Valentines for the Grandmas

One of my New Year's resolutions was to tackle the fine art of digital scrapbooking. This has been a challenging, but very rewarding new hobby. Not only does one need to have an eye for design when creating scrapbook page layouts, but also needs to have a technical touch (i.e. be able to use Photoshop or Photoshop Elements) to edit and create the layouts. There's so much to learn...brushes, layers, how to add embellishments, etc., but it has been a lot of fun and I have been amazed by the wonderfully helpful and talented ladies that I have "met" along the way. (Thank you, again, Brooke!)

I decided to set February 14th as my deadline to create my first "digital" design project. If I didn't, I knew I would forever procrastinate and/or obsess over "perfecting" my technique. To help me get my feet wet, I chose to create mini "badge" albums for the grandmothers and great-grandmothers. Several digital scrapbooking sites offer ready made "kits" for a nominal fee. I purchased the Yours Truly mini badge album kit from Shabby Princess and got to work!

http://www.shabbyprincess.com/

My first album took me over 8 hours to create, but turned out really nice. Once I got the hang of how to open the original document, add layers and edit pictures or text, and then merge and save as jpg files I was on my way! I was then able to print off duplicate copies for the other grandmothers and just recreate the "title" page with the "Dear Grandma" letter. Once printed, trimmed to fit the plastic badge protectors, and assembled the babes and I were off to the post office. We have heard from both of the grandmas and they were tickled pink to receive their mini "brag" badge albums!!!

My next project is to give this little blog of mine a facelift! I absolutely love using the free templates provided by http://www.thecutestblogontheblock.com/ but am determined to personalize our family blog even more. Be on the lookout for our new look in the coming weeks; hopefully just in time for spring...okay, March isn't really spring, but I must tell myself that to make it through these last few weeks of winter!!!