random reflections

LOAD: The End

This is the second year I’ve participated in LOAD. Both experiences were positive. It amazes me that I can create more layouts in one month than I do the entire rest of the year. This year I came to some realizations about my process and what makes me happy. 

 First, the more I scrapbook, the easier it becomes. By the end of the month, I had a clear idea of what I wanted to accomplish with a given layout. Although I used a sketch to get me going early in the month, by the end of the month I was designing the pages in Photoshop Elements. This worked especially well since I could then size the photos exactly as I wanted them before I printed them.

Second, a few months ago, I purged a lot of my supplies. I had read somewhere (Ali’s blog?) that the more you have, the harder it is to make decisions about what to use. I now know that is true. With less to choose from, decisions are easier. In addition, I kept the supplies that I loved, so that helped too. Clearly it would be good if I continued to scrap on a regular basis. We’re going to be gone a good part of March, and I’ve let two online courses go in order to complete LOAD, so I don’t expect to get much done in the next month, but I do hope to do more scrapping on a regular basis.

Finally, I’ve come to realize that I am, without a doubt, a clean and simple scrapbooker! All I really need to be happy is some good cardstock, a couple pieces of patterned paper, and some good photographs. I like dimensional alphabets, journaling spots, and wood veneer accents. I don’t need a lot of embellishments, but I’m glad I kept a few flowers, and other embellishments to add when they seem appropriate. Story is also very important, and that is a huge change from the time I started scrapping. My earliest layouts have photos, but few words. Now there are often more words than photographs. Recording the story for my family seems much more important now than it did ten years ago.

So here are the last four layouts:

One of the things we enjoy doing when we travel is visiting the old, elegant hotels that are often near or in the national parks. We can't afford to stay there, but we often have a meal in one of the restaurants. This time we had dinner reservations at a fabulous steak house, so we went to the Stanley Hotel for drinks. I had no idea it was the site for filming Stephen King's "The Shining."

Once I photographed this layout, I realized I needed to move the title to the left. I did that, but was too lazy to take another photo! I used some stamps and dies from Papertrey Ink to embellish these pages. Here's the journaling: 

Driving across the plains states never seems very exciting to me. They are SO big, SO flat, and it takes SO long. In addition, I’m always looking forward to getting to our destination. After driving across desolate Nevada a few years ago, I have a new appreciation for the plain states. At least there are signs of life and I saw lots of iconic scenes I would have loved to stop to photograph. 

 We spent one morning at the Amana Villages in Iowa. They are just charming, and I found plenty of inspiration for photographs. I was disappointed in the shopping, hoping for lots of hand-crafted items but finding the shops filled with the usual tourist, gift-shop type items. The one exception was the Amana General Store, and our best purchases were some German sausages, mustard, and sauerkraut as well as some bread from one of the local bakeries. So glad we had a cooler with us.

Sarah chose a jungle theme for her nursery and baby shower, and the paper I used to create favors and goodies for the shower worked perfectly with the zoo photos.

This layout (#29) completed the layouts for our August road trip. On our way south we visited with our good friends in North Carolina. One afternoon we wandered around the National White Water Center. There'll be no ziplining for me, but we all agreed we'd like to go back some day for the white water rafting.

 

 

LOAD: Days 22-25

I finished LOAD today--actually did one extra layout (29) to finish up all the photos I wanted to scrap from the road trip last August. We leave in a couple of weeks to visit Sarah, Adam, and Caleb and I know I'll come home with a new pile of photos to deal with. To spare you some overload, I'll post the last ones in two batches.

Once I got to these photos, I decided to spend the rest of the week getting the vacation photos scrapped. I watched a few of the prompt videos, but eventually gave that up since I wasn't paying any attention to them. This was Caleb's first introduction to a pool, and he was not the least bit intimidated. He even let Sarah take him under water.

One of the stops we made on the way from Atlanta to Denver was in Birmingham, AL. We wanted to visit the Civil Rights Institute there, and it was well worth the trip. But we were delighted to find some other fun things to do there as well:  The Vulcan Center (with a fascinating museum about Birmingham's history and gorgeous views of the Birmingham skyline,) and The Peanut Depot which turned out to be loads of fun.

A very kind waitress came outside with us after dinner at The Lowcountry BackYard Restaurant in Hilton Head to take our photo. It was the only photo of all five of us taken on the trip.

I wrote a blog post about the amazing Crystal Bridges American Museum of Art, but I'd never gotten any of the photos into the Travel Album.

Here's a better view of the first page and the journaling.

