December Daily: Part 1

Last December I started following a tradition of many other scrapbookers out there called the December Daily.  The concept again leads back to my favorite scrapbooking guru, Ali Edwards.  The goal is that each day in December, you make/take the time to create one page to add into a mini book, that eventually turns into an entire album dedicated to celebrating each little part of the holiday season.  Last year my album went pretty well up until about the 22nd or so of December... then I got so busy that it just became too much... I have everything I need to finish it, the journaling is done, the pictures are printed... but it has sat that way for a year.  :(  This year I decided to try again, and although I will admit that I haven't been doing the day's page on the actual day, I am keeping good notes, journaling each night, and playing catch-up whenever I can.  So, this weekend I got some catching up done and took photos of days 1-7 to share with you.  HOPEFULLY the rest of the days will follow... I hope you enjoy.  :)
Day one:

A couple close-ups of Day one:

Back of Day One:

Day Two:

Day Three:  The Civil War!

Day Four:

Day Five: Blazer Game!

I had to do a lot of sewing on this one because the background page is one thick piece of felt... nothing would really stick to it very well.  Turns out I really love the stitching... I plan to do more of it.  :)

Rest of Day Five:

Day Six:

Rest of Day Six:  I used my new to me (very old) typewriter to journal this day.  I was so very excited to use this new tool of mine and I LOVE the way it turned out.  Here is a picture of my new tool

I think it is the coolest thing ever.  I got it on ebay and had it refurbished at a great shop in Portland called Blue Moon Camera... they did a fantastic job (considering it was all bent up and didn't work at all before I brought it to them... and they charged me $50 to totally fix it up to perfection... love it :)  And here is a picture of Day Six part two:

And here is a close-up of the amazingly awesome typewriter font:

And finally, Day Seven... the other side of the pocket page filled with photos and stories of this day.  This used to just be a plain canvas page, but I sewed transparencies onto either side to create pockets... not my original idea... but love the look regardless.  :)

So everyone... that is it for now.  I hope to post more soon and more than that I hope to get this year's December Daily done BEFORE next December.  :)

Happy Holidays... I hope you are enjoying them as much as I am.  :)

A new creation

 Just wanted to show you a few of my newest creations... I love these and so did the people who received them... thanks for the inspiration ladies... without you I would have had no reason to create such wonderful frames.  :)

 

Fantastic Font Find

I know many of you are budding crafty folk.  You've thought about doing a little something here and there, but it just seems like too much work to make it look cute right?  Well, I have recently become a huge fan of keeping it as simple as it can be.  The point is to tell a story right, so don't worry about not having the money for scrapbook supplies.  Simply grab any sheet of scrapbook paper, and photo 4 x 6 or larger, and sit down at your computer to type.  Tell a story.  And then, when you are done getting it all out, check out this site.  Quickutz font equivalents.  It's really an easy simple way to jazz up a written bit of info.  It's got some of the hottest fonts out there that go with the really expensive quickutz fonts... but most of them have a FREE equivalent.  It's been so much fun.  Not only because I am one of those crazy people that have a lot of the actual quickutz, but because it makes things look so pretty and jazzed up with very little effort.  Try it.  Free, fun, and EASY!  Tell a story today and get a little info off your shoulders and onto some paper for someone to read years down the road.  I hope to post a photo of a page that I have done this with very soon.  Happy crafting and story telling.  :)

Today I wanted to talk a bit about the importance of friendships.  Through our years we have friends that come and go... we have friends that we have had for many years and develop slowly, and then we also have short friendships that become very deep very quickly... some friendships seem to stay at the acquaintance level and some friendships are what keep us afloat when we just feel like sinking.

This entry isn't to point out who is who in my life, it is just to say that I am thankful for all of my friends.  Every type of relationship, every type of friend... to each of you I am eternally thankful.  I know that you are there if I am down, if I need to talk, or if I need to tell you the best of news.  For this I cannot find any other words except Thank You.

To those of you who are friends of mine,  if you need a friend in me, in any way I haven't seemed to find, remember to ask, or to yell, or to stop by, or to ask me to come over, or to grab me by the face and tell me.  I promise to listen.  I appreciate that I may not always be as tuned in as necessary, but today I am stepping back to say that I am here...

