Finally, Much Needed Rain

We have been in the monsoon season here in Phoenix for a couple of weeks, but all the storms have fizzled out before they would get to our neck of the woods. That all ended yesterday. Wow did we get pounded. The kids loved it. Heck, we loved it. Even our tortoise loved it. The winds were strong, the rain was heavy, but I haven't heard of any damage today that was reported. Thank you to the person that did the rain dance in the Northwest Valley yesterday.

And when it was all over. The sky was so beautiful. The girls hollered at me to get my camera and take pictures of the sky and our house. Loved it!

I Have No Class!

OK, it's not what you are thinking. Well, I guess you would have to talk to my family and friends to get an opinion on your first thought. What I mean is that for the first time since May, I don't have a class going on where I had regular daily assignments to make layouts. Wow, this is strange. I have found the challenge to make a layout a day very fun and greatly productive. A year ago, I was lucky if I was making a layout a month. Of course I was working full time then too. I do still have Library of Memories Community going on at Big Picture Scrapbooking. We get a weekly challenge that nudges us to keep up our library. Registration is still open for this class.  And the girls are taking Kidding Around there also, and it too gives me a weekly challenge. BPS has a fun event coming up called the Big Idea Festival that I plan on participating in. It is from August 12-24 and is absolutely free. Come join in on the fun. I would love to connect with you again. Also Sept. 2nd, May Flaum's Adventures in Scrapbooking:Use Your Stash starts. I love May's classes and can't wait for this one to start. So soon I will be busy, busy again. I think for now I'll work on some of my ongoing projects like the girl's School of Life albums to keep the creative juices going.

I made this layout for Kidding Around. The challenge was to make a layout as easy as 1,2,3,4,5. One piece of cardstock, two photos, three pieces of patterned paper, four sentences, and five embellishments. I switched around the cardstock and patterned paper amounts. My embellishments were the star, two brads, a rub on and the pop dot gingerbread house photo. We could use whatever we wanted for the title. I used alphabet stickers. It was fun and so easy. And it was a great memory preserved.

I Love My Square Punches!

Our challenge for the week in my Library of Memories Community class at Big Picture Scrapbooking  was to go through our cold storage and punch photos into squares and use them on a layout or card. As I went through my photos I was reminded of the big difference there was in the amount of photos I took back in the day versus now. Back in the day you used film and I was much more selective of how many photos I took. Or at least not as many turned out. Heck, I can remember when you went to pick up your photos at the developer, you'd go through them and weed out the bad ones and only had to pay for the good ones. That practice didn't last long. But going through almost 7 years of photos finding ones of the cousins didn't take long. I had a couple of hand fulls to make a layout with square punched photos. It made me a little sad I didn't have more, but really it doesn't take that many to remember the memories. I take and have so many photos now it can sometimes be overwhelming! I just have to remember that just because I have so many photos, it doesn't mean that all of them have to be used or printed. It's just so interesting how things evolve with time.

Shark Boy

Coen's 4th birthday is coming soon, and his newest obsession is the movie The Adventures of Shark Boy and Lava Girl. He keeps saying he wants a Shark Boy costume for Halloween and a Shark Boy birthday. His mom is going to make one of his dreams come true. I found a picture of Shark Boy and with a little Photoshop magic, he now looks like Coen. She is going to make party invitations with the photo and I think it would be great on a cake. You know how they can put a photo on a cake. And then she could add little shark toys. This should be fun. I hope he will be thrilled!

Back to Scrapping

It's been a few days since I've been able to create anything. I've been busy shopping with the girls for school clothes and supplies this week. The girls have also been taking a Big Picture Scrapbooking class called Kidding Around, and I've been busy helping them scrapbook their memories. They have all done very well and have really taken to the hobby. The oldest said, "This is really fun". I've been telling her she'd love it! And of course we've been busy making more memories and taking more photos. The ice cream layout was made for the Kidding Around class. The girls had an assignment to go get ice cream at an ice cream parlor then scrapbook their experience. A real ice cream parlor is hard to find these days. We don't even have a Baskin Robbins on our side of town anymore. There is Cold Stone Creamery and Maggie Moo's, but we thought it would be fun to take them to a ice cream parlor we use to go to when we first moved to Arizona called Swensen's. While they really enjoyed it, the place has gone downhill. It's so sad to see a long time favorite place change so much. I'm really glad we got to experience this memory with them before the place is completely gone though. Things are always changing. Go out this week and capture something or somewhere that you use to love and frequent. You never know when it will be gone.

My Innocence Personified layout was for Camp Scrap and was a layout where I could just play and have fun. I made most of my own embellishments for this layout. There is no journaling. I felt the photo says it all. Love doing this type of  layout once in awhile.

He's So Fluffy I'm Going To Die!

I don't know about you, but I feel this way when I see new product that is going to come out or product that I somehow missed because I was so inundated with the mass amount of new product that is hitting the market. It's like being a kid in a candy store. I'll take one of everything please!

This yummy paper is from the Be Good collection from Cosmo Cricket. It's called Poinsettia.

These lovely gems are from The Girls' Paperie' by Margie. Love them!

And I can't wait to get my hands on these fun papers from Pink Paislee. The red stars is Starlight from the Starlight Collection. And the Halloween paper is from the Twilight Collection and is called Dusk.
There all so "fluffy" I'm going to die!

Last Week Of Camp Scrap

May Flaum and Big Picture Scrapbooking offered a class this summer called Camp Scrap. I signed up for it because I adore May's classes and have not been disappointed in any of her classes yet. And this class was no exception. It was such a productive, inspiring, and just a down right fun class. I loved it and will miss it. I was introduced to many talented fellow scrapbookers here at camp, as well as many scrapbook companies and their products. I highly recommend Big Picture Scrapbooking to anyone thinking about taking a online class. They have a great variety of classes offered. Their workshops are instructor lead and the other classes offered are self paced. You have life time access to these classes once you have purchased them. I have to say the most awesome part of these classes are the connections and inspiration you receive from your fellow classmates. And I must say Camp Scrap has been the best for this. Hopefully they will offer Camp Scrap again in the future. If they do, I will be first in line to sign up. Here is a sampling of what I accomplished in class. Note: I have posted other layouts off and on previously.

I Am So Proud!

I am a very proud "Mimi" right now. I had signed the girls up for Tami Morrison's Big Picture Scrapbooking class Kidding Around, and they've been really slow about getting into the assignments. Well not in the assignments so much, (going to get ice cream & take photos, blowing bubbles & take photos), but in the creating a scrapbook page about these adventures. But last night Madyson decided she'd give it a try after watching me put together a layout. She said, "can I make one just like you?" And she did great! She was so cute using brads, inking the edges, picking out patterned paper. Then Hannah saw her doing it, and she wanted to start making things. Her first project was to do a remembrance page about our dog Diego. I am just so thrilled. Now I've got to work on Hayley our oldest.

Disney -Why Do Thou Stress Me So Much?

I start out by saying, this layout is a major milestone achieved. Yet I feel like I haven't moved forward at all. I procrastinated on this layout as much as I could until I was so fed up with myself for procrastinating. Let me start by telling you what made the photos I used on this layout easier to start with than any other of the millions of Disneyland visit photos I have. Hayley our oldest granddaughter, along with her mom and our son (her dad), had the opportunity to go to Disneyland back in 2000 with her mom's family. My husband and I are huge, (an understatement), Disneyland  fans and I guess just figured we'd be with our grandkids when they went to Disneyland for the first time. But that we weren't was fine. But it explains why I'm not so emotionally connected with these photos. Don't get me wrong, I love these photos because they are adorable and have people I love in them. But we weren't there in the memory making, so there is a bit of a detachment to them. But I did want to get them down on paper for her to see and enjoy. A small thing that made it hard was that her mom & dad aren't together any longer. But that wasn't that big of deal. Her mom will always be her mom, and she was there for the memory. But what I can't explain is why  making more Disney layouts is so hard for me. I have collected, (hoarded), tons of Disney themed product. I have printed out ideas I liked and found on the internet of other peoples layouts. But actually making a layout, or God forbid an entire album, has stressed me out beyond belief. It's crazy I know! CRAZY! Even on this layout, I'd pick a patterned paper or embellishment  to use and I'd hesitate wondering if it was right, good enough, or could it better be used on another layout in a better way. It's like I don't want to accidentally used the best products because there will be a grand finale at the end that I'll need it for. You know, like a grand finale of fireworks, when they shoot of all the "awe" generating ones at the end.  Hello....I need therapy! OK, really I say this all in jest, but there is no doubt stress involved. I only made this layout because a dear fellow scrapbooker in my Camp Scrap class at Big Picture Scrapbooking gave me a friendly challenge to make a Disney layout before the end of class. See, she was having the same feelings, but has seemed to break through and start to get layouts done. So here I am. I vow to do the same. The feelings of "should I do this type of album", or "I think I should include all this information", need to come to an end. We'll see what happens. Walt Disney said, "It all started with a mouse." So I can say, "It all starts with a bit of Disney themed paper and some glue". Wish me luck!

I adore this man!

So True

I found this little gem on my computer today when I was looking for something else. It is so true and it makes me smile. Kindness can make someone's day better. Kindness can make a big impression on someone who sees it rarely. Kindness says you care. And Kindness is such an easy thing to share. It doesn't cost anything.  Remember, "Kill them with Kindness". Have a great day.

Journaling

This layout was made with photos from 2003-2004. They were from a time when my two youngest granddaughters got along like peas in a pod. Fast forward to present day, and they fight like cats and dogs. I wanted my journaling and the layout to celebrate when they got along so well. So I went back in time and put myself in the mode of when these photos were taken. This is what I would have said had I made the layout back then. I don't always do this. But this is the mood and feeling I wanted to portray for this layout. Now most definitely I will make another layout telling the story of how they don't get along quite as well now. I'm sure hoping that will change! But with journaling and telling your story, it's all good. They did get along so perfectly at one time, and I wanted to celebrate and showcase that without any thoughts or feelings of the present.  And that's OK. Just get the stories down on paper and told. 

And now more words of wisdom from Stacy Julian

I know I'm lagging behind on getting around to this post on Stacy Julian's blog, but it has a wealth of information that cannot be denied. Since following her Photo Freedom philosophy, I have relieved myself of much stress. I no longer scrapbook my photos in chronological order. I no longer worry about scrapping every photo that I have. I also think I prioritize my scrapping time much better since I have been following her. One thing that really weighed heavily on my mind this weekend was the sheer amount of the photos that I have printed. Whenever I go through my photos to find something, and by the way it's much easier to find them with the Library of Memories system, I cannot believe how many photos I have printed. It's so true that the value of most of the photos I have printed has now somewhat lessened. Then, I printed out every single "good" photo that I took. And of course I deleted any blurry, not so good photos, so I did a good job of purging. But in the scheme of things, after time passes, not every photo is worth the time, effort, and money it took to print it out. I wouldn't get rid of any of these photos from my computer backup file, but I just wouldn't print out as many as I did. I am learning over the years, that it doesn't take many photos to be able to relive the memory and tell the story. I'm really trying to curb my picture taking a bit. I mean do I need to take a photo of the kids every time they make a cool Lego creation? But more than that, I'm learning to not be so quick to print all of the photos that I do take. I print the one's that "tell the story" the most for to me, and that "speak" to me. Once I'm doing a layout, if I feel I need supporting photos, then I will print more out then. So far this seems to be working so much better. I'm also learning to toss those photos that were printed back when and no longer seem important in my process. Of course I also share them with the girls so they can create something with them. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I am finally getting it. Finally getting what Stacy has been saying all along. So check out her post and think about your situation. It will really make you think differently.

Never Lost At Sea

If you haven't checked out the Paperclipping Community, it's worth a look. I have been a member of the Crop Circle for a couple of years, but I hadn't had time to participate and get to know anyone there. Since I have a bit more time now, I joined the Challenge of the Month group. I'm always up for a good challenge. This particular challenge was to use torn paper. I love using torn paper on everything. I especially love to use it when I'm doing an "earthy" layout. It adds texture to the page. I also like to use ink on the edges to add a bit more dimension. These are some photos of  Ron when we visited San Diego. We had just discovered Sunset Cliffs. Breathtaking is the word that comes to mind to describe it! Loved doing this layout. Hope you all had a wonderful weekend. It's coming to an end once again.

Despicable Me

We went and saw this movie today. It was awesome. It's a must see!

Fun Thursday

We've had a great day so far. Today's class Kidding Around started, and our first assignment was to have ice cream. And of course there weren't any complaints here. We started the day off by going to Rio Vista park and catching crayfish. The girls have been wanting to do this, so I thought we'd go there first since it's so hot outside.  Then we could cool off with ice cream. But we stayed there longer than I thought we would, so we headed for McDonald's next for lunch. They found two fun friends there and their mom and I struck up a conversation, so then we stayed there longer than we thought we would. So by the time it was ice cream time, they just wanted to get a cone there and skip the "ice cream parlor". But it was very fun, even if it didn't go in the original direction we planned. I'm sharing some photos of our crayfish adventure. They are so darn ugly, but the girls love catching them. Hayley was thrilled because she actually caught two in her trap that she's had for over a year and hasn't been able to use. She didn't have anything to use as bait, but they crawled in the trap anyway. She said she had a feeling they weren't very smart and would crawl in without bait. She was right. It was catch and release of course. I sure hope none made their way home with us. Other photos are Madyson and her homemade microphone, Hannah and her huge eyes, (they seemed bigger when she wore this hat), and Coen doing his Mogwai imitation. They are some crazy kids!

Photo Album Scrapbooking

I finally completed a Photo Album Scrapbook that I had been working on for over a year highlighting all the things and places we love in San Diego, CA. I only had a few pages done, but I had all my photos and my supplies gathered in a 13 X 13 box. I called it my "materials file". The Photo Album Scrapbook concept was born of Stacy Julian. I love this project because it's so easy and there's very little stress associated with it. Once you get going it's a breeze. And you scrap so many photos and memories in a simple but lovely way. So this project was titled "We Love San Diego". I'm thinking about doing others with photos from the Phoenix Zoo, (since we have yearly passes and go often and take a gazillion photos, Disneyland, and one about the kids' cousins. There are hundreds of possibilities.

Materials file (ribbon, tags, brads, die cuts, stickers, etc.)  and various papers to use throughout the album.

Mama-razzi

This is my latest layout for Camp Scrap at Big Picture Scrapbooking. The prompt was to make a layout telling someone how much you love them. I've done gushy gooey journaling in the past, so I made this a bit more lighthearted. I was really inspired by the new line of Bo Bunny Mama-razzi product that I purchased awhile ago. I fell in love with it and just had to have it at Scrapbook.com. I have so much scrapbook supplies that I really need to browse through it once in awhile to get inspired by it. Usually I'm inspired by my photos, a story, or a layout I've seen in class or elsewhere. But I can also get inspired when I come across product that I have and that I've forgotten about. So a new goal is to go through my product regularly and either get inspired and use it, or purge it. I'm also finally finishing up a photo album scrapbook that I started over a year ago about San Diego. I'll post some photos from it coming up soon. Also, Cathy Zielske has a great post today on her blog about her School Of Life Updates. Check it out.

School Of Life Thoughts

I have come up with another idea for the School of Life albums I am going to do for the girls. I had posted the photos of the first six pages in Madyson's album. And I had decided to do the last two pages as pocket pages. Here's the post of the last two pages I did. After I completed her pages, I realized I had forgotten about some art pieces of hers that I had scanned in. I scan in various pieces of the girls' art throughout the year before tossing it....Shhh. So I made this small collage of the best to print out and slip into her pocket page.

But then it dawned on me, why don't I make one of the last two pages a layout showcasing the art that they did that year. I really don't need more than one pocket page. So I will post the next layouts that I complete to share the new direction I'm taking with this project.

Happy 4th Of July!

Hope you all have a wonderful and safe 4th of July!

Critters, Balloons & Airplanes, Oh My!

Well I had a crafty kind of day today. That is between carpooling children around and the usual laundry and home duties. I was happy to get a recent story down on a layout and an older story also. The years go by so fast and you forget how little your kids were until you see photographic evidence. I don't want to forget one single thing. Sometimes I curse myself for taking so many photos. But when I'm going through them and really looking at them, the memories seem so vivid, and I'm so glad that I took the time to take them.

These photos were from an airshow/balloon race we went to back in 2004. And looking at these photos, it seems like yesterday. Such good times! Now when I went to scrapbook these photos, I was following a sketch design by May Flaum, so that part was easy. But I have been doing so many event layouts lately, trying to think up what embellishments I was going to use brought my creative mojo to a halt. So I walked away for a few hours and thought about it. Just when I thought I'd have to look through my photo storage binders and find other photos for a different layout, it came to me. Planes, balloons, sky, air. Then I came up with my title and the idea of clouds. From there it all came together. Love when that happens. I was even able to fit a patch that the girls had kept as memorabilia from the air show onto the layout. Fun stuff!

This layout is with photos taken at a fun event we went to in May of this year. I had the idea in mind awhile ago to do a yellow crime scene tape like border. I found the speciman card at Mystic Paper & immediately thought about these photos and how I needed to get the story told on a layout. This is the outcome. Again, the embellishments that I had in my head to use were not something I had. So I scrounged through all the product I do have and found the bits and pieces that I used. So besides the journaling card, everything was something I already had. Love using my stash!

And lastly, I have to share a sketch of a monument that Hayley had drawn up for her Papa to build to honor the passing of our dear Diego. She cracks me up with her sketches and ideas. She thinks Papa can build anything. Well, I guess he pretty much can. We'll see what he comes up with. Everyone have a wonderful and safe 4th of July!

A New Day

Thank you all for your well wishes and kind words. Today is an easier day. We still find ourselves thinking Diego is there. Hayley called out to him once when she dropped a piece of bread, then realized he's not here. I was always making a comment in my "talking to the dog" voice because sometimes he was the only one there to hear me. And I did it today, and remembered, he's not here. I know it will get easier. I threw away his medicine today. Ron took his den out to the shed last night. It looks so empty where it once was. Tomorrow we will probably take the remainder of his dog food and his favorite chew bones to the neighbors. They have two big dogs that will enjoy them. Coen says he wants to go to heaven to see if Diego is there. He was his little buddy! At four, he's too young to understand. We've decided no more dogs for awhile. This is just too hard. Of course the kids would love to turn around and get a new one. But Ron and I just can't do this. We get too attached. So for now, we are without dog. On a happier note. I got creative today in my Camp Scrap class at BPS and made this newest creation. It was inspired by Dina Wakley and May Flaum.