Time Found

I somehow found some time to scrapbook since the crop. I really don't know when or how but it happened.

This one was for a sketch from Studio Calico:

This is a POTD layout using the rest of my Scrap within Reach Paper that I got from Candi for a make and take. Ignore the blurry photograph, my glasses broke and for some reason I couldn't get a photo of this LO to turn out -- whatever that is about.

And believe it or not, there are more that I have photographed yet (just 2)! Both are for my POTD album. And I picked up a photo today to do a challenge blog! I haven't done a challenge in a looooonnnggg time! I'll share when I get them done!

LIfe after LOAD

So it's June and that means May LOAD (layout a day) is over. Sad somewhat, relieved -- now that the kids are out of school I'm glad I'm not having to do this (upcoming post on this), inspired would be a great word to describe what I'm taking away from this experience. I really did love doing it. There were only a couple days that I wished I could have said "forget about scrapbooking today", most days I was excited and looking forward to working on something. I have quite a stack to show:

31 layouts, this pile is a little over 2 inches tall -- I'm definitely not a flat scrapper. It's a cool stack to look through. I made 3 for gifts and I only really dislike 2 of my layouts but I will not go back and redo/change them. I got a little start on my 365 album finally:

I used a ton of my stash and even feel like I could go through some of my stuff and get rid of more stuff that I'm never going to use. I love scrapping upstairs in our bedroom and have been keeping it pretty neat. I do need to pick up at this point but my storage system seems to be working for me . . . finally something that works. I am joining a couple other flickr groups to keep me scrappin' and I did make the commitment through Lisa Day's Life after Load Group to do 30 more layouts before I purchase anymore stuff. I did reward myself first with a cool scrapbooking kit from Studio Calico and a couple other things but no more until I get 30 more layouts completed. This may take a while as I haven't done anything since Sunday so far. Here's my most favorite layout of all 31 days:

Hope you're feeling inspirted too!

Thinking Out Loud

LOAD is almost over, I'm sad but know that there is no WAY I could do a layout everyday now that the kids are home all day. I'm joining a flickr group called LOAW (layout a week), I think I can handle that. I'm also joining Lisa Day on her blog where she is doing Life after LOAD, come up with a goal of how many layouts you have to make before you can purchase any more products (I tried this before, remember?) I still haven't committed to my goal on that.

LOAD was very life changing for me . . . I now it sounds silly to say that about paper and glue especially if you aren't a scrapper but I really feel inspired and creative right now.

One of the most important things I feel I learned that I can do something BIG if I work a little every day and plan ahead some. If someone had told me last month to make 31 layouts in the next month. I would have gotten overwhelmed and wouldn't know where to start but just thinking about them one at a time was the key. Sometimes the night before I knew I should start on tomorrow's layout but when you're tired that's hard.

So many times I would just pull out the photo I wanted to use and look through my creative journal to get an idea, sometimes I would pull out the paper I wanted to use. Then when I had time the next day, I was ready to go. A little bit of planning went a long way for me.

I'm going to take what I learned during LOAD and try to apply it in other areas of my life. First, is getting in shape! Remember I am running a 5K race sometime this year? Yep, I'm still doing it even though I am certainly not ready at this point. I need to start working on it though. Sounds like a daunting task but a little bit at a time. I'm taking my LOAD philosophy to this. LOAD is now becoming GIST (I'm really into these acronyms right now) for me. GIST = Get In Shape Today. Yes, I totally made that up but let's play on Nike's old motto, GIST Do It! Sounds good but I need a plan in order for it to work. I can't go running in the middle of the day with 4 kids. So here's the BIG COMMITMENT part: I am going to get up at 6am and run/walk on the days I don't go to the Y. I think I'll be at the Y 2-3 days a week. On Mondays we go for swimming lessons so I think after that I can take the kids to the playroom and run then. I plan on going to the Y in the morning some too. I think if I sign up for a class I'm more likely to go. So I started looking, what to take: Pilate's, kickboxing, y-pump . . . I don't know . . . I think I need to wait on kickboxing since there is a beginner class in the fall, I'm definitely a beginner. Y-pump sounds challenging and I'm all for that but the times and days aren't convenient for other parts of our schedule this summer. So Pilate's looks like the winner . . . it starts at 8:30 but is only a half hour 2 days a week and then I could go run on the treadmill after and we could go to the library on Thursdays for story time. So there is it. If I am not going to the Y for the day then I need to get out there at 6am on weekdays and run/walk. I'm aiming for 30 minutes, then I can shower and I'll be ready for the day before Aaron goes to work at 7 and hopefully before the kids are up . . . right, today on a Saturday they were up at 6:10 am!
So what can you do this summer with the little bit at a time philosophy . . GIST Do It!

