Fantastic Retreat & New Layouts

The scrapbook Retreat was AWESOME! Seven of us went over to Sarasota, Florida for 3 nights and had a great time scrapping, laughing, playing games, exercising, going out shopping and to dinner. We even did a photo shoot of each other! HA! These girls are fantastic.



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Ana, Joan, Katie, Penny, Angie, Casandra and Aly





House in Sarasota





Welcome sign



Banner I made for our group

Our scrapping space

Silly Sock Day

Out to lunch



Lido Beach



Dinner at Columbias

Toast to good times and friendship

Shirts I had made for the group from my friend in Louisiana, Mindy's Gift House

I also had Mindy make these as my goodie for the girls

A Few Layouts I made during the Retreat

School Days Quick Page by Sahlin Studios who is now at The Lily Pad.

Water Park kit by Sahlin Studios at The Lily Pad

School Days quick page by Sahlin Studios at The Lily Pad

Recent Layout and Getting Ready For My Scrapbook Retreat

I don't have many completed layouts right now as I am planning pages for my upcoming scrapbook retreat with girlfriends.  However, I did complete one layout that I just LOVE!!!!



Click 2 Scrap digital kit by Kaye Winiecki at http://www.the-lilypad.com/

During the retreat I will be working on digital photo calendars from Creative Memories to give as Christmas presents.  I made these last year, and they were a huge hit.  I was actually asked to make them again. Of course, I have the obvious seasonal and occasion pages to scrap, but I do plan on creating some fun pages just for me such as Blogs I Read, Favorite Digital Scrapbooking Sites, What's in Your Purse?, My Pop Culture Favs, Seven Things We Love About Hayes (he is 7 yrs. old), and Fourteen Things We Love About Hunter (who is 14 yrs. old).  It is so refreshing to squeeze in fun projects and layouts into my regular scrapbooking. This keeps me eager and excited to scrapbook.  Hopefully, you are a little inspired to give these layout ideas a try to bring back the fun into your everyday scrapbooking.

A Few New Layouts

Hello, I've haven't scrapped too much lately as I have been adjusting to our new school schedule.  Plus, my weekends have been busy working in the flower garden out back. I am now working on my clipboard pages, calendars for Christmas gifts and planning pages for a retreat I will be attending in October. I do have a few layouts to share. 

Liberty and Justice kit by Mandabean at Sweet Shoppe Designs

Around the World kit and Add On kit by Sahlin Studios at Scrap Matters; Fifty States Brushes and Stamps Mega Pack by Katie Pertiet at Designer Digitals

Summertime Paper Pack and Summertime Element Pack by Creativity by Crystal at JessicaSprague.com

Finished My Cruise Album

I'm so glad to finally finish my cruise album.  It is ordered but hasn't come in yet.  It will be a 12x12 hardcover digital album with 30 pages. This is what the front, spine and back cover will be:

For the album I used all Sahlin Studios digital kits that can be purchased at Scrap Matters. I used a combination of Around the World, Life's a Beach and Water Park kits. Here are just some of the pages in the album.  Some of these are two page spreads, but I'm having trouble putting two pictures beside each other on this blog.

I won a Contest!!!....Well, really the Runner Up, but it feels the same.

In early July I entered A Cherry On Top's Red, White and Blue Contest where you had to make a layout using those colors but it couldn't be for the Fourth of July.  I submitted and was selected as the digital winner. It is the End of School Party layout that is on my blog.  There was an overall winner (not me) then a digital runner up (me) and a paper runner up.  I will receive a digital prize pack, but I don't know what it is yet.  Here's the link to check it out.

http://www.acherryontop.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=228532

Don't forget that the Big Picture Scrapbooking Big Idea Festival starts tomorrow.
Also, Stacy Julian's books are now available on her site http://www.stacyjulian.com/

Have a great day!
Angie

Girls Gone Scrappin crop and New Laptop Skin

I belong to a crop club called Girls Gone Scrappin that meets one Saturday a month for a 12 hour crop and includes a pot luck dinner.  At this time there are 8 members who take turns rotating houses to host the crop.  We have gone on 3 weekend retreats as well.  This past Saturday a few girls, Kim and Ana, only stopped by to say hello.  Another girl, Ali, cropped for the first half of the day.  Only four of us were left by dinnertime when we took the photos.

Angie Kyle, Joan McLendon, Katie McDaniel and Casandra Garrett

Joan's Italian Dinner

I love my laptop skin from http://www.skinit.com/. I created my own custom design on my CM Stoybook Creator Plus, saved it on my computer and then uploaded it as a picture into Skinit's site.

