LOAD1012 - Day 18 - FORE!

The prompt for Lain Ehmann's Layout a Day (LOAD1012 - S.H.O. Time) challenge for Day 18 was to scrap about sports. Well, considering I've already done several sports layouts this LOAD alone, this wasn't hard for me to do. This one, is more about my son getting his first set of golf clubs for his 8th birthday. BONUS, one more birthday layout to go into his birthday album.  :)

Journaling Reads:

Owen , you were THRILLED to get a real set of golf clubs for your 8th birthday. Please remember that these are to be used with golf balls and not as a weapon against your brother's head. I see golf lessons in your future.

Some observations about the process and products:

1. I use Picasa for photo collages frequently, but it's not often that I use something other than white for the grid lines.  Because the pics were sepia toned, I didn't want white grid lines.  So, I turned them yellow.
2. I turned the pictures sepia toned because the pictures weren't fabulous, and were heavily shadowed.
3. Not a favorite page, but another layout for the ole birthday album. Whoop.
4. The felt flower was purchased recently at Meijer, but it wasn't a "scrap" product.  Which is fine with me. 

LOAD1012 - Day 16 - This is what ELEVEN looks like

The prompt for Lain Ehmann's Layout a Day (LOAD1012 - S.H.O. Time) challenge for Day 16 was about layering. In addition to layering elements, they suggested peeling back the layers of your life and exposing something that might not be visible on the surface. However, I didn't go that deep. In an attempt to get Liam's birthday album "caught up", I stuck to the simple side of things. However, I found that layering was almost as challenging for me as the clustering prompt! I started by layering yellow strips of paper. On top of that, I put the title letters, some brackets and a star cut out. I also layered patterned papers around the photos and on top of the papers I layered some paper punch out buttons.

 

 

Journaling Reads:

I dropped you off at football camp on your 11th birthday. I filled your bunk with balloons. Your favorite part about camp wasn't swimming or movie night, it was football practice, of all things. Of course it was.

 

Some observations about the process and products:

1. ALL of the papers on this layout, except for the Kraft cardstock, are from my scrap drawer. Let me tell you, ladies, ORGANIZE that scrap drawer (I organized mine by color) and then USE it!!
2. K&Company Smash journaling tag. I don't think I've ever handwritten this much journaling in my life!
3. Criss Cross ribbony thing at the bottom is actually covering up some hand drawn stitch marks that I made that I didn't like.
4. "Buttons" were pre-punched from scrap paper years ago. They've been patiently waiting in my Punched Paper Buttons drawer until now.
5. The patterned paper beneath the photo of the boys lists everyone's name. This was a late addition to the page.
6. Another late addition to the page was the yellow arrow pointing out which player Liam is. Easy for us to tell now, but will it be easy to tell which one he is 55 years from now?

LOAD1012 - Day 12 - Donuts

The prompt for Lain Ehmann's Layout a Day (LOAD1012 - S.H.O. Time) challenge for Day 12 was to use twine on the layout. I actually threw my twine in at the last minute. As I was working on the page, I kind of forgot what the prompt was....good thing I remembered, because the layout was really missing something without it.

Journaling Reads:

Mom - "Liam, what kind of birthday cake do you want this year?"
Liam - "Can I have glazed donuts?"
Mom - "You're the birthday boy. I'll go to Meijer and pick some up!"

Some observations about the process and products:

1. I'm pretty sure this is some Bazzil cardstock.  I just like to say Bazzil.
2. Journaling card is from K&Company's Smash line.  I am getting a LOT of mileage out of these!!
3. Patterned paper strip and patterned paper tab are both from my scrap bin.  I think I'm going to challenge myself to NOT cut any patterned paper for the rest of LOAD that doesn't come from my scrap bin.  Using up my scrap stash!
4. The 4 x6 photos I just printed on an 8 1/2 x 11 piece of photo paper, left them spaced as they were and trimmed around the border to have a consistent frame all the way around.
5. Flowers on a boy's page!?  You Betcha!!

