Monday, January 28, 2019

01/28/19 - You Are Purrfect

Another Monday... how'd that happen?!
Just dropping off a layout I created last night:




12x12 Traditional
 
I haven't been loving my style lately and have decided that at least for a while I need to approach my layouts w/ the "less is more" attitude.

I finally used my Websters Pages Caticorn PP; I think it is so cute!
The "Love This Snapshot" is from Elle's Studio

I scrapped a couple of old(er) photos; from 2017.
I'm still trying to meet some of my goals while dealing w/ the scrappy-slump I'm feeling right meow.
(see what I did there? ::wink::)

I'm glad I didn't take a scrappy break back when I thought maybe I was scrapping too much because as we all discussed, eventually my mojo will (most likely) disappear...and I think that time is now.
Bummer!
Oh well, it happens.
I hope you have a lovely Monday!

Wednesday, January 23, 2019

01/23/19 - 2018 Project Life/Week 50

Today Tonight I'm sharing Project Life Week 50
(I forgot to hit publish this morning ::doh::!)
 
Hey guys, we're almost to the end!
 

Project Life - Week 50


12x12
Traditional/Digital Hybrid
Created on the PL App, including the journaling
Embellished IRL w/ a little bit of (shaky) doodling and stickers from Studio Calico and Elle's Studio

It's funny how I never realize just how many food photos I take until I put these pages together, LOL
#SorryNotSorry

This Week Documents:
- New Oreos... these were yucky, though not too yucky to eat. But it did take us longer than usual to get through the packet
- Ice Cream Date w/ my hubby at a place near his work, Handels, a place I've never heard of before, and it was so good! Definitely going back!!
- My favorite Christmas Album Ev-Er!
- Pumpkin Spice Gelato in front of the Christmas Tree
- 1 Year Snack-A-Versary w/ Snack Nation
- Lunch at one of my favorite places: Panera Bread!


Also a 6x12 Traditional Pocket Page Insert
Week #42
Now that I'm nearly done with my 2018 Project Life album, I'm taking some time to work on some fun little insert pages that will allow me include a few more photos I had originally left out due to fear of lack of room.
A couple more photos of our first trip, of  the 2018 Fall Season, to Oak Glen. 
Peep the little bit of brochure peeking in on the second photo.
I just hole-punched the brochure and stuck it directly into my album.
Love the versatility of adding extra 'surprises' in like that!




The 6x12 Pocket Page Protector is from Becky Higgins.
All the embellishments (except the green hearts both pages) are from Studio Calico.
I subscribed to SC's Pocket Page kits for a year, then stopped because I wasn't using them fast enough.
My goal this year is to try to use as up as much of this stash of kits as I can.
Wait, did I just add ANOTHER goal to my list?!  YUP!

I never thought in a million years I would enjoy pocket/pocket page style pages...
but here we are!

Monday, January 21, 2019

01/21/19 - "Use Your Stuff" Challenge #344

Hello and Happy Monday and if you're like me, Happy Day Off (for MLK Jr Day)!

Today is also the reveal of this week's challenge at the "Use Your Stuff" blog.
This week's challenge is Numbers.

I created a simple layout that I absolutely adore!
Sometimes simple is all that is needed:

"Xmas 2018"
I used large alphas for my title that includes the year: 2018

This layout was quick and easy, apart from deciding which BG to use, LOL
The BG and "Merry & Bright" Sticker are from an old (2011) Echo Park Christmas kit that I bought a couple of months ago at Tuesday Morning.
The "Pure Magic" and Christmas Pocket Page Card is from Elle's Studio.
And the letters and star are from an ANCIENT Jenni Bowlin Studio Alpha sticker sheet...
I'm not exaggerating when I say it is OLD!
Other than those pieces I simply used my Fiskars Large Circle Punch to punch a circle out of white card stock to make a backing for the "Pure Joy" embellishment, on which I added my signature outlining (I outlined the pocket page card also).

Easy-Peasy-Lemon-Squeezy!
I hope my (simple) page inspires you to lay along w/ us.
You have all week!

Tuesday, January 15, 2019

01/16/19 - 2018 Project Life/Week 49

As I am working on 2019 layouts I am also finishing up Project Life 2018.
I am not behind per se, I was just waiting on my order from the Project Life App to come in.
If you don't know, they charge a flat $5 for shipping so it's more cost effective to try to wait to have a few pages/photos ordered than to order 1 at a time.
So I waited and I have all of the last pages of 2018 PL in my hot little hands now!
But since I like to add to them once I receive them, I'm slowly working through them...
because, I am also working on my 1st spread of 2019 and some pages for Dec Daily 2017, plus random projects here and there...
Yup, I'm busy, and I love it!

For today I bring you PL Week 49:

(The white writing on the photos show up much better IRL)

12x12
Digital/Traditional Hybrid

Week 49 documents:
- My love of Hallmark Channel movies, to the point where I actually downloaded the Hallmark Movie Countdown App
(FYI - we didn't watch them all...we just couldn't keep up!)

- Trying out the Limited Edition Peppermint Bark Oreos (SO YUM!)

