Scrap the Boys - October challenge

The challenge at Scrap the Boys this month was a sketch, it really played to my 'white space' style of scrapbooking.
I chose some photos of the boys from a few years ago doing what boys do together in the back yard. Using just a few embellishment's and some stencils and paint and let the photos take centre stage.

Head on over to the blog and check out the sketch and all the inspiring design girls creations.


Thanks for visiting
Lis :)

Scrap the Boys Challenge - July

This month over at Scrap the Boys blog the inspiration is "Take me to the Ocean". Ive gone a little different than most probably will and not used photos of my boys at the beach. With our house for the last three years having had a pool we hardly ever went to the beach, just chilled out at home.
My hubby learnt to scuba dive over 20 years ago, and one day when he was cleaning all his gear the two older boys (Jay was a little young and with his medical issues couldn't just yet) asked if they could learn.
John decided that the pool was the perfect place to teach them where he could watch over them and they would be safe.

I have used up some old scrap papers and lots of little bits and pieces in a simple style, I didn't want to add alot, letting the photos and journaling be the focus.

Thanks for visiting
Lis :)

Jot Mood Board Challenge - July

A Bright sunny mood board this month from the Jot Girls had me instantly reaching for all my yellow products. The day I sat down to scrap was dreary and rainy so this brought a little bit of sunshine to the day.
I chose a selfie that we took the day I met Kayla for the first time, she is so bright and bubbly it felt right.
My usual paint splatter and little bits and pieces of yellow that I found within my stash for a simple white space layout.

Head on over to the Jot Blog to check out the mood board as well as lots of inspiration from the team.


Thanks for visiting
Lis :)

Scrapbook Albums

When I was first introduced to scrapbooking it was just so I could have a nice way to keep all of the boys school things. All the pages went into those display folders you could pick up anywhere.
It wasn't long before it became an obsession and I was scrapping anything I could think of. I did start of with 12x12 albums but soon changed to the smaller 81/2 x 11 size then A4. I had all number of different albums scattered where ever they would fit, in lots of different themes.

See all those years ago I decided that having separate albums for each family member and then separating them even more to have albums for sport, school, birthdays, Christmas etc. Getting a headache yet? It was only this year over 15 years since I started scrapbooking that I decided this wasn't working for me.
So what do you do when you don't like something, you change it right? I went about pulling every single layout I had ever done out of their current albums.

I could never of realised that something I thought so simple would be such a huge job. It took me a whole day just to do that, then came the sorting. All layouts were then sorted into years and then months, and if I thought taking the layouts out of albums was a huge job, then this next step was like climbing Mt Everest.
It took many days to get all layouts sorted and to be able to use my kitchen table again. By this stage I was a bit over it and thought why did I ever decide to do this.
I kept at it though, which pleased the family, there wasn't layouts laying around on every surface. Eventually I had all layouts in new albums sorted by year and months. I'm going to suggest to you all that you ALWAYS date your layouts with month and year, I didn't always do this which made the sorting really hard. Luckily I have a good memory and photos sorted on my PC!!

After many weeks I was done and all my layouts were now chronological, each year having its own album (or two in some cases) and I even had spare albums.
It then took a few more weeks before each of the albums got their own little tag saying which year it was. Now that its all done and I look back at all the work it took I'm glad I went to the effort.

How do you store your layouts, do you theme them or go chronological like I've done?


Thanks for visiting
Lis :)

Baby scrapbook album

It only took a year but finally I have made a start on my little grandsons scrapbook album. I'm not even sure why I kept putting it of, its not like boy layouts are strange to me.
Chayse is such a joy to photograph, he has the cutest smile and is always happy it was hard to work out what photos to add to the album.

I had already decided that I would do mainly pocket pages for his album, but needed to do a front page just to introduce him. I used a blue and teal colour theme and lots of little embellishments I've added to my collection over the last year.
The photos are all from his first day in hospital taken by the professional photographer. If I had realised how much fun it was going to be scrapping these I would of started much earlier.

