Remember Being 8

I've finally caught the creating bug again! I can't tell you how long I had been waiting to get the itch to get creative! It seems it hits me in waves, and when it hits - I've got to get to work! I think having some cute pics to scrapbook helps.... just a little ;)

This page of my TJ came together SUPER FAST for me. And it's the first page I've done in a while that didn't involve a kit of some kind, or a sketch, or a scraplift. This was my brain child 100%. I get a lot of satisfaction from that. (I'm strange, I know). Anyway- I love the colors in this. This color combo makes me sing and dance. LOL!
I know it's wishful thinking, but I really want her to remember and cherish this time in her life. Kids grow up so darn fast now a days, and a huge part of me just wants her to stay sweet and innocent as long as possible. The only downside to this layout, for me, is I was trying to create a certain effect that didn't work out as planned. I used the number stamp from the stamp set Lisa Bearnson put out a while back. It's a 12" wide stamp with numbers from 1-10 across. I painted the stamp with white glue, except for the "8", which I stamped in the turquoise color. Then I sprinkled Martha Stewart sparkles over the numbers - HOPING the 1-7, and 9-10 numbers would show up a but more than they did. But, still the "8" pops out, and it gets the point across ;)Doing these next pages, I realized how many vertical photos I take! This WAS from a kit - still from Lisa Bearnson - and the way she had originally had the layout, it called for 5 horizontal photos. Okay, probably 90% of the Halloween photos I took were vertical! Maybe because I was mostly taking photos of 1 or 2 people, and shooting vertically fills the frame, but still.. I've made it a goal to try to shoot more horizontal shots in future. Anyway, I made it work by putting 4 vertical 3X4 photos side by side to fill the space suited for 2 horizontal 4X6's. It worked with the layout, and also allowed me to get 2 extra photos on there.

For the second page (sorry about the glare on this one) I simply rotated the layout 90 degrees clockwise to fit 3 vertical 4X6 shots, instead of 3 horizontal ones. I had to flip the journaling square around, too, but I don't mind how it turned out. Have I mentioned before how much I LOVE kits?? I put this thintwo page spread together in about 10 minutes. YES!
Ooooh, and finally a project that had me SO excited I couldn't resist! I was perusing some blogs, and I visited one of my favs - Heidi Swapp. She had made this darling gratitude album. I immediately loved it. But alas, I had no idea where to begin making it. OH JOYOUS DAY! She posted a post that not only showed me HOW to make it, but gave me the totally sweet downloads for the cover paper and some of the way cute cutouts for the inside! OH HYBRID SCRAPBOOKERS UNITE!

So, since I'm a lovely person - HERE is the link to her fabulous post. It's so easy, and I happened to have some of the same papers on hand that she used. Now remember, if you don't have the same papers she used, DO NOT FRET! You can save the file that she so graciously gave us, and open it in photoshop. Use THIS tutorial to change the colors to work with whatever papers you have in your stash! Voila! Totally tweakable! Now I get to fill this fun album with the things I am most grateful for, and have it out as a reminder of all of the blessings the Lord has given to me. My family, my husband, good friends, a warm, safe place to live, clean water to drink, food that is healthly and good tasting! Most importantly, the gospel of Jesus Christ. So many things.

What are you most grateful for?