A deviation of life

I started this little project a long time ago.  I wrote about it a long time ago.  And .... I never shared it.

I am sharing it now because this is the thing I am going to do this year (2018) also. I love the concept of project life and having a spread for every day, but my life isn't that exciting and I think a page or two every month would be fine.  Except for the BIG events which I will scrap in a standard 12X12 album.  For me and my quiet life, I think I am going to stick with a smaller 6X8 album and a layout or two every month.  Maybe I'll have more time to blog!!  ha ha

And so, here is the post I wrote and never shared!


I know that my goal is to get baby albums caught up, and family albums caught up, and house cleaned and life organized and be in control of everything and ... and ... and ...

Not today!!

I needed to do something creative, but I really didn't feel like working on any "should do"s.  So, I started the mini me album I am doing with my planner.  I love this idea.  I started it last year (2016) with the planner configuration CTMH offered.  And, I decided that even though it means splitting my planner into 2 albums for storage at the end of the year, I am doing it again!!

This is 2017 ...soon I will start 2018 only it will be in a  BASHFUL 6X8 album!  

See you soon!  Connie

I have been Scrapping!

I know you haven't seen too much of me in the last little while, but I have been scrapping.  I am on a mission this year!  I am using up retired paper!  It has been a challenge and really fun.  Mostly because I am also finishing up an album for my bonus child, so I have no control over how many pictures I have per 'page' or what the subject is.  So, I didn't really use the CTMH page maps, I kind of hunted around for what appealed to me for some of them.  Some of them I used the CTMH designs.  But, just like you, PINTEREST is my friend.  

Unfortunately, sometimes we have to scrap the bad things that happen in life too.  

So, I slipped in a short page to add a few more pictures that I thought T should have, but they didn't really warrant another 12X12 page.  This works SO NICELY!! 

I LOVE this BALCK AND WHITE theme for dropping in pictures with no 'set' color scheme!

CTMH die cuts are THE BEST I have used so far!  

Nice clean cuts that are easy to work with and get on the page!

So, I know this is a quick, picture heavy update, but you will hear from me again soon!  

Connie 

So, after a small break, we are back to 'THE PLAN'.

My last post I told you I needed to add GENDER REVEAL pages.  To all 4 books.

I was so depressed that my plan go waylaid, that it took me a long time to even look at the pages and pictures.  But, last weekend, I did manage to get it done.

I told you my son is nicknamed SUPERMAN?  We still look for SUPERMAN stuff everywhere.  And the girls that put together the baby shower followed the theme.  Starting with a SMALLCAKE cake.  It was amazing!!  And they even featured the reveal cake on their FB page.  I thought that was so cool!!


So, unlike last layout, I found a layout I liked on PINTEREST for this spread.  I looked under "CTMH SUPERHERO"  and tons of layouts and cards popped up made with this paper pack.  It is from years ago!!

So, I used the CTMH SUPER HEROS paper for Will and Laura's book. 

This is the beginning of the layout.  B&T in place, some basic stamping done, photos added, but no embellishing yet.  I still needed to 'think it through'. 

I had a ton of pictures to add to the kid's book that didn't really need to be in mine or the other grandparents.  So, for W&L's I added pocket pages in the center.  

The scribbly note is me deciding what pictures I am going to add, where I am making cards, and what is going to be on them.  I'm obsessive about planning it out as I am printing most of these pictures at home.  That can be expensive!  

I love these stamped and sanded details!! 

The final page ...

turned out SOoooo CUTE!  

Then ..... now to the pages for the rest of us:

This is the PINTEREST picture I planned to copy

And.... this is my version! 

I didn't have enough SUPERHERO paper to copy it exactly, so I used the SUPERMAN paper that I have accumulated over the years. 

And, the photos I had weren't lining up size wise to what I needed for the page, so ....

I created!  

This is what I came up with. 

So Cute!  Here are some details ....

I will have you know I fussy cut that SUPERMAN out!  

Isn't it awesome?  Did you notice the same stamped and cut out images from the first pages?

And, here are the pages for the smaller books:

For the great grandparents and L's parents, I just chose the highlights and focused on those.  

There you go!  My show and tell for today!  

Stay posted for more adventures in scrapbooking from me!  C

Having a plan

So, everyone who knows me knows that I always have "a plan"  something I am brewing in my mind taking in the 'whole' picture and planning the steps I will take to reach the end result I am desiring.

When I found out that my son and his significant other were expecting their second child, I started hatching the 'plan'.  

I made 4 baby albums for my first grandchild. 😱 One for each of four families.  Myself, the parents, the other grandparents, and my mom and dad (great grandparents) all got albums.  Four albums. I started with a plan and then DIDN'T follow through.  By the end of the albums, it was total chaos!!  I did not want to have that happening with this baby.  I needed a better plan.

About the time we found out about the second baby coming, one of the wonderful designers at CLOSE TO MY HEART developed a BABY'S FIRST YEAR workshop using the WHIMSY FUNDAMENTAL paper pack. 💗 This was the answer to my prayer!!  A simple scrapbook, I could pre make, that I could make multiples of and just drop pictures into.  

