LOAD 512 Round-up

May is almost over, and so is LOAD 512 with Lain Ehmann.  I really had a lot of fun this month.  I tried to use the prompts as inspiration, as opposed to guilty reminders.  Many days I followed the prompts, and other days I totally did my own thing.

I also participated in Creative Crop on National Scrapbook day, so some of those pages I used for LOAD.  Of course, I had my One Little Word work and Move More Eat Well.  I think that I kept up with all of those classes as well.

I know, May is not quite over.  BUT, I think that all of my scrapping time for the month is done.  I just might get one more layout done, but it will be a miracle (lots of evening stuff this week).

So, how did I do???

I completed 18 layouts and five cards.  I also worked on my grandfathers 80th birthday book and started a mini-book for a friend's birthday.  I feel really great about all of this scrapping because the most important part is that I had a ton of fun.

Here are some favorites:

Day 4: Hearing

This LO cracks me up and makes me happy every time I see it.  Joy.

Day 7: 30 minutes or less

Believe it or not, this took me 26.5 minutes!!!

Day 14: 3 (embellishments) 2 (patterned papers-double sided!) 1 (photo)

I love how simple, yet complete this page looks. A fun little memory of my friends in Turkey.

Day 20: Sketch (loved ALL of the sketches!)

This is a funny story of how a pigeon landed on Dave's head and I accidentally got the shot! Just because I was trying to get a photo of the pigeons on S.

Day 21: 5(minutes to find photos) 5 (minutes to choose your papers) 5 (minutes to journal)

I love these constraints, they get me going so quickly!

Day 27: Sketch

I loved all of the sketch days.  It surprised me that some folks found them the hardest!

These are not all of the pages, just a few favorites. 

I started 31 Things with Ali Edwards, and I have been sharing this incredible experience with Deborah. It has added joy to my every day.  I will post about my progress on this project soon.

Thanks for stopping by, leave a comment so that I know you were here!

80th Birthday book, part 2

I am almost done with my grandfather's 80th birthday book.  I have a few little things to do (like deciding what to do on the cover...any suggestions?).  But, otherwise it is done.  I also want to create a dedication/closing page from me to him. 

The colors of the invitation nearly matched the album; an amazing coincidence.  Because of that I really kept the color scheme simple, mostly creams and browns.

Here is the title page:

Then, I divided the book into sections.  The first section is for items that people mailed or emailed.  I collected them and tried to organize them in a meaningful way.  Here is the section divider for that part of the book and one page from inside.

The next section is a historical look at my grandfather's life in photos.  Here is the section title for that section, and then one two-page spread.  You can really get the idea from these photos.

I really suggest using a coordinated line when you are doing a project like this.  That way, no matter what people send to you, the overall look will be consistent.  I had a lot of fun on this, and I think that it will really mean a lot to my grandfather. 

I would love to know about any of your projects like this.  Thanks for looking!

May Scrapping

Wow!  May is full of scrapping.

First, I am working on LOAD 512.  I don't feel pressured to do a page a day, but I love the idea of trying to be creative every day.  That very much fits with my goals and hopes for being creative and enjoying my craft.  Sometimes I just have to get started, and then I'm so glad that I'm working on something crafty. 

On May 5th I spent the day ((Inter)National Scrapbook Day) with Deborah, and we had such a great time with the Creative Crop through Big Picture Classes.  I think that I got 6 of the 12 challenges done.  Deborah rocked it with 10 of the 12!  So inspiring.

I have also been working on finishing my grandfather's 80th album.  I plan to post about that later this week.

This doesn't even take into account my other classes.  They all filter in in different ways.  I'm always carrying my OLW enjoy close to my heart and action, and I have continued to be inspired by Move More Eat Well and my journey with my friends.

Finally, I am still being inspired by the work of Shimelle.  I'm afraid that she is scrapbooking so much that she might run out of photos, and then what will she do???  But, for now, I used her starting point for this layout from our trip to Hawaii.

