It Takes All Kinds

Hello, hello? Is there anyone here?

Hmmmm.... I feel all alone,  but I will post anyway.

I've been thinking alot about Fathers these past few days.  Not only was it Father's Day this past Sunday, but my younger son Alec is about to become a Father for the first time this summer.  Plus this week is the anniversary of my own Father's death in 2002.  I really miss him. 
Each year I create some kind of card, layout or other 'work of art' for my husband honoring him on Father's Day.  Not only is he a wonderful Dad, but he has raised two boys to become great Dads themselves.  Our oldest son Ian is Dad to Aidan, 4 1/2. Ian's doing a wonderful job as a father, and I'm sure as a result Aidan will also be a great dad.  It's amazing how Great Fatherhood seems to be something that can be passed down from generation to generation.  Our younger son Alec has always loved children and babies.  They glom onto him like a tick to a hound.  On Father's Day, my grandnephew Brady, age 9 months, was at our family gathering, and Alec was getting in plenty of Daddy Practice Time.  It was a treat to watch.  I believe Motherhood is often more natural to women than Fatherhood is to men.  It takes a lot of time, effort, patience and sacrifice to be a good Dad.  I admire those men that make that kind of effort to be there for their kids, setting a good example, and spending time to listen and share.
I am going to share both my Father's Day layouts- for my sweet husband, and for my sweet son.  I really love Fathers!

You Know You've Been Scrapping Too Much When....

Recently I've been getting a chuckle over a message board thread at one of my favorite scrapping websites... it's called: You know you've been scrapping too much when... and then folks have been listing amusing responses.  In my case, digital scrapping, has its own list of 'scrapping too much' phenomena.  Like "you know you've been scrapping too much when you press ctrl+spacebar+drag over and over again and wonder why the damn layout isn't getting any bigger and you realize you're online looking at a gallery"  (copied from one of the posts on the thread). 
With me, I get these ideas for a layout, and then I traipse all over trying to take just the perfect photos.  Last weekend my husband and I were in the Austin Texas area, where our oldest son graduated from Texas State University.  We had a wonderful weekend, and one place we visited was called the Mayfield Park & Preserve.  It's where Ian and his fiance Jessica are going to be married in October.  They wanted us to see the site, and we were certainly impressed by the beauties of the grounds.  It's a nature preserve, but  in a formal garden-type setting.  One of the first things we saw when we walked in, were several gorgeous peacocks.  Of course, I got this idea in my head that the peacock feathers would make a lovely background photo/texture for a layout.  So I spent much of our time there chasing the dang birds around, trying to get perfect photos of their tails.  You know, peacocks don't really like to have their pictures taken.  They don't sit still, or show off their tail feathers.  They show off, mind you, just not at close distances.  So, while we would see them from afar with their fan tails spread beautifully, by the time we got close enough for a good photo, they were long gone.  I felt rather foolish chasing after the elusive & tempermental birds, but I was rewarded with a few decent close-ups of the incredible feathers.  However, when all was said and done, the Big Idea I had, of the lovely feather texture making a great background just didn't materialize the way I had envisioned it.  I did do a layout of the place, and I did use a nice photo of the feathers for the background.  But I didn't get the big WOW when I looked at my work.  Ho hum is more like it!  Well, it's an ok layout, the photos are fine.  Maybe if I printed it 12x12 (which I rarely do) it would look magnificent.  I think the lesson I've learned from all this is, you can plan too much.  It's impossible to really know ahead of time which photos, memories and designs are going to touch your heart or even your funny bone.  You just have to kind of wing it, take the good with the bad, and chalk it up as a good experience and a decent attempt to express yourself creatively.  Maybe in 20 years I'll love this one the best.  Doubtful, but you never know.

15 Years ago...

I moved to Hamburg. It was a big step - new job, away from home - leaving friends and family behind - and moving in a flat share with an almost stranger. It wasn't super easy. It is hard to start from scratch and built up a new life and new relationships. But in retrospective it was the best thing I have done. Moving to this city made me really grow up, be happier, more selfconfident and find my path.

