2015 Week 11: Waiting, Moving, Memories

My Life Templates 3 by Scrapping with Liz
Everyday Life Kit March
 by Juno Designs

Do you want to know how many pictures I took with my DSLR this week?

One.

I am so thankful for my phone and always having it handy. Can you tell which photo is the DSLR photo? I'll give you a hint. It's the unprocessed one. I rarely do anything to those photos, but I almost always use RadLab to edit my phone photos. My phone picture quality isn't always that great.

One of the reasons I haven't been taking as many photos with my big camera is because it's just too crazy around here. You can read last week's post to see what is going on. In the crazy times I don't usually think ahead or I'm just too tired or in a hurry to take the time to get my camera. My phone is much handier.

Here's a little update on what's going on:

1. My Father-in-Law is doing much better. He's able to eat solid food and even talk on the phone. He's still in the hospital and he's got a long way to recovery.
2. I had to take a last-minute 10-hour car ride to Durham (5 hours each way) because our insurance wanted Matthew to have another speech evaluation before they'll decide if they'll cover a Cochlear Implant. We should hear something this week! UPDATE: Our insurance approved the CI!!!
3. Our move is coming along. We'll be totally moved out this weekend. I'm excited for the future for our family, but I'm also so sad to leave this house behind, but like my husband said, "We aren't leaving the memories behind just the house, and it's a good thing you have all those scrapbooks to remember all of those memories!"  Yes, yes. I have all those scrapbooks.

Take a closer look at what will be part of one of all those scrapbooks. That lunch on the porch and that very detailed, wedding set up with toilet paper as a runner (genius!) in the living room will be remembered with this page. I can picture us sitting around these pages reminiscing....remember that house with the tiny living room, and the porch where we always ate when it was nice outside.
My Life Templates 3 by Scrapping with Liz
Everyday Life Kit March by Juno Designs

My Life Templates 3 by Scrapping with Liz
Everyday Life Kit March by Juno Designs

Snap those pictures. Scrap or print those pictures. Remember those memories
-Liz

Do you ever scrap to just create art?

Hi Everyone, this is Jenn, jk703, visiting with you all today. Liz has got oodles and oodles of things going on, so I'm lucky enough to jump in on the blog for a few fill-in posts! I'm excited!

Do you ever scrap to just create art? Most of the time, I don't scrap just to create art. I scrap my memories, to remember all that goes on in my family life, and to record the stories. Recently, my mojo was really on a hiatus. I was scrapping, but I wasn't liking my pages as much. Something was missing. My husband said I should scrap for fun! It clicked. I decided to jump into The Lilypad's Month of Challenges to see if I could kickstart my mojo! I did, completely!

In 2015, I've scrapped 77 layouts, and it is only the middle of March. In the last 6 months of 2014, I scrapped approx. 48 layouts. What a huge difference. I learned that I need to enjoy the process of playing with the papers and embellishments on my layouts. There are always SO many yummy papers and ellies in a kit, and rarely get to use them all! When I was scrapping only to make album layouts and only to record memories, it became more like work. Changing this up, creating random layouts, for fun, has boosted my creativity, and renewed my love of scrapping again.

One type of layout I noticed that I like to create is a photoless layout. This let me play with everything, jot down my thoughts, and not worry about the images or finding pictures. If I had them, then that was great, if not, photoless was the way to go. I was a bit intimidated by photoless and had only scrapped a handful before. As I scrapped, they became easier and easier.

Liz's templates are photo-focused, but you can use that to your advantage on a photoless layout. I use those photo spots for papers - fun, beautiful, pattern papers! Then I use elements on the paper blocks for little element clusters. Here are a few examples I found perusing the galleries! (All layouts link to the original posting for credits, but I will list the template.)

Here is a layout I created recently for a number challenge. I used Recyclables 37 for my page, and The Lilypad's Memory Pockets Monthly and Add-Ons. I used pocket cards, and pattern paper to fill the photo spots. I had fun picking out what patterns to mix and match with each other. Plus, I really was loving on that color palette. Especially since winter doesn't seem to want to leave for us in the Northeast!