- Seeing a rainbow in my neighborhood, on my way to work

- We put out our new Llama Decoration next to our Piggy Decoration and the song from "The Hangover" popped in my mind, LOL (journaling is the song lyrics)

- Depression was hitting me hard so I got my nails done #TreatYoSelf

- David and his friend met Santa at Hangar 24... and of course the quote from the movie "Elf" popped in my mind: "Santa (they) know him!"

I really love this page; it makes me happy (even w/ the not-so-happy mention of depression in it)!
It reaffirms the reasons I am doing Project Life and why I will continue to do it!
TFSB!
.
.
.
 Embellishments include: Simple Stories,  Kelly Purkey, Elle's Studio, and Studio Calico

Monday, January 14, 2019

01/14/19 - "Use Your Stuff" Challenge # 343

Good Monday Morning!
A new challenge is live over at the "Use Your Stuff" Blog.

As a Design Team Member we are required to contribute a project every other week.
Each Team has an assigned Week with the option to play along w/ the other weeks' challenges also.
I'm on Team B and this is NOT my assigned Week, but I had to play along because this week's challenge is....  "Furry Friends"!

I love scrapping my fur-babies/hair kid!

Here is my layout:



"Synchronized Sleeping"
Journaling: "One at the head, one at the foot of my bed. 10.27.2012"

If you don't know...
I am a huge animal lover and have 3 of them.
This layout is of 2 of them, one who is no longer w/ us...my dog.
She passed in June 2016.
We did adopt another pet right before she passed, a pig...you might have noticed him ::wink::,  bringing us temporarily up to 4, but now we are 3.
This is Ivanna (dog) and Panini (cat) doing their favorite thing: sleeping!
BTW - these photos were taken on my birthday, a fact I found delightful when I was scrapping them!

In case your wondering, Ivanna is wearing a Halloween Costume; she was a witch.
It came w/ a witch hat w/ hair but she didn't have it on in this photo.


- Another Layout done `check
- Another Older Photo(s) scrapped `check


Don't forget to come play w/ us!



Saturday, January 12, 2019

01/12/19 - "Oops, Did That Really Just Happen?"

 Hey there!

Today's post represents 2 of my 2019 resolutions/goals:
1) scrap older photos
2) participate in more blog challenges
  
The photos are from July 2015, during the same Vegas trip documented in my previous layout;

And the design of my layout was inspired by a new-to-me blog that I recently stumbled across;
the Kraft+ Plus blog.
If you haven't figured it out their goal is to use a kraft BG on your layouts.
They also offer challenges to inspire you .
This month's challenge is: be inspired by INDIGENOUS ART
And here is the graphic that was shared:




Not sure how 'indigenous' my layout is but I was very much inspired!

 "Oops, Did that Really Just Happen?"

I was inspired first by the circles and went about punching different sized circles to represent the bubbles in my photos. BTW - the Kraft paper was the perfect BG for my cream colored tub!
At first I was just going to do kraft and white, but then the burnt orange color in the tile in the photo stood out to me and I punched out some additional circles from a scrap of orange PP which also had a sort of geometric design to it, which I felt very much represented the challenge. I also added self-adhesive puffy dots, and some smaller dots drawn w/ a white gel pen to finish off the look I was going for.
The additional pieces, the PL card and the word/phrase stickers from Elle's Studio, were just thrown in for fun and to add a bit more color.
In the end I am really happy w/ how it turned out!

BTW - because I try really hard to be truthful on my blog, on the back if this page is really badly painted white circles! Paint is not my friend, LOL
Also, though I used to really love using Kraft as a BG...it's been years since I have and I literally only had one piece of kraft cardstock in my stash, so I only had 2 tries to get this right, bahahahahaha!
I would love to play along w/ this blog again, so it looks like I need to go shopping!

You should check out their blog...it is seriously awesome!

Sunday, January 6, 2019

01/07/19 - "Use Your Stuff" Challenge #342

The first challenge of 2019 is live over at the "Use Your Stuff" blog.
It's called "As Time Goes By".
Open to interpretation.
 
I was inspired to create a comparison layout:
A photo of me and my son when he was still drinking out of a bottle -vs- me and my son now that he can drink wine.
Yup, time has certainly gone by!
 

You may recognize the 2018 photo as a photo I just recently scrapped, which means I broke one of my Scrappy Rules of not scrapping the same photo twice (though really it's a loose rule)…
But I couldn't help it, the photo of us drinking wine together was the perfect comparison to him drinking a bottle so I went w/ it.
I love the layout, so it just goes to show... some rules are meant to be broken!
BTW - I'm cracking up because I literally have the same hairstyle in both photos, LOL!

Hope you'll join us for our first challenge!

Saturday, January 5, 2019

01/05/19 - Jersey Boys


I have a LOVE/HATE relationship w/ this layout.

I LOVE the layout, and the memory that I scrapped...
I HATE the process I went through to scrap it!

