scrapbooker for hire

an update, part 2: new projects. beware, this is a photo heavy post.

I finished this several weeks ago. It's a congratulatory layout to myself for finally finishing my Associate's degree last December. The layout is a Rusty Pickle project and features the School Daze line along with the Starry Night 12 x 12 chipboard. Both of which are a couple of my personal favs and can be picked up at the Rusty Pickle book this weekend at Portland CKC I also used their new alpha stickers for the title but, as a mask rather than actual stickers. Scroll down to see what I mean.
This technique is really simple, really versatile and really cool. First, adhere the stickers to your layout (card, mini album, or whatever other project you're working on) as you normally would. *Don't push down on them too hard though, because you will be picking them back up and you don't want them to tear your paper.* Once they're down simply trace around them with any pen of archival quality and when you've finished that you can fill them in however you desire. 

Mine are scribbled in from side-to-side to match the feel of my layout. You could easily do anything and everything else from polka dots, to tiny dots, zig-zags, BOLD, or leave it as just an outline. I've also used these same alphas as masks here. The difference is that I first painted the chipboard shape white, then put down the sticker masks and then painted over them and the entire chipboard shape with the blue. Cool, right?

This next project is the only thing that I've accomplished all month (and I mean February when I say that because I have yet to accept that it's already March of 2009, holy sheep shit). One of my very best friends, Mandy, whom I've known since the 4th grade and is like a sister to me is pregnant. Yay! Oh, and her birthday is on Friday. So, in lieu of both of those things I spent a few hours in my scrapbooking room creating this for her.

When I decided that I was going to create this I went through my stash and pulled out all things that would be journaling friendly. Any thing with any sort of resemblence to lined paper was fair game. The idea was to have some sort of line on every page so that she could write everywhere. It was the best way to utilize the already limited space that I was giving her for keeping track of such a momentous occasion. Now that it's complete I don't think it's big enough for a pregnancy journal but, it's gorgeous and one-of-a-kind and I think that those totally make up for the lacking pages.

Because this Rusty Pickle album is spiral bound I was able to easily remove it and work on each page individually. I also embellished a few random tags, a transparency and a pocket and turned them into pages by cutting out the small binding holes using my exacto knife. *I'll point them out to you through out, they all turned out great and I love what they add to the journal.*

 

She's already about 12 weeks pregnant, maybe a little bit more and the beginning of the journal includes pages where she can record how it's been so far and then there's a spot for both her and her husband to each journal their thoughts on the experience thus far.
*there's the first tag that was added.*

 

There's a monthly divider for each month and then a few pages of actual journaling space for the month. Weirdly though, I missed the month 4 pages when I took these pictures so we have to move on.

You'll also notice that there's no rhyme or reason to this journal at all, as far as colors and coordinating goes. The pages that make up the spreads usually match but the journal as a whole is very eclectic and was literally pieced together. *there's another tag.*

 

I think the month 6 is my favorite spread, I love the color combo.

*There's the transparency that I added. It's actually just one of the 4 x 6 My Minds Eye overlays. I stamped the "blossom" on using Stazon, the permanent marker of ink pads.*

 

 

*there's another tag.*

*This pocket was added and is actually a page from one of Rusty Pickle's 3 x 3 albums which will be available in the Rusty Pickle booth at CKC this weekend.*

The journal concludes with a spot for a snapshot of the new babe. I meant to add a bit of embellishing to the photo mat but totally forgot to before I photographed it and then taking the picture made me remember to do it. But then I forgot again and boxed it up already so it's stuck like this. 

And that's it. One custom made journal for my very best friend on her birthday.

Thanks for looking/reading and have a great rest of the week! 

Oh, wait, one last thing. If you are heading up to Portland this weekend be sure to check out the booth for some awesome products, great deals and lots of inspiration! And if you have time, take a class: the ones being offered are listed on the Rusty Pickle blog.  

And no, I won't be there. With only two weeks of classes left I'll be at the library studying this weekend...or if the weather permits, we'll skip town and head to the coast for an awesome day of beach combing.

I am a scrapbooker for hire. If you're interested in me creating a similar journal/project for you please don't hesitate to contact me using the link at the top of the site.

a new client layout.

I'll be back later with some new projects of my own and they're super cute!  

alright, i'll admit it.

