Picture Color Book

So I have been doing so many projects that I haven't had time to tell the world about them!!!  I am so excited for this project---a book to learn your colors--with pictures of you!!!  I made this for my niece, Ellie, who turned one this week.  It's a bit time consuming altering the pictures, but once you get the hang of it--it's awesome and so worth it!!

To see a video on how to pick up only a certain color in Adobe Photoshop and leave the rest black and white click here.  I also recommend checking out this one.  It's not the one I used, but the guy has a ton of awesome Photoshop tutorials and his way of bringing up one color is also pretty easy. 

 

After printing my pictures, I put them into a photo book (I found it at the store for about two dollars), and added some scrapbook letters to title the colors.

 

Black and gray were difficult colors to point out in a black and white photo so I edited them in the free downloadable program Picasa.  If you don't have it--I highly recommend it.  I chose the effect "focal b&w" on the black or gray parts from the picture so a little bit of color is around the black or gray item emphasizing the color.

 

I added the special wording at the beginning and end to add sentimental value.  This would make a great gift for kids and now you can just grab photos from someone's Facebook so you don't even have to ask for pictures!!  It would be cute to do as a combo color and favorites book too (a boy's favorite red car, his special blue blanket, his special brown bear...).

Thanksgiving Layout

This page was starting to be a pain in my side.  I actually started it a while ago and it's sat at my desk for months because I totally hated it! So I finally tore everything off the page and re-did it.  I love it now! It was fun to use this torn edge technique on a scrapbook page.

I made these year titles out of wire that I shaped to form the numbers.  I also made some of the flowers in the page by stacking different flower images (even tags) and adding a little bling to the top.  

For Thanksgiving this last year, we made little hand print turkeys to pass out...They say "Happy Thanksgiving! We are thankful for you!"  I tucked one into the side of the layout so that we could remember it.  I just cut a slit next to an image with an exact-o knife and taped a piece of paper to the back of the page to act as a pocket:

The final result:

Halloween Layout #3

My last Halloween layout! Yea!! Yet, it's only a few months away again!

I was excited about the papers I got to use for my trick-or-treating page, but I also wanted to make the page more fun since it is going in my baby scrapbook!  So I did add some fun googley eyes and made the page a little more lighthearted.  I also, of course, wanted to add a million pictures so I did a couple of basic flip books with just a staple at the top and ribbon wrapped around.  I also added journaling in one of the book flaps since I couldn't figure out where to put it on the main page.

First Blooms

Here's the first collage I made for my blog! How fun! I love learning new techniques in Adobe Photoshop. I used a glow border with the color I picked up from MY FIRST BLOOMS!! I have my first beautiful blueish-purple flowers finally blooming even with all of our California heat!! I also took some pictures of the dwarf boxwood.  I had reluctantly trimmed them back knowing that might spur on new growth and---yea---it worked!! See the lighter colored new branchings!! Woo Hoo!! Today I also picked up some seeds at the store and am excited to plant a few carnations, scallions, and lettuce! I wanted to try starting the seedlings indoors and see how well that goes.  Wish me luck...

Halloween Layout #2

Here is my second Halloween layout for my boys' "first year scrapbook".  Check out my first layout here or scroll through the scrapbook section at the top to see what other scrapbooking I've been doing.  (or if that's not your thing---check out the other tabs as well!!)

 

I felt on these two pumpkin patch layouts, the pictures remind me of the day and there wasn't much journaling to do.  I did write some words on the tabs in the second page to remember all of the different events there though.  I just love taking my kids!  This was our second year and it's such a cool tradition!  Also, this pumpkin patch has an "How Tall This Fall" sign (which as you can see from the picture my son just loved...) and I thought--"ahh that would be awesome to scrapbook throughout the years!!!"  Do you ever feel like you agree to stuff because it would just be awesome to scrapbook.  I think that's why I'm going camping next month...

The picture of the group is me and my family, my sis and her family and our parents.  So fun being able to spend the day with them!  I have to say, I love this scatter method with the pictures. It doesn't thicken my scrapbook up as much as a flip book, but I still get a lot of pictures on my page.  I thought the fun business of the paper went well with the business of the pictures too.  It's so fun to have interaction when you're looking through a scrapbook too, I think anyways!!

 

Stay tuned for their cute costumes and trick or treating!  Ahh...I can't believe Halloween is only three months away... 

Halloween Layout #1

So I got sidetracked from the "typical" baby pages for my boys' baby scrapbook and wanted to start working on their "first holiday" pages! This is my first Halloween layout.  I am planning on doing three.  First: Nehemiah's first year at the pumpkin patch.  Second: Elijah's first year at the pumpkin patch.  Third: combo page of Nehemiah and Elijah's first trick or treating adventure.

Here's a fall out box flip book using tabs:

And one last look at the final layout: