Category Archives: 2008
Scrapbook pages from 2008
2008: Our First Snow
2008: Our First Snow
It snowed a couple of days after Christmas, our first snow together. One of the funny memories from this day is that I wanted to make snow angels. My son said “I know what to do!” and then promptly deposited himself face done to make a snow angel. I laughed heartily when he got up and had a face covered in snow! I took some time to show him how to do it the correct way as can be attested to by the bottom left photo. 🙂
I used white and grey color themes on this page to enhance the feelings of the white/grey from that day. I used a natural paper which was very thick to border my photographs. If you look carefully at the corners of the photographs you can see that I used a corner punch to round the edges and stamp a snow patter into the corners of them as well.
I used my Cricut machine to cut some of the snowflakes and the titling for the page. The remaining snowflakes came from a sticker pack.
2008: Ice Skating and Bowling
2008: Ice Skating and Bowling
My son got two gifts that he was very excited about during 2008. He got a pair of ice skates from me for his birthday – but couldn’t use those until our pond froze at Christmas time – and a bowling ball from my parents at Christmas.
This spread celebrates the first use of both of these sports equipment. The left hand page shares the Ice Skates and the right hand side the bowling ball. It was difficult to figure out how to tie these two spreads together, but I didn’t have enough pictures or ephemera to make a full spread for either one.
I started the spread by selecting the black hockey page for the left hand side and then complemented that with the flame page for the bowling side. For some reason the flames reminded me of designs I had seen in bowling alleys from the 80s and 90s, and it reminded me of some bowling shirts that I saw at that time as well.
On the right hand page I used a pair of sharp nosed scissors to carefully cut out some of the flames so that they could overlap the photographs. I also hand painted the bowling ball in the top right hand corner to emulate the color scheme on the bowling ball that my son received from my parents for Christmas. I started with blue paper to do this so that I could layer the other colors on top of it.
To help tie in the left hand page I tore paper to serve as a border for the journalling. The paper colors come from the dominant colors on the right hand page.
2008: Christmas Treasure Hunt
2008: Christmas Treasure Hunt
This is a page that I debated showing on this blog. The reason is that I do not really like how it turned out. I like the concept but I think that I did not choose the right background paper. I am a little strange in that even if I don’t like the way something turned out – I usually do not go back and redo it – mostly because I always have new pages to do.
The story behind this spread is that I bought a Red Rider BB gun for my son for Christmas. I had planned this out ahead of time and our family watched “The Christmas Story” the night before so that we could warn him that “you will shoot your eye out!”
He had been asking for this gift for a long time and I knew that he would recognize the box and know that he was getting this gift. So I wrapped it up and put it under his bed the day before because I knew he would not look there. Then I made a riddle trail for him to follow to find his gift. These pictures are all one step along the path to finding his gift.
I used a Creative Memories Circle cutter to cut the pictures into circles and a slightly larger one to cut the border circles which I brushed lightly with gold paint. I offset the pictures within the borders to add some interest and movement to the page. I used a hole punch to punch the holes in the borders and then thread the ribbon though the border holes to show the path that he had to take to find his gift.
2008: Christmas Dinner
2008: Christmas Dinner
There are many stories behind this spread of our Christmas Dinner in 2008.
Story 1: If you look carefully at the wallpaper in the background who will notice that it is “old lady” roses. When we bought the house I knew that I would need to change out the wallpaper. Not only was it roses – but it was also metallic – which is why I picked the background paper that I did for this spread – metallic and flowery 🙂 . I will share that that awful wallpaper is no longer there – thanks to my mom and dad who helped to strip it all.
Story 2: The tags that you see on the spread are the actual tags that I made for gifts around our tree. Instead of names I just used the first letter of people’s names. In our extended family (not anyone present at this Christmas) there is a tradition of people trying to snoop to figure our their gifts – so a counter tradition was started to try and label the gifts in ways so that only the giver knew what the tags meant so that people could not snoop. When I went back to scrapbook this page I realized that I had left over paper from the letters on the tags – so I used that paper to create the borders for the photographs.
Story 3: Our family grew up in South Africa which has a culture heavily influenced by the British culture. Therefore we always try to have Christmas “Crackers” to pull before Christmas meal – you can see them in the top picture on the left hand side if you look carefully. The “crackers” always have a prize and a hat to wear during the meal. I took the picture at the bottom of the right hand page of my aunt and I thought that she looked like the Queen of England – so I knew I had to put that in the scrapbook. I am sure that she won’t be too pleased that I am sharing this picture with the world! :).
