Happy National Scrapbooking Day! {Free Paper Pack For You}

According to some of my favorite scrapbooking sites, today is National Scrapbooking Day – so I thought I’d put together a happy little digital paper pack for you . Will you be doing any scrapbooking today? I may not have time today, but I’m sure I will be at it again sometime soon!

*Click here to go to the download page*

I Love Digital Scrapbook Templates!

I went from way behind schedule to almost caught up in a couple of days! Seriously, if it weren’t for shortcuts like photo books and templates, I would feel totally overwhelmed trying to keep up with my scrapbooking ! Now I just need to do the April layout, and I will be back on schedule with Project SCRAP. If you haven’t joined in, you really should – the free templates are wonderful, and the encouragement and inspiration from the Shabby Princess team and other scrapbookers will help keep you motivated !

 

Credits: March 2012 Project SCRAP Template and Gabby Collection from the Shabby Shoppe.

Digital Scrapbooking My Loves {Project SCRAP February 2012 Layout}

OK, so I did immediately fall behind in Project SCRAP, but I’m not giving up – I am determined to finish my 2012 scrapbook on time this year!

Ah, February was such a lovely month – filled to the brim with Pinterest crafts and recipes!

Credits: I have always loved The Bella Collection, by Shabby Princess, and now I know that it’s especially nice for Valentine’s Day layouts ! Of course, I also used the amazing FREE February project SCRAP templates :).

Beach Trip Photo Book {AdoramaPix Review}

My New Favorite Photo Book Company!

I was so excited when a new photo book arrived at my door step recently, and even more thrilled when I opened the package to see such a gorgeous, professional-quality book! AdoramaPix had contacted me a while back to offer me a free photo book in exchange for writing a review (I assure you that the following review is my opinion only, and is not influenced by the opinions of AdoramaPix). As my faithful readers know, I have become quite the photo book addict in recent years. Time with my little kids has top priority, so my scrapbooking time is very limited. This is why I always take advantage of every photo book offer I come across !

We LOVE Our New Photo Book!

I may not have celebrity clients to present my photo books to, like pro photographer David Bergman, but the look on my sweet girl’s face as she looks through my books is enough for me .  As you can see by the photos of my cutie pie below, I am still way behind on my scrapbooking – this book was not about this year’s spring break, or the year before, but for 2010 – the kids have grown up so much since then! Luckily, the book was fast and easy to put together, so it was ready in no time !

Vivid Colors, Archival Photo Prints 

I looove the print quality of the AdoramaPix photo books! The pages are actually printed on true archival photo paper – they are much thicker and higher quality than the pages of other photo books I have tried; like Shutterfly, MixBook and Snapfish. Even though this book is more expensive, you really get your money’s worth. Check out how well-made this book is! According to the site, the books are hand crafted and each one is inspected by their experts – I believe it!

Versatile, Easy to Use Software

AdoramaPix has plenty of options for pre-made templates, or you can design your own using the design software right on their site. I did a little of both – my 50 page book is a mix of their templates, my own layouts, and their layouts which I’ve tweaked to suit my needs . I used several digital scrapbooking kits by Shabby Princess to create this book including Island Chic, Miami Beach, and Splash. You can upload digital scrapbook paper to the site right along with your photos,  to use for backgrounds on your layouts. If you want to add digital scrapbooking elements, like the flowers I added to the front cover, you will need to create the page using your own software before uploading.

Lay-Flat Binding, Perfect for Panoramic Layouts

Because of the way the books are bound, the pages lay completely flat, for a beautiful seamless look. I really regret not taking more advantage of the option to span photos across both pages in my book, because they look amazing in the lay-flat layouts. I have experimented with spanning images across two pages in other photo books, but have always had to be careful about the portion of the photo that gets cut off in the “gutter” between the two pages. You don’t have to worry about that at all in the AdoramaPix books, so you can really make an impact by including lots of panoramic shots.

Professional Quality Photo Book at an Affordable Price

I thought you might like to get a close-up look at the binding and pages of this photo book – they’re much more sturdy and polished looking than any of the other books I made. If you look back at the first photo in this post, you can see how the thick photo paper is bound separately from the hard back cover. The first and last pages are attached to the cover, with no blank pages in between. There is also no logo or bar code printed on your book, unlike most other photo books I’ve used. You really get the special features of a professional book, at a very reasonable price for the quality.