Last Bit of Freedom interrupted by Thickers Emergency

I have one hour left of freedom before summer officially begins (along with the decline of my sanity) and preschool is over. So what am I doing on this last day? Being a lady of leisure? no. Cleaning like a mad woman? no. I had no intention of even leaving the house today until I read Megan's blog and found out that Big Lots had Thickers. Some of you are wondering what is a Thicker? Well if you are a scrapbooker, it is about as necessary to own Thickers as it is scissors and adhesive. They are fancy letter stickers that come in foam, vinyl, fabric, chipboard, and epoxy. I use them on almost every layout for my titles. They come in a million fonts and colors. I have quite a few sets but one can never have too many of these and when Megan wrote they had them for $2 a pack, I got the baby up from her nap (she technically wasn't asleep yet) and off to Big Lots we went . . . 22 packages later I am home.

It was a Thickers emergency! Now in my defense 8 of them are for Keely. I almost didn't call her because she claims she owns almost every Thicker made . . . but I think that is not entirely true because she said she didn't have some of the ones Big Lots had.

The rest of my day was spent finishing our teacher gifts. I waited until the last minute to figure out what to give them even though about 2 weeks ago I started thinking about it. And in the last 48 hours I have changed the gift about 80 different times. I always go to the internet for ideas. At one point I was making a gift card wallet out of fabric scraps but I couldn't think of any place to get them gift cards and I have 5 teachers to give gifts so there wasn't time for big sewing projects and no place good around here for a $5 gift card. Next I was going to go the Bath and Body Works route but when I was at JoAnn Fabrics I was reminded I own these cute flower pretzel molds. So all I had to buy was the chocolate, pretzel rods, and some bags. I decided the flower theme would be good and found a tutorial to make these cute pins that you can wear on a jacket or shirt or pin on a purse or tote bag.

To top it off the kids helped me make the flower cards, with their photos in the center that say "thank you for helping me grow and bloom". I wrote the teachers each a note on the inside thanking them for all their hard work and patience with my kids. Our gifts aren't extravagant but as a former teacher I know it's nice to be appreciated even in little ways. After school today I am going to try to get a photo with each kid and each teacher too -- you know scrapbooking is always on my brain.

So that's my last day . . . oh yeah, I squeezed in a quick layout for LOAD (only 2 more days left).

It's a lift from my new found friend also doing LOAD who has 5-1/2 year old triplets. It's fun to find another triplet mom who scraps too. She lives in California so we'll have to be computer friends.
I hope your day was productive too and that you don't have a Thickers emergency after reading this post!

It's the final Countdown

Ugh! Preschool is down in 3 days. UGH! I know at the beginning of the year I was all worried about them now I'm all for year round school . . . don't get me wrong I love my kids but geesh, I will have NO breaks at all . . . they don't nap anymore or if they do they are up until the wee hours of the morning, so are Aaron and me but that's our time not more kid time! I know already I have to start planning it all out. They have to be busy so I don't hear whining and fighting and crazy out of controlness and all the other things that go along with no structure when structure is needed. I started a list, of course, since I am Queen of List Making . . . not sure where the list is but I did have an idea burst one night and put them all on paper.
I signed them up for swimming lessons at the Y today . . . we'll see how that goes. The Y is definitely going to be on our list, along with the library, park/picnic days, field trips to the zoo and museums. I plan on doing art stuff and trying to squeeze in learning kinds of things too with letters and numbers and writing. Physical activity will also needed to be incorporated to get out all that energy . . . obstacle courses and jumping rope and running games. I'm tired already just thinking of all this stuff. I plan on having quiet time almost everyday . . . got some ideas for that . . . busy boxes that rotate between them . . . listening to music . . . watching a movie . . . Something so I can have a small break during Reese's nap. I certainly need to plan this all out because it will have to be planned to have things ready and incorporate our errands into the day trip stuff. I definitely don't want to be going every single day of the week . . . I hate that. I hope we can be home at least two days each week. I'm trying to get Grammy to take them for one play day each week too. Then I'll have some alone time to do cleaning or scrapbooking or errands or absolutely nothing! I think she'll do it but I hope they don't wear out their welcome. I just don't want to spend the summer yelling and having them watch TV. On top of all this "fun" stuff I need to plan, I also want them to become more responsible in helping out around the house. So I have chores I want them to do too; I have ideas on how to incorporate all this too but of course I have nothing ready and really need to do that too. So three days until my freedom ends -- that is if I can get them all to school tomorrow, I had two sickies at home today.
My LOAD project is winding down but I'm still going maybe not as strong as I was in the beginning but I'm so glad I did this. Here's a layout I made a couple days ago:

Still Going . . .

