Sunday, September 30, 2012 | By: Rita Hutcheson-Cobbs

Outside the Box Scrapbook Layout...

A little outside the box in what I will share on this layout collection...

First, I bunched my photographs and embellishments all in one corner of one page...

I popped some up with foam pop up dots, others I stuck to the page...
Then I added a punched tab for additional journaling space...

I used the same punch to pull out small areas of photographs otherwise I would have just thrown away...and I couldn't throw away this adorable one of my daddy taking a cat nap in the sunshine at this family event...=)...

THEN there is the OPPS! When I cut my paper the wrong way and it was the ONLY one I had...so I took a piece of cardstock, adhered it to the back, putting my paper back together again so that I could use it for this page layout...it worked LOL...oh, please, what? You never did this? Sure you have! If not here, then somewhere along life's way lol...

Hugs, Rita
Saturday, September 29, 2012 | By: Rita Hutcheson-Cobbs

Moments Scrapbooking Layout

Moments...

I treasure these moments...the photograph is of my grandparents picking cotton together. Every memory I have of them is of them together regardless of what they were doing!!

This togetherness was something all of us as grandchildren treasured...

Can you see those smiles from that photograph peeking out? Love it...
I created a pocket just inside the page to hold the photograph which I matted to create another space for journaling on the back about the event that is going on in the photograph. Then I added another tag with a tab from one of the embellishments from the Close to My Heart kit scraps...

I used a punch tab for an additional journaling spot next to the photograph...
I love these layouts...they show some fabulous photos of my grandparents!!
I am planning to shadowbox frame these pages...Sweet...

Hugs, Rita

Friday, September 28, 2012 | By: Rita Hutcheson-Cobbs

Orange you glad...we bannered up Scrapbook Layout...

What is up with that title page!? Well, it is just a blog post title after all...not the title for the scrapbook page necessarily, really, is it?! Well, one never knows, it might be... I love love love these pages! The colors, the layout, the photographs of my Grandfather Newell, everything...it is way sweet that is for sure...all that is needed is a photograph of him and his banjo...loved hearing him play that banjo...

I am not very good with rub-ons. For one thing, if they are very old, they don't work! If you rub them as you lay them down for a second or two, they do come off much easier. However, I still have a lot of trouble with them. Brand means a lot; the better the brand, the better the run-on. I just stay away from them because I am no good at them. I did have this one given to me in a goodie bag that was sticking out of my pink lady bag, so I used it on this layout. I reached in for something while working on this page and out I pulled it lol...

Banners!! Love them...this punch is from Stampin' Up...can't say how much I love this one...add a few foam pop up dots and you have a wonderful banner. I didn't have the brown twine with me or I would have added it underneath...

I doubled up the trim with ribbon, cardstock and paper...

I used scrap pieces of paper for the banner...

I raised the recipe up with foam pop up dots, love those things...
Then I framed, matted if you will, both it and my photographs...
How have you matted or framed the photograph of today?
What can you single out from the past 24 hours as the most important thing
and frame it out as the best part?

Hugs, Rita

Thursday, September 27, 2012 | By: Rita Hutcheson-Cobbs

The Pearl Earrings to say Thank You!

Tuesday night, I had a wonderful time celebrating makeovers with a bunch of beautiful and amazing girlfriends! Susan Breeding came over and shared her tips and products with us. I was so needy too! I love to wear Mary Kay and was just about out of the items I wear daily. So, I posted the event on Facebook and asked several friends to come help me celebrate the autumn time of year with a new look, a makeover. What a great time of pampering and respite it was! I had no idea it could be soooo much fun! As a thank you to all that came, I made these elegant pearl earrings with silver findings. I felt pearls represented the occasion quite well too. I will be teaching a class on how to make three different type of earrings similar to this so that you can make your own. However, these are just for that one event and as with each event I host in home, I will have one thank you gift for that time and then not make anymore. I want us all to look at them and remember what a special time we had together. I smile just thinking about Tuesday night and what each woman means to me.

Hugs, Rita
Wednesday, September 26, 2012 | By: Rita Hutcheson-Cobbs

Grandmother...Scrapbook Layout

Later in life is a mix of treasured times and difficult moments. You watch as the loved one is ready to go through the celebration of the life they have lived as well as the one to come. It is both hard and at moments easy. These photographs of my grandmother show some of those moments. She was a beautiful lady even into her nineties.

I don't have a clue when professional scrapbookers talk about this aspect of the art or that; I simply scrapbook. I thought three recipes balanced three photographs, but I didn't think of that when I was putting them on the page, but it does look pretty good doesn't it =). I did add a couple of tags behind the recipes so that I can journal more about my grandmother and who knows, I might even try the recipes and post photographs and how they actually turned out. =O

I rounded the corners only on one side of the the photographs because I loved the effect it gave. It was simple and yet very pretty. I do like to mat my photographs too.

More tags hidden behind the photographs with tabs added to the top.

More tags...

Then I added tabs to the photographs for yet more journaling space...
I hope you are enjoying this month of scrapbooking...
...and a bit of my family...

Hugs, Rita

Tuesday, September 25, 2012 | By: Rita Hutcheson-Cobbs

Circles of Life in Celebrating Scrapbook Layout...

 There is so much fun in the midst of these pages! It was a continuation of my Grandmother Newell's birthday photographs. Without making it too busy I wanted to include as many photos as possible to make the celebration complete. So now I have 12 photographs and 2 recipes on this 2-page scrapbook layout!! Pretty good!

 I had a lot of photos that only had one or two faces in the photographs and nothing else. So I took a large circle punch and popped those out and added them as trim...loving it...however, shhhh, I would have done a scrapbook page of the faces lining the circled trim "grim faces of the birthday bash!" LOL...nobody is smiling! Then I saw the top circle...it was my daddy's hand near the menu...nobody could miss my daddy's super large hands! You could take both of mine and one of your's which would make one of his...I loved holding his hands...I felt safe, secure and most of all loved.

A balance of photographs and recipe with boarder trim...

A punched folder with a wonderful place for journaling...

...I had three of these on the page...Perfect!!

I also took a punch piece, cut it in half to use as a journaling spot to name those in several of the photographs. As for the trim, I added both paper pieces and then cardstock self-sticking trim from Close to My Heart. Love the effect all of this gives without spending a lot of money. I recycle whenever possible using my scraps, especially for the punched tab pieces and the folders. What do you recycle from your stash of art or crafting supplies? Do you cross the areas of mediums when you do? What, When, Where, How...

Hugs, Rita

Sunday, September 23, 2012 | By: Rita Hutcheson-Cobbs

A Pocket for your Pictures or your Pizzas and Pasta...Scrapbook Layout...

 Creating a page with several photos can be complicated, but when you have copies of some of the photos, especially old photos that you don't want to throw away, you make a pocket for them, well, at least I do. =)...I was torn wither to cut off the dated trim or not to, so I opted for doing so since I had copies of some of the photos. I was very pleased with the outcome. Clean and sure while keeping the simplicity of the photographs. Aged and pretty.

 I love how the recipes pop on this paper, which is out of character for my new found style of scrapbooking and cardmaking. I thought the food themed embellishments went quite nicely with the papers too.

 I used cardstock to make the pocket. I felt it more durable to hold the photos and tags I might add for journaling or additional photographs I might come across or be trusted with later. It was a great place to fit a another recipe too!

Perfect fit...I didn't add the photos to mats...maybe later...
As for the trim...simple ribbon and cardstock self-sticking trim from Close to My Heart.

 Here I didn't have enough cardstock trim and didn't want to cut only an inch from another 12x12 piece of paper to make one so I left it, adding a punched tab to the top and some cute butterflies as embellishments. I thought, "Awesome!" I love love love this tab punch from Stampin' Up! The butterfly punch is from Martha Stewart and is a must have for sure!

Finally, I took a scrap piece of trim from the Close to My Heart collection and stuck it along the bottom of one of the recipes as an after thought...whoa-la...What is something as an after thought that worked perfect for you? Was it a relationship? An art or craft project? Recipe? Shopping experience or gift you gave? Tell us...

Hugs, Rita
Saturday, September 22, 2012 | By: Rita Hutcheson-Cobbs

Ellean's Garden of Memories Scrapbook Layout...