This, my friends, was my plan!

So, some of my friends and I did the work shop together.  They are perfect!!  I love them.  I made 2 books worth of pages from one paper pack and they were all ready to go when my little Rowan entered the world!  

Of course, by the time he arrived, I had already decided that I was going to customize the baby books a little bit by accenting them with dinosaurs!!  I would use some of the 2016/17 CTMH color of the year SEA GLASS and left over WHIMSY paper to make adorable baby dinosaurs with my CRICUT machine.  

Shortly after Mr. R was born and I started the album thinking I was so on top of things!  I had a plan, after all.  You all know what happened next, right?  

God laughs at those who have plans!  

I forgot that I needed a title page! 

So, I make one.  I used the SEAGLASS CS and some of the WHIMSY FUNDAMENTALS. A tag, I love adding those to pages, and a couple dinosaur eggs!   

What better than the picture of Zoey's t-shirt and the story of how 'she' told us?

Oh!  and then, I need to put in the pictures of the maternity shoot we did a few weeks before he was born!  I didn't even consider those when I made my 'plan'!  Shoot, another adjustment to the plan.  Oh well, scrapbookers are flexible!  

I love this paper.  I knew the minute I saw it I would use it for the maternity pictures. After the monthly club where we made them, I just tucked them away for these pictures. I was hoping to get more of Laura and Miss Z, but she would have none of it.  

Now, I thought, I can get to the birth/hospital pictures and then the 'ready' album.  Nope.  I still needed to add the gender reveal pictures.  Maybe I take too many pictures.  What do you think?

The point of this rambling post is, 

Have a plan!  

😜

(but stay flexible!)  

I will continue posting pages from this album as I get them done.  Hang in there!  

See you all soon!

Until then, keep scrappin!  C

Things I love about CLOSE TO MY HEART

I LOVE that I can mix and match products.

I am not a purist.  I will be the first one to admit to it.  I have bought so many scrap booking supplies over the years it's crazy.  And I still have most of them.  They were the result of impulse shopping, a page I saw on pinterest that I loved!! or they are simply an embellishment or paper that I just like.

Regardless of why I purchased them, they haven't been used.  And now, I no longer want to purchase, I want to create.  That is my goal, my mission, my path.  I still purchase all of the CTMH workshops. I LOVE them.  They are "on fleek" and usually apply to what I am scrapping now or will be soon. So, I purchase them.

But - CTMH workshops include ALL the embellishments I will need for the pages plus a few more.  So, there is not a need to go shopping. I do however, go shopping in my stash for the +pages that I do with the leftovers from the workshops.  Check out this example:

I pulled the 'drinking' stickers from a sheet I bought when the boys were in college, the wood hearts and arrows I have a TON of because I love the looks of them.  The swirl enamel dots were the left overs from some project ages ago,  I only had about 1/4 of the package, but when I cut them up and laid them down, they added just the right touch.  The CTMH paper is from the ROXIE paper (2011) and some of the FLORENTINE (2012?).  I am trying to get through (caught  up) many albums and use up some of the ridiculous amount of supplies that I own.  

I LOVE that our alphabet stamps can make the title and journaling so easy.

I have a simple page that I need to do.  Just finish off the month of August 2016.  A few rally pictures.  Most of my pictures have already been used in another layout.  Then I found this picture.  I really want the memory.  I really don't want to do a bunch of journalling. I just want to finish this morning.  BOOM! CTMH ALPHABET STAMPS - Marker Alphabet (E1034) and Jennifer's Hand (B1484) These made the page!  It is finished.  Just enough information to make the memory.  And it looks AWESOME!!  And now, August is done. 

And last, but not least, for today .... I LOVE that seasonal stamps can be used in other places!  

This stamp is from a very HALLOWEEN set. I shot this picture intentionally leaving room for some journalling at the bottom. But, when it came time to scrap it, I didn't want to take the time to photo shop journalling in.  However,  I knew I had a "nom, nom" saying somewhere in my stash.  I was surprised it was Halloween.  Isn't it perfect on this picture??  I just stamped it with waterproof archival ink.  I love how it looks.

Looking forward to chatting st you again soon- c

Here'e the reality

So, here is the reality.

#1

 I have bad days.  I don't feel great , I don't get much sleep, I have a headache, and I just want to stay in a dark room and not deal with anybody.  But guess what, LIFE GOES ON! 

 #2

If you ask your family to take pictures  to make sure that YOU will be in your scrapbooks, THEY WILL.  It doesn't matter what you look like, if your hair is done, or if you have make up on. 

#3

I AM going to scrap this HORRIBLE picture if me.  It is a reminder of a lovely evening where I had all my boys, my grandchildren, and my sis.  I had them all over for dinner.  I didn't feel great, but we had a wonderful time.  

