Category: scrapbook pages

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Watercolor with Lindy’s Magicals

Genevieve Speegle

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Ok. This is my new favorite way to scrapbook. I remember watching several YouTube videos about Lindy’s Gang shakers and I thinking, “THAT is how all these cool mixed media pages look like that. Holy smokes.” (that was my actual interior dialogue).

I bought this ten pack on Amazon last week to try them out:

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And my life has changed forever.

Here are some more pages I made this week using the shakers and just some water spray…

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1

Literally just shake them onto your paper and spray with water. I didn’t even need a paintbrush.

For the bright purple color in the first layout, I also added Dylusions ink sprays to make the color bolder. I found that if the paper was wet enough, they blended really well with the powder pinks from Lindy’s Gang.

Hope these pages inspire you to get messy! Please let me know if you’d like a video tutorial as well. I’m super excited about my new-found artistry!

Happy crafting!

baby pages, boy scrapbook pages, scrapbook ideas, scrapbook pages, scrapbooking

Cookie Monster on the Loose

Genevieve Speegle

cookie monster scrapbook layout

Messy babies must be photographed! It’s some kind of unspoken rule. Here is my little Henry, covered in sea salt chocolate chip cookies. YUM!

Cookie face!
Cookie face!

For this layout, I used Basic Grey’s Ambrosia paper line. I liked mixing a pop of bright teal with the stressed, grungy look of the orange and red paper collection. This is a quick, simple layout style that can easily be used for any occasion.

Feel free to use this design in your own layouts. Thanks for stopping by, and happy crafting!

xoxo

Genevieve

boy scrapbook pages, scrapbook pages, scrapbooking

My Little Pumpkin Turns One

Genevieve Speegle

Pumpkin Patch Birthday Party

On evenings when my little guy, Henry, decides to sleep well, I enjoy the occasional paper piecing. Granted, they make the scrapbook layout-making process much longer (this double-page layout took me a little over 2 hours), however, I am always so pleased with the results.

I used the Miss Kate Cuttables Pumpkins in Wagon SVG for my Cricut. I originally incorporated the eight layer pumpkins into my invitations, and then realized how perfect they would be on the scrapbook page as well. I used the invitation as my main embellishment, since it already contained all the party details.

Paper piecing party invitation

We had Henry’s birthday at the Country Mercantile pumpkin patch, so it was perfect!

Eight layer pumpkins from Miss Kate Cuttables

My little pumpkin

Would you love to have a fantastic scrapbook, but don’t have the time to make one? Please feel free to contact me regarding prices for custom scrapbook pages. Also, I have several ready-made pages available on my Etsy shop. Each is lovingly handmade with lots of fun 3D details. Simply add photos and enjoy for years to come!

Thanks so much for stopping by, and happy crafting!

xoxo

Genevieve

boy scrapbook pages, diy, photography, scrapbook pages

How to Photograph Scrapbook Layouts Using an iPhone

Genevieve Speegle

Scrapbook Pictures

Great product photos are everything – whether you are using them on a blog, for sales, or to have your images re-pinned on Pinterest.

I am always looking to sharpen my skills. With a tight camera and lighting budget, I have to make do with what I have.

Below are some tips for using your iPhone to best show off your scrapbooking works of art. I used an iPhone 5s for these layouts.

Carrots - after

1. Purchase a large white poster board from the craft store (around $1.00). It helps to clear the background in the pictures and provide a nice, neutral base. I like to use the shiny side too, in order to get the most out of my available light source.

2. Choose your poster board position carefully. As you can see, I like to have mine next to my craft room window. I also used a standing OTT light to the right, to help balance the light (you don’t want a lot of shadows).

Here is the view of my "photo studio" wall.
Here is the view of my “photo studio” wall.

3. Stick a piece of tape behind the layout and affix it to the board.

4. Take the photo using some kind of stabilizing structure. I don’t have a tri-pod, so I usually use my desk with a box on it to help hold the phone steady. Take several pictures so you can choose the best one.

5. I then clean up the image using either www.fotoflexer.com (a free site) or Afterlight (a $.99 app). You can use these to play with shadows and lighting, crop and rotate, etc. I also use Photoshop Elements 5.0 at the very end to add white paint to the background, making it as bright as possible.

Before and after editing my pictures.
Before and after editing my pictures.

That’s it! Now you can save and share your masterpieces!

With these tips, you can make sure your artwork is the focus - not a messy background.
With these tips, you can make sure your artwork is the focus – not a messy background.

carrots - mustache

family pages, scrapbook ideas, scrapbook pages

Adventures in Family Photo Taking

Genevieve Speegle

pics 2

Ahhhhh, the good ol’ family photo. Priceless memories to frame and enjoy for generations. We conveniently forget about all the craziness that takes place behind the scenes in order to get that perfect group picture.
Here’s a little song I wrote, inspired by our last family photo shoot (sung to the 12 Days of Christmas):

On the 12th round of photos with my family and me –
*12 minutes late
*11 blurry pictures
*10 baby tears
*9 lost socks
*8 extra diapers
*7 timeouts given
*6 broken props
*5 outfit changes
*4 expired coupons
*3 cars to get there
*2 kids under two
and a perfect family photo for our wall.

