Please Mr. Postman

I had to have that box of scrap booking materials in the mail and on the way to an anxiously waiting DD. :)
I did add some to my first page example for her.

She will be less than impressed with this photo but it is a fine example of using the expression to pick up a theme.  Not every photo is meant for the mantle! lol  I tucked the tag behind the photo.  She is keen to journal.

I found some more things for this page and then I found the very much needed arrow!  :)

This page is another fun one.  I added a pouch with lots of tags.  DD#1 was her Dad's foreman/straw boss/lead hand and slipped back into helper mode during a visit.  The Tim Holtz tissue paper had some great drafting angles and the word PLAN that I noticed after I'd added it so I tried to position the photo with that in mind.

This is probably our last good family photo before spouses were added and I was tickled to find a wood look paper that kinda matched that old wooden fence that we just finished replacing.  I've left room for writing and adding a date or title.

These pages will go in page protectors.  I made a slit to accommodate an easy pull out tag and also added a suggestion for the touch of pink.

I ran out of time but this is an idea to get some texture into the pages.  I like rub-ons and they added some fun to the photo of a previous kitchen we decorated together!

So the parcel and info is mailed and now to catch up on my own projects.  I can't wait to hear how she likes everything.  Please, Mr. Postman...

Life, books, scraps

I think we've got it!

  I found a great size and format for the scrapbooks for my kids.

It is a small album,  journal pages are 6 x 8.  It comes with dividers and lots of pocket options.  It is called Simple Stories, is made in Canada, and is available right at the local shop!  I'm tickled!

The girls are settling into the routine and are finding their style and stride.  The reorganizing is working well.

They inspire me as much as I help them.  When life gives us scraps; we make books about life!

Clarifying and Consolidating the Calendar

There is something that is very appealing to me about recording the passage of time.  And of course, I luv planning things.  ;^)  Ha, it is a good thing my peanut gallery isn't watching me over my shoulder as I type!  But his focusing mantra really is starting to have some effect.  And I really am simplifying.  Focus, where was I?

I have done some record keeping in various forms and with some success.  Then I store away all the info.  I don't seem to be as successful at going back to look at it though.  But the memory isn't quite what it used to be if ever it was!  And just perhaps it might be of interest in the future, at least some of it.

 I leaped into the Calender page project that I saw some bloggers doing and I tried the calendar page layout and allowing for initial excitement I did keep it up and liked it.

I tried a different format and allowing for a week of flu time I still didn't really like just writing down what was happening.

Scrapbooking has never quite appealed although I have managed to accumulate a few scrapbooking supplies. 

I had thought to make my own scrap books for my kids but that has stalled as I felt it was too, well, amateurish.

The art journals and altered books are wonderful but I wondered about incorporating old photos in a pleasing manner.

Then I came across a post on the concept of a hybrid scrap book which includes traditional and digital scrapbooking.  I haven't quite mastered Photo shop Elements just yet!  lol  But putting photos onto the page and adding elements definitely has possibilities.

Then I travelled on further and deeper into blogging and found something called Project Life- a back to basics approach to memory making.  You can find out about it here.  I thought, Eureka!  I even went so far as to pick out my preferred binder and colour scheme, and ...   Well, you get the drift.

My birthday is in June and I thought why wait till January; I could do 'my' year.  Birthday to birthday.  What to do while the kit wound its way through my budget, the order system, and the postal system!   ???

What if...

I made my own?

I dug around for a spare binder.  Thank goodness I hadn't sent them all off to the thrift shop.  It can be decorated.   The individual pages need to support my mixed media messes.  I had saved all the file folders that I'd used for home schooling.  I'm a file fiend and I have lots.  I can slice the 1/4 inch off to fit the binder, I can make the holes with the hole punch, I can gesso them in preparation for all kinds of fun,  AND...

I can create weekly pages.

I can see how everything has led to this Aha! moment.  I can now sort, simplify, and organize all the loose memorabilia I have for each family member and work on them as I'm inspired by my own weekly page.  I can empty one whole filing cabinet drawer, keep everything in the one place, and impose some kind of limit on all the ephemera.  It is a good thing it is a legal sized drawer because I think I'll need to add the grand kiddies!  lol 

Now I have to make a full disclosure.  I still like the stuff over in the store over at Project Life  but it'll only be to enhance what I'll be already started on.  I also need to confess that the playroom/studio is one huge mess as I empty drawers, sort contents, gesso folders, and plan for the beginning of my brand new creative year.  I hope to have some good stuff to show for July 1st because time waits for no creative calendar girl!