AWDML Design Team Blog

Traveling and Scrapbooking

We are so excited that we are taking the kids to Disney World in September. It will be our first for all us and we are so excited. To me as a scrapooker, its a time to create special memories but it can be overwhelming with so many photos and souvenirs.

Here are some pointers on helping to make this a wonderful journey about your special travels.

1. Start a sepatate album for your travels- This will not take away from your other layouts that you have in album and any size album will be great for your photos. This is will be great if you travel to the same place and keep adding as you go.

2. Story-Think about things that happened on your trip that are unique and make sure you make pages about them. Be creative with your stories and give it life from the page. Dont forget to let the kids on the creative process. Give your children the chance to remember what they did each day. Keep these notes to use later. 

3. Special Events- Any special moments in your trip that you want to highlight. Let it stand out and remember it. Bring a small notebook with you so you can write it down.

4. Sort your photos- Sort your photos by groups. This will help you get organized and how you want to set your album. There are alot of ways of sorting photos and there is now wrong way of doing it. Here are some suggestions that I have researched on the internet:

• Sort the photos by theme. If that is still overwhelming, then it can be sorted section. Sub-catorgized the theme.
• Put all the photos of people, places or things that are alike. The events can be on different days but the same end result in the photos.
• Group photos by activity

There is alot of ways of sorting photos but these are just a few to help you get started :)

I know when we go to Disney, it will be magical and an experience we will never forget. In return, the photos will be our memories that we can look at over and over again with a smile.

Lucy Chesna

Write it Down!

Just a few journaling prompts to get your creative mind going... You can write about them now, and scrap them later, or take that idea that just pops into your head, and go straight for the scrapbook supplies right now!  Don't forget to link your LO's to the Gallery though!!!

* What cliche best describes you or a loved one?

* If you chould choose, what age would you be? Why?

* What are your 5 most favorite words?

* I love the sound of...

* Best advice you've ever received?

* What if you could walk up walls and climb on the ceilings?

* What would happen if your children ruled the world?

* If I were a street sign I would be...

* "It is not the length of life, but the depth of life" Ralph Waldo Emerson

* I like to think about...

Have fun! ~Mollie

p.s. Hey, why not start a thread over at the message board about something that inspires you from these journaling prompts?? Let us hear your funny stories and opinions!

Happy Mother's Day

To all the new moms, old moms, grandmoms and special "moms".  This is just for you.  Mother's Day brough some interesting surprises to me yesterday.  Where I was convinced NOTHING was going to be done in my house to celebrate Mother's Day, quite a lot was done actually. 

My little one went to a friend's house to play with her oldest while she prepared for a 25 guest dinner party for her family.  (Good for me I was going to catch up on my boards and blogs but that didn't happen... my internet went down half way through my boards so I never got to finish...).  At any rate, when he got home, my middle son kidnapped me (blindfolded) and carted me to the Williamsburg, Candy factory (the most delectable fudge ever) and let me choose my own candy - three items to represent all three of my sons. 

My oldest, who is currently unemployed, sat with me all day and allowed me the chance to watch all my "chic" shows and I delighted in watching a marathon session of America's Next Top Model (season 9 I think) and that was only after he suffered through Stayin' Alive (good golly John had it goin' on "back in the day"...)

When we arrived home, my husband took said little guy to the market where he picked out the most gorgeous fuschia pink roses I've ever seen and bought cards too.  Despite the fact I still had to cook and clean dinner, it was all more than i imagined would happen (and way more than happened last year!).

While my mom has been with the Lord for 12 years, I still celebrate Mother's Day with a call to my dad, thanking him for picking such an amazing woman for a mate; for giving me the most amazing mother anyone could have ever asked for.  It's a beautiful day in my mind and in my heart so to be able to get the sweet gestures I received yesterday was precious.

To further honor the wonderful mom's out there, I give you much eye candy found in our very own gallery.

