Nisey Scraps...My Creative Space

Project Life - Weeks 11 & 12

2014-04-24T00:00:00.000-02:30

Week 12:

Project Life - Weeks 9 & 10

2014-04-20T08:30:00.000-02:30

An insert was added this week:

Week 10 - only one page this week:

Project Life - Weeks 7 & 8

2014-04-17T06:00:00.000-02:30

Valentine's Day card insert (12x12)

Week 8 is a 4 page spread.

Inspired By...

2014-04-15T10:00:00.000-02:30

I am going to be posting a project once a month that was inspired by another project. This month I found this page on Pinterest and knew I wanted to scrap lift it.

Original:

http://cdn.studiocalico.com/gallery_pictures/images/000/227/330/original/image.jpg

My page:

Project Life - Weeks 5 & 6

2014-04-13T08:00:00.000-02:30

I added an insert this week:

Week 6

Guest Designer -The Paperie April Card Kit

2014-04-11T08:00:00.000-02:30

I was so excited to be a guest designer for our local scrapboom store The Paperie. I made 10 cards with this fantastic kit.

April - 9 on 9

2014-04-10T07:33:00.001-02:30

Welcome to 9 on 9 where I post nine photos taken on the ninth of every month.

Yesterday I only took 4 photos and that's ok. It was a busy work day.

1. Playing "Minion Toss" before school.

2. The wind took the side off our patio

3. Nightly entertainment with Rex and Max.

4. Max hiding in his house.

Project Life - Weeks 3 & 4

2014-04-08T10:22:00.001-02:30

Project Life - Weeks 1 and 2

2014-04-08T10:15:00.001-02:30

I am going to share my weekly pages starting with weeks 1 and 2. My process is always evolving and I love it.

Project Life - My Way

2014-04-08T09:51:00.001-02:30

I decided to start Project Life this year. I had done pocketed scrapping before for a Camping album and fell in love with the process and how fast I could pull pages together. We lead a busy life and this solution was perfect for me.

"It's called Project LIFE because it's about YOUR LIFE. Whatever your life is."

(Taken from the Project Life About page)

So, it's different for everybody. This is my approach.

1. Take photos

I almost exclusively take photos with my iPhone. It is so convenient because I always have it with me.

I do not set out to take a photo every day or a set number of photos every week. And, I certainly do not think about the orientation of the photo as I am taking it. I just take photos, that's it, plain and simple.

After the week is over, mine runs Monday through Sunday, I sit down and write down the photos I want to use. If I have ephemera I take note of that as well.

I only use Becky Higgins Design A page protectors to keep things simple. I may add in an insert if I have a huge amount of photos from an event to include.

2. Sketch / Template

At the beginning of the year I made a template to use, but honestly, I usually just use a scrap piece of paper and sketch it all out these days. It works for me. I usually transfer the sketch to my planner just for future reference.

3. Edit Photos

I made a 4x6 template in Photoshop and add the weekly photos into one document. I size them down to two 3x4 photos in the template as needed.

I went through a phase of adding journaling directly onto the photos. That was taking a lot of time so I have switched back to handwriting right now. This process is always evolving.

I do use some photo apps as well. I will outline these in a separate post.

4. Print Photos

I do not print at home. I use either Costco or Walmart.

5. Stuff Those Pockets aka The FUN Stuff

I sort the photos, round all corners and place in the predetermined pockets.

6. Embellish

Some weeks I add a lot of embellishments, other weeks I keep it simple. My favourite embellishments are enamel dots, wood veneer, stickers, washi tape and lots of letter stickers.

7. Have Fun

Do not try to match what your favourite designer is doing. Do your own thing. Keep it simple. Your kids will not care which trendy techniques you used on your pages, they will only care about the memories you captured.

That's not to say I don't play around with some trendy stuff that is fun. I just do not stress over making my pages look like designer x or designer y. JUST HAVE FUN and enjoy the process.

Goals for 2014

2014-01-02T11:36:00.001-03:30

I am a pretty relaxed crafter, I don't stress over this stuff. It is my fun time after all. That being said, I had a productive crafty year in 2013...I want to continue that this year.

