Flickr Autumn favorites

1. 261:365">http://flickr.com/photos/77161445@N08/9799133093/">261:365 - tucked

, 2. I">http://flickr.com/photos/28057482@N05/9803412916/">I like a nice, slow morning., 3. Dining">http://flickr.com/photos/14846077@N00/9805067704/">Dining room, 4. Untitledhttp://flickr.com/photos/60274198@N05/9818533426/">Untitled>, 5. 262http://flickr.com/photos/60274198@N05/9818514615/">262>, 6. brownieshttp://flickr.com/photos/61211083@N04/9817175824/">brownies>, 7. 258:365">http://flickr.com/photos/77161445@N08/9760975273/">258:365 - autumn walk, 8. for">http://flickr.com/photos/87427433@N00/9828214275/">for applesauce and pie, 9. Have">http://flickr.com/photos/43793670@N04/9840103206/">Have a great weekend!, 10. 264http://flickr.com/photos/60274198@N05/9863331015/">264>, 11. basement">http://flickr.com/photos/61211083@N04/9737224498/">basement meditation, 12. untitledhttp://flickr.com/photos/61211083@N04/9743307224/">untitled>, 13. 259http://flickr.com/photos/60274198@N05/9778308623/">259>, 14. morning.http://flickr.com/photos/20737821@N00/9785641976/">morning.>, 15. Garden">http://flickr.com/photos/28057482@N05/9720150747/">Garden Raid, 16. ♥http://flickr.com/photos/63307805@N00/9732302252/">♥>

I used to share my favorite photos from Flickr all the time. I thought it was time to take that up again! 

Memorykeeping | 3 tips for getting it done!

Today I am sharing my 3 top tips to make scrapbooking a little easier. 

1. Print photos often!

I print at home since I know what size I normally scrap, I don´t have to plan much. If you don´t print at home, see if you can find a printer service that delivers fast. Also, look through your made layouts and see if you see a pattern in what photo sizes you use. Maybe you already know what sizes you´ll need and that makes ordering faster!

2. Jot down the stories!

Jot down the story real fast when it is fresh. I usually have a notebook with me and make sketches for the pages I know I would like to do. also, for me, it sparks something to plan with photos in my hands, so sometimes I have my photos with me in a page protector.
When I am waiting somewhere or am at the beach I tend to do the journaling. That way I have it ready and know more of how much space it will need on the page.

3. Use a formula!

If you don´t have time to scrapbook on a regular basis, do it in sessions. Set aside a few hours and do multiple pages. If you are one of those who now cringe and say that you usually spend a few hours on one page, let me give you a suggestion. Pick out 2 or 3 designs/sketches to work from (these can be from your own pages that you have done, see my Re-Scrap challenge!) Use only those on 2 or 3 layouts and I Think it can save you a Little time. The pages don´t have to look the same even if they have the same base formula. Here are a few examples.

I used this super simple sketch for my next 2 layouts.

For this one I stayed true to the sketch. You can easily change my 4x6" photo to two smaller ones. 

And here is my second page I did with the sketch. I simply turned the design sideways. The possibilities are endless really!

Those are my 3 tips for getting scrapbooking done!

December ideas | advent calender

We are doing December Dailies posts at WCS starting this week! That means a different host each day giving you inspiration for crafts, gifts etc. for the Holidays. I blogged on the 4th and this is what I shared.

I wanted to show you two of the items that I sold at the Christmas fair last weekend. I made different kinds of chocolate goodies like dried fruit covered in melted chocolate and rice puff chocolates and package them in four different tiny packages, one for each Sunday in advent. 

I thought that it would be fun for the adults to have something to look forward in advent as well as for the kids! And this way you know you have something to go with your coffee every Sunday :)

I used some small tags and embellished them very simply with some washitape and a glittery snowflake. It took some time to stamp the words with my letterstamps, but I made a pact with myself a long time ago to not stamp perfectly so I made them while watching the latest episode of Grey´s Anatomy :) 

When I thought about it I guess there are people (crazy ones!) that actually don't like chocolate! So, I made an advent calender with tea bags. I bought different kinds of teas and removed the tags and made my own. On the ones that didn´t have a string I just punched a star from patterned papers, stamped the date and attached it with a gluedot.With the ones with string, I attached the star onto the string and wired it to look like the usual tag. 

These items were a big hit and I sold several kits that people were giving away as gifts. Great idea!

A quote I like

I posted this on WCS today for the Sunda photo+words post and I thought the quote was so good that I wanted to share it here too. 

Have a wonderful Sunday!

Project life | My plastics

After I shared my last weeks spreads I got a few questions in the comments about what page protectors I use in my albums. Since there were an interest I thought I would share in a post also. 

For my base pages that I use every week I use these postcard sleeves. They are A4 size and hold 4 photos/postcards. 

The weeks are obviously 2 of these. I buy mine at my local bookstore/office supply store, but they seem to be hard to find online. Here is what I got when I googled it and I am guessing that ebay is the best way to go if you don´t find them in your store.

Since I don´t have the smaller slots (like the ones Becky Higgins offer) I often divide the pockets to hold two stories.

On a few occasions I have added these larger inserts, like for example to hold birthdaycards. What I do then is that I cut and sew from a basic A4 page protector, to get the size I need. It is actually super easy and I did a post last year that you can check out here about that.