Its amazing to think that our little monkey was this little just a year ago, the time really has flown.


Thanks for visiting
Lis :)

Scrapbook embellishments

I'm about ready to start scrapping my grandsons first album and gathering together supplies I realised I didn't have many embellishments that would suit. I had recently made some embellishments for my own album and had some left over kraft circles.
I covered all the circles in pattern paper and added some cute little images I cut out of a calendar and some more I found looking thru my stash. They look so much cuter than say just sticking an arrow or car on a page.

While I was at it I decided to make a few personalized ones too. I traced around some chipboard alphabet and then poked holes and then used a simple back stitch to complete the look. These could be used for any pages not just a little bubbas.

Do you make your own embellishments ?



Thanks for visiting
Lis :)

Jot Mood Board March Challenge

For a mum of three boys who hates having her photo taken I sure seem to be scrapbooking alot of girly pages lately! Most of them have been for the Jot Mood Board challenge, like this month the mood boards have been so pretty.
It wouldn't be a layout of mine without a little paint splattered somewhere on the page. Ive kept it pretty simple just adding a few paper scraps and some cut out flowers.

Have you seen the Jot Mood Boards yet? head over to the blog and check them out, truly inspiring.


Thanks for visiting
Lis :)

Crochet embellishments

My plans to scrapbook alot more this year are all going great and Ive got quite a few pages done. I'm using up alot of my stash in doing so and needed some new embellishments. Not having any spare cash I decided to have a go at making some. I was inspired by the tags I made last year to make these cute little crochet circles.
Plain kraft circles which you can make any size you want but I went with 4cm one and then punched holes all the way around and did a simple chain stitch around. On my tags I did a scallop stitch as well but left these ones plain so I could use on boy pages too.
I just added some flowers, animals and shapes to finish the look.

These were so simple to make, I will be definitely making some more.



Thanks for visiting
Lis :)

Jot Mood Board - February

The February Mood Board at Jot was beautiful this month and certainly inspired me to want to create. I loved the colours and that was what I based my layout on adding just a few pretty tiny flowers to create a beautiful reminder of lovely friends I made through my sons football.

Do you want to play along too or just check out all the wonderful inspiration, then head over to their blog.

Thanks for visiting.
Lis :)

Scrap the boys - February

I am really getting back into the swing of regular scrapbooking and really enjoying the time to just sit and be creative.
I played along with Scrap the boys again this month and put my own look to the awesome sketch provided by their design team girls.

I found an old photo of my hubby and his mates from 1993 - don't you just love their style - and got to creating. I loved this sketch and found it easy to make it my own.
I'm keeping this one to use again!

Want to play along too? Head over to the blog and check out all the amazing design team creations.


Thanks for visiting
Lis :)

Scrap the Boys - January

My second layout for the year this time I played along with Scrap the Boys and their mood board challenge for January.
I struggled a bit with the colours in this one, I'm a bit traditional with my boy layouts being that they should be only boy colours and such. The purple thru me for awhile until I had a little chat with myself and said its inspiration only just got with what you feel.
In saying that I did add some purple but still feel that it has kept its masculine feel too. The layout all about my hubby's new huge lens he got and his experimenting with it.

Interested in checking out this months challenge or just wanting some inspiration then head on over to their blog.

Thanks for visiting
Lis :)

The beginning

I am determined to scrap more this year, I'm way behind with my photos and need to catch up. Ive started the year of with the Jot Mood Board.
It was a beautiful board this month with teals and browns, I picked out this photo from a few years ago when my son and his fiancee hadn't been dating long.
Just kept it nice and simple, which is fast becoming my new style with lots of scrap paper and embellishments I had in my stash.

If you want to play along head on over to the blog  and check out the mood board for this month, lots of inspiration in past months too.