Last year I completed:
- 15 digital pages for LouCee Creations
- 24 12x12 traditional pages
- Camping Album is up to date
- December Daily 2013 completed in December
- 50+ cards. Cards were my main crafting focus in 2013.

So, I have decided to set some scrappy goals this year:

- Complete a Project Life album this year. This is my first year to do this
- Continue with our Camping album
- Florida vacation album (over 500 photos and a huge stack of ephemera)
- Make more cards this year that last year
- Create a page with all of LouCee Creations releases this year.
- Blog more

Here's wishing you a happy crafty 2014!

So I Challenged Myself...

2013-12-09T12:29:00.001-03:30

I have been moving this chipboard sticker sheet (Crate Paper Sleigh Ride) all over my scrap room. This morning I decided to challenge myself to use it up to finally get rid of it.

Before:

After:

I ended up making nine cards with the chipboard stickers and a few things from my stash such as the matching 6x6 paper pad, bling, enamel dots, washi tape, stickers, stamps and twine:

Here they are:

I hope this inspires you to dig into your stash and use it up!

Homespun Christmas by LouCee Creations

2013-11-15T09:33:00.002-03:30

Christmas is coming, and sooner than we think. I spent yesterday at work putting together Christmas trees. All that was missing was a glass of wine and some good music. ;)

Lou's new kit Homespun Christmas is now on sale at The Digichick. It's 30% off for a limited time. This is a beautiful kit to capture all the moments of the festive season.

This would also be a great kit to make some hybrid Christmas cards...my mind is buzzing with ideas...those cute cookies in particular...hmmm...

Here's a page I made using this kit. I can't believe how much the boys have changed since last December...they grow way too fast.

The Paperie Card Kit Prize

2013-11-08T12:54:00.003-03:30

I was lucky enough to win a fabulous prize from our local craft store - The Paperie. It was their October card kit and I had so much fun playing with it. I made eight cards in a couple hours using it.

Life's Moments by LouCee Creations

2013-10-03T22:21:00.000-02:30

Lou has recently opened shop at The Digi Chick. I wish her lots of luck in her new store, not that she needs it, her designs speak for themselves.

Her new kit, Life's Moments is perfect for Autumn photos, or just everyday moments. Get it on sale HERE for a limited time.

Here's a page I made with this kit. It turned out to be one of my favourite pages.

Some Cards

2013-08-08T11:49:00.000-02:30

A few cards I have made lately. This is "card season" in our house, lots of birthdays and anniversaries this time of year. I try and stay ahead if the game, but, usually end up making a couple at the last possible minute. I'm working on it.

Family Pastimes by LouCee Creations and Manu Scraps

2013-08-08T11:36:00.003-02:30

LouCee Creations has teamed up with Manu Scraps to create Family Pastimes. This is a great kit to capture some treasured family times playing games together. Check out Lou's blog for more details.

Here's a page I made with this kit:

LouCee's Creations...Catching Up...

2013-05-11T08:57:00.000-02:30

Sweet Magnolia is a beautiful gentile kit perfect for scrapping memories of our dear mothers, daughters and sisters. And, it's 40% off this weekend.

Here's the page I made with this kit:

LouCee's iNSD His and Hers bag is now open and both kits are sold separately along with the collections. These are between 30% and 50% off!

Here's the page I made with Refresh:

Here's the page I made with It's a Man's World:

LouCee Creations - Let's Party

2013-04-11T11:25:00.002-02:30

Let's Party by LouCee Creations is such a fun, bright kit to scrap all your birthday memories. This kit includes 23 papers of which 7 are textured plains, 6 unique patterned papers, 10 shabby checked papers. 57 unique elements, 9 brads, 16 little tabs including stitching, 4 lower case alpha , 4 number packs, A printable package which includes 3 different cupcake boxes, 3 cupcake picks, 2 party bag toppers and 3 different invitation notes.

You can get the entire collection for just $5.00 at The Studio.

