Layouts Done!

It always feels good to complete layouts for my scrapbooks. I have spent some creative time with my Counterfeit Kit lately. These are all of one event for my Family album.

Scott’s aunts live in Illinois so we do not get to see them as much as we would like so when they do make it to Texas we all make it a point to get together. The bottom layout spotlights one of the places we love to go in San Antonio. Do you scrapbook places as well as people? We always take pictures of signs and random things, like the ceiling, in case I decide to make a page about a specific place.

I used some of my June Counterfeit Kit, Butterfly Garden, but also added some paper for a couple of backgrounds and several stickers. It feels good to use up stash I’ve had for a while as well as my stamps that I do not get out often enough.

Two-page scrapbook layout with multiple pictures, borders, stamping, stickers & journaling

Two-page scrapbook layout with multiple pictures

Two-page scrapbook layout with multiple pictures, stickers & journaling

There is my June round-up – and now on to July! The inspiration kit for the July Counterfeit Kit Challenge is the Garden Party kit by Sahin Designs.

Garden Party Scrapbook papers by Sahin Designs

Garden Party Elements by Sahin Designs

Garden Party Pocket Cards by Sahin Designs

Now here is my kit, “Blush.” In going through my stash, I found that I do not have many black & white patterned papers, so I decided to make a mini-kit and use it to make a few cards. I will also pull in white cardstock for the card bases and possibly a border punch.

Mini scrapbook kit with patterned paper, cardstock, stickers, butterflies, doilies, enamel dots, flowers & stamps

I was resistant about making a kit with my supplies because I like to have choices, but I found that it makes a great starting point & I can still choose to pull out what I need as I go. Sometimes, I just need that one piece of paper for inspiration and it gets me in the groove and I can make several layouts at a time. What inspires you to get started when you finally have time to sit down to scrapbook? Leave me a comment and let me know how you like to spend your creative time. You can also message me on my Contact page, I would love to hear from you!

Glad you stopped by and be sure to come back soon!

Machelle

Blog News Scrapbooking

June 9, 2020

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June Counterfeit Kit Challenge

by Machelle Willing

A while back I found a blog called the Counterfeit Kit Challenge. Every month they pick a kit from one of the current Kit Clubs to “counterfeit”. Then each person on their design team, called Master Forgers, curates a kit from their own stash based on this kit.

As a papercrafter, I have found that buying pretty paper, stickers and “all the things” is just as much a part of the process as actually making the projects! But I also tend to get overwhelmed with all the choices I have managed to accumulate, especially with paper.

Making a kit from my own stash seemed like a great solution! Please visit their blog to see all the details.

June Kit

This is the original kit Wonderful World by Clique Kits International. It is the inspiration for the June Counterfeit Kit.

My Complete Counterfeit Kit

This is my version of the June Counterfeit Kit Challenge, “Butterfly Garden”.

Full scrapbook kit including paper, stickers and embellishments included in my June Counterfeit Kit Challenge.

The first thing that caught my eye about this kit were the colors. I loved everything about the soft pastels and watercolor elements. I also loved the butterfly & flower theme throughout the papers and embellishments.

The Papers

As I was looking through my papers for similar colors, I came across the woodgrain paper with the butterflies in the corner so I took a few other patterned papers from the same paper pad (Homespun by Colorbök). I added a couple more random 12×12 sheets along with two 8×8 distressed papers and several 4×6 pieces for matting. A few scraps for borders rounded out the paper for this kit.

Scrapbook papers included in my June Counterfeit Kit Challenge

The Embellishments

And, of course, we have to have all the “little things” to finish a page.

I have four different sizes of alpha stickers, a couple of journaling cards, twine, paper flowers, enamel dots, tags, rub-ons, word phrase stickers and a set of stamps from Close to my Heart.

Scrapbook embellishments included in my June Counterfeit Kit Challenge

I will decide on the stamp colors later and reserve the right to pull from the rest of my stash as well.

Do you sometimes feel like you have too many choices when it comes time to make a project, card or page? Do you, like me, have limited time for your hobby? I think this is a good way to not become overwhelmed with choices and make the most of your crafting time.

If you decide to play along, please leave a picture of your kit in the comments. I will be back later to post pictures of what I make.

Thanks for stopping by & check back in soon!

Machelle

Edit: You can check out my layouts using some of the June Counterfeit Kit on this blog post.

Scrapbooking

May 10, 2020

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Sending Cards

by Machelle Willing

I’m back again with a few cards I recently made for family that we have been unable to visit due to the Coronavirus and our “shelter in place” regulations.