Shimelle's Starting Point

By the way, I have already created 10 layouts since the beginning of May!  That is almost one a day...even though I usually do extra on the weekend.

Preparing an 80th Birthday Album

In March, my grandfather turned 80.  As a way to mark this milestone he is hosting an 80th birthday party in April.  As my gift to him, I said that I would create a scrapbook.  My email was shared in the invitation, and I have been collecting photos and memorabilia over the past month.  I love reading the different stories by different people who know him in different ways.

Now, however, it is time for the work to begin.  I have the bits and pieces, and I have to begin to assemble the book.

In January, during the CHA peeks, I saw this album

by Simple Stories.  I LOVED it!  It looked perfect for my grandfather, and I loved all of the variety.  Then I had to wait and wait...finally it was released in March and I ordered it right away.  I also order quite a few of the Documented items. 

I particularly like the 4x6 journaling cards.  I think that they will be great to have on-hand at his party.  People can write a note, share a story, and then I can easily add it to the album.  Here are some examples:

I now have everything in front of me and it is time to get busy!  I will share back the end result.

Scrapping with Deborah

On Saturday I was so lucky.  I got to spend almost the entire day with my friend Deborah.  We settled into the dining room and spread out our scrapbook gear.  One one point, my DH came in and laughed at how much of a mess we had created!

But, the reason that we had a mess was that we had been seriously creating.

I want to share two layouts from the day.

First, another layout based on Shimelle Laine's work.   I just love these starting points!  Here is what she gave us to start with:

I loved all of these layers!  I had a lot of fun, and used some photos from one of our snow days.  I love the photos of my friend Karen arriving on skis.

Those penguins really cracked me up.  I love how it turned out.

My final layout was a two-pager.  I used to only scrap two-page layouts; now this is more unusual as I have been enjoying the one-pagers.  This was inspired by a layout by Shelly Jaquet in Scrapbooks Etc. magazine.

Here is my take:

I just love that photo of my niece cashed out in the car!  We had a lot of fun that day, almost as much fun as I had with Deborah!

It felt good to really dive into the scrapbooking and give myself enough time to enjoy the process.  Plus, working with a friend was inspiring and encouraging.  It's nice to have someone who you can bounce ideas off of and talk about the process.

It was a great day.

Shimelle Love

I have been really enjoying Shimelle Laine lately.  Well, to be honest, ever since I first heard her on the Paperclipping Roundtable, I was a fan.  This is the first episode I listened to with Shimelle.  Then, I started following her blog.  Then, I started using her work as inspiration.

Today I'm sharing some layouts that were inspired by Shimelle.  One thing that totally amazes me about her is that she scrapbooks up-side-down in all of her videos.  I wonder, does she always scrapbook this way?  From a design perspective, it could totally work.  If you don't know her already, please do check her out.

The first layout was based on this starting point

Here is my take:

This is from my school's auction, and my friend Deborah was one of the co-chairs.  The theme was Super Heroes Wanted, and she was Super Deborah that night!  Love how this turned out.

Next up I have a layout inspired by this sketch:

Here is my take:

We got this cat canoe at the auction, and Nikko LOVES it!  We laugh about the fact that he seemed to know right away that this was for him.  He is always sleeping here (if not on the bed).

Finally, I used this starting point for a two page spread.

Here is my take on this starting point.

I fussed with this quite a bit, and I like how it turned out.  I am going to cut a slit in the page protector so that you can open the card (which is on the far right) and read the inside of the card.

More soon!  Thanks for reading.

A little LOAD update

February is LOAD time, and I've been having a good time.  I knew that I would not be making a page every day (as I had a week vacation planned and some serious work commitments).  I decided that I wanted to be at piece with that, and I wanted to enjoy the scrapbooking that I did get done.

I like the idea of LOAD, and I like the habit of scrapping every day.  Sometimes I would think, "I don't have time to get a page done," and then I sit down, get started and before I knew it I had a page done.  I do feel that the journaling is hard under pressure, and sometimes I save that for another day.

I want to share some of my creations here on my blog as well.

