LO for Oona's Uncles

These two were made for my brothers, Oona's uncles, who were both moving out of my parents' house and striking out on their own. I wanted them to have a memento of Oona, to remind them a little bit of home and family. It features snapshots of Oona's first few months.

{Credits: Shabby Princess Harvest Spice, Cottage Arts Hope and Sentiment Pack}

Getting Started On Your First Layout

Previous: So You Wanna Digi-Scrap Too?

Pictures? Check. Hardware? Check. Software? Check! All systems GO!

(This is a simplified version for Photoshop users. It's a little bit more advanced than if you're going to use a ready-to-scrap software Scrapbookflair, Smilebox or Scrapblog. Those softwares are very user-friendly with prompts and built-in directions from start to finish. The last two even supplies their own musictoaccompany your finished albums!)

1. Pick out a theme. It'll be easier when you establish a focus for your project like, Our Summer at the Beach 2008 or Christmas Vacation 2007. Being specific is always good as it will help you pick out designs and ideas faster than having a scope that's too general or broad.

2. Select a picture or a set you want to work on, based on the theme you have in mind. You might want to go through them to pick out the good shots. This is when it's toughest, trying to pick out the best among all the cute photos! But, tough love, baby! Leave behind the ones that really don't tell a story, are blurry or too dark to be edited. Put the ones you picked in a separate folder just to segregate them from the rest you aren't working on.

3. Edit the photos on your photo-editing software. Crop, enhance and clean them up to make sure they stand out.

4. Search for papers, elements and other materials that correspond to the theme you picked.

5. Start layouting (For Photoshop, this is assuming you're familiar with the software)

a. First rule of thumb is: KEEP IT SWEET AND SIMPLE. There are a number of free layouts and quick pages downloadable from the scrapbooking community. If you're stumped for ideas, browse through the galleries to get inspired. One thing you will notice is that the layouts may be simple, but they all kick ass. It's a good idea to make a sketch of your composition first so you'll have something to base your final layout on.

b. Set your canvas size to what you would like your final project to be. Most projects are set at 12x12 but you may modify it to 8.5x11 especially if you're printing them. The 12x12's are also printable as photobooks but usually via print shops.

c. Lay out the papers you want to use for the background. Usually, this depends on whether your photos are generally light or dark. I would suggest a light colored background paper if your photos are dark and vice versa for light photos. This is to provide a backdrop for your photos so they ought to provide a certain contrast. However, if you still want to use a dark background with dark photos, you can still provide contrast for your pictures by the use of lighter shaded frames and embellishments. You may also use other papers, placing them side by side or layering them one on top of the other for further effect.

d. Place the picture/s you want to feature on the page. I would suggest a maximum of five pictures on one page and no more. Unless you were going for a mosaic look, too many pictures on one page can overwhelm your viewer. A good layout for me would be to have one focal point and that the rest of the elements and other pictures would visually support.

e. Frame the pictures with your chosen frames and elements. Focus on developing your focal point, leading the eye to it.

f. Save your work periodically. When you're done, save a .jpeg version of it to post or bring to the photo printing shop.

Viola! You're done!

I GOT FEATURED!!!

IT'S OUT! IT'S OUT! JUST OFF THE PRESS!

Read it at the Databazaar Blog!

{Credits: Papers: Designer Digitals Katie Pertiet Ad Challenge 11407, Ad Challenge 123007
& Scrap Girls Theresa Kavouras Sweet Success 12x12 Diamond Glory SPECIAL;
Embellishments: Designer Digitals Swirlies by Anna Aspnes Web Challenge 18 May 08,
Scrap Girls Refresh 2 frame;
Fonts: Old Script & Digikeepsakes Vivaldi Alpha by Leslie B.;
Photo frame: Free Digital Scrapbooking Andrea Rascaglia}

WOOT!!!

Oona's Second Album: LAST PAGES

It was pretty typical for everyone after that.

Sleeping was our favorite activity. (It still is, with eating and playing a close second and third!)

