I’m clearing out my Projects folder for the New Year and I found this page. I’m pretty sure I meant to share it in November, but it fell through the cracks somehow. Not sure why, it’s a definite favorite. (They’re all my favorite though) The photo was taken in 2012 during our Super Secret Thanksgiving Surprise.
Journaling reads- A walk on Thanksgiving with two of my favorite people.
Credits: With Grateful Song by Mandy King
I won’t get too sappy because a). she doesn’t have internets atm, and b). she doesn’t read my blog anyway.
One of my goals this year was to scrap about my sister more. She is one of the most important people in my life, and at the end of 2013 she was not well represented in my scrapbooks. I’m happy to report that is no longer the case.
Here are some of the pages I’ve made about her that I’ve shared on the blog, linked to the original post.
Mandy has a very pretty new fall kit out today called Autumn Adoration.
I went very simple for my first page, about our love for Gone Girl. I’ve often thought of doing LO’s for books that I love, but they’re not very high on my list for some reason. So I was excited to see that one of the challenges at Gotta Pixel this week was to scrap a favorite book.
Journaling reads- Our favorite book recently has definitely been Gone Girl. I read it this spring, then when I heard it was going to be a movie, I read it again. One night we were in bed and I was blathering on about the book. Jason got out the iPad and went to find it on the iBooks store. He asked me if it was worth eight dollars, and I said “Definitely!” I love that we live in a time when you can buy books on a whim and get them almost instantly! He stayed awake late that night reading, then finished it up on the weekend. It was so hard not to give him spoilers! He would act sneaky and try to get info out of me, but I kept quiet. (Though I think I let something slip, I’m not sure if he noticed). After he finished the book, we obsessively watched the movie trailer and dissected it for way longer than it warranted, I’m sure. It’s funny though, that when we finally saw the movie, we didn’t have much to say. It was a pretty faithful adaptation and we were both pretty satisfied.. But I love that we both got so excited about a book together. It has made for hours of lively discussions for the past few weeks.
I girly-ed it up for my next page, about my sister’s changing style.
Journaling reads- And somehow, without my knowlege or approval, my sister has morphed herself into Stevie Nicks, complete with scarves and long swirly skirts. I find this hilarious coming from a girl who used to throw fits when I made her put on dresses for church as a child.
(template by Angelclaud Artroom)
Thanks for looking 🙂
*I am a Creative Team Member. This means that I receive free products in exchange for making and advertising layouts for designers. However, the opinions expressed here are my own. The enthusiasm expressed here is definitely my own. See more of my CT layouts here.
A page about my sister I made a couple weeks ago.
Inspired by: The quote card and needing to do a Jamie page for July. I’m right on track to have a page for her every month this year.
Journaling reads: It was so great getting to come to Vanity and see your massage room. I’m so proud of you for going after your dream and working hard to do what you love. I love hearing the excitement in your voice when you talk about your work. That makes me so happy.
Credits: Dream Big by Megan Turnidge
July Blog Train Travel mini by Sahin Studio
January 2014 Storyteller alpha by Just Jaimee
July 2014 Blog Train freebie template by Little Green Frog Designs
Library of Memories album: All About Jamie
I spent Saturday, May 3rd on a layout making spree. It was (inter)National Scrapbooking Day, and all over the world people celebrated memory keeping by making lots of scrapbook pages, mini books, and other projects. And shopping… oh the shopping! I was good this year and only spent $11, which is the same $11 I spend every month on product. But I was reeaallyyy tempted.
While I was waiting on Big Picture Classes to start their NSD festivities, I whipped out a couple of quick pages for the My Details class.
The idea is to get them printed out as a single 8.5×11 page and then split it into two inserts. They’ll probably go back to back, since they’re about the same time period. I spent a lot of last month writing for the prompts so I would have the journaling done for future pages. Both of these are for the “thinking” prompt.