Day 4: The more things change

This prompt led me to sharing about what hasn't changed: my DH and me!

Day 5: The more they stay the same

My love of popcorn!

Day 7: I always thought (I changed this to what my cat thinks!)

Day 8: I miss

A photo of me and my college friends.  Yep I miss them!

Day 11: School Days

This page is a part of my school album.  You can read more about it here in a previous post.

Day 12: History repeats itself

I used this prompt to complete this fun birthday page (birthdays certainly repeat!).

Day 13:  Hobbies past

Some photos of different quilts I made (mainly in the 1990's).  This was fun, and something I had wanted to do for many years.

Again, I haven't done every day, but I have been enjoyed playing along.  I plan to whip up a few more after vacation.  One person who has completed every page (so far) is Dani.  She has posted a video every day, along with her page.  I love these videos almost as much as the scrapping. Go Dani!

Thanks for stopping by-leave a comment!

IKEA, Layouts and LOAD

I've really been spending a lot of time scrapbooking and enjoying my process. I've also updated my scrapbook room with a couple new IKEA shelves.  I'm really trying to ENJOY each moment and be grateful for the time I have to spend creating and reliving some old memories.

First, Twelve. with Stacy Julian at Big Picture Classes is incredibly inspiring.  It is a process-oriented class and the goal is to scrap 12 layout each month.  In January I finished 9 layouts, which is pretty good.  Here is a favorite from those layouts.

I know that in February I will make the goal, as I am also tackling the challenge of LOAD.

LOAD (LayOut A Day) this February, Past Perfect is a good way for me to begin to scrapbook some of my old photos (that my mom just found!).  Here is a favorite from day 2.  Photo from 1985.

This layout was inspired by a scrapbook starting point from Shimelle. 

I'm really enjoying these starting points, maybe even more than sketches, which I almost always use.  Shimelle has really inspired me to think about using blocks of pattern paper and layer different blocks together in different ways.

LOAD update: so far, 3 days, 3 layouts!  I'm already thinking about my plan for today's layout: The More Things Change.

Finally, last weekend I went on a great trip to IKEA and purchased two new storage shelves.  The trip was almost as much fun as reorganizing my scrap room.  I am proud to say that my Golf held EVERYTHING we bought!  Love this.

At the same time I was doing this we had lights (!!!!!!) installed in our closet.  The dark closets have bugged me since the day we moved in.  I love turning on the light EVERY DAY!  Now I have light, organization and plenty of inspiration for scrapping.

Here is a before shot of the room and the closet.

And now!

Finally, here is my new punch storage shelf, reused from the old pantry in our old kitchen.  I guess there is a reason that we've held on to this shelving for so long! And, it looks like I have room for a few more punches...

Thanks for reading.

Happy New Year... a few weeks late!

I just decided that one of my goals this year will be to update my blog more often.  It's been over a month since my last post.  E-gads.

I have been busy, I suppose with holidays and traveling and lots of fun at Big Picture Classes.  I can't believe that I was scrapbooking without them just over a year ago.  Now, the instructors and all of my classmates are such a huge part of my scrapbooking as well as my daily enjoyment of life.

Did I mention ENJOYment?  Enjoy is my One Little Word this year.  I've never actually picked a word before, but I do love the idea.  I thought about it last year and this year I knew that I wanted something to hold on to throughout the year.  I knew that my OLW needed to be active and positive.  Enjoy quickly found its way into my heart.  Here is my first page for the OLW class, along with my portrait, embodying the word ENJOY.

I've stacked my plate high this year already, because in addition to Ali's class, I am in two other classes.  Move More Eat Well with Cathy Zielske and Twelve. with Stacy Julian.  They are all three equally inspiring in different ways.  MMEW is very personal and introspective, and I am taking it with a group of friends.  This makes it super special to me and I love that I have a new way to connect and share my life with these friends.  Oh, and did I mention that I hope that it helps me to build exercise back into my life? Yes, I do hope that.  Here are a few of the pages I have completed for this class.