Besides my wedding photo album, which was professionally designed and cost a small fortune, this is definitely the best photo book I now own! I would feel totally confident using AdoramaPix for scrapbooking even the most special occasions . Thanks AdoramaPix!!

Free Template at the Shabby Shoppe Blog!

I can’t believe the Shabby Shoppe blog is already on template challenge number 20 and I this is the first time I’m joining in! They have the BEST templates, seriously! Plus, there is a randomly chosen winner who will get a $25 gift card to the Shabby Shoppe . He’s what I made using their free template, plus the free Happy Go Lucky kit and the Smarshmallows kit from the Shabby Shoppe! (fonts: Rockwell and Marketing Script)

Don’t you love these cute t-shirts Uncle Michael and Auntie Tanya gave the kids for Christmas? They sure know how to butter us up . There were some for Chris and me too, which you can see in our February family photo. LOL!

Scrapbook Ideas 5 Year Anniversary! {Freebie Paper Pack}

Five years ago today, I started this Scrapbook Ideas blog! To celebrate my little milestone, I put together a lovely little paper pack for you . Enjoy!

*Click here to go to the download page*

Valentine Hearts Digital Scrapbook Paper {Freebie}

It’s almost Valentine’s Day! Here are some crazy doodled heart papers I plan to use for Valentine crafts this week with my kids. Thought you might like them too! Please let me know if you put them to good use, that always makes my day !! xo

Valentine Hearts Digital Scrapbook Paper

*Click here to go to the download page*

Heart-Shaped Mini Scrapbook Album Idea

Here’s a quick and easy project I made with all of my favorite Valentine’s Day photos from last year – a fun little scrapbook my kids love to look through!

Shaped Mini Scrapbook Tutorial:

Supplies:

Shaped mini scrapbook pages (you can make these or buy them)

Fastener to hold album together

Pretty scrapbook paper (I used two 12×12 pieces; one patterned, one solid shimmery one)

Photos (mini size works best)!

Adhesive and scissors

Steps:

1. Based on the size and number of pages, decide on which photos you will need for your album. Because my heart-shaped album didn’t leave much room for photos, I re-sized all of mine to 1.5×2.5 and printed them out on one 8.5×11 sheet of glossy paper.

2. Use one of your mini scrapbook pages to trace the shape onto the scrapbook papers. I made some of my hearts solid and some patterned.

3. Cut out the shapes inside the line, so you won’t have any over-hanging paper. Adhere them to the scrapbook pages.

4. If you have left-over scraps of paper, you can add them to the pages too, for a little extra decoration.

5. Adhere your photos on top of the scrapbook paper.

6. Add a title and/or some other words if you like, then assemble the scrapbook and you’re finished!

Floral Springtime Scrapbook Pages

I may be keeping up with my 2012 scrapbooking with Project Scrap, but I am still pretty far behind on my 2011 pages, so I will be working on those little by little throughout this year, too. I DID get my winter 2011 book finished and printed, so next up are some SPRING scrapbook pages! I have to say, it is so nice so be looking at bright floral pictures and scrapbook papers – it makes me excited about the days to come ! Anyway, here are the first two pages in my Spring 2011 book:

I used all Shabby Princess products for theses pages, check here for credits !

Ideas for Valentine’s Day Scrapbook Pages

Happy February 1st, my friends ! I LOVE Valentine’s day, and thanks to my Valentines, Hearts and LOVE board, on Pinterest, I have sooo many more great ideas for celebrating this year ! We had lots of fun last year at Valentine’s Day too, here are a few digital scrapbook pages from my winter 2011 scrapbook using two of my freebies:  the So Flirty Kit and the papers included in the Printable Candy Boxes.

I did a little photo shoot with the kids in their ”I Love Daddy” shirts before Valentines day, then on Valentine’s morning the kids wore the shirts to breakfast and gave the photos to their dad . Later, we had a little family Valentine’s party – complete with red roses for me, from my loving husband ! Hopefully, we’ll get to do something like that this year, too. What does your family do for Valentine’s Day?