Finally remembered to use some Washi tape on some of these layouts. I just love how easy it is to use. The little wood veneer heart in the Photo Op layout was covered with Washi tape, too.

More LOAD: Days 18-21

The end is in sight---28 layouts in 28 days. I've gotten lots accomplished and learned a bit in the process. More about that at the end. I have the rest of the layouts planned. Regardless of the prompts, I've decided to finish scrapping the layouts I want to do from our road trip this summer. We're in the midst of planning two trips this spring, one of which is the biggest trip we've ever taken, so I want to clear the decks for the most recent trip.

Not sure what the prompt was for Day 18, but once I scrapped the first Find Your Precious blog post, I knew I wanted to do them all. So here's February's.

Day 19's prompt was about relationships, and this is one of my favorite photos from Sarah and Caleb's visit in November. The journaling on the tag reads: 

Caleb is a particularly active baby. He’s on the move and busy all day long. It’s so nice to see that he is willing to sit quietly for a book to be read to him. He’ll now toddle off to his nursery, take a board book off the shelf and sit down to look at it. Sarah and I have shared a love of reading since she was Caleb’s age, and it looks like we’ve got another reader in the family.    

Day 20's prompt was to hide your journaling. I'd done that the day before, but decided to use a cute little envelope that came in the Simon Says card kit to put the journaling in for a layout about our trip to Florida in January.

I went back to the Home album for this day's prompt and documented how we came to own the home where we now live. All the photos were taken the day we looked at the house or a day or two after our purchase offer was accepted, a month or so before we moved in. My kids were so little!!!

Here's the story:

I hung up on Mitch, our realtor, when he called to tell me he’d found the perfect house for us. We had only lived on Bradford Road for ten months. I was working full-time; Sarah was four and Matt was two. There were still some boxes that had never been unpacked! Fortunately, Mitch ignored me, and called Tracy so we came to look at the house on Summit Drive.

This would be our third house. The first one was a total fixer-upper, and the second one needed lots of cosmetic work as well. Summit Drive was filthy and the walls were covered with hideous wallpaper. Despite that, it was absolutely charming. Lots of beautiful wood, built-in bookcases, a built-in desk and china closet, a fabulous fireplace, and pegged hardwood floors throughout the house. Add to that a patio and an amazing two-tiered yard surrounded by old trees. Although it’s in the heart of the city (actually the edge of the first suburb), it feels like you could be in the country. We were sold after the first look. Along with four other prospective buyers, we put in a bid for the asking price. It’s thanks (again!) to Mitch that we have lived here for the last 28 years. He called the lawyer every day until the lawyer got so exasperated with him, he said, “They can have it!”  It took us a lot of years to work our way through the house, removing wallpaper and making repairs, but it’s all been worth it. We love this house, and we love the neighborhood. There’s no where else we’d rather live.

After I finished the layout, I decided to add three sets of divided page protectors to the album with other photos of the house the way it looked before we moved in.

In all, I managed to get 33 photos into the album. Glad to have this done, and I was surprised to find I don't have a lot of other layouts I'm ready to do for this album. There are photos I can't seem to find (did they ever exist?) and photos I need to organize (about our new kitchen), but a lot of what I wanted in this album is done. It's a good feeling.

 

 

LOAD 2013: Days 13-17

I'm keeping up with LOAD although some days it's a stretch. I'm not doing so well with posting here so I'll try to keep the words brief and share the last five layouts. I must admit I like this project. I have a hard time getting myself to scrap sometimes, but this provides a lot of motivation.

Day 13's prompt was to try a new technique. I don't often mix a lot of patterned papers and I've never gone to one of my 6X6 paper pads for a layout. All the papers came from Love Me by MME.

Day 14 was to scrap "Home." I started a big album about all the homes I've lived in several years ago, and haven't done anything with it in a long time. I scrapped about the first house I really remember living in when I was in K-2nd grade in Kansas.

I don't remember the prompt for Day 15 except I know I didn't follow it. I took the opportunity to do a two-page layout about my niece's wedding last July.

Day 16 was to scrap something you're grateful for. I'm hardly ever on Facebook, but I'm really grateful my son-in-law and Tracy both post regularly. Otherwise I'd miss the photos like this one. Evidently Caleb insisted on pushing the cart around for over 40 minutes before he was willing to get in the cart and take a ride.

Day 17's prompt was to scrap some object that was meaningful to you. Sian's StoryTelling Sunday's "Pick Your Precious" was right there on the blog waiting to be scrapped.

