Some pictures of the Grand Canyon book

Here are some of the 37 Double Sided pages that are in this album. Let me know what you like.

What it feels like to finish a project...

So yesterday, I was determined to finish our Grand Canyon trip book.
And I did!

The feeling of accomplishment to finish this project was amazing.
I have "finished" books before, but it always felt like maybe I would go back later and add some journal entries or a picture that I know I took and would add to the story on that page.
Not with this project, I wanted to finish before the Christmas holiday so that I could show it to relatives who have asked about the trip. Even though pictures don't truly capture the beauty God has created or the laughter of certain events that occurred, it helps in explaining where, what, and how awesome the sites of this trip. I will be posting some more of my favorite layouts from the 50+ pages soon. I hope you will enjoy them and give me some feedback. I would love to hear what has been your favorite journey through life.
For now....IT'S FINISHED!!!

P.S. The Route 66 layout is in my Grand Canyon album.

Double page layouts

Sometimes you have great pictures that span more than one page.

Here is a double page spread of the Continental Divide.

This is four pictures that I took by standing in one place and then snapping straight across.

If you practice and do this several times it will turn out and you can piece together as  

Panoramic Photos (Click here for some guidelines)

 This Double Page layout was made a Single sight because 

of the "TROJANS". 

 This Double Page layout is a nice way to show off school colors and make good use of the negative of the cut-out letters.

Question for you:
"Have you ever taken a Panoramic Picture?"

Cricut blade replacement

I love my Cricut Expression machine! I am learning new things about it all the time. But today I wanted to share something with you that some may take for granted. Changing the blade.

You know it's time when the cuts start pulling and are raggedy around the edges.
I get mine from an online vendor...ScrapStampn'Save
Here are the steps (with pictures) to help.

 Here is the package and mine were in a two pack. The green color you see is a cap/cover over the blade.

 It's fine to handle it by the cover, just be extra careful when you start to pull the cover off.

This is the housing for the blade.

This is what the blade looks like, only handle the dull end.

Here is the cap off.

Here is the blade, ready to go into the housing.

Here is the housing in your machine.

 

Loosen the screw on the front of the bracket.

Once it's loose, you should be able to push it forward.

Now the bracket will open.

You can now freely remove the housing.

Here is the housing.

You push down on the top of the housing and the old blade is ready to be removed.

There is the blade protruding at the bottom of the housing. You are going to use your other hand and carefully pull the blade out. 

This is the view when it's half way out.

And out.

Now gently put the blade dull end into the housing. You will feel it retract into the housing.

Once it's in, it will be hard to see. It is there.

Put it back into the housing, tighten the screw and you are ready for more fun. 

The companies website states that you should get 1,000 cuts per blade.

I hope this helps. Happy Scrapping!

New product makes the album

Just to let you know I sell Creative Memories. I don't sell much. Just myself and a few friends.
Every once and a while I find something new. Maybe it's not new to you but I get real excited about things that just make my scrap booking easier or better. This is one of those times.

My friend Tami, had twin sons graduating from high school and they were required to create senior memory albums. She was not excited about the challenge of not one but two albums and for boys. Let's face it, sometimes young men don't want to be bothered with such things. When she asked me to get them albums, I wanted to have them something that would make them stand out. Creative Memories filled the bill! They have a feature where you can upload a picture or a file you have created and have it printed on a album. Pictures of the boys on the album might have been alright but they were seniors so as not to embarrass them, I decided to come up with a combination of their school logo and their names in various sizes. One of the boys played basketball on a championship team so his album reflects that part of his life. The other son was not into athletics but was active in his school, for him the bigger logo was more appealing.

Mom and both sons were happy with the turnout. It did help in the creation of their albums too.
Here's what they look like.

Query questions for today,
"Have you ever done an album cover like this?"  "How did it turn out?"

CROPS "YIELD" BOUNTIFUL BOOKS!

Hey Ya'll, hope you're well.
I attended a fundraising crop this weekend and had so much fun.
Several of my "sisters" attend these local events and it makes for great therapy.
We meet with our pictures, papers, Cricuts, and creativity to put our memories in scrapbooks.

This weekend I was able to "finish" my 2011 albums and my vacation album. I say "finish" because it needs just a few more things, like journaling and tweaking.  But at least they feel ready to show.

