Sunday, September 4, 2011

Artsy Craftsy Projects for Artsy Craftsy Dummies

I am TERRIBLE at anything arty. Seriously, I could not draw a stick figure. Asha can draw better now than I can – and she cannot hold a pencil properly. This has never really bothered me. I do not like artsy-craftsy projects. I do not even like decorating my house. However, since Asha has been born, this has bothered me. I have not even made a baby book for Asha yet.

Then I decided to use Shutterfly. I love that site. It allows me to use our pictures of Asha to create all sorts of things which look beautiful. So far I have made one birthday card with it, invitations to Asha’s first birthday and am working on making three different calendars for 2012. The calendars are the biggest project I have undertaken – all three use different photos and layouts.  It is taking me hours to collect all the photos I need, upload them and organize and arrange them. However, they look awesome on my computer. I am also planning to make her a photo book for her with people she should be able to identify. She loves pictures, so the picture book would be a present for her.
I also discovered that there are websites that allow you to custom make family cookbooks. This is something I plan to work on in the future – I think it would be a very cook project.

These websites are made for people like me – people who are not artistic and yet, want to commemorate occasions and events. People who do not scrapbook but would like to do so with the least amount of fuss. These projects require time and trouble but they do not require expertise. I love these websites and the end products I have received thus far are great.

3 comments:

Faith said...

I agree! I use shutterfly all the time! I have made our birth announcements and photo books for gifts there. Love it! As for the baby books - I got the kind where I just fill in information and just put pictures in them with double sided tape - no artsy fartsy skill here, either:).

Kathleen said...

Very cool! And the cookbook idea is neat too. I am a scrapbooker but I have to be in the right frame of mind, and I don't agonize over it - that would kill the enjoyment for me. There are so many bells and whistles you can get; I keep it pretty simple and don't get new supplies very often. There is definitely a learning curve to it - I started scrapbooking in college but I think I'd be intimidated if I were wanting to start now... And when there are lots of great alternatives like you mentioned, why not?

J. said...

Great ideas, all of them. Esp the cookbook and people picture book. Making S's baby book has been on my to-do list for about 2 years now. Haven't made any progress. Now, Christmas photo cards???