My Scrapbook Resume

Sunday, December 28, 2014

The Other One

Sam's Bar Mitzvah is fast approaching, which means he is getting a lot of press in my scrapbook, blog, and Instagram world. I find that that happens a lot. There will be periods where every layout seems to be about one of my children, and not the other. I used to worry about this, but have come to accept it as the natural ebb and flow of life.

Before the mad Bar Mitzvah rush, though, Max had a big event of his own- performing in his high school musical. He performed last year too, though this time he had a larger role, which required him to work even harder at the singing and the dancing. Any time my children work hard at something, and they get to enjoy the rewards of their labor, I am a happy camper.


We all enjoyed the performance of 13 The Musical, and we have been listening and singing to the music ever since. It's pretty catchy.

Friday, December 26, 2014

Clique Kits January Kit; Tailor Made

I am on vacation now, which means it is scrapbooking and blogging catch-up time.

So let's get's started.

I have two layouts to share with this month's Clique Kit.


I love this kit to pieces. Amy Tangerine's papers, those large scripted words, lovely stickers that remind me of colorforms of the days of yore, and more acetate script words from Chic Tags. I've been whipping out layouts like...like a thing that makes lots of layouts.

Here is numero uno, in which I document my love for coffee mugs, and the cozy images they create.


And, on a more momentous note,  next is the layout where I capture Sam's first day of wearing Tefillin. This is a big deal for a boy (and his family) about to become a Bar Mitzvah. He will wear those Tefillin each morning suring morning prayers. Which also means, that he will now pray each morning. He seemed excited by this new part of his day, and I think he was pleasantly surprised that everyone at school seemed happy and excited for him too.


It also means, that the big Bar Mitzvah day is coming up soon:




Sunday, December 14, 2014

A Thanksgiving Layout- Clique Kits challenge

At the beginning of December I had my parent-teacher conferences (me being the teacher part of that phrase), so the weeks before hand were not crafty weeks. And, we are 5 weeks away from Sam's Bar Mitzvah. So also, less crafting. 

I feel behind in all things scrapbooking, but sometimes that is just the way it goes. 

I will attempt to catch up here with a layout for the Clique Kits December challenge.  


The challenge, as it usually is, is anything goes with a twist. The twist (which is optional) being "something mini." I used some "mini" 6x6 papers from my Hanukkah Kit, and some Evalicious stickers from my stash and from the December add on.

While the rest of the world is all about Christmas right now, and a bit of Chanukah too, I am working on scrapbooking Thanksgiving.


This month's sponsor is Creative Retreat and they are giving away to our randomly selected winner their November Kit and coordinating digital journaling cards design by Danielle Young Designs.

There is lots more information and inspiration here!
I hope you join in and link up!



Wednesday, November 19, 2014

Clique Kits November Pep Rally

Hi everyone! And welcome to the November Pep Rally.



The challenge for this month's blog share is to use the November Mood Board.


I have to be honest. Though I often admire mood boards, I haven't ever gotten around to creating from them. Until today, that is. The subject of this layout was inspired by the photo of the watercolors. I had a photo that fit nicely; Each year, in my preschool class, we give the children liquid watercolors and eyedroppers, and they drop the paint into ice cube trays. The children love the physical process, and they love watching the colors mix together. I always find the results beautiful to look at.


At work, I spend a lot of my time over at the art table. I just love giving small children experience with different media and tools, teaching them how they are typically used, and then watching what they do. So I paired this photo with another photo from one of my favorite places at work, and I built the layout from there.



Here is the list of everyone participating in the blog share. Visit them all and leave 'em some love! (And if you would like to mosey on over to the right and follow me too, I would be much obliged.)









Tuesday, November 18, 2014

On Bravery, Continued

A little while ago, I shared this layout:


And I wrote a little more about it here.

When I shared this layout in some galleries, one of the responses I got was that there are more important things to be besides brave. Which is music to my ears. And then I wondered about what I am, if not brave. I came up with this list here:


I made this layout with the Clique Kits' November kit, Homecoming. I loved the pinks and the whites, and the touches of gold, and the textures, and everything else about this kit. If you like it too, you can get it for 50% off with your subscription to Clique Kits. Or, in November, you can order this kit, and anything else from the store  and receive 25% off, with the code CKNOV25.


