I've Been on a Roll

I made it a mission to work through the entire "It Takes Two" kit, and I think I've done a pretty good job.  I have a few scraps and some bits and pieces left - and I may try to squeeze one more page out of them - or I may just put them in a bin for my husband.  (He likes to make cards for me, and it's easier for him to have his own stash of supplies.)

Warning: the remainder of this post is going to be really photo-heavy.  With that being said, here are the rest of the pages I've created with this kit:

Up first is an 8.5 x 11 layout.  I love the "forever" acrylic piece that came with the kit!

I've been trying to work on my layering skills, and you can see my little cluster of embellishments on this corner of the page:

This second page is also 8.5 x 11, and it features an older picture of my three guys.

I think this piece was my favorite on the entire chipboard sheet:

On this layout, I traded out my enamel dots for sequins.  :) 

Here's a 12 x 12 layout of my hubby and me.  I have trouble with word stickers, but I thought they worked well for the journaling on this page:

The little hearts on this page were cut using an old Stampin' Up! punch.  I'm trying to incorporate more older product and tools...it's not doing any good sitting on a shelf!

Two accordion-folded hearts came in the kit, and I only managed to use this one.  Sometimes larger embellishments are very difficult for me to place on a page...does anyone else have that problem?

This photo is from 2008!  I've had it on my desk forever, and finally got around to scrapping it.

The die-cut heart tag came with the kit, and I added a little hand-stitching at the top to tie in with the red on the rest of the layout.

Anyone else keep little strips of scraps in case they might use it on another layout?  Most of this page is made up of wee scraps.  :)

And here is the last page:

Once again, I'm working on my embellishment clusters:

This tag had a die-cut heart.  I backed it with a little piece of gold-foiled vellum:

I loved the arrows that came with the Crate Paper "Kiss, Kiss" collection.  On this layout, I used both a chipboard and layered sticker arrow.  They make me happy.  :)

You know what else makes me happy?  Sitting down and scrapbooking. 

Another Layout with the "It Takes Two" Kit

I really stretched the Scraptastic "It Takes Two" kit.  Today I've got another video where you can really see my process in creating a layout.

Unfortunately, my camera battery died so I wasn't able to capture the end of the layout on video, but I think you can get a good idea of how I place my paper layers.



You'll notice some background noise in the voiceover.  My husband and boys were playing Mario Party across the house and my microphone is apparently VERY sensitive.  :)

Here's the finished page:

How do you create your layouts?  Do you measure all your papers, or just eyeball it like me?

And we're back!

Hi Nesters!  I'm so glad to be back sharing with you.  :)

My original game plan was to take a break for a few weeks to deal with the start of school (we homeschool + I've been teaching part-time at a local college) and a Disney vacation.  Then life just sorta got crazy so it turned into a multi-month break.  

Recently, however, I made the conscious decision to start scrapbooking again.  I don't know if you're anything like me, but when life gets busy, my hobby ends up being the first thing crossed off my to-do list.  And for a brief time, this may be necessary, and a good thing.  But I've found that when I go weeks (or more realistically, months) without taking any time for myself, I really start getting worn down.  And that's no good for anyone.  So after talking with my husband, I decided to start crafting again.  I still have a long to-do list, but I'm finding that I'm more relaxed when I take small breaks to play and get my mind off the craziness of life.

And that brings us to today.  :)

I pulled out a small pile of pictures and my February "It Takes Two" Scraptastic kit.  Using just a few extra items, I've scrapped 7 layouts in the past couple weeks.  

Here's a little video I made that walks through the kit and the first layout I created with it:



Here's a photo of that layout:

I'll be back shortly with more of the pages I finished, and also one more video.  Until then, here's the  stack of pages I created with the kit:

It makes me happy.  :)

Summer Scrapbooking

Happy August, Nesters!  Today I have some layouts to share.  I subscribe to the Scraptastic kit club, and this month marks their 4-year anniversary.  To celebrate, they hosted a crop the weekend before last.  And amazingly, I finished four pages!  (I'm such a pokey scrapper.)

I used past kits to create each of the layouts, and honestly, that helps the process go so much quicker for me.  

The first page was part of a Bingo challenge; you had to include everything from a row, column, or diagonal of a Bingo card on your page.  I chose a diagonal (so I could use the free space in the middle!), and had to incorporate mist, multiple fonts, a border punch, and an older kit (this one was from last summer):

I even heat-embossed my title.  Fancy.  ;)

For the next page, I had to use at least four patterned papers.  I actually used five.  Yay for plain-ish patterned paper!

On this next layout, I had to choose a title from one of the Top 100 songs from 2010.  "Smile" is by Uncle Kracker, though I live under a rock and had never heard it before.  True story.

The last page had to be created using a certain color scheme.  This is the photo that we were given for inspiration:

And here's my page:

I have a feeling the color swatches were based on that patterned paper, because it was a perfect match.  

Before I go, I want to share a behind-the-scenes picture.  This is what I deal with every time I try to photograph layouts:

 It's a good thing he's so cute.  :)

My Disney Album (Part 1)

Hi, Nesters!  I'm sorry I've been quiet for a couple weeks (I've been dealing with some side effects from my hypothyroidism), but I'm here tonight to share the first several pages in a vacation album I'm creating.

