Simple Studio

Three on Thursday challenge

Use three photos on a layout.

Use three different ribbons on a layout.

Use one word three times in your journaling.

And if you're feeling adventurous, do all three of these on a single layout. Like I did above. Three ribbons, three photos of my darling neice and nephew, and the word "love" three times in my journaling. I don't know about you, but sometimes prompts and challenges give me the extra push I need to just git 'er done. Here are some other things I do to get my scrappin' groove on:

Lift one of my own layouts

Tina Cockburn

I am Tina Cockburn, editorial board member and photographer, and, most importantly, mom to three and wife to one.

Now, I've never hosted anything other than my own blog and the occasional dinner or birthday party and I'm thrilled to pieces that I get to be your host this month.

YAY! We'll have fun and make stuff and maybe learn a thing or two, and there will be a chance each week to win some cool scrappy goodies. Sound good? Great!

The first thing we're going to do is embrace white space in our layouts. I love white space on layouts. When I started scrapping layouts with lots of white space, I thought I was cheating. By not filling up a page with paper and embellies, I felt like the slacker scrapper. But guess what? I got over it. And I love how that fill-it-up pressure is gone and I can now scrap quickly and simply, guilt-free.

simple layouts

simple layouts

Cheryl Overton

My name is Cheryl Overton.

I am a mostly stay at home mom to two cute, sweet, loud, funny boys.

I am married to Jason, who also goes by the self-appointed name Gorgeous George, for reasons even I am not fully aware of yet.

We have 3 female pets to help balance the hormones in this house. (I had to put my foot down on that one.)

We live in Kelowna, BC (which we like to refer to as the Happiest Place on Earth, like Disneyland, but none of the lines).

I love scrapbooking.
  Love. It.
  (What more can I say about that?)

I like using these ( ) while blogging.

I work very part-time at my lss.

One of my co-workers and very good friends and I recently started a home organizing business. Ever so often, while at a job, we'll look at each other and whisper, "is it weird that we're REALLY enjoying this?"

And because we just saw the beginning of the new year, here are my top three resolutions for 2008:

Stop nagging my kids. Let them learn from facing consequences when they don't put that extra sweatshirt on under their ski gear. It will be hard, but I think I'm up for the challenge.

Stay more organized. Is it strange that my house is very organized but I have a hard time keeping my schedule in good running order?

Get fit. (I'm carrying that one over from last year).

So, for this week's challenge, I am selfishly going to pick something "organizy".

Here are some loosey goosey ideas:

calendars (this could be a single page, a purse-sized calendar, if you're feeling ambitious a decorated daytimer, or what about a digital desktop calendar for your computer?)

layouts (use your past daily calendars as a reference point for some "slice of life" journaling)

If anyone has any other ideas, please jump in and suggest away!

Here is my first share.  This is an 8x8 calendar layout I did for the lss I work at.

Ironically, I was 2 days late with it.

Go figure.

Thanksgiving page ideas

"We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures." --Thornton Wilder

A few creative ideas for Thanksgiving this year...none of them are particularly new or revolutionary, but this holiday is mostly about tradition anyway, right?

* Take a photo of every person in attendance
* Keep track of the menu and collect the recipes for everything served to tuck inside a pocket on a page later (Oh, what I would give to have recipes from my great-great grandmothers for Thanksgiving dishes!)
* Let everyone make turkeys with your children's art supplies while you wait for the food to cook--see how different everyone's turkey is
* make a gratitude chain--have everyone write what they're thankful for on a strip of paper and staple or tape the links together as a decoration
* eat pie for breakfast on Friday : )

favorite design

Do you have a favorite go-to design? One that feels like the equivalent of comfort food? I do. I love, love, love tag layouts. They line up so perfectly, I can write a little or a lot, and I can include lots of color and never feel like I've created an overpowering, clashing mish-mash of a page. They also work well with any topic. The page above is one I did a few years ago, celebrating the things that make me happy. Years later, this page still makes me inordinately happy.

Go-to designs are especially nice because you don't have to re-invent the wheel, and you already know you're going to be pleased with how it turns out. Sometimes it's nice to set yourself up for success, no?

Wondering how I make these tags? sometimes I stamp them, sometimes I glue or rub-on something down on them, sometimes I adhere a piece of patterned paper or cardstock and cut around the edges to keep the tag shape, and sometimes I paint them. I rarely have an idea in mind before I start--I just move things around until I like it.

This weekend, dig into your scrapbooks (the suggestion to enjoy the pages you've made in a spare hour was a really good idea!) and look for a design that you've done a few times before because it makes you happy. Update it with new subject matter, and enjoy! See mine below

Easy layout

Let me tell you why this layout is so awesome...er...I mean, easy:
1. There was absolutely NO pressure to make this layout perfect. It wasn't for publication. It wasn't for any sort of contest. It was for ME--a chance to simply preserve a memory.
2. I always feel pressure to journal something on my layouts. Something about the day. But with this layout I let go of the pressure. My goal was only to display the photo on a page where it wouldn't get lost in my shoebox shuffle.
3. I used one 4x6 photo--no cropping, no special sizes.
4. Every single item on the page is from one line--Scenic Route's new Halloween collection (which my dear friend Wendy gave me!)
5. With all of these factors combined, this layout literally came together in 10 minutes. That's it.

I think that we often get caught up in the "competition" of creating masterpieces with our scrapbooks. Why can't we just slap a photo on a page, add a title and decorative sticker and be done with it? You have my total permission to LET GO! Just scrapbook for yourself and have fun with it.

I don't consider this page to be anywhere close to my best work, but who cares? All that matters is that Ryan will love looking back at this layout years from now and seeing how funny he looked as a little purple dinosaur. The end.

Look at these layouts that combine

black and white with color photos

My Youngest son

hates
hates
hates
having his picture taken. I have to ask other parents to take pictures of him during school events and sports games. Funny how they each have their own personalities.