Let the Crafty Creation Catch-up Begin!

I’ve been completely tardy with sharing my crafty creations from the Paperie’s weekend retreat. Mostly because I’ve not had opportunity to take some snaps of said creations while the light was decent (hello morning rushes and evening playtimes!). I finally got around to it  yesterday after work and have a ton to share with you. I’ll spread it out over a few days so this post isn’t five hundred miles long!

We’ll start with some Project Life catch-up. The last time I shared a Project Life spread with y’all was waaaay back in March...March 23rd to be exact! Yes, I realize that’s almost two months, but you see I got “behind” in my album. I’d been doing so well up til then, but the last week of March I got sucked into party planning mode, preparing for little man’s multitude of birthday celebrations. Then it was partypalooza week. Followed immediately by the week before I went back to work and all the loose ends that entailed. And then it was back to work week. And, well you get it. Before I knew it I was weeks behind!

Fortunately the scrap weekend was on the horizon and I could see a solid chunk of time to focus on getting back up to snuff. I spent pretty much the first two days of the retreat focused on my Project Life album. I had my notes kept, my pictures sorted and sized and it was now a matter of cutting, writing, adorning, and slotting. It took more time than I expected, but by Saturday evening Weeks 11 through 17 were done, along with one extra insert. I even managed to complete Week 19 on Sunday, leaving me now with only Week 18 and one insert for Hudson’s birthday left to do. Phew!

I’ll start off the crafty creation catch-up by sharing Week 11 and the insert from that week - that should be enough to whet your appetite for today.

Here’s the double page spread for Week 11, where you can see front side of the insert:

Again, I apologize for the glare, but it was the best I could do without taking everything out of the pockets. And when photographing eight weeks in the 30 minute window I had before the boy got home, taking eight weeks of photos and notes out of pockets wasn`t an option!

To give you a better look, here are a few close-ups:

This the centre + title card in my insert for the week. I took 12 pictures on March 12, just capturing random snippets from the day. I used a baseball card protector sheet, which held the twelve photos, a few journalling cards about the pics, and a couple of filler cards. If you look up and to the right, you`ll see one of the note card. I used numbered brads which corresponded to number stickers on the photo, which you can see there on the bottom right corner. By each numbered brad I simply jotted down a short sentence about the pick. On each card I added some washi tape and an embellishment or two and called it done.



 This is the back of the same card, with the little filler for the back side of the insert. I love the Ali Edwards stamp, which I borrowed from a friend at the retreat (thanks Rae Lynn!).

Above is a close-up from the right side of the page. I usually use 4x6 pics in the main slots, but for this one I cropped a close-up of my new sneakers and used the extra space to put a little detail about the half marathon training at that point in time. Above it, in the smaller 3x4 slots, I made some more notes on a journaling card from the PL kit and also stuck the receipt for the sneakers along with a piece from the sneaker box. I liked that piece from the box because it said `we run` which tied in perfectly to the BOGO deal Des and I got on the sneaks!

Another close-up from the right side of the spread showing the cuteness of my boy. I used some letter stickers and a rub-on for the photo and captured the details on a journaling card.

In the above close-up from the left-side of the spread, I captured a story without a photo. HP started walking on his own that Sunday afternoon, but I didn`t get a pic of it. I wanted to get the story in there, so I just jotted it down. You also see a note about getting our windsheild repaired - which I wrote on a piece of paper from a notepad the autoglass shop gave us when we picked up our car. I trimmed that down to fit and added a sticker to capture the date. Love using bits of everyday life like this in the album.

Thanks for looking and I’ll be back tomorrow with another couple of weeks. Before you know it, you’ll be all caught up too!



To Your Heart's Content

It’s only Thursday and I’m already looking forward to the weekend. Ah, the life of being back to work where specific days of the week have more meaning. I’ll be getting my last 10-12km long run out of the way this evening so I can spend the weekend enjoying some R&R. And rest assured I have a few fun things on the agenda.

I’ll start with an overdue massage for my crying muscles, the same ones that have been carrying me through run and after run after run with minimal complaint. Then there’ll be a Friday evening glass of wine, with every sip savoured as after this weekend my body and soul will be on the race hydration plan. There’s a birthday party to honour the most awesome four-year old in the world, my nephew.  And a BBQ to celebrate Mother’s Day with my lovely family. And then hopefully, oh so very hopefully, some crafting.

I spent all of last weekend scrapping to my heart’s content. And through it all I was reminded how content it makes me. So often I let other priorities take over my time, be it housework or a run, instead of scrap. Yes, those other things must be done too, but that’s just it isn’t it. They must be done, whereas scrapbooking and creating does not. So I do them first, instead of the fun stuff. I have to remember that the other stuff, that’ll get done anyway at some point. Sometimes I just must make time to create with glue and paint and tape and paper.  I have to make time to do those little things I love.

And I do love it so. I love it from beginning to end. From selecting the photos, the paper, the stuff. To the process of pushing things around a page, layering bits and bobs until it’s just so, writing the words that tell the story. To seeing the end page that slides into the ever growing album of our family. Last weekend inspired me to try to make more time for the hobby that I love – even if it’s just once a month a crop night or a class. I’m looking forward to sharing some of the crafty goodness I created last weekend, some of the goodness that came of this mess:

Looking down at my scrapping space at the weekend retreat ...

Until I do, which is after I get some decent light to take a few snaps, I’ll send you to see Sara (scroll down to her Monday post to see a pic of me intrigued by her demo at gthe retreat!), Krista, and Cathy, all of whom were also at the retreat and have been much more timely in sharing their beautiful creations.

I’ll also suggest you think about what makes your heart content and maybe, just maybe, think about skipping the laundry this weekend and doing that instead. I know I will be doing just that.

