Mid-year Reflection and Looking Forward......

I had planned to upload some pics for this post and put it up tonight, but the Curse of the Kite struck again , and we were without power for several hours. The storm was crazy, I've never seen winds like that, and we have several downed trees in the neighborhood. Tomorrow will have to be clean up day around here. Anyway, since our power just popped back on (i think we are lucky, about 400,000 are still out) i thought I'd go ahead and post the text without photos.

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Well, half the year is behind us!  And for some mid-year blog news, as of today it looks like I've posted as much in six months this year as I did all year last year.  I'm happy with that accomplishment!

After some reflection on the year and my hobbies and this blog, I came up with these 5 scrapping truths for me right now:

1 - At some point this year, I became a 1-page scrapper. 

Around this time last year I was happily making 2-page layouts, like I mostly have done for years, especially after taking an Allison Davis sketch class last summer.  I really can't explain what happened - if all the galleries influenced me, or my topics became more one-page worthy, or I started looking at my stories differently - but I definitely fell into a 1-page routine.

So I'm going to make a conscious effort to do some 2-page layouts this month.  I think I have some good pictures for it, and they should make good use of my July kit.

2 - I'm tired of looking at other people's Project Life pages.

I want to play, too!

So I've decided to start my own version of this popular project.  I'm starting in July, and I hope it lasts.  I'm going to use the same 6x8 1/2 album that I used for my December Daily and some page protectors I found at Staples. They are meant for coupon sorting and have four spots.  I've resisted this project because I don't want it to replace my full-scale scrapbooking.  But let's see how it goes! 

3 - I have too many projects at once. I need to focus.

I know this one appears to be in direct conflict with #2 above, but I just need to reprioritize my to-do list.  I'm working on it.  Bleh, who am I kidding? I love having too many projects!  Who cares what "gets done," as long as I'm having fun doing it.  Strike that #3. Here's the new #3:

3 - I like orange.

Or whatever shade it takes for the season. Whether it's called a rust, peach, pumpkin, melon, tangerine or paprika, my July Counterfeit Kit is making me realize that I like them all.  "What's your favorite color" is an often discussed question, but I don't remember a time in my life when I actually had a solid answer until now.  Orange. Love it.

4 - I want to go back to Mexico.

I'm dabbling in/working on my Mexico pages again, and I think I'm ready to say it out loud: I'll go on a scrap shopping diet if it means I could have another week in Mexico.  I don't spend that much to begin with, but if I keep that mindset through the holidays, I may be sipping long island iced teas under a palapa again this winter.

5 - I am getting better at taking pictures.

I don't mean I'm a better picture taker, although I'm trying to do that, too.  I mean I'm getting better at REMEMBERING to take pictures, and to take more pictures from day to day.  I'm doing my best to practice good picture taking habits as we approach our vacation at the end of this month.  I want lots and lots and lots of pictures - of friends, of the sights, and of the moments I want to remember.  Can't wait!

That is all :).  See you in July when we start 2012 Part Deux!

A Page with Movement

A quick post for the June Counterfeit Kit Challenge #3, a challenge to have movement on a layout.  Check the blog today for other examples from the Master Forger team.

I just have a simple example of movement: a piece of hidden journaling behind a picture (hidden behind the picture on the lower right side of the page. 



The story for these pictures is pretty straightforward. But the event behind the pictures made me think about my job change last year and my feelings about seeing people from my old job, and honestly it's just best that those thoughts not be out in the open. So those words are hidden. I cut an opening in the page protector so I can access it when I want to.

End of an Era

I couldn't get it together to do an On a Roll post for this week, so I thought I'd do a quick post about where my energy went instead this weekend.

For the past 3 years Crystal has been on our homeowner's association, and for the past 2 years she was the board president.  This month was her final month on the board, and her last hurrah, a community picnic, was this Saturday.



Checking out the tent the night before the event.





This was my station for the day - the bounce house.  To say it was a popular attraction is an
understatement.Even if I left that spot, little kids would come up to me and ask if they could bounce. 
I literally had to station myself in front of the doorway to keep kids from storming the castle when
we were trying to shut down for the day. I made one kid cry when I said he couldn't bounce
one last time.  I was so glad to see the vendor come back and deflate that thing!