Each year I did an album of our families activities. Well, then grand babies came along and so now it's two a year. I use two albums that are the same color. Yes, they are very full! I just can't go to three...at least I don't want to go to three. The album on top is the vacation we took out west this summer. So, as you can see I was very busy.

One of my favorite treats is Scrapbook Retreats. We will talk about those later.

My query question for you today...
"Do you regularly attend crops or retreats?"

The dreaded first page

Ok, you have your pictures, your memorabilia, and beautiful paper.
Now what?
You sit and look at the blank page and the surrounding implements.
Flip through the pictures.
Walk around.
Talk to friends.

For me the first page is the toughest.
Deciding what will represent this book in the best way can be daunting.
I have some "sisters" who scrap the entire book and then the last page they do is the first page,
that way they have a feel for the book. That could work.

Again, for me I figure titles work best.
I do 2 family albums per year. Title pages are first including the year and volume 1or volume 2.

So query question for today,
"Do you make the first page a title page or do you use pictures right out of the gate?"

New Pictures came in!

I got so excited yesterday when I pulled into the driveway and there was a box on the porch, because I knew it was from Snapfish!

When it comes to taking pictures I am the shutterbug in our family. The grand babies come over and I have the camera on ready. I keep a small digital camera in my purse and a spare battery charged. You never know when that moment will happen and sometimes it gets captured! Also, photography is relaxing.

So back to my treasure...the box...on the porch. Yes, it had 400 pictures from the past 3 months inside. Not every order is 400 but the past few months have been so jammed packed of great memories. We went to Canyon De Chelly and the Grand Canyon. When we returned we had fishing trips, anniversary party, 4th of July, and then our son graduated from college! YEAH!! (feel free to clap!) Our summer and celebration continued at the beach with three generations enjoying as much time together we could manage.

AHHH MEMORIES!

So today I will sort pictures. Sorting not only by event but also by date.

I am a chronological scrapbooker. I feel like I have just told you alot about myself, but for my brain to function properly it has to be in an order and time is my order. My fellow Scrapping Sisters understand.

So the query question today...
"What order/direction do you scrap?"

Inspiration

Scrap happy means having tons of ideas and not enough time to get them done before you forget them.
I have done that sooooo many times.

Sometimes when you sit down inspiration doesn't just dawn on you. For me inspiration for page layouts comes when I am driving or in the shower, not exactly ideal times for creating or scrapping.
There is a website I have found that has some great ideas. I don't like to copy layouts exactly, what fun is that? But at least sometimes it gets me started!

http://www.scrapbooksetc.com/layouts/collage/projects/shaped-picture-collage-ideas/
this was the inspiration for mine...

We got to visit out west this summer. I'll have to admit I knew about Route 66 but until you experience the actual road and places surrounding it do you realize that part of Americana is fading away. When I travel I am more of a "nature" photog. I like the flowers, trees, and landscape of a place. That makes a place special and different from where I reside. So that's why on this layout you see the nature of the road.

There are museums dedicated to the preservation of the highway. The one we visited was in Oklahoma.
Here take a look
http://www.route66.org/index2.html
I really learned so much and remember some things my dad had told me.

My friend, Lori McCluskey sells Close to my Heart products and before we left on our road trip adventure I decided to purchase this paper set from her. And did it hit the Crop Spot! That feeling when you realize that you have the PERFECT paper and embellishments to make your layout the bomb! So this it the resulting double page layout....

I took pictures of the outside of the museum and kept the entrance sticker that we wore as part of  admittance. I keep everything...we'll discuss that later... ;) But I love the layout and even though the paper is busy, using a dark color to frame my pictures and keeping the pictures to a minimum really helps to keep it from my your eyes just jump around.

So your query question today...
"what kind of scenery do you like to photography/scrap?"

Today being September 11th brings back a lot of memories. 
I am interested to know if you have ever "scrapped" tragedy? 

My personal feelings are that if we don't then we forget our immediate feelings about the event. Of course destruction such as the attacks on 9-11-01 will never be forgotten. 
But do you include news accounts such as paper or pictures (not your own) in pages such as these? 

Today's query is 
to scrap tragedy or not...

Ehow.com has a great article on preserving newsprint

http://www.ehow.com/how_13081_preserve-newspaper-clippings.html

I use acid free card stock behind the article and then laminate the entire page.

I am a Scrapping Sister!

Hey ya'll, I am Lulu!
I am a scrapbook fan.
I love the idea of being able to preserve the memories of my family.
I would love to share some ideas and products that I love.

let's Scrap!