First page journaling reads- I am such an over thinker. My brain is busy all the time. Things I’m currently obsessing over- What to do when my FIL comes to visit. Exploring our new town. My knee. Making elaborate family trees for mideaval europpean monarchs. Clean Eating and batch cooking. The 20,000 LO’s I want to make. Catching up on PL. Blog posts that I write but never publish. Blog posts that I publish that I think will make me look bad. Finding a good Cuban coffee place. My bathtub. Once Upon A Time. Unpacking those last few boxes. Dresden Files books. Finding a place where we can see the stars. April 11, 2014
Second page journaling- So Indecisive. Things I cannot make a freakin decision about. Whether or not to have a baby. Where to eat for dinner. What to read next. What I want to be when I grow up. How to arrange my bookshelves.
(I started sharing pages on Instagram with lots of description, so I’ll just copy and paste those from here on).
Super simple page inspired by @stacyjulian for the@bigpictureclasses #nsd10k event. Love how she used a ton of photos with little embellishment. I took it a step further and used no ellies, just a little journaling. I used the AMAZING photo pocket template actions by Mommyish to knock out this page in minutes. Seriously digi scrappers, these actions will blow your mind. I think they’re on sale now too (no, I don’t work for her, they’re just that awesome) #mydetailsclass
Journaling reads- We love eating outside on the balcony with our awesome view. April 2014.
4th page for #nsd10k @bigpictureclasses Inspired by@cathyzielske ‘s journey of finding her style and not comparing herself to others. My style is in constant flux, but I love that. For the past year I’m all about journal cards, wood veneer, and photos edited with RadLab. “Comparison is the thief of joy”. Absolutely!
Journaling reads- (Im)Perfect Day. Things that went wrong on our wedding day….The wrong song was played when I walked down the aisle. The officiate pronounced Jason’s name incorrectly. The ring was tied too tightly on the pillow and we spent an awkward minute while Jamie struggled to get the knot untied.
Credits: Extra Extra! kit by Penny Springmann
Storyteller January 2014 alpha by Just Jaimee
Another #nsd10k for @bigpictureclasses Inspired by@celinenavarro and her pretty artsy sister LO. Love using all those #justjaimee cards. Also used the#mommyish template builder again. 👍
Journaling reads- Loved taking her to the beach for the first time in years! We haven’t been to the beach together since 2006. She liked it so much we went twice in one day. Palm Beach. 2.18.06 Pampano Beach 3.31.14
Credits: April 2014 Storyteller by Just Jaimee
There are my first five pages for NSD! I’ll be posting the rest soon. 🙂
I haven’t scrapped a page in almost a month! I missed it! I have been doing a ton of writing for the My Details class, taking lots of photos, and a bit of “in the moment” blogging, so the memory keeping train is still rolling right along.
I sat down and started going through April’s photos yesterday and was making notes in the Captions when suddenly all these words came pouring out. Sometimes that just happens, so I went with it and started making a page. I really love it! I know J likes the messy grungy look, so hopefully that will offset the pinkness of it 😛 I used the fabulous April Storyteller kit from Just Jaimee.
Journaling reads- I know this is going to sound pretty sappy, but watching Jason teach Jamie how to skateboard made my heart really happy. There aren’t a whole lot of “teachable moments” for a 27 year old, so it felt really good to see her learning a new skill right in front of me. To see her try and get frustrated, to see that look of concentration on her face as she tried again. To see her face light up when she started to Get It. That is still magic, no matter how old she gets.
Then that moment when time stood still and I watched her starting to fall, knowing I’d never get to her in time to catch her, but trying anyway. That gut clenching, heart in your throat feeling… that never goes away either. Only now, instead of rushing to her and gathering her into my arms, I swallow my impending panic attack and walk cooly over. We check out her injured arm and make sure it isn’t broken or bloody. She sits on the ground for a minute, then hops back up to try again. I stand back and continue to watch, marveling at the explosion of emotions that can come from a simple skateboarding lesson.
We have officially been in our new apartment for six days now. It has been a whirlwind!
