Scrapbook Saturday

Some more Journal Your Christmas pages

I have the 24th done except for editing the photos, so I am as caught up as I have been all month.

Scrapbook Saturday

I’m giving my scanner a rest today to share some of my Journal Your Christmas pages. I only have 6 done so far and sort of at random but I am hoping to get caught up through the 10th at least this weekend

 

If you are doing a Christmas project, how are you doing?

All About Me topic suggestions

This is the list I came up with after all my searching this weekend. I tried to limit the overlap but there still is some there. I’m not doing pages on all of them but I think it is a good start point of ideas. I may end up using it more as a list of things for my 365 Project rather than do them all as scrapbook pages, then put together a photo book that is a mix of both.

Opening Pages            

            Title     

            Vital Statistics          

            Your Name  

            Your Birth Sign        

Family Members                     

            Mom   

            Dad     

            Siblings (could be several pages)

            Grandparents (could be several pages)

            Extended family (could be several pages)

            Family Tree    

            Ancestors (could be several pages)

Childhood Memories                    

            Birth    

            Infancy

            Childhood        (could be several pages)

            Birthdays         (could be several pages)

            Vacations/Holidays            (could be several pages)

            Teen Years   (could be several pages)

            Education        (could be several pages)

            Childhood Friends            (could be several pages)

            Childhood Home         

            Hometown     

            First Car     

            First Job      

            Fashions          

            Hairstyles        

            Favorite Music           

            Pets            (could be several pages)

            Major News Events            (could be several pages)

            Crushes You Had            (could be several pages)

Current Life                   

            Your Significant Other

            Your current or recent Jobs

            Home Now

            Hometown Now

            Places You Have Lived (could be several pages)

            Your Family Now (could be several pages)

            Thoughts on Motherhood

            Faith & Spirituality

            Hopes & Dreams

            Fears & Worries

            Health

            Your Body & How You Feel About it

            Hair & Clothing

            Pets Now

            Pieces of Me

            Current Car or other Cars  (could be several pages)

            Daily Routine

            What You Do to Relax

            Travel

            Describe Yourself Today - Right Now

            Current Friends (could be several pages)

            Hobbies (could be several pages)

            Interests (could be several pages)

            Obsessions (could be several pages)

            Things You Collect (could be several pages)

            Habits Good & Bad (could be several pages)

            A Letter to Your Past Self

            Groups & Organizations

            Politics

            What is in the News  (could be several pages)

            Sports You Play

            Gadgets You Love

            Thoughts on Housework

            What Has Changed about You in 10 Years

            What is in My Purse

            What is on My Dresser

            What is on My Bookshelf

            Your Week in a Glance

            Letter to the Future You

Lists of Things (choose a number of items to list)

            # of Random Thoughts (your age is good for this)

            # of Your Top Achievements or Triumphs

            # of Confessions

            # of Things You Love about You

            # of Things You would Change about You

            # of Favorite Things

                        books

                        movies

                        tv shows

                        foods

                        games

                        places

            # of Things You Always have with You

            # of Things You are Grateful For

            # of Things You Still Want to Do

            # of Things You Have Done

            # of Ask & Answer Questions (get someone to make you a list of questions)

The holiday album dilemma

There is just too much choice out there and I need to decide now, if not very very soon just what sort of holiday album I am going to do this year.

I’ve done shimelle’s Journal Your Christmas for the past 2 years and even though I didn’t complete last year’s album I did get plenty of pages done. But the not completing it bugged me. I think I need to scale back my expectations this year. And possibly my design style. I’m thinking very clean, almost graphic only style with either white or black backgrounds. I’d like to do just graphic only but I know I’ll end up wanting to use a bunch of embellishments on some layouts and that would be jarring in appearance I think sitting amid a bunch of smooth, unshadowed graphic designs.

But I really want more of a photo book look than a scrapbook look I think.

