least a month and she's been really good about cleaning up after herself.  So maybe its time to get back there to art or at least dabble a bit again.

I signed up for an art journaling class next weekend, I signed up my daugther too.  We are both excited.  My mind is already full of ideas about how I can use my scrapbooking supplies in art journals.  Face it scrapbookers, we seriously already have most of the stuff.  I'll dip my toe in and report on my art journaling journey. 

Tell me, do you art journal?  How do you mix it and/or keep it separate from your scrapbooking?  I would love to hear from you.

 

P.S. I'll have a winner on the 200,000 blog hits soon! 

P.S. Hope you all had a wonderful Mother's Day!

 

1DCWV Stack = 24 Layouts: Layout #20: Almost @42

1 DCWV Stack = 24 Layouts:  Layout #20:  "Almost @ 42"

This one was inspired by the Memory Making Monday series over at the Two Peas in a Bucket site.

Journaling:  "It is May 11th & I can't believe that I let May 6th pass me by because usually I freak out a little bit on that day since it marks "one month till my birthday".  I'm not where I'd like to be on many fronts, especially with my weight loss goas, but I am still here and trying and LIFE IS GOOD.  I have a family who is happy and healthy and our home is full of love andmy life is a good one.  HERE AND NOW.  Love Mom / Katie 5/11/12"

P.S. I got crafty with the numbers and used the negative spaces and then sketched them in with red pen.

 

 

$76 Scrapbook Yard Sale Haul Video

Whoo Hoo !  It was the Scrapbooking Yard Sale at Whim So Doodle Today and I made a HAUL VIDEO!  Here it is:

 

$20 for an art class next Saturday for me and my daughter to take together!

$28 for 5 paper packs (6x6):Heidi Swapp Sugar Chic; Heidi Swapp No Limits; Crate Paper Story Teller; Studio Calico Take Note Collection; & Amy Tangerine Sketchbook.

$26 for 4 organizing bins; 4 mini books; 4 packs of embellishments; 4 packs of Theresa Collins journaling cards;  one pack of metal clock faces; one acrylic stamping block; one Creative Memories paper trimmer; and one piece of 12x12 Studio Calico patterned paper;  PLUS an assortment of Barbie garden pots, presents, shutters and hats for my girl. 

And lots of fun conversations with scrapbookers and art journalers.

What a lovely Saturday Morning.

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Now we are off for another adventure - more on that soon.

 

 

Scrapbook File: May 2012 / May 2008 {using Project Life Journaling Cards}

Scrapbook File:  The Month of May 2008 & May 2012:

I took an old chipboard folder from some photo paper and covered it with patterned paper to create a folder to compare a collage of photos from May 2008 with one from May 2012.

I used journaling cards from the Clementine Core Kit from Becky Higgins' Project Life Line.

 

 

Today I'm off to the Whim So Doodle Scrapbooking Garage Sale - I'll be sure to show and tell my bargains very soon!

Meantime, if you'd like to support this blog and check out groovy scrapbooking supplies, then please click through to one of the following affiliate links:

 

One DCWV Stack = 24 Layouts Challenge! Plus How to Use Up Your Scraps with an Easy Tone on Tone Technique..

I bought this Die Cuts With a View Stack at the craft store, it included 48 cardstock weight patterened papers, 2 of each type so 24 different papers.  I challenged myself to create 24 layouts with it.  I have completed 19 layouts and so I have five more to go.  I've added my Counterfeit Kit Club kit to this stack which is why is looks bigger than when I got it.  There is still, however, a lot of DCWV paper in there and if I were so inspired, I could probably make 48 layouts - although I'm not going to do that!  I am planning a scrapbooking shopping trip this weekend so perhaps that will help me to finish these five and then think up a new challenge for myself. 

In case you are joining in mid-challenge; here are links to the first 10 DCWV Layouts:

1. Layout #1: Snapping in the Girls Room

2. Layout #2: March 2012

3. Layout #3: 3 Ski Trips

5. Layout #5: April 2012

6. Layout #6: Half Way Mac

7. Layout #7: Spring Break

8. Layout #8: Red Belt Test

9. Layout #9: Backyard Swing

10. Layout #10: Video Set UP

Want to see what I made last night?  I can't seem to get enough of that tone on tone technique and I created these strips with a punch and some fun colorful scraps:

Its the same technique I used for this Flavorwav page:

Want to get the most out of your scraps with this tone on tone technique and support this blog?  Check out these cute butterfly punches:

 

 

Almost 200,000 page views - and a Scrapbooking Goodies Give-Away!

Wow!  I'm almost to 200,000 page views for this blog!

Totals & Averages 199382 Lifetime Pageviews

Leave a comment and I'll send out a prize pack to a random commenter when I hit 200,000 page views!

10 Things on the 10th: May 10, 2012

I saw this idea called "10 Things on the 10th" over at Shimelle's Blog "Pretty Paper - True Stories" and seems like a fun idea - at some point I'm pretty sure there will be a scrapbooking prompt for every day of the year - but why not, here's 10 things:

1. My digital photos from 2010, 2011 and 2012 are still MIA so I am taking more photos.  Here are 10 from today (or at least the first 10 days of May 2012):

2. Here's Mac holding up 10 fingers because he's 10 years old - I try to get them to do this each year - he joked that next year I'm going to need to loan him a finger or toe.