Normally we would be in San Antonio celebrating birthdays this weekend with Scott, his mom & one of his nephews having birthdays the first week of May.

Phone calls and sending cards in the mail will just have to do for now.

Sending Cards: Thinking of You Card with woodgrain background, layered flower, pearl swirl & stamped sentiment.

Thinking of You card with a foiled heart, inked stencil background and blue gems

Thinking of You card with layered papers, a butterfly & stamped camera image - Smile!

I like to make homemade personalized cards for special occasions. Birthdays, anniversaries, graduations and weddings especially.

I always have lots of small pieces of cardstock & patterned paper left over from my scrapbooking and all the tools so why not use them for cards as well?

Most of our family members appreciate the extra effort and always go out of their way to comment on the design or send a thank you through Facebook or text.

Do you prefer to give/receive homemade or store bought cards?

Everyone’s circumstances are different during this unprecedented time. So do you have more or less time for crafting now? Have you been sending cards or letters through the mail?

If you need more inspiration for cardmaking, head over to Pinterest and check out my Handmade Cards board for lots of ideas.

(Edit: There are also a couple of cards I made in this blog post of Papercrafting Projects.)

In addition to making & sending cards, I have also been working on a travel album of a road trip we made a few years ago up the east coast to Boston.

Check in and let me know what you have been working on lately.

Let’s Talk,

Machelle

Scrapbooking

Cards Scrapbooking

December 29, 2019

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Picture Overload

by Machelle Willing

Do you ever feel like you are drowning in pictures? Since our move I have not really had time to scrapbook and I usually need at least 3 to 4 hours of uninterrupted time to feel like I am making any real progress. I am definitely feeling “picture overload” right now.

When I am scrapbooking, I do not scrap in chronological order. I have my albums divided by categories (along the lines of Stacy Julian’s Photo Freedom method). Currently mine are: family, pets, travel and Christmas. In each category I jump between current events/moments and memories of people and times past. So, I do not print my pictures until I have several pages in mind and then print sizes accordingly. I still send them out to be printed so this takes quite a bit of planning and organizing and list making. Which brings me to today.

Once I have them sorted, I can send them to be printed at my local one-hour lab in almost any size. I have a photo box that I store them in with dividers for each of my album categories. Then when I am at my retreat, I can grab each set of pictures and go to work! I have a small notebook that I jot down my ideas for each page and just go down the list.

Photo sorting & storage

All this preparation makes my time at the retreat stress free and productive.

Thank you for stopping by!

Machelle

Scrapbooking

Organize Scrapbooking

October 30, 2019

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Scrapbooking Family Traditions

by Machelle Willing

How many of your family traditions are tied to food, the holidays or both? For me, the one that stands out is Pumpkin Bread. My grandmother made pumpkin bread every Thanksgiving and Christmas. Now, I understand that usually when you make bread it is in loaf pans. But not my grandmother, she made it in those small tin coffee cans that they don’t sell anymore.

As an adult I started out making mine in the coffee cans as well, but when they stopped selling coffee that way I had to find an alternative. We tried the loaf pans but, as with a lot of things, it never seemed quite right. Luckily, Pampered Chef started making baking crocks that are about the same size so we bought four of them and now it finally looks right again.

My grandmother was an excellent cook of simple, country food. There are many things that I try to make that just never taste the same as hers, just a little off. The pumpkin bread is an exception and turns out well almost every time.

I recently made a digital scrapbook page for my family album with this recipe. My digital pages are usually a clean and simple design with lots of layers. I like using embellishments that I normally wouldn’t use, like staples, on these pages. Digital is a great way to experiment with different styles because you can always delete it if you don’t like something and you are not wasting any of your physical products.

Scrapbooking family traditions is a great way to pass down recipes, stories and holiday activities to younger generations so they understand why we do the same things year after year.

Click here for a printable version of the recipe.

What are your favorite family traditions or recipes? Please leave me a comment or send me a message and let me know, I would love to hear from you!

Thanks for stopping by!

Machelle

Family Scrapbooking

Digital family stories Scrapbooking

July 8, 2019

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Making changes

by Machelle Willing

So this first picture is the reason why I have been MIA lately. This small town girl didn’t last long in the big city. After so many years of living in my hometown, Scott got used to wide open spaces as well. Scott’s job is not living up to expectations and neither one of us is happy here, so we are selling our house and looking to move back to the Central Texas area.

We have been busy trying to keep the house clean with two shedding huskies and two long haired cats. It’s a full-time job!

Change of any kind is hard for me, whether it is moving or trying to re-do almost 20 years of scrapbooks. Trying to wrap my head around a new way of doing something takes some time. Below is the process I decided on regarding my current scrapbooks.