Before August ended, Lolo Lem got to play with his recovering little granddaughter. She still couldn't see much, as with typical newborns, but she knew how to work the crowd!

It was as if she never got sick!

Oona's Second Album: PAGES 17-19

We got visits at the hospital, the night before we came home. Everyone was relieved that she was better. They weren't allowed in the NICU so no one had seen her for a week.

She was less fussy in the following days and her real character began to come out.

She still couldn't focus her newborn eyes, but she would try to stare at faces. It was as if she was catching up for the first few days she was out of commission.




RF would gamely take on anything he could short of feeding her as she was still breastfeeding. However, he did get the hang of cup feeding her from the hospital and he would tell me to pump a bit so he could feed her if she was hungry while I snatched a few minutes more of sleep.

Oona really slept a lot during those following days. We would watch her as she slept and try to make her as comfortable as possible.

Her color improved and so did her temperament. Of course, RF coming home from night shift would still take her to the rooftop deck for some sun. Then, they would come down for breakfast and fall asleep together.

Oona's Second Album: PAGES 12-14

These are the first few days at home. Sleepless, still racked with pain, exhausted and overly worried about Oona.

Is she crying because she's hungry? Too hot? Too cold? Not swaddled enough or too tight? Did she poop or pee? Does she want to cuddle? Be sung to? Are we too noisy or too quiet? Is she in pain? Is her navel bothering her? Is her jaundice getting worse?

Hay, the insecurity of new parents!

Plus the added worry that her pedia wanted to see her immediately after the weekend was over. The usual was seven days, but we were scheduled to see him three days after coming home.

It was the rainy season and no sun was coming out long enough for her to absorb as much vitamins as she can to beat the jaundice in her system. We were putting her under fluorescent lamps night and day, but we were scared it wasn't enough. At first she was just newborn red, then before the weekend was over, her eyeballs were yellow.

I was sick scared and RF was better at managing the worry. I didn't know what to do.

I was so frustrated because I just wanted her to be okay. I wanted her to be a normal, happy baby. I wanted not to be worried sick that the doctors would need her back at the hospital. I wanted to be well and mobile enough and RF and I to be rested to take better care of her. I wanted to know everything before she even had to cry so heart-breakingly for anything.

I think, it was my most helpless time. I didn't want to lose her.

Oona's Second Album: PAGES 9-11

In our private room, we had some time to ourselves as the new family. I was tired, cranky and yes, in pain. I wanted to get over the pain already and start enjoying my new family!

We were all adjusting to the new state of things and I wanted to cry myself when Oona cried. I couldn't move as fast as I wanted, to feed her or check on her . . . my regard for single mothers and the mothers of the past went up profoundly when I think of the comforts, medicine and advice readily available to me during those few hours. Not to mention my tired but loving and attentive husband, for whom I'm sure, the world changed with his daughter's first cry.

RF couldn't stop taking pictures even when he was so tired and sleepy. Oona for the most part was either sleeping or crying. She still drives us nuts nowadays but not as badly as the first few days. I wanted to develop mind-reading powers just to spare her the heart-breaking cries!

I sincerely don't know how we managed.

We were also able to welcome our first few visitors then: the proud family!

Oona was a first grandchild and niece on my side of the immediate family so most pictures here are of my clan!

Oona's Second Album: PAGES 5-8

Our first family picture! I was so stoned. I was near blacking out while the doctors were cleaning me and Oona up. RF hovered. I thought Oona was going to drown on my boob. I was aware of fractured sounds, images and thoughts...I don't know what they gave me but I was higher than high. I was fighting it for all I was worth but the drugs, the exhaustion and the physical exertion was too much for me.

Oona and I roomed together from the get go. I still don't know if that was a good idea or not, but all I know is, I couldn't have let her out of my sight for a second. Although St. Luke's is a good hospital, I've heard too many horror stories of babies getting switched or kidnapped. Or maybe it was the drugs working on a new mother's paranoia. Nevertheless, the nurses and our new pedia (we acquired one between the delivery room and the post-op) gave us all the attention and care we needed as a new family.

