Smash Book Challenge Continued...

Smash Book Challenge Continued...

I'm still plugging away at my Smash Book Challenge amongst lots of other craftiness.  Here's the latest pages in the book!!

There's a lot going on with my business, new photos and more.  You can check it out here!!

http://www.madeforyouscrapbooks.etsy.com

Smash book challenge

Smash Book Challenge

I have decided this summer to finally start and hopefully complete this Smash book that I've had for MANY years.  I could never find the right project to create it for.  Finally, I have found something that I think will be creative, fun, and inspiring. I have so many quotes and sayings that I love so I thought that a perfect project was to combine them all in one book with a little bit of pizazz of scrapbooking.  So, here is the newly create cover and some of the pages within.  I hope you enjoy and there will be more posts until I complete it.  Enjoy, and let me know your thoughts!!

You can also check out my Etsy shop for more creative scrapbooking projects to purchase at:

madeforyouscrapbooks.etsy.com

How I scrapbook

How I scrapbook my Kids' Scrapbooks

I'm not for sure in the beginning, when I first started scrapbooking, why I chose to do binders.  I am glad I did though!!  Things can just continue for years and I get a chance to do something different on the front, back, and side of each album.  It's kind of like creating your own story book!

This is the front of my son's scrapbook album.  It is a 8 1/2 by 11 binder.  I think it is a 3 inch binder.  I only purchase the binders that have the window on the front, back, and sides so that I can decorate it myself.  I choose one of my favorite photos from inside that album and showcase it on the front.

Here is a few of the pages within this scrapbook album.  It is in chronological order. This son has 15 of these albums right now, and he's 18!!  I just created layouts for the photos I want and just keep putting them in an album until no more will fit, then I start a new one.

I hope you enjoyed this particular scrapbook album!!  I have done many different sizes, themes, and just a lot of scrapbooking things.  It is truly what I love to do!!  And I love sharing it with you!!!

Decoupage Memory Box

Beyond the Scrapbook

I have done other projects besides scrapbook albums using scrapbooking supplies.

One of these projects was a memory box that my son built at Home Depo.  We used to go to Home Depo every month for their Kids Workshop.  My kids would build all kinds of things from bird houses to pencil boxes and more.  We did this for years!

One month they built these memory boxes that I just thought were the cutest things.  I had this great idea to "scrapbook it."

What do I mean by that?

Well, I used decoupage glue and glued decorative scrapbooking paper to each of the sides of the box. You spread the decoupage glue all over the surface, place your cut-to-size paper on it and then decoupage glue over top of the paper.  This gives it a glazed top.

Before I glued the paper, though, I took brown ink and inked all the edges of the box and of the paper.  I did this to give it an antique look.

Here is the finished product!!  My son loves it even though it has flowers on it.  I think he likes it so much because he and I made it together!!  

Great family times together!!

Custom Made Scrapbook Albums

Custom Made Scrapbook Albums

I thought today that I would share with you a few of the custom made scrapbook albums I have made over the years.  People contact me through craigslist, facebook, pinterest, Ebay, craftshows, Etsy or just by being acquaintances.  I sit down with them and together we come up with a plan to give them exactly what they want at a decent price.  Of course, prices vary based on the size of the album, number of pages, and amount of detail put on the pages.

Here is a boy themed scrapbook album that I made for an aquaintance at the gym that I am a member.  She wanted an album to put all of her grandsons photos in.  So, together we came up with this album!!

This is an album that I made for a neighbor for her father for Father's Day!!  My neighbor and her mother filled it with family photos including his father who has recently passed!!  Very emotional gift!!

This album was made for a lady who wanted to give a friend a scrapbook for her wedding.  So we discussed the colors of the wedding, and I was able to match all the colors and she had a wonderful, one-of-a-kind gift!!

This is an album that I made for a lady who just wanted a fun album to showcase photos of her family in the pool throughout the summer.

Currently, I am working on one order for baby scrapbook pages to add to an album that I had already sold.  The lady wanted some more pages done. Contact me if you would like an album custom made, just for you!!!  You can also visit my shop below!!!

https://www.etsy.com/shop/MadeForYouScrapbooks?ref=hdr_shop_menu

Craft Shows

Craft Shows

In September of 2013, I started attending local craft shows as a vendor selling my premade scrapbook albums, scrapbook pages, altered chipboard albums, and my lunchbag albums.

