Two posts in one day...

I decided to do a separate post for my LO, because of the computer problems. Still not getting the right colors of the page as they are in real life, but I guess I have to learn more about photography to fix that problem.

I will admit that Kelly Goree's layout was an inspiration for my page. I changed a few things on my page, but  I did start it as a scraplift of her work. I don't think I've ever seen a page that Kelly did and I didn't like. Her original page can be found HERE:

I've had these pictures for a looong time and grabbed them out of the box many, many times to scrapbook, but never did because I was afraid I'll do something wrong. There was a PRT episode on Scrapbook Procrastination and I realized that's what I did. Sometimes we procrastinate because we are afraid to do a mistake. That was me. While other less favorite pictures were living organized and decorated in the album, these were still in the box. This week I just grabbed them and decided to make a page, and if it doesn't turn out the way I wanted I can always reprint pictures and do another page.

Here is what I got:

I just love when my title has a perfect match with my papers! And that's when Silhouette comes in handy. Love this "Impact" font too. Letters are easy to work with after they are being cut out. 

This gorgeous flourish by Basic Grey was also cut with Silhouette. I originally wanted to use it on my Wedding LO, but realized I didn't by a design just for one use, so you'll probably see it again sometimes. 

Just received four weeks worth of pictures for PL yesterday! Got to go put them in the album. Thank you for stopping by and I'll see you later. 

Favorite season... and a new page!

Yes, it's that time of year again - strawberry picking season! We just love it! I wanted to share a few moments from our second trip to the field. I didn't do much picking (my belly was kinda in the way) but I did get a few pictures of our family enjoying this tradition.

It started with an excitement of finding the first berry:

 And continued with calling: "Mom look!" for every berry after that:

 Running back and forth placing them in the basket:

I took a picture of a middle child, but the youngest thought it was still all about her. I asked why her container wasn't getting filled as fast and she admitted that she had to eat the prettiest ones:

For some reason, as soon as the oldest one sees a camera pointing her way, she starts fixing her hair... Is it the teenage thing? 

 

The only one that was faithfully picking berries without fixing his hair, running around or eating them: 

 Then came a close observation of these colorful and tempting creations by our youngest one:

 And the idea that her sister gave her of trying one:

 And right about now she discovered that eating these was a little more fun then picking them:

 And this is a  picture of her after she ate about half a box...

 Love this delicious crop:

Now, going back to scrapbooking, I made a new page! The problem is that I can't take a picture of it right now - the colors just don't want to come out the way they are in real life. I would have to retake pictures when I come back,and share it later : (

Hope you have a wonderful day and I'll try to post my new page very soon!

Are you tired of cards yet?

Big. Tired. Lazy. Sleepy. Yep, that's me. I don't like to concentrate on not-so-good stuff, but sometimes it's all I see. Well, it's more about how I feel. At least there's a wonderful reward at the end of all this. That's what I'm trying to keep my mind on. One thing I learned for sure from this experience is that being pregnant at 35 is not as easy as it was at 25. Anyway, back at keeping my eyes at the reward - the precious little baby!

I didn't do much creating this week, just one more card. But I did order pictures for the past four weeks of PL. Love that project. I wasn't sure if I'll be able to keep up with it when I started, or if I'll be interested in continuing to do it, but it seems that I like it even more as the time goes. Again, it the end result that makes you want to continue. Priceless.

 I have three cards to share before going back to layouts (kind of miss that already). All three are very different. First one is a very simple card in light pink:

For the next one I used some purple flowers. I didn't know what colors to combine purple with, but then found a few projects from other people where they used teal with it. I decided to give it a try. Here is a card in that purple + teal color combination:

I did leave the card without sentiment on purpose. I guess it's a good idea to have a few cards empty like this and add a sentiment later, depending on what type of card I will need at the moment.

And the last one. It kind of remind me of fall because of the colors:

Oh, I almost forgot... there WAS a bright moment today for me. I won one of the challenges at TwoPeas and they gave me a $5 gift toward a purchase at their site! That was very exciting! So, if you've never participated at any of the challenges there, you should try. It's fun and you have a chance to be picked as a winner for the week.

Thank you for stopping by and I'll see you later!

How to make paper roses...

Happy Friday everyone! I'm here to share a few more cards and answer a question on how to make paper roses. All of my cards have them on today. Here is the first one:

You can easily make these by following steps on the pictures below:

1. Punch a circle. 2. Here I used 2.5 inch circle punch. If you don't have a punch, you can trace something round found around the house. 3.Cut around the circle leaving a strip about 1/3 of an inch thick. 4. Stop when you get almost to the end. You can trace a line with a pencil first if you want to.