Hope you are having a good week! I'm making progress on some cleaning projects, busy with committee meetings, and keeping up with the elimination diet we're trying. Although it hasn't answered the questions I hoped it would, it's been worthwhile, but takes a lot of time, both at the grocery store and in the kitchen. I'll be back later with more about it.

LOAD 2013: Days 10-12

Keeping up with LOAD has been a bit more time consuming that I would like, but I know I'll be happy at the end of the month to have finally scrapped some of the photos that have been hanging around in my photo files for awhile. For these three days, I scrapped one very old photo (but a long-time favorite), some photos from our road trip this summer, and a layout about the winter storm last weekend. 

I've always loved this photo of Sarah on Valentine's Day and this was the perfect week to get it scrapped. She's wearing the only dress I ever hand-smocked for her and holding a sheep I made her as a gift that year for Valentine's Day. Those were the days when I sewed and had no idea what papercrafting was about!

My journaling is not usually so detailed, but I knew exactly what I wanted to say when I found these photos.

I’m not quite sure how we discovered Canoe in Atlanta. The first night we were there was a warm August evening, and it had rained most of the day. As it cooled down, fog rose from the Chattahoochee River and a heavy mist settled over everything. We opted to sit on the covered porch, and it was an inspired decision. The beautiful landscaping and paths between the restaurant and the river are lit, and it just became more and more beautiful as dusk turned to night.

Then we ordered dinner. Exquisite is the only word for both the food and the service at Canoe. It’s leisurely, but efficient, and definitely expensive. All of us agreed, however, it was worth every penny.

Tracy, Sarah, and Adam returned to Canoe the night of her graduation from Columbia Theological Seminary. I was in New York with Matt for his graduation, and missed it. I got another chance this past August when we drove to Decatur to babysit while Sarah and Adam worked at a conference. Tracy and I ended up with an evening on our own. The minute I heard about it, I checked to see if Canoe was open. It was, and it was a perfect repeat of the first occasion---a bit hazy, a table on the porch, fabulous food and service. On our way home, Tracy and I decided Canoe is the only 5-Star restaurant we know. We’ve had great food elsewhere, been in some lovely settings, but no other place can match the perfect combination that Canoe presents.

Last night in the Photoshop class I'm taking at the Community Darkroom, I learned a technique to improve the color in the panorama on this layout. I may try to redo it and then replace it on the layout. We got about 15" of snow on Friday and Friday night. Because we had no wind, there wasn't much damage (one neighbor lost a huge limb from a tree), and the snow stayed on the branches until Sunday when the sun finally came out. It really was a stellar sight. I took all these photos with my iPhone.

I'll be back with my 52/50 photos and you'll see some more of the winter wonderland then.

LOAD 2013: Days 7-9

It was a busy, but productive weekend. We did get an amazing winter storm. We had 15" in our driveway Saturday morning, but by then the roads were relatively clear. Getting home on Friday afternoon following set-up for Church Leadership Development Day was another story. It took me more than twice as long to get home, and my friend spent an hour and a half getting home when it's usually a 20 minute trip. It was the most beautiful snow storm I can remember, though, and I hope to have the photos edited soon so I can post them. Despite the terrible weather on Friday, most folks made it to CLD Day and we considered it a big success!

I am managing to keep up with LOAD, although the last few photos of the layouts were taken at night which leaves something to be desired. 

The prompt for Day 7 was to scrap "Nature." It occurred to me that I have not even edited a lot of the photos from our weekend in Rocky Mountain National Park so I spent the better part of the morning getting some of that done, and then made this layout.

I started the layout using a photo template, and couldn't get a layout I liked so I reprinted the larger photo and cut out three of the others from the template. Then I finished the layout and photographed it, and decided I didn't like that either. So I took the whole thing apart and here is the final product! Part of the title is a vintage-style postcard I picked up at the gift shop in the park.

Journaling: The vastness of the west always amazes me. There are no vistas in the northeast like those we found in Rocky Mountain National Park. Tracy, Matt, and I spent two wonderful days exploring the park. The first day we hiked at Bear Lake, and the second day we drove across the park from east to west, crossing the Continental Divide. We had fabulous weather, and couldn't have had a better time.

I don't recall the prompt for Day 8, but I know I didn't follow it. I had these photos from Skylar's last visit and wanted to get them in the album.

The journaling reads: 

Watching Skylar grow and change is such a pleasure! She’s a very agreeable little girl, but definitely knows what she wants. She’s able to sign for many things, but doesn’t have a lot of words yet. She does, however, have a very expressive face, so you don’t have to guess much about what she’d like.       Janurary 2012

Last year LOAD's prompts were frequently about times past. I started an album of layouts from my childhood and hoped there'd be a couple prompts this year as well. Day 9's prompt was to scrap about something you enjoyed doing as a child. I found these three photos of me sitting on the walk in the garden making mud  pies. 