We get to pick them up a week later, which is just about the right amount of time to recover from the afternoon’s adventure. 🙂

pics 1

book club, dcwv layouts, die cuts with a view, dresses, fabulous, glitter, hats, ladies, literary lushes, paper crafting, purple, retro women, scrapbook layouts, scrapbook pages

Book Club – My Fabulous Literary Lushes

Genevieve Speegle
I am part of an absolutely fabulous book club (appropriately named) “Literary Lushes”.
We meet about once a month to discuss amazing books and drink high-end wine.
I love it.  These ladies are some of the most wonderful women that I’ve ever met (including my dear mother-in-law).
When I found this paper in one of the new DCWV stacks, I knew it was perfect for my book club photos.

The paper was pretty perfect on its own, but I jazzed it up a bit with pearl earrings and bling-dazzling jewelery.  I also matted the page with black and pink glitter card stock.  I topped the layout off with some retro-inspired crystal brads.

xoxo
Genevieve
gen's scrapbook kitchen, girl layouts, layout ideas, paper crafting, pink paisley pages, prima pages, scrapbook pages, shabby chic layouts, summer scrapbook pages, swimming

Layout Love

Genevieve Speegle
Sometimes I get so into “card making” mode that I forget how much fun it can be to make a scrapbook page!
I’ve re-discovered my love for scrapbooking recently (my first love when it comes to paper crafting).
This season’s adorable paper lines and embellishments have really made crafting a breeze!

Another thing I love about making pages is that I can use lots of my embellishments. 
I love decorating my pages with flowers, bling, rub-ons…basically whatever I can get my hands on.  🙂

I really love this layout.  I’m really into banners right now, and I tend to use them everywhere. 
I love the ginham print on the paper and the collage feel.

Shabby chic layouts are so much fun to make. 
You really get the opportunity to use lots of fun goodies, from yarn to resin!

Be sure to stop by my Etsy shop and check out all the handmade layouts I have available!
Thanks so much!
xoxo
Gen
boy scrapbook pages, buttons, cousins, daisy d's layout, little monkeys, orange, personality, recollections layouts, scrapbook ideas, scrapbook pages

Two Little Monkeys, Jumping in a Box

Genevieve Speegle
I really like this picture (I think the charm of my lovely, lovely son picking his nose and his cousin covering his eyes when I brought out the camera really reveals their personalities) and had lots of fun with this layout. 
These boys are very colorful characters and I wanted to capture that with a bright layout.  I used lots of paper from the Recollections Monkeying Around line that I picked up from Michaels.
 
I was in a mood to embellish, so that’s just what I did! 
I added some stitching around the round “patches” of paper and the little monkeys chipboard title.  I also added lots of hand-sewn buttons and some brads.  The picture is framed with a happy Daisy D’s rub-on.
antique frames, bed and breakfast, flowers, graphic 45 layouts, paper crafting, prima, relaxing getaways, scrapbook pages, seven wives inn, st george, vintage images

B&B for some R&R

Genevieve Speegle
7 Wives Inn Bed & Breakfast (photographed here with our innkeeper Vanessa)
Nothing says relaxing getaway like a former polygamist hideout, right? 
Mike and I have been working like maniacs the last few months and needed to get out of town for a few days.  In Vegas, the only place driving distance is St. George (unless you want to travel all the way to Universal Studios ~ my hubby’s vote!)
St. George it is! 
When we started looking on-line, we stumbled across a place called Seven Wives Inn.  Soooooo funny (and creepy).  Neither of us had stayed in a B&B ever before, but you can’t resist a name like that right?!
When we got there, we couldn’t believe how sweet the place was.  Tucked away in a quaint neighborhood, it was like something from a movie (not at all creepy.  We had joked on the drive there that it might be like Dwight’s beet farm B&B on The Office.  1 in 6.)
Old time squeaky floorboards, white Vintage door handles, old fashioned car bathtubs ~ it was all here!  Each room even had a framed biography of one of the wives!
Our innkeeper, Vanessa, was amazing and we had so much fun hangin’ out with her (she’s pictured by the sign in my layout).  I can’t wait to go back!  Next time we go out of town anywhere, we will make sure to check for the bed and breakfast options first!

I loved working on this layout!  I used my favorite Graphic 45 line, Domestic Goddess.  I did a lot of hand cutting (fork and spoon, stamp, fruit strips) and then just embellished like crazy!