3. Allison also graced me with some beautiful photos:

 

This is a seriously rare treat.

4. Charlie caught a lizard in our backyard with his bare hands:

5. The Roses and Gardenias on the side of the house are growing beautifully as is the rosemary, basil, and mint.  None of the seedlings for vegetables, gourds or sunflowers made it.

6. I completed 30 Days of Bikram Yoga and impossibly gained 10 pounds in the process so I'm back on the stepper.  Just like the situation with the 3 years of disappearing digital photos, I'm trying not to be discouraged, but I am a bit frustrated because Bikram Yoga is really, really, really challenging.

7. Since the 30 Day Yoga Challenge finished I haven't been back (yet) and I've been scrapbooking and fully enjoyed National Scrapbooking Day.

8. Mac turned in his Science Fair Project today on the evaporation of water; there's a quite a story to this one but I'll have to tell that much later.

 

9. I think I'll be on #20 in my DCWV One Stack / 24 Layouts Series, so I'll be thinking up a new series soon.

10. I'll be 42 in less than a month!

 

How to Use Symbols and Instructions in Scrapbooking {+ DCWV #18 + #19 Layouts}

I'm taking Elizabeth Dillow's Big Picture Class called "Twelve Design Challenges" and I thought that this class would be all about scrapbook sketches.  I was surprised when I discovered that the challenges were more like concepts than sketches.  At first this stumped me a bit, but I think I'm getting my groove with it and I'm now loving this class especially since it is getting me a bit out of my comfort zone!

One of the prompts was to use symbols on a page.  To figure out what symbols to use, I did a search of Pinterest to get some ideas, there I found the recycle and the the sign language symbols so those were the starting point for the #2 and #3 layouts.  Last night I created a "Counterfeit Kit" and I had that phone block (Studio Calico) so I decided to use that as a symbol and tell the story about how I don't usually answer the phone at home.  So all three of these pages started with the prompt of using a symbol - by starting there I got to tell some stories that I probably wouldn't have otherwise.  I've been reading the Book of Awesome to my son before bedtime and I'll just say, the prompt thing?  AWESOME!

Here are the layouts:

1. Leave a Message at the Tone:  The symbols here of the phone and the home are from some Studio Calico patterned paper.  These two symbols reminded me of how we don't typcially answer the phone at home and we actually say that on our answering machine! 

 

Supplies: DCWV The Snapshot Stack so this is #18 of my self imposed challenge to make 24 LAYOUTS FROM ONE DCWV STACK (the quote bubbles); I also used papers from Studio Calico (the symbols), October Afternoon (journaling spot), & Margie Romney Aslett's paper (the banners).

Journaling:  "Hello, You've reached the Scott Family and we don't typically answer this phone, you can try the office or our cell phone or email is a good option....."  "We have a long message on the answering machine and rarely answer the phone."  "Hello, This is Kathryn, ... yep its, me, Katie."  "You can try my cell, but I don't usually answer it."  "Try me at the office or schedule a phone conference."  "I talk on the phone all day at work so when I get home I let the machine get it so we can relax with the family.

2. The Story of the Green Coat:  This layout was all about that Reduce-Reuse-Recycle concept and it made me think of my thrifty Grandma and this coat. 

Supplies:  American Crafts Cardstock and letter stickers which are felt green which is perfect for this coat because the coat has a bit of a felt like quality although I think it is probably wool.

Jouranling: "Allison Grace:  My Granma Grace was thrifty and she saved everything.  She grew up during the Great Depression and those childhood lessons stuck with her and my mom/your grandma Chris and I both inherited a fair share of Grandma Grace's tendency to hold on to things "because you never know when you might need it someday".  This cot should get the Re-Use Award since my mom bought it at a thrift store in Calais, Maine in the 70s when I was little and I wore it during the cold winter months in Maine.  You wore it one cold day in Florida and I'm saving it for your girl! - Love Mommy 5/2012  (photos Winter 2009)."

3. Baby Sign Language:  I found these baby sign language reference images in Pinterest and when I went to look for a photo of Mac from when he was little and we did sign-language with him, I found this big photo that I cut around waaaaaay back in the day (2004), so I decided to use it since the way this photo is cut ( a decidedly dated scrapbooking technique)  also reminds me of when my son was young.  He was such a cutie.

Supplies:  The background paper is cardstock weight and it and the jouranling spot and "remember" tab are from the DCWV The Snapshot Stack so this layout is #19 in my challenge series.

Journaling:  "When you were a little guy, we taught you sign language and hands down your favorite sign was theone for "MORE!"  I love you More!  Love Mommy 5/12 (photo 5/04)."

Have you ever used symbols in your scrapbooking, I really loved this concept and I would love to hear more ideas about types of symbols to use? 

Please leave a comment.

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