My sister flew in last Thursday to help with the move. She hasn’t visited since 2006, so needless to say, I was ridiculously happy. I made broccoli casserole at her request. We spent Friday finishing packing and loading the truck with boxes.
Saturday we moved. It went surprisingly well actually. And by “surprisingly well”, I mean we got through it alive. I only had one tiny meltdown. You never realize how much stuff you have until you move, and even though we decluttered a lot of things before the move, it was still very overwhelming. Especially carrying it all up three flights of stairs. Our movers were great though. We made it through relatively unscathed, except for my knee. And lots of bruises.
Sunday we went to Hatsumi fair at the Morikami. We’ve been wanting to take J for years, so it was very cool to show her what we’ve been yammering about for so long.
Monday we had fancy doughnuts, went to IKEA, and to the beach- twice. It sounds like a lot, but it was surprisingly relaxing. It was a lot of fun being tourists in our new city.
On Tuesday Jason gave Jamie skateboarding lessons. I think she had fun- except for the falling and hurting her arm part. We did not have a great week for injuries… She flew back home that night.
Jason went back to work on Wednesday and I started the unpacking process. I can’t wait to have everything unpacked so I can start on the fun stuff like picking out more plants! Right now I have most of the kitchen and some of our bedroom unpacked. I want to finish up those rooms today and figure out storage for the bathrooms. The bathrooms here are… different. Storage here in general will be a challenge, but we’ll figure it out.
I’m so excited to be in our new place! And the very best part is that I get my husband back. No more two hour a day commute! We could not be more thrilled. 🙂
It’s hard for me to believe that during the time I’ve had this blog, I’ve lived in three different houses! I was looking through my archives and found a few posts on the subject.
Finding out we had to leave our first place together.
Thoughts on Home and the stresses of moving.
2012’s Week In the Life was all about unpacking from the last move, especially Monday. I am extraordinarily grateful that MK has handled this move So Much Better than the last one. We’re all mostly sleeping through the night, which is fabulous.
Back in August when I was getting the itch to move (but hadn’t yet convinced Jason)
Apartment hunting in December. (The last picture is the complex we’re living in now)
I love love love having the blog to look back on!
I’m taking a class at BPC called Scrapbooking Outside the Pocket with Monica Bradford. It shows different ways you can use all those Project Life and pocket scrapping journaling cards. I have about a bajillion of those, so this class will hopefully help me use some of those up!
Here is the first page I made for class.
I started it as a scrap lift of a sample page by Jennifer Wilson, but it ended up looking quite different from hers. I also used this page in the Random Challenge at The Lilypad where we were asked to do our titles in two different fonts.
Journaling reads- this girl does not like getting her picture taken. so i was quite shocked- and happy- to get this one. She had to get her photo taken for work, so they frou froued her up. One of the perks of working at a salon. She looks great!
Credits:
March 2014 Storyteller
September 2013 Storyteller
by Just Jaimee
I did this page before I started class, but I thought it went well with the topic. I was inspired by this page by Glitter Girl to use a bunch of different stamps and paint. I loved all her layering. Even though I use journaling cards quite often, I have a harder time using up the filler cards. I used a few of them on this LO and am quite happy with the result! I also used this page for the Product Challenge at TLP.
Journaling reads- After driving through the icy streets of Atlanta, we needed a break to settle our nerves.
Credits:
March 2014 Storyteller by Just Jaimee
Looking through my pages, I’ve found that I use Project Life style cards for my journaling quite often, especially in the last year. Since I’ve gone to a much simpler approach in my PL in 2014, I like finding new ways to use those cards!
My scrapping budget is pretty tight right now. Moving is expensive! Luckily I’ve rediscovered one of my very favorite sources for freebies- Quality Digiscrap Freebies. I’ve been super inspired to make all kinds of LO’s. I’ve made a ton of LO’s without spending any money.
Sidenote: I absolutely believe in supporting the industry and I do so whenever possible. (Y’all don’t even want to know how much money I spent on scrapping in January). But every family has times when budgets are tight, and this is definitely one of those times for us.
