First impressions of Prague

That conversation with Tiffany and Tracie (The Scrapgals) really made an impression on me! Here I am with my 2nd layout in 3 weeks (!!) that will make up my Prague album! I'm so excited!

One of my most vivid memory of us arriving in Prague is when after dropping all our things at the hotel and resting a little bit, we brought the girls to the main square in the city to show them OUR NEW HOME TOWN! 

This sight of Tyn church always gets me and moves me! Arielle's reaction was:

"Mom! Why are there so many people in my city?" Precious.

I always imagined that she already felt like home.

We wandered the streets and tried to find all the good things the girls would love:

The Prague candies at the Chocolate Museum.

The Trdelnik.

The street artists.

There are so many impressions when we travel, right? But when we move, we feel lost and we find ourselves looking for some good things to grasp. That's what my layout was all about. I'm not sure I could capture it very clearly in so little words and photos. I might need many more pages to explain more...

But for now, here's my layout.

You can se my process video here, on YouTube.

Bailey

My first ever scrapbooking process video is online! 

Please go and give it a thumbs up and maybe a comment?! :)

You can also subscribe to my channel. I'm intending to do more. 

If you are arriving from my YouTube channel, thank you and Welcome to my blog! 

This layout, Bailey, was born from a stamp set. I fell in love with that cute little clipboard stamp by Catherine Pooler Designs.

Since I haven't scrapbooked in a while, I also haven't shopped in a while. These products are all pretty "vintage" lol I used colors I love and subtle patterns.

Some acrylic embellishments from past Citrus Twist Kit kits.

I fussy cut some stamped details, stitched with my sewing machine and used stickers and puffy stickers from my stash.

A piece of vellum scrap with hears in it, a tiny trombone, some chipboard pieces...

I also used a letterboard die from Mama Elephant. 

I'm glad to be back and productive in my studio. Scrapbooking really keeps me alive!

I'm glad you're here to share this with me. :)

Sincerely,

Marie

3rd Cutest Video Hop Ever

 For the 3rd time in a row, Maya, Arielle and I are participating in the

instigated by Emily Leiphart, 4 years ago.

This year we played with products from Catherine Pooler Designs, Ranger ink and Lawn Fawn.

We had some serious fun!

To see our 3 cards, I'll invite you to head over to my YouTube channel.

There are so many sponsors this year and so many prizes to win! Over 1000$ in prizes! Isn't that incredible?! To win, simply like and comment on as many videos as you'd like. Arielle, Maya and I would also appreciate a follow. :)

See you over there!! 

Marie with Arielle and Maya (and Bailey) xo

The Scrapgals Podcast

 Hey everyone!

Last Monday I was so happy to jump over my fear and be a guest on the Scrapgals podcast! Yay for being brave! Right?!

If you want to listen to the episode you'll have to register for the podcast and you can do so right here.

The episode is called Marie's dilemma and was prompted when I talked about having not scrapbooked in 3 years and being kind of lost as of where to start again.

After looking at all my already created albums/layouts, and after making some switches of some layouts that should live in different albums, I came up with the list of what I have, which is always a good starting point:

My Childhood (birth to 20 years old - right before I met my husband) | 2 albums full

Vancouver/Meeting my husband | Some layouts

Switzerland (1999 to 2010) | Some layouts

Travels (occurred while living in Switzerland + after kids) | 1 album full

Our wedding | Some layouts

Our honeymoon | Some layouts

My oldest daughter | 3 albums

My youngest daughter | 2 albums

Project Life/Day to day life | 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 (half the year)

Prague and Paris | some layouts (more than I thought)

From there, I decided to write down what I wanted to have in my library of memories, in other words, what I want to add to my collection:

Childhood

Teenage years - jobs, cars, brother, synchronized skating, Highschool - 3 schools, prom, graduation, summers with brother and friends 

Vancouver - friends, family, school, private classes, activities

Wedding - civil

Wedding - religious Guests, flowers, music, colors, invitation, menu, photograph, ceremony, reception

Honeymoon - Camping trip through USA

Honeymoon - Cruise

Honeymoon - Canada with the inlaws

Honeymoon - Canada with the friends

Travel - one layout per place visited

Switzerland - moving to... German classes, friends, outings with the boys, job

Bachelor degree in Canada (4 years)

Back to Switzerland (before having my baby)

Young mom - 2 babies away from home, expat life but not really

Travel after kids (take out of family album and gather as travel instead)

Moving to USA - life in USA (other than Project Life) - moves to Farmington, Avon, NC

Prague - special stories: house, villae, school, friends, concerts/dance, city, visits, special events and visits

Paris

Travel while living again in Europe (2016-2019)

Move to Cleveland/summer (2019)

Everyday life - Covid

Since the podcast appearance and talk with the two hosts (Tiffany and Tracie), I have much more clarity as you can see by my "want-to-do list" and with clarity comes Mojo and motivation! Woohoo! I have to say that I have had Tiffany watching over my shoulder and steering me in the right direction every day of the week! lol 

Here's the first layout I made and that will go into my Prague album:

    

Some comments in this layout: 

- I had so many photos that I had to use 2 pages. 

- Some photos didn't make it on the layout

- I liked playing with different size photos. I print at home and resize my photo with Photoshop.

- I was overwhelmed by the products because I haven't used any in a very long while! So I opened an armoire, grabbed a pile of stickers, chipboards, letters and just started! My intuition did the rest and knew how to guide me to the right products. I had been a 24/7 scrapbooker for 9 years after all. Can't really lose that experience it seems like!

- Starting with a white background is ALWAYS a good idea. It's a neutral canvas and you can always add more colors to it with embellishments and photos!

- When stuck, just continue. 

- Sometimes, more is more ;) Trust the process. And a story told is always better than one untold! <3 

Now a little bonus, coming directly from the podcast: 

I talked about a layout I made about my childhood. My neighborhood and the different places making it up. Here it is with some close-ups.

I've cut out my address in black paper with my Silhouette! 

I took these pictures one summer, when visiting my parents in Canada, I went back to my childhood neighborhood, 2 hours drive away!) and snapped pictures of my school, grandma's house, babysitter, etc... But you could do the same using Google Earth and screen shoting the different places of your childhood.

Stitching on a layout makes everything better!! Take your sewing machine out of the wardrobe and try it! :) 

The map was screenshotted from Google maps. You can see here the starting point.... A.

On the right page I added more photos of the street, the inside of the house, the backyard, the schoolyard... places where I played and hung out! I wrote the name of the place or street and added some childhood stories as the description of the photos. 

Hope this can inspire and motivate some of you to scrapbook, no matter how long you have been stuck! If I could, you can totally do it too. Assess what you have, find out what you want, and start!! :)

Have fun memory keeping!

Marie