Leona Lane

THOUGHTS ON SCRAPBOOKING

Last week I was in shock and awe at the announcement that Two Peas in a Bucket is closing! For those of you who don't know, Two Peas is a huge online store for scrapbooking. I've been a scrapbooker now since 2007... Seven years! Many times I have purchased products from this store, but I've also gained inspiration from their design team. I've watched countless videos there and even taken a few classes as well. Glitter Girl got me through some really tough times. I watched her videos while I was too pregnant and sick to actually scrapbook myself. 

Sometime in the past year and a half, I have put traditional scrapbooking (that is, for me, making 12x12 pages) on the back burner. I have continued to take photos and use Instagram and keep up with project life. I've used this blog to write monthly updates about Lucy. But I have not been diving into my pretty paper stash and using my endless embellishment assortment to make scrapbook pages. 

When I heard about the closing of this large online shop, I started to wonder, "Is scrapbooking dead?" I know that scrapbooking in the traditional sense isn't as trendy as it used to be. It seems that DIY projects and home decor are so much more commonly seen on blogs and on Pinterest. Project life is pretty much the only scrapbooking that you will see on a typical lifestyle blog. The closing of this shop gave me a sinking feeling in my chest because I felt like scrapbooking is no longer just less common, but it might be completely dying.

The thing is, that scrapbooking is really, really fun. It is so satisfying and so therapeutic. There is just something about those supplies. There are so many beautiful papers. The embellishment options are so vast. I love combining techniques such as paint, ink, stamping and doodling. I love putting together different textures of wood, paper, vellum and random elements such as enamel dots and gems. The fun part of scrapbooking, for me, is the artistic combination of all these things. Even the act of using scissors and glue is relaxing. What makes it better is that scrapbooking preserves memories. I can put a meaningful photo together with some meaningful words and use my pretty products to display it all. Then I place those pages side by side in book after book and I have the best stories of my life recorded on the shelves in my living room. It is the best. 

So after I got this news, I set out to scrapbook. No more excuses! The baby sleeps in my craft room. (Not my greatest idea!) So I pulled recent Studio Calico kits into the living room, which I keep purchasing month after month despite my lack of crafting. In the evenings I have been scrapbooking away after Lucy goes to bed. I'm scrapbooking mostly extra photos I have from after her birth. These pages are mostly for fun and they are special to me and hopefully someday will be for her. 

I got over my little sad moment of anxiety and realized that scrapbooking will never be dead to me. Even if all the stores close and the fancy products aren't made anymore (which probably won't happen) I will still find some way to scrapbook. Even without new products and supplies, I can get still get creative with my photos and that is what scrapbooking is, anyway. (Well, I should also mention that I already have enough products to last a lifetime...) 

I'm glad I take the time for this craft, whether it is trendy or not. Maybe others will get hooked on this hobby if I keep writing about how fun it is! We should get together sometime and cut and glue paper together. :) I am just curious, are there any scrapbookers who would like to comment on this topic? I would love to know your thoughts about where this hobby is going. Any non-scrapbookers are welcome to chime in as well, I would love to hear what you think!

February Love

February is here, the month for love, roses and the color pink. This month is awesome! I spent my fair share of years "hating" Valentine's Day, but now I think it's pretty rad. You may be surprised to hear this, but it's not because I have a boyfriend for the big day (although, I have a husband, and that's much better!) I love February simply because the sugary treats and pink decorations are so much fun. I am a sucker for the silliness of Valentine's Day. Just ask my husband. I only get roses once a year, and I enjoy it emensely! He can also get me some red wine and dark chocolate and I am a happy, happy girl.

I have a scrapbook page to share today, but I also wanted to highlight a cool blog that is doing something fun for February. Carrie, at Blume & Grow, is sharing prompts on her blog every day and the one on February 1st was to take a photo of a heart every day. You may know this from seeing all of my feet photos on instagram, but I love a good repetitive photo challenge. My goal is to take at least nine photos (giving myself a break on some work days when I may not have a chance) and that way I can make a nice pretty photo collage at the end.

With that said, here is my scrapbook page. It has hearts all over it, and I photographed it on Saturday for my first "heart" photo. I used a couple of recent Studio Calico kits to make this page. (This one and this one.)

This page is all about Lucy meeting her Aunt, Uncle and Cousin. Such a fun day. And I'm so glad I captured these photos of my niece Jaela, because Lucy is almost the same age as she is in those photos. It's fun to see the comparison! I also love to see my little red-headed daughter who was just SO tiny in those photos. She had lost weight, and I'm pretty sure this day she was at her smallest. It's hard for me even to remember her being that small.

This is a good example of why I love scrapbooking so much. I love the pretty papers and embellishments, but mostly I love the photos and the memories. Working on this page made me so, so happy!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful February so far! It's the perfect time for crafts and silly parties. Anyone have any V-Day plans they would like to share?

Letters from Dusseldorf

As you might have seen last year, my sister Annie lived in Germany for a whole year, and she just got back! I am soooo happy to have her back! She came by yesterday, and I surprised her with a book I made with all our correspondence from the last year. 