While I didn't make a lot of money, I did meet plenty of new people.  I was able to hand out over 150 business cards and actually SHOW people what I do.

I had so many great conversation with people about their kids, their family, and just life in general.  I even met a high school kid that got so excited about my idea of making these scrapbook albums ready for 4 by 6 photos.  He took one of my business cards and said he was telling his dad about me.  He said that his dad was a photographer.  This was great news!!  I was so excited that other people GET what I do and get just as EXCITED!!  It was great!!

Another lady that I met had been scrapbooking for years for herself and other people.  She told me how well priced my scrapbook albums were.  She said that most people who are not scrapbookers, do not know just how much time and money go into making an album.  SO TRUE!!  She also took a business card and said she would send anyone my way who needed a scrapbook done because she had stopped doing it for others.  She was a lovely lady!!

Others had no idea what it was that I was selling until I TALKED to them and SHOWED them the albums.  They were so surprised!!  Even though I had a sign that said "Made Just For You Scrapbooks", at least one scrapbook laying open for them to see the pages, and 20 or so other albums laying on the table.

It amazed me that no one knew what I did until I told them!!  So, between my husband and I we had to CATCH everyone who came by with interest and TELL them WHAT I was SELLING!!

This not only drew people in, but made them engage in conversation with us about my business.  I left all of my shows with a lot of great potential.  So many people were INTERESTED in what I did and LOVED the idea!!  That's all I needed was for people to GET IT!!  And now, so many more people do!!

Here is a photo of me at my craft show at Milford High School!!

 

Telling the Stories Behind Your Photos

Telling  the Stories Behind Your Photos

I was inspired to create this Breast Cancer Scrapbook Album after the death of my dear aunt.  Although, she did not have breast cancer, she did have cervical cancer.  When she was diagnosed, they gave her 6 months to live.  Devastating!!  She started receiving get well cards almost daily.  She loved them all and wanted something special to be done with them.  She contacted me and asked me what I thought I could do with them.  I immediately told her that I could create a scrapbook album for her.  We talked about all the details of the album.  She wanted it to be an 8 1/2 by 11 binder with the sheet protector front.  Not a problem!!!  I set out to do this project for her fast because I wanted her to be able to see some of it before she passed.  I got the binder and decorated the binder, front, back, and side, just as a book would be.  I chose her favorite colors which were purple and yellow.  I wish I had photos to show you.  I printed on the front of the album her name and a quote I found that went something like this " you were not meant to fit in, you were meant to stand out as a light in the darkness".  Inside the album she wanted the cards to be cut so that she could see the front of the card and the inside of the card.  So I cut all the cards and put them side by side (the front of the card next to the inside of the card; who it was from) on cardstock scrapbook paper.  I decorated each page to compliment the card.  I probably did about 50 pages which she got to see a few weeks after I received the cards.  She told my mom that she wanted her to keep it so that I could do all the cards.  Then, she wanted the album to go to her husband and kids when she passed.  My mom did as she was told.  My aunt asked me what she owed me as she lay dying in her hospital bed.  Absolutely nothing, I told her!!  This was my gift to her and I would see to it that all the cards were done and in the album even after she would depart.  She did pass away about 4 months later. She didn't make it 6 months, but I went to pick up more cards a few weeks after she passed from her son who had been collecting them as they came in from her passing.  I wanted to include all of those too.  I finished the album about a week later and gave it to her son.  At the time, her son didn't understand why she wanted all these cards in this album for all of them.  I hope over time he will come to realize that it was what she wanted for all of them to remember her.  She loved it and hoped they would too.

I 'm telling you this story to tell you that it made me think about the stories behind our scrapbook albums.  They are GREAT stories because they are OUR stories.

I made this Breast Cancer Scrapbook Album for someone to tell their story.  Your family wants to know your story.  Yes, most of the time they were there with you, but sometimes you were all alone.  Document all the things good and bad.  Photos of people who were there with you and the stories behind the photos.  You and your family will treasure it one day, I promise.

Thanks so much!!!