| Memory keeping, time stopping, photo obsessed projects.

No Scrapbook Slacking Here with Help from Elmers #ExpressYourself #CBias

Posted on May 14, 2012 by Anna-Leigh

“Hi, I’m Anna-Leigh, and I’m a scrapbook slacker.”

Yup, that’s right, I’m only about two years behind in chronicling my kiddos life, and life in general. Ridiculous I know, but having the space to spread all my scrappy stuff out is the biggest problem I have. I have to limit scrapbook time to nap time because little hands in my papers, stickers, scissors and such just doesn’t make for an easy time of page making.

I’ve been thinking that if I work on about two months worth of photos every week between now and my girl’s birthday in June, I just might get her 2nd year scrapbook done before her 3rd birthday! Gah!

I love using different products, layers and tools for scrapbooking. It’s so easy to get creative with any number of materials, whether scrapbook related or not. I hold on to more paper scraps, wrapping paper, and ticket stubs in the name of scrapbooking than what should really be allowed!

I was lucky enough to be asked to go shopping for a craft product, Elmers Painters Paint Markers, at my local Walmart. I thought these would be a great addition to my scrapbook project. Since the closest Walmart to me is undergoing a renovation I decided to go to a super Walmart a little further away hoping I’d find a good variety of markers in a store that’s not so chaotic. My idea of easiness proved wrong when I got there, searched all over the craft and school supply sections finding nothing. Then found out from an associate that they did indeed carry the markers, but they were out and she didn’t know when they would be getting more in…bummer…at least I got out of the house by myself for a bit

The next day I did manage to find the markers with no problem at the Walmart closet to me in the craft section among some other paint items.

I was happy to see they offer single markers, and not just the packs. So it’s really easy to get the colors you need for your project! And at just $1.97 a marker, it’s hard to not buy a whole bunch of them.

I picked up a pack of markers as well and a few singles in some other great colors. This is what I have for my scrapbook project…

Nice! I was also excited to see they offer different tips for their markers – fine, medium, and chiseled…

…choices are good!

Sometimes I have a plan when putting a page of my scrapbooks together, more often than not I just let it flow! My girl was born in June so you can be sure there are plenty of beach shots in her books. I pulled out some of the photos from the July batch of pics I had and that’s where I started…

The first page – “Summer 2010″

…do you know I really had to think about the year for this page…and how ridiculous I felt when I realized that I’m two years behind…sigh.

The paint markers I used to highlight the photos that I had trimmed up for the page. And of course to title and embellish the pages. The ink dries pretty quickly, so I didn’t have to worry about smearing anything. I had fun using contrasting colors on top of each other to give the words a little more depth. I’m a big sticker fan when it comes to words and lettering for my scrapbooks. Mainly because my handwriting is ~~atrocious~~ terrible. But I was having so much fun with these markers, I didn’t even worry about finding my sticker stash! And as for my handwriting, well that just adds character, right?

I tackled three pages for this project…just enough work to make it through nap time

I mentioned that I like to cut up my photos to make (more of) them fit within the pages. The Elmers Painters Paint Markers were great for helping to “frame” the photos without necessarily needing to add any other paper elements…other than the wavy paper at the bottom.

A page for daddy…

I was curious to see how the pens would work on black paper. I know the pens are supposed to be opaque, but that doesn’t mean that colors necessarily hold on colored paper. It was hard to tell the difference between white and the lavender color on the black paper. But over all I was pretty happy with the outcome as you’ll see below.

The finished products…

…and some close ups…

Everything on this page is done with the Painters Paint Markers, no other embellishments were used. The Markers work really well on the black paper.

….I think our little nugget might actually get to learn how to surf this year!

I’ve used paint pens/markers here and there for scrapbook projects. I have to say I’m very happy with the outcome of my pages using Elmers Painters Paint Markers. Knowing that they are acid free also makes me feel good about using them around my precious photos.

Make sure to check out Elmers site for other great products, and connect with them through Twitter and Facebook.

I hope I have inspired any other scrapbook slackers out there to try something new, and get those pages done! You’ve got to #ExpressYourself .