ScrapMatters Storewide sale and Awesome Blog Train with 49 Freebies

I love blog trains with freebies. This one at ScrapMatters' blog is great. Don't miss out on all the goodies. It is valid for just this week. The big 30% off sales ends Thursday...not sure if the blog train ends then too.

Gone Because of Laptop Issues

Hello, I haven't posted in a while because of laptop issues.

My Gateway laptop less than 1 1/2 years old had been acting up, shutting off for no reason, the 2nd battery died. the cursor not typing sometimes, etc.  I took it in to be looked at and found out that the mother board was going out.  The cost to replace that was around the same as buying a new computer.  So it was urgent that I hurry and buy a new computer before mine died completely.  Luckily I had been backing stuff up to an external hard drive, but still not every single bit.  So we went to Best Buy and bought a Dell Inspirion 17.3 inch right off the shelf along with the 2yr. warranty and Geek Squad Assistance so I would be covered if something happened to this one.  They only had black; so I went with it and decided to get a skin for this one from http://www.skinit.com/. I designed my own skin that is so cute, and it should arrive in the next week or two. I'm very excited about it and will share when it is here.

So here they are side by side.  I'm very happy to get a larger screen and to have the newest operating systems and such. So all week I've been working on transfering and setting up the new laptop.

Since I had time on my hands while the Gateway laptop was in the shop I reorganized my scrapbook closet as well as other closets and drawers throughout the house and am happy with the results.

It brings me joy to see all or almost all my albums in one location. I've been traditionally scrapbooking the safe way since 1998 and have acquired quite a library of over 50 completed albums.  I think part of the reason I wanted to get into digital is that traditional albums with all the layers of papers and embellishments just take up too much space especially when I think ahead about how many albums I will have in the future.  Digital albums take up a fraction of the space of a traditional album not to mention the space the oodles of supplies take up.  Now, I do still purchase a tiny bit of traditional supplies if I am in love with and can't get it digitally. I do like a project, class or tree of life project every now and then. But the bulk of my pages are now only digital.

Here's the other part of my scrap closet that was not in view in the other photo.

Scrapbook Pages and more

Used a 4x6 brag book quick page (Homeroom kit) by Melissa Bennett at Sweet Shoppe Designs on the layout and added more pics and elements to make it 12x12. This layout will go in Hunter's album

Little Lion kit by Mandabean at Sweet Shoppe Designs
This layout will go in my LOM albums in the All About Us album under Hayes

My Playlist Mini kit by Libby Weifenbach at Sweet Shoppe Designs
This layout will go in Hunter's album

Best Buds kit by Creative Memories; Chunky Chip alpha by Amber Clegg at Scrap Artist
Will go in Hunter's Album

Boom Boom Clap alpha by Libby Weifenbach at Sweet Shoppe Designs; Fancy Cuts shaped paper by Amy Wolff at The Lily Pad. Although I made a Week in the Life album as inspired by Ali Edwards for myself, I wanted to create a one page layout for each boy's album showcasing their week.
Will go in Hayes' Album

Will go in Hunter's Album

Dressed Up papers by Amy Wolff at The Lily Pad; Nail Polish No. 5 alpha by Sahlin Studios at Scrapmatters; Stacked Vintage Frames by Katie Pertiet at Designer Digitals
This layout will go in my LOM albums under People We Love, Angie's Friends

Cottage Garden 12x12 Predesigned Pages by Creative Memories
This dbl layout will go in Hayes' album

Make a Wish kit by Sahlin Studios at Scrap Matters
This double page layout will go in Hayes' album

In Pursuit of Libery kit by Michelle Coleman at Little Dreamer Designs; Banner from United We Stand kit by Makita Studio at Little Dreamer Designs
This layout will go in my LOM albums under Holidays and Traditions

All Hands On Deck by Christy Lyle at Sweet Shoppe Designs
I am working on a vacation album but this layout is for Hayes' album

Celebrate Independence by WM Squared Designs at Scrap Matters
This layout will go in Hunter's album

News, Sales and Coupons

JessicaSprague.com has a $5 off coupon to her site that expires 7/31 code: ELLA2010

Two Peas in a Bucket has their CHA Summer Online Social 7/27-29 where there will be videos, challenges and prizes.

This is the last day of Ella Publishing's Blog Tour of the Nine Most Influential Scrapbookers Awards where they are giving away LOTS of prizes.

10% off a class at Big Picture Scrapbooking. Must go to the link expires 12/31

Please let me know what you'd like me to post. Also, I'd love for you  to click on the "Follow" link up at the top to become a follower so I can know who is reading my blog....Thanks, Angie