5. On the outer part of the spiral strip make wavy line. The more uneven you make it, the prettier your flower will look. 6. Start wrapping. Make sure you begin with the outside edge. 7. Roll the entire strip trying to match the bottom part (don't worry about the top now). You can certainly do it upside down. 8. Press the flower, and let it loose on the table. If it's too tight, loosen it up a little and place it on a glut dot, pressing down. Done!

Here are two more cards with handmade paper roses (this one was inspired by the picture of a Garden found on Pinterst):

And just one more (the bracket shapes were cut with Silhouette): 

I hope you enjoyed a little lesson and will give it a try. I did make 5 cards yesterday, but the other two didn't have roses on them, so I will share those later : )

Thanks for stopping by!

More cards...

It's been of of those weeks... swollen eye for me, rash for older one, burn on the ankle for the middle child, doctors appointment... pick up from school... But this is life. Как поется в одной песне : "Грусть и радость тесно сплетены"...

Now back to cards. I've been trying to finish that mini book for my mother in law, and to take a break from it I did a few more cards. Two in soft pink and one blue.

I don't own a whole lot of premade flowers, so this handmade version is the way to go, plus you can do it in any color you want, as long as you have a paper in that color:

These hearts were cut with Silhouette and then embossed with a Swiss dots folder. I don't own an embossing machine, but I found out that you can get just as nice result if you rub the handles of scissors against it, even though it's a little harder to do.

This wasn't my original idea to make a man's shirt on a card, I just made it my way: 

Thanks for stopping by! Until next time!

Cards for Mom and Dad...

Hi, I would rather choose a sunshine instead of rainy day, but I don't have a choice. It's raining and seems like there's no end to this... I'm not complaining, I just don't feel as creative in such weather. Well, maybe that's a good thing, at least I might do some ironing instead.

Three things I wanted to share today - a favorite picture of the week and two more cards.

I love these people. They are so much fun to spend time with unless you would ask for a cooperation for the picture. Yeah, I know I interrupted their game but still... as I was asking for some smiles on the other side of the lens my sister told everyone to make very boring and sad faces. And guess who they've chosen to listen too? Of course! After that they bursted in laughter and "some" of them even fell on the ground... Perfect. Yes, I remind myself once again - that's just the way we are. Got to add it to my PL album.

And now those two cards I promised. First one was for Mom. I didn't want to write "Happy Mother's Day" because it could be used for Mom's birthday. Anka mentioned doilies and how they reminded her of her grandmother. I started thinking what other way I could use them in, and then the idea of apron and ruffles came to me. I don't know about you, but I picture my Mom wearing apron all the time because we were blessed to have a Mom that cooked as homemade meals every day of our lives. Here is the card:

I covered inside of the card adding a little pocket for a Thank You gift card. Moms deserve that.

And then, I decided to make one card for the Father's Day (just realized I'm missing a letter on a card). I've chosen these manly colors with a soft touch of ribbon:

I realized that making cards actually is a lot of fun. There's kind of no pressure to be perfect, because there's no pictures involved and also they come out pretty fast compare to a whole 12x12 page with journaling. No, that doesn't mean I'm switching to cards. It's a fun alternative, depending on your time and your mood. Love all the choices scrapbooking gives you! 

Have a few ideas cooking in my head. Hope to be back soon to share them! 

Mother's Day cards...

Hi! Today I just wanted quickly share a few cards that I made for Mother's Day. I made three yesterday and two more this morning. I don't do cards very often, so half the time I'm confused where to start and what to add to it. So here are my simple cards.

Card number one:

Number two:

Number three:

Number four:

And number five:

Since these were for Mother's Day, pink was an obvious choice. I tried making one of each in blue and yellow too. Had to add pears or rhinestones to each and every one of them - card doesn't look complete to me without those. That's it for today and I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Update: You can find more Mother's day cards HERE ! Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Mother's Day to all of you!

"Storyology"

Good morning! It's a beautiful one around here. Sunshine plus cool breeze is a perfect combination for me! 

During the NSD weekend a few online stores had sales. I was tempted to buy something. But I had to be honest to myself and ask what do I really need. I have enough paper for a year or two, but I could use a tool that would help me with journaling. Then the idea of online class came to me. Instead of adding more supplies to my stash, I bought Ali Edwards class "Storyology", and that was the best purchase on NSD. This class is only $14, but last weekend it was on sale for $10. Anyone can afford that.