Friday, November 7, 2014

Botanical Gardens Layout

As I mentioned in my last post, Dave and I spent a few glorious hours at the NY Botanical Garden in the Bronx. Such a momentous occasion definitely deserved to be recorded for posterity, and so I did just that using the November Clique Kit, Homecoming. The Lemon Owl and Webster Pages papers were perfect for this woodsy layout.


Aside from the beauty of the Lemon Owl papers, the patterns were subtle enough that I could print my journaling directly onto my layout. I describe my step by step process (including where to insert prayers that I measured everything just right) for printing onto my layouts, over at the Clique Kits blog.

Thanks for stopping by!

Wednesday, November 5, 2014

Botanical Gardens

This summer, I finally came up with a plan to blog somewhat regularly. At least more regularly than once a month. At the beginning of the month, I think up a list of topics and projects to share, and assign them to specific days on a calendar. The best part is, if I don't follow my calendar, it doesn't really matter all that much.

One item in particular has been on my list for some time now. In June, I went by myself (crazy!) to the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens, and I had a grand ole' time. Everything was pretty, and I could take as long as I wanted to take lots of photos, because I went by myself (!).

I loved my photos from that solitary excursion. and I made myself a little mini album because I loved them so, and I wanted to see some of them in print. It was in the making of this album, that I discovered how to make mini albums that I really like. The key being, to add as little as possible. When I start to add more to my mini albums, they start to feel haphazard to me. Keeping it simple, helps the design feel more cohesive. At least to me.

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The reason I finally shared this album now, is that I recently went to the Botanical Gardens in the Bronx, this time just with Dave, (crazy!) and again I ended up with lots of photos that I love. The moral of the story is, going places without children, frees you up to take a lot of photos. The only down side is, that they are not photos of my children. But, lovely photos, nonetheless:









Saturday, November 1, 2014

Write.Click.Scrapbook November

I had a lot of fun making this month's layout for Write.Click.Scrapbook. The theme is  "glitter, sparkle, shine," and it was a great push to use all the beautiful gold products I have accumulated, but that I have not used too much.

And, because Comic Con always happens in the middle of October, and it's a big deal in this home, my November layout will probably always be about Comic Con in some way.

Even with all the costume planning, the morning of of Comic Con is filled with last minute adjustments: makeup to be applied, sheaths to be made, dire wolf ears to be re-attached, Bane venom to be sealed in its tubing, and tubing to be adhered to Bane's mask, etc. 



Something about these photos made me think briefly, that if I had girls, I would be the one on the bed, tweaking a ribbon or a bow, or something pretty and sparkly. And that is how this layout came to be:








Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Clique Kits October Pep Rally



Hello and welcome to Clique Kits October pep rally!  The challenge was "Anything Goes," or to create a project inspired by this quote from L.M Montgomery:

"I'm so glad to live in a world where there are Octobers."

What a lovely quote and it was not hard at all to think of reasons to love October; the cooler weather, the sweaters, the shoes, and for the Deutsches, October brings Comic Con. Rather than try to include photos of everything, I used one photo to capture the beauty of October- a single white mini pumpkin- and I added the details in the journaling. The journaling being just a quick list. That little Top 5 card included in the October Kit, made this a breeze.

I added some Ali Edwards word art to the photo, and typed the word "October" in my current fave font, by Amy Tangerine.




Thanks for stopping by, and here's the list of everyone participating. Pay these lovely ladies  a visit and leave 'em some love.

Aliza (C'est Moi!)


Thanks again! Enjoy!











Sunday, October 19, 2014

On Bravery

If you go to Pinterest, and type in "brave quotes," you will get A LOT of results. With beautiful fonts and images they will sing the praises of facing your fears, being strong, and taking risks.

I can't do it.

I tried.

Lots of things make me scared, and I enjoy life just fine when I avoid them. Not ALL of them, of course. But for some things, the payoff is not enough to make all the anxiety worth it.

At a particularly anxious time, I made this:


It felt good to just say "I am not brave." 

But I do have some other pretty decent traits and skills. I have scrapped those too, but I am afraid you will have to wait to see it. I made it using the Clique Kits November kit "Homecoming." I can give you a little sneak though:


And the great thing about these heartfelt layouts about me? I can use lots of pink.



Tuesday, October 14, 2014

Clique Kits Mini Album

As soon as I saw Kelly Purkey's Second City collection, and as soon as I knew I would be receiving this collection in my October Clique Kit, I knew that I would use it to make a mini album using some photos that I took this summer during BPC's iPhone Photography class.