You can find free digiscrap supplies all over the internet. I think most of us did a lot of freebie mining when we first started out. But that tends to taper off as we keep scrapping. Our hard drives are only so big after all. And the quality isn’t always fantastic. It can be pretty overwhelming to sort through everything that’s out there.
That’s why Quality Digiscrap Freebies is so great. You get a lovely curated list of fabulous freebies. You won’t love all of them, but with at least three new freebies showcased every day, you’re sure to find some great kits and templates to suit your style.
Here are a few of the pages I’ve made using supplies I found on QDSF. Everything on these pages, with the exception of the Becky Higgins template, was a freebie. Most are still available, but some freebies have an expiration date.
The first page is from last year’s trip to the Morikami. Jason’s beer came with the cutest beer cozy ever, a tiny kimono! So being the super sophisticated people that we are, we proceeded to set up little photo shoots with “Kirin in Kimono” all over the park. Hilarity ensued.
Journaling reads- The Adventures of Kirin in Kimono. We met Kirin in Kimono at the Morikami. We had many adventures together exploring the park. We walked in the woods, checked out the koi pond, listened to the Tico drums, and made new friends. We even found Mi-Chan in the scavenger hunt! A fun, relaxing day was had by all. Looking forward to hanging out with Kirin in Kimono again really soon!
Credits:
Celebrate Life by Studio Basic
February 2014 template by Little Green Frog
The second page highlights a silly text exchange between me and my sister. And yes, I told her if she made faces at me that I’d put them all over the internet. 😛
Journaling reads- J got a new phone and was texting me to tell me all about it. We were both excited for the better camera. Then the conversation took an ugly turn….
Credits:
Well Duh, We’re Sisters journal cards by La Belle Vie Designs
Everyday Life flairs by Megan Turnidge
Template by Becky Higgins
As soon as I saw this cowboy themed kit, I knew which photo I needed to scrap. Despite having grown up in Nashville, we are strictly city people. I have never in my life owned a cowboy hat, unless you count my sparkly green St. Patty’s Day hat. But my uncle Mikey actually did once own a cowboy hat, that he used to like to terrorize me with. (See how my mom gave me ice to chew on? That was to keep the screaming at bay). I hated that hat. Well I guess we all have our childhood traumas… which in some cases lead to anthropomorphizing alcoholic beverages (see above).
Journaling reads- This horse on wheels was one of my very favorite toys when I was very small. I used to love it when my mom would take me to Shelby Park to ride around and feed the ducks.
Credits:
Country Strong by Jenn Barrett
Everyday Stroll template by Zollio
So this next page is pure silliness (like the previous ones weren’t). Yes I like scrapping squirrels And no, I can’t spell squirrel to save my life. I mess it up Every Time. But whatevs.
Journaling reads- Jason is the “sqirrel whisperer”. We were walking around the park and this guy came right up to him. He was probably looking for food, but we’ll say Jason has magical squirrel attracting abilities.
Credits:
Go Take A Hike kit by Jadyday
FB freebie template by AK designs
For my last LO, I did a family portrait page. I would like to do more of those this year. I’m usually a “story first” or “products first” scrapper. But I have so many photos that are nice, but don’t necessarily have a deeper story. Most of them are photos of our extended families, especially Jason’s. Which leads to almost no photos in our “family” scrapbooks. So I’m going to add “scrap more family photos” to my ever-growing list of pages to make.
This one shows a picture of Dad and Jeannie, me, Jay, and my mom taken after Jon’s memorial service. I’m sure the church ladies thought it was incredibly tacky for us all to sneak down to the basement and start snapping pics. (and they’re totally right). But I almost never have my whole immediate family in a room together, so I wanted to take advantage of that. Better than doing selfies with the urn right? Though he might have thought that was funny… I hereby give permission to anyone who wants to take selfies with my urn. Just don’t knock me over trying to get that great long arm shot 😛
Credits:
Addiction add-on by Fanette and Mel designs
Fuss Free Freebie template by Fiddle Dee Dee
Okay this is an almost 1000 word post, so I’m going to stop here. Thanks for looking, and be sure to check out Quality DigiScrap Freebies!