Happy Mother's Day! Lissa

Desert Island Scrapping

diWhat do you do when you're stuck on a desert island without your scrap supplies? Improvise of course! Okay, I'm not really on a desert island, just home in Barbados visiting my Mum. But my luggage with scrap supplies didn't make it yet (thanks British Airways!), and I was itching to be creative. I decided to dig through my mother's office supplies and sewing stash to see what I could find.

Stationery, transparencies and ribbon, that's what! I tore a sheet of the letter size paper in half after folding with a firm crease. I also folded the transparency and cut that in half.

Then a cut out the flower design from this stationery pad

To put it all together, I stuck the flower to the transparency, before using it to cover the patterned paper. Then I used the ribbon to tie it all together.

Okay, so maybe this card won't win me any awards, but I am quite pleased with how it turned out. And it satisfied my urge to be creative!

Francine

Buttons, buttons and more BUTTONS!

What is round, cute, comes in many colors and the perfect accent to any page or paper crafting project?  Buttons that is!  Oh my goodness I'm on such a button kick lately!  They can be used in so many fun ways.  I generally like using my buttons as the center of flowers, or to accent a photo corner or journal block.  However just recently I have started to use them in another way.  To help fill the empty space as well as add depth and design to my layouts.  The store A Walk Down Memory Lane carries a nice variety of colors and shapes.  You can see some here:

Basic Grey Buttons are fun because they come in a variety of different colors!  You can see the Archaic set HERE which is a perfect set for those rough and ready boys!

Basic Grey has a collection called Recess, which definitely plays to our inner-child!  You can see this collection HERE.

For a completelyl different look using buttons, check out these Doodlebug Striped buttons.  They come with 4 matching buttons per package in a variety of color combinations.

I would love to see what you have created using buttons.  Please upload your creations to the TSS Gallery!

-Angie

Here are two of my examples having fun with buttons!  I used Cherry Arte's Boy Story Line for the first one and Fancy Pants Papa Collection for the second layout!  You can find the papers in the store by clicking on the link.

http://www.awalkdownmemorylane.net/store/index.php?main_page=advanced_search_result&search_in_description=1&keyword=fancy++pants+papa

Favorites Challenge

What are some of your favorite things?  That may not seem all the important to you right now, but some day that kind of information will be cherished by your children and their children.  It will also be fun to look back and reminisce.  It also gives you a glimpse of just how much you may or may not have changed over the years.  So... I have a challenge for you!  Scrap a page telling about some of your favorites.  It can be anything!  For instance, your favorite foods, your favorite songs, your favorite things to do, etc.  You can even scrap some of your favorite random things.  Like I did, below. This is an older layout, but I still love it.  Some of my favorites have changed and so my goal this week is to scrap about some of my new favorites! 

I challenge you to scrap your favorites!  Reply to this message with a link to your layout by Thursday May 15th.  I will choose a random winner for a fun RAK! :)  Oh... and the CT is welcome to participate! :)

What's YOUR nickname??

So, I had this unfinished LO sitting on my scrap table for weeks and weeks because I just didn't know WHAT to do with it... I had the picture I wanted to use... the paper... just no title, and no theme at all.  Until yesterday!! I was telling someone the name of my Etsy shop, The Jelly Bean Joint... and it just hit me!! I discovered the theme and title for my LO!  Jelly Bean is my nickname (from DB) and I call him Gummi Bear... I know, corny, but hey... It happens. lol

Anyway... I finished the LO and then thought, "Hey, what a fun challenge this would be!"  So, in order to get to know you better and, of course, to share the humiliation of my funny nickname, I challenge you to do a LO about nicknames!  If you're looking for a little guidance, here's my completed nickname LO:

   

Complete this challenge before next Monday at midnight and I'll choose a random entry for a RAK from my Etsy shop! yay!

Happy Birthday!

Okay, so it's not The Scrapbook Site's birthday, and it's not A Walk Down Memory Lane's birthday, and it's not really scrapbooking's birthday, but it was MY birthday!  So, in honor of all birthday's, I'm highlighting some wonderful layouts that highlight birthdays that can be found in the gallery at TSS.  While these were not made for me, I can appreciate that whomever these memories were for were just as special as my family made me feel this weekend!

This darling entry makes me smile and all that color makes me happy! 