LOAD512 - Day 14 - Anatomy of a two year old

The prompt for Lain Ehmann's Layout a Day (LOAD512) challenge for Day 14: Manic Monday 3-2-1 (3 embellishments, 2 pieces of paper, and 1 photo)  Do this as quickly as you can.

I put this together in about 30 minutes, but the title and photo and journaling have been swimming around in my head for a few days, now.

Journaling Reads:

1. Wonky haircut because you won't sit still.
2. Cute little toofers.
3. Drool on your shirt at ALL times.
4. "Guys" ...Whether it's Lego guys or Halo guys or Army men, you carry around your "guys" faithfully.

There are a lot of perks to being the baby. But, being number four means that on your second birthday we went to B-Dub's instead of having a party.

Some observations about the process and products:

1. I used one piece of patterned paper, double sided, from Project Life (Clementine kit, I think)
2. I used one photo...that I added numbers to and put a frame around in Picasa before printing and then I trimmed it so that a border of the white photo paper showed
3. I used letter stickers, a border punch, and a couple of markers. That's about it.
4. Kevin and I talked about how Ashton will never remember that we didn't go all out for his second birthday.  Well, now that he has this birthday scrapbook he will! LOL  More material for his future therapy.

LOAD512 - Day 12 - Happy Birthday Megan and Jordyn

The prompt for Lain Ehmann's Layout a Day (LOAD512) challenge for Day 12: Dumpster Diving, Find inspiration in the trash!

This prompt was EASY for me. I don't throw much away. When Lain suggested using ribbon scraps for a little collage, guess what I did? I went to my ribbon scraps bin (yes, it's even labeled "ribbon scraps" !) and I created a little ribbon collage!! Love it!

Journaling Reads:

You and your BFF, Megan, both have December birthdays. You also share the same circle of friends.  When you went to Megan's birthday party, you were delighted to see that she had included your name on the cake and shared the birthday spotlight. Such kind girls. 12/13/10

Some observations about the process and products:

1. Loved the dumpster diving!  This is why I don't throw things away.
2. Photo credit - I don't know....I wasn't even at the party, I downloaded all of these from Jordyn's Facebook page.  Thank you Facebook!
3. The photo of the cake is serving as my TITLE on this page.  It's a little like cheating, but I think it works.

LOAD512 - Day 11 - 15

The prompt for Lain Ehmann's Layout a Day (LOAD512) challenge for Day 11: Prompt: Five Sense Friday, Touch




Didn't follow the prompt today.

Journaling Reads:

Jordyn Genella Hillary
You turned 15 today. You, Dad, Liam, Owen, Ashton, and I - along with your boyfriend, Jacob - went to Rochester to drive through the lights. We stopped at Buddy’s Pizza for dinner. You are turning into such a lovely young lady. You have a kind heart and an infectious smile. Even though you’re my daughter, I am starting to also consider you a treasured friend. 12/20/10

Some observations about the process and products:

1. Ignore the tilt, the layout isn't tilted, the photograph of the layout is tilted.
2. The only embellies on this page are patterned paper.  I could probably take it up a notch with some bling or brads or buttons.  But, really? Who needs all that other schtuff?
3. I tried to remember what we gave Jor for her 15th birthday last year, but I couldn't remember.  Funny thing is, Jordyn couldn't remember, either.  Probably gift cards to go shopping and buy clothes.
4. I love this girl.

ScRaP SiStaZ Challenge 5a - Turning Fourteen

I still haven't given up on completing all of last year's ScRaP SiStaZ challenges. I recently completed Challenge 5a and I want to complete them all before Tina starts posting more challenges (which I'm guessing will be sometime after she finishes her Master's). In finishing this challenge, I also completed another layout for Jordyn's (still sparsely populated) birthday album. This is one of two layouts that I plan to complete to document her fourteenth birthday. Next on my list is her 14th birthday party with her friends. I just need to find a good inspiration layout to guide me through!

Turning Fourteen - Double:

Turning Fourteen - Left:

Turning Fourteen - Right:

Some observations about the process and the products used:

1. Inspiration was 8 1/2 x 11, I tweaked it to a 12 x 12 format.
2. I also tweaked the topic from Meeting Santa to Turning Fourteen. I'm not ready to tackle my kids' Santa photos yet. It's on my long list of projects that I plan to get around to some day....like when I've cloned myself four times over and when I no longer have a demanding career.
3. I've had these pictures printed since early January, with this layout in mind. I finally put the layout together in late February and am just now getting around to sharing it here on my blog. I might not move as quickly as I did last year, but at least I'm still moving.
4. Love how the orange and red patterned papers pick up the orange in Jordyn's shirt and the red poinsettias in the background at the restaurant. I also love coordinating patterned papers from a paper stack, which in this case are from DCWV.
5. I'm comfortable with hybrid-digi scrapping (meaning I journal and make titles on my computer). I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to learn how to do a fully digital layout. Maybe I'll make time on my maternity leave to figure this out. (Kendrea, here I come! Will you teach me??)
6. I was having a frumpy day, so excuse the hat and baggy sweater (which even now, at almost full term in my pregnancy would still be baggy on me!) But look at Jordyn, isn't she just gorgeous?? Yes, I'm biased. That's my job.

Inspiration Layout:

Happy Birthday - make a wish!

So, I'm working on Jordyn's birthday album right now. I only have about 5 weeks until her 14th birthday. And so far, I've scrapped 11, 12, & 13. And now 3. Four birthdays down, nine to go!

Happy Birthday - Make a Wish! (double):

Happy Birthday - Make a Wish! (left):

Happy Birthday - Make a Wish! (right):

Some observations on the process and the products used:

1. Locating pictures for Jordyn's birthday, pre-digital era, is no easy task. Bad momma, bad momma. I've located 1, 2, & 4. But somehow I need to locate birthdays 5-10. EEKS! I only have 5 weeks left to do this and I can't let her down!
2. Working with 4x6 photos is not how I like to scrap. Especially photos that don't necessarily have the best composition. I like printing photos in whatever size I want so that I can best tell the story. So, for this layout I circle punched the photos to crop out much of the background noise.
3. I didn't work from a sketch, and OY! Let me tell you, I MUCH prefer having a sketch or inspiration layout. But, that's OK. The memory has been captured.
4. Not one of the best designed layouts, but look at how cute 3 year old Jordyn was!

Wish me luck on the other layouts!! I'm gonna need it.

Eight is great!!

TA DA!!!

Now I can move on to Jordyn's birthday album!! :)

Eight is great!!:

Observations on the process and the products used:

1. Picasa Photo Collage (LOVE those!!)
2. Still will never understand why a photo (even a collage) looks great on my computer screen, then cuts off someone's head when I print it out. Sorry Liam.
3. Title and journaling created in PowerPoint, leaving space in the middle for the 5x7 photo collage.
4. Title used five different fonts:
   Eight - A Truer Blue
   is -Verdana
   great - Digs my Hart
   !! - Elise
   ) turned sideways to make the smiley face - Arial
5. Again, used buttons from my sewing stash that I've had for years and years and years.
6. Stapled some scrap green ribbon on at the last minute to create a color contrast to all of the blue and red accents.
7. All in all, this was a pretty quick and easy page. Less than 2 hours. That's pretty quick, right?

8

Ahhh, one more layout to go and Liam's birthday album is DONE!! Until next August, anyway!

This layout is of his actual eighth birthday and how we celebrated as a family. The next layout that I need to do for his album is of his eighth birthday party.

8:

Some observations on the process and the products used:

1. I used Picasa to make the photo collage. However, since I had four pictures, it made the collage into an even grid. So, I printed my focal point photo in a 4x6 photo by itself, then I used Picasa to create a 4x6 photo collage using just 3 photos, so that I didn't get an even four square collage. Then I put the two 4x6 photos together on the page to look like one big collage. Took a minute to figure out, by I like the end result.
2. The green frame is chipboard that I got in a super cheap chipboard kit at the Mega Meet. I painted it greed and then used green Stickles on top of it to give it some birthday bling. Owen helped me put the Stickles on. Oh, the joy he had doing that!!
3. 8 was created with the Cricut. Alphalicious.
4. Ribbon around the 8 is from my ribbon scrap stash. It's good to keep scraps. Recession friendly scrapping!!
5. Button is from my sewing box that my mom gave to me years and years and ago. I've hoarded buttons for a long time now, and I believe this came from one of my mom's old sweaters, circa 1978.
6. I really like the way the layout turned out, actually. I think the next ScRap SiStaZ challenge should be to scraplift it!! Since I plan to use this same design at some point in the future, anyway. :)

Challenge 17a - 2

And with this layout, I finished Liam's birthday album (minus his first birthday, for which I have not yet located the photos). And I finished it ON his birthday.

I assembled all of the pages in the correct chronological order and gave it to him as a gift. And he loves it. LOVES it!! Even gave it a thumbs up. That's what it's all about.

Challenge 17a was my inspiration for this layout. (WOO HOO, only 5 more challenges to go until I've done them ALL!!)

2:

Some observations on the process and products used:

1. The inspiration layout is a double spread, mine is a single. But I stole the strip of smaller bordered photos that kind of overlap each other. That's about the only similarity between the two. And that's OK.
2. When Kev looked at the page, he said, "Wow, where was his second birthday at?" And I read the journaling to him, "We celebrated your second birthday at a rented cottage on Big Star Lake." Kev's reply, "OOOOhhhh, yeah." That's what scrapbooks are for, to help us remember.
3. I had originally printed the photos across the top in full color, but thought that turning them to sepia would make them coordinate with the paper, better.
4. Speaking of the papers, another SU! paper set.
5. The arrows on all of the photos point to Liam's sports related gifts. It was a sports birthday.
6. He was such a good looking baby!!

Inspiration Layout:

four

Another Birthday layout for Liam....DONE!! And, it's a good thing Amy was there again and took pictures, these are all her shots. Where are mine, you ask? Good question.

four - double:

four - left:

four - right:

Challenge 15a - happy birthday

WOWSA DOWSA DOO - I finished a challenge layout before Tina added any more challenges! Challenge 15a, and by my count, I am only 6 challenge lay outs behind. Not bad.

AND, I got another birthday layout of Liam's scrapped in the process!! WOO HOO!!!

happy birthday:

Some observations about the process and the products used:

1. "happy birthday" Heidi Swapp sticker. LOVE that.
2. No real title, so, "happy birthday" will have to do.
3. You might not be able to tell very well in the photo, but I added brads to the center of many of the flowers in the CTMH patterned paper. That was my way of taking it to the next level.
4. I busted out my flexible ruler, all prepared to do the wavy title and accents, and I just couldn't bring myself to do it. But, I still followed the lay out pretty well - 1 large square photo, with 2 smaller square photos.
5. Journaling font is called Baby Bowser
6. The photos from this celebration did not turn out very well, which is why I turned the two smaller photos into black & white.
7. Who's gonna be the next one to post a challenge layout?!? Get scrapping, girls!

Inspiration Layout:

5

So, I'm working on Liam's birthday book, since his birthday is THIS Thursday.

I still have to do layouts for his 1st, 2nd, and 4th birthdays. I have the photos ready for his 2nd and 4th birthdays but I'll be damned if I can find his 1st birthday photos!! So, those might not make it into the book until, well, until I find them!!