This has to be one of the simplest layouts I've ever made, but it's about a simpler time, so it fits.

An Honor & LOAD: Days 4-6

Yesterday I had the great honor of being featured at Sian's From High in the Sky. If you don't know her blog, hop over for great stories and wonderful scrapbooking. Sian is an absolute genius at putting embellishments together!

I created one layout for her post about the birds we spied while in Florida. Since I haven't shared it here, I'll include it now.

I made an envelope to hold the journaling as well as the birding checklist from the wildlife refuge where we recorded the birds we spotted.

The scrapbooking is chugging right along---one layout a day! Saturday will be my first challenge as I have to be a Church Leadership Development Day nearly all day, and we may be going out with friends at night. Hopefully something will come to me quickly.

Day Four's prompt was to scrap a goal. I've already scrapped my intentions for 2013. On the same morning I received the prompt I also got an email from Rebecca Cooper from Simple As That that included a template for her monthly photo recaps. Right then, I decided how I'd share my Capture Your 365 photos this year. I'll be using one of Rebecca's templates (she has four) and I'll choose some of my favorites as well as the photos that represent significant happenings. My journaling will stay in my art journal which I started here. So, finally, here's a look at January's favorites:

Most of the photos are from our trip to Florida last month, but I included one of a frosty window in Rochester (such a contrast) and the photo of my OLW-"DO" for 2013. 

Day Five's prompt was Scrap Your Honey. That was easy. I found a photo from our cruise to Alaska two years ago when we celebrated our 38th wedding anniversary. Should have scrapped that one a long time ago.

I had the perfect stamps as embellishments. The camera is from Shutterbug Special (PTI), and the title "We Just Click" is from the one stamp set I picked up last weekend in Buffalo by My Favorite Things. 

Day Six was to scrap a photo you've put off scrapping. The photos for my last month recap layout for 2012 has been laying on my table since early January. It's good to have it done.

The tag pulls out with a summary of the month's activities:

As always, December was a busy month. We started the season by getting our tree up and lighting the first Advent Candle for the chapel worship service.

I spent more time than usual with a camera in my hand since I took the Twelve Days of Christmas class with Cheryl Johnson. It got me out of the house and I took some more creative photos of our decorations this year.

The best part about the holiday is always family, and this year Matt was home for five fabulous days. We saw lots of him, and got some great time with Betsy and Skylar as well. The whole family was here for Christmas dinner--18 strong this year. It was filled with laughter and great fun. 

We had more snow this month than we did in all of 2011, but it didn’t interfere with our social life. We saw “Lincoln” with Mary & Jim and had dinner afterwards, entertained the bridge group, had Bill & Anne for lunch after the church Advent music service, & had Karen, Mike, and Nancy for dinner. I had meals with Nancy (and a trip to MAG & Image City), with Jane at the Gate House Cafe, with Marie in Honeoye Falls, with Barb & Ev at the new Brewery cafe, with Sue at Biaggio’s, and with Karen & Deb at Veneto’s. Matt & I had lunch at T.R.A.T.A. No wonder I have trouble losing that last 5 pounds! We ended the year at a lovely New Year’s Eve gathering at Dan and Jeannie’s.

I made 16 cards (not counting the 75 hand-made cards I mailed for Christmas), nine bookmarks, & completed my seventh Christmas Journal. That was all the scrapbooking I could manage! Although I did read, it appears I didn’t finish any books this month.

Off to read today's prompt. We're anticipating another big winter storm tomorrow. I'm hoping it doesn't interfere with our church conference on Saturday. Every year we seem to have significant snow, but we've never had to cancel. This year one of the speakers is coming from Albany and staying with us. I hope he has safe travels.

LOAD 2013: Days 1-3

I have quite a few projects to share, but I thought I'd start with one of the most recent ones: LOAD. I participated last February and completed 29 layouts in 29 days. There's something about this commitment that gets me to my photos and back into scrapbooking. I have two drawers of photos waiting for attention so there's no shortage of material.  

Day One's prompt was to create a scrapbook with no words. This turned out to be easier than I thought. Adam took a photo of Caleb on each month with the iPad which read, "I am ___ months old." Only the first month and his first birthday were missing the iPad. Since he was born on December 30, 2011, all the photos were taken in 2012. I'm happy to have these photos all in one spot!