2008: Christmas
2008: Christmas
2008 was the first year that we owned a home and could host the extended family for Christmas so we were very excited. Several of the gifts at this Christmas were wrapped in the burgundy ribbon that you see on this page. I wanted to incorporate the ribbon into the page so I tried several new techniques for me.
The first of which was to border the right and left sides of the spread with the ribbon. I did this by using a punch to put holes along the edge of the paper and then to thread the ribbon through the holes. To hold the ribbon in place I taped the end of the ribbon to the back of the background paper.
The second technique was to border the pictures on the pages in the same manner. If you look carefully at the pictures on the right hand page you will notice that I used the punch and thread technique in very much the same way as the page borders, except that I carried this technique on around the whole picture. In one of the corners I then tied the ends of the ribbon together into a bow.
The third technique – which is much more difficult was to border the pictures on the left hand page in a different way. If you zoom in on the picture above you will see that the ribbon actually goes through the holes in the picture and out and folder over the corner of the picture and then is brought back through the hole to the front side. It was very difficult to get all four corners to work at the same time before I tied the bow on these pictures – but I like the way that it turned out.
The “Merry Christmas” tag and the titling for the page were cut out using my Cricut machine. The larger bow on the right hand side was created by punching two holes closely together and then running the ribbon through the holes to tie the bow.
2008: Getting My Braces
2008: Getting My Braces
This page represents a period of time during which my son had 8 teeth removed and his braces put on.
We found out when he was 10 years old that he was missing some adult teeth and that his adult teeth were not aligned with his baby teeth and so therefore couldn’t push them out. He had to have all of his baby teeth removed, and two of his adult teeth so that the lower and upper teeth would align! The poor kid really had a rough go of it when they pulled out his teeth. In his drug induced state he managed to say some not so nice things to me and afterwards through a full cold shake that I bought for him all over our leather interior car! It is a good thing that I love him. The left hand page chronicles the teeth removal day.
The right hand page shows the first day of braces – he was not really pleased that I was taking all of these pictures during the process – but I thought that he looked hilarious and would enjoy looking at the pictures later. The top left picture on the right hand side is after they put something in his mouth that he didn’t think tasted very good 🙂 .
All of the pictures on this page have borders that I cut with a corner punch. I chose the border color to match the red appliance in his mouth during the braces pictures, and the corner punch was selected because I thought that it looked a little like the braces.
The technique that I am most proud of on this spread is the metal “braces” that I created at the top and bottom of the left page. Here are the steps to create this technique:
- I purposely chose a stiffer cardboard background page to handle this technique.
- I used my Big Bite Crop-A-Dile to punch four holes in the cardboard.
- I then used the same tool to insert metal eyelets into those holes.
- I then inserted metal brads through the eyelets and bend the backs but left room for the metal wire to be wrapped around them.
- I used picture hanging wire and wrapped it once around each brad.
- For the end “braces” I pushed the wire through the eyelet to the back side of the cardboard, and then taped them to the back of the cardboard.
The remaining embellishments from the page were taken from various sticker packs for “trips to the dentist”.
2008: Indiana Ice
2008: Indiana Ice
One of our good friends invited us to go and see an Indiana Ice Hockey game in Indianapolis. My son has always loved Ice Hockey and this was a special treat for him. In fact when he was younger his favorite player was “Grain Wetski” :). our friend bought front row seats right on the glass so we really got to see the action. 
I was able to find Hockey scrapbooking paper on Ebay – which goes to prove that you can find anything on Ebay! The left hand page features pictures of us in our seats at the rink as well as a ticket stub. My son really wanted a picture of the Zamboni so our friend snapped a picture right as it was going by the glass.
I like to use ticket stubs because they often can serve as the “journalling” for the page since they list the event name, date, time and place of the events that we attend. Also notice that I used a corner cutter to round the edges of the photographs to mimic the shape of a ice hockey rink.
On the right hand page I duplicated the corner cutting – but these pictures were taken during the game. I tried something new on this page as well. It may be hard to see in the photograph above, but the pictures are actually underneath a transparent piece of plastic that printing on it. The top and bottom border words as well as the hockey rinks are printed on this and are on top of the pictures. I did this for two reasons – the first being I thought it was cool to try a new technique – and it also makes viewing this page a lot like how we saw the game – through glass. I attached the plastic sheet to the background paper with a type of rivet called eyelets – look carefully in the corners of this page. Since the the eyelets have holes in them you could see through to the back of the next spread – so I cut small pieces of back cardboard and taped them on from behind so that it was not as obvious. I attached the eyelets using my Big Bite Crop-A-Dile.
