sorry

Update in a list (i´ll explain later):

* I have been low this week and haven´t really had the energy for scrapping or anything! I know it is terrible :)

* I have been doing my blog hopping as usual though :) And I found an awesome sum of the meaning of scrapbooking to Kelli Crowe on her blog that I could just copy because it just hits right home for me! Check it out here!
Isn´t it great!

* I found this really cool new book called Listography go vist there and take the little tour of the book. I think it is so cool! I LOVE to make lists so this is really a book for me! On the wishlist for me! :) (=this is why this post is in a listform)

* I love that my daughter loves this in her snackbox for school! She is a good girl! Yummy!



* I found the funniest blog I have ever read the other day. It is the blog of the ever so cool Kayla Aimee she writes so many fun entries (besides the one on 9/11 which is ok).

* I am so happy that fall is well on it´s way. I love fall, the crisp air, beautiful sunny days and the colors of course! Speaking about fall, check out this slide show it is yummy!

* I have to show my latest favorite garage sale find! I love it so much, isn´t it just right for fall days sipping tea and have a cupcake?! I think so :)



* I just checked out the "How about orange" site and they have a few new cool tutorials. I especially love to make some wipe-clean coasters and baby bibs (my sister is having twins!).

* I scrapped! wow! Here is one about moi and the things I heart right now. There are more in my SIS gallery you can find the link in the sidebar.



* I am making smoothies with my "mom-baby group" tomorrow. No I am not having a baby, to bad, but at work I hold a group for moms who are home with their babies and we meet every thursday and do fun stuff like yoga, book-clubs, taking nature walks etc. And tomorrow is smoothis-day :) Yummy! Did I ever mention I have the best job in the world?!

* Talking about my job...I went back to work this week after being home on sick leave for the entire summer (as i have mentioned before) and it feel really ok. The things I do right now, since i only work a few hours a day is my work as the computer/site manager = fun! and the mom-baby group = super fun! = I love to be back at work! The first day I was really nervous on being back, but when I set my foot in the door one of the kids ran up to me and gave me the bestest kids hug ever! And I got a few more, boy did I miss those kids and their hugs.

Oh, well I am leaving it off like this! Happy daY!

My creative process

I love to read about other peoples creative processes, don´t you? We scrapbookers often have so much in common, but we do the same things so differently. Some scrappers always start with the story, the photo or the papers. Me, I almost always start with a photo. I take a lot of photos and maybe that is why I like to use them as a focal point in my scrapbooking. But, I don´t always have to have photos from one particular event to scrap said event. Am I making any sense?! So here is my process:

1. The first step of making a scrapbook layout is to print my photos. I have the fortune to have a really awesome printer at home that does almost everything. I often use 10 x 15 com photos and lately I have made several multiphoto layouts. When I do, I print them from WORD where I have resized them, often to at least 5 cm wide but it is depending on how many photos I want to use. Ok, and by now I have figured out what I want to use them for (a special memory or maybe a “right-now” kinda layout).

2. The next step for me is the background paper. I have been known to use a lot of the Kraft cardstock which I love because every color can pop! But lately I have use a lot of colors like orange, yellow and brown too.



3. When I have chosen the color of the background, I decide on the size. I scrap A4 or 8.5 x 11” and half that size, but I tend to say I scrap 6 x 12” because it is easier.

4. I trim my photos and lay them on the background paper, so I see how it all will be.

5. I choose what patterned papers I want to use and how; in circles, strips or whatever. Often I pick out a variation of PP and lay them with the photo and end up using atleast 3. I trim and almost everytime ink the edges. Then I lay the PP´s on the layout and then arrange them around for a while.

6. When I am content I start adhering the photo and patterned papers.

7. I play around with a title (I don´t always use titles) and find good ways of doing that with maybe rub-ons, computer journaling *, stickers and stamps. These, the titles, usually do not come out the way I have planned them!

8. Then I get to the journaling. Sometimes I want to use a lot of words to express a memory or feeling, other times I use wordstrips or just a few sentences. More often than not, I use my own handwriting.

9. Now it is time for the last touches. It can be different kinds of embellishments like flowers, stars, hearts etc. but also doodles, dots or just additional journaling words.



10. Often I take a step back from my project to see if it is just right.




Ok, there you have it; Lisas creative process! Now, it is your turn, how does your process look like?

* If I use computer journaling I always start with that and then arrange the photos and patterned papers around that.

wow wednesday already!

time flys! I went back to work a cuple of hours a week this week, after being home on sick leave for the last months. It was ok, I guess. It almost feels stupid to just be there for 2 hours and then come home, but later in the afternoon I acctually feel it in my body; I am tired. So I take a nap. Naps are the most wonderful things really. Ah, the luxury of taking a nap in mid day... lovely!

The other night I kept scrapping the birthday photos. Here are a few.





I think I am done with those now :) I am trying to get some work done on other photos now. I will let you know how that goes :) I am soaking up so much inspo everywhere right now. SIS, 2 peas, and various blogs ofcourse. A new way of getting so much inspiration is to head over to any kitclub gallery. You know StudioCalico or Work in Progress and Cupcake Scrapshop They all have faboulus designers and products. Go check them out!
I also find inspiration in the Craft Room pool over at flickr. I love all the storage ideas and other small details you can catch while looking through the gallery.

I want to end this short blog post with a message: Make someone feel special today! Just out of the blue! Do, please do!

happy monday all!

*sigh* thank God this weekend is over! We had parties all weekend and it wore me down... But it was fun though! The birthday dance was such a success and I am so happy it all turned out as we hoped and even better. The newly 8 year old was happy and that is all I want!



