scrapbooking.

if you like me on facebook..you know that I recently got my scrap crap out. and you would also know I hate scrapbooking....I love the beautiful pages that are done by professionals....but have we met? I don't do time consuming...I like fast and easy. so I get frustrated with scrapbooking cause I would like the end results without the work. (oh...just like life.)

But I scrapbook for one reason:

we are vain.

we like to look at ourselves.


I am painfully behind on it too....I basically did my baby's  (who is turning 3 this month)  birth pictures (not like coming out of the womb pictures..cause there are NO pictures of THAT.) but just her first few days on earth.

anyways...I have a few scrapbooking tricks up my sleeve that I thought I would share in case anyone else is trying to get through the drudegy of scrapbooking.


USE THE CLOTHES AS INSPIRATION:
I always match my paper to the pictures...and that's mostly clothes..but I take it one step further:

this is what her shirt said. I tried to buy one in my size but no such luck.

I cut out flowers just like the ones on her dress.

baby outfits are the best...always so cute. I made the stripes....and the flowers and the butterfly. just like that cute little sleeper. Oh. I can just smell that new baby!

moving on before I get baby hungry....

mimicked the argyle on the boys' shirt.

COPY THE PROS:

I am still doing regular paper size...i just don't know how to transition over to 12 by 12. I feel totally limited to my page arrangements. so to help me get out of my rut I look through magazines and *kinda mimic. you can see above...I did the scalloped on the side....and the circle....and filled the left corner...I didn't feel the need to add all the hoopras. (new word..just made it up) I am not a professional scrapbooker...if i was...I would spend hours on them. but seeing how they will probably be seen by about 10 people TOTAL...I just trim it down.

I just basically copied the flower in this one....

and I don't buy these magazines full price.

we wait til it gets knocked down some

I have a whole stack. great resources when you are sitting there hating everything you do.

HOARD:

I keep all my cards...fruit snack boxes...tags...bags...rags...mags (azines) everything that is cute...gets cut out and kept in my accordion case under the correct label

and then when I sit down to do my son's book..I just pull out all the boy stuff, lay it out and i'm ready to go!

the phx zoo and zebra print are from the bag we got at the gift shop...and I included our smashed penny...cause what else do you do with those suckers!

Also...you can hoard it up as far as keepsakes go:

TREND IT UP:
think of things you are loving in home decor...or style....add it to your pages!

Banners:

Chevron (so loving chevron), burlap, if you like it on your decor....like it on your pages.
I also try to include things in the "now"

i might have to explain what lol means to my kids in about 12 years...but it will make me giggle when I do!

USE IT AS YOUR JOURNAL: If I am killing two birds with one stone..I feel WAY more productive. I don't keep a journal. I have a family blog (almost the same thing right?) but I make sure that when I scrapbook I do a lot of journaling..

making sure dates are in there and anything I think is it important.  I also try to keep track of things they are into.

 (even though my son wants to take out his dora page cause he doesn't like it anymore)

i'm loving having my blog to go back and see dates on things or details I may have forgotten...If you are anything like me...when your kid rolls over for the first time...it's huge...a day you will never forget...until you forget it! I go to my scrapbooks to see when they walked for the first time...when we went on a certain trip..what year we did the princess party...what we got for christmas last year.....when we cut off my daughter's beautiful hair....

we also put REALLy important documents in there too...

EDIT:
your kid is cute. sure. but do they really need to look at every moment of there life (if you totally just nodded your head then skip down cause you don't want to read this!

I take a huge amount of pictures.  lots.  hello, we've met. I mean look how many pictures are on this blog post.  I couldn't imagine deleting any of them.  it's like getting rid of a child.  But when I sit down to scrapbook...I have  my daughters first 5 days on this earth spread out into 55 pictures...whoa.  I pick my favorites....(luckily I do a family scrapbook and an individual one so I get to use more (I hardly get doubles of any pictures for this reason) and then I pass them out to grandmas (cause they always love that) and then I make a pile and when I scrapbook....I give this pile to my daughters and then they get to cut them up and glue them on and add stickers and stamps and all sorts of fun...

and if you are still left with a ton...You owe it to yourself to make a "clump" page...nothing cute about it...but a place to put all those leftover pics!

I just try to cram as many pictures onto one page as possible.  hey. it works.

sidenote: my daughter had a princess party and I have 13 scrapbook pages for it. holy.

MASS PRODUCE:

I have 4 scrapbooks. one for each of my kids and then a family one (so when they all grow up and leave me alone I can sit in my rocking chair and look through it to wonder where the time has gone)

so when I'm doing a family picture....I crank those suckers out....

then I just put them in the right scrapbooks! saves a lot of time!

NO MONEY?
now...let's say you don't have alot of money to spend on scrapbooking (or don't want to....you would rather spend it at joanns....) (you can skip up to the hoarding part too) Or you could be like me and buy all the chipboards and brads and never use them cause they are tucked away behind the cricut.  OR you sit down and just get overwhelmed with stamps and trims and eyelets...

I found this book:

love. it's all about just using paper! and not even patterned paper..good old cardstock!

paper...scissors and glue (and your pictures!)

and here are some of mine I'm made using the book:

super fun..super easy..not fast..but did I mention fun..and most importantly CHEAP!

I also use my daughters own drawings:

just makes it a little extra special without costing you a fortune

 (cause let's face it..scrapbooking can be expensive!!!!!!!!!!!)

One last thing before you go...(I know....i'm tired too)

SUPPLIES:

there are a few supplies I think are important.

a Paper cutter

straight cuts make a world of difference.

(you can add circle cutter here too!)

I LOVE THIS THING! you know when you use your cricut (wink wink*) and you have all those letters..and they are hard to glue...without getting glue ALL over your fingers?

you just slide it down one side and pull it out the other side it basically turns it into a sticker.

you peel off that plastic and pull up your letters and place where you want! I love love love this thing.

(they make a big version of this that is on my wish list.)

distress ink..

it's a must. love this like it was a hot glue gun.

this isn't really a necessity..but I love it-- super fun. it crimps your paper.

man...i should xyron to sponser me. holy.

do you see the bottom of the cupcake..crimped! you could also make your own crimped shredded paper for easter baskets.

if you like stamps...this is a must...makes it so you don't have to keep getting up to wash them off!

I also have this tupperware to hold all my scraps (color coordinated too!) hoard those scraps!!!

and of course...I would be remiss without mentioning the grasshopper:

i use it so much that sometimes i have to pace myself...I don't want all my pages to look alike!!!!

this is the new alphabet I want to buy (teardrop)

if you have any supplies that you love....leave me a comment! i would like to know what i'm missing out on.

anyways...those are a few tricks that make my life  a teensy bit easier! hope it helps! love you all.