Quiet Weekend

After the hellish week I had, we decided to have a quiet weekend at home. We rented a couple of PS2 games (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and X-Files: Resist or Serve), and I gamed much of Friday, since I’d already put in more than my 30 hours.

Harry Potter was quite fun, though we came close to defeating the game by the end of Saturday. (We had gotten to Voldemort, but didn’t quite defeat him – we didn’t try again, but most of the fun of the game was done.) Goblet of Fire can be played by two players simultaneously for many of the levels – not the Tri-Wizard challenges or final fight with Voldemort, but all other levels. So, Andrew and I were able to play together, which I think is the first time we’ve done that. I can hardly wait to pull out Tak and Lok and play that with Andrew.

The rest of the weekend I spent scrapbooking. I finished up the “Wedding Odds ‘n’ Ends” book that I’d been working on. Here are a few of the spreads I did:
    

You can check out all of my scrapbook photos on Flickr. Next up? The eclipse cruise scrapbook!

Tags: reviews, scrapping

Scrappin’ with Laurie

Last night Laurie came over to scrapbook. Normally we wouldn’t be able to get together on a “school night”, but she was in my part of town for some training and came over after her class.

We immediately made a large mess of scrapbooking supplies in my living room:


(This picture does not do justice to the amount of stuff we had strewn about the living room – maybe Laurie’s pictures will show it better)

Most of my scrapbooking is done solo, and I have to admit that I loved having someone else there to poke for ideas. Laurie worked on a page of Connor’s “first sit”, and I worked on a wedding rehearsal spread. Here she is laying out her page:

And here are our results:
   

We’re not going to be able to get together again until April, and I can hardly wait!

Tags: friends, scrapping

Scrapping Weekend

I spent much of this long weekend scrapbooking. Saturday Sandy and I got together with Laurie to introduce her to the fine world of scrapbooking. Though, we didn’t actually get much scrapbooking done – we spent almost all of our time together shopping (!).

Sunday, though, I started working on my “Wedding Odds ‘n’ Ends” book (honeymoon, bachelorette party, rehearsal dinner, girls getting ready, etc.). My previous wedding books were all done in blues and yellows (our wedding colors), but this album I finally got to start using some of my other fun papers. Here’s a picture of Sunday’s creation (it says “Becoming Beautiful…Isn’t Pretty):
  

That spread took forever to make – I’m noticing that each spread I work on is getting more and more elaborate. I’ll need to start dialing it back if I expect to ever get caught up in my pictures!

Yesterday was a government holiday, so I spend the day scrapbooking and watching 24 DVDs. I finished 4 more spreads (working nearly all day!):
  
  

Tags: scrapping

Scrapbooking Basics

A few weeks ago, Laurie asked if Sandy and I would scrapbook with her. She had gone to the craft store to pick up stuff to start a scrapbook for her son (who’s now almost 2). While there, she was overwhelmed by the amount of stuff, and wasn’t even sure where to start.

We haven’t gotten together yet (next Saturday), but since then, I’ve been looking at my scrapbooking supplies and trying to categorize what I have as “necessary”, “fun to have”, and “a waste of money”. I thought I’d outline some of my results here – maybe someone out there is having similar trouble, and this list might help you get started. I should make the warning that the following is just one person’s opinion – if anyone out there wants to add anything to my lists, or argue with how I’ve categorized them, feel free to chime in down in the comments.

Necessary Scrapbooking Supplies

Scrapbook

You can argue that you can do scrapbooking without the scrapbook, but eventually you’ll want something to put your creations in. The main decision here will be the size of the scrapbook and how its bound. I always use the 12″ × 12″ books, though if I were to make a gift book for someone, I might consider a smaller book. Currently I’m using the “strap-bound” books, but I’d rather use the “post-bound” ones. Why? The refill pages for the strap-bound books require that I trim about half an inch off of the standard 12″ × 12″ papers for them to fit in the top-loading page protectors. The post-bound pages that I’ve done did not require any trimming.

Extra Pages

The scrapbooks only come with a few pages, so you’ll need some extra pages – the number will depend on how many pages you want in the book (up to a certain limit, of course). I generally buy the top-loading page protectors, which allows me to make pages on separate 12″ × 12″ pages, and then insert them in the order I want. The pages can also be pulled out of the protectors and re-arranged, if I discover more pictures or want to move the page to a different album.

