Alaska Album - Glacier Trek

WELCOME FELLOW PAPERCRAFTERS! 

My next layout for Alaska is random.  Lol, so against my nature.  The thing is after a full week of working on my album with "nothing to show for it", I wanted to actually finish a layout.  When I get to this point, I make a workshop with complete instructions.  Using a workshop from one of my sister consultants always helps me not only complete a layout but also get my mojo back.

Today I chose to do another layout created by Miss Carrie of Miss Carries Creations.  I fell in love with her "My Happy Place is Outdoors" kit the first time I saw it, which was well after June. I am sure I saw it sometime in September, after we arrived home from our trip.  I looked at the layout and thought to myself, "Those colors would go perfect with the purple rain slicker I was given to wear on our Glacier Trek!"  So it was meant to be

Here is my "Glacier Trek" layout without the photos.

Love, love, love all the little details on the title.  I added doodling, foam tape to pop it up and clear shimmer brush to give it a little eye catching shimmer.  

I also love the little details on the hiking boot. I inked the edges, used brown marker to add the laces and black marker to the stitches on the boots.

I love the little details on the mountains like using the clear shimmer brush to add snow on the mountains and using foam tape to pop the trees up and add depth to the scenery. 

Come back tomorrow for more info on the National Scrapbooking Day Scrapbooking Bundle.

Stay well and Happy crafting!!

TINA Stanczak

shop |    http://emptynestscrapin.closetomyheart.com

Pinterest |    https://www.pinterest.com/niallsmama

Facebook |     Emptynest   Scrapin   (private group for project instructions)

Alaska Album - Totem Park

WELCOME FELLOW PAPERCRAFTERS! 

My next layout for Alaska is also for the first port of call, Ketchican. 

I feel like I am finally to the point where I am reliving our wonderful anniversary cruise as I am finally pulling together the layouts and picking the photos to print. YEAH!! And working with the wonderful Close To My Heart Into the Wild paper packet and coordinating complements is making my heart smile. 

Following our wonderfully wet Rain forest hike complete with fresh salmon spread "(Yum, delicious)" we visited a quaint little totem park.  We learned a bit about totem pole carving like the fact the poles are a bit like a book in that they are carved not for worship but to tell a story or history of the people carving them. 

I wanted to mention that this layout was inspired by Sue Nielsen.  I used her layout as my sketch and changed up the papers used and accents to match my photos.

Following my process, I simply click on the link in my spreadsheet to get to my inspiration layout, then I pull together my own layout.  My process is;
Step 1 gather photos.
Step 2 outline album.
Step 3 gather inspiration from Pinterest and scrapbooking blogs.
Step 4 put together the base pages/accents
Step 5 print pictures and attach to base pages
Step 6 add the bling/pop to each layout

Here is the "Totem Park" layout without the photos and the "pop".

When I add the pictures to the left side, I will add the place and date on the space above "Into the wild".  I am not sure I am going to leave the I spy adventure ahead PML (Picture My Life) card in to space. I will most like find another way to add "pop" to this layout.

I used a PML card on the right side of the layout also.  I cut the mountains off a PML card for an accent on the page since the words on the card didn't match I needed a matching accent.

It's a process, lol.  If I had my pictures printed I would add them today with all of the accents then put them straight into the album.  No worries, I will get there.

Come back tomorrow for more Alaska Album layouts and just like on the Mickey Mouse club, it will be Guest Star Tuesday.

Stay well and Happy crafting!!

TINA Stanczak

shop |    http://emptynestscrapin.closetomyheart.com

Pinterest |    https://www.pinterest.com/niallsmama

Facebook |     Emptynest   Scrapin   (private group for project instructions)

Alaska Album - Sail Away Layout

WELCOME FELLOW PAPERCRAFTERS! 

After 4 days of planning, I have finally started putting layouts together. As I stated in an earlier blog post, I am a chronological girl when it comes to vacation albums.  

I also have a "process" for pulling together my scrapbook layouts. First I put together the base pages.  Next I lay down the photo mats and/or "Place photo Here" cards.  Then I add my title and any die cut embellishments.  It is similar to putting on makeup.  First the base, then the eyshadow and blush followed by the pop (mascara, eyeliner, and lipstick).  Only after I have my photos printed and on the page do I add the "pop".

Here is the "Sail Away" layout without the photos and the "pop".

Yes, it looks very plain right now.  I spent a lot of time figuring out how to "mat" the Cricut title with a larger Cricut cut.  I tried 5 ways to Sunday then finally got it to work.  I did take notes while I was doing it but when I tried to repeat on a second title, no success.  So I am leaving mastering of matting titles in Design Space for another day.

Come back tomorrow for Alaska Album layouts.

Stay well and Happy crafting!!

TINA Stanczak

shop |    http://emptynestscrapin.closetomyheart.com

Pinterest |    https://www.pinterest.com/niallsmama

Facebook |     Emptynest   Scrapin   (private group for project instructions)

Sneak peak at Aurora paper kit - NSD Project 5

WELCOME FELLOW PAPERCRAFTERS! 

Today I am taking a quick look at NSD CTMH Project 4 National Scrapbooking Day Scrapbooking Bundle which gives a sneak peak at the Aurora paper kit.  Perfect fit for layouts for my Alaska album.

There are enough supplies to create six 12" × 12" two-page layouts.

This kit contains:

1 – Aurora Paper Packet (X7256B)
1 – Stitched Together Paper Packet (X7257B)
22 – cardstock sheets (1 Black, 1 Candy Apple, 1 Charcoal, 2 French Vanilla, 1 Glacier, 2 Peach, 1 Peacock, 2 Pewter, 1 Sage, 2 Sapphire, 8 White Daisy)
1 – Aurora Picture My Life™ Cards (X7256D)
1 – Stitched Together Picture My Life™ Cards (X7257D)
1 – Grey Acrylic Hearts (exclusive)
1 – Gold Shimmer Trim (Z1985)
1 – 2" × 2" Flip Flaps™ Memory Protector
2 – 3" × 3" Flip Flaps™ Memory Protectors™
3 – 3" × 4" Flip Flaps™ Memory Protectors™
4 – 4" × 6" Flip Flaps™ Memory Protectors™
photo placeholders

Here is the sneak peak at the layouts using the Aurora paper kit.  I can't wait to use this paper for my Alaska album.

Isn't the paper just gorgeous?!  I love both the starry night and the northern lights papers.  I am already dreaming of the layout with my Northern lights photos on it.

Additional supplies needed:
Black Journaling Pen (.01) (Z3515)
Thin 3-D Foam Tape (Z2060)
Glue Dots® Mini Dots (Z2089)

Here is one last layout using the Aurora paper kit.

More tomorrow on my Alaska album.

Stay well and Happy crafting!!

TINA Stanczak

shop |    http://emptynestscrapin.closetomyheart.com

Pinterest |    https://www.pinterest.com/niallsmama

Facebook |     Emptynest   Scrapin   (private group for project instructions)

NSD CTMH PROJECT 4

WELCOME FELLOW PAPERCRAFTERS! 

Today I am taking a quick look at the Close To My Heart National Scrapbooking Day Cardmaking Bundle 2.

There are enough supplies to make 4 of each of the five cards shown below or make a pack of generic Thank cards with the wonderful options in this stamp set. 

 

This cute little bundle contains: 

1 – My Acrylix® Forever Grateful Stamp Set (exclusive)
1 – Mix-in Paper Packet (X9015)
4 – cardstock sheets (1 Glacier, 1 Sapphire, 2 White Daisy)
1 – Wooden Arrows (Z3552)
20 – white card bases & envelopes

Additional supplies needed:

Candy Apple Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad (Z6509)
Glacier Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad (Z2841)
Sapphire Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad (Z2848)
Thin 3-D Foam Tape (Z2060)
Glue Dots® Mini Dots (Z2089)

Join me on May 2nd to create handmade cards to send joy to the people in your life who are still sheltering in place.  

RSVP to the event on the CTMH National Scrapbooking Day Eventpage. 

It is even more important for us now in this historic time of global pandemic to reach out to our family and friends to let them know we are thankful for each and every moment we share with them. 