I took all her letters, post cards, and emails, along with pictures that she sent by email or photostream, and printed them out. I used some of my project life inserts to put in the postcards and cute envelopes she sent us. If you're curious, I used Picasa to make 4x6 collages out of 2x3 photos to print her photos easier, and cheaper!

I had so much fun going back through all the emails and letters and re-reading them!

And I loved her expressions opening the package. She even teared up a little! 

I'm so happy you had safe travels, but I'm even happier that you're home Goose! xoxo

Scrapbooking Lucy

 

I have been scrapbooking crazily since 2007. In that time, I have filled dozens of albums with scrapbook pages about all the adventures that I have with my husband. We have been married over seven years now, and most of those years are heavily documented with photos and scrapbook pages galore. In 2011 I started documenting every day life with Project Life, but I still kept up scrapbooking in a traditional sense. It is mostly a creative outlet for me. I love photography and documentation, but I also love pretty papers and designing a beautiful page. Each layout is like a little art project for me, and I love to try new techniques and products.

Then I became a Mom. I think most Moms may start scrapbooking with the birth of their child, because that's when they are motivated to record every single thing. For me, it has caused a huge stall in my scrapbooking. Not only because I have so little time, but I honestly find it hard to find something to scrapbook about. My old style was to scrapbook our activities. I would mix in lots of writing as well, so it wasn't just about what we did, but it always started with something fun, such as scrapbooking a camping trip. So now that I have a child, we don't really do anything. So now I have to change my scrapbooking focus a little bit.

I still record every day life in Project Life. This includes lots about Lucy, including weekly jouraling about what's she's up to. But I'm happy to say that I have started scrapbooking in a traditional sense once again. I really want Lucy to have some scrapbooks about her life that include the pretty papers and alphabets. On each of these pages I just wrote a few words about Lucy as a newborn. I realize that even though we don't do anything, our life is so full of fun and joy, and there is much to write about. This little girl has changed our life in such a wonderful way.

 

These pages both use professional photos that were taken in the hospital. I worked on them in bits and peices during Lucy's nap times. One of my favorite parts of scrapbooking is including the little details, so I loved working with the tiny stamps and embellishments.

I hope that I will have more pages to show in the future here on the blog. I had so much fun putting these pages together that I am inspired to make more!

(Products used: Studio Calico kits: Antiquary, Copper Mountain   Ali Edward's Sweet Baby stamps, Studio Calico storytime paper)

Lucy's Card Book

I am here to share a quick project that I made with all of the cards that we recieved for baby showers and at Lucy's arrival. This project could be used for any type of card, including holiday cards, but I think it works best with baby cards. You get so many, and they are all very cute!

I apologize in advance for my lack of in-progress photos. I worked on this little by little during a few of Lucy's naps, and not always when there was enough light for pictures. The good thing, though, is that this is very, very easy.

Materials:

-Several cards AND envelopes. Having cards of various widths and sizes makes the book more interesting.

-Scrap cardboard for the front and back covers

-Pretty ribbon and pretty alphabet stickers

-Washi tape and strong glue

-Two 12x12 scrapbook papers (or any pretty paper)

Here's how:

-Organize cards by size. Work with the largest cards first. I used the envelopes as the base and started attaching the cards with the washi tape, one card to each side of the envelope and another to the envelope flap. Eventually you can use glue to permanently attach them, but it's nice to use something repositional until you get the book how you like

-Continue using envelopes and large cards until they are all used up and taped together. Some cards will open to the left (opening facing into the book "binding") and some will open to the right. I was totally okay with this. (If you want all the cards facing out, then you will be taping or gluing over the super cute front of the card. That's just not okay.)

-I started gluing medium sized cards to the blank side of the larger, open cards. (Make sense?)

-Then I used the smallest cards to fill in even more little gaps. Now when I open the book, there are usually several cards to open on each "page." I really like that several of the cards stick out a little, and open horizontally instead of vertically. This book is really awesome and I hope Lucy likes to look through it someday.

-Now it's time to make the cover. Cut two pieces of cardboard to fit the largest cards.

-To make the front cover, simply cover the cardboard with pretty paper. I cut the paper slightly larger than the cardboard and simply wrapped it like I would a Christmas present, folding and gluing it to the inside of the front cover. Then attach it to the front of the book that you have already made from your stack of cards.

-The back cover is a little more complicated, because the paper that covers it will wrap around the front to create the binding for the book. I kept the paper nice and long (12 inches) and after "wrapping" the cover on three sides, I glued the back cover to the back of the envelope that was the last page. Then I folded the scrapbook paper around to the front cover, and trimmed it to size.

-Glueing the binding onto the front cover will complete your book! Wrap it with a pretty pink bow to keep it nice and closed, and embellish with some pretty alphabet stickers.

This is a pretty quick project and I love the result! Now the mountains of pretty cards that may have been destined for the trash bin, have a lovely place to live. It's not a fancy or polished project, but it's really fun! I hope this may inspire a fellow mama who wants a way to save those cute baby cards. Thanks for looking!