******************************************

** With everything being digital these days, it is always important to have a backup of your pictures. Taking pictures of the current layouts serves two purposes; to remember what the original looked like and also to have an additional copy of the pictures and documents. We also back up the entire contents of the photo organization program about once per year. We keep a copy and also take one to a relative’s house as extra precaution.

Speaking of making changes, this weekend I had four days off and finally got around to working on the 12×12 heritage albums. My plan for these albums is to take pictures of the current layouts, scan any pictures or memorabilia not already in my photo organization software and then re-do them into 8×8 photobooks. I will print a copy for myself but that way they will also be available for my family to print if they want their own copy.

I currently use Historian & Artisan for my photo management and digital software programs. They are from the same company, Forever, and very user friendly. I am able to upload my own digital content as well as purchase from their website. This will be the first time I have made a complete photobook as opposed to a single page or project. Stay tuned and I will be back with another update on my progress.

As always, thanks for visiting and stop by anytime! You can also follow me on Facebook or Instagram, too!

Machelle

Scrapbooking Small Town

Albums Digital Scrapbooking

May 19, 2019

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Rolling Cart Organization

by Machelle Willing

Today I’m going to talk a little bit more about organizing, specifically my rolling cart organization. I have found that people seem to either love organizing or hate it. I love it!

My job as a secretary almost demands it, but it also seems to come naturally to me. I’m sure a few of you out there are rolling your eyes at me now!

Unfortunately, the current state of my scrapbook area does not support this claim. It. is. total. chaos and I do not work well or feel creative in chaos. So my goal for next weekend (Memorial Day) is to dive in, clean and do some rearranging.

There are a few things that are working really well in the space, but several that are not. So today I’m going to show you one section that I am very happy with.

This corner sits right behind my table & is where I store a lot of my most used items. I like being able to turn around and just take whatever I need off the shelf or out of the cart quickly & easily.

Rolling Cart Organization

Let’s start with the top shelf. Most of my stamps are Close to My Heart sets that come in the small square envelopes as you can see. I can fit so many of these on just one shelf. I also have a few random stamps from Hobby Lobby and Michael’s to the left. My Kiwi Lane organizer with the border and accessory sets fits right in front.

Then on the middle shelf are my stamp blocks, embossing powders, blending tools and cleaning wipes. There is a small basket of rubber stamps with generic images and a rolling stamp with small phrases.

And finally, on the bottom shelf are small jars that have brads, buttons, small fabric flowers and clear gems.

I found a really cute idea on Pinterest to store ribbon in mason jars with holes drilled into the lid to slide the ribbon through. I also have some stored in Tic Tac containers (also found on Pinterest!) I do think the mason jars work better & will be moving all my ribbon to this type of storage soon.

On the right are 4×6 photo boxes where I store a few cut apart cards and die cuts.

I like the current storage I’m using for my stamp pads so I left them on the bookshelf shown in the first picture.

That holds several items and tools that I reach for frequently. Both of these sit within reach of my chair while I’m scrapping and I have found it to be very convenient which keeps distractions to a minimum. I don’t have to stop in the middle of a project to search for what I want to use next. It also makes it easy to put everything back where it belongs as soon as I’m finished with it.

I hope that this gave you some ideas for your rolling cart organization or inspiration for you to organize some of your most used products and tools.

If you have any questions about my work area or storage, please leave a comment or send me an email. If you have something that works really well, I would love to hear about that, too.

I’m glad you stopped by, please check back soon!

Machelle

Scrapbooking

Cards Organize Stamping

April 28, 2019

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(inter)National Scrapbook Day 2019

by Machelle Willing

Since we are coming up on National Scrapbook Day 2019, I thought I would talk about crops & retreats.

There are lots of differing opinions on Scrapbook Crops. Some people absolutely love them (me!) and some do not, for a variety of reasons.

A few reasons for attending would be to have uninterrupted time to finish a lot of pages or projects, visit with others who love the same hobby or maybe just to have some “me” time away from the responsibilities of home.

Others do not like them because they prefer to scrapbook alone, do not want to have to pack & unpack their supplies or have had a bad experience previously.

Crops can be anywhere from a couple of hours to all day while retreats are 3 to 4 days usually over a weekend.

They can be held in someone’s home, a scrapbook store, hotel or dedicated Bed & Breakfast style house.

Sometimes meals are included or it is pot luck style and sometimes you are on your own.

Machelle scrapbooking at a retreat for blog post (inter) National Scrapbook Day 2019 — Machelle (Me)

My friend Janelle making a scrapbook page at our retreat — Janelle

Janelle & Machelle with our "Scrapbook Money" we won at a scrapbook retreat — With our winnings from all the games

I personally love going to crops and retreats. I get ideas and energy from having others to talk to and seeing what they are working on.