Karen (zippoh) created this wonderful layout for a recipe! What a clever idea! She used Recyclables #21 for her layout and some Chelle's Creations goodies. 


Here is a page created by Christine (Carolina Scrapper) where she used the templates to create a festive photoless page. She used the Christmas Templates. 


Photoless does not have to be hard, and you can even use Title Page Templates to scrap them! Here are a few examples using the Title Page Templates.  I made this page thinking I could use it for an album cover, but also just playing around with papers, colors, and layers. It's messy, but still neat, lol! 


Sarah Roothooft created this wonderful page for a 2014 album. Look at that cluster. She shared her page with us on the Scrapping With Liz Fan Page on Facebook. Join us - SWL Group!  Sarah used products from Kristin Cronin-Barrow/KCB. 


Jessica (jessicalynn01) created this masterpiece! Just look at it! It's perfect with that blue flower. I was in awe of the scatters and splatters - perfectly placed! 


Lastly, you can create with papers and embellishments, but actually use PAPER! Shari (shari) created this hybrid mini planner with no images, and it looks like fun! She used Liz's Edge Templates.



Hoping you might have gotten a spark to create a fun-filled layout for your own creativity! It's a bit freeing, and you remember the love of scrapping, not just the memories! Have fun scrapping, everyone! See you soon!

Jenn/jk703

2015 Week 10: What a Week!

My Life Templates 3 by Scrapping with Liz
Everyday Life Kit March by Juno Designs

It's been quite a week.  Lots of fun was had, but lots of emotional things happened as well. Since it's hard to take pictures of the hard things I journaled a little bit about it on the page. I know one day I'll look back at this page, and I'll read that journaling and see how, in the end, it all really did work out even though it seems impossible right now.

A few things we are dealing with right now (in case you want to pray for us):

1. My father-in-law is in the hospital. My hubby flew to see him last week. Right now he's stable and has a long road of recovery ahead of him.
2. Matthew has Cochlear Implant surgery scheduled for April 14th. Our insurance has denied coverage. We are appealing. This has been a super long process and we don't want to have to put it off any longer. We need them to approve it ASAP!
3. Have I told you we sold our house and have to move in a week? I've been wanting to blog about this and how important it is to take pictures of the space you live in. I've thought about how many pictures I've taken with our kids sitting around the counter or dining room table or playing games on the floor, or outback around the fire pit. This is the home we brought two new children into. I remember (with both of them) pulling into our driveway and just feeling this huge relief that we were all home together. No one was on the other side of the world. I do want to remember all the wonderful memories in this home. I also have to remind myself that home is where my family is and not just the house. Geesh, I'm just an emotional wreck over here.

This whole packing and moving thing have put me behind on Matthew's Album as well. Not sure if you noticed, but I haven't posted any new pages in a while. My focus right now is just keeping my head above water and making these weekly pages. It might be all you see of me over the next month or so...besides awesome new templates! I do have a whole month's worth of templates ready for you so you don't have to worry about missing out on those. Once we move and get through Matthew's surgery I'm hoping things will die down a little, and I can finish up Matthew's Album.

Here's a closer look at the pages if you want to take a look.

My Life Templates 3 by Scrapping with Liz
Everyday Life Kit March by Juno Designs

My Life Templates 3 by Scrapping with Liz
Everyday Life Kit March by Juno Designs
-Liz

2015 Week 9: Lots of Firsts

My Life Templates 3 by Scrapping with Liz
Everyday Life Kit March by Juno Designs


It was a crazy, fun-filled week. A couple of reminders for myself and maybe for you too:

1. Take more pictures of day-to-day stuff (I tend to take more pictures of all the extra fun stuff).
2. Be more intentional about the picture taking (which I guess goes along with #1). Sometimes I get sloppy with my picture taking. I just snap the picture and go. I need to take a few extra seconds looking for the best angle and light for the picture. I was a bit disappointed in some of my photos this week. Next week I will do better.
3. It's okay to go simple on the template. I only added a couple of elements and stuck to papers, journaling, and photos for this page. I had very limited time to scrap and this made it go super fast. I'm just not fast when it comes to adding all the extras....and that's okay!

