Micah's First Year Scrapbook {Part One}

Boys are hard for me on so many levels.
I am struggling with his nursery.
I struggle with his scrapbook pages and just generally trying to make things boyish enough.
To me girls are easy. Can't go wrong with flowers, bows and pink.

Anyway, here is Micah's scrapbook pages through month 3.
I was doing so well in keeping up with his and then we moved.
Now I am so behind again. :(
And let's not even talk about Lo's. :/ Yikes way behind.

{Hospital}

~click on images to see larger~

{Month One}
This is my concept to include all his monthly update posts with his photo-shoots.
{Month Two}

{Month Three}

But I am committed to getting it all caught up by year's end.
To some I am nuts, but these are so important to me to keep up-to-date.

Digital Scrapbooking FAQs

I have had several questions over the last month or so about my digi scapbooking endeavors. And I promised a blog post about it, but have yet to get around to it. Can having a newborn be my excuse for slacking?

I have been digi scrapbooking for 2 years now and love it. I always love looking through others scrapbooks and really wanted to make some of my own, however, I just lacked the motivation and let's face it, I am cheap and didn't really want to invest a ton of money in all the papers and embellishments to really make it look neat.

But that is the beauty of digi scraping once you have the right tools it is all FREE. The only cost involved is printing the pages which is roughly $1.99/pg and when you compare that to the old school scrapping that is a steal of a deal.

So what tools do you need? Basically your photos and a photo editing program. I use Photoshop Elements {PSE} which cost me around $100 for both the Photoshop and Video Editing software programs. I know there are other sites and programs out there that are more or less fancy depending on your needs. But I really like PSE and completely recommend it for the price.

However, it was my friend Erin (I am linking you directly to one of her scrapbooking posts to check out her awesome work!) who introduced me to the world of free digi scrapbooking downloads. She and I joke about how much "junk" we download. It is ridiculous and if she didn't live so far we could share better. :) Regardless, we never buy anything we get all our papers, templates, embellishments etc all for FREE!

Here are most of the sites she and I use: {I hope the links work, if not just copy and paste.}
http://www.digitalscrapbookexperts.com/ This is a "collect a kit" site where each day in your inbox you get a piece of a large kit and by month's in you have the entire kit.

http://www.freedigitalscrapbooking.com/

http://shabbyprincess.com/ --lots of cool stuff and tutorials on how to do things!

http://www.scrapgirls.com/index.htm--this one if you sign up for their newsletter you get a free element everyday. I also get a lot of layout and tip ideas from their letter.

http://www.computerscrapbook.com/free-digital-scrapbooking.html

http://www.scrappingsimply.com/--this site has some templates that are ready to go to use if you want to start there. This is also a good site to print the pages from b/c I think (last I knew) their shipping is $5 flat, other sites are mega expensive to ship.

http://www.deliciousscraps.com/

http://www.simplytiffanystudios.com/ --this one has several tutorials on how to do "cool" editing tricks.

Blogs I use:
http://scrappycocoa.blogspot.com/ --She occasionally will have free stuff and she hosts lots of giveaways (I won one just the other day!). But I get a lot of ideas from her and if you click on her blog roll you will find MORE blogs and other freebie stuff.

http://midnightscrapping.blogspot.com/ --this one has a bunch of free templates.

http://mydreamfulfilled.blogspot.com/ --everything on her blog is free to download. Just go through her old stuff.

http://digitallyinspired.wordpress.com/ --she will find daily freebies for you from other blogs (which you may find you want to follow so you can get their stuff) and post them on her blog.

It really is a treasure hunt of sorts some days and you can really get caught up in downloading stuff rather than scrapping. ;)

Once you have stuff downloaded your next step is to organize, organize, organize. Then you can go crazy scrapping! I highly recommend taking advantage of all those free templates you find because this can cut your scrapbooking time in half.

What do you do with your pages? I save them in both PSD and Hi res JPEG files on my computer. Then once a year I print them all off and put them in scrapbook albums that you can easily find in any store.


Sites to Print from:
All of these sites you can print 12x12 pages for around $1.99 each and the first two sites have a flat $5 shipping rate! But I recommend using the persnickety prints site. I received my pages in 2 days and the quality is beyond amazing compared to the last set I printed from Scrapbooksplease. Still great quality, but just more impressed with the other company.

http://www.persnicketyprints.com/
http://www.scrappingsimply.com/
http://www.scrapbooksplease.com/ (but I thought their shipping was high, but I got nice pages from them).

Well, I hope this helps some of you get started in digi scrapbooking. I am more than willing to answer any questions you have, so ask away and will gladly post answers to the questions for all to learn. But keep in mind-- I don't know everything, I probably don't even know half of all there is to know, but I love learning about it and will do my best to direct you.

I may post some quick tutorials on digi scrapbooking in the future if I can get more than 2 minutes of free time someday. :) Ah the joys of two littles.

Have Fun!

PS if you want to see my work just click on my "scrapbooking" link under the Search Me section. You will see I have come a long way from my first page and learn something new every time I sit down to scrap.

Leighton's Scrapbook pt 6

Here is what we have been up to via scrapbooking pages this Winter and Christmas!

