On to the Christmas Photos!

I finally got to some winter photos! This first page shows our after Christmas Boxing Day celebration where a few friends came over to play. I actually got seven photos on this page, however three were cut up or cut apart.


The next two pages are a little photo story showing the kids doing their holiday baking. We were making stained glass cookies - several batches of stained glass cookies. So many batches that it is March, and we still have some in the refrigerator. I think these two pages turned out super cute! I used the poinsettias and vellum quotes that I received in two recent swaps from the S2L team on Sparkpeople. I also used the die-cut embellishments I recently purchased. I love, love, love the way the swirls and curlicues look on these pages!!!

Yet More Summer Photos

At a local summer festival my girls got their dancing shoes on to the tunes of a local band. They started dancing in front of the stage. Before long, they were ON the stage. I didn't know whether to be embarrassed, proud or jealous!

Hard to tell by the photo, but my layout is actually a deep pink and mint green. I used some of my new products here - the metallic hearts, the chipboard flowers and the rub on stitches. The transparent frame for the girls' faces is by Colorbok. I bought a package of them a few months back, but this is the first one I've used. I really like the effect.

New Toys!

My latest trip to my LSS yielded a few goodies that I can't wait to use. Pictured below are (from left) chipboard borders (Melange by Creative Imaginations), die cut chipboard and sticker paper (Adorn It by Carolee's Creations), silver metallic hearts (Metals, Mark Richards), and a package of 55 chipboard flowers and leaves (Making Memories). I got a package of rub on stitches by Kaiser Scrapbook, too, but apparently I forgot to get them in the picture. I had a half price coupon and a couple of the items were on a clearance rack, so I only spent $10! Fab!

Summer Was Busier Than I Thought.

I just finished three pages documenting yet another local summer festival. I was really struggling with a layout because most of the photos were of the kids playing in large inflatable slides and such. The photos were pretty colorful, so I decided to just go with a mix of candy colors. I like the title page best. The other two have a more desperate feel. I did use a button, brad and the bright pink brackets I got as part of my S2L Themed Embellishment Swap! I really like the felt brackets. I need to get some more of those. And, Becky, I used my glitter glue!

More Summertime Photos!

These three pages are from a gathering at a nearby canoe camp. We met with some friends from work for a relaxing day of swimming and fishing. Well...mostly swimming. My friend showed off her prowess as a campfire cook. I swear there's nothing she can't cook over a bunch of hot coals! I used some word stickers that I purchased not too long ago. I think I went a little overboard with them. To fill up the last page I created a campfire out of scrap paper. I also used large coordinating metal brads on each page.

Summertime!

So I'm still catching up on photos from last summer. I really think it's a losing battle at this point, but I'll trudge on. This first layout is from a local festival. It is a big collage of magazine clippings and photos with some stamps, doodles and metallic dots thrown in for good measure. The highlights of the evening were the grape ice cream and recording artists Joey and Rory taking the stage!



This second layout depicts a girls' night at a friend's house. I was inspired by the flower that my daughter made a couple of nights before when she was playing with my supplies (she's 8). Her flower perfectly matched the fresh mango margaritas we whipped up that evening. The strawberry ones were good, too! Oh, and this is the layout I used the infamous photo corner brads. As you see, they are crooked. Grrrrr.

Product Review - Photo Corner Brads

I recently picked up a clearance marked package of photo corner brads. These were "Spare Parts" by The Paper Studio, a line specifically marketed at Hobby Lobby Stores. I thought they were cute and colorful - bright pink, yellow and green - and would add some interest to my layouts. I finally got around to using some of them yesterday.

I was really disappointed with this product. Take another look at my photo. Because the prongs are short and are positioned on the edges of the brad I found the brads really difficult to use. First, I had a hard time figuring out the placement of the brad. Then, I had to make two incisions into my paper instead one. Finally, when I was done, because the prongs were kind of pulling against each other, I had a hole twice the size of the prong visible on my layout. I was not happy.

I took the brad out and thought about trying to reposition it, but was afraid I'd do irreparable damage to my photo. In the end, I bent the prongs until they popped off, and then I just stuck the brad to my page with some sticky dots. I used four of these photo corners on my layout, pulling the prongs off each one before use. What's worse? They look okay, but they don't really "pop" off the page like I hoped they would - no more so than paper photo corners would, and paper corners would have been a heck of a lot easier and cheaper!

I checked Hobby Lobby's website and found more of photo corner brads, although most of them have prongs in the center of the brad, not off the edges like those that I purchased. Their design does look a little easier to use (one hole vs. two). I might like to try them one day, but I'm in no rush.

Enjoyment? None
Frustration? High
Enhanced Layout? Not enough to outweigh frustration level
Purchase Again? Not those same brads.