Then there is the thought that occurred to me that ‘the holidays’ actually started last Friday with the Halloween party at school. Possibly they could start on Thanksgiving, which would give me a bit more time to get my plans sorted. Though since I take a photo a day anyway doing a ‘2009 Holiday Season’ photo book can pretty much start whenever I feel like it. I never take just one photo so I can even make sure there is no photo overlap between it and my 365 project.

I could even get Havoc & Mayhem to take the photos for it. Now there is an idea! Start the day we leave to visit my parents in a couple weeks and run through the end of their xmas break & use their photos! Havoc loves to use my D40, Mayhem prefers seeing things on the screen on the old Olympus, so there would be no fighting over the camera. This could work!

But still, if I want to do scrapbook pages (which I just know I will end up making in December) I need to get my act together pretty much this weekend or so and pick my templates, design style & a start date

I’m thinking of getting these templates

and adapting them as I go, but they want more photos than I usually manage.

I like these as well

and I have some by Janet Phillips, that are no longer available that I’m sorting through. Then I have to work out what kits to use. My favorite designers haven’t put any out yet.

You know, I never do a holiday newsletter. They are too complicated & time consuming.

All About Me – the book!

Because having a blog isn’t narcissistic enough.

I am a digital scrapbooker. I’ve been doing it for 4 years now and have over those years been active on a number of boards and done a great many challenges.  Mostly I scrap my kids but sometimes the challenges are to scrap something about you.  Recently we had a discussion on one of the forms about Scrapbook Fantasies Book of Me blog. She gives you prompts all year & you end up with I think around 35-40 prompts and 60 pages. 

I’ve been thinking about doing some sort of album of me for a month or so now. Maybe a collection of scrapbook pages about me or maybe an All About Me Project 365 next year.

Me me me me me me ME!!!!

Sorry, just had to get that out. Now back to…um..me.

I am self-centered enough to want an entire book about me but I am realistic enough to know that if I went with a photo project probably by mid February I will have run out off interesting ideas and be taking pictures of my toothbrush and sock drawer. Which I could assemble in a photo book with little post ironic snarky zeitgeist comments, or not because I am not entirely certain what I just said actually means. I can certainly see the humor in myself & am not above self mockery but I don’t think I can manage 365 photos of it.

I spent a few days going through old challenge notes and visiting forums and blogs and have assembled about 75 prompts for a Book About Me. Not that I will use all of them but it’s nice to have a list to work from.

Then I went though all my layouts (643 to be exact) and found about 60 that were about me. There is a lot of overlap on topics. For instance I have 4 layouts about my home and 5 about my childhood and 3 about crochet and an embarrassing number about my electronics. About half of the layouts are bad from a design standpoint. The scale of the elements is off, the shadows are either huge or non-existent, bad recolorization, bad photo adjustment, hideous color choices etc. But I saved the layered .psd (or .psp) files so I can fix them or at least have a base to rework them.  I’ll weed through them & remove the duplications (I have 3 that feature my mp3 player) and then sort out what prompts I still want to do and that will be my project for next year.

I’m also going to do another 365 Photo project in 2010 but I need a topic.  I did the boys play in 2008 and that came together nicely. This year has been topic free, more random & I find it harder to do. It’s not looking as cohesive. I think I work better with guidelines. I’m looking for ideas now.  Any theme suggestions?

I’m leaning toward monthly photos of the same things, with some other general topic mixed in. I’m thinking of every month having an individual photo of everyone, a photo of some outdoor feature to be determined (like the maple), a photo of some indoor feature (like the sink full of dishes or a pile of laundry) and a photo of my book stack. That is 7 out of approx 30 photos a month.  What other things can you think of that change yet stay the same over a period of time? I’d like about 10 things that regularly appear and the other 20 or so will be on a general topic.

Go Mountaineers!

I went to college at WVU. We have a history of being able to play 3 excellent quarters of football and one not so good one.

And of winning nearly the whole season and being trounced in bowl games.

So far we’re 2-0 this year.

quick and quirky questions:

1. Do you wash your own car or do you go to a car wash?

Car wash

2. Are you wearing socks right now?

no

3. Where were you 3 hours ago?

paking lunch for the boys

4. Do you have laundry waiting to be done?

haven’t checked yet but probably

5. Can you pick objects up with your toes?

yes I can

Exercise

I bought myself 10 personal trainer sessions for my birthday. At the end of them I had lost 6lbs and an inch at my waist. I had gained inches elsewhere which are muscle.  I have toned & firmed up a good deal. I plan on continuing to visit the gym 3 days a week and do the 30 Day Shred at home at least 1-2 days as well.

My big need is to lose weight and exercise is not going to do that at this point. I need to eat less. So my focus for this month is on my diet, cutting back portions and swapping fatty snacks for fruits & veggies.

Music to craft by

I listen to my Zen when I crochet or digi scrap. What I listen to depends on what I am doing. 

Digi scrapping requires music, generally 80’s pop with random punk thrown in. Occasionally I go for a Celtic theme, listening to Clannad, U2, Celtic Women and Flogging Molly

Crochet needs an audiobook to keep me mentally occupied. I prefer historic mysteries by Anne Perry, Kerry Greenwood, Ellis Peters and Roberta Gellis

Aunt Becky doesn't quite visit

Aunt Becky, my BFF, who I would totally love to hang with in person, was unable to come visit in person but she sent her cards instead. Which if you love Aunt Becky like I do, is almost good enough. After all - Aunty Becky herself actually *touched* these cards!

Look Aunty Becky’s card has arrived!

These guys are thrilled to get their picture taken with her

They immediately rush off to entertain her. Many muffins were eaten

And much wine was drunk

They thought about going swimming but Aunt Becky’s card thought the water was a little too Jurassic green

The kittens gave Aunt Becky’s card a much more mixed reception

Some were interested. “Will it give me lovins?”

Some were aloof. “I’m not even going to look at it.”

Some were downright hostile. “Cards! bah! I eats cards!”

Smoke though, was very welcoming. “Come lay down with me Aunt Becky’s card

We can read a book together

Everyone else was so happy to see Aunt Becky’s card that they held a parade

And that was Aunt Becky’s cards lively visit.

Favorite zoo animal

My favorite zoon animals are the elephants and giraffes.  They are so huge!

My favorite animal

Favorite living animals would be kittens. We have 5. 2 indoor, 2 indoor/outdoor and one outdoor.  I like them because they are low maintenance & independent. They come when they feel like it, leave when they feel like it & don’t expect much but occasional petting & food. An a warm place to lay.

No longer living would be dinosaurs. I am up to my knees in plastic dinos. I like them because they general stay where they are put & don’t bother me much.

Happy Birthday George Lucas

Thank you for your intergalactic epic and thank you for introducing me to this guy

The object of my affection since 1977. 32 years later I still get that giggly little girl feeling when I see him.

It’s a bit more of a grown up feeling when I see Indiana Jones.

Thank you for him too

My boys love the Star Wars & Indiana Jones sagas. They love the Lego Star Wars game. Mayhem is so obsessed with it, we had to enforce a game play time limit because he was getting up at 5am to play it.

He is currently watching Return of the Jedi as I type this.

George, you have brought a lot of happiness & imagination to my life. Thank you and Happy Birthday!

I did the blogthings Star Wars name & title & this is my result

Your Star Wars Name Is Stacr Hiwhe

Your Star Wars Title Is Drocho of Mehyam

What Is Your Star Wars Name and Title?

FOBTY

You Are Blooming Flowers

You are an optimistic person by nature. In even the darkest times, you are hopeful about the future. You feel truly blessed in life and can sometimes be overwhelmed with emotions. You have an artist's eye. You are always looking for beauty in the mundane. You have a good sense of aesthetics, especially when it comes to shapes and color.

What Part of Spring Are You?

Just can’t let go

I like going out to eat. We’ve had to cut back on it of course but we still manage to go out a couple times a month. Though instead of the Japanese steak house we go to Buffalo Wild Wild on ‘kids eat for 99 cents’ night

easter candy

You Are a Cadbury Creme Egg

You're the type that stole little brother's easter basket so that you could have MORE CANDY!