Stay well and Happy crafting!!

TINA Stanczak

shop |    http://emptynestscrapin.closetomyheart.com

Pinterest |    https://www.pinterest.com/niallsmama

Facebook |     Emptynest   Scrapin   (private group for project instructions)

Planning an Album Process

Today I am continuing on my quest to reliving our 25th Wedding Anniversary cruise to Alaska. 

Now that I have my photo all in the same place, I am making a list of places visited on each day as this will be my outline for my album.  Yep, I am a chronological girl when it comes to vacation albums.

I set up an excel sheet with my itinerary. 

Next, I put together my album plan, using the same spreadsheet.  I added columns to the left giving each layout a number and assigning pages numbers.  I also added a color for the base page and a column for which kit I will be using.  I choose the kit and base page color to complement the colors and content of the photos.

Figure 2 : Album plan

Some items are highlighted in green.  This is a note to myself that I have a pretty good idea of the layout I want to make for this page.  I get a lot of ideas from Pinterest and the blogs I follow.  Next to the kit, I have another column containing the link to the Pinterest pin for the layout.  This way I will not forget what I was planning on doing as I work my way thru the 22+ layouts I have planned for the album.

Come back tomorrow for details on National Scrapbooking Day Project 4 which will double as a sneak peak at some of my Alaska Album layouts.

Join me on May 2nd to make this sweat mini-album to telling the story of someone you love/miss greatly in this time of social distancing.  Reflecting on people in your life you love and miss while sheltering in place can help bring you a little joy during this time of crisis.  

Stay well and Happy crafting!!

TINA Stanczak

shop |    http://emptynestscrapin.closetomyheart.com

Pinterest |    https://www.pinterest.com/niallsmama

Facebook |     Emptynest   Scrapin   (private group for project instructions)

NSD CTMH PROJECT 3

WELCOME FELLOW PAPERCRAFTERS! 

Enough of spring cleaning!!  Yesterday I read one of the best things to do during the lockdown is relive a once in a lifetime trip.

Well I had one of those trip this past fall when my husband and I took an Alaskan cruise.  In order to relive it, I would need to remember the details of the trip.  Even tho the trip was only this past August, I couldn't remember what we did each day so I started digging thru the photos.  In the end, I spent the whole day gathering photos first off my husbands phone, then my phone, then the handheld 35mm, and finally the Canon Rebel.  WOW, talk about a project.  Does anyone else have this problem where the photos are spread across numerous devices and impossible to find?  

My process is a little crazy.

Step 1: create a google drive folder for the photos

Step 2: ask my husband to load the photos on his phone to the drive

Step 3: load my phone photos to the drive

Step 3: download all phone photos to my computer

Step 4: load photos from little camera SIM card to my computer

Step 5: hand computer to husband and ask him to load photos from Canon Rebel onto computer while I give my brain a break

Now that I have 2100+ photos to sort, I am going to take a quick peak at CTMH Project 3 for National Scrapbooking Day.

The third project is Story by Stacy™ Story Starter Workshop Kit.

This kit contains step-by-step instructions to assemble a 4" x 4" mini-album that tells the story of an important person, place or thing that you love.  Right now I am wishing I had assembled this mini-album before going on our 25 year anniversary cruise to Alaska.  This mini-album could have served a two fold purpose 
1) as a place to record my daily gratitudes / reflections on 25 years of marriage
2) as a convenient travel journal to jot down the day, where we were and what we saw.
This would have saved me some time in pulling together the "Once In a Lifetime" trip album I am currently working on. 

Join me on May 2nd to make this sweat mini-album to telling the story of someone you love/miss greatly in this time of social distancing.  Reflecting on people in your life you love and miss while sheltering in place can help bring you a little joy during this time of crisis.  

RSVP to the event on the CTMH National Scrapbooking Day Eventpage. 

Stay well and Happy crafting!!

TINA Stanczak

shop |    http://emptynestscrapin.closetomyheart.com

Pinterest |    https://www.pinterest.com/niallsmama

Facebook |     Emptynest   Scrapin   (private group for project instructions)