2008: Walking with Dinosaurs
2008: Walking with Dinosaurs
I must start by apologizing that it has been so long since I have shared anything – between the end of the school year, high school sports, Christmas and the New Year I don’t know where time has gone.
But, lets get to the point – Scrapbooking! One of our adventures in 2008 was to go and see “Walking with Dinosaurs” – not the movie that is now in Theaters – but the live arena show! I shouldn’t have to say that it was an amazing experience – because if it wasn’t I would not have scrapped it! But it is well worth the family adventure to see this show.
For this spread I actually used 4 identical pages of background paper. I used sharp pointed scissors to cut out two of the pages into outlines of the leaves, and then placed them directly on top of the other two pages. I used thick sticky tabs to create some dimension between the leaves and then also slipped some of the pictures between the leaves on the page.
My favorite part of this page is that on the right hand page I cut through both of the background pages so that I could place a “dinosaur eye” that I hand drew behind the leaves so that it peeks out at the viewer. It is more subtle that I thought it would be because I have had a couple of viewers jump when they saw the eye – as it didn’t immediately stand out to them and scared them a bit when they saw it. Which was the look I was going for, but I didn’t expect the effect.
One of the struggles for this page was figuring out how to place the brochure on the page. I decided that I would cut it and put it across both pages. Don’t be afraid to do this on your spreads – but just remember to measure twice and cut once so you don’t ruin your ephemera.
2008: Medieval Times 2
2008: Medieval Times 4
This is the second spread commemorating our visit to Medieval Times (View spread 1). If you have ever been to Medieval Times you will know that every guest sits in a section which cheers on the individual knights. We wore our green shirts because we wanted to be in the Green Knight’s section. The green knight is usually the bad character in the plot – but green is our favorite color so there you go!
To celebrate our greeness this page is covered in green. On the left hand page I placed one of the crowns that you can see us wearing in the pictures above it. I also carefully cut several pictures that I took of the Green Knight’s shield and banners to place on this page. It is important if you do this to use sharp pointed scissors so that you can easily cut the fine details.
We were given small banners as well, and you can see one of these placed at the bottom of the right hand page. I used a corner cutter on all of the pictures, and I like the way it looks when the pictures are placed close together – particularly the four on the right hand page.
I think that this spread showcases an important part of my philosophy of scrapbooking – that the page should not only include photographs from the event itself, but also the ephemera – the items that you have collected at the experience. In this case the crown and the banner.
Here are some other scrapbook pages showcasing other Dinner Theaters that we have been fortunate enough to visit:
- Medieval Times – Buena Park, California
- Pirates Adventure – Buena Park, California
Related articles
- Medieval Times (jennylewellen7.wordpress.com)
- Medieval Times: An Exciting Dinner Adventure! (mommyofamonster.com)
2008: Medieval Times
2008: Medieval Times: 1
We took opportunity to go up to Chicago for a weekend and we made a trip to Medieval Times in Schaumburg, Illinois. Medieval Times is a Dinner theater where there is jousting and other Medieval forms of entertainment.
2008: Medieval Times: 2
I am particularly proud of this spread for several reasons. The first is that the brick looking pattern on the background page I created by hand. I used a marble paper and then used a ruler and a think point black marker to create the brick pattern. The second is the wooden door which opens to reveal some pictures and the program for the event. I used wood grain paper to cover card stock. The hinges and door handle were created using my Cricut machine. I carefully cut the plastic protector sheet over this page to slip the door into so that it could be opened.
2008: Medieval Times: 3
I did a similar thing on the right hand side page with a professional photo that Medieval times took and I purchased. I simply cut a slit in the plastic protector over the page and then slipped the photo cover in so that it could be opened by the viewer.
Come back tomorrow to see another spread from inside the castle, but in the meantime here are some other scrapbook pages showcasing other Dinner Theaters that we have been fortunate enough to visit:
- Medieval Times – Buena Park, California
- Pirates Adventure – Buena Park, California
Related articles
- Medieval Times (jennylewellen7.wordpress.com)
- Medieval Times: An Exciting Dinner Adventure! (mommyofamonster.com)