Thanks for visiting
Lis :)

Jot Mood Board Challenge - November

This month the Jot Mood Board challenge was a beautiful mix of pinks and yellows I'm not usually a girly scrapper being the mum of all boys but I had fun doing something different for a change.
This layout was taken on a girls weekend with a lovely bunch of ladies who I met through scrapbooking. Adele really is a beautiful soul and just the loveliest person.

Head on over to the blog and check out this months board as wells previous months, lots of inspiration!

Thanks for visiting
Lis :)

Scrap the Boys - November

The challenge at Scrap the Boys this month was all about food. Having 3 sons this was the perfect challenge, food has been a major part of their lives. How much could each one eat, who eats the most, and fighting over food at meal times.
The grocery shopping has always been a major expense but on the upside I very rarely have leftovers or have to throw away food!

This layout shows exactly how much Dan can eat. He had spent all night in the emergency room with internal injuries having test after test and was finally admitted. The next day after already having eaten two hospital meals he had us go and get him take away because he was "starving".

For a look at the STB challenges or to check out the amazing inspiration created by the design team head on over to the blog and check it out.


Thanks for visiting
Lis :)

Jot Mood Board - October

This months Jot Mood board challenge perfect for my style of scrapbooking, I really enjoyed putting this layout together.
Very simple with water colour paint and the photo being the two main elements, a few embellishments and some doodled circles.
This photo taken of Jay about to head into senior years of high school and he had his head int he right place and knew exactly what he wanted and where he wanted to be.

Head on over and check out all the different mood boards or the amazing talent on show on the Jot Magazine blog. You will be sure to find plenty of inspiration.

Thanks for visiting
Lis :)

Scrap the Boys - October challenge

Playing along again this month with Scrap the Boys challenge, this time around it was a cool mood board to take inspiration from.
I found a really old photo of my man with his best mate and thought it was perfect for this challenge. Kraft background with  lots of bits and pieces from my stash and a splatter of paint to finish.

If you want to check out the Mood Board or have a look at other challenges then head on over to the Scrap the Boys blog and grab some inspiration.


Thanks for visiting
Lis :)

Scrapbooking those family moments

Getting back into scrapbooking with the challenges I did last month motivated me to keep going. I finally got  the last of the photos from our trip home to Tassie done.
Love these photos of my big boy then 17 interacting with his younger cousins, they adored him and I think the feeling was mutual.

You may not be able to read the journaling in the layout above but my 17 yr old son did sit in a public place and share his ipod earphones with his 8 yr old niece and sing Taylor Swift out loud!!
The layout below is all about the funniest game of monopoly I have ever seen. The boys playing with Nan and Pa with two players who don't like loosing and one who lost and interest and cheated to end the game.
Family times are fun!!

Thanks for visiting
Lis :)

Jot Mood Board - September

The motivation to scrapbook hasn't disappeared yet so I took full advantage and had a go at the Jot Mood Board challenge. This month an  amazing board created by Mardi Winen that had me thinking pretty pinks and blues and butterfly's.
I had this lovely picture of my mum from when we were home last that I hadn't yet scrapped and it fitted in with what I wanted to do perfectly.

Have you checked out Jot Mood Board challenges? If not why don't you head on over to the blog and browse through past mood boards and lots of amazing inspiration.


Thanks for visiting
Lis :)

Scrap the Boys - Crazy for Cars

Had a ton of fun playing along with Scrap the Boys again this month. They supplied an awesome sketch for us to get inspired by.
As with last month the paints and stamps got plenty of use, this time mixing it up with some colour and rubons. Such cute photos of my nephew from a few years ago when he came to visit.

Be sure to go and check out the challenges every month, you can find them here.

Thanks for visiting
Lis :)

Scrap the Boys - May

 This months challenge over at Scrap the Boys was a graphic image that was perfect for my older boys. I kept the colours in the layout mainly black and white to fit the image and used lots of stamps and some rubons I've had for ages. Using a photo of my youngest taken a few years ago just chilling against a graffiti wall.

 Check out the current challenge and any past or future ones over on their blog.

Thanks for visiting
Lis :)