I’m participating in The Lilypad’s Month of Challenges this month. I’m excited to stretch creatively, and really want to knock out a bunch of summer pages.
Our 10th challenge was to do a page about our One Word. I must admit, I haven’t done much with my word yet, not even introducing it on here. So there you go, my word is Health. It is very needed this year, especially after December, which I “took off”. Biggest mistake of 2013! It took me all year to lose 25 pounds, but only a month to undo a lot of my hard work. We’ll chalk that up to learning experience and move on.
Journaling reads- This year we are striving for Health. Physical health, financial health, and keeping our relationship healthy. We celebrated our anniversary in December by doing a 5k together. I can’t wait to do more healthy things together in 2014!
We were given a template to use on the next challenge. I love blocky LO’s so this one was a breeze.
Journaling reads- Awkward Family Photo. The mirror in this elevator did quite strange things to my face. Hotel Morgan. Morgantown, West Virginia. 6.9.13.
The next challenge was a template one also. But this time we were given two templates that we were supposed to join and make into one page. Very cool technique that I’ve never done before.
Journaling reads- Maryland Rest Stop. Driving between D.C. and West Virginia, we stopped at a rest stop with absolutely spectacular views. June 8, 2013
All of the above pages, plus every other page I’ve made for these challenges, have been made with the January 2014 Storyteller kit by Just Jaimee. I wanted to see how many pages I could make with one collection.
I love the idea of “killing a kit” that some paper scrappers do. They try to use every paper and embellishment in a kit so that there’s nothing left. That idea fascinates me. I have never ever “killed” a full sized digi kit. In digi, things move so quickly. You use a kit once, then it’s on to the next kit. I’m trying to adjust that way of thinking and make multiple pages with my new kits. I’m not sure if I’ll manage to kill the January kit (that collection is HUGE). But to date, I’ve used a piece of that kit on 17 different pages! That is completely unheard of for me. I’ve definitely got my money’s worth with that one. And I love that woodgrain alpha so much, I’m sure I won’t be finished with it anytime soon.
TLP had a sale this past weekend, so I was able to pick up a few other things, including Just Jaimee’s September kit from last year. I combined that with January’s kit for my next two pages.
The next challenge was to use a fancy shadowing technique to give your layers a more realistic look. It’s a pain in the butt to do in PSE. (I miss full photoshop sometimes!) It’s probably not something I’ll do often unless PSE ever starts letting you separate styles from their layers without a workaround.
Journaling reads- I caught him doing this pose in the car one afternoon..
Not the most deep, thought provoking journaling going on this month…
The next challenge was to do a page with fourteen goals or resolutions for this year. I took mine from this post.
Journaling reads- 2014 Memory Keeping Goals. Get a photo of me and Jason each week | Project Life | Three Times Twelve (a photo of our family once a month) | Summer Daily | Get (and stay) current with printing | Scan photos | Tag photos | 100 family photos this summer | One Little Word | I Choose class | Inspired Scrapbooking class | self portrait challenge | Organize digi supplies | Print a book
The last challenge I have to share today was to lift a paper scrapbook page. I was All Over that one! I lifted this lovely page from Adrienne Alvis. I loved the quote bubbles, perfect for a story I wanted to tell about me and Jamie! I used the FWP collab Blessed + Lucky, along with my favorite alpha from the January Storyteller kit.
Journaling reads- Wodehouse Fangirls. Our family has been huge P.G. Wodehouse fans for generations. My sister and I have read some of the books so many times that we have whole chunks memorized. We will often randomly quote passages to each other, which is probably strange to a lot of people. I’m sure not very many people get Super Excited over cow creamers like we do.
Holy balls this is a long post!
Thanks for looking 🙂
hclappyscraps 