Papers

These come in a myriad of designs. I’ve got lots of paper, and find that I never quite have what I need. One big lesson that I’ve learned is that in addition to the cutesy papers, buy a collection of plain colors – either a pack of random colors, or buy coordinating colors for each of the cutesy pages that you buy. These are what you’ll make frames, tags and borders out of. Another lesson is that instead of just picking one design, buy a few from the same collection – these often go well together and will also be great for frames and borders.

Adhesives

It’s important to have acid-free, photo-safe adhesives. I have quite a variety, and when I wonder if I need them all, I realize that I actually use them all for different parts of the pages I do. Adhesives I have:

• photo tape: for tacking down pictures
• glue stick: for tacking down papers and adornments
• glue pen: for gluing ribbons or small strips of paper
• glue with a wide tip: for gluing larger pieces (this one kind of overlaps with the glue stick, but I still like having both)

Scissors

I have a couple pairs of regular scissors – one large pair and one small pair. These are both used only for scrapbooking, so that the edges stay sharp and are good for doing detailed work with paper.

Pencils/Markers

Again, photo-safe and acid-free are the keys here. These are used for marking photos to cut, but also to “journal” on the pages

Paper Trimmer

I’m not sure if this should go under “necessary” or just “nice to have”, but I use it everytime I scrapbook, and I can’t imagine trying to scrapbook without it, so I’ve put it in the “necessary” list. Technically, you can get by without one, but I highly recommend it. This is perfect for cropping pictures and trimming down the 12″ × 12″ sheets to fit in the strap-bound page protectors.

Read more…

Tags: scrapping

Wondering where I’ve been?

I haven’t been blogging much – if you can believe it, I’ve had better things to do (!) I’ve had many blogging ideas, but instead, have been spending my evenings on scrapbooking our wedding reception (it’s only been a year and four months, maybe I should wait longer 🙂

Here are a few pics of what I’ve been up to:

Tags: scrapping

Sofia’s Cross-Stitch

I finally finished my niece’s birth announcement cross-stitch. Yay! I’ll be delivering it to Dave and Jen this weekend when I’m in the Cities for Sweetie’s birthday party.

Tags: crafts

Garden Stepping Stone Class

Tonight I took the “Stained Glass Garden Stepping Stone” class through Fairfax Community Education. The class was actually taught at the Stained Glass Works, a shop and studio in Centreville. It was fun and easy, and if the end product didn’t weigh so much, I might consider making them as gifts for friends and family.

Tags: crafts

More Babies = More Blanket Bears

Did I mention that I have a new niece? Dave and Jen welcomed Sofia Marie into the world a week ago Friday (7/16). And, I was fresh out of blanket bears, so I spent today making one for her. I hope Kira will let her little sister use the bear instead of absconding with it (Kira already has three of her own).

Also, my cousin is pregnant, so I wanted to send one for her baby. Here they are:

Not underwater, but still basket weaving

I took my second-ever basket making class today. Last year I made an Adirondack market basket, and it turned out quite well, if I do say so myself.

This time, we were making a double-walled cathead basket. This one didn’t take quite as long as the Adirondack basket, but it turned out just as well.

Blanket Bears Aplenty

About a year and a half ago, my brother showed me a blanket bear that his mother-in-law had bought for my niece. He asked if I could make her another one, because she had become so attached to it, they were worried about what would happen if something happened to the bear. I’ve since made her two more, so she has three, and she’s very attached to both of them.

Once, when my sister-in-law and niece were at a small shop in Bloomington, MN (where I grew up), the owner asked where they had gotten the bear. She told my sister-in-law that if I ever wanted to sell them, that she would happily buy some.

Well, I decided not to do that — it takes too much time to make the bears for me to make any actual money. Instead, I will stick to making them for friends and family. To that end, I finished three this weekend — one for my friend Melissa’s best friend, one for my aunt’s daughter-in-law, and one for the next member of the Mattson clan. Here’s a picture of them:

I have three more that I’m making for another friend. I’ll post pictures when I’m done with those, too.