Thanks, Aim, for the photos of this birthday celebration. I thought I took some of my own photos, but couldn't find any. Mother of the Year, yes, I know. At least I saved the ticket stubs.


Used the same SU! kit that I used for this layout. But, they're going in different books, so that's OK.

5:

Challenge 17b - Detroit Owen

I accepted Kim's challenge to keep moving on the ScRap SiStaz challenges by completing Challenge 17b (feelings). Although, my topic was more of an event than a feeling. Out of 34 challenges, I have completed 25 layouts. I think that's a pretty good ratio. At some point I want to get around to all of them, or at least MOST of them. It's just so hard to keep up with the weather being so nice.

I was also able to keep moving on my kids' birthday albums as this is another 5th birthday layout for Owen's birthday book.

Detroit Owen - double:

Detroit Owen - left:

Detroit Owen - right:

Some observations about the process and the products used:

1. I'm not good at guesstimating what size to print my photos. I guesstimated 3.5x5.5 and that was obviously too big. So, I just adapted the layout a little bit to fit my pictures, rather than reprint my pictures to fit the inspiration layout.
2. I changed this from a one page layout to a two page layout.
3. Because I changed this to a two page layout, I changed the positioning of the border strip of patterned paper so that it was on the outsides of each of my pages and so that my two journaling blocks were somewhat next to each other.
4. I picked this army green color background cardstock as sort of a neutral (in absence of a stack of Kraft colored cardstock) and it ended up working really well. Surprisingly, the polka dot patterned paper strips that I used had the same army green color polka dots in it! When in doubt, use green, indeed.
5. The font used for the journaling is called A Little Pot. I think all of our layouts could use a little pot. Just Kidding!!
6. I referred to my "abc color chart" when selecting the journaling font color.

Inspiration Layout:

Challenge 14a - BIVE

One of my goals with the kids' birthday books was to scrap their current birthday immediately and add it to their album. I'd say within two weeks qualifies as "immediately", wouldn't you?

I used the ScRap SiStaZ Challenge 14a as my inspiration.

BIVE - double:


BIVE - left:


BIVE - right:



BIVE - hidden journaling card:

Some observations about the process and products uses.

1. I did not take very many pictures at Owen's non-party birthday party.
2. We were in the middle of the party when the hurricane/tornado blew through.
3. I journaled about the "storm", the party, the recession cake, the after party, and the fact that Owen still pronounces his f's like b's so when we asked him how old he was, he said "Bive". Hence the title of the layout.
4. Stampin' Up coordinating patterned papers. Part of this year's Sale-a-bration. Very nice kit.
5. Green Stickles were used to jazz up the number 5.
6. The number 5 was cut with a combination of the Cricut (Don Juan), and my trusty fine tip scissors. For whatever reason, the Cricut didn't cut through the paper all the way. SURELY it's not time for a new blade. Possibly a new mat, but not a new blade! I haven't used the Cricut THAT much in the five months that I've had it. How long do your Cricut blades last?
7. A LOT of pop-dots were used in the making of this layout.

Inspiration Layout:

Challenge 10a - 7 Cedar Point

I Love it when I can use a ScRap SiStaZ Challenge to complete a layout for one of my kids' birthday books! This is birthday # 3 of Liam's that I've scrapped, I have 4 more of his birthdays to scrap before August. I can do it!!

