Showing posts with label family life. Show all posts

A Reminder About Why I Scrapbook





The handsome guy in the picture above is my dad...when he was in service during the 1940s.  He passed away about a week and a half ago, and I cannot tell you how much I miss him.

During this time, when I'm still getting used to the fact that he is no longer with us, I have been so thankful that I have pictures of him...those that I took and those that belonged to him that we took the time to scan in.   Also, I'm glad I took time to scrapbook some of those photos, and that there are others that I still have the chance to scrapbook.

I have realized that while I love the pretty papers and embellishments and have fun using them, they are not the main reason I do this.  The most important reason, and why it is so dear to my heart, is so I can preserve those memories and remember what the good things and good people in my life.

Being able to look back at the pages I've made with photos of my dad have really brought me peace and helped the sting of our separation to be less painful.  Certain memories have made me laugh, while others have made me so grateful for the good man he was.  I'm so glad I had such a wonderful dad and what a sweet grandad he was to my kids.

You can hear more about this in this week's video:



The layouts I included are posted here in case you wanted a better look at them.


This one features my dad with one of his elementary school classes:

 



I love this page because it shows my parents on their wedding day and then on their sixtieth anniversary:




This page shows one of my favorite things to do ever, which is taking a hike with my dad and my kids:

 


 This was such a fun Christmas, because it was our first in the new house we just moved into, and my parents surprised us by stopping by to spend some time with us:


I loved looking back on this day because we went to the courthouse to make the adoption final, and become a family in the eyes of the law.   I loved having Mom and Dad there:




Thanks for taking time to visit today, and remember --- scrap those memories!  And, if someone you love a lot has been on your mind, and you haven't talked to them in awhile --- don't wait!  Call, visit, Facetime them, or take them to lunch.   You won't regret it!
 


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Who Should Do Scrapbooking?




OK, so don't get me wrong...I'm not saying moms shouldn't scrapbook, because of course, I am one.  I love to scrapbook, and I always will.  However, I still think there's this misconception that only women with kids can scrapbook.   Why should that be?  Yes, I do think it's important for moms to document their children's lives, but what about their own lives?

And what about teens?  Wouldn't it be awesome if they found value in saving their memories?  The same thing can be said for singles, college students, grandparents, and so on, and so forth.  Don't misunderstand...I'm not trying to force it on anyone who would rather bullet journal, art journal, or whatever.

I just know that I love looking back through my albums to see my older pages, and to remember why I scrapped those pictures.  I am so glad I can look back and remember things I've almost forgotten about.

In the video above, I posted five reasons I think scrapbooking should hold more of an appeal for a wider audience:

1 - You Have Your Own Unique Story To Tell.
2 - You Don't Need To Be A Specific Age, Gender, Or In A Certain Life Situation to Benefit From Scrapbooking.
3 - Show Your Kids You Have Dreams, Aspirations, and Goals Outside of Your Role as a Parent.
4 - We May Not Always Remember Small (But Important) Details About Our Lives If We Don't Document Them.
5 - Include a Mix of Both Positive and Negative Experiences in Your Scrapbooks.

I hope you enjoy the video, and let me know your thoughts on this topic.  Do you scrapbook or do you choose not to?  Tell me what you think!

Thanks for stopping by and enjoy your day, 



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Some Favorite Layouts and Some Construction Dust...

Hey everyone! I'm getting back to blogging and thought I would share a few of my favorite scrapbook pages that I meant to share here, but never did. Most of these were published in the last year, and couple of them are just random favorites that I made even earlier. Hope you like them all:

   

   


 I also wanted to let you know that I'll be giving my blog a facelift over the next few weeks. If things change or look weird for a bit, don't fret. I'm sticking around and will continue to blog. Pardon my dust as I do a little revamping to things around here.

Have a great day!

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One Post Might Be Good...


...don't you think, before the year is over?  I know it's been quite a long time since my last blog entry.  2012 has been the kind of year where my attention was just needed elsewhere.  Nothing really terrible has happened, but there were some things going on with me personally, and with my family, that brought on the long hiatus.  So, let's get back to it, shall we?

My absence here has not meant that I haven't been creating, and here's some things I've been interested in, or that I've enjoyed documenting over that last 11 months or so:

Art Journaling
In January, I found myself very interested in art journaling.  I picked up a traditional paper journal, which I have started painting backgrounds in, but have felt drawn more to digital art journaling, so that's what I've been exploring.  I've found it's a great way to either "dump" feelings onto paper without worrying about it being "right" or "trendy," or a fun place to try a technique I've been too nervous to put on a layout.  I have been a bit sporaidic with it lately, but plan on continuing with it.  I find it makes me a better scrapbooker when I regularly do art journalng.  Here are just a few of those pages:





Cooking and Gardening

I've discovered some fun cooking blogs, some of which center around vegetarian and vegan cooking.  And no, I'm not switching permanently to either of those eating plans.  I'm not a fan of drastic changes.  Rather, I'm just choosing to incorporate some of the recipes into our regular menu rotation.  I'm also becoming more aware of all the additives in processed food, and trying to either eat less of them, or at least choose those that have shorter ingredient lists or are minimally processed.  So of course, I've been spending more time in the kitchen.  I also started a fall garden, and have been babysitting a bunch of cool weather veggies:









Family Activities
We aren't as on the go as most families, but it is great to see different members of our little brood taking part in things that interest them.  Lately, pictures from these types of activities have been really fun for me to scrap:




Oh, and I just added an activity for myself.  I've recently joined a low-key ballet class for adults.  Since I've only been to two classes, I haven't had much of a chance to do any layouts about it.  So keep an eye out for that in the future...;)

Online Classes
Currently, I'm taking part in a really fun class taught at jessicasprague.com, called {Mo}tography.

It's all about using various photo taking apps on your smartphone, and learning to make them look great and share with friends and family.  It's been great so far and we still have a week to go.  It's amazing how many different photo taking apps there are for these phones.

Another class I enjoyed in September was from Shimelle Laine:










Learn Something New Everyday focused on looking at the small lessons that are around us everyday, and being on the lookout for them.  Class members received a prompt everyday, which we could work from or we could do up a layout on a topic of our choice.  I learned a lot about myself during that time, and was able to complete a great photo book with all my pages from the class.  You can check it out below:



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OK, and to finish off, here's my most recent page, where I documented Thanksgiving 2011.  I used fabulous page kits from Jen Martakis:

 
Thanks for sticking with me for all of that!  And, I have great hopes of doing another blog post very soon.  
Have a great day!
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