Today I'm still not feeling well so I struggled a bit with getting a scrapbook page made for LOAD. Not sure I'm as happy with it as I thought I would be. I loved this new paper and the photos are so cute of Caden and Addison but I'm just not lovin' it.

Maybe I need a donut!

Still Going

I think everybody will be recovered and go to school tomorrow. I had to keep Caden home today because that rash he has wasn't gone but it almost was by bedtime so I think he can go. I, on the other hand, am not feeling 100% and am losing my voice (my husband isn't complaining about that though). I'll push through, main thing I'm concerned about is if I get sick how will I keep up with my LOAD Project. After all, I have my priorities!
Here's what I made today:
I think one of the most main things I've really discovered about myself is that I love, love, love color! The more the better. I am finding my scrapbook style. I'm really into layering and using lots of stuff, and mixing old with the new. I'm getting faster and when I start to fret over the details of does this look good or should I put this instead -- I just say glue it down and move on. It works for me. I didn't realize how inspiring and energizing this project would be for me but it really has. I get sad when I think it will be ending in 13 days. It's not like I can't do a layout a day by myself but I know I won't when I don't really have a deadline.

I hope you had a creative day too!

S.T.R.E.S.S.E.D.

I'm sick of vomit and 104 fevers and kids sleeping in my bed
and whining and trying to give medicine to a kid who HATES medicine
and my husband saying I'm not doing enough to get him better
and other nonsick kids who are not patient and fighting every 7 seconds
and laundry mountains and not showering for 3 days and my hair
that hasn't been cut since October
and lists they are never going to get done and my husband
yelling at 4 years olds because they are being 4 year olds and kids with
attitudes. This mom gig hasn't been so fun the last few days.

However I am not sick of scrapbooking and it's a great stress release (yep,
gluing and cutting paper, who would have thought?). Somehow, with all the
stress of sickness still going on, I am managing to keep up on LOAD.
Here's today's layout of the day:







I am not sick of sewing on paper, or of orange & blue, or owls, or photos of my kids.

Keeping Up!

Even though sickness continues to terrorize our house, I am still keeping up with the LOAD (layout a day) project. Actually I think it's the only thing keeping me sane right now. I even been doing more than one layout on some days. If I could, I would just keep on scrapbooking all day, if there weren't like other more pressing things like laundry, doctor appointments, and feeding the children. During Reese's morning nap I usually can work for an hour or two then at night I spend a couple more hours after the kids go to bed. It's almost addicting. I won't bore you with every layout I've made so far but to show that I have been keeping up, I picked my 3 favorite ones so far:

Baby Steps

I am really "digging" this LOAD Project (does using the word "digging" date me?) I have been able to keep up easy. Now if I had signed up for a project where I had to do 31 layouts in May with a one time deadline of May 31, I know I would struggle with this and within a few days already be behind but not sweat it until about May 28 (that would probably be both Keely and I, sorry Keel but we both know we're procrastinators). I can keep up with things if I do them little by little but I have to have deadlines. A couple weeks ago I felt the need to do some spring cleaning . . . so I made a list . . . I am really good at making lists . . . I am not so good at doing the things on the list. There was about 20 spring cleaning jobs I came up with. Most people could probably accomplish that in a week or so. Not me I decided I would try to do one thing a day but skip weekends. I got behind when the kids were sick but mainly I have kept up. That's how I work . . . I need baby steps. I need to start sorting and pricing stuff my yard sale stuff in the basement but it's a huge pile so I figure if I do a box a day I can get it done since Keely's yard sale will be in about a month. I need to remember baby steps in all things I do and maybe I won't feel so overwhelmed.
Here's my layouts for the last 2 days:

LOAD #1

LayOut A Day #1: Check. Only 30 more to go! Sorry for the blurry photo -- I can't do it all.
Scraplift courtesy of Megan Klauer -- check her out!

Doing the LOAD

I signed up to do LOAD May '09. You are probably wonder what the heck is LOAD? LOAD stands for LayOut A Day. So I plan on making on scrapbook layout every day in May. It costs $10 and I figured if I paid I would stick with it. You can't work ahead and if you get behind, then you're out of the running for some prize but I just want to do it, to do it. Keely signed up too even though she's working a ton, taking an online photography class and I think she was signing up for another online scrapbook design class . . . talk about overload. I was planning on kicking off LOAD by going to the store Keely works at this weekend and doing their crop. It's National Scrapbook Day on Saturday. I was really looking forward to it until the kids got sick then everything went to hell here and I didn't see how I was going to get myself pulled together in time to go this weekend and funds are low in the bank account so I backed out (sorry, Keel). Now Reese has Croup so it's better if I stay home anyway. But I did schedule some time to have my own crop at home which sounds stupid I know but the kids are going to Grammy's all afternoon tomorrow and then on Saturday Aaron is going to take them somewhere, not sure exactly where but that's his thing not mine. I'm excited I haven't scrapbooked for almost 2 weeks now since the kids were sick it threw a wrench into all that creativity I had going on for a few weeks but I'm ready to jump back in so wish me luck we'll see how my LOAD goes.

