May Gallery pt. 3

Today I'm here to share my last project for the Elle's Studio May Inspiration Gallery. I'm not a card maker. I find it so hard to come up with anything interesting or pretty. So I usually just don't make cards. Only when absolutely necessary, for birthdays, anniversaries, and holidays. This card is really out of my normalcy... it's a hello card, a just because card. :)

The "hello" is from the Silhouette Store, I misted it with mustard Heidi Swapp Color Shine mist. 

Anyway, thanks so much for coming by to see it.

May Gallery Part 2

Hi all. I'm here to share another project I made for the Elle's Studio May Inspiration Gallery.

For this layout I used my Silhouette SD to cut a into my background paper. Then I backed each letter with a different pattern paper from each of the lines, Serendipity, You & Me, & Day to Day.

This quote is from the movie Inception, while it is perfect for the the movie, it is also a perfect inspirational quote. No matter what, I want both Steph & Sue to dream bigger and bigger, and follow those dreams throughout their life. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy NSD + May Gallery Project 1

Happy National Scrapbook Day!!

Today I'm here to share one of my projects from the May Gallery over at Elle's Studio. This project is one of my favorites to date. I really wanted to try to step out of my normal & try something new for me. :) To be honest, circles scare me, in scrapbooking that is. I never know what to do with circle embellishments & tags, & I usually just tuck them or use the to overlap a few layers... EVERY TIME! So I wanted the circle to be my main focus on this page, as you will see.

I kept layering circles until it ended up going all the way across the page & I struggled with whether it was too busy, but I decided to embrace it & added some hand-stitched circles to give it a little something other than paper.

I hope you like it. Thanks for coming by to see it. :)

April Gallery pt. 3 + a video

For this last layout I deconstructed one of the pattern papers to make it fit the design I wanted. This page is another for my S&S project. 

I also made a process video for this as well. :)

New Video!!

I just uploaded a new video to YouTube!

I've been steadily working on my S&S project, getting layouts finished faster than I realize!!

how to print multiple photos on 1 4x6 sheet using Picasa

I've been getting tons of questions about how I print multiple photos on one 4x6 sheet... I did a tutorial a while ago, but I've changed how I do it since then, so I thought I woud share my new technique, using Picasa, a free program from Google.

1.

First of course, you'll want to download, install, & open Picasa.
2.

Next you'll want to select the photos you want to use in the collage. You use the green tack pin to hold photos into the tray.
3.

Next click on the create menu & select picture collage.
4.

Make sure you select the size of photo you would like to print. I selected 4x6 because that's what I print at.

5.

I always select grid collage, because I want even sized photos. If I want to print instagrams I print 6 per sheet & 3x4s I print 2 per sheet. You can also change the orientation of the print, so if you have 2 landscape 3x4s you'll want a portrait oriented sheet, & if you have 2 portrait 3x4s you'll want a landscape oriented sheet. 

6.

I always add in small border because when I send it to my printer, or out to Sam's both almost always cut off the edges, so I add the border to ensure that my photos aren't cut into. 

7.

Lastly you click on the create collage button & picasa does all of the work.

To find your collages, if you don't print through Picasa, go to the start menu in windows, click to open your picture folder, then the Picasa folder, & you should be able to find them in there! 

I hope this helps you. If you have any questions leave me a comment & I'll try my best to answer it!

Project Life Process + a video

I love the Project Life System by Becky Higgins, but I LOVE that I can make it my own & I do just that. I have only ever bought a pack of grid cards, 2 packs of 60 count variety page protectors, & 1 pack of design g which didn't come in the big variety pack.

I use my stash to complete every spread. Some weeks it's the bare minimum, sometimes I have a few inserts. Last year I ended up with 2 We R Memory Keepers albums packed as full as I could get them. I really didn't want a third album, but I could've used one. This year, I'm simplifying. I'm trying my best to only make inserts when I absolutely need them or for super special stuff [like my dad's certificate that he received after completing his cyber knife radiation treatments]. I'm also trying to keep my pages thin, meaning, I'm stamping more of my title cards instead of using thickers, I'm keeping any embellishing to a minimum, and even then it's usually flat stickers, & if I have a TON of photos of an event or day I am making an effort to make photo collages.

This year I'm also keeping a grid composition notebook with notes on journaling and photos + I draw my spread out ahead of time so that I can order the right size & amount of photos from Sam's. Drawing it out ahead of time really helps me know where stuff is going to go too, so the time it takes me to make a spread is much quicker.

I have found that I'm really loving pre-cut cards, so I've been using my Elle's Studio stash alot, plus I've been cutting down any scraps I have to either 4x6 or 3x4 & I can just grab a stack that coordinates & that's a big stress reliever.

Honestly, I'm about 7 weeks behind at this point. Last year, I never got more than 3 weeks behind. But this year, I'm working on having pictures printed at Sam's which I can get for $0.13 per print, which is so much cheaper than printing at home & my mom is kind enough to pick them up for me on her way home from work on Mondays, which saves me a trip into town every week. But I came to this realization that I should utilize Sam's only a week ago, so I've been printing at home, which in all honesty is a pain, plus ink is so darn expensive & always run out of cyan, & never seem to put it on the shopping list. haha.

So that's what I've been doing, you can see first hand how this happens, right here > > > in my video: