National Scrapbook day came and went

and i haven't scrapped in over a month - so there.
Life has just been so busy.
However I've been working on a project for the FIL's 80th birthday. We're having a little entertainment at the party - photos with music of his life and family. It will be wonderful. Last update from those putting it together is there will be over 150 pics submitted from all six siblings. Anyway I had to search through about 24 years of photos to get our entries. No small feat I tell you - but it will be worth it. He will love it. DH and I are going to follow up with a framed collage of photos and an album from the party.
As I looked through the boxes and boxes of photos it became abundantly clear I have gotten next to nothing done in the way of scrapbooking. Seriously, in all the years I've scrapped (10 years) I have so little to show for it. This is a recurring revelation. That is how this blog was born really. Getting so hung up in the scrapbooking world I'm not getting much accomplished.
I have to make some progress. I probably have to stop scrappin every picture (gasp!). So i broke down and ordered Stacy Julian's "Photo Freedom" book. It's the book wherein she tells her system that she teaches in her Library of Memories class. I'm hoping the book will arrive sooner than later this week. I'll do a review and then I'm going to get to work. I'm not sure if I'll follow all of her system - that remains to be seen. But I'm thinking there has to be a better way. My own little system here was definitely helping me make some headway but I've gotta get more done. Stay tuned!

Size Matters

okay

you've noticed I do mostly 12x12 pages.

what you haven't seen is that I've done lots of 8-1/2x11 pages (not to mention lots of minibooks of all shapes and sizes)

When I was working on my kids school albums

(which I have just been updating for the past few years with each new year - and they are almost complete as these kids are almost done with school - a fact that totally blows my mind but i digress....)

I had a lot of items that didn't really require 2 full pages or even one full 12x12 page. I used Creative Memories albums for their school albums. CM made (perhaps still makes) these page protectors for things like awards and such - and they were really just like 8-1/2 by 11 page protectors. I used those for all their awards and such. They threaded right into the album like the other pages. Then I realized I could just make smaller pages in the albums - why not? So those albums are a mix of 8-1/2 x 11 and 12x12 pages. I guess I was a little ahead of my time huh? Cos now I see this same idea being used by a lot of other scrappers - I guess it just makes sense huh?

So, the other day I was getting ready to go to my new scrapbook club. I was looking at the photos that were up next in my son's baby album (notice how I have the school albums worked on but I'm still just at the beginning of the baby albums? ha!) A few pics here - a few pics there. None that needed a big ole 12 x 12 page and certainly didn't need a 2 page spread. So out with the 8-1/2x 11 cardstock. I made these 2 layouts and have another on my drawing table. I forgot how fast and easy these smaller layouts can be - and really a lot less stressful to boot. Fast and easy is good. No stress is good. It definitely gave me a sense of accomplishment - and for me - faced with decades (yes... decades) of scrapbooking to do - well that is definitely a bonus! Makes me want to do more!

sorry my fellow suzy's

life around here has been so crazy.
certainly no scrapbooking going on (GASP!)
i do have some pages i need to post.
hopefully tomorrow.
lately i've had time to keep up Small Smackerels
but not Suzy postings. I'm gonna try harder this week!
This is, however, what real scrapbooking is about though now isn't it?
Fitting it in when you have time and actually enjoying it while you're doing it.
When i was working in the scrapbook store I would often tell frustrated scrapbookers - if it's making you crazy, you're doing it wrong.
I really believe it.
Scrapbooking can be what you make it -

• very elaborate with tons of embellishments
• simple design
• photo corners and labels with names and dates
• journaling
• no journaling
• chronological or not
• a store house for matchbooks, ticket stubs, maps and bar napkins ;-)

but it shouldn't be anxiety producing.

so that's where i'm at right now - on hold - til i can fit a few layouts in here and there.

hopefully i'll return tomorrow with some of those layouts i've already got photographed.

with a little bit of flourish and discontinued things

excuse the lousy photos.

i guess i could spend a lot of time getting these primo shots but then i'd be spending way too much time bloggin and not scrappin

so fuggetaboudit

I finished those 3 pages up yesterday after visiting my friend June. I mentioned i would be borrowing her Quickutz flourishes. You can see them (with a little bejewelment by me) in the second photo. In real life it looks pretty fun. And I'm the only one I have to please so I'm happy! In this first photo on your left i found that i had a piece of cardstock I wished I had for the entire album. It's this Making Memories patterned cardstock - which is imprinted with a lovely flourish! It's from the same group of patterend cardstock Making Memories put out a few years ago. I only wish I had been able to find this flourishy version to make the entire album. I had bought the striped paper which i used on a number of previous pages I've posted here. It's real classic stuff that i thought they might not discontinue.

And I was wrong. Well at least I believe I'm wrong. I looked all over online to see if anyone still had this particular cardtock but to no avail. And this brings up the "discontinued things" topic. Seeing as its CHA time (the craft & hobby industry trade show is going on right now)it seems like a good time for the discussion.

I understand why manufacturers have to discontinue things. I really do. If something is not selling it makes perfect sense to discontinue it. When a company wants to put out a new line it may be the most fiscally responsible thing for them to do, right? You can't have all your money behind old product when you want to be selling hip, new and cool. Problem is these companies barely put out the products and then they're dumping them in time for the next industry trade show. I know everyone wants NEW COOL STUFF. However, it kills me when they discontinue great classic things - like this flourish paper. Maybe it doesn't sell well anymore. I can see that. However I could also argue that they don't promote it anymore and they also are caught up in the frenzy of scrapbookers who need - crave - gotta have something new.

It's gonna drive them all out of business. This jumping on the bandwagon. I've seen it countless times in the years I've been scrapbooking. Someone - some company - becomes the new hot thing. And then every manufacturer copies it so they can get in on the action. Its understandable but - here comes this Suzy's long time opinion - not smart.

Not everyone wants doodles. Not everyone wants shabby. Not everyone wants vintage. (i think i've just named the last three big fads). I know the company is rare that does not jump on the bandwagon. But i swear I applaud them.

I have been known to want desperately some hot new item. It's been a while but I recall the feeling. I also remember thinking now that (for example) Making Memories is making these foam stamps - now everyone and their brother is making foam stamps (or metal, or flowers.... i could go on). If you didnt' like all that stuff you were pretty much screwed. The stores were filled with one company's vision. Just made by every single company (and a few new ones) that was around. You couldnt find anything different. And they keep doing it - over and over again. I think hoping to become the next HUGE thing - like Making Memories was for several years. (btw I still love Making Memories).

I think we're past that now kids. Now more scrapbook mania. I wish all these companies would figure out what they do best and make that and stop copying one another. Offer us some variety. ok.. little rant over!

Didjamissme?

well i'm back.

i got to thinkin last night as i was uploading pictures that this is moving along very nicely. i know i was complaining a wee bit about being bored. But i took a look at the old album, and how much i've pulled out of there and how much i have left to go and i feel a little renewed. I'm making terrific progress!

I've also been thinking about my next big project - beginning my kid's baby albums. Actually anything before they began school really. And, if you are a parent - you know what that means - a ba-zillion photos.

It's almost a little scarey.

The mind boggles.

I should take a picture of the boxes and boxes of photos i have.

However i'm not going to dwell on it.

I really am looking forward to it.

I have put it off for so long.

Way back when i began scrapbooking I thought how do i even begin. I had a few friends who advised me to just jump in and start working on my kid's school albums.

And it worked out ok.

It was a place to start.

School stuff gets a little monotonous. Course you can get on a rolll - so much of it is the same that you can repeat certain motifs and layouts and it really works out nicely.

But you do get bogged down in looking at the same stuff all the time.

I'm thinking to prevent that monotony with the kid albums i may just skip around.

Revise my Suzy schedule a bit to reflect the narrowed topic.

Or i may just set it aside and work on another topic which could get a little boring - Holiday layouts.

I'll have to do more thinking on it. I want to be productive but i wanna enjoy it.

In the meantime here are a few more pages I made. I have three more pages on my table in a semi-ready state. I know how the pictures will be laid out. Tomorrow i'm visiting my sweet friend June who is letting me use her Quickutz flourish dies. I think those flourishes will be the perfect touch on these three pages!

oh the suspense of it all

especially when i figure i'm talkin to myself most of the time here. (wink)

ok the last picture i posted was of this album

I bought this album in 1984 - shortly after I was married. We had a stack of photographers proofs, candid photos friends and family had given us, and various and sundry memorabilia i had collected - all wedding related. (actually there are a few relationshippy items too) I needed a place to put them so they would be safe.

Safe is the operative word in that sentence. When we moved here 10 years ago i had put all the photos together in i think 2 large boxes - this album and a few other albums included. I think that was the last time i looked at any of them. At the time they seemed fine. A few months ago i hauled out the unpacked box and pulled this album out and was a little concerned. There were obvious signs of deterioration - not to my photos - yet - but to the pages of the album. Since the album is over 20 years old I know now it is a very unsafe place for those pics etc to be. The pages have this glue on it - under the plastic protective peel up pages - i guess they really didn't mean "magnetic" its really just plain old sticky. Anyway that glue is turning brown. And fortunately for me my photos etc are not stuck to it. (I know how bad these kinds of albums really are: my mom had one and the photos and news clippings are stuck so bad to the pages you'd have to destroy the items to get them out of there. Bad. Really bad. When I made her an album a few years back i had some of those items colored copied to include in my album - as well as save them at that stage of deterioration.)

Here's a picture of the inside of my album. If you click on the photo you'll be able to see the browning at the edges of the pages.

So - finally it was time to get this project off my tadoo list. I don't want anything to happen to these pictures etc. They're old and there are no negatives. Yes, I have the photographers album (which is gorgeous and has the best photos of the day) but it doesn't have all these pictures and memorabilia.

I will post some of the pages i've made thus far. I'm not going totally Suzy and just getting it done - but i'm not going off the deepend either with papers and embellishments either. Sort of a happy medium.

Now i've come to the portion of our program kids where i'm gonna do my first little rant. I know its most unbecoming of Suzy to rant but allow me a small amount of latitude.

Preservation is important. Saving old photos is really important. And ensuring that original photos (where there is no negative available) are safe is a worthy use of your time. I think its very important to consider the products you're using. Most of the stuff out there for sale is pretty safe. But i've noticed a trend in scrapbooking where people are using anything and everything on their pages. Recently in particular i saw some people reusing packaging from different products to make things. Recycling is a wonderful thing - but not on your pages that have irreplaceable photos - ok kids? If you wanna make art do it with a copy of your irreplaceable photo - not the original.

Ok- that wasn't so bad now was it. Suzy doesn't like controversy so she tries staying away from all those boards and blogs that get nasty. It just isn't worth my time to be honest - i like to use what precious time i do have on my scrapbooking (and other small smackerels )

For now - i'm off to do some un-Suzy things and then get back to work on this album.

Working with what you have and GASC

I have been working with what i have for a few months now. Trying not to buy anything. Finding ways to use my stash (which, people, is considerable. I have a room full of scrapbooking, stamping, sewing and art supplies. Literally a room full of shtuff) I've mentioned before that in my favorite Rebecca Sower book she talks about not getting all concerned about having the perfect shade of cardstock. I aspire to this point of view. I am a color person. So lately I find that

yes - I can use up my stash - but to do so I am using up my neutrals. Things that go with anything. And avoiding color - cos if I use color it has to coordinate. It can't clash. My teeth will hurt if it does ok? So the other day - Thursday I guess it was - I decided i'd do some more laundry (see previous post) - and do a birthday layout. My daughter's last birthday. I looked through the photos and then went to my carsdstock and paper and thought WHAT am I going to do. I finally - i mean i spent maybe 10 minutes pondering the possibilities - chose this Bazzill orange. The daughter's favorite color is orange. There was some orange in the photos (miniscule as it was ) and better still - there was blue - which always will compliment the orange. (get your color wheel out if you are puzzled). Next I went to my patterned paper - I really need to use this stuff up. I flipped through a lot of paper and finally i happened upon this Imaginisce paper. (I have no recollection of buying this paper - at all.) And you know - it went really nicely and had stars all over it. I thought - she's my star so why the heck not. Some Quickutz Zoe font added and i was pretty much done. There were a lot of photos that birthday for some reason. I ended with 3 pages. Yes, I used my Creative Memories cutting system to cut out the photo of the cake (or rather the Ice Cream Pie - its a family thing). If you don't have the Creative Memories Cutting system, I highly recommend it. They have theeee best cutting stuff around.

Onward

The Great American Scrapbook Convention rolled into town again this year. I've gone every year. I hate to say it but it was not the experience it has been in years past. The first few years it was wild - you could barely move around and the noise was just incredible. Now granted I got there not long after they opened on Friday. I am sure that today it will be a lot busier. However, I wasn't finding the shopping so great. It's possible, because I have so much stuff, I just wasn't finding it tempting at all. I think its more that there just isn't the product that is knocking my socks off. I think its peaked out ladies. I've been saying this probably the last two years - the industry is gonna peak out and fall hard. Just too much all the time and really fast and finally there will be nothing i have to have.

Having said that - I did indeed buy a few things. First - I spied one scalloped circle giga punch by Marvy Uchida. I have the scalloped oval and was kicking myself I hadn't gotten the circle. There it was - and i wasn't going to hesitate cos I only saw the one.

I also happened upon a booth by a company I don't think i've seen before: Distinctly Me They were the nicest two ladies with some lovely products and, as I told them, the nicest layouts on display at the whole convention. They had the most classic layouts I've seen displayed. Not tons of product all over them - just well designed, good looking pages. And you could see their photos. The pages would sell anyone's products the way they were done. Anyway i bought a package of very pretty cork embellishments as well as a bottle of something called Paper Glide made by Inspired Crafts . They demonstrated this product for me and I was sold - it makes dry embossing very easy to do - the stylus just glides right over your paper.

Okay - I need to do non-Suzy things now. I do have a little special project I hope to share in the next few days. We'll see how much time I get to work on it over the weekend.

Yeah Yeah Yeah and distractions

Yes, Mondays can be planning days (see the schedule) or they can be actual scrapbooking days.
I decided since I had this in my head - had stuff in the RTG file, I'd go with it and make this page.
I love this silly picture. When i found it in that pile of pictures i was really surprised. I hadn't remembered the Beatles wig. What a hoot. Anyhow, I thought I'd jot down a few thoughts for my kids. I normally pencil in the journaling so I'm straight but I didn't this time and it's rather obvious. Oh well. Not going redo - this is Suzy. She's a doer - not a re-doer.
If you look closely you'll see a spot next to the first "h" in yeah. I think its a drip of glue. Another possible reason to re-do but again I resisted the temptation.
These are, simply put, distractions.
(you could argue they're a perfectionists nightmare - and believe me, they are tugging at me. But i'm a recovering perfectionist. I'm doing pretty well just posting this and all the rest of my imperfect layouts. )
Every day is filled with distractions. Tons of reasons not to get things done.
My little Suzy schedule is my method of dealing with the distractions.
I am good with a list/schedule.
It helps me see past the distractions to my goal of getting my scrapbooking done.
And so far - it's working like gangbusters. I am very pleased with my progress.
I've got a stack of layouts done - o'course now I need more scrapbooks to put them in but hey, one thing at a time.
I'm not getting hung up on what everyone thinks is "scrapbooking". I'm doing my own thing and its working well.
If i veer off the schedule - sorta - like today doing a page instead of planning more pages - that works too. Ya gotta be flexible.
I could give a fig if anyone likes my pages but i truly appreciate when someone stops by here and says kind things. That's always nice.
But my purpose here is to get my scrappin done. Enjoy it.
If I help someobody else along the way, with my Suzy ways, well then I'm pleased as punch.
Oh - almost forgot - I used Wordsworth Fun Letters Alphas for the title.
And now - I'm off.

more busy

just have had to put my scrapbooking on hold -EEEEEK - i know. not for much longer. just too many other things i'm sposed to be doin. kinda stinks but thats what is. i have done some drawing and cardmaking when i've had a little free time. Cards that needed to be made and get out the door - i just missed the mailman and now the latest 2 cards will be late. oh well. hopefully over this weekend i can dip into my ready-to-go file and make a page or two. thanks for your patience

suzy's been busy

doing other things -

check out

http://smallsmackerels.blogspot.com/

among other things. i'll post them over there probably tomorrow

i've had a few layouts on my desk

which i've had to remove to make a few cards

so i'll get back on track soon

having family around all holiday weekend was also not conducive

to getting any scrapping done.

but that's ok

all those pictures aren't going anywhere

i did have a few interesting ideas however that i'll share soon

About saving memories when there aren't any pictures.

hopefully i'll be back tomorrow

in the meantime, another one of those layouts i'd made week before last. this one i used a vellum quote i had about family

I know i know

I promised days ago i'd be posting all kinds of pages i've been doing.
And i will. I will keep my promise and post them.
I took tons of pictures of them.
It is just the way life is around Suzy's house.
Things happen.
And scrapbooking didn't go by the wayside this time
I have made even MORE pages in the last few days.
But blogging did go by the wayside.
It takes time - uploading photos etc etc takes away time i wanted to use to scrapbook when i could fit it in between little crises round here.

So... I promise - i will upload more but right now i'll throw one out into cyber space just to show you Suzy ain't full of baloney :-)
i don't think the photo is the best (i laid a bunch
of layouts on the floor and starting taking pics) but i was quite pleased with this one. I used stamps from my favorite company www.purpleoniondesigns.com
the alpha is pink flamingo large and the flowers are also POD stamps! cute huh? i stamped them and then used prismacolor colored pencils to color them in and used the Magic Colored Pencil technique to blend the pencil.
more to come hopefully tomorrow!
Oh - i forgot to mention i used a new punch from StampinUp to create that scallop border on the left. And yes that is me and my sisters - i'm the one on your left with the glasses.

Tuesday - Pocketbook Lover

So here's a page about me 'cos it's Tuesday.

I don't think I've ever done this many pages about myself - it's because I'm working that Schedule (over to your right - a day for each topic)

And that is really a great thing

Most of us never take the time to scrapbook anything about ourselves right?

Well, I haven't done much of that.

I've got a lifetime of photos to do (and while we won't mention my age, suffice it to say that's a lotta pictures!)

I had this picture of me at around 3-1/2 years old holding - no, more like holding on for dear life - my pocketbook. It just cracked me up - perfect evidence in photo form that I've always loved a purse. And i'm all dressed up in a pretty dress with a matching little jacket. (very much the fashion at the time for girls of all ages dontcha know - although i still don't know why i'm holding a black purse - it doesnt match and that was definitely not the fashion. My mother dressed us impeccably when we were little. We had hats, shoes, gloves, coats - the whole shebang. Perhaps she didnt deem it necessary to match the purse for the one occasion - whatever)

There's a lot of information in that one little picture for my kids but i did just focus on my pocketbook-love.

I would like to note here that the color is completely off in this scan. The cardstock has definitely a salmon cast to it - to go perfectly with my dress. I got lucky and had a piece in my stash that went quite nicely. I put two pieces of ribbon together side by side - it is pretty thin ribbon but the color was right. I used a Marvy punch i had to create the border - which, if you can see it, is reminiscent of the trim on my little jacket.

And lastly the pocketbook charm.

Maybe 3 years ago I was in a local bead store looking for - beads - and saw this little charm. I snapped it up the minute i saw it. I knew I would use it one day - most likely on a scrapbook page.

So - with the pocket book charm in mind - here's my advice for the day:

If you see something cute - inexpensive - and you know you'll use it one day:

Don't even think about it - buy it.

If you don't, you won't find it later - trust me.

Perhaps my taste is boring.

I prefer to think of it as classic. :-)

I don't have much in my stash of supplies that I wouldn't use today.

Or in 5 years from now.

So picking up something I knew I'd use - like this charm - is something i do on a regular basis. But again - I stay to the classic look that i love.

Not a lot of trendy stuff per se in my stash of shtuff.

Oh I forgot to mention the mat for the photo is my favorite Stampin Up floral background stamp. I stamped it slightly crooked.

Not on purpose i assure you.

But it is a true test of my perfectionist rehabilitation that it doesnt bother me in the least it is a little off.

My page is done - HA!

And also - the alphabet stamps are made by www.purpleoniondesigns.com (wow what a surprise huh?) - the name of them is Pink Flamingo. So cute!

ok....on to taking a few pictures of the layouts i've been doing the last week or so

Monday morning hello

As you can see to my right - Monday is my planning day.
Sort of a catch all day in my scrapbook world
In addition to planning some pages to work on the rest of the week
I'm cleaning up in my little craft room here.
I know i'm very lucky to have a room devoted to my stuff
It keeps it all in one place
although when it is messy
as it is now
i often take things out of here and work downstairs
which for me is productive - i still get to work on things -
yet this room has reached the point of explosion.
The "i can't stand it" level of mess
It makes it impossible for me to think in here with so much stuff
on the floor, all over my drawing table, on my computer desk.
I am one of those people who can indeed work in the mess
I can find things in piles of mess
But to be creative, and productive, I need a little order
So Monday's are good for planning, cleaning up and starting new.
I'm also hoping to get a little scanning of old photos done
That's a long range project i've been working on.
Tons of photos from my childhood that I'm scanning into my computer
Categorizing by the people in the photos
When i'm all done - it's going to take months - i plan to give a CD of the pictures to both of my sisters. They are big subjects of the photos along with myself, our brother, parents and grandparents. My sisters will love this gift. Everyone in my family loves to look at old photos and reminisce.
Between today and tomorrow i also will be taking some pictures of what i've been making.
Latest pages.
I also want to mention a few other things:
In case you haven't visited Purple Onion Designs lately you may not have noticed - POD is in June's Creating Keepsakes hilighting the fabulous vintage postmark set! Check it out here
www.purpleoniondesigns.com and click on the "As seen in Creating Keepsakes" - great samples at the bottom of that page too.
If you didn't get a chance to see Martha's shows last week - they were all about scrapbooking. There are some great videos from the show on her website. My absolute favorites were the segments she did with Darcy Miller who showed off theeeee most wonderful scrapbooks she has made.
They are my kind of scrapbooks - real old-fashioned - tons of scraps, bits and pieces of their lives - scrapbooks! Check out these links and watch the videos. I think it may just remind you what we all started scrapbooking for - it did me