Rainy Stroll

I've been so busy creating with my heap of scrapbook stuff. I just can't stop sometimes I'm making two layouts a night! I'm back to burning the midnight (or later) oil. I'm using a lot of my stash and not worrying and fussing about every single detail which I think makes it even more fun and creative.

I'm not going to bore everyone with all the layouts I am making, plus it would take more time away from scrapbooking to show all these layouts I 've made in the last week (about 10). So I'll just show my latest. I'm getting so fast too -- I think this took about 40 minutes from picking out the paper to writing the journaling. And to top it off I like it!

Back to My Life

Getting back into the swing of things around here (even though it snowed here last night again and I had to walk the kids to school in 32 degree temperatures, my hate for the truck now = a flat tire). Anyway, I've been back to painting the kids' room as I'm really wanting to get it done and things hung up and a little more organization so they can play upstairs. Addison is dying for her dress up clothes and they all want to read books again.



This weekend I stayed up late on Saturday (1:30 am!) and scrapped I made two layouts and 2 cards. I make myself make a card with the scraps of paper almost every layout -- that way I have a stash of cards ready to go instead of making them at the last minute, like I normally do. Anyway I was glad to get back to doing that -- it's been way too long since I've been able to consistently scrapbook. Saturday I also realized for the hundred millionth time I have WAY TOO MUCH scrapbooking supplies and I really don't want one more thing until I work for a while (got it, Keely, don't show me one thing!). Anyway here's one that I started Saturday and finished Sunday -- It's got a lot of stuff on it but I have had these photos printed since last March and wanted to use them together but never could come up with anything.



Hope you're having a great Monday too!

Monster Truck Fun

In the last week or so I've made a little time to get back to scrapbooking. Here's what I did with the monster truck photos I had:


This is my take on a layout that my friend, Candi, made for a make and take at Scrapaganza a few weeks ago. Keely and I tried to get into the crop, unfortunately it sold out. We still went there to shop and Candi was sweet enough to give us the materials from the make and take. She's on the design team for Scrap Within Reach which is totally new to me. I like their stuff and I thought this paper was perfect for Monster Trucks. I made Aaron write the journaling for me and he was not thrilled but since I wasn't there I knew what he wrote would be better than what I'd come with. It's an interactive layout too which means I had too many photos and not enough paper so it flips open to show more photos. I got the tickets in there too.

Scrapbooking Struggles & a Giveaway

Ever since the kids got sick a few weeks ago with those ear infections, I didn't have much of a chance to scrapbook except when they went to bed by then I was too exhausted to do anything but lay in bed and stare at the TV until I was out (about 5 minutes). Then they got better, it was valentines crafts and then I started painting their room again so once they were in bed I was too tired to do any scrapbooking although I wanted to and I thought I had fab ideas but if I did go up there I would just shuffle stuff around not sure what to do and it didn't take long before I was frustrated and felt like I was wasting time. Today I decided I would scrap during Reese's morning nap as a "present" to myself since yesterday I wasn't home much at all and spent most of the day running errands and driving kids places.

Once again, I felt like I was at a loss and I was up there working on my bedroom floor when all of sudden I was like hey! why am I sitting on the floor when I have this nice space I created???? I realized although it's not a total mess I just had some stuff sitting up there that hadn't made it's way back to it's proper place and I need a good amount of table to work (just ask Keely). While I should have probably stopped and cleaned a little I didn't want to give up my me time to organizing/cleaning once again. So I kept on truckin' and got this done. I like it. I still need to do the journaling.

This afternoon I will venture up there and put away all my stuff so I can get back to scrapping when I want without the mess. That's the key to most everything in my life -- I can't create very well in chaos. It bugs me. Now I want that creative bug to get me going.

And if you're feeling like you have the creative bug going on and want to get hold of some new cool stuff, check out Creek Bank Creations Blog. My sister, Keely, works there and is helping out with their blog and they are doing a giveaway right now with some of their own new products.