Anna-Leigh

I am a member of the Collective Bias Social Fabric Communty. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias #CBias All opinions and photos are my own.

Posted in Projects, Scrapbooking, Tutorials | Tagged beach crafts, craft, DIY, Elmers, Paint Markers, scrapbooking, Walmart | 3 Comments

Just Because She’s Funny

Posted on May 10, 2012 by Anna-Leigh

My kid can make some of the craziest faces…I can’t imagine who she gets that from…ahem…

She cracks me up!

I hope your Thursday is wonderful!

Anna-Leigh

Posted in Musings | Tagged Just Because, photography | 2 Comments

DIY Square Photo Blocks

Posted on May 9, 2012 by Anna-Leigh

I assure you, the handful of folks who read my little blog here (and I love and thank you all), that I have not fallen of the face of the planet. There’s just been a lot of family stuff going on, and I’ve felt the need to spend what time I have with my kiddo, not glued to my computer I’ve also been busy editing a wedding that I shot for a dear friend, and now that that is mostly done I’m moving back to the blog. I have a few crafty project tutorials lined up and a great post sponsored by Elmer’s coming up in a few days. So hopefully I’ll be getting back into the swing-o-things.

Today I have a for you a super simple craft/photo project. You know I’m always looking for new and easy ways to display photos around here. I had some square format prints that have been laying around that I really wanted to display, some good old medium format film prints. I didn’t really want to frame them, so digging through my craft stash I realized I had some 5×5 birch blocks that I’ve used for projects like this nifty one and thought they would be perfect for this project.

So here’s what I gathered together for the project…

3 5×5 blocks (I’ve got more photos, but I only had 3 blocks on hand)

Mod Podge – to attach the photos to the block

Sponge brush – to apply the Mod Podge

Black craft paint and paint brush

And don’t forget your photos!

First I painted the sides of the blocks black just to give them a little more of a finished look.

It didn’t take long for them to dry, the wood just soaked up the paint.

Next I applied Mod Podge just to the the top of the block. I didn’t want a really thick coating so that I could avoid air bubbles and oozing out the sides.

Then I carefully laid the photo onto the block. I used a plastic card to gently, so as not to scratch the print, smooth the photo and make sure there is contact between it and the block through out.

(Notice my “assistant” woke up from her nap and is hanging out in the upper right corner.)

I then repeated the process for the other two blocks and Voila!

Three easy photo blocks ready to go up on the wall!

I will say the prints were just a smidge larger than the blocks. At this moment I don’t have a knife sharp enough to shave that off. I don’t think that it’s terribly noticeable, but as soon as I can get a new blade I’ll probably shave those edges to be flush with the wood. Just a heads up that your prints might not be the exact size of your surface.

Pretty easy, huh? In the matter of a couple hours, or less you can have some great new artwork for your walls. Heck, they’d even make a snazzy Mother’s Day gift!

What crafty endeavors have you been up to lately?

Anna-Leigh

Linked up with Mad in Crafts and Today’s Creative Blog

Posted in Projects, Tutorials | Tagged DIY, film, Photo blocks, photo framing | 2 Comments

Simple Things

Posted on April 29, 2012 by Anna-Leigh

I’m certain that people think I am completely addicted to my phone as it is always in my hand. But I have to say that since Instagram made an app for Android it has been much easier to share pics from my phone. I still have a couple other apps that I like to use, but Instagram really does make it easier to shoot and share.

(I’m McClellandAM on Instagram if you want to follow.)

We had some family in town last week, and so we did a bit of wandering…

And because it’s all but impossible for me to post something without including my wee one…

I hope your week is grand! Happy Sunday!

Anna-Leigh

Posted in Musings, The Simple Things | Tagged Droid photos, instagram, The Simple Things | 1 Comment

Embrace the Camera – From the Archives

Posted on April 19, 2012 by Anna-Leigh

Yesterday my kiddo asked for a photo of me that she could glue into a little scrapbook that she has. Me, usually being the one to hold the camera, I’m not in too many shots, and had to think a bit. But I remembered that last Easter we went to a friends house for an Easter egg hunt, and my mama friend (quite handy with the camera herself) all but snatched my camera out of my hand and offered to snap a few of me and girlie. So this was the one that I printed out for her “scrapbook”…

Definitely my favorite!