7 Cedar Point - double:

7 Cedar Point - left:

7 Cedar Point - right

Some observations about the process and the products used:

1. This was a challenging challenge for me.
2. Once again I used Picasa to make a collage, to get the size photos that I wanted, that I then cut up and put into a strip along the bottom. There was still a bit of cropping here and there, but it turned out pretty well.
3. Both patterned papers are actually just the big Cedar Point map dissected.
4. The big picture of Liam is of him ON the Demon Drop as we're going up. I thought it would be too hard to take a picture while we were going down. Turns out, CP has a "no picture taking while the ride is in motion" rule anyway, as was pointed out to me on several other rides (Ocean Motion, the Monster, etc.)
5. The Demon Drop was our second ride of the day. We went from the Carousel to the Demon Drop. Quite a difference, I'd say.
6. I love love love love LOVE Cedar Point! Probably because I'm a coaster junkie. I think I'll finally admit to being old when I no longer enjoy roller coasters. Lord, I hope that never happens!
7. The 7 was free hand cut from a piece of cardstock. I almost used the Cricut for the 7, but the 7 was the only thing that I need to have cut out. So, for JUST a 7, I figured I could handle it on my own.
8. Liam wants to go to Cedar Point for his birthday again THIS year. We'll see. It's not that hard to convince me to go.
9. In the picture of the Sky Ride cars, the red cable car holds Kevin and Liam. Mitchell, Jordyn, Owen and I were in the car behind them when I snapped this pic.

Inspiration Layout:

Challenge 8b - Two Cute

Tina just posted ScRap SiStaZ Challenge 12 today, but I'm just now getting around to Challenge 8!! A liiiiiiittle behind.

But that's OK. I'm scrapping, and that's what counts. And what ALSO counts is that by completing this layout, I have finished Owen's birthday album!! Well, at least through birthday number 4. He turns 5 in April at which time I will scrap his 5th birthday and immediately add it to his birthday album. This layout is from his second birthday (more on that later).

Birthday album 1 of 3 complete - Goal 1 of 3 accomplished. I have until Agust to finish Liam's Birthday album, and until December to finish Jordyn's. I can do eeeeeeet!

Two Cute (single layout):

Two Cute (with journaling card removed from behind Owen's Photo....you know I LOVE me some journaling!):

Some observations about the process and the products used:

1. Even though I'm a circle girl, I used my scallop punch instead of my circle punch because I already had a bunch of green and yellow scallops punched out (when I have odd shaped scraps at the end of a project, I often get out my punches and punch shapes to be used at a later date...and today was that date!)
2. How fun to use almost ALL scraps for this layout...save for the background piece of white cardstock. Now THAT is SCRAPbooking!
3. Assembling the layout took longer than I expected it to. hmmm.
4. I don't use buttons very often, and while I like the product, I don't like the process of using them. Too time consuming for me. I'm a wam bam thank you ma'am kind of girl...when it comes to scrapping, anyway. geesh.
5. The title font for the word "Two" comes from my Cricut via the Don Juan cartridge gone awry. Another Cricut lesson learned...move it away from the wall before use (yes, I know it says that in the instruction manual, but I didn't actually retain the instructions).
6. The "Cute" part of the title are chipboard alphas.
7. Yes, I know that it really should be "Too Cute", but using the title "Two Cute" is a play on words since this is a picture of him on his Two birthday. (yes, I know that was grammatically incorrect as well).
8. I love Owen dearly, but we have always jokingly referred to him as our ugly duckling (which I can say, because he is the spitting image of me when I was a baby, but no one else can say that he's the ugly duckling because he's not the spitting image of any of them...well, except for my mom). Anyway, while I do truly seriously think he's a cutie, I really honestly do, he looks like a special needs child in this particular photo.
9. So, then, you might ask, why did I use THIS picture of him since he looks like a SPED?!?! (sorry, Amy!) Well, it's because I have VERY few pictures of this birthday, and the few that I DO have are all very blurry. Very blurry indeed. Kind of like my memory, or lack thereof, for this event. How pathetic is that?! Mother of the year. If I wouldn't have had those blurry photos to refer back to, I would have NO idea what we did to celebrate his second birthday. Fortunately the photos sparked some "memories", even though I really don't remember this party. And no, I wasn't drinking. I just don't remember it. Weird.
10. And no, I wasn't drinking when I scrapped tonight, either, despite the fact that I scallop punched through my first pass at the journaling card (which I liked better than the neon green I ended up with). It was originally printed on double sided patterned paper, and it was on my table with the text side facing down. So, I picked it up and scallop punched it, not realizing it was my journaling card. Kind of hard to use a journaling tag when you've punched out a big portion of the story.