I am getting uber excited to order these pages {I order everything I have around her birthday each year, once again to stay current and cut down on cost} and put them in her book! I probably look through her baby-first year scrapbook every few days. I just love reminiscing on how she has changed.

So enjoy! :)


Another one of my all time favorite pages. That is the little doll I had growing up and it just makes my heart happy that she is so in love with her too! She takes such good care of her, currently no other doll she has {which is a lot} compares to "yellow baby." We even have another one that my mom bid on and won off ebay waiting in the wings when this one takes her last "breathe." I will love knowing that my baby doll "died" in love and no two people could have loved that doll more!

Christmas Eve:

Christmas Morning:
Extended Family Christmases:

Well, this pretty much has me completely "caught-up" for the year {2010}! And the scraping list is already starting for 2011, but I love it! :)

Potty Training Diaries {Scrapbook Edition}

Here are Lo's Potty Training Diaries Scrapbook pages.
{From the only kit I have yet to purchase in all my digi scrapbooking endeavors.}


Potty training has by far been the most frustrating, yet rewarding things I have ever done as a parent.
In some ways we are still "training" because I don't consider her 100% yet. We still have at least a handful of accidents a month. I am learning that she is very sensitive to what is going on around her and if she senses upheaval or major change/stress, she regresses some for a day or two and then we are back in the saddle. So to say I am a little worried about brother coming would be an understatement. Although, after our last regression {i.e. her room renovation} in late November I sensed a huge shift in her thinking about potty training and how she approached it. I wish I could explain it, but I can't and since then we have been pretty much spot on. She is in complete control and command of when she deems she needs to "go." The only thing I am good for is getting her on and off the potty and the occasional wipe job.

Now we have really struggled with putting our poops in the potty, since the last regression. I really couldn't understand it. It was like she knew she had to go, but would put it off or not relax enough on the potty to go, thus an accident. It was so frustrating. For Christmas we got her Big Girl Minnie Mouse panties (not the "training" cloth panties that she had been wearing) and I told her "Minnie does NOT want to be pooped or peed on! It will make her so sad!" And that was it, she starting pooping in the potty from then on out. Now have we had an accident or two, sure, but not like before and this mommy is so thankful! Sort of ticked I didn't think of it sooner, it was my cousin who suggested it.

Over all we are there and I guess have been for awhile, I mean we have been potty "training" for nearly 4/5 months. Some of you may say I should have waited and there would be less accidents or that she is still too young and that is why she still messes up some days. You couldn't be more wrong. I know she gets it. Life is full of accidents and practice makes perfect. I would much rather deal with a few accidents here and there and be 97% potty trained than changing a bunch of diapers all day. Some people just don't give their kids enough credit.

Well, I hope those of you potty training get something from all these posts. {Click on Potty Training Diaries to see "old" posts on the subject}. It will definitely be interesting to see how brother does when it is his turn in 18ish months! ;)

Lo's Scrapbook pt 5

I have said this each and every time, but I am just so gosh darn proud of myself for staying up-to-date on our scrapbooks. I just think Lo will cherish these one day {at least I hope} and I want to be caught up, not scrapbooking her first year of life when she is 16. Sorry mom ;)

Here is just some of what I have done. I am going to have to break it up in a few posts.
First up Fall 2010.
I hope you enjoy looking at these as I do. If not, don't tell me it will hurt my feelings. :)

And as always if you want to read the journalings you will have to click the pictures and enlarge it.

Probably one of my favorite pages ever done!
I even sent this one and the Halloween one to my sister for her to put in Lan's one day scrapbook.

Next up will be Winter/Christmas...except I still have a few Christmas ones to finish up first...I am oh so close, amongst a smattering of other pages. Then Baby Q will be here and I will be off to the races getting his life scraped. But I love it!!

Baby Q's Scrapbook

So a LONG time ago I promised Baby Q's scrapbook. I know you all have just been dying to see it. HA!
Well, your wait is over. ;) I am back at scrapbooking again, trying desperately to stay as "caught up" as I can. And his is as "caught up" as it can be at this point, you know until he arrives...

I blacked out his name, for those of you sneaky ones out there...
::ahem Melissa, Mom::

Leighton's Second Year Scrapbook Pt. 4

Here are my latest (as in now I am behind again) pages in Lo's 2nd year scrapbook. I also am trying to get a "family" scrapbook going, but we (ie Chad and I) are not nearly as scrap worthy as our darling daughter and soon to be son! :)

Because I have to give credit where credit is due, the pictures in the "In My Daughter's Eyes" page were taken by the lovely Ginger Skillen Photography! She is so awesome and I can't wait for her to take our NEW family pictures in late January/early February when our son arrives!! (You know along with newborn and 2 year old pics too! :) ).




I love digi scrapbooking! It becomes quite addicting for me at times. Some of the best part of digi scrapbooking is hunting for all the free downloads. Right Erin?! :) I have paid zero for every element, paper, font, and lettering I use! It is awesome. And sometimes you find really awesome quick pages like this one below and you can do an entire page in 5 minutes verse the 45min OR 2 days that it usually takes me! HA!


FAMILY Scrapbook!

I even have Baby Q's up-to-date, but I will save those for a rainy day. :)