http://www.marthastewart.com/portal/site/mslo/menuitem.3a0656639de62ad593598e10d373a0a0/?vgnextoid=8713f6d63d272110VgnVCM1000003d370a0aRCRD&autonomy_kw=darcy's%20scrapbook&rsc=ns2006_m1
and
http://www.marthastewart.com/portal/site/mslo/menuitem.3a0656639de62ad593598e10d373a0a0/?vgnextoid=5f11d69a31571110VgnVCM1000003d370a0aRCRD&autonomy_kw=darcy's%20wedding%20scrapbook&rsc=ns2006_m2

still scrappin

just being a bad blogger
Actually in the last two weeks i've gotten a lot of pages done in between this and that.
What i need to do is take a few pics. I promise i'll do that for tomorrow
In the meantime - i did do a bit of scrapbooking on National Scrapbook Day. While i was cutting and gluing etc I watched QVC which was having a little scrapbooking day. Those are always fun to watch. I didnt buy anything which is a good thing. Still trying to whittle down my sizeable stash. The only thing i'm finding is that i'd like some cardstock.
I seem to use the same colors over and over.
And now i'm pretty much out of all my favorites.
I'll have to make do in the meantime - which may encouage a little more patterned paper useage. I adore patterned paper - not unlike most scrapbookers i know. I have found that while i love the paper I don't use much of it on my pages. I definitely use it on my cards. But the pages - not so much. I have tried to figure out why and the only thing i can come up with is - the paper fights too much with the kind of photos i take.
Like I've said before, I'm no photographer. I love to take pictures but have no inclination whatsoever to become a some faboo photographer. I'm recording moments with my photos. I don't want to get all caught up in the photo taking. I am happy to just point and shoot. And i don't want to pose anyone - other than lining up family members to fit them all in the shot!. There are times when I do closeups and attempt to get a better shot - but a lot of my photos have extraneous things. The things either get cropped out or they don't. And if they don't - well sometimes the things fight with the paper.
At least that's what i think is the problem.
And as problems go - that's pretty minor right?
see you tomorrow with some pics

Happy National Scrapbooking Day

yes, i've been among the missing - suzy did get in a little scrapbooking over the past week but no blogging time. i'll be better i promise. Things happen and stuff to do is all.
However i couldn't let today pass by to check in and hope y'all are celebrating the day by doing a little scrapbooking.
Me - well right now as i type here -
i've got QVC on in another window on my computer screen :-)
I'm not buying anything - i have enough stuff right now
(truly the understatement of the year - or many years)
but its fun to watch and there are always great ideas to be had.
Actually what i did right before i came up to my little scrap room here -
i was taking pictures
:-)
my daughter just got home from her all night cast party
(we went to see the final performance last night)
Her dad collected her from the party house - there is always one brave set of parents who host the party (and really they aren't that brave - these are a bunch of absolutely awesome kids who, at the most, might get a little loud - but they are the most amazing high school kids I've ever had the pleasure to meet - so not brave parents - perhaps lucky to live close enough to the school to host the party!) Anyhow he picked up our daughter and brought her home and she did what she does every time she comes home from one of these cast parties....
she heads to the family room couch
and falls asleep within 5 minutes.
The kid has been running on fumes for weeks (school and practice for the play has been keeping her running from 5:30 am when she gets up to at least 10:30 pm when she has gotten home)
so today is her sleep catch up day
and i always take a picture of this couch crash
cos i think it sums up this part of her life pretty well. :-)
(and not incidentally how we - her mom & dad - feel as well - we need a long nap too!)
so are you taking pics of things like this to remember these little moments?
I hope so - if you aren't - think about it, k?
Happy NSD kids!

Birthdays

Huge subject of scrapbooks - birthdays - well, at least my scrapbooks.

I suspect its fairly typical in most scrapbooks.

One of those events that must be documented.

For every birthday, I take pictures of the birthday girl/boy, the cake, presents.

The usual I guess.

When the kids were younger we'd take pictures at their birthday parties.

I'd make sure to get shots of the guests, the cake, the presents.

Maybe capture a few of the games or activities at the party.

All kind of typical. I spose maybe someone would think - how boring.

But I don't. I really enjoy looking at those birthday pictures.

I love making the birthday party pages.

Birthdays are a big deal.