Our police officers came and fitted about 100 kids with new bike helmets. The fire department brought the Safety House trailer and a fire truck, too. They were all very popular with the kids.




No potluck for this picnic! We had the event catered, and it was so popular.
I was actively trying to be good about taking pictures, but I forgot to get pictures of all
the delicious food and our dessert cupcakes.  Hopefully someone else managed to get
some better shots under the tent.



Blue skies, but It was approximately 975 degrees. When they dumped the ice from the beverage
chest at the end of the day, I seriously considered rolling around in it.  But after a cold shower
and some relaxation today, I think we've recuperated enough to face the coming week.

So as you can see, it was a big production. There were a few other volunteers for the event, but Crystal spent a lot of time making sure everything was in place for the big day.  She took a day off to accept all the deliveries and set up of the tents, all the tables and chairs, the port-a-potties and the dumpster.  Then that morning there were so many vendors to coordinate - the caterer, face painter, ballon artist, bounce house, caricature artist, other novelties and the DJ.  She made sure everything was set up in the right place and ready to go when we started at noon. 

While the whole three year board experience was a great learning opportunity, I am so glad it's over for her.  I know Crystal is anxious to just go back to being part of the neighborhood, instead of worrying about all the delinquents and deadbeats that can suck the life energy right out of a volunteer.  It's time to take a break and just annonymously sit on the patio every once in awhile.  Soon we'll be able to walk the dog without getting stopped for complaints about a neighbor's dogs/kids/trash can/lawn ornament.  Can't wait!


I'll be back later this week to wrap up my June kit. I have to say, we're working on getting ready for the July kits and it is definitely one of my favorite kits ever. I finished a few counterfeits for my kit yesterday, and I'm pretty excited about the whole thing.  I'm having a hard time focusing on the end of June waiting to play with it!

June Counterfeit Challenge #2 - Using Paint

It's time for the second Counterfeit Kit challenge for June.  The challenge is to use paint.

I did a quick, journal-only page about our Mega-Millions fever earlier this year.  If you happen to be one of the winners, I am available for adoption! Don't tell my dad. :)

I had some dark blue paint in my kit, so I just used it to make a couple of grounded spots on the light color page and built my embellishments on top. I wanted to keep the page pretty flat, so the paint allowed me to keep it one-layer flatter than it would be if I had used paper there.

Thanks for visiting!  Check the Counterfeit Kit blog for links to other Master Forger examples for this challenge.

Kite Stories Page

I posted my Kite Stories page kit yesterday, so today I thought I'd show you the page I completed with the kit. 

And since I used twine on this project I'm double dipping and using this page for my own On a Roll post for this Monday. As an aside, I came across a Twinery blog hop, and if you're looking for twine inspiration, take a hop through those posts. Such great ideas! 

First, about the kit name: Kite flying is a simple pleasure, right? Reminds you of summer, childhood, breezy days with lemonade?  Well, after I volunteered for this kit, I realized that my own kite memories could only be described as misadventures. So I decided to do a mostly journaling-only page to document those stories, hence the name Kite Stories.

I cheated twice - I added twine and the Reminisce alpha ("kite").  Everything else

And since the journaling is too hard to read in pictures, here are the stories I told:

A few years ago we were at the Outer Banks and went to the beach to fly kites. For those that don’t know, the Outer Banks is a windy place…..it was good enough for the Wright Brothers , so surely it’s great for a few kites, right? We were on the beach in the surf just before a storm with a couple of dollar-store kites, so that wind was pulling the lines all over the place. I was afraid to let go, worried it would plumet to the earth and stab someone in the chest on the way down (too dramatic? Sorry, I worry!). And in an effort to keep track of her kite and stay with it, Crystal suddenly found herself in chest-deep water with waves rolling in, and I was trailing along with a camera.  At one point I thought we might be the first people to ever drown by kite flying*. We came out of it, but the story is legendary with a couple of friends who were there. (*For the record, I googled “death while kite flying” and found this article. Not funny, be careful out there. But, I didn't actually find any other situations where someone walked right into the water and became so unaware of her surroundings that she nearly drowned. Probably because she wouldn't want to admit it).

It took a couple of years to recover, but in 2008, the idea of kites again entered our brains. Crystal and I were driving home from a big grocery trip. We had a large amount of frozen or refrigerated food, so we needed to get everything unloaded. As we turned the corner into our development, we passed the open green space in the center of our neighborhood and noticed how sunny but windy it was. “Wow, it’s such a nice day, after we unload the groceries we should get the beach kites and come out here and fly them.”  I mean, it was really beautiful, like a laundry detergent commercial. You know the ones - the sun beaming down onto perfectly pinned sheets and shirts that are gently flapping in the breeze while the family picnics in the background, and you can practically feel the serenity......

Blissfully unaware, we got home, unloaded, and then watched as it turned from “fly a kite breezy” into weather that can only be described as “hurricany,” and we kept wondering if our few months of homeownership were going to end that evening in a pile of boards and shingles.  And then we were soon without power for a few days. That meant reloading all those groceries a few hours later and taking them an hour east to Crystal’s family members' freezers. And we had to scour the city for ice (not many stores had power, either) and cook some remaining food outside on the propane grill. And I won't fully go into this tangent story, but some key phrases that might appear in the story......"Naked Guy," "neighbor robbed," "police helicopter, and "and then we were nearly shot by snipers" - all because of a little wind.  Now whenever a storm is rolling in, one of us always asks the other, “Want to fly a kite?”

So those are my kite stories. Not necessarily something I would call a good luck charm around here, but I’ve worked with it, and I hope my kit doesn’t bring bad weather or potential injury to anyone involved.  And to offset the doom and gloom of my kite stories, check out my Kite Pinterest Board for much more happy, inspirational images collected for this topic!

Go Fly a Kite

Hi Everyone!  I volunteered to put together this month’s extra Page Kit on the CKC Blog. 

The theme for this kit is Fly a Kite. I went searching for any literal items in my stash and just came up with a couple of papers from a 6x6 pad of MME Lime Twist. So I worked from there, adding some other papers and using those colors as a way to pick some embellishments.  I'm calling this page kit Kite Stories, which I'll explain more later.

Full kit

Embellishments - I ended up with a green thing going on....



Papers - Since this is just a page kit, I didn't want to go overboard with the papers. But I like variety! So I compromised and stuck with just a 6x6 size of a few papers, along with my background piece (from AC Campy Trails) and a larger grid piece, maybe for journaling.



I think these letter brads are 10 years old. Or more, I don't know. But I dumped out the remnants of that pack and was able to come up with these two words that might be useful.

Have you ever looked at leftover alphas and tried to figure out what you could spell?  A tip - try putting your available letters into a Scrabble word finder site like this one. It will tell you all the possible words, and maybe one of them will pop out as something useful!

I'll post my kite page tomorrow and include the story of why I called my kit Kite Stories.  If you decide to make your own page kit this month, leave a comment with a link so we can all take a look!

Travel Inspiration - Part 2

As I said yesterday, here is my page for this month's Counterfeit Kit travel-inspired challenge. 

For this challenge, I decided to focus on a different side of travel scrapping. We booked our trip at the end of January, about one month before our departure. So I kept a daily list of things I did to prepare for the trip. No pictures involved - just a list of things that tend to be forgotten.


So here's my page - quick, simple, and memories recorded:

 

My list of things we did each day to get ready for vacation.

I wanted something other than the black letters in my kit, so I altered the glitter Thickers. I ran them through my Xyron
and added a layer of bronze glitter to change the color.  Then I added a layer of DecoArt Triple Thick Gloss Glaze
to seal and gloss them up. I like the look!



Oops. Looks like I need to replace the "b." I must have
ripped it in transit.

 I can't believe I haven't finished our Mexico trip album yet! It was supposed to be done with last month's kit. I made some small progress and printed some of the resized pictures, but I haven't had the chance to really dig into it. We are going on vacation at the end of July, and I HAVE to get the Mexico project done before I can think of that next vacation.

I love doing these travel projects, though. Lots of pictures, lots of page idea and stories to tell.....it's my favorite kind of scrapping.

Thanks for looking.  If you haven't already, look through the other Master Forger travel pages from yesterday and link up any of your own kit pages to this month's Mr. Linky.  And have a great weekend!