I started off with my usual story of not always loving the grit of New York City, and how using my phone camera helped me find the beauty around me.


I have often struggled to keep mini albums well designed and looking like one unified project, so my strategy has been to keep it super simple.







The October kit is sold out, but you can subscribe here to make sure to get in on November's kit. Clique kits also has a fabulous store filled with a variety of goodies. (For 10% off, use promo code ALIZA10 )










Sunday, October 12, 2014

Preachy Scrapbooking

I sure have been preaching a lot in my scrapbook pages recently. Not too long ago, I even wrote about using scrapbook pages as a way to record lessons for your children, over at Write.Click.Scrapbook. And since then, I made another page filled with wisdom for Max.



I am well aware, that my kids are not reading my scrapbooks, soaking in all my words of wisdom. In fact, I seriously considered using this photo for the above layout:


But I decided to keep the tone a little bit more serious. I have no expectations that Max is going to read my scrapbook page, and suddenly realize that I am a fountain of wisdom that he has been ignoring all these years. But, I do think the things that we tend to harp on with our children-- it goes in. It just takes a while. 

Wednesday, October 8, 2014

Clique Kits October Challenge

One of the things I love about Clique Kits, aside from their amazing products (available here) is that they also focus on the people behind the products.

This month's challenge is sponsored by Fancy Pants Designs, and you can read a little bit more about  the Fancy Pants folks here.


This month's challenge is Anything Goes with a Twist. You can create anything you's like, and the twist is to use some Fancy Pants products in your project. I made this card here with my October kit, and some Fancy Pants products I had in my stash. For a touch of gold, I also used some Shimelle Rub-ons that are available in the Clique Kits store. (Use promo code ALIZA10) for 10% off.)


You can post a link to your project on the Clique Kits blog. I can't wait to see what you create!

Thursday, October 2, 2014

Clique Kits!!!!

All those exclamation points in the title are to demonstrate how excited I am to share this layout that I made using the Clique Kits October kit, Masquerade Ball. It is already sold out, so it's a good idea to get a subscription if you don't already have one. They also have a well stocked store of goodies, and exclusive holiday kits that are available for pre-order.

You can save 10% using the coupon code ALIZA10.

Okay. On to the layout, which is all about our apple picking day.


This kit features Kelly Purkey's line, Second City, for Basic Grey. J'adore it. And also those Pinkfresh Studio Wood Drop stickers.

Happy October!

Wednesday, October 1, 2014

Write. Click.Scrapbook October Gallery


This month's Write.Click.Scrapbook. gallery theme is "Happy Scraps." Everything on this layout was made with  scraps and  older products. Some of it is just a few weeks old, many are a few months old, and some I have had for a quite a while. 

It is almost always easy to create something with some brand new supplies. You reach into the box, pull out your favorites, move some things around, and voila. (Sure, that voila can take hours. Sometimes days. But still. Voila.)

As the days go by, and the easy products get used, and then the slightly harder ones, at some point you are left with everything else. It is harder to find inspiration with those items. At least for me. But if you stick with it, if you are determined to keep going without the immediate gratification of something new, you can often make something wonderful. 

Which is why I really liked creating this layout. It took several days, and sometimes I was down right stuck. But I think I am rather pleased with the results.

The end.

Thursday, September 25, 2014

Sneak Peek Write.Click.Scrapbook

Here she is. I rather like the way it turned out. And it is partly because of this month's theme.


I can't wait to share the rest on the 1st!

Monday, September 22, 2014

Apple Picking (and a Clique Kits Sneak)

Last week, the Deutsches got into their lovely new car, and went apple picking.

I think we were the only people there with teenagers.  Which made me a little worried. But really, what is not fun about picking fruits and veggies? In fact, they both commented separately that they were having a good time.






I enjoyed the ride home a lot.

  


When we got home, I realized that we had an absurdly large amount of apples, and it was going to take some work to consume them all.

So I made some applesauce, and Dave made a decadent caramel apple pie, and I also made some reminders for the family to eat, eat, eat apples.

This one is on the refrigerator.


And these little number were good for sending some textual communications.



Since Rosh Hashana is just days away,  we will eat some apples and honey then too. With that in mind, I continued to go to town with my Rhonna Designs App.



And, in case you were wondering when the apple picking story will make it onto a scrapbook page, well, it already has. I just can't share the whole thing yet, as I used Clique Kits October kit. I can, however share a little sneak of my layout using their October kit, Masquerade Ball.