In the spring, we went to Disney World (it was a very generous Christmas present from my in-laws).  While I've traditionally scrapbooked several layouts from our trip (you can see a few of them here), I still had quite a few photos left over (some of which will probably never make it to a 12 x 12 page).  I decided to use a Simple Stories Snap album to scrapbook the rest of these pictures.  I purchased most of the Say Cheese line of products to use in this album - and aside from a couple sheets of older Jenni Bowlin alphabet stickers, that is all I'm using for this project.

This is the album:

It's the faux leather finish (I actually bought this half-price during an after-Christmas sale), and it reminds me of the We R Memory Keepers albums.

For the first page, I used one of the die-cut pages from the line:

For this page, I backed the die-cut card with a second 3 x 4 card for the first space.  The second space on top is another 3 x 4 card.  I backed my photo with a 4 x 6 card to fill the bottom (you'll see this throughout the album as I had most of my photos printed at the digital size).

For this spread, I added a few stickers on the left.  The bottom photo on the right-hand page has a transparency (from the Say Cheese line) on top of the photo.

The card with the 'H" has a small brad in the middle for a bit of dimension. 

On the left-hand side of this spread, I used several stickers (the alpha on top is from Jenni Bowlin).  On the right, I used a die-cut page from the collection and added the white doodling.

Here you can see the back of the die-cut page.  The opposite side has space for 4 x 4 photos (I trimmed mine, but this would be perfect for Instagram pics).

The blank page on the right will eventually hold a pocket with some tickets and receipts from our trip.

On the left, I adhered the photo to the page and doodled a small border around it.  The right-hand side has a few more stickers from the line.

In the top-left corner, I added a brad to the middle of a 3 x 4 card.  I kept the rest of this spread pretty simple.

And here's my last spread (for now!):

As you can see, I'm really trying to keep things simple here.  We're going back to Disney in September, so my goal is to get this finished before then.  

I also filmed a short video walking through the album.  The narration on the video is how I would talk through this album to a friend, so you get a slightly different perspective on the pages.  (And please excuse my voice - my allergies are acting up.)


snap disney album from Dawn Hopkins on Vimeo.

I Did It!

I am so excited - I made it through the Layout-a-Day challenge!  Today, I'm going to share my last few pages.

Before I begin, though, if you missed my previous layouts from the month, you can see them here, here, here, here, and here.

On the 29th, our prompt was about favorite foods.  I thought this story about our sundae from Winnie-the-Pooh would be a perfect fit:

I have absolutely loved these little wooden alphas + numbers from Studio Calico:

For the next day, the prompt had to do with our secret place (like a treehouse or such).  I was really having trouble with it because I didn't have anything like that when I was younger (and neither do my boys).  My 10-year-old asked what the prompt was and I told him it was about a secret place, a place that was special and makes you happy. Without hesitation, he replied, "Then you should make a page about Daddy." So I did. :)

As you can tell, this layout goes along with the previous one.  This is moments after getting the sundae (and just before my boys went at it!).

These sequins were actually from a Halloween pack, but the yellow was just perfect for this layout.

And, finally, the last day.  The prompt was about a favorite vacation.  This one was a no-brainer.  :)

I'm in the midst of scrapbooking photos from two Disney trips.  The ones from last September are going in a regular scrapbook, and the ones from this spring are going in a Snap album.  For the last day of LOAD, I decided to make the cover page for the September pictures.  (And I got totally lucky with the fireworks shot!)

Here is the finished stack of layouts:

I'm so proud of them, they're still sitting out.  Maybe they'll make it into their albums by the end of the month.  ;)

I'm Almost Done!

The month is almost over, and - so far - I've kept up with a layout a day.  I can't wait to take a picture of the entire stack this weekend!  I'll be sure to share it with y'all next week.

Today I want to get you caught up on my layouts from the past few days.  When I last posted, I had made it through day 21.  So here is the page for day 22:

When my Dad saw this layout, he protested a bit at the last sentence.  And then I pulled out my college graduation photos that he took.  

I love those little Studio Calico wooden letters + alphabet.

For the next day, I created a layout with some older pictures of my eldest son (he'll be 12 in October).  These are not the greatest pictures in the world, but I absolutely love the look on his face.

 After I had attached the wood veneer accents onto the page, I decided to paint them.  If you look closely, you'll see a bit of the paint ended up on the picture.  I kinda look the look of my mistake, though, so I kept it.

For my next layout, I went way back to my college days.  I wanted to use fun colors to help tell my story.

I love the little die-cut star vellum piece:

The one really fun thing about LOAD is that I've been bouncing around with photos...I've got pictures from 1977 up to more recent ones.  The next layout features pictures of my boys from this past December:

 I couldn't completely forget my border punch.  :)

This next layout took forever to finish (no pun intended).  My in-laws were in town, and it was hard finding time to complete my page.  

I smartened up yesterday, and went with a super quick page:

Finally, here is today's page:

This is a horrible picture of me, but when I heard today's prompt (bed-time rituals), I knew I wanted to use it.  In case you're wondering, this was not a staged photo...my roommate really took a picture of me napping.  At least my bed was made.  :)

These layouts bring my grand total to 28.  Even my husband is now checking to see if I've got my daily layout finished.  I think he's more proud of my pages than I am!

I'll be back next week with the last three layouts from this LOAD challenge.  And then, if I'm totally honest, I'll probably take a bit of a break.  We're making a few renovations to our home, and my craft room will be moving, so I'll be busy with that.  I'll post about the new room (which I'm sharing with my boys) as soon as it's done.  

Happy scrapping!