What Easter Candy Are You?

TV shows I have loved

The question this time on the Sweet Shoppe blog is to list 5 shows you have seen every episode of.

I am spoiled for choice if I reach back into the mists of my childhood

1. M*A*S*H

2. Little House on the Prairie

3. Star Trek

then coming into the 90s

4. Babylon 5

5. The Next Generation

6. Voyager

then more recently

7. Star Trek Enterprise

8. Firefly

9. Eureka

10. Rome

Ok, so that is 10. There are more but I’ll stop here

what’s the word

Your Word is "Fearless"

You see life as your one chance to experience everything, and you just go for it! You believe the biggest risk is being afraid and missing out on something amazing. Sometimes your fearlessness means you're daring. You enjoy risky activities. And sometimes your fearlessness means you're courageous. You're brave enough to do the right thing, even when it's scary.

What's Your Word?

no. not one bit is this my word.

Sweet Birthdays

SSD is having a birthday party & they want us to tell them how we celebrate ours.

In may family now, a birthday is YOUR day. You get to call the shots, within reason. Obviously you have to go to school & do your homework, should the birthday fall on a weekday and I’m not driving you 3 hours to the Air & Space museum on your last minute whim (though you can choose to plan that ahead of time). You get to pick the meals & the activites you want to do. The TV is yours to control. If you want a party we’ll have a party. If you want to go out to eat, we’ll do that. If you want to spend the day playing Wii Lego Star Wars & eating chips, fine. It’s all about you today.

This is a reaction to my own birthday celebrations as a kid. My birthday was in summer, during baseball season and baseball was a religion in my house. NOTHING was more important than freaking little league. So if my brother had a game on my birthday, the birthday celebration was moved to another day and I resented the hell out of it. I have one birthday a year. He has a couple dozen games. Seriously would missing one matter that much?

So I make it all about my kids on their birthday and DH makes it about me on mine.  DH’s birthday is Dec 31st, making it all about him in the face of New Year’s Eve is a bit of a challenge but we try.

resolutions

You Will Keep Your New Year's Resolution

You planning on making a resolution that's smart, attainable, and perfect for where your life is.

Will You Keep Your New Year's Resolution?

cupcakes

Right now I like the crochet kind of cupcakes best. They are easy to make and have zero calories, plus you can keep them forever & they don't go bad.

I have to make about 30 of the normal kind Sunday.  Monday is DS2's birthday and I have to take 20 to his class for a party, then another 10 or so for when we have friends over that night for a pizza party.  They will be chocolate with white icing and rainbow sprinkles

shopping test

You Are a Reluctant Shopper

You really don't enjoy shopping. For you, it's just another chore.
You approach shopping systematically. You research what you're going to buy and come prepared with a list.

Of all the types, you are the most likely to not buy things you don't need.
You try to de-emphasize stuff in your life. You find shopping and buying things to be a rather empty experience.

What Kind of Shopper Are You?

I don't know how it came up that way. I enjoy shopping, though perhaps it is that I enjoy browsing more than buying.

A quick glance in my closet will show that I buy plenty of things I don't need

my snow test

Your Snow Test Says You're Independent

You feel like something good will happen to you in the next few months. You don't really like to work, unless work feels like play. You only are successful when you are doing what you love. You are an independent, individualistic person. You thrive when you're doing your own thing. Your biggest worry in life is your family. You stay up at night thinking about them. When it comes time to relax, you really indulge. You are all about your favorite comforts.

The Snow Test

time to start again

I'm not good with new year's resolutions because I tend to view every Monday as a day to begin again.  Most of my resolutions fall under the broad category of "BETTER".  I will be better at keeping up with the house cleaning. I will be better at sticking to my meal plan. I will be better about clipping & using coupons. I will be better at not snapping at the kids.

My resolution for this year, if you can call it that, is to not just say I'll do better, but say HOW I will do better.  I will make a cleaning schedule, I'll put the coupons with my groery list, I'll count to 10. Whatever I need to make it happen.