Slow and Steady

My scrapping momentum has definitely slowed down from my gangbusters January, but I am still plugging along. I am working on September 2009 now, so I feel like I have made some progress.

What is more exciting to me now, is that I can officially say that we leave for our cruise next weekend! I can't imagine how these people that book their trips more than a year in advance are able to pass the time. And after seeing how far in advance these cruises start to fill up, I am still amazed that our family was able to book three cabins in a row only three and a half months in advance.

When it comes to packing, I am definitely a last-minute gal, so it will be an accomplishment if I do any packing before next Thursday. I do, however, have our T shirts made (yeah, I decided we'd be one of those families this time, and am subjecting the extended family to it as well). I also decided to buy a waterproof digital camera for the trip that I've been practicing with. After getting a DSLR I said I'd never go back to a point-and-shoot, but this should be better than a disposable 35mm. Plus, I'll be able to take it on our beach trip this summer.

I should probably do a better job at remembering to post layouts as I complete them, instead of putting a whole bunch on at once, but until I do, here's the latest batch.

Papers: DCWV, Paper Studio
Cricut Cartridge: Lyrical Letters

Papers: DCWV
Cricut Cartridges: Lyrical Letters, Opposites Attract, Calligraphy Collection (flourish)
The pull tab on the left side hides the cell phone picture I took in the ER, showing the gruesome damage. We had copies of the x-rays, but lost them when our computer crashed later that summer.

Papers: DCWV
Stickers: Paper Studio
Cricut Cartridges: Alphalicious, Calligraphy Collection, Lyrical Letters
Border Punch: EK Success

Papers: DCWV (my new dots, stripes & plaids Stack!)
Sticker: Pebbles, Inc
Cricut Cartridge: Doodlytype
Border Punch: EK Success

Summer 2009 Pages

I haven't worked on any scrapbook pages yet this week (crocheting has distracted me again), but I feel like I am making progress. I was counting the layouts I have left to complete my 2009 album, and it is somewhere in the twenty range. If I can get a really good streak going, I could be starting on my 2010 album before I know it. Our Disney cruise is less than a month away now, so that planning/packing will soon be a distraction. When we get back, though, hopefully I'll get a renewed sense of urgency, wanting to get caught up so I can scrap that trip (after, of course, I do an album for last year's WDW trip!).

Here are my latest pages:

 Papers: Provo Craft
Cricut Cartridge: ZooBalloo

 Papers: DCWV
Cricut Cartridges: Mickey Font, Lyrical Letters
Cuttlebug embossing folder: Swiss Dots

 Papers: DCWV
Title sticker: Bo Bunny
Border Punches: EK Success

Papers: DCWV
Cricut Cartrides: Tear Drop (title) George and Basic Shapes (statue)
.cut File Crazyaboutscrapping's Cricut Creations

Another Album Current!

As of today, I officially have my oldest son's album current! Now it is back to my 2009 album. I actually did do a page from June 2009 this afternoon. I gave up my addictive little facebook games (Bejeweled Blitz, Zuma Blitz) for Lent, and I already notice an increase in my productivity.

Here's the last batch of his pages. It is nice to have scrapbooked Christmas 2010 long before Christmas 2011.

Papers: DCWV
Punch: Fiskars

Papers: Provo Crafts (and really old ones, too. I force myself to use them sometimes)
Cricut Cartridges: Opposites Attract, Alphalicious
I remembered the ribbon after I had the rest of the page done. Easy embellishment, but not exactly coordinated with the other colors.

Papers: DCWV
Punch: Martha Stewart

Papers: DCWV, Provo Craft
Cricut Cartridges: Jasmine (title), George & Basic Shapes (border)

Papers: DCWV
Cricut Cartridge: Lyrical Letters 

Scout Pages

I'm trying to get back into the swing of scrapbooking. Knitting and crocheting has kept me distracted. I've pushed my 2009 album to the back burner once again and have been working to get my older son's album current. Three more pages should about do it, except of course, for the photos from the past month or so.

Here are some Cub Scout pages I've done over the past few weeks that I never got around to posting. My son has a separate Cub Scout album, and most of these pages don't get duplicated for my album. I had to draw the line somewhere!

Papers: Provo Craft, K & Co., DCWV
Stickers, Rubons: K & Co., DCWV
Cricut Cartridges: All Mixed Up, Lyrical Letters

All Supplies: K & Co.

Papers: DCWV, Paper Studio
Embellishments: K & Co
Cricut Cartridge: Mickey Font

Blessed Birthday

On Friday, I turned 40 years old. For whatever reason, I was actually looking forward to this milestone birthday, rather than dreading it. As it got closer to the big day, however, I realized that while I was looking forward to turning forty, I wasn't sure how I felt about actually being forty. I'm still not sure how I feel about being forty, but turning 40 was wonderful!