Now, daisies are my very favorite and though I prefer white, blue is my favorite color!  This layout gave me the best of both worlds!

And THIS! What girl doesn't like "Birthday Bling" and diamonds at that!!

Now, you need to high-tail it over to the gallery and upload your birthday creations and when you do, be sure and link here to this post with your layout or card link.  I'll randomly choose ONE from all the links given to me and send you a RAK.  Entries will be taken until Sunday and I'll announce the winner right here on the blog!  So get scrappin!  I can't wait to see what  you make.

(P.S. If you make your project with something available at the store, and you show us a link to that product, I'll give you TWO entries in the hat! That's double your chances!  One entry per person/per household please!)

I wish you all the happiest of days!
Lissa

Gadgets and Gizmos!!!!

If you like bright and fun, this kit is for you!!!! The playful Cosmo Cricket Cogsmo papers are perfect for projects featuring not only your boys but also your girls!! And they are just right paired with the funky retro papers from Paper Trunk (which by the way are made from recycled paper, right up my alley!) The Paper Prunk papers add a feminine touch to the kit, making it extremely versatile.

What I especially loved about these papers was that I could cut designs out of them to use as embellishments on my projects. I love this because it really stretches the kit. The Cogsmo papers and journaling sheet are also double sided, giving you lots of options for mixing and matching.

And speaking of embellishments, get a load of all that's included!

Fontwerks Chipboard Shapes Framed
Moxxie Under the Bigtop buttons
American Crafts Greenhouse Plastic flowers
KI Memories Pop Culture Softies Tiny 2
Stewart Superior Memory Mist Copper
Imaginisce Fab Brads Candy Apple
Lollipop Ribbon

These add the perfect touch to the kit. The copper mist is awesome!! Use it to add shine and shimmer to the chipboard frames, or spray it across cardstock for a quick background effect. The flowers, softies and brads are great for more girly pages. There's something for everyone here, I even used the kit for a page about my kitten!

The versatility continues with the Cosmo rub-ons and journaling cards, the phrases are great not only for pages about your kids, but also about your significant other. Which is great for me since I don't have any kids!!

So get over to the store and snap this kit up now!!! And don't forget to check out all the additional items Lisa selected to work with this kit.

Are you READY?

For the festivities that is!  National Scrapbooking Day is Saturday May 3rd!  We have all sorts of fun stuff planned for you on the site.  Hope you can stop by and join us.  Along with prizes, games, classes and challenges we have Betsey Veldman who just so happens to be a design team member of Tinkering Ink coming to visit with us in the chat room at 1P.M. Central!  Should be a great time to ask questions and learn more about the industry!
Now.....I already gave one sneak peak for my Exploding Box class.  If you have not checked it out yet you can see it here: http://www.thescrapbooksite.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=25891
So since it's a Happy Friday I thought I would post a little sneak peak at my challenge.  Not enough to completely give it away but to get you thinking.  Make sure you have a bunch of alpha's pulled for this challenge.  Oops did that give part of it away?   
Hope to see you on the boards Saturday!-Angie

Today is the day!

The newest kits hit the AWDML Online Store TODAY!  Whooo-hooo!  This month I got to play with the "Tried and True" Kit!   The papers from Basic Grey and GCD Studios are so versatile and have that slightly-worn look that I love!  The Blackboard from Cosmo Cricket was a blast to play with!  (Hint...If you purchase the kit, you will get the newsletter that has an idea section dedicated to altering and decorating the blackboard pieces! )

I have finished several projects already using the kit!  Here is what I have come up with so far:

This is a star garland, I created with chipboard stars, my new big bite hole punch, and Basic Grey Buttons and Paper. 

I also created my first 6x12 Layout!  I LOVE this size and plan on scrapping a whole lot more this size!

Last but not least, I decorated a composition notebook for my inspiration book.

If you are looking for more inspiration and ideas on how to use this month's kits, check out the Design Team Gallery!

One last thing, don't forget... only two more sleeps until our NSD Crop! :)  Do you have plenty of adhesive, cardstock, and snacks?