I created the layout, no problem, but when I scanned it I realized it was crooked...
ugh (story of my life)!
Normally I would be like, "oh well" and leave it, but this time it was more crooked than I was okay w/.
BTW I use a ruler to plan everything out so why does that always happen?!
(rhetorical question)

Moving on...
I removed the layers to reattach them so that they would be straighter.
In doing so I didn't realize that I laid a piece that was covered in glue on top of one of my photos...glue side down!
So yup, that photo was ruined!
I had to print another one out:
- waste of supplies
- super frustrating

Finally got the layout back together and noticed that part of the blue heart was not laying down, so I tried to just add a dab of glue stick to the part that was not sticking down and proceeded to get glue all over the green heart! I was able to wipe it off but I can still see a little of the residue and that totally bugs me. To top it off the heart was STILL not lying down (WTHeck heart?!)
I finally ripped it off, reapplied some ATG glue and laid it down.

Then I had trouble scanning it...
I think I did it a total of 4 times before I had the finished product.
Again UGH!

But here it is, flaws and all...
Cuz there are still flaws but I'm not going to touch it anymore!

Please, someone tell me that I'm not the only clumsy scrap booker!


"Jersey Boys"
With all that being said... 
I do love the layout, as long as I don't dwell on the mistakes.
I also love that I was able to finally use my "Las Vegas" stamp from Studio Calico: Las Vegas Stamp
And I love that I am keeping w/ my NY Resolution to scrap older photos.
Also, my OLW came in handy during the process.
I'll be sharing my OLW in a future post... soon!

Wednesday, January 2, 2019

01/02/19 - "Wow, Seriously!"

In keeping w/ my New Years Resolution to participate in more Blog Challenges I am sharing a layout I created for the current Sketch Challenge at "The Studio Challenges"... though to be honest I actually created this in December, on  the 31st.
But the challenge runs until January 13th so it's all good!



First the sketch, which I rotated once to the left:








And now my Layout:

"Wow, Seriously!"

Journaling:
"That one time when Panini would not let me "potty" in peace! 1.30.2013"

One other resolution that I didn't mention, but have in mind to do, is to make an effort to scrap older photos.
This was inspired by my friend, and "Use Your Stuff" teammate, Lori ( My Happy Life ).
Lori, if you're reading this, Hi and TY!

This photo has been sitting in my 'To Be Scrapped' pile since 2013!

Tuesday, January 1, 2019

01/01/19 - A New Year


- Too funny and (usually) true! -
 

Happy 2019!
We made it!
And now it's time to think about our goals, right?
Well, some of us have already started thinking about them...
(I have already shared a few a couple months back: Goals for 2019).
Maybe some of us have even already started implementing them?
Because really, who says you have to wait until a New Year (or the first day of the month, or a Monday) to make changes?

For example:
I have already made one change, a small change, a change to my blog...specifically my blog description.
Instead of "Scrapbooking, Books, and Randomness" it's simply "(Mostly) Scrapbooking..."
Cuz let's face it, that's what this blog is "mostly" about.
Having the "mostly" allows me some wiggle room! ::wink::
I made that change a couple of weeks ago.
If you didn't notice, it's okay... it was just a minor change but it allowed me (and my OCD) some breathing room.

In case your wondering though...
I do plan on reading this year but I read 23 books last year and kind of got burned out on reading.
Yup, 23 books of my 25 book goal.
Didn't quite make it but I still feel very accomplished!
This year my plan is to read, but just read as I feel like it, not to read to reach any kind of number.
Not to say that I didn't enjoy reading last year, because I did!
But there were times in the back of my mind where I was thinking I needed to hurry up and finish a book or "I'll never reach my goal". Usually those times were when I was reading a boring book though, LOL

Speaking of numbers...
I will not be setting a goal of a certain amount of layouts to be completed this year.
Last year I did, and I was able to reach my goal but then I stopped counting after, because it was starting to stress me out... keeping up w/ the counting (perhaps that sounds crazy, but if you knew how my mind worked you'd understand)!
I did create a separate folder in my SB.com Gallery for just 2019 Projects so I can see, at the end of the year, how many I created. But again, no goal.

As I stated, I mentioned a few of my (mini) goals in a past blog post but for this post I want to mention (again) one goal:
Project Life 2019!
Yes, I'm definitely doing Project Life again! I really, really enjoyed it when I did it last year, even at the worst of times, so I'm doing it again this year.
And I'm hoping that all I learned form completing the project last year...including all my mistakes...will make this year even easier and/or better.
BTW - Cheers to me for finally finishing a project!
Looks like I may need to remove my Self-Professed Title of "Queen of Unfinished Projects"...
Anybody want my crown?
LOL

Lastly I want to participate in more Blog challenges.
I used to participate a lot but got away from it.
This year I made an effort, though not a huge effort, to do so again...and I really enjoyed it!
So in 2019 I plan to do more.

I guess that's it for me today.
Good luck to you this year, my friends!
Looking forward to another creative year w/ you all!

03/27/23 Planning with Urban Journal Season Ink

My printer was having issues and I fixed it but during the interim I was not scrapping and lost my mojo ::le sigh:: But I've still been ...