When it comes to scrapbooking, I tend to think that you should just start where you are...don't worry about scrapping photos from years ago first - you'll never get anything done!

But lately, as I've been going through some older photos (you know, in my life-long quest to get organized), I've decided that some of those photos need to find their place in an album.

And the best (and easiest & FASTEST!) way I've found to do just that is with Heidi Swapp Storyline.

Ugh.

I can't believe it's already almost here.

The end of summer.


...and the Heidi Swapp Lightbox...

So I guess there's that...(smile...).

Pick up your Lightbox, and those fantastic Lightbox Alphabet Inserts at your local Michaels, and on michaels.com now.

Great friends, great food & fantastic decor...you just can't beat 'em...

And don't forget the napkins & wipes!

Have a great weekend...

One of my very favorite scrapbook page designs is the grid. I use this design over and over and I never tire of it.

It's sweet & simple and crisp & clean and perfect. Plus, grid pages come together so quickly!

To create this page, I started with a 12"x12" Storyline background. These pages are available in every Storyline album and they are all ready to go! Just add your photos & embellishments and your WHO, WHAT & WHERE and you're done.

I took a ruler & my trusty pencil and spaced out my design.


The square embellishments in the Storyline Deck of Days packages are roughly 2"x2"...so I laid out my design to accomodate this size.

Then I printed my photos at the same size (2"x2") so everything would be uniform.

I added my Deck of Days embellishments - which are adhesive-backed, so all I had to do was peel off the protective sheet on the back, and stick! - and then I added my photos.

You may be able to see that I didn't bother to erase the grid lines I created on my page. I really like the way they look and how they add a bit of visual interest to my background.


I finished out my page by writing out the details of my story...my WHO, WHAT & WHERE.

This page came together so easily. Plotting out my grid took a few minutes, but once that was done, finishing was just a matter of placing each piece into position!

And I love the way it turned out!

Thanks so much for stopping by today...I hope I've inspired you to try scrapping on a grid for your next layout!

Grab the Heidi Swapp Storyline Collection at your Michaels store or on michaels.com

Supplies | Heidi Swapp Storyline Deck of Days - Everyday, Heidi Swapp Storyline Deck of Days - Adventure,

 Hey hey! Happy Monday everyone!

I've been doing a lot of cleaning out and organizing these past few months...and I've come across a ton of photos that I haven't seen in a long time...among those photos are our wedding photos.

Are you ready for a sob story?

Really...this actually pains me to tell because I am such a huge photo-lover...but here goes.

I hired an up-and-coming photojournalist to shoot our wedding. That less-formal, more story-telling type of photography was just coming into style when I was getting married, and I thought it would be SO COOL to have this girl record our day in such a fun & new way.

I paid her a TON of money. I mean, a TON.

A ton.

She came and shot our ceremony & our reception and then I didn't hear from her for a while.

After a few months, I called her to ask where our photos were. And you will never believe the answer I got.

She informed me that most of our black & white photos had been (somehow) ruined and that all of our color photos were no good.

Yep.

And this was back before digital photography, soooo...

I was beside myself.

I was like, what??? How did this happen?

She apologized and offered us a free photo session and then handed me the book of about 20 photos that had actually turned out. And let me tell you...even those were just OK, at best.

At best.

I politely declined the free photo shoot - why on earth would I want her to take MORE photos of us when this experience had been so awful?

Looking back I should have demanded my money...told the better business bureau...done SOMETHING. But again, there was no social media, no yelp, no nothing and I just wanted it to be over.

Ugh.

SO, the precious few photos I do have of that day are pretty important to me.

When I came across my small little wedding book, I decided to take those photos, make copies of them and document the stories of that day.

I wanted to be able to look back on those moments I do have photos of and remember the stories that are attached to them.

And what better way to do that than with Storyline?


Then I used some of the hand-lettering I've been practicing lately to create my title. I kinda love how it turned out.