Starting out...

Just to be clear, I'm not starting out scrapbooking. Or blogging for that matter. I'm starting out blogging about scrapbooking. I figure this will allow me to post layouts online (for challenges etc.), join in with some fun memes (like Abi's time for tea), keep a record of where I'm up to with my scrapbooks - and be accountable for my progress (or lack of it!).

I've always crafted, mainly focussing on card making and calligraphy when I was younger. I started scrapbooking in 2003, when my parents lived in America. I was at university at the time, which meant that I often didn't have the space to scrap. I did a lot of my layouts in the holidays, working alongside my mum at her dining room table. When they came back from the USA in late 2004, I did what I could in my shared student house.

In 2006 I graduated and had a whole room to spread my craft things out in - but I was working between 56 and 90 hours per week, so again not much got done. In 2010 my now husband moved in, and I lost my scrap desk to his computer. Then in 2011, we really made crafting difficult.

We moved to New Zealand. With only 8 boxes for 2 years. there was no space for craft things. I though scrapbooking was once again on the back burner - until I discovered it could be done digitally. Hooray for photoshop elements!

I started my digital layouts in November, and managed to be "caught up" by the time we left our apartment just over a year later. I have continued to scrap digitally since we came back, and am looking forward to getting my first book printed soon (I hope!).

So where am I at now? I've started doing digital Project Life this year, using Becky Higgins' digital templates. I'm also completing digital layouts from early 2011, and trying to complete paper albums that I started years ago. I'm hoping to share all of these here, so we'll see how it goes.

To start with, here's my Project Life layouts for June. Hopefully I've managed to resize and save them appropriately! I do PL monthly rather than weekly, and a month takes as many pages as it takes, which is working for me at the moment.

Fonts: DJB tell your story (Darcy Baldwin freebie @ Sweetshoppedesigns).
Papers/cards: A Shaw Happy day freebie,  DHD this is why, M Bennett sunny days.
Elements: Love stamps,  flutter swirl, A Shaw happy days bow, KD Brushed up life sentiments.
Templates: Becky Higgins Design A as above.
Some are unidentified as I downloaded them before I realised I should keep track of where they came from!
Sorry for any lack of credit, if someone can tell me where it came from I'm happy to amend this.