More Spotlight Sharing

A few more of my scrapbook layouts are up over on the Paperie Blog with a request for a few more (we'll have to see about that ;). I want to pick a favourite layout, but I can't! They all tell a special story or capture a special moment. It's too hard for me to play faves amongst them. I guess you'll have to choose for me ;)

Is it this one showing how similar my boys really are?

right down the expression

Or this one, preserving the memories of baby clothes first washed, folded and put away weeks before the baby was even here?

{please ignore the 'o' it has been fixed!}
Too bad this isn't a scratch-n-sniff page.

Or this one starring my mini Hefner?

how many robes does a boy need? apparently four.

Or maybe it's this one, making time between nanny and babe stand still?

I love the masking and misting on the background on this one.

I can't choose favourites, but maybe you can!

Scrapbook Spotlight

A quick post for you this weekend ... my first two layouts are being featured over on the Paperie Blog this weekend. This one went up yesterday:

And this double page spread went up today:

Pop on by too see more details about the layout and other fun info from the Paperie.

Happy weekend everyone!

What A Fun Weekend

I spent this past weekend at a scrapbook retreat at the Wilds. This was my first time attending the Paperie retreat and I have to say the ladies from the Paperie pulled off an awesome weekend. Then again, with 60+ like-minded ladies, bags full of my favourite supplies, some chocolate and a bottle of wine, how could it not be awesome.

I arrived mid-morning on Friday and didn't leave until mid-afternoon on Sunday. Almost every hour in between was filled with paper, tape, scissors and endless scrapbooking fun. I scrapped all day Friday, turning in earlier than most close to midnight and was up and at 'em early on Saturday morning. We went til the wee hours again that day and was back at it again before 9am on Sunday. Pure scrapbooking bliss.

I made 12 layouts, which was probably more than I`ve made throughout 2011 so far! Better than that I made a bunch of new friends and got to know a few others a little better. I can`t wait to go to the next retreat and scrap the weekend away. My only regret is not having gone before.

I`ll have a bunch of those layouts to share over the next little while, along with another cool bonus from the weekend. In the meantime, here`s the scene from our corner of the scrapbooking room:

I sat where the computer is open in the table. Don`t ya love that organized chaos!

Summer Vacation + Scrapbooking

Today marks the official start of summer. At least on the calendar, if not in the weather. Boo on more rain and grey skies. Anywhoo, I've always found that I scrapbook less in the summer as I'd prefer to be outside soaking up the vitamin D, vacationing and enjoying the short-lived warmth that we get in this corner of the world. Add a new babe on top of that and my time to indulge in this hobby is really limited right now. That got me thinking about a class I took last year at the Paperie - Finish Line Scrapbooking by Stacy Julian.

The essence of the Finish Line Scrapbooking process is that you sit down with "limited time, limited space and limited product" and a "commitment to under-planning and under-thinking." Anyone who scrapbooks knows that you can literally spend hours pushing stuff around a page, selecting the perfect products and take days to finish just one layout. But with the finish line process, you select just 25-50 photos, a few sheets of coordinated cardstock and patterned paper and no more than 50 embellishments, along with a few other bits and bobs and go to town. Theory is in just a few short hours you'll have a completed album.

"Not possible" you scrapbookers say? I didn't think so either, but happily discovered it is. When the Paperie hosted a class around this process last year and I decided to scrapbook our summer vacation pictures, knowing that otherwise I'd never get around to doing it. That our 2008 honeymoon pictures are yet unscrapped is testament to this! While I started out doubtful, a completed album came together in just two evenings, a total of about 5 hours. Is it perfect? No. Is it what I would have created if I'd used my usual style? Nope. Is it done? Yep and I love it.

With the limited time at my disposal these days, I got to thinking that I should use this process again over the next few months to get a few scrapbook projects off my to-do list. In the meantime, in honour of the official start of summer, I thought I'd share my imperfect yet perfect album about our 2010 summer vacation with you:

Our 'Mini-American Road Trip' mini-album.

We took 10 days, crossed 4 states and had 1 helluva trip.

We started in Washington, DC. It was super hot while we were there, but that
didn't stop us from taking in all the sites around the capital of the US of A.



Next stop on the road was Cleveland, Ohio. Home of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame
where we lucked into a special Springsteen exhibit - Des is a huge Springsteen fan!

Cleveland is also home to Momocho, a Mexican restaurant with the best Mexican food I've ever eaten.
It was featured on Guy Fieri's Diners, Drive-ins and Dives and we could see why. So delish!

On our way out of Ohio, we hit Cedar Point. What's an American Road Trip without a roller coaster ride on the second-tallest and (when we rode it) second-fastest roller coaster in the world followed by Johnny Rocket milkshakes?? 

We also stopped in Pennsylvania, but I didn't scrapbook that - even though it was the reason for our trip! Des wanted to check out the Cars at Carlisle show, so we spent a couple of days in Hershey, PA. I checked out the amazing spa at Hotel Hershey followed by lovely outlet shopping, while Des checked out mopar cars on a grassy field. Heaven for both of us.

After PA, we moved onto Chicago, Illinois. Loved it. We took in the main tourist attractions...

 

and some amazing food at Brazzaz, a Brazilian Steakhouse, and Chicago-style hotdogs at Portillos



and an awesome architectural boat tour. The buildings in this city are amazing!

And, at each stop on the tour, we enjoyed many glasses of vino and one another's company. Love.

At the back of the album, I decided to include a couple of pockets for our paraphernalia.

So there you have it folks, a quick and dirty look at last year's summer vacation in the quick and easy album.

This year, we're sticking around our own country with a short excursion to Halifax, NS and perhaps a few jaunts around this lovely province of our own. What about you?