{scraps of jacki's life}

marni

Wow, look at the grass stains on my skin. I say, if you knees aren't green by the end of the day, you ought to seriously re-examine your life. Calvin and Hobbes

how's that for a life philosophy!

i always wonder what to say in my blog posts, and what not. yesterday's post about stress came from the heart. if you know me longer than one hour, you will know that i strongly believe in GOD, and i m not ashamed about it. but, this blog is under the name of my shop, so i have to take that into consideration. everything i say and do here, not only reflects on me personally, but also on SCRAPPIN TIMES. if it had been my own blog under my name, i would even be more free about talking about my life and beliefs. but this also functions as the website of the shop, so it should also be professional. please comment, and tell me how you feel about this.

i do try to alternate my blog posts between personal ramblings and pictures of layouts and shop activities. i hope that that will go some way towards satisfying most people's expectations. and on that note, here is the page layout i finished last weekend. marni is my brother's daughter.

the dark brown treasures papers that i used for the background, i crumpled and scrunched. then i opened them up and wet them, and then ironed them flat. don't tell the man that i know how to use an iron...then i attacked them with my heidi swapp paper distresser that i got from her at the 2005 scrapbook convention. this little toy makes the edges of paper rough and uneven. i wanted the edges to be a little torn and very rough. it is difficult to see this on the photo. i glued them on white card stock, to show up the rough edges better.

the frame of the photo on the left was easy. i tore pattern paper into little strips, inked the edges, and folded them around the edges of the photo, stapling each one down before adding the next. the other photos i sanded the edges and mounted them on the pink, also distressing the edges. on the right page i tore strips of the pattern paper and inked them, and stapled them to the background paper. the tags i made and decorated individually. the rub-ons are 'flourishes' from making memories. the letters that say 'marni' are ghost alphas from heidi swapp, that i dry-brushed with a little pink paint for definition.

anyone who doesn't know my scrapping style, will think i scrap in pink often, after visiting this blog. it is just a coincidence: having 2 boys, i seldom get an opportunity to scrap in pink.

also, this page was a little out of my comfort zone. i am one of those people who measures everything, and needs everything to be straight. half the time i scrap, my page becomes symmetrical, i just can't help myself! on this layout i made a conscious effort not to be so precise. i even pulled one of the photos loose, and re-stuck it skew-er. i think i just invented a new word... i really enjoyed that, and i like the result.

love, jacki

Advent Calendar

To scrap or not to scrap, what a silly question!

hi

last week linda hattingh, linda koen and liza all made advent calendars. so amazing how similar they are, and yet they are all completely different.

the layout on the left is liza's advent calendar. she used a green chipboard frame. each number was cut on 3 sides so they flap open. under the little flaps she put photos of her son, and little bible verses. when she is finished teaching her class, she will take it home and add some little gifts and clues for her son.

layout 2 is by linda koen. she used the same pattern paper as liza, but she cut the little blocks out and spread them over 2 sheets of green treasures paper. she made little bags from felt to put little gifts in.  behind the other numbers she will put clues for her son to follow to other gifts. as he opens each day's flap, she will take a photo of him, which she will stick behind the flap. so after christmas, she can place the double page in her album as a layout. she put a ribbon through each page so she could hang them on the wall while they act as an advent calendar.

layout 3 is done by linda hattingh. she used different paper, and put the calendar in a blue chipboard frame. behind the flaps that can open, she put little silver chocolate coins.

this is a good example of how each one worked with the same idea, and almost the same products, and came up with something completely different! all three these girls are awesome and inventive scrappers.

hope you are making time to scrap. remember to post a comment, and to join our group on facebook.

love, jacki

layouts

'en wat jy ook al doen, doen dit van harte soos vir die HERE, en nie vir mense nie'. kol 3:23

hi

today i want to show you something that we marvel at on a regular basis.

when we present a scrapbooking workshop, we never give our clients a kit. we prefer to help her choose paper that matches her photos and her scrapping style, and even her mood. mostly, we also help her adapt the layout to her photos. when she leaves, she has a layout that is unique, and her own.

it is amazing that every person in the workshop's layout looks so completely different to everyone else's, even if the layout is similar. the page on the left was done by ineke, using the photo of her nephew lee's matric farewell. the page on the right was done by laetitia, using a photo of herself. so similar, yet so different.

These 2 layouts were both created by liza. the layout is identical. but they look so different. the choice of paper and embellishments create a totally different mood.

to us, this is one of the most satisfying aspects of teaching scrapbooking to others.

love, jacki

This is me..

