6/30 Ad Challenge

Here is your ad for this fine last day of June.

I seem to be drawn to ads with multi photos. :)

And because I loved it so much I did two layouts from it.

Let's see what you can do!

Happy Scrapping!

Linda

Stuck in a rut ...

You ever have that happen? You get stuck on one color, one design element, one kind of embellishment and you can't get away from it? What do you do? GO WITH IT!


Yes, go with it. Let it go, let it happen. You're scrapping right? You're getting pages done, memories captured, stories saved? Then let it go.


Years from now no one will be looking at your books talking about your white phase



or your hearts phase



or you die cut phase



or you wierd edges phase.



They'll be happy to be looking at the pages, seeing the pictures and enjoying the stories you've saved.

6/23 Monday Challenge....and it's very edgy.

Hey there, everyone! I have an early, busy morning tomorrow and am posting this just a little early. The challenge for this week is an interesting one, I think. I want you to create a layout that has an edge that is NOT straight. Wavy, scalloped, whatever...you pick. Here is an example of one I did last week with the Eiffel Tower kit for an online class I'm taking, to illustrate what I mean. There's that wavy, pretty paper just hanging out there free in the breeze, not attached to any background cardstock. Makes for an interesting look.

It's time to let that imagination run wild with the edges of a layout. Give it a try!

Scrapbooking the hard things...

It's fun to flip through our albums and see all the wonderful things that we celebrate; birthdays, anniversaries, graduations, losing teeth, new babies...

But, sometimes we need to get real. It's hard to write about things that are not so happy, but I think that it's necessary for future generations who look through our work to know that not everything was rosy all the time and that that is OK!

So, I'm sharing a couple of layouts that I have done that are of difficult times. The first one is a letter to our daughter about an argument that her daddy and I had and how I was sorry for how I acted. The second is about the day I found out that our daughter had cerebral palsy.

Here's the journaling for the 1st one:

Your daddy and I got into a fight today. No, not on the day that I took this photo, the fight took place almost a year later. This photo of you, taken on a day so long ago, seems to capture your innocence and your character that you showed today. The argument that Daddy and I got in today was one that no child should have to witness. We said mean and hurtful things to each other. We called each other names. Mommy even threw something. All of this in front of you and Joshua’s watchful, trusting eyes. At one point, you ran up to your room. Later, when things were calmer, you came back out. You went to Daddy and told him that you were scared and had gone to your room to pray. You told Daddy that you asked Jesus and God to help you get Mommy and Daddy to stop fighting. Thank you Jordan, for your strength and your faith. I’m sorry about the fight and especially about letting you and your brother watch. I am so thankful though, that God sent you to us, you are an angel from Heaven, a most precious child.

Journaling for the second one:

Of course Daddy and I knew that there was something wrong., You were a little big late walking, you had an odd crawl, you kind of tip toed, and your right leg muscle was not developing like your left. We were referred to a physiatrist in Indiana who diagnosed you with a tight right heel cord. We could handle that. You started physical therapy, had botox, serial casting, and wore an ankle foot orthotic. Really, we could handle it.When we moved to Iowa, we went to a new physiatrist who recommended a different kind of therapy. We waited to hear from our insurance and that was when we found out. I opened the letter and scanned it. No one had told us. No one had said those words to us before. Here it is, in black, viciously circled, denied, not medically necessary. It hurt. Plain and simple, it hurt. I called the doctor, called the insurance; told them it was wrong, just wrong to not tell me the diagnosis, to let me find out like this. It didn’t take long though, not long at all, for me to look at you are realize. It doesn’t matter what the doctors say, what the insurance says, what anyone says, you are still our sweet little Jordy Girl!

6/16 Monday Challenge

Now don't panic! I don't want you thinking about Christmas quite yet....unless you want to. After what I thought was a totally easy challenge last week that didn't get many takers, I'm going to stretch your brains this week. I want you to use holiday paper on a non-holiday layout. Something like this:


I took a patriotic-themed kit and used it for a layout that didn't relate at all to the theme. So that's your challenge this week.

Where is the scrapbooker?

Have you ever looked at your scrapbooks and thought was I there? Are you too busy behind the camera to remember that people what to see your photo too? Have you had big events in your life and no photos have been taken to document it?

Good photos or bad you need to be in your scrapbooks! These photos are not very good. They are taken in a gymnasium and outside as it was getting dark. They were also taken by my family who I must admit are getting better at photos.

I will include these photos in a BOM (Book of Me) page to document my struggle as a working mom to complete my Associates in Applied Science Travel and Tourism. It took me 2 years, 8 quarters and over 30 classes (not include previous college I got credit for.) I am the first one in my family to graduate too. It is an accomplishment that I am very proud of.

So... the next time you look at your books.... ask yourself WHERE IS THE SCRAPBOOKER? If you don't see yourself, hand over the camera and scrap the photos they take... good or bad. You and the generations that follow will be happy you did.

Monday Challenge!

Good Morning, Everyone! I'm glad to "see" you this Monday morning. Of course, you know that Mondays bring new challenges, so let's get started.

This week's challenge is going to be so very easy. All you have to do is do a very little bit of journaling on a layout.....and then change it up a little. I want a layout that has journaling words that jump out, like you can see in the journaling about Easter in my layout.

See how some of the words are larger and different colors, drawing attention to them? This is so easy to do. Type your journaling in a word processing program (like Word). Go back and highlight a word you want to emphasize. Change its color and/or its size, then go to the next word, repeating this process.

Let's hit the highlights in our journaling this week!

Teacher Appreciation Album

As a "end of the year thank you" to my first grade daughter's teacher I created a year in review album that the class presented to her earlier in the week. In addition to the traditional scrapbook pages that I created I had each of the students create their own "I Love Mrs. X Because" page so it was a very special album indeed. She was surprised and thrilled, which in turn thrilled me.

Watch this month's newsletter for sample pages and ideas on how you can create a special, one of a kind gift for the wonderful teacher in your child's life.

School Info Sheet

I had such grand ideas when my youngest started school. One of those ideas is having him fill out this information sheet after every year in school. As you can see, this is the last one he filled out--it says "First Grade" and he's just finished 7th Grade, so I haven't been very good about this!

I want all of you to learn from my mistake, so I'm posting about this now. I made the questionnaire in a Word Document. It includes the following "questions" to be filled out by your child in their own handwriting:

Year
Grade
Teacher
School
My favorite subject
Subject I like the least
At recess I like to
I like to play with these friends at recess
At lunch I like to sit with
Field trips I went on
My favorite book
My favorite lunch to buy
My best friend(s)
I won these prizes and/or awards
The best thing this year was
The worst thing this year was
I am best at
What I like the best about school
I’m looking forward to second grade because
When I grow up I want to be a
My signature

You can modify the "questions" to suit your purposes. This is also the second/right-hand page (the white spaces are where my son's school and last name are listed). For the first/left-hand page, I put my child's Fall and Spring photos (they had two taken that year) and the class photo. I'm printing out three of these ASAP for each of my kids in school so I can finally getting back on track to documenting these school memories!

6/2 Monday Challenge--It's a Feature Presentation

Morning, Everyone!
We've got summer vacation in full swing at my house, which means I'm seeing a lot of my kidlets. This week, I want you to create a layout which concentrates on one feature....it can be one of yours, one of your kids' or if you have SBGs, one of theirs, too. Something like this:

My SGB's eyes:



It can be what you consider your/their best feature or worst. If you have multiple kidlets, maybe they have a feature in common. In any case, let's see some feature presentations this week.
:D