Make it Snappy at Scrap Orchard

I love speed scraps. I made a double layout during my last speed scrap. It is another Balloon Fiesta layout. I love the photo of the two bees "kissing" so I wanted it to be nice and big. One of the most awesome things about the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta is all of the special shape balloons. I love to see them in the sky. I would have titled this layout "Special Shapes" but I had to use an alpha for the title and I hate making long titles out of alphas!

Shapes
Groovy Kinda Love by Designs by Kat;
Alpha from Snowy Day by Lyndsay Riches

The scrap instructions were nice and simple this week, which is probably why I had time to make the double layout. I have tried to make a double layout before this for a Make it Snappy and had to give up and post a 12 x 12 in the gallery in order to make the deadline.

1. Choose 2 papers and make them your background.
2. Choose how many photos you want and frame or mat them.
3. Add some stitches.
4. Add some paint or glitter splatter or a scatter/spill of some sort behind your photos.
5. Add 2 of the following: flowers, stars, hearts, circles.
6. Add a title with an alpha.
7. Finish with shadowing, adding whatever it needs, journaling, date, etc.

LYM Week 40

I'm behind in my Log Your Memory weekly layouts. Before today I hadn't done single layout for October. I think it's a combination of being busy and feeling ambivalent about this month's theme. The theme for October is "In My Experience: Life Lessons, Roles, Philosophies". The challenge for Week 40 was:
Journaling Challenge: Share your advice on how to manage the basics of life.
Document the lessons you have learned about how to lead a successful life or your personal philosophies regarding such tasks as money management, housekeeping, maintaining friendships, choosing partners, or balancing responsibilities.

This is my layout:

Welcome to the Real World
Adore by Designs by Krista;
Raffia from Harvest Time by Designs by Krista (Blog Freebie);
Fonts: American Typewriter-Condensed Bold, American Typewriter

The journaling reads:
I found this article in Reader's Digest back in 1987 when I was  high school. I pulled it out and have been carrying it around ever since. I love the advice inside especially:
Never answer an advertisement seeking a "liberal roommate." You probably are not that liberal.
They aren't kidding when they say "Wash whites separately."
Never date a man who still goes shopping with his mother.
"Heat included" does not mean "Heat guaranteed."
Be nice to little people. You're still one of them.
Nice people get roaches too.
Face up to it, you must dust.
Dirty laundry never goes away.
Hurry up and learn patience.

Strength. Courage. Awareness.

Amy of Unforgettable Moments has made a template pack in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Strength. Courage. Awareness. Template Pack by Unforgettable Moments

I used the template pack to make this layout. While on our farm vacation we spent a wonderful afternoon in Jefferson City, which is the captial of Missouri. My husband's entire family calls it "Jeff City" though.

Jeff City
Mommy's Little Monster by Unforgettable Moments;
Strength. Courage. Awareness. Template Pack by Unforgettable Moments with Amy Peck;
Fonts: Baskerville-Bold, Baskerville

I also used a different template in the pack to make this layout about the original barn on the family farm. I made the layout and my husband provided the journaling. After all, I am scrappin' our life.

Barn
Strength. Courage. Awareness. Template Pack by Unforgettable Moments with Amy Peck;
An Autumn Afternoon by Unforgettable Moments with Amy Peck;
String (recolored) from Brave Little Patient by Unforgettable Moments with Amy Peck;
Fonts: CK Broad Pen, CK Easy Goin
Photo Action: Very Vintage by Jenny

On the square photo, I used a photo action that I found on Deviant Art. If you are interested, it can be found here.

Project 12 through the years

I make and print a Project 12 album every year. I started in 2008, although at the time I had never heard of Project 12 or 52 or 365. Each year I make a monthly 2 page layout for each month with photos and journaling that highlight our activities for that month. All the other spreads you've seen in this blog about the things we do and the things we see will be placed behind their month layout in chronological order in the scrapbook. So the month layout gives context to the layouts that follow it.

In 2008 I had just discovered digital scrapbooking and every layout was identical, with a calendar with journaling on the left and matted photos and journaling cards on the right. The paper was by Jessica Sprague from her Brushabilites class and the tag was created in that class. I made the calendars in Word, which did not import into PSE well at all! Here are examples from my first P12 album:

In 2009, I bought a special kit for my P12 project called A Year in Progress by  Denise Zavagno/ScrapDZines, it had a kit for every month with appropriate papers and elements.  I used a free template from Log Your Memory for each left side and used it as inspiration for the photo blocking on the right side. I adjusted the photo blocks on the right for my photos each month.

2010 is  a bit of mess. I began P365, but began petering out in March and basically stopped sometime in April, so I'm going to make my P12 layouts and for the first few months, the monthly layout will be followed by detailed layouts for each week. I'm kind of frustrated with that album so I stalled out in April. You can see from the layouts that follow that the number of photos per month just keeps falling.
I decided to use my Year in Progress kit again for this album.

I was so frustrated with 2010 that I moved onto 2011, besides it's always better to scrap while the memories are fresh isn't it? This year I'm doing something different. All the previous years have the same basic layout repeated for each month. This year I decided to do "One Month at a Time" over at Get It Scrapped! Each month a free template is provided to scrap the previous month. They also provide a page of prompts to help you document the current month. Here are two layouts that I've recently finished.

March 2011
Veni, Vidi, Venti by Sherwood Studio;
March sticker from Time Flies By by Sweet Tomato Designs; 
Fonts: CenturyGothic

April 2011
Template from One Month at a Time April 2011 by Tami Taylor;
Let Me Tell You by Laura Banasiak and Litabells Designs;
April sticker from Time Flies By by Sweet Tomato Designs;
Arrow from This is Me by Captivated Visons;
Fonts: CenturyGothic

Balloon Fiesta 2011

We attended the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta this year. It was the first time that I had ever gone. I took almost 400 photos, so expect more layouts.

Balloon Fiesta
Just Me Collab by Brine Design and Siamese Studio;
Tatch-Its6 {Decorative Stitch} by Brine Design;
Lifted Frames 5 by Brine Design

More Farm Photos

When we go the family farm we always take the time to tour it (and neighbor's farm, too!) on four-wheelers. This year in addition to the tour on the four-wheeler, my husband and Uncle Buddy took the German Pinschers on a walking farm tour. The dogs had a great time.

GPs on Farm Tour
Groovy Girl by Designs by Krista;
Fonts: CK Academia

I used this great kit by Designs by Krista called Groovy Girl and it is currently on sale for $1.50, that's right a buck-fifty, you can't beat that.

Fasteners Galore

Don't you hate it when you need a staple or some stitching and the kit you're using doesn't have any, or any other fastening devices for that matter? When that happens I do one of two things, I go searching through my stash for a staple, clip, stitch or brad or I tell myself that I'm using a tape runner to attach my item and leave it bare. Brine Design has come to all our rescues when this happens in the future. Today she released oodles of attachy-thingys over at 9th and Bloom. I'm a sucker for brads in digital and real-life so I grabbed this one:

Tatch-Its 2 {Prongs & Brads} by Brine Design

And used it to make this, yet another farm layout:

Amazing
Alana (paper pack) by Brine Design;
Tatch-Its 2 {Prongs & Brads} by Brine Design;
Journal spot from Toothless by Brine Design;
Fonts: CK Academia, Chaparral Pro-Regular

And Brine Design also has these Tatch-Its in her shop. Previews are linked to Personal Use items, CU items are also available in the shop: