Heidi Swapp Memory Keeping album

Last week my team mates Lindsay and Jen shared their reason why they are memory keepers over on the Heidi Swapp blog.
Today I want to share my reason why! Just over 18 months ago I returned to my teaching job after 8 years off raising my family. Now if you know the life of a teacher you would know we lead very busy lives both in the classroom and at home-preparing lessons, organizing resources, marking...the list goes on! Many people ask me how I continue my scrapbooking now that I work full time. The answer is simple- I make time! My belief is  so strong that preserving my family's stories  and memories is an important part of my life  that I take time each week to get those stories recorded. I have heard Heidi speak many times about our memories and how fleeting they can be if not written down. It is so true. Once the moment is gone it is like it never happened. All we have are the photos and stories. If those stories are not recorded then the memory soon will be gone. I want to remember the big and little moments, the happy and not so happy moments, all these   contribute to the rich tapestry of my family's life. So I make time in my crazy busy life to memory keep!

 

Enter the new Memory themed  albums. This way of memory keeping makes it even more easy to record your family's stories because all you need is your photos and  few extra bits and pieces and you can get those stories recorded quick as a flash. This whole project of mine that follows took my one afternoon on a recent weekend....although I still have September through to December to go it will be so quick to achieve because I have the basics down pat! Let me share my five items that I think are the basics when it comes to creating with  the new Memory Keeping albums.

 

1. A pen- I use a precision pen from American Crafts. There is no time to worry about your handwriting in our busy lives but using a good quality pen sure helps make it easier.
2.  Glue stick adhesive- I use the Sticky Thumb glue stick from American Crafts to help me quickly glue my chipboard and paper embellishments down.
3. Black ink- the Embellishment kits come with their own set of stamps. Classic black ink works every single time on a page.
4. stapler- sometimes a simple staple adds texture without the bulk.
5. large clip- when I am journaling and embellishing my pages I find it easier to hold my pages together with a large bull dog clip.

Remember I mentioned the Embellishment kits before

 

For todays project I used the super fun Family Embellishment kit. It contains a beautiful assortment of die cuts, chipboard words, washi, pockets and clear stamps. Now if you want to take your project up a notch and you have some extra time on your hands , how about adding some of these fun items to your list of materials.

 

1. Stencil and Texture paste- add some subtle but colorful texture to your pages by spreading randomly over your pages.
2. Clear letter stamps- I have used my vintage Heidi stamps to add titles and bold text to my pages.
3. Colorful washi, to add flip up photo pages and hold down embellishments.
4. My instax printer- when you need a photo printed in hurry. Open the app on your phone, edit your photo and hit send and the photo is printed in seconds.
5.  Although I didn't use it in this album, add more soft swashes of color to your pages with the Art screens and Inks. It dries so fast, you will have beautiful pages in no time at all.

Now that you have seen my favorite items to create with let me share my memory keeping album with you. I decided to create a" 2016 best of times" album. There are 24  pages in the album, 24 places to slip in a photo and add some journaling. So I decided to choose two of my favorite memories from each month from 2016 and add it into my album.

 

When you open the album there is a page to introduce your theme. I added that beautiful "dreams" chipboard word from the Embellishment kit plus stickers from my stash to serve as a title page.

 

January starts with our family trip to Hawaii.

 

I added some vintage Heidi stamps for my title plus that silver "expect miracles" chipboard piece from the  Embellishment kit.

 

I layered one of the clear stickers that comes with the memory album under that pretty die cut flower that I spritzed with Mint Colorshine.

 

Turning the page, another favorite memory from Hawaii, I added another of the die cut flowers this time spritzed with Butter Colorshine and layered more of the clear stickers.

 

Butter Colorshine adds such a beautiful shimmer to any die cut.

 

I added a touch of hot pink Colorshine to the last piece of die cut to coordinate with my photo. February begins with a photo of my bestie and I at  fun party we had.

 

I added stamping and chipboard pieces from the embellishment kit. Then a special photo shoot for my photo for Heidi's new website.

 

I added that fun patterned transparency from Pink Paislee for a pop of color.

 

I used one of the mint clips from the kit to hold my transparency in place.

 

It can be removed easily to read the journalling. Next comes March and my husband and I  celebrated our anniversary.

 

I added one of the pockets from the Embelishment kit to the journaling page. I added washi tape and that chipboard piece to add subtle layers to my page.

 

The tag inside lifts out to reveal the journaling. March ends with a beautiful visit at Easter to my media team mate Jamie. The snow in her back yard was just stunning.

 

More stamping and clear stickers from the Embellishment kit. April begins with my trip to Utah to visit Heidi.

 

I had lots to say and wanted a rather busy feel to these pages so I added lots of color and layers.

 

I added another die cut flower spritzed with hot pink Colorshine layered over the photo and word strips.

 

I added another photo to my journaling page using some washi to serve as a flip up flap.

 

The photo lifts to reveal more journaling underneath. Another not so happy memory but one worth recording was my husband's broken wrist and subsequent surgery.

 

I combined my journaling and that cardstock die cut from the embellishment kit as a basis for the right hand side page. Under my photo I added more of the clear stickers, glitter washi from the Yellow Washi kit and stamping. May begins with another fun party with our friends. This photo of my son's and their best friends sums up their little friendship perfectly!

 

I added more vintage letter stamps combined with that yellow chipboard arrow on the journaling page and clipped that Enjoy flag from the Embelishment kit onto my photo page. I caught my boys holding hands and giggling together at our local shops one day in May. A small moment that meant so much to me.

 

Simple embellishments for a a simple and quick page. June starts off with us seeing finding Dory as a family and a yummy dinner afterwards.

 

I used my circle stencil and Silver Metallic Texture paste from the Gallery Wall collection to add a bit of fun to my page. Once it dried I added my journaling and layered over my sticker embellishments. Two family outings to the same place are the highlight for my second page of June.

 

I added that photo with some washi to add extra journaling. More stamping and some hot pink sheer stickers from my stash completes my page.

 

I love these liftable extras in my album. July showcases my older son's soccer team and their very first win - right at the end of the season.

 

The "first" chipboard piece was the perfect embellishment for my page. I added that star washi tape from the grey wish tape pack and the hustle sticker from the memory planner collection. School holiday fun and and something new -Ice skating!

 

A quick page again with the journaling tag from the kit, stamping and washi! August begins with my son's new found interest in building. All of a sudden he has become very handy and with the help of my husband built himself a catapult for his school assignment.

 

Some splashes of Tinsel Colorshine embellishes my photo page.

 

I used the Tinsel and Blue Colorshine to create an ombre effect on one of the Color Magic alphas from the Gallery Wall collection and once dry layered over stickers and  a punched star. I Used one of my gold clips from stash to add my date. In Australia book week happens in late August and my boys celebrated with their favorite book characters.

 

Another quick page with stamping and a touch of washi tape. Now that we are in September  My goal is to work on each  month as it progresses. I have already printed off a photo using my Instax printer and typed up my journaling using my We R Memory Keepers typewriter.

 

I'll add this into my album soon. Don't you just love all these delicious layers!

 

I can't wait to fill the rest of my album in the coming months what an incredible show case of some of my family's memories that I do not want to forget. Find These yummy Memory Themed  albums at your local Michaels store now!
   Supplies-Best Of Times Memory Keeping Theme book, Memory Keeping Kit Family, Silver Metallic Texture Paste, Color Magic Alphabet

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