It has become tradition that my husband's parents take us out to dinner for our birthdays. I decided several months ago, that since this was a "big" birthday, I would request to go to Maggiano's. This is definitely a special occasion restaurant for us, and not your everyday dinner out place. Right before we were about to be seated, my parents and sister walked in. I live over 500 miles away from my family, so this was definitely unexpected. It was supposed to be a surprise, but I had to admit that I suspected they were coming after no one called to wish me a happy birthday (amongst a few other little clues). It was a good dinner, where the waitress kept referring to me as the "Birthday Princess," since my mother had a tiara for me to wear. There were also balloons on the table, so it was a slightly obvious birthday celebration.

On Saturday evening, my husband had planned a little party for me with a small group of friends. Since I had completely washed my hands of the planning, he was a little frustrated with me, but pulled it off flawlessly. I always enjoy getting together with friends; it's definitely something we don't do often enough.

My birthday weekend continued on Sunday morning, and this was probably my favorite part (My apologies to my husband and family. Your contributions are certainly recognized and appreciated, but they simply didn't touch me in the same way). One of my friends wrote a song for me. He has written numerous song parodies over the years for various occasions, but I felt like I was really somebody to have one written for me. He wrote it to the tune of Chris Tomlin's How Great Is Our God (for those of you who don't know me well, Chris Tomlin is my favorite!). I absolutely loved it and have been singing it to myself since he sent me the words. What made it even more special to me was this was the first time he had been to church in about six weeks. He is recovering from a bone marrow transplant he received in January. I was grinning from ear to ear while he sang, but trying not to cry at the same time (and we all know that I am not a crier), seeing this man in a surgical mask expend his last bit of energy to sing a song he wrote because I turned 40. It's amazing how much love you can feel when someone is singing about you being old!

Next time, I'll get back to scrapbook pages, but I couldn't help but share my birthday blessings this time.

One Album Current!

When I last posted, I was debating plugging along in my 2009 album or going back to the boys' albums to get them caught up. I opted to work on the recent stuff. Sometimes you just have to do something recent. I am happy to announce that my youngest's album is officially current! This morning I did a page of something that happened a month ago, and it felt good! Okay, technically there is one more page that could go in his album, but I am not about to split hairs over not having a page made for something that happened a week ago. I don't even have those photos on my computer yet (and I'm usually pretty good about doing that).

We'll see what I decide to do next, get my other son caught up or dive back into 2009. I'm not feeling a tug in either direction yet. I could go back to knitting until I decide. In case any of you are wondering, the crochet has gone on the back burner. I finished that one square, and have yet to start another.

While I think about what is next, here are some of my new pages.

Papers: DCWV
Border punch: Martha Stewart
Brads: Making Memories

Papers: DCWV
Sticker: Provo Craft
Cricut Cartridge: Calligraphy Collection (used inks instead of blade)

Papers: DCWV
Cricut Cartridge: Alphalicious
Sketch: Amy Alvis

Papers: DCWV, Provo Craft
Misc: K & Co.
Cricut Cartridge: Lyrical Letters

Crafting Overload

I've felt a definite sense of crafting overload the past couple of days. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, as it means I've been blessed with the time to devote to crafting. Usually one craft takes precedence over another, or I feel more motivation for one over another.

The past few days, I've wanted to do them all. I finished knitting my latest baby blanket. My next project will be another blanket, this one a wedding gift. I bought the yarn for that today, but needed a needle project in the meantime. I generally do my scrapbooking during the day, before my brain has turned to mush. At night in front of the TV is when I prefer the soothing repetition of knitting. To keep my hands busy at night, I decided to attempt crochet again. I actually learned crochet from my grandmother when I was around ten years old, but never could understand the patterns. Figuring out crochet patterns has been a challenge, but one I've had some small success with. I finished crocheting my first Warm Up America square today. Since I'm ready to start knitting the new blanket, though, I think my new-found enthusiasm for crochet will head to the back burner.

During this time, I've still been cranking out scrapbook pages. I even did three today, but haven't taken the time to scan them yet. I think some of my scrapping motivation is from my friend's crop this weekend. Every President's weekend, she gets together with some of her high school friends for three days of catching up and scrapping. She is hosting this year, and invited me to join them. I couldn't commit to the whole weekend, so I thought it best to skip it. I couldn't bring myself to get organized enough to just go over for the evening, knowing I wouldn't get more than three pages done. Three is usually my max at at evening out scrapping. My process has become so streamlined over the years, I can easily get that much done at home and not have to pack up my stuff. Granted, there is definitely the social aspect of going to a crop, and I could certainly have used a girls night out, but I didn't want to feel like an intruder. I hope my friend gets lots of pages done, though, since this is her main scrapping time of the year. I don't want to have to tease her about getting more done sitting at home by myself. Maybe I will show up at her house tomorrow night--with my knitting!