Remember this? Here's the finished product, and the article telling how to make it:
Each side of the cubes makes up one of six 9" x 9" layouts. Here are all the layouts:
Posted in
Submitted by Andrea on Fri, 08/22/2008 - 12:23.
Snapfish recently started selling photo collage prints where you can pick up to a certain number of photos (based on the final collage size) to include in a photo collage on one printed photograph.
I often wish that I could have several smaller pictures instead of all 4 x 6 prints to fit more pictures on one scrapbook page, so these collages sounded like a great way to get more bang for my buck and a good way to save me some planning and prep-time before ordering my photographs.
I had four 8" x 10" collage prints made to capture a total of 57 photographs of some recent vacations. Each 8" x 10" cost $2.99. While the end cost is about 21 cents per image of the collage (more than the regular 12 cents per 4 x 6), I was able to get them printed at a miniature size without having to order multiple wallet sized prints or creating my own photo collage in Photoshop before printing. You can even add titles and change the colors of the borders, and play
with your photo choices and the orientation (landscape or portrait)
before ordering it, to be sure you're getting what you want. To me, that was worth the time and energy saved!
So, here's what I came up with for my scrapbook pages using the Snapfish photo collages. You can see the original 8" x 10" collages and then the layout using all the pics right below.
For the first two, I kept the collages in-tact and used them as one large photograph on the layout:
The next two, I cut the collages into individual pictures and made my own collage designs on the layouts:
I just love how they all turned out. I've always been a big fan of LOTS of photographs on a layout, and this made it easy! And now, instead of 20 pages of vacation layouts, I was able to create 4. My album spines thank me. :)
Give them a try! They're fun: Snapfish Photo Collage Prints
Posted in
Submitted by Andrea on Mon, 08/18/2008 - 12:32.
I was recently inspired by a very cool project by Ali Edwards (
found here), so when I came across this little shelf at Goodwill for only $2, I thought I'd try my own version. I'll admit, Ali's is MUCH cooler, but this was a good first try for me.
I removed the wallpaper, painted the outside red, the shelves black, and backed it with kraft paper. I also sanded the edges to allow the white paint to show through along the edges. Gave it a more worn look.
Then, I ordered several 5 x 7 black and white pictures to put into each of the cubes. I had a hard time choosing what to put in there, and finally decided not everything has to be symetrical and even!
I think I may need to replace the upper right photograph, because I didn't crop it quite right...
Posted in
Submitted by Andrea on Sat, 08/16/2008 - 15:28.
My scrapbooks finally have a home on a real shelf! We went to IKEA this week and stocked up on the Expedit series of white shelves for my office: one of these, two of these, and while we were at it, one of these for the living room.
I know I'm not the first to discover these fantastic shelves for scrapbooks and scrapbook supplies (I'm probably the LAST scrapbooker to actually buy them, see here, here, here, here and here just to point out a few), but they truly work perfectly. Love them. Each cube fits about 3 or 4 scrapbooks and I have plenty of room to grow! (that's the main thing). After 8 years of scrapbooking, I counted 20 full-sized albums and 10 mini-albums, and I've got a lot of livin' and scrapbooking left to do!
And now I can say we've finally moved into our house (just over a year after we actually moved), now that the cardboard boxes and rubbermaid tubs of books and scrapbooks are safely displayed on shelves and not sitting on my office floor. Whew. Feels good.
Posted in
Submitted by Andrea on Thu, 08/07/2008 - 11:41.
Blogging has been light this week for a few reasons:
- Our internet connection has been splotchy at best...
- We've done very little all week worth posting about...
- I've been in creative mode, working on a fun new project for an article...
Here's a sneak peek:
More pictures and the full project instructions will be published on
Scrapjazz.com in late August.
Posted in
Submitted by Andrea on Fri, 07/11/2008 - 16:07.
Last weekend Ben and I were watching a movie, and something in the movie must have inspired me (although I forget what now), because I said "When I grow up, I want to be an artist...."
It was such a true statement for me, that I decided to do a painting/paper art collage for my office. So this afternoon during naptime, here's what resulted:
With all the traveling I've been doing lately, I haven't had a chance to do any real creating. And when I don't get to make anything for a while, I start getting cranky. Making a good scrapbook page or creating a new wall-hanging or something of the like is just a great stress reliever for me. So it felt VERY good to get this out, like a huge exhale...
Posted in
Submitted by Andrea on Wed, 07/02/2008 - 15:15.
Almost 5 years ago, my sister in law Janel asked me to make her new baby's first year scrapbook. Normally, I'd say no way, but since she's as ultra-organized as I am, I knew it would work out just fine. She kept a monthly calendar and jotted down little notes about Tucker as he grew and changed throughout the year. Then we included the calendars in the scrapbook.
I thought the idea was so fantasic, I used the same concept for Ayla's First Year album. The calendar journaling has become a habit, and even now, I keep a daily calendar of stuff she says and things she does each day. It's a great way to remember all those little things. Thanks Janel for a great idea that's easy to keep up!
I just use a table-based calendar that I made in Microsoft Word and type my notes in each day. Yes, sometimes I forget...but my blog helps me fill in the gaps! This morning I realized I was two and a half weeks behind, so I spent about 30 minutes filling in. But now I'm caught up again. Feels good.
Posted in
Submitted by Andrea on Wed, 05/28/2008 - 09:01.
We had Ayla's "friends" birthday party today...a few weeks early, but that's because we wanted her friends to be able to make it before they start traveling. These were her invitations. We had a garden/daisy theme...
And late last week, I finished this painted wood sign project up for my good friend Betsy's birthday. She and her husband are coffee enthusiasts, so it was a perfect match:
Posted in
Submitted by Andrea on Thu, 05/22/2008 - 12:00.
I finally finished the cover of Ayla's
zoo book tonight. Well, let me restate that...I re-finished the cover of Ayla's zoo book. My original attempt was an awful mess of mod podge and vellum. I like this version much better. It also is coated in mod podge (as are the inside pages) so that little hands can touch and turn the pages as much as they want!
Ayla absolutely loves this book (and shows it off when we have company) and now is able to recognize almost all of the animals and say their names without me saying the names first.
and Ayla's favorite animal...the hippo (aka..huppo):
Thank you to you ladies who have provided elusive animal letters for this book! If anyone else has a photograph for animals starting with any of the following letters that they'd like to "donate" to the cause, let me know! We're still looking for: J, N, Q, U, V, and X
Posted in
Submitted by Andrea on Wed, 05/21/2008 - 22:16.
Believe it or not, scrapbooking has its very own day of the year -- National Scrapbook Day, and it was this past Saturday, May 3rd. In honor of this sort of ridiculous holiday (if you can call it that) I decided to take a trip over to our local store,
Scrap Etc. and support the industry by spending a little money on scrapbook supplies that I'm sure I don't need. While I was there, I stuck around for a class taught by the talented
Katie Burnett and created this version of her "
Play Banner":
Mine is a two-sided "Ayla Banner" that I think I'll use to hang in the front doorway when we celebrate her birthday this year...and maybe every year as a reminder of her baby-years as she grows up.
Thanks for the kick-start Katie! I think maybe through this project I've overcome my distaste for butterflies...they are kind of fun to use.
Posted in
Submitted by Andrea on Sun, 05/04/2008 - 18:04.
