Less is more...

I have discovered the Paperclipping Roundtable podcast recently and have been listening to a few of the episodes which feature guests that are at the forefront of the scrapbooking industry.  It has been a bit of an awakening for me in terms of my scrapbooking.  A lot of the things they are talking about are so relevant - such as reasons why people DON'T scrapbook and what size you should use.  It seems that repeated over and over is the fact that it should be fun!  Myself included, I think often we get hung up on the "pretty" side and forget that it is supposed to be fun, and it is about preserving the memories.
It doesn't matter what size format you choose - pick one that you like!
It doesn't matter if you use the latest products - use things you like!
Interestingly there is a topic on chronological scrapbooking, which is something I'm hung up on.  I don't need to chronological scrapbook in the truest sense of having a pile of photos and scrapping them in the order they were taken (lets face it, I have tonnes of photos that will never see a scrapbook), but I feel that the album pages need to be displayed in the chronological order of time.  As in, in the girls' albums they need to be done in age order - no matter when I do the pages, they need to be included in order that the photo was taken.
Because I started my scrapbooking with Creative Memories, it meant I needed to plan out my whole album before I started.  If you aren't familiar with CM, they seem to encourage scrapbookers to stick directly on the album pages, and once it is completed you are stuck with whatever is on the other side - meaning if you change the order of the pages the back side is being moved too.  When I did Emily's first album I had to go through and sticky note each page so I knew what order each page was, and I could then do the pages in whatever order I liked (just leaving blank pages between)... but there are still things I would now change!  Too bad, it's done.
I am totally in love with the Pebbles Inc album Kaszazz sells.  It is a 3 ring binder style 12x12inch album.  This means that I can do pages in whatever order I want, and later I can go back and rearrange them into whatever order I like (no, I don't think I will ever kick the chronological time habit).  The page protectors are top mount (like a normal page protector/plastic pocket), and they are also available in a 6 6x4inch format to you can simply slip photos into the protectors (or mix and match photos with journalling and any bits and pieces of paperwork and found items).
I don't see myself ever being able to just do a random page and add it to an album knowing that is where it will stay.  If that were the case I would have Emily at 2 mixed with Sophie's birth, mixed with holidays when I was a kid, etc, etc.  For me that doesn't work.  But, I know there are people who really don't care about the order of it.
I guess that's what makes it such a unique craft - we all have our own likes and dislikes, we favour certain colours/styles/brands/designs, and we use them all in a different way.
To what am I trying to get at?  The less you worry about it, the more you will get done and the more accomplished you will feel!

Happy Crafting!

What do YOU do with kids artwork?

Having a child in kinder, not a week goes by that I don't receive a wonderfully colourful original artwork in the form of a HUGE (A1?) butchers' paper.  My fridge is only so big... so I think I remember seeing somewhere someone (Ali Edwards?) had photographed their kids artwork.  What an awesome idea!  This immediately turned an A1(?) painting into a petite 6x4 inch photo, which can be stored easily in an album.  This way I get to keep them all without drowning under a tonne of paper (or possibly not being able to find the fridge behind it all!).
Now, each time Emily comes home with a treasured artwork I get out the camera and snap, it's done.
I think it will be a nice keepsake to show her in years to come - long after the paintings have been given away (or put in the b.i.n).

Please leave a comment to let me know what you do.

All things new...

Yesterday I attended TTD which is where Kaszazz Consultants get together to preview and use the new products for the release.  We were so privileged to have as our guests Karen and Peter Stock - the founders/owners of Kaszazz.  They were very friendly and very nice :)
We were given some very exciting news that Kaszazz has sourced and is in the process of ordering their own manual DIE CUT MACHINE!!!  According to the source (and you can't get a much better source than the owners of the company!) it will be A4 format (unlike the Cuttlebug and others which are 6 inch) to be able to cut large dies to use on scrapbooking layouts (yay!), it will accept all other branded dies (which considering my collection of Cuttlebug dies, I think that is awesome!!!), and will be the most competitively priced die cut machine on the market.  If you are considering buying one - WAIT!  It is expected to be released in the next couple of months, and will only be available through Kaszazz.

Here is the new paper range:

They all look lovely matched with the bright SB Essentials cardstock.  And you will notice hanging in the middle is sticky pearls! This was one thing Kaszazz hasn't had until now.  74 pearls in 3 sizes for $3.95 - pretty good value!
I also entered a project for the challenge - which was to use one of the "Australian" pre-release stamps on any project, and I came up with this:

I won 3rd place for my little froggy box (which has 8 Freddo's inside).

I do have new product fliers, so if you would like one sent to you, just email me!  Alternately, you can come to my house and see them all in person this Saturday - email for details.

Happy Crafting!

Page Maps Card Sketch

I have been playing around with one of the new Tim Holtz distress ink colours - Stormy Sky.  In all honesty it is very much the same as Faded Jeans, just with a more grey feel.  I'd punched some scallop circles from vellum and gave them a swipe with the ink blending tool in Stormy Sky, then I spritzed each with a mixture of blue Perfect Pearls in water.  This made the vellum crinkle up but when it was almost dry I folded them up and it gave it a nice texture - not to mention the shine!!  This flower then became the basis of my card, using the Page Maps Sketch.

Here is what I came up with:

For more info check out the Page Maps blog HERE.

Happy Crafting.

Giveaway + Sneak Peek

Just a quick post to say thank you and congrats to Michelle S.  Please email me at rachel.witthaus@gmail.com with your address and I'll pop a present in the post for you.  I really appreciate it when people take the time to comment - something I'm guilty of not always doing.

Lastly, I have a sneak peek at the new Kaszazz release happening this coming weekend "Funky Blooms":

What do you think?  Good?  Bad?  Cool?  Average?  I'm a bit unsure at this stage but I still can't wait for the big reveal!  The colours in the paper range should match perfectly with the new SB essentials cardstock colours.  I use the cardstock as the base of 99% of my pages, and at 95c per 12x12 sheet, you can't really get better than that!

Happy Anniversary

... to my wonderful parents.  Yesterday marked their 49th wedding anniversary, and tonight we are having dinner with them.  I was asked by my sister if I had any cards she could get off me, and sadly I didn't so I made up 3 so she could choose one.  Apologies in advance because I took these photos last night with my iPhone hence the bad light and not so great quality.

Option 1:

Option 2:

Option 3:

So, now it's your turn.  Which do you like the best?  Please comment below and I will do a giveaway to a random person who takes the time to do so.

Happy Crafting!

Off The Page

I thought I would share with you a cute little album I made for a friend of mine.  I got the instructions from SplitCoastStampers in a tutorial by Beate Johns and they call it a Squash Book.  I had seen one a few years ago that a teacher friend of mine had made and I had always wanted to get around to making one, so when I came across the instructions I had no excuse!

This is what it looks like closed:

Here is one side opened:

And the other side opened:

All materials from Kaszazz.

It folds up something like an accordion, and you can flip through it without stretching it right out.  Apologies for the bad lighting - it is all black and white but the photos are showing some variations.

Now for a sneak peek.  This one is not quite finished yet - the project is made but it still needs a lot of embellishing:

Until next time,
Happy Crafting!