I was still racked up with pain and RF was desperate for sleep. I don't know where we got the strength we had that day, but seeing Oona, holding her frail little babyness was an incredible experience.

She was so sweet! So tiny! So incredibly ours!

She looked like a burrito, swaddled in her blankets. RF was afraid to hold her because she looked so fragile! He was afraid he'd drop her but the nurses insisted he learn ASAP. I wanted to laugh so hard but all I managed was a dry chuckle. Pain. I was also so very thirsty from not having taken any liquids or eaten anything for over twelve hours.

Looking at Oona's pictures now, I can tell you straight away that at first I was struck at the absence of the intense feeling you kept reading in books. I understand now that it's a romanticized version of parenthood, although it does happen.

For me, I had the certainty that no matter who this little person would turn out to be, she was mine. Not in a possessive, I-own-you kind of way. . . She is a part of me I gave to the world. A part of my body, my soul. She is her own person, but she is as my own.

You know what they say about having children.

It's making that decision to have your heart walk around outside your body.

She was it.

Oona's Second Album: TITLE PAGE

This album should have taken me less time because all I had to do was basically put in pictures and titling. However, because it was so easy to do, I ended up taking longer: I put in more photos and text, doubling the number of pages in the album and tweaking the second set of layouts to make them a little different from the first set.

I *heart* Photoshop!

I'll be posting all twenty-two pages (Yes! TWENTY-TWO!) in batches, as it's a little overwhelming and long to post them in one go! :D

{Credits: Shabby Princess Piece-A-Cake In the Groove Album}

Oona's First Nine Months! My First Album!

My name is Laya and I am a Scrapaholic. (Hellooo, Laya!)

This happened beacuse we just had way too much footage of Oona being the triggerhappy proud parents of this little girl. We hardly knew what to do with the batches of pictures we accumulated.

I was surfing through arts and crafts websites to see what I could see, when I came across digital scrapbooking.

When it came to photographs, I was a glue-and-scissors kind of girl and it never crossed my mind that I could do this digitally. I was calling myself all kinds of stoofid because I used to jazz up static pictures with graphics in my video editing days! Duh! Why didn't I think of that in the first place?! My creative mojo really IS on an all time low!

But where to start, where to start? I couldn't possibly be making ribbons, buttons and stuff from scratch! It would take me too long and I was stumped for design. (Really no mojo to speak of).

It was after beating myself up for running out of creative juice that the universe pointed me in the direction of ScrapFlair. Maybe the universe got sick of my self-pity because not only was it a free downloadable program, ScrapFlair had ready-made templates and elements that were included in the package!

Oh joy and happy days!

Additional freebies are downloadable on the site too. So as soon as I started figuring out the program, I was downloading as much stuff as I liked.

It helps that you join the online community as well even if as a non-member, you can still read through the posts under a lot of helpful topics. The forum posts are very helpful and informative. As a member though, you can post your own questions, ask help for your specific concerns regarding tips and tricks and post in your own gallery to get feedback. You also get an email newsletter with what's new at the site and new kits that the designers launched.

At this time however, I'm still building up my own collection of pages inspired by the Scrapflair designs to post in my gallery. So far, I managed to finish Oona's First 9 Months, an album of my pregnancy.

I'm glad everything (except layout templates) are in a format that's editable. I wanted greater elbow-room so I ended up using Adobe Photoshop to make my own layouts, to resize and add effects to the elements themselves.

Since I wanted to add a lot more stuff to the scrapbook I was making, I had to make some of my own "stickers", labels and other graphics.



I also mixed in other elements I downloaded from other design templates.

Using ScrapFlair is a great way to get started on digital scrapbooking. This was all I needed to get me out of the creative funk I was having. From then on, I was able to move on to other projects using other resources that the scrapbooking community selflessly share!

{Credits: Scrapbookflair Sweetie Pie Collection, Aqua Glass Collection,
Princess Collection; Digitalscrapbooking-free.com Heart Sentiments by Lisa W;
Freedigitalscrapbooking.com Child of Mine Set}