DesertKatz | by Denise Vaughn

I finally got my grandson’s first year book done.  I wasn’t getting it done the traditional way. So I tried the digital online method. I like the way it turned out, but it didn’t give me as many options as I would have liked.

The pages were already set up so you just had to download whatever you wanted to in the pre-determined spot.

These are just a few of the pages.  Stampin’ Up will be announcing their version of digital scrapbooking in the next few months. I look forward to learning how to use it….I so much prefer their designs and colors.

I love to scrapbook! I love Stampin’ Up products to scrapbook with.  I found these cute pictures of Hagen (my grandson) on his Dad’s facebook page.  I thought they were so cute of him playing on the playground, exploring and just being a kid.  My sister Patrice is finding her inner child and I think these pictures will help her remember to have fun, enjoy the moment and laugh!!! I looked at different blogs (you would not believe how many cute ideas are out there) and one of my favorites is Heather Summers. She has some great ideas so I grabbed one and went with it. This is from a Simply Scrappin’ kit that Stampin’ Up sells called Hoppy Memories and it is really a great way to scrapbook. Anybody can do it….it is almost done for you. So I pulled out some stuff and went to work.

I have struggled agonizingly over many a scrapbook page or card, but this came together very easily in about 1/2 hour. It is taking me far longer to post it on here than it did to do it. This is a 2-page layout. This is the first page.

and this is the second…

together they look like this.

Now see how easy and fun that is? Maybe this is my passion so I think it’s a blast….but anyone can do it.   I love making cards too! My goal this year is to not buy one card from the store. Now one of the reasons for this goal is because I have got to use up some of my scrappin’ supplies so I can justify buying more.  Speaking of which….as I said it is National Scrapbooking Month and Stampin’ Up is having a great sale.  Buy three packs of Designer Series paper or 12″x 12″ textured card stock and get one FREE!!!! I love the textured paper…best I’ve ever found and the designer paper is beautiful.  So head on over to my Stampin’ Up Website and check it out.  These are some cards I put together because I loved this Stamp Set.

Everyone procrastinates about some things, and most of us have some areas in our lives where we don’t procrastinate at all. But for millions of us, procrastination is a serious obstacle to performance.  It’s getting worse.  People today are flooded with information-news, e-mails, instant messaging, internet, blogs, facebook, etc.  The constant flow of information means that more matters compete for attention at any given time.  It’s easier than ever to put things off until a later date or, in some cases, not do them at all.

Being the queen of procrastination I tend to put off large projects and do the smaller easier one. (Thus, waiting this long to start a blog)  I think it may be the fear of failure or the urge for perfection,  or a little of both.  What I have started doing is to start projects even when I’m not feeling particularly energized or creative.  I force myself to do something-anything.  Once I get started, I find that I get “in the mood” once the work is under way, even when I didn’t feel that way initially.  I knew I had until the end of May to finish my 8 scrapbooks.  Now usually I would wait until the week before and then panic, drive my family nuts or not do it at all.  This time however, I’m finished.  Yes a big pat on the back for me!!! Now if I can stop procrastinating about working out on my Wii Fit (my kids and husband gave me for Christmas, because I just had to have it) I will indeed feel good….but first I have to start on the 6 cards for a flood swap.   I’ve joined up with a group of ladies from across the US.  This is where you send out 6 cards (Stampin’ Up product only), each month and when your name comes around you get flooded with a bunch of cards that month.  Fun huh??? But I don’t have to have them out until May first, so I’ll read a book, look at blogs, play Mafia Wars, work out on my Wii,  whatever…….procrastinate! Here’s a look at the finished product….shhh…don’t tell Mom. I want her to be surprised.

This is one of my favorite pages. This is my Grandma Earl and I thought the quilt background was perfect.  She used to make the most beautiful quilts.  I remember watching her cut up old clothes into tiny squares or triangles and hand sew each piece together. The quilts were a vast array of colors and textures. I did something like that here.  I cut each piece of paper 1 inch by 1 inch and pieced together.  This of course is nothing like what she did, but it gives you a little insight to this wonderful lady.

