Real Life Tip – Use Your Scraps

Happy Friday Everyone!  This is Jamie and I am back this week with another “real life” and might I add very simple tip this week. 

It’s really quite easy.  Every time that you work on a layout, mini album, etc…, take a few minutes when you are done to make a quick card or two. 

Just think about it…  You already have out your coordinating cardstock, pattern papers, and embellishments.  Some of those are probably slips of paper from cuts that you made on the layout.  All you have to do is take a few extra minutes before you put everything away and whip up a simple card.  You will be using up your scraps and those extra embellishments and the best part is that you will have extra homemade cards on hand when you need them.

Here’s an example of what I am talking about:

 
This is a layout that I made for my baby girl’s album.

While I already had out my supplies, I took a few extra minutes to whip up these simple cards.

       

Here’s a look at everything together…

Do you recognize a lot of the cardstock and paper from the layout?

I used the rest of my 12x12 brown cardstock and scraps from the pink cardstock and polka dot paper.  If you do not recognize that orange floral design, that is because it is the backside of the polka dot patterned paper.  After that, all I did was add a few pearls (that I already had out) along with a few other embellishments that I had laying around and decided not to use on Emma Lee’s layout from above.  The only extra thing that I got out was the little “thank you” die cut stamp on the 1st card.  I told you this was easy, right? 

Want another good reason to keep a few scraps around?  Brianna is always really good about keeping her scraps in a basket and just look at the surprise that her hubby – Mike - made for her this past week.  He got into her scraps and she found this when she woke up. 

 

Oh and before I go, here are a few “detail” shots, I always love looking at the details on scrap projects so I thought you might enjoy them too.

     

   

Hope you all have a great weekend!  Be sure to check back on Sunday, February 1st for our 1st Real Life monthly challenge, ok?

Real Life Tip – Got Photos?

These next couple weeks we want to share some “simple” tips with you that we hope you will be able to incorporate into your scrapbooking. Then be on the lookout for our first challenge starting February 1st!

What do you do when you have an event with a lot of pictures? Do you make layouts for them all, or just pick your favorite pictures and scrapbook those? I recently found out about divided page protectors.

I have had these pictures of Tyler’s first birthday that I had not scrapbooked yet. Part of the reason that I didn’t was because I did not know what I was going to do with all these pictures, and I couldn’t leave any out (it was his first birthday). I had considered making a mini book with them, but I really wanted to include them in his First Year album. When I saw these page protectors I thought it would be a perfect way to keep it simple and get all those photos in without making 6 different layouts!

I did take a few of my favorite pictures and made 2 layouts to go beside the protectors and then I used coordinating papers to embellish a little bit.

And this is how it looks in Tyler’s album.

These are the page protectors that I used, Pebbles Inc. Share & Tell.  I found them at Hobby Lobby when they were 50% off.

And here are some others that I have seen online:

We R Memory Keepers

I Remember When

Creative Memories

Ali Edwards also has some great tips on how to use these divided page protectors too! Check that out here.

If you have used these before leave a comment with a link, I’d love to see your pages!

See you next Friday with another Real Life Tip!

Welcome

Welcome to “Real Life Scraps”.  We (Brianna and Jamie) are so excited about our new site and we are super excited that you have dropped by.  We (The Real Life Girls) are just like you – real women who love to scrapbook - and we are excited to share our passion and ideas for this hobby with you.  We created this site based on the recent news that Simple Scrapbooks magazine announced this past week.  The 2 of us were both so upset to see our favorite publication and team of editors/designers come to an end.  Although we are looking forward to watching the new changes and additions in Creating Keepsakes unfold, we both know deep down that this industry is just not going to be the same without those “Simple Gals”. 

So that is why we created this site…  Because we both believe in the ideas and message that originally started it all and we want to see those same ideas keep going.  We are definitely not trying to compete or take away from what Simple Scrapbooks is all about.  We are just 2 friends who are trying to keep the message alive.  We really want this to be a fun place where you can be inspired, meet new scrappy friends, and maybe win some neat stuff too.  So please be sure to check back next week for our 1st challenge.  Oh and tell your friends about us so they can come back to play along too.    Deal?

In the meantime, here is a little bit of information about us… 

Brianna

Hi! I'm Brianna and I have been married to my wonderful husband, Mike, for 7 years now. I am very fortunate to be able to stay at home with our 2 children, Tyler (3) and Kalen (8 months).

I got into scrapbooking just after I got married, and I was introduced to it by my mother. I started the way I think a lot of us scrapbookers do, scrapbooking our wedding and our dogs. When we had children I got a little more serious about this hobby, or maybe I should say obsessed. Now I am committed to preserving these everyday moments for our family to look back on.

You can find me online at www.mikebritaylor.blogspot.com.

Brianna’s Family.

Jamie

Hi, My name is Jamie and I am married to Josh – the best guy in the world.  We have 3 sweet babies – Caleb Davis (3), Nathan James (2), and Emma Lee (11 months).  I am totally in love with our little family and we have been blessed beyond measure. 

I was introduced to scrapbooking a little over 10 years ago when I was in college.  I immediately fell in love with this hobby and now I simply cannot get enough of it.  My favorite part is capturing the everyday details of our lives.  When I am not busy with my full time job (wife/mom), I enjoy scrapping every minute that I can and designing scrap kits each month.  I am really looking forward to the fun things to come here on Real Life Scraps and I hope you will join us for our 1st challenge in the weeks ahead. 

Find me online:  Family Website – www.JoshJamie.com and Scrap Blog – www.JamieScraps.com. 

          
Jamie’s Family.

So that’s the scoop on us and now we want to “meet” you.  Please leave a comment below and say “hi”.