Back to School

It’s that time of year when the children go back to school after the summer holidays and start a new school year. It’s therefore also that time of year when lots of back to school photos are taken, many by the front door and I as a mum have a new set of those photos to document!
This month, as you can guess I went with a school theme for my Creative Team projects. I used products from the Bella Boulevard collection Star Student; Art Journal paper, Brainiac paper (B-side) and Chemistry paper (both sides).
  
Me & My Big Ideas; Stickers Book – Chalk School Today, Pocket Pages Clear Stickers – School Sayings and Pocket Pages Cards – School.
  
Freckled Fawn’s Glitter Chipboard Stickers – Stars and Washi Tape – Notebook Paper.
 
So what do you do with those new back to school photos?
Well, for me they’ll definitely end up on an insert in my Project Life album, but I’m a couple of weeks behind on that at the moment. Instead I jumped right in and made a layout with photos of both my boys on their first day back to school.

On this layout I used the B-sides of the both the Brainiac and Chemistry papers, distressing the edge of the grid paper with a dark grey ink pad and layering three cards from the MAMBI pocket pages – school pack. I used the large card as my title too – yay! In addition to the products listed above I added some black numbered washi tape to the layout from my stash, you can find a very similar washi tape here and a metal arrow paper clip by Freckled Fawn, other colours are still available here.
Moving on…Well, I love comparing photos of the same event over time and I love making mini books, remember last month I made a book of birthdays? Put those two things together along with a pack of school pocket cards and a roll of washi tape and what do you get? A mini book of ‘first day back to school’ photos!

Yep, a 3×4″ mini made just from pocket page cards by Me & My Big Ideas held together with strips of washi tape and embellished with stickers from the packs listed above. I just reinforced the front and back covers by sticking two cards back to back.

Here’s some of the spreads inside:

(Apologies for the poorer quality of these pics)
Whilst I was documenting these school photos, I had another photo of my eldest son which I wanted to scrapbook. Back in July we went to an open day at his school with the view of our youngest son going. Among the photos I’d taken on that visit was a photo of my son beside his locker and even though he wasn’t in school uniform I love it. So while I had a desk of school themed products I made this layout.

I used a full sheet of the Art Journal paper and distressed it after I’d stuck it on to cardstock, it reminded me of how some of his books looked at the end of his first year at grammar school! I used more pocket cards on the layout and the A-side of the Chemistry paper underneath the photo. I was a little stuck when it came to the title because I was concerned the letters would get lost on the busy background paper. I considered painting an area with acrylic white paint, which would have worked great, but I was impatient. Then I had a brainwave and stuck a couple of strips of the washi tape I’d used to make the mini-book on to the paper – perfect, the title letters stand out great. Finally I added some clear stickers and glitter stars and I was done.

Lastly I made a good luck card for my youngest son who will sitting the entrance test for the grammar school later this month.

I used a 4×6 card from the pocket pages card pack and popped it up with foam pads on to a 5 x 7″ card blank made from American Crafts woodgrain textured cardstock. I used letter stickers from the clear sticker pack for the words Good Luck and added washi tape to the side of the card blank and a finally a little glitter star on the last apple.
Thanks for stopping by, see you next month!