...SCHOOL MEMORIES...

Creating this layout wasn't on my mental list of 'to-do's' today, but when I saw this example from Mag's Graphics this morning, I was inspired so I sat down to create my own version.

First, I had to find all my school pictures and scan them in. Thankfully my grandma kept a school picture album of each of her grandkids and we got them back shortly before she passed away. This album was close at hand and made the task a little easier. She kept all the 5x7's my mom gave her throughout the years, making my task easy. My mom has an album with all the 8x10's photos at her home, but that wasn't really convenient for me, this morning.

This layout took me much longer than it normally takes because I was working from scratch. I had Mag's example to look at, but I wasn't 100% sure what photo dimensions she used and I didn't want to copy her example straight on. This is why I usually use templates. Because that wasn't really the option today, it took some time. But I got it all figured out, and despite a few questionable pictures through the years - I'm happy with the finished product.

SUPPLY LIST

INSPIRED BY: My Schooling by Mag's Graphics
COLLECTION: Elementary (Unavailable) by Studio Flergs
FONTS: Just Another Stamp (Grades and School Names)
School Story (Journaling)

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...BIRTHDAY 16...

Nate recently had his 16th birthday, as did Gingerscraps. Kind of a crazy coincidence, though I didn't even know about Gingerscraps until 5 years after the fact. 

To celebrate Gingerscraps' 16th birthday, the designers created a mega collab chock-full of fun birthday-related elements and papers. This wonderful collab is free with a $20.00 purchase starting today and going until September 12th. 

While I could have scrapped about 1 of 4 kids' 16th birthdays (and I even thought about a page about my mom's 16th), I landed on doing a page about Nate's birthday. And I'm kind of glad I did. The colors of the kit matched a banner I got for him almost perfectly and most of the creative team did layouts of girls celebrating their big ONE SIX, so I'm glad I was able to do something a little different.

And though I didn't realize it, at the time, I also created a page for Nate's 15th birthday with the 15th birthday collection from Gingerscraps last year. Maybe I'll purposely start making it a thing as long as Gingerscraps keeps creating collabs to celebrate their birthday. 

SUPPLY LIST

TEMPLATE: Sweet Sixteen by Gingerbread Ladies (Tinci Designs)
COLLECTION: Sweet Sixteen by Gingerbread Ladies
FONT: Simple Games

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...AUTUMN LOVE...

Three things to know about me:

1. I love vacations
2. I like amusement parks
3. I love fall

So, when I think back on the anniversary trip Eric and I took to Disneyland in 2022, I'm filled with all sorts of warm fuzzies and I want to go back. Like right now. Let's pack up and go!!!

But since we live in the real world and a spur of the moment trip isn't exactly possible in our world at the moment, I have to relive those moments through photos and my scrapbooking. Which is really the same reasons I probably got into scrapbooking in the first place. 

The Challenge Reward at Gingerscraps for September of 2024 is called: Cool Harvest Morn and I just love it. It took a small bit of time to think of where to go with this collection, but when I saw the purples and blues in the collection, I decided to go with a picture from our Disneyland trip. While making our way around Disneyland (technically, California Adventure), we took a path that not many people actually take and we ran across a place that I fell in love with and wanted a picture taken there. It was a great little scenic side path and I'm glad we took it. And another fun fact: blue is Eric's favorite color and we all know that purple is mine. Though I find it kind of humorous that we're wearing each others' favorite color in this photo.

SUPPLY LIST

TEMPLATE: Simply Spring by Gingerbread Ladies (Tinci Designs)
COLLECTION: Cool Harvest Morn by Gingerbread Ladies
FONT: Fall in Love

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...REVISITED, REVAMPED, REDONE: PRETTY GIRL...

I didn't necessarily mean to redo this layout, it just kind of happened. 

I created the original layout when I was very new to digital scrapbooking (we're talking almost 10 years ago, or so) and while I liked the original okay, any time I looked back on it - I could see things that needed to be fixed or changed. 

Like I said though, I didn't really set out to change it. But when I saw the yellows in the Gingerscraps September 2024 Free With Purchase Kit: Shine Like A Sunflower, all I could think about were the pictures I created the first layout with. 

This collection is so beautiful and I kind of wish something else would've have came to mind, just so I could get different pictures scrapped, but it is what it is.

ORIGINAL

SUPPLY LIST

TEMPLATE: Large & In Charge Volume 5 by Trixie Scraps
COLLECTION: Crisp Autumn Days by Trixie Scraps
FONT: MF Hey Pretty Girl (I think)

While I like the overall look and feel of the original, you can tell I needed to learn a few things about shadowing and making sure the photos were the correct dimensions. I'll be honest and say that I do kind of miss the look and feel of the original design, I feel like the revisited version allowed me to showcase more photos and correct all of my shadowing errors.

Because I have decision making issues, I may just print off both versions anyway and call it good. HAHAHA!!!

REVISITED

SUPPLY LIST

TEMPLATE: Just Be Inspired Volume 10 by Tinci Designs
COLLECTION: Shine Like A Sunflower by Gingerbread Ladies
FONT: MF Hey Pretty Girl

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...BACK 2 SCHOOL...

I'd love to say that the first day back to school this year went just fine, but I can't. I THOUGHT I was doing so great as I had all the signs, etc. ready to go the night before. The morning would come and prove me completely wrong!

I went about our usual first day stuff: getting up early enough to catch pictures of the older kids, getting myself together, taking the pictures of the younger kids and then walking the younger ones to school to make sure they find their class. 

The morning started off well enough. The big kids cooperated and indulged their photo crazy mother and were on their way. I got ready for the day, got the boys ready and went about taking their pics. Pictures of Jacen went just fine, no complaints. When it came time to switch the board up for Zach, we discovered that the chalk marker I used on the board for Jacen REFUSED to come off, no matter what I tried. So I quickly reworded the letter board from Ailey to reflect the info for Zach. Crisis averted and Zach gave me some awesome shots and was so excited. And then we were off and the day continued on.

When I finally decided to sit down and put the photos from the camera onto the computer, I discovered that I didn't put a memory card in the camera, so the pictures I took this morning - no, I didn't. I was a little heartbroken, but decided all was not lost. The day wasn't over and I could do pics after school and hope everyone still looked nice and they'd cooperate a second time.

Amazingly, the teenagers felt the ache of my mommy heart and once again, indulged me. I went to pick up the boys and though they were happy initially, Zach quickly got sad because his friend couldn't play after school. I may have bribed him to get him to even slightly cooperate again and he did his best, but the excitement he showed that morning was long gone. 

The good news is that that morning I had forgotten to take 'group' pictures, but the afternoon allowed me to do so. So yay for that.

I was thinking about this day and these photos when I saw Tinci's template pack for September 2024. Easy Peasy Volume 9 stood out and I went about creating this layout of the little guys' First Day of School 2024. One day I might get around to the teenagers. We'll see.

 

SUPPLY LIST

TEMPLATE: Easy Peasy Volume 9 by Tinci Designs
COLLECTION: Love 2 Learn by Connie Prince
STITCHES: 2016 August (Retired) by Connie Prince
FONT: Just Another Stamp (Grades)
Schoolwork (Journaling)

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