Travel Inspiration - Part 1

Hi Everyone -

I didn't get a page done for today's CKC blog challenge #1 for June, but I did have this post saved, so I thought I'd go ahead and post it.  No pictures, but lots of fun links!  I'll get the page up later this weekend. Stay tuned!
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Travel takes a lot of preparation.  And when it comes to the actual scrapping of that travel, those planning details are lost when I focus on just the actual vacation days.  If you have the stamina for it, doing a pre-vacation project would be a great way to keep track of those sorts of details - take pictures of things you order, trying on new clothes, a passport application (or, someone taking a picture of you getting your passport picture taken - I wish I had that picture :)), at the travel agent or ordering tickets online, etc.  If you already do a Project Life-type album, maybe you're already capturing those sorts of things.

Since I've been (sort of) working on a travel project and know there's another one coming up soon, I've amassed a bunch of random tips/ideas for travel scrapping and thought I'd share the top ones here.  So in no particular order, here are 10 Tips/Ideas/Starters for Travel Scrapping:

10 - I found this 7 Tips for Travel Mini Albums list on the Creating Keepsakes blog while looking for ideas for our upcoming Finger Lakes vacation.  Lots of great little ideas!

9 - Another list from Get It Scrapped, Scrapbooking travel: 5 tips for collecting and including memorabilia on your pages.

8 - Keep Planning Lists: I'll show you tomorrow how I kept track of our vacation planning.  In addition to keeping track of what I did each day in February, I kept a notebook for all our planning notes.  So, I still have our lists of things to pack, things to do, orders placed, etc.  I'm an online planning nut when I'm getting ready for a vacation, so I also kept all my where to eat/what to do in that book, too.  Since it will be months later when I actually do the scrapbook, I'm so glad I have that notebook.  I just used a plain old notebook and pen, but you could get fancy and do something more of a keepsake. 

7 - This week's Scrapbooking Roundtable was all about travel.  Good conversation about themey supplies, scrapping while on va-k, etc.  I've listened to it 4 times now, so that fact can stand as my review. Good show!

6 - My favorite find......I was thinking about how I'm focused on this big Mexico project, but really most of our travel experiences happen much, much closer to home.  So while searching for scrapbooking staycations, I came across this page and was immediately linked to a project from our own Julie Ann Shahin!  I thought, wait, I know that name!!  I tried to link back to the source, but it looks like the blog that featured that project is no longer operating, so I hope my link at least gets you to the pictures of her FAB, artsy, stylish little staycation scrap journal. 

5 - I just thought this picture was a great idea.  I want to do a similar picture of a picture with scenery of the travel spot in the background.  We'll see if I remember!  Here's a general list of travel photo ideas, too. 

4 - Sort of a related idea, as I said earlier......have someone take your picture while you are getting your passport picture taken.  Given the rigid rules about passport photos, I sort of wonder if that action is somehow a federal offense, but it otherwise sounds likes a good idea. But for the record, if armed government agents storm the scene, it's all on you. :)

3 - And if you miss the photos all together (Like I did on one day of Mexico. Seriously, nothing. It's hard to fit in picture taking, what with all the pool lounging, eating, and more pool lounding. Geez!), here's a list of ideas for no photo layouts.  It's not travel specific, but it's generally good ideas.

2 - Ali Edwards has a self-paced class, Scrapbooking on the Road, this summer.  Scrapping while traveling was one of the topics on the Roundtable's travel discussion this week, too.  I haven't jumped on board with that idea yet, but I can see how it would be appealing for the right kind of trip (for me that would be a long trip to a really different culture, or maybe a trip where we have lots of stops and lots of ephemera to keep track of along the way).  There are so many product lines now available for this sort of idea, so it definitely hasn't been easier to put together a quick, classy project on the road (think Smash products, the new Simple Stories, the Amy Tangerine Daybooks, etc.). 

1 - And last but not least......I saw this picture on marthastewart.com and thought it would be a good idea for a scrap page.  I want to do it for our upcoming trip to New York. I have to remember to pick up a rest stop map somewhere along the way (Do they still have maps at rest stops? I guess I'll find out!).

Happy Travels - I'll be back tomorrow with my travel page!