That tree book is pretty neat. Paint it, cover it in paper, ink it, how cool would it be with some park, spring, or fall photos. Even if you're not a scrapbooker, that tree book would make a cool journal (I'd paint it with acylic paint and write on top of the paint or cover it with notebook paper) or just give it to your kids and see what cool thing they do with it. I know Addison would love to do a "project"(as she calls it) like that. I think they may add more to their giveaway as more people comment so go to it, be sure to mention my name so they know I'm out there promoting them!

Today

Today:

the kids went back to school

Reese and I goofed around for a while and I tried to take some photos of her

I like this very close up one

I finally got us both in frame for a self portrait

I watched the inauguration most of the day which was interesting and I'm excited for the time ahead to see how things change

I washed a million and one dishes as I think I broke the dishwasher for good last night -- I started filling the sink to wash some pans and got called away by a child and their toiletry needs and forgot about the sink which overflowed and flooded the kitchen and gave our dishwasher computer front where the electronic control board thing got a long hot bath. My husband was not mad because he has done this before -- twice to be exact and one time he left the water running all night while he went to bed. It's never worked well since then even though it was repaired but I think we need a new one and since I was in the hospital on bed rest when this one was bought I want to go check them out to give my utmost expert opinion on what I think it needs to have and not have. Maybe we should invest in a water alarm or something that will notify us when the water isn't shut off.

I made this scrapbook page of Reese:

The Snowy Tundra

I think our town was somehow transported to the Arctic or Alaska or something. I bet if I look outside I'll see Sarah Palin's family snowmobiling on by our house. More snow, more cold (wind chills of -45 degrees tonight?????), no school, no cleaning lady, no work for Aaron, no eye doctor appointment for Ethan. All fine by me I didn't even want to open the door to throw out the stale bread for the squirrels. There's so much snow that the bread probably sunk 5 inches and they'll never find it anyway.

So we haven't done too much: blueberry pancakes for breakfast, leftovers for lunch which helped clean up the fridge, and I have a pot roast in the crockpot for supper and of course Aaron's obsessive shoveling and whining that he doesn't have a snow blower right now. I did make it upstairs to my creative spot and started a layout.

I have almost everything put away but once again I have WAY TOO MUCH STUFF so it's not completely as organized as I'd like but my thoughts on this is to just start using what I have to get it in a more manageable size. I love sitting up there on the new stool (from Walmart) and the natural light coming in from the window is really great and I never really noticed it before. I can shut the door and the bathroom is right there unless I need a drink or a snack there's really no need to come down except for the other 5 people I live with need me immensely when I'm up there. My creative juices are flowing so well that I made this little flower embellishment even using my sewing machine.

The only thing I need is some storage shelves on the wall and some sort of inspiration board but I got some ideas in mind and want more "vintage" items (read junk) and plan on going to a flea market this weekend to get some stuff -- weather permitting, of course!

The Story Matters . . . I Believe

I haven't scrapbooked for myself forever except the very little bit I have done on my Daily December Book (some of which I did in the van the other day -- Aaron says you know I'm a hard core scrapper when I'm scrappin' in the van). Anyway I was pretty faithful about Penny's Challenge Blog, The Story Matters, until last time and then I missed it so I thought I'd get back on the horse again. I started way too late last night and at 1:30am I made myself stop because scrapping hangovers are hell. I finally finished it right before lunch so it's almost 12 hours late and I'm sure it doesn't count but I still did it so I might as well show it off.

The challenge was "I Believe".

Of course this was easy for me since I have several miracles (four to be exact) living in my house! I wanted to put Reesey on this page too but I screwed up when I ordered my photos yesterday and missed the one of Reese and me . . . oh well.

The journaling reads: After 3 years of infertility, tons of tests and procedures, invitro was our last hope of becoming pregnant. We hit the Baby jackpot becoming pregnant with triplets. I think I held my breath during all 33 weeks of my pregnancy. Addison, Ethan, and Caden entered the world so tiny fighting for every breath. It seemed as if the world was praying for these babies. They fought hard for their survival. The babies I thought I'd never have are now my proof that miracles are born everyday sometimes three at a time!

My scrapbook stuff is in transition -- most of it is upstairs in new containers because I gave the kids my downstairs cabinet for their art stuff. I plan on moving all my stuff upstairs and making a new creative space to work when I get Reese moved into the other bedroom. It's a long process because we have too much stuff and furniture has to be removed to fit all 4 kids in one room. Sounds cozy doesn't it? Believe me they love it, she'll fit right into the frat party they always have going on in there. I want my bedroom back so I have more than 2 hours a day that I can go in there without fear of waking her up. Today I spent about 2 hours up there going through toys. I have a big box to get rid of and I'm sure I'll find more.