I had a chance to watch it on Monday (it has 1hour 55min long video presentation) and do all the prompts required. It was just what I needed. I feel so energized and willing to tell more stories of out lives. It doesn't mean that it made me a pro (there's no class to do that, especially with language barrier), but it definitely helped me in many ways. At least to be brave! Yes, that's a big one for me. 

I remember, last summer I had no desire to take walks or exersize, but then I bought a new pair of snickers (a little more expensive than the ones I used to buy) and it changed everything. They were so light and comfortable that they made me want to go one more block, or keep walking for extra 5 minutes. Taking Ali's class was like buying that new pair of snickers.

The biggest thing I have learned was something I already knew. Journaling was always the last thing I did when I was making a page. No doubt, that design and playing with patterned paper is my favorite part in scrapbooking, but I never liked finished pages that didn't have a story to go with it. Leaving journaling for the last thing I usually was either too tired to look at the page to add a story, or didn't know what to say, or just didn't leave any space on a page for it.

Yesterday I tackled three challenges: 1-Starting a layout with journaling first. 2-Working with older photos. 3-Using a purple color palette. Each one of them on their own is challenging enough, but story makes a difference. Yes, pictures are not perfect, but if there's a story behind them why not using them. Sure, purple color is the hardest one for me to work with (I could do every page in blue right now), but years later it's not going to matter what papers I used on the page, the fact that the story was recorded and pared up with photos is what going to matter.

I scrapped pictures from this day before, but it was one of those sad pages because it didn't have a journaling on it. Now I can put them in the album together. Here is my page:

I used a lot of rhinestones here to match her dress I guess. Also, I wouldn't have really placed all of those circle elements on the main photo, but I did it trying to cover the red backlight on a car, which was really distracting to me.

That's all for today and I'll see you very soon again!

National Scrapbooking Day

"Happy NSD!" was all over the Internet this past weekend. At least at the places I usually visit. At the beginning, I wanted to join the fun of creating and celebrating this day with others by participating in challenges and scrapbooking. But then, the thought that it was a weekend, when my whole family was home, I decided to spend more time with family instead. I did check a few sites and the excitement, but my scrapbooking for the day was just taking some pictures, with hope that I'll get more ideas and desire to record these memories later.

Just a few of my favorites. Here I was enjoying frappe, made by Alena. She is a pro at that. It was my favorite part of the day - enjoying the sun and a cold drink with a camera by my side:

Saturday was a very warm day with summer-like weather. I let the little one enjoy the sprinkler with her favorite cousin:

My husband was working on his favorite project on Saturday - making a domra. Usually he spends most of the day in the garage, and the environment there is not too attractive for a photo. Today, though he was able to do some touch ups outside. Here he was taking a break with a fruit smoothie:

This is a candid shot of my Frappe Pro taking a break just the way she likes it:

And here is another one enjoying her break in her own favorite way:

This is one of my favorites from Sunday of the two older ones:

And these three are suddenly into taking pictures, or at least it looks like that. I thought it was a funny how they all checked their cameras at the same time:

And this has to be the best one of the youngest, when her older sister asked for a smile:

Anyway. I did find a few minutes to make a card on National Scrapbook Day. I wanted to share something I did specifically that day. I made this card using a 6x6 paper collection from My Mind's Eye. Added flowers, ribbon and pearls.

I also realized I have a few papers from the same collection I could share with someone ( I have more then one of each), but these are 12x12 papers. I understand that not all of you are scrapbookers or you may be way too busy at this time for scrapbooking, but if you think you want to try making a page sometime let me know by Friday, leaving a comment on this post.

It's time to wrap up today's rambling, so I hope you have a great week and find something to celebrate each day. Life is a gift and there are enough reasons to celebrate every day! 

See you soon!

Good news...

Hello! I have a good news for you today - it's Friday! My family loves Fridays, so I suppose that everyone does too.

This past week I have been working on too many projects - mini album for my Mother-in-law, ABC mini, 2 new layouts, Summer smash books for my girls, Project Life, and crafting a post in my head about budget scrapbooking - and for that reason don't have much done. Let me know what do you want to see next. Maybe that will push me in one direction, instead of doing everything at once...

Well, I did finish one of the pages. It's about a place we like to visit. I was inspires by the carousel paper to create a layout. Here is my finished page:

I do have a whole lot more pictures from that day, but they divide into two more themes, therefore they would have to be scrapped separately.

My albums are getting too full and I  think I'm getting ready to divide all of my pages by categories soon, like Stacy Jullian suggested. I need to get a few more 3 ring binders to do that.

There was a card that I made for my new nephew. I didn't take a picture of the original one, but I made two cards that day (both very similar) and here is one of them:

Thank you for stopping by and have a great weekend!