More misting

I'm one of those people that gets a little obsessed when I find something I love (note the two baby sweaters and the two pairs of baby booties recently finished). If I find something I love, be it a pattern, a new craft, or a new recipe, I'm likely to want to do it over and over and over again. So it's no surprise that I'm a misting fool these days. I've been wanting to try the misters I've seen for sale, but I just didn't want to spend the money without knowing whether I'd like it or not. I'm so loving that I'm using stuff I already had on hand to make my own.

My dear friend, Genny, is a talented photographer and has recently taken the plunge to start her own children's photography business. I'm so lucky that she constantly carries her camera with her and photographs my little guy -- so I had these lovely photos, taken by her, that I had recently had printed. As soon as I saw them, they took my breath away. She managed to capture M's personality perfectly. All three of these photos reflect who he is right now. So, of course, I needed to scrapbook them or risk them getting lost in the black hole that is my photo storage "system".

But, since most of my scrapbooking supplies have been slowly making their way into boxes, I had only a handful of supplies to work with. No matter... these pictures are so lovely that they really didn't need much to make them shine. I used my misters (I'm obsessed, I tell you!) and those chipboard stars I used as accents on yesterday's layout to make a subtle background. I added a scrap of some adhesive borders, covered the stars with washi tape to make them stand out, added a title with letter stickers, and some journaling, and... done! Just like that, a new favorite layout, finished!

What have you been obsessed with lately?

Re-discovering old favorites (and make your own mist!!)

As I've been packing up our belongings, I've come face-to-face with the massive amounts of craft supplies I own. It's funny, I've always known I own a lot of scrapbooking, stamping, knitting, and sewing supplies, collected over the last 12 years. But when everything is tucked away neatly (or semi-neatly) it doesn't seem as massive. Or as inspiring, really.

But as I was sorting through paper, stamps, stickers, and photos, I suddenly got an overwhelming urge to scrapbook. That urge has pretty much been gone in the last few months, and I'm not really sure why. Anyway, I remembered seeing this tutorial for making your own glitter mist, and since I'd just found my mini misters and re-inkers, I figured I'd take a break from packing and sorting to play. (As an aside, Balzer Designs is an amazing blog to check out, especially if you're into paper art and art journaling. WOW!).

Anyway, so this is the result of my experimenting with re-inkers, perfect pearls, and mini misters. I used my old Heidi Swapp alphabet masks for the title, and I was immediately reminded why I loved them so much when I first got them.

I love that a little misting goes a long way, letting you put a page together with little more than cardstock, the mask to write out the title, some tape, and letter stickers.

Oh, and those stars? I used them to mask star shapes on another page I used my misters on. I'll share that one tomorrow.

Ah, it felt so good to create something and forget the mess waiting for me in our spare bedroom for just a little bit... Now, back to sorting through that mess!

Getting organized (or trying to)

I've been a scrapbooker and card maker for the past 10 years. For the most part, I've done a pretty good job keeping my supplies organized, but my pictures... well, that's a completely different story.

I used to be really good about keeping my photos organized back when all I used was film. It was easy, really. I would just label the photo holders I got back from the developer with month, year, and any major events included in that roll of film. Now that I've gone 100% digital, I'm having a heck of a time keeping my pictures under control. And since the Monkey was born, things have only gone downhill.

I've been re-reading Stacy Julian's book Photo Freedom lately and am using her photo drawers idea to organize my piles and piles of photos. Basically, rather than keeping photos organized chronologically (or not organized at all, if you're me!!), you instead put them into different categories. The idea is that having these photos in categories helps you to make connections you might otherwise not make, helping to make your scrapbooking more meaningful. For me, I'm less interested in making my scrapbooking more meaningful, and more interested in getting the piles of photos and photo envelopes off my dresser and into a permanent home.

I decided to start with the Monkey's 2009-2010 photos, and it's going really smoothly. I've already encountered a few photos that I have no idea what category to put under; but I guess they're my categories so I can always add more. I'm hoping to get all of the Monkey's photos into my new system this summer. After all, the bulk of the new photos being developed are of him (or him plus a family member or friend), so having an organization system in place will help to keep things under control. I hope...