When I am at home, it is too easy to be distracted by all the “should do’s” and “need to’s” but when I am at a retreat there is nothing else I am supposed to be doing except scrapbooking.

(To see which program I use to organize my photos so it’s easy to find them & print them when I’m ready to go to a crop, check out my blog post “Picture Overload.”)

Of course it’s not always possible to find one close to you or the time to go, so a few years ago, I found a great alternative through a group on Facebook.

Online Crops! There are several companies and Facebook groups that do them now and I have tried a couple but the one I like best is Scrapbook Generation.

You get the benefit of cropping with others without having to travel or pack all your supplies! There are games, challenges and Bingo; lots to choose from but you only have to do what interests you.

National Scrapbook Day 2019

It’s always fun and the reason I am bringing this up now is because starting tomorrow they are having a week-long online crop to celebrate National Scrapbook Day 2019 (It’s always the first Saturday in May).

I will be participating and thought I would share the information in case anyone else wanted to join in. You do have to be part of their group page on Facebook, but I think it is worth it.

They also have other challenges and giveaways on the page. Here is a link if you are interested: https://www.facebook.com/groups/sgscrapsquad/.

One of the posts will tell you what to expect and there is a printable schedule of the games and challenges as well. (This is not an affiliate post or anything, I am just really excited to participate next week!)

I am lucky enough to also have a friend that scrapbooks and we try to get together at one of our houses from time to time.

It’s always challenging when we are at my house because I have a furry friend who wants to “help” hold the papers down.

My friend Amie scrapbooking at my house — Amie

My cat, Bo, helping with my scrapbook page — Bo (the helper)

If you haven’t ever been to a crop or retreat, I think you should at least try it once.

No matter where you scrapbook, I hope that you are able to carve out some time to enjoy your hobby next week.

Everyone have a Happy (inter)National Scrapbook Day 2019!

Machelle

Too Many Scrapbooking Supplies

by Machelle Willing

Scrapbooking Supplies – Paper Edition

Today, I am going to talk about scrapbooking supplies. How many of us have too much stuff? Now I do not think this is news to anyone, but if you are struggling to make what should be simple decisions, maybe the problem is there are too many choices. I know this is definitely true for me.

Sometimes I think back to when I first started scrapbooking and all my supplies fit into one rolling tote. I scrapbooked at my dining room table and would just put everything away when I was done. Now I take up half of our home office, LOL!

My biggest problem is paper. When I start a scrapbook layout I always start with the pictures and then I pick the background paper. Lately, I have been having trouble with this step and I get frustrated, sometimes it takes me 30 minutes to an hour just to pick paper! It drains my creativity and takes some of the fun out of my scrapbooking time. So I have decided that restricting my choices in the first place might help speed up this part of the process.

Scrapbooking supplies; rolling tote & paper holders — Paper totes & rolling card

Scrapbooking supplies; inside of paper tote - patterned paper & cardstock — Inside: hanging files, individual sheets & paper pads

Now, if you talk about scrapbooking supplies you have to talk about storage. I currently have three paper totes that I got from Michaels (in the pictures above) and I still have paper stashed in a couple of other places as well. My goal is to use what I have until it all fits in two totes, get rid of the third and restrict myself to that amount of storage space.

I have tried other paper storage solutions and I have decided that vertical storage works best for me. The paper is in smaller dividers within each tote and each divider is a specific category. I have some paper by manufacturer, some by theme and the rest by color. With it upright, it is easier to flip through and I know which folder to grab when I’m looking for something specific like Christmas, birthday or if I’m looking for something blue.

I think this will keep me from being paralyzed by too many choices, make decisions faster and easier and then I will have more time to play with all the other pretty things I have. (Here is a blog post about my rolling cart storage that is working well.)

Scrapbooking supplies; paper scraps in Creative Memories dividers — 6×12 envelopes full of different sized scraps

I store my scraps by color in these older Creative Memories Deco files. I really like this solution as well since I can just grab the color I want & flip through until I find the right size/hue of that particular color for my project. I am also a very visual person, so I like see through storage that I can see at a glance.

I think that making kits out of your stash is also a good idea to limit your choices. I am a fan of the Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog and love to see all the different ways each member interprets the monthly kit. You can choose how much or how little to add to your kit. This could be determined by your project or how much of your scrapbooking supplies you want to use up that month. I will have more on that later as well.

