printed design paper

Sometimes I find it very hard to create a page that comes with a cute printed design (such as above with the frogs). The best solution is finding one picture and making a border for the picture and then add a few words. That way you are not loosing the design of the paper. I used the cricut to create the words.

building blocks

I'm making a birthday gift for my friend. It's several pictures of the her child building in preschool. I wanted to create a similar building theme to the page. I just cut different sizes of my scrap paper to make it look like colorful blocks. It was very easy to do.

Christmas 2009

A great tip is to use cut out chunks of decorative paper and glue it on a solid 12 x 12 paper. In addition, put another solid border around your pictures. My good friend Maggie also suggested other good tips when thinking about taking pictures of Christmas.
-Decorating the tree
Hanging up stockings
Selecting a tree
-Decorating the house
-Addressing and mailing cards
-Outdoor decorations (yours and neighbors)
-Wrapping gifts
-Make all the special Christmas goodies
-The table-before everyone sits down to eat
-Cookies and milk waiting for Santa
-Children asleep
-The living room on Christmas morning & after the gifts are open
-Guest who visit or attend your holiday parties
Another good way to get photos you might not usually get would be to give each of the members of the family a disposable camera the day after Thanksgiving. Instruct them to take photos of their favorite things about Christmas or things that make Christmas special to them

Piano page

I used a paper cutter to create the piano out of black and white paper. I used pencil to mark the lines of the white keys (it's hard to see in this picture). Then to add more dimensions, I used black ink at the end of the white keys.

Magic Show

It is important to pick paper that resembles that activity. I wanted something fun for the magic show. I used my cricut for the words and cut out one inch stripe of the paper and two circles of the paper. I used a light pink 12 x 12 paper as well as purple paper for the borders of the pictures.

Murder Mystery Dinner Page

This is one page from the Murder Mystery Dinner from my Gatlinburg vacation. I liked that I inked my own fingerprints on to the page. I also drew question marks on the plain red stripe. Keep in mind to take pictures of details, like my brother's name badge "Brian O'Flanagan" when he was part of the show & also the ticket stub

Scenery on hikes

When on vacation or just taking a nice stroll on a walk, don't forget to take pictures of the scenery to display on your pages. Cropping into smaller pictures is a nice touch for layouts.

Cricut

Cricut Machine is a good investemt for long term scrapbookers. This is the first page I used my Cricut. I absolutely loved how it easily created the words "Loveable" I used the green letters to cut with the shadow button & pink letters as the regular cut. I mostly use my Cricut for letters, but also for objects. A must have is the Xyron Sticker Machine to easily "glue" the letters or objects to the page.

Tips for Wedding pages

Wedding Pages

This is one of my favorite wedding pages because I went outside of my usual element and tried several techniques. A cut three sections of a 12 x 12 black & white rose page for the left side. The first & third column is 1/2 inch, while the middle column is 3/4 of an inch. I glued them apart, yet they still matched if you put them together. This created a contrasting look. I also used my bottom layering so they pop-out. The first column is glued to the background with all the bottom pages overlapping it. Then for the second column, I glued it on top on the black writing paper, but not on the red rose paper. The third column is completely on top of all the pages. I also naturally ripped the paper on the bottom. To frame the pictures, I used the black and white rose to even it from left to right. I used the red roses to even it out from top to bottom. I also found some love quotes that went nicely with the paper. I choose black and white photos because of the paper. I used white chalk for the upper right corner.
Other important layouts for weddings:
Bridesmaids at the Salon
Bride getting Dress & putting make-up one
Important visitors that visit the bride while she is getting ready
Capturing the photo of the bride talking on her cell to the groom
Wedding Party walking down the aisle
Giving the Bride Away (also take a picture of the Groom when he sees his bride)
Ceremony: Vows, first kiss, bride & groom looking/smiling at each other, unity candle

Running to the Limo
First Dance
Father/Daughter & Mother/Son dance with lyrics to the song
Words to the Toast
Cutting of the Cake
Dancing
BouquetToss/Anniversary Dance