Here's the digital page I made using this collection:

March Pages

2013-03-26T12:37:00.000-02:30

I haven't been doing much scrapping lately, I haven't even broken into my March Paperie kit yet. But, I did do these two LOs a couple of weeks ago, mostly from old supplies I had on hand.. These pages are on Jacob's first and last day of pre-school and Evan's first and last day of Grade 3. Kids grow so much in a short period of time. I am happy to have these pages documented as well as the everyday stuff that occurs.

Recent Layouts

2013-03-07T14:23:00.004-03:30

Here are two pages I made lately. The first page is about my quest for fitness. I gave up my Diet Pepsi addiction two weeks ago, cold turkey, and I feel great. I have made changes to my diet and added more exercise and I'm seeing results already in both the way I feel and the scale. Exciting stuff!!

This was for the bash your stash page challenge, hosted on The Paperie blog a couple weeks ago. I used up lots of old scrap pieces of paper on this page.

This page uses my February Paperie Club kit and an older MME Lime Twist 6x6 pad. As soon as I saw that OA Midway paper I knew just the photos I wanted to scrap. I machine stitched on these two pages, I am loving it.

My Scrapbooking Evolution

2013-02-21T13:05:00.003-03:30

I was browsing through Facebook this morning and noticed a post by Pink Paislee asking how long you have been scrapbooking.

Hmmm, I thought about it, then remembered a box of my "junk" in the basement. I dug it out and found a few scrapbooks I made.

Back in 1988 I loved the Canadian Group Glass Tiger. This is the scrapbook (report folder and loose leaf paper) I made that consisted of magazine articles and posters...not a sticker in sight, just a couple of pens and scotch tape.

Along came New Kids on the Block, and a scrapbook devoted to my favourite member Jordan. He still looks just as good today, without the braces and rats tail. This was made in 1989-1991 I think. These scrapbooks contained lots of cut out words and letters from magazines that contained the posters that covered my bedroom walls.

*check out my fussy cutting skills bahaha

I am pretty sure I made a Bon Jovi scrapbook but I can't find it...hmmm. Must look for that one.

After these scrapbooks, I gave it up for a few years until we went on our first trip to the Dominican Republic in 2001. I used an actual scrapbook for this project with a pack of neon paper and decorative scissors...and raffia.

When my oldest son was born in 2003 I did buy a few scrapbook supplies at Michael's and the dollar store and made a few pages. I wasn't pleased with how they looked so I gave up again.

I discovered digital scrapbooking in 2007 while looking for fonts online. It was love at first download. Over the years I was on design teams, 5 at one point, now I just digiscrap for my buddy Lou.

In 2008, hubby and I went to San Francisco. When we returned I made two 8x8 photo books printed from Arts Cow. I spent countless hours making these books and loved every second of it.

In 2011 I started to dabble in card making and discovered our local scrapbook store - The Paperie. Last year I joined their monthly kit club and started making cards and layouts on a regular basis.

I just love scrapbooking, it really is great therapy.

Last month I was browsing at Michael's and found some divided pocket page protectors. I decided to make a camping album in this style. I love how the pages turned out, so quick to do. I look forward to adding more pages when we go camping this summer.

Actually, my scrapbooking really started on my 9th birthday in 1983 with a sticker book from my Grandmother. I arranged and re-arranged those stickers every day.

Check out the Duran Duran and Michael Jackson stickers from back in the day...so fun!

The inside cover is full of the stickers that came in bags of chips...remember those??

Out of this World by LouCee Creations

2013-02-15T09:33:00.004-03:30

LouCee Creations latest kit is perfect for boy pages, it really is Out of this World. You can pick up this fantastic kit for 30% off HERE.

There's a couple of freebies on LouCee's blog as well!

I knew the exact photos I wanted to scrap with this kit. I love how it turned out!

A Late Gift

2013-02-12T10:43:00.004-03:30

I used mostly Simple Stories Sn@p! for this page. It is now framed in my craft room. I'll admit I took about 30+ photos of this LO. This is the not the best, but, it's the best of the lot. I'll take it.

Recent Cards

2013-02-06T14:06:00.002-03:30

I suck at photographing my projects...period. I used my iPhone, the new lens on my camera...still does not look the way I want them too. It is what it is.

A few cards I made during January:

These two cards above were inspired by this card.

This card above was inspired by this card.