Pictures....lots of pictures!

I had this brillant idea to make scrapbooks for my Mom’s family reunion. Well she comes from a family of eight….so that means 8 scrapbooks!!! No big deal, easy peasy……I must have been smokin’ crack (never have) or the moon was involved some way.  I really can’t say how it all began, but let me tell you my story. It all started with me telling my Mother I would take care of the reunion for her this year as it was her turn in the order of siblings to be the host. I thought of some fun games and have been buying lots of cool stuff for the ticket drawings. There has gotten to be so many people that it is hard to come up with something everyone can be involved in. My sis Patrice is willing to help (after finals this week) so I hope her brain can come up with something great. My sister-in-laws, Terri, Leslie and Cindy will be helping also. (What are my brothers doing one might ask)?  OK so this is all going good. I have the invites out and the scrapbooks started and I realize this is a project that is going to take some time. That’s ok, I have time…..Now if I can figure out how to upload pictures I will show you what I mean by project.

pages.....lots of pages

As you can see I have a quite a few of them done.  I thought I was done, but no, not just right. I must have a great ending to this book. Thus….

my final page……But wait I have to decorate the outside of the scrapbook. It can’t just be easy, like a title or something. NO…. I must learn how to stencil.

These books look almost blue in the pictures, but they are all natural linen.  So my stenciling will be done with different colors of browns.  I keep practicing on paper and old canvas bags and just about anything that will hold paint (The cat looks kind of cool), I can’t quite get the shading to go how I want it to……so off to the internet to find “Cream” fabric paints. They are suppose to dry slower thus making it easier to blend. Oh how I wish we had a Roberts or Michaels in this town!

This is how I start my day…after 3 cups of coffee. G2, love the purple kind and good and plenties…..yum!  Speaking of having a Roberts or any kind of scrapbooking store in this town would be great when I need just a little paint or something.  But other than that I really don’t need one. I sell Stampin’ Up and they have most everything I will ever need to do what I do (except paint) but maybe that will come as they just came out with these great stencils.  I really could go on and on about the great products that Stampin’ Up has but there is a really long story to finding that out and It will have to wait for a different post.  For now take a look at my “scrapbooking studio” (Ken laughs) Just wait until I showcase his “airplane studio”.

and another view….

and a few of a mess! Check out the black photo boxes above. They are going to help me organize all those loose pictures. Well that won’t actually help, they more & likely will just sit there and watch. (or get in my way when I’m trying to find other stuff). Wow look at that mess!

I think this picture is already posted.  I can’t figure out how to delete it without deleting the whole post…so Eric will you take this out?? Never mind I like it there.  So are you wondering who this Eric is that I bossed around so elegantly?  He is my oldest son, he designed this blog and is absolutely brilliant!! He is doing freelance work and getting very talented as a photographer.  He designs websites so Eric if you are reading this plug in your stuff.  You know where you highlight a word and it takes you where you want to go…..you know what I mean.  I can’t do everything on here!

(It’s called a hyperlink Mom. If anyone is interested you can see my personal stuff at vaughnet.com and my work stuff at foundry75.com. My little company is just getting started so there isn’t much there yet but thanks for the plug Mom!)

This is my son Kevin, his wife Lacey and my grandson Hagen.  They have 3 other children that I will brag on later, but this is Hagen’s first birthday and yeah….he’s kind of a big deal.  They had these pics taken by one of Lacey’s friends who did an excellent job (check out her blog).  He is one of my good reasons to get out of bed each day and scrapbook!!! Now my three sons are in there 20′s and 30′s and I maybe have ten pages (TOTAL) done for them but this little guy came along and opps they got pushed out a little… ok well alot. That doesn’t mean I won’t get back to getting more pages done for them.  I have just bought photo boxes and I’m going to organize all my pictures and then things will really move along. The pictures are by The Blacks.

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