Sweet Little Babies.....

I love them.  They are so, so loveable.  I think that most people agree that babies are the bee's knees and even if you don't particularly like children, you can always find something to love about a baby. 

Not only do I love babies, I love making baby albums.  I have made so many over the years that I have lost count.  Some I sell, some I keep and some I give away to my favorite little babies momma's:)

My latest album was based on an adorable album that I found at ACMoore.  I purchased 2 of them and proceeded to take an obscene amount of time to make matching boy/girl albums.  For some reason my mojo ebbed sporadically with this album and I would finish a spread and have to come back to it later (at one time, I didn't come back for a month! What!!!).  But I really love the end result and hope that whoever purchases them (they are both up for sale on ebay starting tonight) loves them just as much. 

 

 

 

It is so bright and colorful and full of handmade embellishments and special touches.  So much fun to make!  My favorite part of the album, hands down, is the amount of space for journaling and photos.  I will post up pics of the girl album tomorrow but until then, thanks for stopping by and have a great Tuesday!

 

We had our first major snow storm yesterday and it is so beautiful out!!! I will also post pics of that tomorrow too......

The Keeper of Important Things

I am thinking of changing my title.  Domestic engineer is just stupid to me, housewife doesn't cut it and stay at home mom is fine but does not really say what it is that I do.  Now, "keeper of important things", that title is an interesting one in my opinion.

As I was falling asleep last night, I was thinking about how the month of September starts birthday season for my family.  We have a ton of birthdays and anniversaries for the next four months, 6 in September alone.   My family does what has become a tradition.  Even though no one usually forgets, the first one up and at 'em on somesones b-day texts everyone a reminder that it is so & so's birthday.  Than lucky so & so gets a call with the b-day song from everyone else. 

Yeah, don't picture Stevie Wonder's version.  Ours is normally the most off key, earsplitting rendition ever heard.  But it is the highlight of our year and we all love getting "those" calls.  One of my sisters actually waits in her office and invites her employees to listen in (she puts it on speaker phone although you could probably hear it anyway). 

Sorry, I got a little off topic.... I was talking about being a keeper.  Appointments, anniversaries, birthdays, household information, important documents, deadlines (think immunizations, registrations, school projects, annual renewals), bills, allergies, favorite foods, food dislikes, favorite colors, fears or phobias and so much more.  As moms, as women in general, we keep all of this information about the people we love tucked away to be grabbed whenever there is a need for it.  As scrapbookers, we document the stories about our loved ones in order to share them.  A memory for one turns into a memory for all. 

This was the first cruise we took.  Waaaay back in 2005 I think.  We brought back a ton of these postcards so I decided to put one on a page about the trip.....

The picture is horrible but I love the memory.  My daughter was at that stage where she really thought I was the devil so moments like these were rare. 

My niece when she was a baby.  She's 18 now.  I found this picture of her when I was sorting through my photos, preparing to put them in albums.  I have a drawer full of border strips and I have had most of them for years (gee whiz some of them are more than 10 years old).

I hand cut a heart from the white cs, traced the heart onto the black cs and hand cut it too.  I traced the heart again on a piece of scrap paper than just went to town gluing the borders down.  I'll have to do this 50 more times to use up all of my border strips, but for now, I feel like I took the top off of Mount Everest.  

What about you, what is your supply Mount Everest and how are you tackling it? 

As always, thanks for stopping by and have a great Tuesday.

It's A Rainy (Hopefully A Little Snowy As Well) Day

And I am ready to craft.  My Christmas tunes are going (still), my heater is blasting and my glue gun is smoking hot.  I have had these die-cuts FOREVER and I am determined to use the whole sheet of them all up today.  It just so happens that the 12 tags project that tim holtz posted for February is perfect for this.  I will be back tomorrow to show you what came about. 

Score card.....

Stash - 0
Shere - 1 (plus a gold star for not sleeping on a rainy, snowy Sunday)

I have been creating much more lately (yeah for me - happy dance - loud clapping) since I decided to make making stuff a priority.  It feels so good to do more than just jot my ideas down and put them aside for a "better" day.  I chalk it up to taking care of me and know that in the long run, my family and I will all be better for it. 

I am finally getting my head set on doing something about the hundreds of photos that we have stashed in boxes.  My kids and family love to look thru them when they visit so I am sure that my scrapbook and photo albums will not go to rot when I bite it.  The effort is worth it to me bc I enjoy finding old photos of my mom, dad and ancestors so why won't my future family members feel the same when they come across mine?  I purchased these page protectors from WRMK.....

 

The plan is to organize my photos by date and add them here more or less chronologically.  There won't be any layouts here only photos and sometime PL cards that document the people, dates and stories that I remember.  Seriously, this album is not going to be very creative.  Just plain ole grunt work to get the photos out of boxes and into more user friendly albums. 

This page on the other hand was creative and will go into my scrapbook album.  3 years ago, my husband, son & I took a trip to Niagara Falls. - 3 years?  WHERE does the time go and HOW does it move so fast??  It feels like we took this trip just last month.  Geesh -  This is one of my favorite photos and I really love the lo too.  I did a lot of journaling on this page, but it is all on the back.  Only the basics (who, what, when & where) are on the actual page...

It is a scraplift of this layout that is on my pinterest board.  It's by Stephanie Bryan whose work I love.  If you get a chance, click on the link and visit her blog. You will not be disappointed!!  Yeah, I know.  My page is nothing like hers except for maybe placement but I am still 100% happy with it. 
I am especially in love with the collage of papers behind the photo mat.  This comes from the Amy Tangerine paper pad that I just bought. 


Anywho, that's all for me.  What about you?  What is your favorite thing to do on a rainy day? 

I would love to hear from you and thanks so much for stopping by!