And with that, I'll call it a night.

Challenge 8b Inspiration Layout:

Challenge 4b - Baseball Boys

I completed the ScRap SiStaZ Challenge 4b layout on Monday when I had the day off for President's Day. What a great way to spend a day off!




Baseball Boys:

Some observations about the process and the products used:

1. This will go in Liam's birthday album (slowly but surely, I'll finish those albums!!)
2. This will represent his SIXTH birthday, not his 7th birthday. When I printed the journaling, I put that it was on his 7th birthday. I finished the page (completely) and re-read the journaling and realized that in 2007 he turned SIX not SEVEN. So, rather than tear the page apart and start over (hail, no!), I covered up "7th" with an orange paper strip on which I wrote "sixth". Nice.
3. The photos were taken outside of my parents house before Kev & the boys headed down to the game.
4. I used two photos across the bottom instead of three (making the layout work for me), and I liked the rick rack ON TOP of the photos, since you couldn't really revel in all of its rick-racky glory when I put it UNDER the photos.
5. This layout was VERY easy to put together (except it was a little time consuming typing the half circle journaling getting everything to line up just so...maybe there's an easier way to do it, but I haven't figured that out yet). And it turned out pretty well, imo, while using very few products:

• 3 colors of cardstock (1 12x12, 1 8.5x11, and a couple of orange scraps <<>
• 1 small piece of patterned paper
• stickers (baseballs & Tigers tickets)
• blue letter stickers
• "Baseball" vellum
• orange rick rack
• for the dots around the half circle I used my white gel pen and followed a template with lots of circles and cut out dots to guide me. I heart my white gel pen. Seriously heart.

And by the way, Kim, I use the clear ruler that you gave me on every single layout. Every.single.one. Thanks SO much. Again.

Go Get 'Em, TIGERS!
(Is it April 10th, yet?)

Challenge 3a - 11

Done with ScRap SiStaZ Challenge 3a!!

In case I haven't mentioned it before, I'm so glad Tina started this group. It really keeps me motivated...AND Scrapping!

Another one of Jordyn's birthday layouts done. Yay! Three down, Ten to go!!

11 - Double:

11 - Left:

11 - Right:
Some observations about the process and the products used:

1. I used Picasa to create the photo collage on the right (including the text ON the photos). One of my favorite bloggers, Ashley Gailey, wrote a post about how easy it was to create photo collages using Picasa. For a frame of reference, she also knows how to use Photoshop, so if she can learn that, she can learn ANYTHING. That should have been my first clue that it wasn't as easy as a "click of a button". But, I did finally end up with my desired result (after much cursing) and I will probably use Picasa again. Besides, it's free.
2. The patterned papers are from Stampin Up! (plug! for Stacey) It's called Outlaw, which goes to show you that you can use "boy" paper for a girl's layout.
3. Plus, I girlied up the "boy" paper with Colorbok's self adhesive metal dots. Gotta have a bit of bling. I also put one on the tab on the right to bring the two pages together.
4. Clearly the inspiration layout is 8 1/2 x 11. However, I did 12x12 because that's the size of the kids' birthday books. The collage on my layout is 8 1/2 x 11, but it doesn't take up the entire right side of the layout like the inspiration. But I think I was able to make it work on the 12x12 by balancing it with a strip of cardstock (ripped to match the ripped cardstock on the left side).
5. Here is a perfect example of how I should have used the Cricut to create the title "11". But no, I was too lazy. So, I free hand cut the two ones from the SU! patterned paper.
6. It's amazing to me about how few details I can recall from an event that happend just two years ago. I am going to try and be a much more current scrapper going forward.