A 'No Photos' Scrapbook Layout

Do you remember the first time you really noticed your own heart beat?  Heard it?  Or felt it booming away in your chest?  Wondered what it was, and were delighted when you found out? 

I don't. But I was lucky enough to be nearby when Bridie did, and what a wonder filled moment that was!  Now I am the first to admit that when it comes to scrapbooking big life moments like birthdays and christmas I am not so flash.  New PJs and heartbeats though?  Not so shoddy!

When I saw the look on Bridie's face, when I told her the 'popping' she could feel in her chest was actually her heart beating (wonder and delight!) I knew I had to capture the moment for her.  I was elbow deep in dinner preparations at the time, so didn't get a photo at the time.  I thought about posing her later - perhaps an arty farty closeup of her little hand, clutching her chest again?  But really, it was the look on her face, and the wonder she was feeling, that I wanted to remember - and re-enacting it half an hour later wouldn't be the same.

So...  I set myself a challenge.  Scrapbook it without a photo - just the story.  And while we are doing challenges, use a patterned paper (I'm a patterned paper junkie, but often struggle to get them, especially the 'busier' ones, to work on my layouts).  Abandon that idea of A4/letter size, and get back to 12 x 12, and lets have some white space (green space?!) And most of all?  Make it quick and simple!

The first thing I did was find a patterned paper (Raspberry Tart DSP), and then the card to match(Kiwi Kiss, and Pink Pirouette).  The good thing about layouts without photos?  Doesn't matter what colours you use!  I had the idea of a big heart outline in my mind, and with the 'make it fast' challenge in mind, got to work cutting one out freehand.  Type up the story, print and cut ('freehand' again).

Then figure out some embellishments to fancy it up a bit.  I was pleased that the Kiwi Kiss corduroy buttons from the spring mini catalogue were just the right colour, as I love, love, love them!  The ones with holes have a 'faux' thread (thin strip of patterned paper threaded through).  The buttons without holes are actually like big brads at the back.  The smaller hearts were also cut from the patterned paper.

I will admit that I was tempted to add some stamping to that big green background, but I resisted - quick and simple being the rule for the day.  The title is annoying me a bit.  The 'straight but freehand, so not really straight' cutting technique works fine for the journalling, but the title looks a little sloppy, darn it.  I was going to pull it off, but the 2 way gluepen (which was GREAT for sticking on all those little bitty strips!) was just sticking too well. 

And then I figured - it's done already, stick it in the album, and move on.

So I did.  And it feels great!

This week my Baby started School.

Not a lot of blogging, or even creating this past week or so.  I have been a little distracted.  School is back, and now I have two school boys.  My baby started school.  My middle baby that is. His first day was Wednesday.  You can be sure that I followed him with the camera for as long as I could, and then met the bus with camera in hand at the end of the day.  So much scrapbooking potential - the photos and the words...

How do you describe this face?

This was after excitment had given way to nerves, and that sick feeling you get in your stomach. 

It was also the beginnings of a minor panic attack...

"Mum, we forgot about my lunch!"

No baby, remember, we put your lunchbox in your bag

(visable relief)

"Oh yeah, I forgot"

He had been thinking that since we had forgotten to pack it, he would have to buy his lunch, but didn't remember his pin number, let alone how the whole buying your lunch thing worked or even how to find his way to the cafeteria in the first place. 

All that on top of the usual first day of school stresses.

Poor Boy, no wonder his face looked like that!

The good news is this is how it looked at the end of the day...

Then there are the words.  You can be sure we gave him the third degree from the moment he got home.  Turns out school was:

• 
  
  fun - when he got to play in the toy kitchen - four kids at a time, and he pretended he was a broomer (that would be a person who uses a broom to clean stuff) and asked for a coffee and something to eat.
• 
  
  scary - when he was first outside and nobody was playing with him.  Then a 'dude' came over and said 'Hey Dude, come and play' and they played spies and Campbell was the mission leader (and it was back to being fun again).
• 
  
  awesome - when he got to play Mr Men on the computer
• 
  
  sad - when he couldn't find Hayden after lunch.  We had told him they wouldn't have lunch together (with 600 children at the school, lunchtime is a staggered affair) but had failed to point out that that would mean playing together after lunch would also not be an option.  Turns out that was when the yucky tummy went away.  After he stopped crying (oh no. Crying. Mum's heart breaks!), and started playing with the other 'dude' from his class.
• 
  
  funny - when the teacher (a man) was showing them the dressups and modeled a (girl's) hat
• 
  
  not to mention - filled with anticipation - he couldn't wait to go the next day, and was most looking forward to playing in the arts and crafts area, and playing with his new friend (that would be 'the dude')

Then there would be the list of after school snacks consumed.  Including, but not limited to, a two egg, potato omelette (and yes, there are photos). 

Yep.  Definitely a LOT of scrapbooking potential.  Now I just have to figure out this new routine of ours (bus stop at 7.15am!) and find some time to sit down and actually do it.  The scrapbooking I mean. And count down the minutes until the bus comes home again.

Dude!

Scrapbooking with Kids - Bridie's Turn

As soon as Bridie (who turned three last month) saw that the boy's had their own scrapbooks to make, she of course wanted one of her own. I had pretty much figured that would be the case, but knowing that her one is more likely to have - shall we say - 'additional journalling and embellishments' added with time, courtesy of Miss Bridie, I was keen to make it a quick and simple little book. That way, it would be easier for me to let her do her thing with it, and actually enjoy it, rather than me hovering over her ready to say the words 'put that pen/scissors/sticky tape down now!'

Bridie wanted to help make the book too. So that was another reason for quick and simple! To start off I let her choose a patterned paper (from the 'retired pile' - stuff like that isn't important to kids!) and then we gathered some card to match. I trimmed the pages so that each was slightly longer than the previous one, and then to add a girly twist we punched out one side using the eyelet border punch. We then scored each page about 2cm from the opposite 'spine edge' just to make it easier to open the book when it was done. Lastly we punched holes along the 'spine' and used jumbo eyelets to hold it all together. That was the base of the book done.

Here is a quick look at the back of the book too. By attaching more jumbo eyelets at the back, inside of the first ones, you can make the back of your book look just as neat as the front.

When it came time to decide what to put in the book we encountered a few problems. Asking Bridie 'what do you want to scrapbook?' resulted in answers like 'my scrapbook'. Asking her 'which photos she would like to stick in there?' was also a little broad. So I ended up making an executive decision, and suggested we should make the book about our visit to Disneyland a few months back. She thought that was a good idea (whew!). From there it was much easier for her to choose her favourite photos from a much smaller selection, and we printed them out 'wallet size' here at home. I did the cutting out, and then we sorted them into piles - princesses in one pile, minnie's house in another etc. Together we stuck them all on. Bridie especially enjoyed putting the double sided tape on the back of the photos.

We attached all the photos at once, just so we don't lose any of them. Writing 'the story' though, is a process I am hoping we will be able to stretch out for a few days. That is a really interesting process in itself. Bridie chose which page she wanted to write about, and which colour pen to use, and then she tells me what to write.

Although I am sure that I would have written how much fun it was to visit Minnie Mouse, and how much Bridie loved exploring her house, I had definitely forgotten that Bridie had pretended to eat Minnie's food, and hadn't realised that it had made such an impression on her. Another reason why I am really enjoying these projects with my kids.

Holiday Scrapbook Kits for my Boys

This is a project that I am feeling really excited about. In an attempt to better document my children's perspectives of the adventures they are having I decided to have the boys scrapbook those adventures themselves! Hayden is 9 so should be able to manage this fine, Campbell is 5 - he will be dictating any journaling and I will write it for him.

Other than that, I am hoping I will be able to let them do their thing. Hoping. I may find myself jumping in with a suggestion here and there, and obviously the basis of it all was my doing, but still, better than all done by me, right?

So here is the holiday scrapbook box. It includes albums, spare pages, embellishments, and any bits and pieces they gather along the way, that are waiting to be included in their scrapbooks.

I made two mini albums (8 x 8 inches - not so big that it is intimidating, but big enough to fit those treasures I am sure they will accumulate!) The colours came straight from a Kristina Werner Challenge a few weeks back - nice and summery (oh yes, we get to enjoy two summers this year!) and perfect for boys. Apart from a couple of little differences on the front, so we can tell them apart, the albums are the same. I decided to stick with the same colours for both, so that the box of goodies could just be divided between them without, hopefully, any arguments.


To get them started I have made a few pages of various sizes and colours. A few are already in the albums (to give it an actual album feel - it was amazing how excited they were to see those few blank pages waiting for them in THEIR albums!) The rest are waiting in the box. I have also included a few envelopes and memo cards (some decorated with a strip of patterned paper, some not). I wasn't sure how into it they would be when I first was putting it all together, so tried to keep it nice and simple (I figured I could always recycle those pages for something else!) The boys know too, that if they need something else - different size or colour etc, we can make it to suit.
Also in the box, a selection of embellishments - punched shapes, stamped images and journaling squares, strips of patterned paper for borders, and card for titles. Once again, this is just a starting point. We can add any other embellishments as we go along.

So how is it going? Better than I had hoped! Both boys are really excited about this project. I was a little worried that it might feel a bit too much like holiday homework (not the intention, but, just quietly, an added bonus of a project like this!) but so far that hasn't been the case. They are excited to choose photos, and put the pages together. We have had a few fun activities happening over the past couple of weeks, so there is a bit of catch up to do. Letting them choose what they want to document, when, is part of the fun for them. Interesting for me too. I was sure that Campbell would want to start with his T Ball classes - he has really been enjoying them, and so looks forward to Mondays at the moment. But no. The thing he most wanted to document .... when Daddy hid Jaffas (yummy NZ candy for those North American readers!) in the popcorn when we had a movie night last week. Here it is...


Confession time. That isn't the actual popcorn. We didn't take a photo at the time. Campbell suggested we could maybe make some more and take a photo of that. Ulterior motives perhaps? Maybe. Stunt popcorn tastes delicious! As for those jaffas - I might have suggested that we could maybe use this circle punch to make some.... but Campbell picked the red card, did the punching, cut one in half and requested that I please write 'chomp' next to that one. Such a fun thing to do together!

And check out this proud boy showing Daddy his first scrapbook page...

This project just gets better and better! (did I mention Miss Bridie yet? Oh yep - she wants in on the action too - tune in next time for Bridie's Mini Album!)