The second prompt was scrap a perfect day. That was easy. I've scrapped about this weekend before, but I don't think this photo of me with my kids has been the focus of a page. The journaling card that says "Mother's Day" pulls out to reveal the journaling.

Yesterday's prompt was to focus on something that was important but overlooked. I didn't have anything in mind, so starting hunting through the small photos I have tucked in an envelope in my photo drawers. I came across these five photos taken in the winter and decided to do a page about how under-appreciated winter's beauty is.

I'm quite sure I'll deviate from the prompts as the month rolls along, but the first few days have been fun.

LOAD: Days 5 & 6

I've been doing a pretty good job of staying on top of my self-imposed LOAD project this month, but not such a good job of getting them posted. We've been busy in the yard and garden which badly needed our attention. This weekend I'll probaby have to take a break from LOAD as I'm involved in a focus group that meets Friday night and all day Saturday. In addition, Matt is coming home for a long weekend. I'm always happy to have him here, even though most of his time will be spent with Betsy and Skylar.

So here are two more layouts. Days 7 & 8 are a travel journal I completed about our recent trip to Oregon. I have the photos taken, but not edited for the blog. Soon . . .

I wanted to get a layout done about our weekend in Washinton, D.C. I started with a photo template by Kitty Designs. Since there were a lot of photos, I kept the rest of the layout pretty simple--just some journaling and a tag from Ormolu and two flags from Basic Grey. The chipboard alpha is one of my favorites from the Amy Tangerine line by American Craft.

The journaling reads:

The impetus for the weekend get-away was an exhibition of Annie Leibovitz’s photographs entitled, “Pilgrimage,” which was showing at the Smithsonian American Museum. No photographs were allowed at the exhibit. The photographs filled just two or three rooms, but were so interesting especially since they were such a departure from her usual portraits. I’d like to own the exhibit book someday.

 The weekend turned out perfectly: gorgeous weather and not too many crowds. I had plenty of time to capture photos of the Washington monuments. The last time we were there, I took a whole roll of photos without realizing I had no film in my camera! I’ve been waiting for another opportunity for over 20 years. The icing on the cake was meeting up with Susan and Eric whom we hadn’t seen in nine years.

 from top to bottom, left to right: Jefferson Memorial, Martin Luther King Memorial, Pentagon Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, Capitol Building from the Old Post Office tower, the Supreme Court, the fountain at the  World War II Memorial, one of the fountains at the FDR Memorial, the Korean War Memorial, the C&O Canal in Georgetown

The next layout has been in a file "to scrap" for over a year, and was a lot of fun to make.

The patterned paper is Echo Park's "Dots and Things," and the cardstock thickers are from American Craft. I'd forgotten I had them in my stash, but was delighted to find a black and white polka-dotted alpha. I also had an old Making Memories brad with black and white polka-dots. I made the cow embellishments with the die from On the Farm by Papertrey Ink.

The most important part of this journaling points out how Tracy goes to great lengths for me to get a photograph. This is not out of character at all, and often it is he who asks if he'd like me to pull over so I can take a picture. Before he pointed them out in Massachusetts, I'd never heard of Oreo cows.

LOAD: Days 3 & 4

Here are the latest layouts of the grandchildren. :-) 

Patterned paper:  "Pink Quatrafoil" (both sides) Style Essential (Echo Park), "Green Flourish," Style Essential (Echo Park), and "Metropolitan" (American Craft) for the title; Silhouette, Stamps: Lawn Fawn and Papertrey Ink; punch:  Knock-out heart scallop (American Craft); Flower: unknown from stash.

We bought this hat for Skylar in the gift shop of the International Rose Garden in Portland. Her middle name is Rose, so we knew we wanted to find something for her there. This was perfect, and I do think she's pretty cute in it.

 

Patterned paper: "Everyday Moments" (Teresa Collins); Cardstock:  Neenah Solar White; Alpha: Puffy (American Craft); stickers: Pebbles.

One of Tracy's first jobs when we arrived in Oregon was to hang Caleb's new jumper. The jumper was a huge hit, and provides Caleb with a much needed way to burn off some excess energy! The journaling reads:

Today’s version is called “Mighty Muscle Builder,” but in Sarah and Matt’s baby days it was the “Jolly Jumper.” I much prefer the older name, and it certainly suits Caleb as he is definitely a jolly jumper. From the moment Tracy hung it up, Caleb has loved it. None of the photos here really capture his joy, but we have several videos that do. Furthermore, I think it helps tire him out. Since he’s a fussy sleeper, anything that contributes to a good night’s sleep is wonderful.