 Within my Cookbook Scrapbook, I am going to do a layout of memories for each of my aunts and uncles, but just reflecting on my aunt Ellean Newell Kimbrough who celebrated a short life by our standards just before she was to wed a wonderful man after the long ago passing her husband, raising her children, seeing her grandchildren grow. When another aunt and Ellean's sister, Etta, passed a day before her 90th birthday...Death and the master of death for taking someone before a celebration milestone is difficult... but that isn't why I blog or why I am writing this. So, let's begin...Ellean's garden of memories, indeed, a beautiful garden...

 Ellean's home of antiques, the red couch that I always loved, the flowers in her yard and the smell of her house. That faint laugh and smile. The way she drew her head back when she laughed, nobody else ever did that but her. She was tiny but tall. Her children were always nice, police and friendly to me and grew up to be beautiful amazing people within and without, among the community and within their homes.

Her cooking was raved at the celebration of her life and going away party. We all knew that at planned events or just showing up, that she would comfort you with food. She and mother listened and were taught well at home. She was a woman of faith and friendship who loved family, worked hard and knew when to play. What did I learn most from her? How to be a wife. I watched her do that with grace and love regardless of the time or situation and with the children. She was the Proverbs 31 woman in my eyes. Although she may have been very different when I wasn't with her, at work or at home, however, I don't think she was. Life has a way of speaking of those things and it has spoke of nothing else but of the truth in the life she lived. What can this life speak of us as we celebrate the life we live today? Will it speak of us in such a way? If you could speak one truth of someone from your past that was a positive thing they lived that you could implement today, what would it be?

Hugs, Rita
PS...notice the tag within the page that I created for journaling...there is always a first lol...
Friday, September 21, 2012 | By: Rita Hutcheson-Cobbs

It's all about the Party Scrapbook Layout...

 I won't say that I totally love this layout combo but I won't say I hate it either. The paper is another story! It is outside the box for me because it is bright and yellow! I never thought I would steriotype my scrapbooking until a few months ago, now grant it, I have only been scrapbooking per say since 2010. Until then I had been making cards for the most part. I had made a couple of scrapbook albums and owned a few tools because I was "bullied" (saying loosely) by some well meaning girlfriends lol BUT I am defined ((sigh))...so, when I saw this and a few others with reds and bright yellows...WOW...I pulled them from the giveaway stash...yummmmm....I wanted to use the tea time themed stickers so badly (whining a bit) so I stuck them on the pages. It was also the end of the day and the espresso from the early afternoon was wearing off so...there you go for the whining and excuses...

 I don't have many photos in the cookbook scrapbook collection and none from today of them and their families. So I treasure every one of these. Oh, I say that but as I am typing, I remember, my cousin, Kay Newell Sears always sends a Christmas card with a family photograph which I put on our fridge. We call the collage of photographs we get at Christmas, in wedding announcements, birth announcements, etc and place them on our fridge, our prayer wall. As we see them, we say a prayer of positive blessing on them each time. Garrett, I am sure, prayers for the Alabama Football magnet every time he sees it and not so much for the Auburn one lol... =O...

I have to admit that I have a collection of photos that I am scrapbooking "anyway" even though the people in them may or may not be in our family any longer for whatever reason. Do you have any photographs like that? ...just curious...

Hugs, Rita
Thursday, September 20, 2012 | By: Rita Hutcheson-Cobbs

Generations Undivided Scrapbooking Layout...

 Creating pages within the Cookbook Scrapbook has been such a joy for me. Going through the photos of my parents in the early years of their marriage and even before, makes me realize how hard the work and how much they enjoyed play. When I came along, they were in the midst of working hard to provide and stable in their lives. They were older and beyond vacationing and almost ready for retirement, but still working. I never regretted our lives, matter of fact, I loved the stability of where we lived, Decatur during the week and Phil Campbell farm on the weekends.

 On these pages, I found two photos that were random and didn't have a home so to speak. On this page, I added one of my uncle and aunt, a large generation gap but sweet in many way...the bike, the black and white format of the photograph, the clothing and my aunt standing there with expression and definition. The one recipe in my mother's handwriting is a treasure for me for sure!