I AM HERE.

Love you my ladies.  xoxo

Journal a bit

For those of you who read my post a few weeks ago... you will know what I am talking about. To the rest of you, look back a few posts...

I have been taking part in an online class given by Ali Edwards and it has been so much fun to explore my memories in this way. As much as I love scrapbooking, I have done little to really tell any version of my story that would really be useful to anyone 50 years from now. My goal with this class is to get some of it out... to tell some of the stories that I have held in my memory bank. So many of my memories I'm sure are tainted by childhood fogginess, by the desire to forget, or by just plain forgetting. But I do find that many of my memories are fairly accurate. This first set of stories are just "from childhood". My mom after reading them seemed to think they were "mostly accurate"... so I'm okay with that. Regardless of the exact details, the thing that matters is "what I remember" and how it effected me and the memory I have of it.

I had so much fun telling these stories... it was time consuming yes, but what a great feeling it is to know that at least these six stories will always be documented... for years to come. It's really a strangely peaceful feeling. Even with no children to worry about passing them down to, I've got to believe that someone someday will care. :)

My next pages are going to document a particularly difficult event in my life (and frankly many other lives). I have already begun the journaling portion and it has been so very healing for me. This thing that happened nearly 15 years ago can still make me cry, it has honestly impacted me nearly every day of my life and it has been healing to deal... to write about it... to feel that pain again... and be grateful for what it has done to influence my life in a positive fashion despite all of the pain involved. I will unveil the pages soon enough, for now I need to get it all out. Just after journaling a bit about it last night, I felt a little lighter this morning. It feels good to face those things that we maybe never dealt with... even 15 years later... it feels good to find the positive in the pain.

Well, that is it for now... and if you do one thing this week... journal a bit... I know we have all been told before that it is helpful... I'm here to tell you yet again... it is. :)

Crazy Love

I am just loving a new CD. Just thought I would share how it just makes me feel good. It's warm, cozy, and everything that it is NOT outside here these days. Check it out... Michael Bublé's Crazy Love.

*Thank you Justin for finding this CD for me... even if he is not your favorite. :)

Old friends

This last weekend, Justin and I headed up to Seattle for a wedding of a friend of his. His name is Jason and I had never met him. I had also never met the whole group of Justin's "Seattle friends" before this day. It was such a treat to get to meet each one of these wonderful people that I have heard stories about for years. I got to meet the guy who knows how to catch a opossum by the tail, and I got the meet the guy who got the opossum put into his room while sleeping (the groom) many years ago. I got to know the guy who wanted Justin to do a painting of him riding on an eagle wearing chaps and holding two six-shooters. And I got to hear some stories that Justin had neglected to tell me such as a hole in a house they lived in getting spackled shut after a spaghetti dinner was thrown into the wall. Yes, you read it right... spaghetti got spackled INTO the wall. It's hard to believe these guys have survived so long, but love that they have survived it all together. Oh lovely college days.

During the wedding I had sent a text message to my own college roommates because not only was I being reminded of my own college years at this wedding, but it just so happened that the best man had a shocking resemblance to Jack from the show Dawson's Creek which we watched every single Wednesday night all together in college. It was sortof our thing at our college house and we did everything in our power to all be together for this hour every week. I got a text back from Kara first... I wanted to know if she could meet up with us after the wedding but she wasn't feeling well... :( Sad we missed you lady. Then I got a text back from Kim saying that she has just landed in Seattle (she now lives in D.C.) and wanted to have coffee in the morning. YIPPY! I hadn't see her in years, since a wedding in California, and what a wonderful treat it was.

The next morning we got together for brunch and her and I talked and talked and talked about so many things old and new. I love the way she sees the world. I love that she is so driven in career and success. I love that she can turn any horrible situation into something you can learn from. I love that she can listen as well as she can speak. I love that her hug is so sincere. I love that she can laugh at even the horrible stuff yet have such a honest kind heart at her core. I love that she remembers things I told her ten years ago. I love that she is genuinely excited to see me as well, and I love that she is happy for me. I loved everything about this chance meeting and feel like I could have stayed at that restaurant for ten more hours visiting. About two hours in Justin came for a visit and they hit it off great. I am so glad I sent that silly text message and so glad that she was in town. Lets hope another four or five years doesn't go by without seeing eachother again. Thank you Kim for being one of those amazing people in my life. Despite the fact that we don't see eachother or even talk to eachother very often, I want you to know that you are very special to me and I cherish our friendship.