And the pictures and pages - well think about it like this:

Birthdays are probably THE only time you don't forget your camera.

Who doesn't take a picture of their kid blowing out the birthday candles?

And since you have that shot - the obligatory cake and candle shot - that's a little timeline you are creating for that person.

You'll always have that birthday picture.

And what they look like on that special day.

I suppose you could say the same about the first day of school picture

or the actual yearly school portrait

But the birthday picture -

It's always special.

Cos it's that person's special day.

And there is always a special smile - a real one - in those birthday pictures.

Anyway - here's the most recent birthday page I've done.

Actually I just finished it about 10 minutes ago.

And it took about that long to make - even better!

I used another one of those Making Memories Perspectives, my sewing machine and my Quickutz (this time the Zoe font).

Oh i forgot to mention - i inevitably make a pocket somewhere on the birthday pages - to hold the birthday cards. (I'm a packrat - I never throw out a birthday card).

The pocket this time is on the left hand side of this page.

I laid down a sheet of white cardstock - positioned the photos on it - placed the perspectives mat over the top and sewed down the right and left sides as well as between the two groups of photos . The perpective mat already had the large photo sewn to it.

I may actually get some more pages made today as this one went so quickly!

Easter Pictures

I was actually able to get a 2 page spread done today - yeah!

Today is Wednesday so that means "Family/Husband" so why not do pictures of the Husbands family?
We went to my brother-in-law's home for Easter dinner. And that's exactly what I took photos of - the dinner table. Well, actually, the adult dinner table (which included the youngest child who is about 22 months old and a pistol - the other 5 kids ate on their own and it worked out fine - my "kid" is a little old now for the kid table - so she sat with the adults).
You know one of the things I love about scrapbooking? It's the reliving the event or the moment as you create the pages. We had such a nice day on Easter. It was nice going over it all in my head. And it is certainly easier to journal events that just happened a short time ago - everything is so clear in your head.
I know its probably not fashionable to scrap "events" but I don't mind it at all. Actually it makes it quite simple if you ask me! I went thru my considerable stash of shtuff and found this sheet of O'Scrap Easter images - I figured why not use some of those - they were light and pastel and the photos seemed a little dark. Together the combo worked out just fine. I used some light colored cardstock that complimented the photos and the O'Scrap embellishment and it came out nicely. Oh and I used my Quickutz - Studio font for the title.
Remember I'm not trying to win any awards or get in any magazines - I'm trying to get these memories put in a scrapbook AND use up my supplies. The pages work - and my family will love them so what more could I want?
Tomorrow is Thursday - My Kids is the topic. Let's see what I can do with that!

It was a dark and stormy night

okay here in Suzy's neighborhood it is a dark and stormy afternoon.

The weather leaves a lot to be desired. However we're feeling grateful because the original prediction was snow. I know some of my northern friends are dealing with that - Sorry girls.

I feel for you. This is 'sposed to be spring!

Anyway

"it was a dark and stormy night"

Reminds me of Snoopy writing his books and beginning with that phrase.

And i was thinking of that writing thing when i got on here to post some pictures of my special project i mentioned earlier in the week.

Writing anything in school was like torture for me. I don't know why. I hated it with a passion.

And so strangely enough I never mind doing the journaling stuff in my scrapbooks.

Maybe its cos i know i'm not getting graded :-)
But really i think i don't mind journaling because when i do it - i just write what i'm thinking - I want it to sound like me - so one day, when my kids read it they'll almost be able to hear me talking to them.

As most of you know i'm not one for the "explore, dream, discover, journey" business. It's just not me - and my kids know it.

However, I am not adverse to writing some pretty mushy stuff to my kids in my scrapbooks.

They'd recognize that as being me on occasion.

Moms are allowed mushy moments.

Which brings me to my special little project.

My sister asked me to make an album for a friend of hers. It's a special occasion for the friend and they're having a party. The album will be presented at the party. It's filled with all kinds of quotes regarding friendship mostly. But my sister and her friends wanted to be able to add notes to the friend to go in the album. The notes are of a personal nature and not to be shared with everyone. So i came up with a solution that i think worked very nicely. See what you think:

This i s the cover. No special embellishment on it - I decided we'd just let the pretty paper (Anna Griffin) be displayed and I added a whole lot of ribbons on 3 binder circle clippy things (what do you call those anyway?) which held the album together.