June Counterfeit Kit

Just a quick post today for the June Counterfeit Kit Challenge.  This month's theme is a little different, and I'm excited for the challenge. We have a list of kit content categories, so here's my list:

10 pattern papers: I little bit of everything - some great B sides for extra flexibility
8 cardstocks - some neutral colors to use with the papers
2 alphas - A bit of cheating....I chose a sheet of LilyBee minis (with 6 alphas on the sheet)and a package of Thickers (somehow I forgot the Thickers in the picture)
3 embellishments - Jillibean ribbons and a punch-out sheet, and Melody Ross glass paper clips
4 Journaling spots - a 7 Gypsies card and other odds and ends
1 Roll of Washi tape - I don't have any Washi, so I subbed a role of OLD (I think Making Memories) tape with an old book print pattern on it.
2 stamp sets - I chose a Technique Tuesday date stamp and a Stella and Rose set
1 Messy item - I'm going to use some paint (not pictured)
1 old item - A set of slide mounts.
1 surprise item - I picked DecoArt Triple Thick Gloss Glaze. It's perfect for adding some shine to anything, so I thought it might be a good extra for making embellishments from all that paper.

The next hop stop is Susanne at http://www.snapsandsnippets.blogspot.com/, so be sure to visit her new kit, too!

On a Roll Week 1: Ribbon Organizer

It's still Monday, so I'm not late yet, right?  I'm generally running about 12 hours behind in my life right now.  Anyway, I said I'd have a post today, and I'm coming in just under the wire!

Like I explained here, each week this month I'm going to highlight something that comes on a roll.  The first "on a roll" item that came to my mind was.....

RIBBON!!!!!

I haven't been a huge ribbon collector, but I have enough that I needed to find a simple way to organize it. I'm not big on repackaging items just for pretty, so I went looking for something simple, functional and cheap.  I also have one more base criteria for any storage solution: it can't make dusting more complicated than it already is, because I have a hard enough time keeping up with cleaning. I don't need more things to dust!

I found this solution on Pinterest and decided it would be a great solution for me:

Example from Halsey at Spunky Junky,
http://spunkyjunky.blogspot.com/2011/01/tutorial-tuesday-5-dollar-ribbon.html

It caught my eye because I already had that type of basket in my pantry baskets.  I added a few pieces of dowel, and voila, ribbon storage. Total cost: About $1 for the dowel.

Plenty of room to grow and add more dowels.

I also tend to collect ribbons from packaging and other sources that don't come on a roll. My solution to make them work in my organizer? A tube from a waxed paper package. That allows me to spin it on the dowel as needed. You could cut the tube and use it for each roll, but I decided to keep it simple and just unroll the ribbon I need at the time.

Added appeal for me:  This size (16" long x 13" wide x 7" deep) fit perfectly into an Expedit cube.  I bought mine a few years ago at WalMart, and I believe there's a deeper version (same size) out there, too.  If you can't find that exact basket, look for another brand or a small laundry basket with holes.

Like I said, I'm not repackaging ribbons that come in other forms, like wrapped around a card, just to make them work in my basket. But if I end up with remnants or the end of the package, I'll tuck them onto one of these rolls.

I used 5/8 inch dowel, and it fits snug into the holes in my size Sterilite bin. If you wanted your dowels to spin, you'd need something a bit smaller.

I plan to do another basket for gift wrap ribbons when I tackle that giftwrap project this summer.

Now I need to go USE some of that pretty, neatly organized ribbon! Later this week I'll post a couple of examples.

Just Call Me Butter…..Cause I’m on a Roll!

Last year I wrote 38 blog posts.

I just noticed that this year I am on track to have that many posts by the end of June.

All the chatter in half the time!

For me, that's an accomplishment.  I’m not trying to beat any records, and I surely don't see myself blogging anywhere close to daily.  But it made me smile because it means I’m getting closer to making this whole blogging thing a habit rather than an afterthought, and that makes me happy.

So I’ve decided to have a little celebration this month.  As I countdown to the tying - and surpassing - posts, I'll have four extra posts dedicated to things on a roll. .  Each Monday in June I’ll highlight something that comes on a roll and either use it, show others using it, or link to lots of resources for it. Sound like a plan?

Thanks for stopping by - Happy June!