Intro...

Here is page number one of my current project. Just making this first page has been so much fun and so rewarding. I'm hoping to get more done this weekend. Stay tuned.

Amazing...

These last few weeks I have embarked on a class from Ali Edwards (my scrapbooking idol) and begun and amazing journey through my life in pictures. I can't begin to tell you how wonderful it has been to do that thing that we all think about doing but rarely get done... scanning those old photos. Now if your life is anything like mine, getting those old photos out of your parents hands and into your own is the first challenge... (love you mom:) After that it is still quite the chore, but I have never had more fun at a chore. I started with the big family albums... mostly professional photos and larger prints... then started in on the little 4x6 photos, 3x5 photos, and the most fun of all, the 3x3 photos. It is AMAZING how much a few photos can bring back to your mind. I saw toys I haven't thought about in years, but knew the names of immediately. I saw a doll that I knew was named Sarah... but didn't know why I even knew that until I saw it was written on the back of the photo. I saw some looks of my Dad's that I never knew existed :) and I have seen love between my siblings and I squeezing and hugging as children that is rarely shown in photographs later in life. :) It has been such a treat to have access to these memories and I thank my parents for doing such a wonderful job documenting my life and keeping things organized (enough) to find everything I am looking for. I look forward to what this scrapbooking class will bring me. I look forward to the stories that are brought to the surface and the memories I make simply in creating this album for myself. What a wonderful treat and gift this will be to a future generation... or simply to myself... whenever it is finished. I will leave you with a sampling of photos... enjoy. :)

Kevin and I

Best dollhouse ever!

My Dad and I

My Mom and I

Anyone know who is with me in this photo???

Shannon and I

A Reive Family classic... seriously.

And that's all for now... stay tuned for more... That's All Folks! :) (dork)

What a Shutterfly evening

Well, I just spent hours upon hours sorting, uploading, cropping, selecting, editing, you name it on Shutterfly. I just love that site. If you've never done anything on this site and you are a picture fan like me... listen up. I have been using them for a couple years now and have found that they truly are the best. You get free stuff all of the time and my favorite part about them is that they allow you to use numerous offer codes all at once. For instance... tonight I got 50 print free for ordering a photo book a while back, a free 7 by 9 photo book (offer code READYMADEBOOK) that I did up with all of the pictures from April's Bridal shower, three free holiday photo cards (offer code 3FREECARDS), and then I have a 10 cent per photo plan through them so I ordered all of my summer vacation photos through them tonight too (319 of them :) and because I ordered over $30 of prints, my entire order shipped for free. So... I spent $30 tonight and got a photo book, 369 prints, and 3 photo cards! That's amazing. You can't beat that even at Costco. :)

So, I didn't write this just to brag about my good deal, but to share the good news, AND show upload a few amazing pictures I found along the way tonight. Enjoy. And if I can offer a word of advice tonight, check out Shutterfly (or another photo site) and get those pictures off your computer and in your hands. Its much better when they are right there and available to frame or scrapbook RIGHT NOW! Looking forward to my upcoming package. :)

This first set of photos is from this last Spring Break when my entire family was all able to take a vacation to Disney World. Who really knows when the next time we will be able to take such a trip all together... that's what made this so very special to us all.

This next set of photos is from our trip to the beach for April's Bachelorette Party. Those of you who read an earlier post of mine saw one version of this set of pictures. On this day we were playing with both my camera's timer and it's continuous shooting abilities. This is a very small sampling of what we got. :)

And finally, we each took a turn running down a sand dune in a "baywatch" fashion using the continuous shooting... here is both the beginning and end of Kara's run. (forgive me for sharing my dear... but it is just too funny not to. :)

I will spare you the in-betweens...

Here are photos I took when Justin and I went to Pacific City the morning after April's wedding to get a little rest. It was wonderful.

And finally, I leave you with my favorite... Puma. Jumping from the washing machine to her cat tower about six feet away... That's my Puma. :)