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!

New Pages

Once again, I have slowed my scrapbooking pace, as always seems to happen after my gangbusters January. I am still getting a perfectly respectable amount of pages completed (quite a lot, by some people's standards). I was also back in knitting mode for awhile, getting another baby blanket out of the way.

We are having our first taste of spring weather today, and instead of going out and getting some fresh air, I decided to finish the scrapbook page I started last night.  Now that I have that one finished, I can have my internal debate about what to scrap next. I feel like I am making good progress with my 2009 album, being halfway through April. However, I just received a print order from Shutterfly, which contains the photos to get my boys' albums completely caught up--well, until I take pictures of their tae kwon do awards ceremony tonight.

While I mull that over, I'll post my layouts from the past week or so. One advantage to scrapping two-year-old photos is you can get a quick look at how much your children really have grown and changed. It was a bit surprising to see how much my oldest has changed. These photos are from before he got his glasses and lost his top teeth. It was nice to see a hint of my little boy, instead of the loud, jack-o-lantern toothed pre-tween that has come to roost in my house. That is a story for another day, though.

Papers: DCWV
Cardstock Stickers: Paper Studio
Border punch: Fiskars

 Papers: Paper Studio, Provo Craft
Cricut Cartridge: Opposites Attract

Papers: DCWV
Cricut Cartridge: Stretch Your Imagination

Papers: DCWV
Cricut Cartridge: Mickey Font
Snaps: Making Memories

New Table, New Pages

Well, I didn't surpass last January's forty completed scrapbook pages. The flooring project started sooner than I (and my hubby) anticipated, so I was unable to get any scrapping done for about a week. For the record, my January 2011 page total was thirty-five, which is still nothing to sneeze at.

My husband and his dad did a wonderful job installing new laminate flooring on our entire first floor. During the process, my scrapbook "desk" was disassembled. I use the term "desk" loosely, as it was really a piece of shelving screwed to my storage cubes. It was not the ideal situation, but it served the purpose. Taking it apart and putting it back together, however, weakened it even further, so I decided the time was right for a new table. In case I haven't mentioned it before, my scrapbook space is actually in our living room. I am gradually taking it over as mine, just as my hubby has overtaken the dining room as his home office (we do also have a family room, where the couches and TV are, so it's all good!)

I tried various configurations of my stuff, finally settling on what I have now. So far, I am happy with this set up.

There is even enough room left by the windows for me to add two chairs and a small table. As of now, I'm thinking red!

I've been able to break in my new space by getting some more pages done from our 2009 spring break trip. I'm a little excited that I only have one more two-page spread to do and that trip will be finished. At least I will have one spring break trip scrapped before this year's is upon us.

Here are my new table's inaugural pages:

Papers: Provo Craft, DCWV
Border Punch: Martha Stewart

Papers: DCWV
Cricut Cartridges: Stretch Your Imagination, Mini Monograms
Letter Stickers: American Crafts, Provo Craft
Sketch: Amy Alvis