Thursday, August 01, 2013

OLD NEW BORROWED COOL: The AUGUST Edition



Hi there and HAPPY AUGUST! (Can you believe it?!)


Today is my monthly post over at the Scrapbook & Cards Today blog! It's a fun back to school album I'm going to share with you below but I hope you'll also pop over and out all the other amazing posts on the blog this week - especially Laura Vegas' organizational tips for School projects! It's seriously brilliant! 

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Thanks so much for stopping by today and checking out this month’s edition of OLD NEW BORROWED COOL!! Where I’m from, the month of August means wrapping up summer and (already) the start of school! Seriously! We’ve been in full shopping mode for everything from shoes to supplies to clothes in full anticipation of the big day (August 7th, August 7th, August 7th!)! I’m in heaven! I adore school, school supplies and even the smell of crayons! Yes, I’m *that* girl! And if I’m telling the full truth, I’ll have to admit that my collection of school-related scrapbooking papers is utterly ridiculous...and second only to my absurd collection of holiday papers! I can’t pass up a tablet or script paper even if I already have twenty in my stash.

But probably the biggest reason that I’m so pre-occupied with school is that my oldest is making the transition to high school. HIGH SCHOOL! I know many of you remember him when he was just a tiny boy, so I’m sure this shocks you just as much as me! The thing is that he’s still just in 8th grade. Our school district has moved 8th graders in the high school because of middle school overcrowding and so it’s just a very strange situation all around. What DO you call an 8th grader in high school?! So with all those thoughts running through my head I decided that I wanted to make him an 8th grade album – an album for those memories that aren’t a complete part of the freshman to senior part of high school, a smash album if you will where he can record his own memories and thoughts of what it was like his 8th grade year.

Now before I share with you this project, please let me once again recap the premise for this blog series. Each month I'll bring you a new post that incorporates something OLD from my stash, omething NEW that I might have just picked up and something BORROWED from wherever I can get it to create something COOL to share with you! It's just that easy.

I wasn’t kidding when I said that my stash was out of control!! Just LOOK at all those gorgeous school papers!



And a closer look at this fun album! Don’t you love the pockets for memorabilia? I am hoping this will be perfect for my son to stash mementos.

This month’s final selections were:

OLD: How about everything here? Okay, not quite, but let’s start with that SEI album and the stack of School-themed papers from just about every manufacturer there is including KI Memories, Stampin’ Up, Crate Paper, and WRMK!

NEW: The beautiful new Smarty Pants line from Simple Stories and the fun die-cut Polaroid frames from BasicGrey!

BORROWED: The words and experiences of my son. I want this album to be a complete document of his 8th grade year and as much a part of him as it is of me.

COOL: This fantastic school-year smash album ready for the first day of school!


Supply List: Crate Paper, WRMK and Simple Stories PP; SEI Album; Simple Stories stickers; BasicGrey wood frame, chipboard, alpha stickers, die cuts; American Crafts Thicker number sticker; PageMaps for Spellbinders die; various washi.

I had such fun doing this cover and playing around with all the details like his name on the report card. I am hoping that he likes it too and will be willing to work with me in getting it completed! (He’s at camp right now so this will be a surprise when he gets back!)

For the first spread I wanted to do a first day of school photo that we could slip into one of those cute BasicGrey frames. I wanted to keep is simple, but still fun. This walking a line between Mama’s style and a teenager’s style is HARD!!

This second spread contains a fun pocket to hold ephemera! I’m thinking everything from class schedules to locker combos to ticket stubs. The rest of the album contains blank pages of lined paper, graph paper and more for him to collect his own memories!

So now as always, it’s challenge time. Make something you’ve always wanted to make. Use up papers you’ve been hoarding for years! Create something for someone you love! And when you’re done, I want to see it!

Tonight I'll be sitting in the auditorium for parents' 8th grade orientation at the high school. I'm so not ready! Here's to a wonderful August!
xoxo,