Although it is nice to have options, I personally think that there are times if you have too many to choose from it can hinder your creativity and enjoyment of the hobby. Leave me a comment and tell me how you store your scrapbook paper and if you are ever overwhelmed with too much. Let me know if you have any other suggestions for dealing with your scrapbooking supplies.

Thanks for stopping by!

Machelle

Scrapbooking

Organize Products

April 1, 2019

0 comment

Contemplating Scrapbook Album Sizes

by Machelle Willing

Several scrapbook albums in various sizes — Examples of Different Scrapbook Album Sizes

There are quite a few album sizes, but the main one most scrapbookers start with is 12×12. I also started scrapbooking almost 20 years ago with Creative Memories and there weren’t as many choices.

So that is how I ended up with my scrapbooks in a state of confusion. Why confusion? Well, mainly because I have recently moved. If you have ever moved you know the tedious task of packing box after box of all your possessions. For me, this meant several boxes of very heavy 12×12 albums that were transported in my vehicle because I did not want the on the moving van.

This made me start thinking about what I want out of my scrapbooks and why I make them.

Think about your why:

Why do you scrapbook? For some people it is for telling everyday family stories or documenting your children’s milestone moments. Sometimes it is just for a creative outlet or some “me” time. Taking time to decide if you are leaving a legacy or simply making pretty pages might help you decide what size works for you or a particular project.

My husband and I do not have children, so my books are just for me or any extended family that might want them someday. Since moving, I have concluded that I do not want as many 12×12 albums because they are so big & bulky we do not look at them very often and I definitely do not want to move them again. This has led me to look at other options for scrapbook album sizes and what I want my scrapbooks to look like for me. They need to be smaller & possibly just less of them.

I have also decided that I like “projects”. Books that have a specific beginning and end, which sometimes means smaller and faster to complete. I have previously made graduation albums and wedding albums for family members and I really enjoy these types of books.

Starting Over:

Over the years, I have scrapbooked many pages of extended family events; school activities, sports and birthdays. All of this has made me realize that I need to “let go” of some pages of other family members and events specific to them, so I will divide those pages into new albums to give as gifts.

I have already started re-doing some of the older 12×12 albums into theme specific 8×8’s that will be more story focused. I also like the 6×8 size and am thinking of transferring some of the 12×12 pages into a digital format to make photobooks as well. Of course this will be a time consuming process since I have over 15 full size albums to redo.

Here is an example of what that looks like for me. I went from two 12×12 pages (top) to four 8×8 pages, but I like them much better.

12 x 12 Scrapbook page about the Oklahoma City Memorial created by Small Town Scrap

8x8 Scrapbook page of the "Last Trail" statue in theNational Cowboy Museum in Oklahoma City made by Small Town Scrap

8x8 Travel Scrapbook layout of Oklahoma City Memorial Chairs

One Size Does Not Fit All:

Don’t be afraid to just start over or change your format. That does NOT mean you have to take everything apart like I am doing. For you, it could mean just starting now. There are times and seasons for different projects, so if you are feeling overwhelmed or unmotivated try changing things up. Do a mini-book or make a photobook online. Try digital scrapbooking. If you try something & don’t like it, you can always go back to the way you were doing it before.

Also, different scrapbook album sizes work better for different projects. Maybe you want to document a special vacation or event that doesn’t need a 12×12 book. Or maybe you just want to make a little book with some Instagram photos. There are 4×4 albums or you could even make your own. There are just so many options!

Stay Tuned:

I will definitely be sharing this transition and my thoughts about different scrapbook album sizes for certain projects. Please leave a comment and let me know if you have any questions or you can always message me on the Contact Page.

Until next time,

Machelle

Edit: Go check out this post for the 2nd half of my Scrapbook Overhaul.

Scrapbooking

Albums Digital Traditional

Creative Time with My CKC Kit

Layouts Done!

June Counterfeit Kit Challenge

June Kit

My Complete Counterfeit Kit

The Papers

The Embellishments

Sending Cards

Picture Overload

Scrapbooking Family Traditions

Making changes

Rolling Cart Organization

Rolling Cart Organization

(inter)National Scrapbook Day 2019

National Scrapbook Day 2019

Too Many Scrapbooking Supplies

Scrapbooking Supplies – Paper Edition

Contemplating Scrapbook Album Sizes

Think about your why:

Starting Over:

One Size Does Not Fit All:

Stay Tuned:

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Layouts Done!

June Kit

My Complete Counterfeit Kit

The Papers

The Embellishments

Rolling Cart Organization

National Scrapbook Day 2019

Scrapbooking Supplies – Paper Edition

Think about your why:

Starting Over:

One Size Does Not Fit All:

Stay Tuned:

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