Get out your camera, set your timer, or just hold it out and shoot! Get in the photo, mama’s!

Go check out Embrace the Camera over at with The Anderson Crew…be inspired!

Anna-Leigh

Posted in Embrace the Camera | Tagged Embrace the Camera | 4 Comments

Our Fun and Healthy Easter Basket #CBias #EasterSmiles

Posted on April 9, 2012 by Anna-Leigh

I definitely think one of the perks of being a mom is doing things that will fill a child’s head with memories. I have fond memories of Easter time as a child. I know I’ve talked about Easter’s spent with my extended family for Easter and birthday celebrations. Waking up Easter morning to see what the Easter bunny had left was always an exciting time in our house. I hope to create some exciting memories for my girl too. Things she’ll remember when she has her own children some day.

I love putting together her Easter baskets. She’s had a basket every year, even when she was barely crawling! And I’ve always tried to put fun, useful, and healthy things in her basket. I took a trip to Walmart the day before Easter to see what kind of goodies I could pick up to help out the Easter bunny. Most of the spoils are from that trip, but I had a few things stashed away that I wanted to include as well.

It is entirely possible that I went overboard, but hey it’s all in fun! Most of her basket will be filled with toys, with just a couple sweet snacks.

I have too much fun with this stuff!

Here is my girl’s basket all put together and beautiful…before she attacked it!

We woke her up Easter morning and told her that the Easter bunny had left something for her…

She was so excited and started pulling everything out. Even our kitty got involved.

And can I tell you the thing she was most excited about? The Colgate Dora the Explorer motorized toothbrush. She thinks she is such a big girl when she brushes her teeth anyway, now she really thinks she’s hot stuff!

Like any mom, I have great concern for the health of my kid’s teeth. My teeth were in not so great shape when I was little, and I’m sad to say I spent a lot of time in the dentist’s office. I definitely do not want that to happen to my little one, so I’m trying to start her off right. I found quite a selection of toothbrushes at Walmart on my trip. Even one just like her very first toothbrush, and it just so happens to be a Colgate toothbrush too.

I had been thinking about picking up a motorized toothbrush for her, I thought it might make brushing a little for fun and effective. I was happy to find that Colgate offered the Dora toothbrush. So into my buggy and into her Easter basket it went! You can checkout the rest of my shopping trip here. You can also check out more about Colgate on Facebook and Twitter.

Now that will help combat post Easter cavities!

Even with the just the few sweet goodies I had put in my girl’s basket (Reese’s and M&M’s), candy was at the forefront of the day. Fortunately, my girl was all too excited to brush her teeth before her nap.

I have to say I am very happy with how well the toothbrush works and how effective it is at cleaning her teeth. I think I might even pick one up for myself!

We had a wonderful Easter and hope you did too! What was in your Easter basket?

Anna-Leigh

This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias #CBias All opinions and photos are my own.

Posted in Musings, Uncategorized | Tagged Colgate, Dora the Explorer, Easter, Easter Basket, Nickelodeon, Spongebob Squarepants, Walmart | 5 Comments

I Have Found My PEEPS ~ The End

Posted on April 8, 2012 by Anna-Leigh

For days our bunny has looked for his friends high and low. With no dear Peeps in site.

Yet crossing over one last hill he spies an amazing sight…

“What are these strange objects I have found?

Could they be treasure?

I must go see…

My goodness, look what I have found

All my friends are safe and sound

I cannot believe what I see, all my friends now surround me.

My journey has come to an end

It’s time to play with all my friends!”

Happy Easter!

Anna-Leigh

~Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5~

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Easter, PEEPS | 3 Comments

Where are all my PEEPS? (day 5)

Posted on April 7, 2012 by Anna-Leigh

Our friend has finally gone to bed, to rest until tomorrow. Weary from traveling far, our friend sleeps and dreams of twinkly things, and drifts into deep slumber.

~ cue dream sequence ~