It is never easy to scrap myself, even looking at pics of myself is difficult. A psychologist will probably tell me that the image that I have of myself in my mind is better than the real one, so looking at a mirror or photo forces me to face reality (pun not intended), or some psychobabble like that. Maybe there is some truth in that..

Anyway, not only did I scrap myself, I used all those AWFUL photos of myself that have been lying around all these years, the ones that survived being torn up, that is! This page was not easy to scrap, in fact it took months of packing it away, and dragging it back out again. Donna Downey is busy working on a book about scrapping those crappy photos, and reading about it on her blog made me determined to finish this page at last.

As you can see, there is some journaling on there. It is my intention to do much more journaling on my pages. When I page through scrapbooking magazines, I LOVE to read stranger's journaling, so I suppose that I should do more of that myself.

That shiny thing in the right corner of the left page, is my student card from my only year at university, in 1985!

Love,

Jacki

Frames

This simple, blank, cardboard frame, can be transformed into something special with some imagination. The sides flap open, so you can cover it with paper. Inside it is the size of one page, 30cm x 30cm. We suggest you see it as a whole, and scrap it as such, rather that finish the page, and try to make the frame match.

We used modge Podge on ours, to protect it from dust, as it has no glass.

You can use anything on your frame, as long as it is not too heavy. Lots of ribbon, lace and flowers add dimension to it. You can use several photos, but we found that using one special photo that was enlarged, was the most effective.

You can visit the Scrap 'n Frame website for more ideas in their Gallery.

The frame on the right was done by Linda Hattingh.

Wild Thing

This is a page created by Diana Engelbrecht, one of our clients. She attends Antoinette's workshops, and then makes the page her own. This is one of my favourites from her. She is a passionate 7 Gypsies fan, and you will almost always find at least one of their products featured on her layout.

Journaling

So often in my shop do I hear how my clients don't like journaling. And they hate their own handwriting.

More than 5 years ago, my husband died in an aeroplane crash. Now I cherish stiffy disks (remember those?) that say 'windows 98 recovery disk', and business cards that say 'Piet 08**etc', because they are almost the only samples of his handwriting that I have. And his handwriting was really awful! At least my family will have notes and journaling in my handwriting to cherish. Think of the special people in your life that have passed on. What have you saved with their handwriting on? Do you want to do that to your loved ones? Or would you prefer they have personal notes from you?

At the convention Wilna and Donna really emphasized this. Wilna suggested that if you don't know what to write, you start with 'dear ...' and write it as a note to them. She also told us that living far away from her mom, nothing beats the joy of getting a handwritten letter (remember those too?) in the mail from her. Think of journaling as a handwritten letter to your children.

I just finished doing Wilna's page last night. The tags all have notes on them to that person. I really enjoyed that. Thank you Wilna, for creating such a special layout.

I once read somewhere that if someone looks through your album and still asks questions, then you haven't done enough journaling.

My clients are also very bad at scrapping themselves. I also battle with this. I hate to be reminded of what I look like. I am, after all, somewhat large.. Yet, if my scrapbooks are the story of my life, then surely the main character - ME, should feature sometimes. Someone once told me that when her husband plays with the kids, it's such a special occasion, that she gets out the camera and takes pics, and scraps them. One day her kids will think that he played with them all the time, and she seldom did. While it actually was the other way around.

Come on, overcome that negativity, and scrap yourself at least sometimes! With my digital camera I work on the theory that if I take 100 photos, at least one of them will come out ok. The rest I delete. And since I am the boss of the camera, I have control of what is deleted, and what stays. And what gets scrapped. So give the camera to your hubby or you kids, and let them photograph you. Or contact Annette and book a photoshoot. AND SCRAP YOURSELF!!

I am busy (have been for weeks, it's somewhat torturous) with a layout using all those crappy photos of myself through the years. Those that survived being torn up. A few days ago, Donna also showed us her bad birthday pics on her blog, and promised she was going to scrap them. You don't have to go that far, though.

I hope I have given you something to think about. Leave me a comment and tell me how you have applied this.

And now I'm getting off my soapbox.

love, Jacki

Memories

This is a lovely page layout by Liza. She is one of the great girls who teach the workshops at SCRAPPIN TIMES. In the middle are pockets in which you can put tags, tickets, notes, etc.

She used many features that we were reminded of at the convention. She used handwritten journaling - see Donna Downey and Wilna Furstenburg! She used dimensional glaze over the stamped word "Memories". And she used lots of rub-ons and flowers, our favourites.

Liza has helped many of our clients to make their own version of this versatile layout, and each one is beautiful and unique.