Take a closer look at our week if you want to.

My Life Templates 3 by Scrapping with Liz
Everyday Life Kit March by Juno Designs

My Life Templates 3 by Scrapping with Liz
Everyday Life Kit March by Juno Designs
-Liz

Let's Talk...

You might have seen this article floating around social media: Print your Photos or Risk Losing Them to the Digital Dark Age.


I 100% agree. If you are a digital scrapbooker you need to print those pages. You could have those photos or pages saved in multiple places, but you also need them printed out.  Technology changes so fast. Software changes. You can almost guarantee that it won't stay the same. Those digital images may not be readable with newer software down the road.

I believe that you shouldn't just print to preserve your photos, but also so your family can have something tangible to look through. It has benefited my kids greatly to have scrapbooks and photos to look through. Plus it's fun to show family members different albums. Be honest, is it more fun to sit around and look at a computer screen or to sit together on the couch flipping through the pages of an album?

That's all. Just a friendly reminder to print those pages...or photos if you haven't scrapped them.
-Liz

2015 Week 8: More Snow!

My Life Templates 2 by Scrapping with Liz
Everyday Life February Kit
 by Juno Designs

We thought we got snow last week. Ha! This week we had two days of quite a bit of snow. Last week it was more like snow/ice. This week was the real deal. I let my kids relax more on their school work, and we had a ton of fun in the snow. The day before one of the snows, we went for a hike. It was so nice and sunny outside. I don't know about you guys, but when we are snowed in we build tents. Friday night I let the kids sleep in the fort. What a memory!

Have I mentioned that I love scrapping these weekly pages? I love sitting down on Saturday night and looking through our week in pictures. It just makes me so happy. Plus it keeps me caught up on organizing my photos and videos, and I know at the end of the year I'll have a family album to print.

Anyway, enough chatter. Take a closer look below if you want to.

My Life Templates 2 by Scrapping with Liz
Everyday Life February Kit
 by Juno Designs

My Life Templates 2 by Scrapping with Liz
Everyday Life February Kit
 by Juno Designs

Scrap those photos, or at least look through them at the end of the week!
-Liz

A Quick Vacation Gift Album

Title Page Templates by Scrapping with Liz


To go along with Jessica's book from last week I just had to show you another album she made of a trip they took (she's really great about these vacation albums!). 

I think it works well when you stick to one kit for a full album like this. You can get a cohesive look and also scrap really fast. She scrapped these pages during a scrapping retreat (about 3-4 days). With a Lifetime $10 promo code from Snapfish, she was able to print out a book for each family member that was there for $10 each. I think I might need to look into that.

I'll let you take a look and hopefully, it brings you some inspiration.

She used a random assortment of my digital scrapbook templates along with The View and That's Life from the Digi Scrap Parade (no longer available).

Daily Life Templates 6 by Scrapping with Liz

Daily Life Templates 6 by Scrapping with Liz

Photo Journal Templates by Scrapping with Liz

More Doubles Templates by Scrapping with Liz

Remember That Templates by Scrapping wit Liz

Remember That Templates by Scrapping with Liz

Photo Show Templates by Scrapping with Liz

Photo Show Templates by Scrapping with Liz

Photo Journal Templates 1 by Scrapping with Liz

Photo Journal Templates 1 by Scrapping with Liz

Journal That Templates by Scrapping with Liz

Journal That Templates by Scrapping with Liz

Recyclables 22 by Scrapping with Liz

Recyclables 22 by Scrapping with Liz

Remember That Templates 4 by Scrapping with Liz

Remember That Templates 4 by Scrapping with Liz

More Doubles Templates by Scrapping with Liz

More Doubles Templates by Scrapping with Liz

More Doubles Templates by Scrapping with Liz

Simple Journal Card Inspired Templates 2 by Scrapping with Liz

Bunch of  Photos Templates 1 by Scrapping with Liz


And isn't his last page just so sweet?

-Liz

© Scrapping with Liz
Maira Gall