Sometimes, I cut the postcard sleeves to hold just 2 photos, which makes me able to add 4 more photos to a spread.

Once or twice I have added in a regualr A4 page protector with interesting articles I have read that week, folded it in half and added a clip.

Last week I added some instagram photos as an insert. For these I used old thrifted sleeves that held those old computer discs back in the day! Here is a tip: when you go to a thriftstore or something like it, go flip through old binders to see if there are any cool page protectors in them! That is how I have found a few of the different sizes like 6x6" and trading card sleeves. I also got baseballcard page protectors gifted to me :)

Almost every week I have added a flip pocket so that I can include more photos or journaling. These are super easy to make. I cut up a postcard sleeve to single pockets and add dubble sided tape to the top or bottom and then just add it in where I like it. 

I think that is all...if you have any questions, please feel free to ask!

Project Life | Products I use over and over

Now that the Project Life albums just have a few weeks left before I have finished them, I went back to see what products i have used alot in the last year. 

Marcy Penner has some great graphic  printables that makes it easy to create the smaller pocket illusion since I don´t have the "real" PL plastics. I have used these weekday printable alot! 

Something that I have used for embellishing alot is a digital kit I bought at Sweet shoppe designs called For the love of: conversation.

You see there are so many cute bits to use in a Project Life album!

Ali Edwards has alot of digital products out that are great to use both digitally (obviously) but I have also used her products printed out. I cut out banners and sayings to just add with a pop dot or so. 

I have also added them in digitally onto the photo before printing it.

Crystal Wilkerson has some great journaling cards in her digital shop. I have used them just like they are and added journaling by hand, but in my week 40 spread I made the "right now" journaling cards in Picmonkey using Crystals cards. 

I print out digital elements and papers on cardstock, mostly white. Then I just cut them out whenever I want to use them.

I always try to save paper and cut out 4x6" cards for my pockets all the time. 

So, there you have it, a few of my favorite things.

Project Life | A tip!

This morning I got a random text message from my husband with a photo (below to the right) with the caption: Look where I am! It just put a smile on my face and I thought I should use this in the PL album this week! So, I took a photo of where I was when I saw the text (an hour apart) and printed them side by side.

Then I added she...and he...and where we were. 

Behold Mondays card in this weeks spread! 

Isn´t that cool?!

My husband now lives in a city 2.5 hours away attending University and obviously we don´t see each other every day, but this is such a great way to still keep him in our album! I am totally asking him to do this randomly each week!

This made me think of Monikas project this year, where she and her familymembers each share a photo on one day each month! 

Project Life | a little list

I am a bit late on posting my spread for week 40 (last week) because I was out of town and then we had my grandfathers funeral yesterday. But I wanted to quickly pop in to share a little list I made after last weeks project life post. Then I walked a bit about how I have a hard time nowadays to know what to include (again!) because I feel like it is the same things over and over again.

These are all things I have already used in my albums, but sometimes I need to look back and make lists to remind me of what I like. 

For your information I didn´t include any of these for my spread that I am currently working on :) But I will!

Inspiration | books

I have been enjoying Tracey Clarks books Elevate the everyday and Expressive photography . I am saving quotes from the books that just hits my heart when it comes to taking pictures of our lives. 

I was also happy to hear her on the latest Paperclipping roundtable. It was an awesome episode! I was nodding my head the whole time :)

here are a few of the quotes i have from the books (i have only read a few chapters yet!):

"There are certain moments in time when you can feel the intensity of Mother Nature - the weight of her breath and the boom in her voice." 

Stephanie C Roberts (Elevate the everyday)

"The stories of our lives can´t be squeaky clean all the time and neither should our photographs." 

Tracey Clark (Expressive Photography)

"A photographer´s eye is trained to look for the details, however small, that transform an image from a mere snapshot into a treasured keepsake."

Tracey Clark (Expressive photography)

Here are my recent favorites...

Here are my recent favorite photos from flickr! I wish you all a lovely and wonderful weekend!

1. dreamy dulwich fence (and letter box), 2. ends and beginnings, 3. I want to ride my bicycle, 4. Untitled, 5. The balcony season is open now, 6. Question for the ages..., 7. a barefoot kind of day, 8. Untitled, 9. the summer line, 10. Wild and distant places speak to many who find in them opportunities to engage in the spiritual practices of wonder and gratitude. ~Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, 11. Untitled, 12. playtime, 13. Good Morning!, 14. Good morning Washington!, 15. Leanin' Tree., 16. "it seems to me we can never give up longing and wishing while we are thoroughly alive. there are certain things we feel to be beautiful and good, and we must hunger after them." george eliot, 17. Before 7AM, 18. fence friday ~, 19. vintage, 20. My new friend, 21. stacked, 22. day 122 : grounded, 23. for the taking, 24. favorites, 25. there, 26. yellow!, 27. Bay, 28. Finally, some results from my flower garden, 29. preserves, 30. blissful, 31. Burning love, 32. Adrift., 33. Dandelion escape, 34. nyc - may 2012, 35. 082:366 CIFF Opening Night, 36. My Dog Is Evil

A quick tutorial to make journaling spots in Picmonkey

i wanted to quickly show you how i am doing the journaling spots i have been using in PL lately. as i have mentioned before i have used picmonkey for this. 

ok, open up your photo and then follow me lead ;)

and here is my finished card.