Also, the papers speak for themselves; they needed really no other embellishments. I created the trim with ribbon and cardstock self-sticking embellishments from Close to My Heart that came in a package of fifty. I matted the recipes and photographs carefully because all of them were fragile. Simplistic. Treasured. Two that I will frame and display in my home rather than leave in my cookbook scrapbook I am sure. =)

So, do you cook? I have a delicious friend, I say delicious because if you tasted her breads, you would want to eat her up too, but Suzanne makes bread for me...chocolate, tomato-basil, onion, and other types of sandwich bread for us each week. I can make bread, but why would I when she makes these large wonderful breads already, every week for her family!! What do you like to bake? Share...

Hugs, Rita
Wednesday, September 19, 2012 | By: Rita Hutcheson-Cobbs

A Mom and Her Chick-a-dees Scrapbook Layout...

 When my mother and daddy came to live with us in 2008, my mother brought with her all her photographs and all her recipe clippings. I spent quite a bit of time organizing them all and have pulled a few photos to put in 12x12 pages for shadowbox framing for my home instead of the 8 1/2 x 11 cookbook scrapbook I am doing with the rest of the collection. This is one of those photographs. It is my grandmother Dissie Heath Newell and all her daughters. Sitting is the oldest, Betty Rosetta "Etta" Newell Garrison who just celebrated a long life a few weeks ago. Then my beautiful grandmother who celebrated a long amazing life in June 1999. Then standing is my mother Thelma Newell Hutcheson, born with the first name Coleanor but changed her name to Colena Newell Winstead, Dean Newell Mancine and another aunt who also celebrated a beautiful life and has joined my grandmother and her bothers with Etta, Ellean Newell Kimbrough.

 As you can see from some of the pages I create for shadowboxes, although I am certainly not limited, I love to add shabby chic, pretty vintage embellishments. These starched fabric yo-yo's were a purchase from ebay, however, you could easily make your own. I thought of adding buttons or bling to the top of them but keeping with the elements of the past, I decided to stay with the necked wholes as in the quilting days of my grandmother's time.

 Butterflies are my mother's favorite. I can't see one without thinking of her. She has blossomed into such a precious and beautiful creature in spite of her memory diseases and even in the loss of family members and a dear son-in-law whom she loved. Seeing siblings pass on it very hard for her and those that she was close to as a child. However, I have teased her that with all the butterfly jewelry and pins she has, I could easily give every single person that comes to her celebration life time one and still have plenty to cover her Heaven Chariot with all that remains. She laughs at that.

 Often you will see that I add tags to my pages. This is for extra journaling or more photos. I use my favorite tab punch for the pull on my tags. I have made many tags by recycling soda, cracker and cereal boxes to cover with pretty papers and cardstock. They are sturdy and durable for pulling in and out of the pockets.

 This paper packet came with a lovely boarder, perfect with it's own journaling of sorts. I added another trim layer that came with the paper kit. I don't recall where the kit came from, but it was Close to My Heart or Stampin' Up.

 The kit included a delicious set of stickers, two sheets, of wonderful fun elements that I could use on several pages and even a couple of cards. I added this small decor element just under the photo to give it a sense of creativity that didn't "cost" me much. =) Then I layered ribbons with lace to increase the vintage, shabby chic, and 3D feeling which will be perfect for the shadowbox.

When I first placed this lace trim it was too thin for the bright design of the paper. So, I double layered it, altering each piece so that the edging was visible from the top. I secured both layers with the red tape while using my ATG gun to secure the ribbons, but used the red tape on the yo--yo's and butterfly.

I really had fun creating this page and look forward to displaying it in my home. I want to add some small things inside the shadowbox base that reminds me of these lovely ladies. Also, I found some lovely photos of my aunts in "shorts" so I thought of doing a page of Nair...remember the shaving ads? I have to find one and create a couple of layouts in that style and those colors lol...it was funny reading their minds, who can get the shorts the shortest, who can be the skinniest by summer, who can have the deepest tan...but Etta and my mother...they were the oldest of the sisters and can you guess who looks the youngest?! My mother. At age 82, she has the softest skin, the prettiest white hair and the fewest wrinkles. I appreciate that she has taught me how to care for my skin. What do you appreciate from days gone by that you have been taught? Who taught you that one thing? I can't wait to hear...let's get a cup of tea or coffee and share some time together...

Hugs, Rita