On the inside there are 15pages - 28 sides with quotes and stamped (in versamark) and chalked images. 1 more page with just a mat on each side for pics. You can see that there are 14 tabs. Each set of 2 sides was attached to a center white sheet of cardstock (sortofa cardstock sandwich - 1 blue 1 white 1 blue). The white center sheet had the tab attached to it. I ran tape along the long sides and the binding side which created 2 pockets for those personal notes. I hope this description is making sense - its kind of hard to describe. I'll throw in one more image just so you get the idea.

I used a whole host of stamps from my collection for the images. The background stamp on every page is one of my very favorites - a script stamp from www.purpleoniondesigns.com

I use it all the time. When its stamped in versamark on colored cardstock you just get a lovely hint of pattern but it only adds to your page and never detract. I printed out all the quotes on the maize colored cardstock and stitched them and the images to the pages. The tabs were all created using my Quickutz tab die. I love that die.

So there you have it. Now on to other things on this dark and stormy Sunday afternoon.

Tomboy

here's the layout i did yesterday - it was Tuesday so it was about me
I found a picture of me as a little girl.
I got to thinking as I worked on this about why these pictures of me really mean so much.
Obviously they bring me back and I enjoy the trip down memory lane.
However I've always enjoyed looking at photos. Older ones seem so much more precious.
Way back in the day, when i was a little girl, my grandfather was the photographer. He had a 35mm camera with a lovely brown leather case. I don't think I can remember a Sunday where he didn't bring that camera with him to take photos of us. My father was an only child so we were the complete objects of my grandparents affections. As it should be don't you think?
Anyway, he took tons of pictures of us as well as ones of he and my grandmother on vacations etc. He must have been the one who took photos of my dad - I have some wonderful ones. But photo taking back then - well it seemed different then. It was a big deal. Nowadays we document every single burp our children make (not a bad thing - just an observation). I remember my grandfather taking our photos a lot but it seemed different. Nowadays people don't think a thing about taking hundreds of photos on a vacation. They just didn't do that back then. So the pictures are much more precious perhaps because there weren't as many photos taken? I don't know. I am just grateful my Pop-Pop took this photo of me. He really captured a sweet little moment here - me with my bike showing off my new horn! Such a little tomboy.
So what did i use?
I used a Making Memories perspectives (cardstock precut mats - well really its a piece of cardstock with a hole cut out for the photo - i have a variety package of these and they're really great. this particular one is for one photo but the package contains a variety to use on pages up to 6 photos.)
I backed it with a piece of red cardstock so it looks double matted.
I also used some Making Memories chipboard letters - easy and quick to use and makes a nice impact. (I just used my jumbo Zig 2 way glue pen to adhere them)
Stitched around the mat and the journaling block
Added 2 embellishments I found squirreled away - both given to me by my friend nursemichelle (you can visit her at http://solistenup.blogspot.com/ - hi michelle!) some time ago. She made the adorable heart clip (she's talented isn't she?) and the little stamp was a good color and I thought a nice compliment subject matter wise (girl on horse - girl on bike)
Today I have to veer off schedule and work on a special project - which is normally a Friday thing. I promised my sister I'd make an album she can give as a gift to a very special friend and it needs to get finished and mailed by Friday. Rest assured I will share what I make.

Catching up

Spring break is over and we're back to business around here
It seems when there are vacations, there is a lot of picture taking.
Over the break we took a little excursion (translation: picture taking opportunity)
And there was a birthday (translation: another photo opportunity)
With all these photos being taken i got to thinking about all my scrapbooking in general.
I have a bazillion photos to put in scrapbooks in some way, shape or form.
All that thinking and photo taking gets you into the
"Will i ever get caught up?" mode

When i worked in a scrapbook store this talking about "catching up" was very prevalent among customers frequenting the store.
I heard the CU phrase used in many ways (grammatical tenses and otherwise)
"I'm all caught up" said quite proudly
"I'll never catch up" said with disgust
"I was all caught up but then....." said in an excusatory manner
I am normally of the school which says being caught up isn't the be and end all of everything.
If you're enjoying making the scrapbooks, you should let yourself off the hook.
Just continue to work on pages, save those memories, blah di blah
I really do believe being all caught up isn't necessarily the point
But, sitting here, with piles of photos and memorabilia surrounding me -
I'm thinkin it wouldn't be so bad

I'm off to upload the photos I took yesterday at the Easter dinner with family and order a few to be developed. I can work in those photos to be scrapped on Wednesday (the family/Husband day). Perhaps by working my schedule - which allows me to scrap all kinds of topics each week (to prevent boredom if nothing else) I can work the old stuff and the new and somehow reach the fantasy-land of "All Caught Up" one day.