If you aren’t a scrapbooker don’t skip this post! Scroll down to th bottom to learn about a (free!) online class that could help you better tell the stories of your life, called Stories in Hand.

Or I guess you could skip this post and just click on the link I just gave you.

I am still learning digital scrapbooking using Photoshop. The “Dino Dig” layout I made is the first one I’ve made from a blank document and is from the “Now We’re Rockin With Photoshop” class at Jessica Sprague.com. I’m currently in the second week of the four-week class, and I’m having so much fun with it!

I actually made an entire digital album from a real-life class that I took with her. I’ll see if I can find a way to share it here at some point. After I’ve caught up with all the household tasks that take a back seat to kids throwing up.

I’ll never be a completely digital scrapbooker- I like the feel of paper so much. I also don’t have a printer that I can print anything of quality on. Well, actually I don’t have a printer I can print anything on right now since our desktop PC just broke, and I don’t have our old printer installed on my new Mac, but that is a frustration for a different post! But one day in the (probably distant) future, I’d love to have a printer that can print 12×12 so that I have the freedom to print full digital pages as well as hybrid. But I do like that there is no mess or supplies to clean up with digital scrapbooking, and it can be done anywhere.

Like on the couch when you’re watching Toy Story 2 with your kids for the eleventy seventh time.

For all those who expressed an interest in digital scrapbooking, Jessica Sprague has great classes, from complete beginner all the way up to advanced, as well as digital photography classes and even classes on how to store and organize your digital photos.

And on October 20 she’s opening registration for a completely free class called Stories in Hand. The class is for scrapbookers and non-scrapbookers, and helps you “develop a system for capturing the stories that matter most.”

And what blogger couldn’t use that?

I’ll definitely be taking it. And if you’re interested in digital scrapbooking but don’t know where to start, this could be a great way to take a (free!) class and get a feel for the way her classes are run.

Tags: Scrapbooking

In Utah.

Other than the scrapbooking, I’m thinking August in Utah doesn’t sound very pleasant.

But we only have 9-10 months between deployments, and I’d like to get away and do something that’s just for me before Isaac leaves again, and hopefully this would be not only fun and relaxing, but also productive.  I’m hoping it will recharge my creativity, which seems to have died sometime last year around the time we moved.

Because I realized this weekend when I went to print out some of my 30 tiny moments pictures on my printer, that it has been at least a year since I’ve printed any pictures on it.

Also, my printer no longer prints high quality pictures, and I’m going to need to buy a new one soon.

Have any of you ever been to something like this?  Are they as fun as they sound? 

When my husband deployed for six months, I had all kinds of ideas about how I was going to fill up my time.

After all, I don’t have a whole lot to do after the kids go to bed.

*Ahem*

So my plan was to catch up on scrapbooking. With moving from Japan to Maryland to California to Maryland to Mississippi with a deployment to Afghanistan, an eye surgery, a baby, a broken ankle, and buying our first house all in the last two years, I had understandably fallen a bit behind.

I think Luke has about 4 pages.

And he just turned three.

Oh, ok, I’m exaggerating. I’m sure he has at least 6.

So I was going to use my evenings to catch up AND I was going to learn digital scrapbooking in Photoshop Elements. I love paper scrapbooking, but I can see the benefit of being able to make one layout and just changing the colors digitally for the different kids.

So do you want to see what I’ve done in the last 5 months?

This isn’t a page, it’s wooden letters on my mantle, in case you’re wondering.

This is the only layout I’ve done.

I’ve done it here:

Not exactly the most inspiring space, but I just haven’t had time to organize it better or spruce it up.

Which is probably part of the reason I haven’t done much scrapping!

Both of those projects used various papers by Basic Grey, which is my all-time favorite paper line. I always go to them first when I want patterns. My other favorite is Bazzill cardstock. It’s rare that I do anything without some Bazzill paper somewhere. I also love rub-ons of all types and one of these days I’m going to get myself a Cricut machine.

But first I have to start scrapping again before I spend money like that.

I make an effort not to spend hundreds of dollars on things that just sit around.

Unless I buy it with a Michaels coupon.

Because then it’s a bargain.

Even if it just sits around.

At least I can look at it and feel all righteous about the money I saved on it.

The front

The inside (the color is actually more similar to the picture of the front)

After I move in May, I will start selling customized layouts, mini albums and home decor, so check back soon!