Mother's Day @ Lucille's

Hey everybody, my name is Barb and I am a new member on the SOC Creative Team. I am thrilled to be in the company of such talented women, where I am able to share my love of paper crafting. I look forward to learning new things, meeting new people and viewing all of your creations, as well. Just a bit about me… I have been a crafter for many years; sewing, crocheting, cross stitching, scrap booking and paper crafting. My passion right now is creating handcrafted greeting cards. I am also into digital scrap booking. Traditional scrapping is great too, but I enjoy being able to pack up my laptop and create beautiful pages anywhere I go. If I had to describe my "style", I would say that I’m eclectic… I’m all over the place!  It really depends on my mood, the supplies I have to work with and the project I have in mind. I love vintage, I like a little bit of whimsy and clean and simple appeals to me too. I believe very strongly in glitter and bling and I try to add some sparkle to every piece of artwork I create! You will get to know more about me as time passes and I invite you to stop my blog to say ‘hey’ and to take a peek at what else is going on with me.

Okay…let’s get to the crafty parts…Now that Mother’s Day has passed, it is time to get busy scrapping your photos and preserving your memories, right?  Oh yes, I know we have the best intentions to get to our photos right away, but sometimes life happens, time passes and we find ourselves playing ‘catch-up’. That’s okay! The main thing is to scrap your photos. Here is how I organize my pictures on my computer, so I can scrap them, with ease, at a later date. It’s a very simple system. I create a series of folders on my laptop.  I have folders that are dated for each year. Inside each year are twelve folders, one for each month. When I download the pictures from my camera, I create a folder for each event; New Year’s Eve Party, Anniversary Dinner or Zoo Trip, etc. Then, I place the event folder into the appropriate month folder. This helps me keep my dates straight. Next, I create a Word document, giving it the same event name as the picture folder.  This is where I type out the details of the event; the who, what, where, when and why. I also record any other bits of information that will come in handy for journaling later on. It may be a funny story or joke someone shared.  It may be about the music that was playing or the food that was served. The Word document gets saved in the same folder as the pictures they describe. Then, when I’m ready to scrap, I can either access the file from my laptop for digital layouts , or print it out and take it with me to a crop. Keeping my files organized in this way, allows me to create scrapbook pages filled with memories, no matter when I get to the photos. This is what works for me. I would love to know how you organize your photos…share your ideas with us!

Here is a Mother’s Day layout with photos from 2007.  I didn’t have to rely on my memory for the journaling because everything was right in my files! Click on the images to enlarge them.

I usually create double page spreads when I scrap book. So, I thought I would share how this layout looks when it's all together.

Lunch at Lucille’s by Barbara Walker. Supplies- Paired template(altered) and alphas-Misty Cato Designs; Digital Kit:Heart Warming -Weeds&Wildflowers ; colored  gems-Playing With Wire-Weeds&Wildflowers ; 'Remember This' wordart-Shabby Princess

Scrap booking should be fun and relaxing.  Don’t stress out about not getting to your pictures right away.  Adopt an organizing system, so your pictures are ready when you are, then scrap at your leisure!

Now go create something beautiful!