I'm actually kind of (in the itsy bitsiest way....) looking forward to 3 whole nights away from my family. 

Here's the deal: I'm going to CKC Seattle on Thursday morning to work in the Rusty Pickle booth.  I live in Salem so I'll be flying thus, not returning until Sunday morning.  I have a 16 month old daughter who I have never been away from overnight since she was born.  At first, once the reality of the fact that I'd be away from Terrance for 3 whole days set in, I cried.  I'm a new mom, it makes me sad.  But, after much thought and looking at the schedule that was emailed to me,  I came to the realization that those three nights will have me "off" from work in the early evening and the rest will be spent by myself.  I mean, I'll of course be rooming with the other girls I'm sure but, I'll get 3 nights all to myself of which I won't have to cook a meal, clean a dish, give a bath, brush teeth, change a diaper, or have sex (i'm just being real).  I'll get to be around scrapbooking products all day and at night i'll eat dinner out, lay around in a hotel room and do homework. Honestly, I'm really looking forward to it.  And, wow, I am so easy to please...and kind of lame.

Also, I got this layout uploaded and online.   It's for my client Jenny.  It's presenting them as husband and wife.  I LOVE this picture and that it has really captured their bliss--they look so happy!

The perspective of it and the colors made it fun and easy to design around. 

Ooh, something else: I am very proud to say that my scrapbooking room is 85% clean.  And I'm proud of that because it's been in a constant state of "being cleaned" for about a year.  In reality the only cleaning that I did for awhile was to move  stuff around to give me just enough tiny bit of space to work on while the piles and piles of things would stay and continue to collect.  After awhile though, when it got really bad and I finally realized that I would never have an entire few days to devote to cleaning the room in it's entirety, I began to slip in there for ten or 15 minutes, and sometime less, and pick up and put away (keyword) one bit of a pile.  So, with all of my progressive work and gaining a bunch of new storage I was able to really make a dent in it this weekend!  Of the new storage, my favorite is for my paints.  It's easy, keeps them accessible AND upside down (the best way to store paint)!  I used a large wooden board and adhesive velcro.  Yep, it was that simple and I now have a place for all 62 bottles of my paint to be visibly stored.  One thing I didn't consider before I started was the weight of all of the paint!  Those little bottles add up.  My board didn't have proper hardware to be hung up with so it's sitting on a shelf against the wall for now. 

Seriously, tomorrow, I'll take a picture of it because it's really neat.  I can't take credit for it though.  A few weeks ago I was reading a ladies blog (I'm not sure who, though) and saw that she had done the exact same thing but on a much smaller scale with her stickles.  So, if that woman happens to read this entry, thanks for the idea and sorry I can't give you proper credit!

I'm now exhausted and going to bed.  Good night.

-A

6 days of classes, a statistics test, a calculus test and a crap load of homework being due all makes for a very busy week.

Holy shit! I don't think I quite knew what I was getting myself into when I decided to add a Sociology class to my schedule.  Not that it's hard but, as with any class there's, what I like to call, busy work to be done and 8 hours of lecture to sit through each week.  Add those hours to my other 4 classes and you can bet  your ass that I'm a full-time student who also works full-time as a mother/wife/designer. 

So, to avoid entirely a tangent about what I do each day and how my husband STILL fails to sometimes realize what exactly it is that  I do, I'll show you the layout that I finished late lastnight. 

This one is also for Jenny who, as I've said before, is giving me such gorgeous things to scrapbook that these pages are really putting themselves together. 

products: Making Memories - paper, chipboard & alpha stickers, paint and brads. Heidi Swapp - chipboard alpha. CI - circle frame stickers. Tim Holtz - grungeboard. Bazzill - cardstock

Her now husband, then fiance, David, proposed to her as they were having "Breakfast at Tiffany's" in  NYC.  She kept the bag as a keepsake and I put it directly onto this layout (which the entire page was designed around) and makes it that much more special. =) 

There's a letter that David wrote up and read to her that day (that is very, very sweet) and also her recount of the moment tucked behind the patterned paper. 

I also tidied up my scrapbooking room a bit today and I'm really hoping that this coming week I'll be able to have it totally and completely clean (which means that I'll vaccuum).  =)  Here's to hoping...

Have a great week! =)