Preserving Old Newspaper Clippings

Hi Friends! I had my fist day of Jury duty today, I got picked for a civil case in February but I have to report back on Friday to go back in the juror pool for potentially more cases. I am having some anxiety, I  don’t mind being on a civil case but I have a really hard time listing to crime, I can’t even watch crime shows, my stomach is in knots about it. And to add insult to injury they will not let you knit in the court room or bring in a cup of coffee. On the plus side I did make a new friend today, a fellow knitter who works at a yarn shop I didn’t know about. I might check out their Wednesday night knitting club. See, you gotta stay optimistic and look for the silver lining. On to more pleasant things I made my dad the perfect Christmas gift this year, a scrapbook of scanned newspaper articles about his side of the family:

I was a bit overwhelmed when I started this project but I printed out pages as I scanned them so I had something to show for my work, also that way if I did not get everything done at least I had something done but I did manage to scan all of the important stuff. I scanned the clippings at 600dpi and printed them larger so they would be easy to read. I used the curves/levels tool in Paint Shop Pro to reduce the yellow and increase the contrast making them look newer. If you do not have Paint Shop or Photoshop try GIMP it is free and works really well. That’s it for me tonight. The jury selection really tired me out (probably the stressing that I would be put on some horrible criminal case was most of it) so I am going to relax with some tea and TV. Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!

My First Time Working With a Scrapbook Kit!

Hi Friends! Do you ever get in a creative rut? Maybe you have trouble coming up with fresh new ideas with the same old supplies. I go quite a while between buying scrapbook supplies and stores where I live never have the new stuff so when Edith at Scrapbooking With Me Boutique asked me to be the guest designer for September and use the new kit I jumped at the chance. BTW they are having a Labor Day sale through Monday, prices reflect the discount, no coded needed:) Here is the layout I made with the kit featuring new 2014 My Minds Eye Paper and die cuts, stamps, stencils and more:

On the video I will show you all the techniques for making these pages, we will make a page start to finish using the contents of the kit plus white cardstock, adhesive and 4 colors of gelatos from my stash:

Here is a close up on the page we made in the video:

And the other page:

If you are looking for a way to inject some fresh inspiration into your scrapbook pages check out the Scrapbooking with Me September kit. You can also visit their facebook group too or check out their store in Vinemont, Alabama. Here is a look at what you get in the September kit:

 

These scrapbook pages came together really quickly (for me) and I love the way they look! No work, all fun. I think I will have to try kits again and I hope you do to! Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!