My final Big Picture Class is the big kahuna.  It is with Stacy Julian and it is INCREDIBLE.  It rocks my world.  Really.  She is so incredible, thoughtful, inspiring and is adding so much to my life.  Not just my scrapbook life (but that part is huge).  I aim to be as affirming in my life as she is in the class.

I don't have a specific layout to share for Twelve. but I will tell you that the goal is to scrapbook 12 layouts for 12 months.  That would be 144 layouts.  I have completed three so far.  I hope to get a few more done by the weekend.  Here is one of the LO that I finished.  It is based on a Scrapbook Starting Point by Shimelle Laine.  There is a right side LO as well, but the photo did not turn out.  I'll try to add later when I have better light.  The blue strips are washi tape from my friend in the photo below all the way from Hong Kong!  Great Christmas gift, Denise.

Setting an ambitious goal for number of layouts to complete brings me to my next adventure: LOAD212 with Lain Ehmann.  This starts February 1st and the goal is to scrapbook a LayOut A Day for 29 days.  I'm particularly excited about her theme: Past Perfect.  I just received a box of photos from my mom full of childhood photos.  This class will be the perfect opportunity to work through some of these memories and photos.  I can't wait.  Plus, it will help me meet my goal for Twelve.

Maybe one of these classes sounds interesting to you?  I hope that you will join in the fun and ENJOY the year ahead.  Thanks for reading, and I hope to post once a week.  It's good to have goals.

Journal Your Christmas--Week 2

I am so excited about my second week of work on Journal Your Christmas with Shimelle Laine.  I am having a lot of fun, and trying to use each day to think about the holidays in a special and joyful way.  This has been a bit of a challenging December, as my DH's family is facing some difficult health issues.  This makes Christmas planning a little more challenging than usual.

I have stuck with my plan of using divided page protectors, and I am loving the small size.  It is quite manageable and I am just doing the prompts that make sense to me this year.  As this is my first year, this seems like a good approach.

Here is page 2:

I have our Christmas card, along with our Christmas letter (tucked inside).  I journaled below all about our process for creating, choosing and mailing our cards.  Did I mention that I LOVE Christmas cards???

This page includes responses to the prompts for days 3 (Christmas card), 7 (Christmas to-do list) and 9 (Christmas tradition).

One thing that I love is my hidden journaling.  I cut an opening in the top of the pocket so that you can pull the hidden journaling out.  Here is a picture:

Overall, I'm very happy with my progress!   I can't wait to work on this more and share my progress. I will probably keep up this pace with about one full page each week.  So, check back later this week!

Journal Your Christmas--the layout

I have been thinking a lot about the prompts and information coming from Shimelle for Journal Your Chirstmas, but until today I had not actually DONE anything!

It felt so great to sit down and play with paper and stickers and photos and all of my craft goodies.  I am totally inspired right now by kraft, red and white.  So delicious.  You will see this from my first page.

I decided to use divided page protectors for this project.  It will go in my Things We Do album, in the Christmas section.  I don't know how many pages it will be, and it doesn't matter!  I will just play and have fun and do as much as I am inspired to do this year. 

I am using Basic Grey Nordic Holiday papers and the American Craft "Elf" thickers.

Here is what my first page looks like:

This included prompt 1: Manifesto, prompt 2: weather, and prompt 4: dreams.  On the back I will add in our Christmas card into the bigger section, for prompt 3.

I already prepped the other side, so I'm ready for the week ahead. Thanks for reading!

December Fun

It is December 1st and I'm trying to get in the Christmas spirit.  I decided to join in the fun at Journal Your Christmas with Shimelle Laine. 

I don't know that I will do something every day, but I do know that I will think about things every day.  I hope that this will help me get into the Christmas spirit.  I love her spirit and attitude and I know that hearing from her will keep me going.

So, to start off, she gave us a prompt to have us frame our thinking for the season.

Then, she gave us the manifesto, which I've already read a number of times.  December can be a hard time for families, and I love being able to focus on the positive and the joyful.

I hope that you are ready for some Christmas fun!