On saturday we had the family party and we live in a place where the big tourist attraction is going on horse carrige rides. But as we live here all year round we never get our butts to do it. My daughter had been nagging me all summer to go, so when we went to the harbour to pick everyone up from the ferry we suprised her with us all going on a ride which ended infront of our house! As you can imagien she was thrilled! Just look!



So, saturday pretty much rocked from then on. We had the whole family (about 14 people) over for dinner and the birthday bash! We all had a good time, but I think she and her cousin had the most fun.




Sunday i acctually had some time to scrap...halleluja! I made a few layouts and acctually made it to make a minibook.



She has got her first job. :) She gets to cat sit :) She lets the neighbours cat out or in and gets good pay too! I used my heart papers for this one.



We took a cuple of photos the birthday morning and I love this one. I have been office supplies shopping lately and I especially love the new labels I got. Oh, and the blue heart on this one :)



Ever since my daughter started school I have said "Learn something!" to her every morning as she heads of to school. And some days she comes home and says Mom, I learned something today! :)



I love the orange paper on this one and that crown button that came with my new jeans :) I took a bunch of photos of my daughter on her last day as a 7 year old.

I will share the mini book later. Oh, and talking about mini books have you all seen the new Creating Garden over at 2peas? Wow is all I can say! Run to check the great mini book inspiration there. I was blown away by it all! I especially loved this one by Tia Bennett making a scrapbook by altering an old book. I will have to try that one! There were so many! And talking about altered books Kerry Lynn made a cool tutorial if you missed it go check it out.

And I have to say that my newest item on my wish list would be a camera bag from Jessica Claire. I think I want a "money" cover or maybe the "sophisticated" one... :) Aren´t they all yummy!

Have a wonderful day!

friday

8 years ago today I gave birth to my baby girl.



Yep that is me in the hospital, not having that much pain yet :) 32 hours or so later I had her, my angel! This photo is my favorite ever. I can sit and look at this photo for hours just remembering her, how small she was, how she smelled and felt.



It was so great going into her room this morning singing happy birthday! She just sat up (she acctually was sleeping!) and fired of one of her famous smiles and just beamed!



We are in the midst of finishing of everything for the dance we are having tonight and the excitement is high for a special 8 year old in this house!

I just wanted to share a cuple of new layouts I did the other day. The first one is for Inge and her baby boy Nol. I used my new cutie stickers I got just the other day. I love them!



The other two is for my girl Marie and her CJ "What songs make you go lala?" I picked "Wish I was a punkrocker" by Sandi Thom. I love that song so much! But the best one to sing very loudly in the showers is without a doubt Amazing Grace :)






I also wandered Keri Smiths blog and was very happy to find that she is coming out with yet another new book that I just have to get! I also found this cool link to another blog in reference to her Guerilla art book. Check it out it is really cool!

I am so filling up my memory card so I will get busy scrapping in the next few days, when all the celebrating is over!

small update

Hi...sorry I have been MIA for a little while. I have been busy with life in general and orders have been coming in too! I have packed up 8 packages as of now :) makes me happy... keep em coming! I have added a heart pack pp too and I keep updateing with new items. It is such a joy to be recognized for things that you have done your self. If you have been to my etsy and have ideas for more things, please email me or leave a comment here.

Life has just been kind of boring otherwise since my last blog entry. Just normal stuff, daughter in school and husband at work. And since nothing much has happened I have not taken any new photos to scrap :( Oh, thats not right I have uploaded some to my flickr gallery. Check them out if you like. But my daughters birthday is on friday so after that my memory card will be full so I am not worried :) I have been to town today and bought some more gifts for her. I love gift shopping!

I bought some new plants the other day, the mini roses are my favorite!



Sorry, I promise a longer more creative post soon.

welcome Nol!

My cutie friend Inge has got her new little son in her arms! Yay! Happy day! He is such a cutie!

We had a good time at the art festival, although the weather could have been better. On the mainstreet they had put of rows and rows of different artists work. Some were good and others were just not cup of tea :) Here are a few favs!







I have been encouraged to start to sell my own papers. That is such a fun thing! I like stars right now in my scrapbooking, so one day I sat down and made my own patterned papers. So, from now they are avalible in my etsy shop. Please come and visit and leave feedback here or there so I know your reactions! If you like it (and someone starts to buy them!) I am going to expand to other patterns.
A fellow swedish scrapper Anna has used the yellow paper here.
And offcourse i have used it too :)






The other day i was just standing at my craft table and wasn´t sure what I would do...so I came up with the idea to make a few mini books. I LOVE minibooks! But I am often unsure of waht topic I want to use and such, so even though I have made several, but they don´t come that often :) My absolute favorite mini book I have made is this one from our Mallorca vacation i made a while back. This time i thought that I would make a "first day in school" minibook for my daughter as she started second grade this week. The book is made of beautiful handmade paper i acctually got from IKEA! I included a few photos from that day. In her school (where I also work!) we work out of themes every school year and this year is "earth/soil" and we like to start the school year with an experience that include that theme. So, we hade lots of activities in the school yard. Ok, sorry sidestory here! :)







Then I printed out a few photos of our Chanty in the days before he went to rest. I made this mini using the same paper as above.








I also made a happy layout featuring me :) me me me :)



One of the photos that I took of my daughter on the school yard was this cool angle one where she has drawed on the ground. Her art makes me happy!




And me and my boy with some hidden journaling in that envelope!



That´s it for today amigos!