I wanted to create a layout about this for a couple months now- but it took a while for me to figure out how to do it. When I found an old cheque card with a picture of me from 15 years ago - I knew I wanted to use it. That is why there is only this little picture of me popping off the page -me in this big city :)

Maybe this inspires you to create a layout about something that changed your life too - even if you do not have pictures that are fitting for that layout.

Happy Birthday to Me

I turn 41 today. Yikes! Age is just a number right? As you look around the web and through scrap magazines, there are lots of examples of pages for kid's birthdays, not that many for adults. Since until recently I wasn't scrapping kids, I do have several examples of adult birthday pages to share. For the last few years I have made the effort to document my birthday as the old memory is going and I've got to get the details down!

This one from two years ago focuses on the delicious cake my friend made, and the flowers I got from my husband.

This 12x12 is from the same occasion and was published in the CK book 50 Moments. In this page I talked about my wishes for the following year.

Last year I spent my birthday back home in Barbados. Not as exciting as you would think, since Lucas wasn't with me, and I spent most of the day dealing with the local DMV. In the evening, determined to salvage the day I went to the beach. One of the benefits of being on a small island! I did two separate pages to document the event.

This one tells the entire story of my day.

This one is a fun take on bullet point journaling and a To Do list.

A few days after my birthday I had some friends over and this last page documents part of that occasion.

Notice that I scrap a variety of sizes. I use the American Crafts D-ring albums which can hold all sizes of pages. These will all go into my About Me album. Also did you notice that only one page has a photo of me? Since I am usually the one behind the camera (something we are all familiar with), I rarely have photos of myself taken during events. In that case I use photos of representational objects instead.

If you haven't scrapped pages for adult birthdays give it a try! If you have any questions about products or techniques used in these pages feel free to ask in the comments.

Welcome Kieran Haden

Our son Kieran was born on April 11th, just four days late, but it seemed like a month to his anxious parents. Since then it has been an endless round of breastfeeding, changing diapers, sleepless nights, and of course tons of photos!

As luck would have it, just as I am getting to the point of thinking about scrapping again (and actually finding a spare hour to do it) we ran out of printer ink! So I decided to play around a bit with digital scrapbooking. I'd still call myself a beginner at digi, even though it's been 4 years since I first tried it out. I don't do it very often, usually only when, like this week, I realise printing photos isn't possible.

I converted my original colour photo to black and white using a free action available from The Pioneer Woman. The digi kit, Embrace Life by Sandy Krieger, is also a free download from Memory Makers Magazine.

This page came together very quickly, as I didn't use any fancy techniques, just simple layering of papers and elements with a few drop shadows to create depth. Since time is a scarce commodity for me now, I am happy that I was able to create a layout to celebrate Kieran's arrival without having to pull out all my paper stash!

Sunshine and Warmth Equal Inspiration

I can't fool myself any more...I am 100% a sunshine, warm weather girl.  Once spring comes and the days get longer and warmer I come alive and amaze myself by the level of energy that I get.  Today was no exception.  With the temperatures in the 80s here in MA and the signs of spring and summer all around me I was able to whip out this layout in no time, a great accomplishment for me since it was taking me days to finish one layout not so long ago during the cold dreary days of winter.  I have had these photos on my desk since last August and just had no idea what I wanted to do with them.  I pulled them out today and the light bulb came on and I instantly knew what I wanted to do.  This is also a deviation from my usual layouts as it has not only lots of journaling but also journaling in my own handwriting.

How does the warm weather and longer days inspire you?

Helms Bakery

I've gone back to work, which is a huge adjustment in itself.  After 12 years at home, all of a sudden I'm commuting 3 hours a day, sitting in an office, dealing with meetings, dealing with a boss (who's really nice), and generally adjusting to my life revolving around work instead of home. Last month I shared a layout I did about the Calming effects of the ocean... the photo was taken along the beach during my daily commute, and the beautiful scenery of the Southern California coastline has done a lot to help me make peace with my decision to return to full-time employment. 