#4

I NEVER get pictures of these two.  When my hands were full, I asked other two people in the room with their phones out to take a picture.  THEY DID.  OK, the picture is cheesy.  But, I now have a picture of these two at this moment in their lives.  I will put this in each of their albums so they will remember this evening.  

My children's scrapbooks have VERY FEW pictures of me in them.  I was there, I swear, but I was behind the camera, ALWAYS!  It's like I don't exist.  I don't want to be nonexistent any more. I am changing that for my grandchildren's books.

My point, (shoot, my teacher voice is out again, isn't it?) ....

Well, my point(s) are:

Ask for pictures of what you want.  Don't worry about how you look, it's about the memory.  

OK, time to start Monday.

C

Catching up in June

My upline in this crazy CTMH business challenged all of us (her downlines) to make an ongoing album this year to help us focus on our businesses.  Well, you all know how my life is going!  I have worked on the album a couple times over the last 6 months, but got fairly behind.

This weekend is my time to get caught up!!  I am going to share some of my pages with you!  You lucky people!  I'm starting with the pages Shannon asked us to create about the people that inspire us.

I think my list changes from day to day, but today with 2 cups of coffee under my belt and a printer full of ink  I got this page made for my book.

This is the opening page!  Love the picture of my granddaughter stuck under the bed.  What a brave ADVENTURER she is.

This challenge is to scrap a CROP that I held this year.  I forgot to take pictures at the SPRING RETREAT, so I scrapped the NATIONAL SCRAPBOOKING DAY RETREAT I hold every year.  

In this challenge, we had to scrap samples of the papers CTMH is offering this year.  I have the first 4 in and room for all the new ones we have coming up in the SE2 and the NEW ANNUAL CATALOG. 

In this challenge, I had to scrap my scrapbooking space.  Ewww!!   This is scary!!  My space is usually a mess, especially when I am working!  But I scrapped it!!  I also included a photo of the coffee shop where I have my club meets every month.  

And finally, a page about who inspires me.  This was hard.  The list just got longer and longer.  I only had 2 pages, so I went with the first 7 people on the list.  That is what would fit on the page!

It was awesome to spend the day finishing up (catching up) a project that has been nagging the back of my mind.  I highly recommend taking some time to finish one of your finish-able  projects this month!  

see you soon - C

In May ...

So ... not much scrapping happening this month.  I've been doing a lot of photo shoots, and that has been keeping me very busy.  Editing and learning photoshop elements is my challenge at this phase in my life.  I am hoping that this will be a good learning experience, but first I have to get past the frustration.  

This is a senior I made portraits of in April.  The sitting went well, but the processing was a bit more than I expected.  Need to have a better plan for my back ground. 

My granddaughter turned 2!!  

How does this happen so fast?  

I love that she is developing such a fun playful personality.  However, she is not shy about letting us know when she is displeased with anything!  

And we are expecting a little boy any day now!  

Don't they make a lovely family?  

I am so proud of both of these kids.  They are great parents and make a great family 

So, 

that is my input for today!  

Meant to publish this ages ago.  

Maybe I will be better in the future.  

maybe not, but I will try.  

C

Is it APRIL??

Good Day my friends!  What an amazing ride this year has been.  One would think that not having a house to sell, and not having a husband to take care of, I would have time to get things done.  Well, the truth is, I'm just about ready for January to start.  And, It's, APRIL 2!

I really can't complain. I have had so much fun this year already.  A road trip to Minn. in February with my sis. and I just finished a scrap booking retreat with friends that I have scrapped with for years.  In the mean time, I have spent lots of time with girlfriends, and lots of time catching up on some scrapbooking.

This weekend, I made 2 mini baby albums for a good friend of mine.  He step daughter is having a boy in May and her daughter is having a boy in July, so I wanted to have basically the same thing for both of them.  I am so excited for them all.

I used up a retired set of pocket life cards from CTMH, and the paper that coordinates with them.  Then I added fun cuts from the ARTBOOKING cartridge from CTMH and inked all the layers.  Putting them all together was fun.  I am still planning on adding embellishments and banners and stamping a little bit through out the albums.  I'm pretty sure one of our older sets has a weight/height stamp I can put on each month for mommy(s) to fill in.  and I think a 'CURRENTLY' card will be necessary throughout the albums too.  You know, CURRENTLY eating, CURRENTLY loving, CURRENTLY saying .... All the wonderful things we want to remember about our children but often forget.

As I sit here chatting with you all, I have my planner open next to me, and I realize I have a very full life (even though I get pouty now and then) and I am very thankful for that.  I have a ton of friends and a ton of interests to keep me out of trouble.  That's a good thing  - right?

Tonight I have a meeting and when I get home, I hope to start laying out pictures of my grand daughters first visit to REPTILE GARDENS.  CTMH has the cutest 'bug' paper , and I've known since I saw it that REPTILE GARDENS would be the subject for it.  It looked like miss Z had fun.  I saw a video of her befriending a lizard....  I'm betting her mama din't let her bring it home!

So, blah, blah, blah ....  It's time for me to let you go.  I'll get some more art up soon.  C