I work in a town called Culver City, which, if you know Los Angeles, is where many movie studios are located.  It was the home of the famous MGM studios (now Sony Pictures), and many famous movie personalities got their start in one of the movie lots in Culver City.  In addition to the movie industry, another landmark in Culver City is the Helm Bakery Building.  When I was a child, Helms Bakery trucks drove through our neighborhoods, selling yummy baked goods from the back of the truck.  A simple 'toot toot' announced the truck's arrival, and hordes of small children could be seen chasing after the trucks, hoping to snag a fragrant donut or gooey pastry.  You couldn't buy Helms Bread in the stores- they were only available from the truck.  The Helms Bakery was built in the late '20s, and when the Olympic Games came to Los Angeles in 1932, Helms was the official baker for the games.  They added the words 'Olympic Bread' to their labels, and the bakery grew and grew.
When I was in elementary school, we often took field trips to the Helms Bakery, where we toured their huge facitilies, and recieved a tiny loaf of bread to take home, or a little cardboard replica of the Helms Bakery Truck.  Today the buildings still stand, majestically flaunting their red, white, blue and gold signs.  The art deco architecture still looks elegant.  But instead of the heady smell of baking bread, today, the scent of pasta, pizza, and leather fill the air.  The bakery building is the home of furniture stores and restaurants. 
Recently I stopped by on my lunch hour, and snapped a few photos of the nostalgic building to make into a layout.  I didn't want to forget this special memory from my childhood.

Validate a friend!

I'm blessed with wonderful friends but sometimes I realize that I don't tell them enough how much they mean to me. Creating a Minialbum is one way to validate them:

*Karen get's validated* Used: ScrapTastic April Kit, Kaisercraft Crown Album, Prima Papers, Basic Grey Paper, Urban Lily Paper, Making Memories Letter Stickers, October Afternoon Paper, KI Laces, Ranger Embossing Powders, Ranger Liquid Pearls, Ranger Stickles, Prima Flowers, Prima Bookrings, Prima Black SIIC Swirl

I'm sure your friends will be super happy to receive a little validation project by you :)

To everything there is a season

It's spring so at my house that means it's time to tidy up. Top to bottom, inside and out; this old house built in 1885 needs a good "go over".

As part of my effort to tidy up I made a little box to help me organize my new ribbons and strings from Jillibean Soup. I found a great little 3" cube kraft paper box at The Paper Place in Toronto, ON, last weekend. They were only 75 cents so I couldn't refuse.

                         

Supplies: Jillibean Soup - Minestrone (chopped tomatoes, canellini beans, thin zucchini), Bean Stalks (green/brown collection, red/black collection, brown/natural collection), Bean Seeds (harvest/small), Core'dinations Vintage cardstock (Reminisce collection), Maya Road chipboard trees/birds, Scenic Route worn grid paper, Stampin' Up seasons stamp and border punch, My Sentiments Exactly butterfly stamp, Heidi Swapp rubon snowflakes, Making Memories paint, Tattered Angels glimmer mist, We R' Memory Keepers eyelets and Crop-a-Dile, Autumn Leaves check stamp, Tsukineko ink, EK Success circle punch, Artful Stamper puffy paint, other: kraft box, white ric rac.

How Many Years?

How many years have you been with the one you love? Whether it be a husband, wife, partner, pet or hearty Benjamin Ficus. For me it's been well over 16 years that I have been with my husband. We dated for three and a half years and then were married in 1996. Is my math right?

Anyways, I made this card for him. It's corny. It's mushy. It's me.

"Another year, ... and my love for you keeps growing."

Supplies: Core'dinations cardstock, Jillibean Soup patterned paper, kraft paper and ric rac, Scenic Route grid paper and chipboard circles for embossing, EK Success letter stamps and circle punch, Tsukineko ink, Fiskars border punch, Punch Bunch trunk punch, Spellbinders Wizard embossing machine and other: foam layering tape.

My challenge to you is to count up the years and then make the one you love a special card. It doesn't have to be your exact anniversary. In fact, I bet you can get quite a reaction when they open it - fear that they have forgotten the anniversary is excellent leverage for a dinner out!