Keep Your Eyes Open

Last year in a moment of "I don't want to miss out on that..." I signed up for an online scrapbooking class with one of my favorite scrapbookers Heidi Swapp at Big Picture Classes.  I knew signing up I wouldn't be able to actually keep up with the class, but I was excited to have some new inspiration and something that I would work on as I had time.

This is the third project in the class (and yes...I actually completed the first two and am working away on starting another).  I brought everything I needed to the cabin this past summer and worked away on it one night, but it literally took me 4 months to decide on a song to finish this cute album of my boys. 

I knew the message I wanted this album to have, I just really hadn't found the exact words to express what I was feeling until one night when I was watching t.v. and this song came on.  It fit perfectly and expressed what I was hoping to say.  Here is a link to the song if you have never heard it before. 

I always think about my children and the type of mother I want to be to them.  One of the things that I feel so strongly about is encouraging them to do and be whatever they dream.  I want them to know that they can and will do incredible things in their life.  I don't want fear to hold them back, but I want them to have faith in the unknown and strive to achieve great things.  I am not someone that takes a lot of chances.  Change scares me and I will often stay in a comfortable situation out of fear.  I don't want that for these amazing boys.  I want more for them.  It was a feeling I had the moment I held each of them for the first time.  As I looked at their sweet little faces and studied each perfect detail...I knew that I wanted to be their biggest cheerleader...to always tell them that they can do it.

I love this quote by Steve Jobs

"People who are crazy

enough to think they can

change the world, are the

ones who do"

I want these cute boys to believe in themselves and know that I'm believing in them too...because one day they will change the world.  It may be small changes, but it may just be something miraculous!

 As I sat at the table back in my creative element that night...cutting paper and looking at these priceless pictures I was filled with gratitude.  Honestly it was for so many different things, but mostly for having moments like this to create and capture these deep feelings I have for this family I was blessed with and love so very much.  It may just be cutting paper and gluing pictures on...maybe adding an embellishment or two, but it's also a time where I can reflect on my most personal feelings about these messages I want my loved ones to know and remember.

And yes, I haven't been doing as much as I used to and would like...but I knew that this class was something I didn't want to miss out on....

K :)

The World According To Me

Even before Ryker started school the amount of artwork...coloring...crafty things was adding up!...And I just didn't know what to do with it all.  I bought these storage boxes from Ikea so that at least I had somewhere to keep it all, but once school started Ryker was bringing home paintings by the armful and the box quickly started overflowing.  

All year I collected and collected...not being able to through any of it away...hehe!  I was using paintings as wrapping paper, Ryker created his own little art gallery behind the door in his room (which has spread down the wall), we have taped pictures to the fridge and even other areas...but there was just too much of it and I knew that before anything went in the garbage I wanted to do something special with it.  

Finally I found my answer!!!

I have always LOVED paislee press...and Liz's style (her work is gorgeous!), so when she shared this book that she made I knew that's what I was going to do.

I chose to take pictures of all his artwork (I included church and school), combined it with pictures of his creations I had taken throughout the year and added pictures from the disk of pictures his class gave us at the end of the year of different activities from school to compile his art book.

I then threw away the pile of artwork I had saved all year...YES...that's right I threw it away (okay...I kept a couple of favourite pieces that I really love, but it's probably under 10 items!) and it felt so good to get that all cleaned up and organized.  There is NO WAY that we needed 14 of those big boxes (one for each year of his school from preschool all the way up to grade 12) and then times that by 2 since I have 2 children....  Where would I even put something like that???  This way I can still remember all these perfect little creations without the mess!

It took many hours (2 hours just to take all the pictures!!!), but 100 pages later and we now have this collection of Ryker's artwork!  

It is a true keepsake.  I can't even begin to describe how much I love it!  I have always had a special love for children's art...I love they way they see the world around them and how they express that through art.  There are no rules to children's art and their imagination is unique.  They aren't afraid to make mistakes or add colors that aren't technically correct.  I just love it!

The book is created through Shutterfly so it's easy to just upload your pictures (I did not edit my pictures to make them all pretty...I just cropped them after uploading to make them fit the space I put them in (adjusted the size that way...make sense??).  I needed to keep it as quick and simple as I could and then I added any information to different pages.  I tried to keep that simple as well.  A lot of the artwork from school was written on with information that Ryker had given them while he was creating the piece, so there wasn't always a need for a big write up or explanation.  I also tried to choose layouts that would hold a lot of pictures...I tried to cut down the number of pages in the book to keep the cost down.  You can always find sales, but even with a sale the book still cost me quite a bit. 

On the last page I included a picture of Ryker on his last day of school with a write up about him.

Done!

I thought I had taken a picture of the back cover...it's sooooo cute!!  There's a picture of Ryker wearing one of his many headbands he created.  I guess I forgot that one.  Oops!

K :)

Scrapbook Layouts!

Friday night Tal and I got together for a much needed "creative night."  It's been FOREVER since I've really done anything scrappy (at least it feels that way sometimes...) so when we decided to get together I knew I needed to work on something that wouldn't take much thought and would help me get back into the swing of things.  I spent an afternoon going through my scrapbook room and came across this kit from the talented Heidi Swapp...years ago when she came here to teach.  I was very very pregnant at the time, and so after the classes I never actually worked on my projects (I had been a helper in the classes so I had the kits, but that was it...I hadn't actually done anything with them except stick them in a basket on a shelf!  hehe!!).  

Sooooo.....

to make things even easier and accomplish more...I doubled up on the paper and created the same layout for both of my boys.  I love doing that sometimes.  Just change up a few things and you're done!

The great part about these layouts are that they have a ton of technique which got me actually thinking, but I was completely just following a picture so it was still mindless :)  Perfect!!

K :)

that's what he said

When I saw this idea on pinterest I just knew it was something I had to do.  I'm always writing down the funny things my kids say...because I never want to forget anything ;)  BUT I needed somewhere better than my calendar or scrap paper to keep these cute little comments.  

This was seriously a quick 15 minute project....  All the templates are here to download so it was literally print, cut, punch...done.

And now these little notebooks sit in my kitchen where I can easily grab them and write down little things about my boys.  It's amazing how you think you'll never forget something and then days later you already can't remember it.  Not anymore.

k :)

Happiness Is

My dad gave me a gift card he had for shutterfly that needed to be used up within a couple of weeks.  I thought it would be a fun way to make a quick little album about my family.  I chose a 12x12 album and I actually love that I got it this big!  There are sooooo many different albums to chose from...you can go the simple path where you just choose your pictures and they are automatically put into an album.  Or you can choose the custom path where you have more creative control.  I chose the custom path and obviously chose the 'happiness is' album.

The Front Cover

(I kept it very simple)

The Cutie Back Cover

(I love this picture...those little faces just make me smile!)

The first page (don't worry I'm not sharing all the pages....)

The layouts are so simple...you literally just drag your photo and drop!  They're already this cute!  And then of course you just add a little saying.  You can change the colors of the pages, the number of photos on the page, add embellishments...endless options!

This album uses a bunch of family pictures, and then there's also a bunch of different pictures of the boys.  I wanted to use some of our favorite pictures...more recent ones.

And I only paid around $30!!  Seriously...that's soooo cheap for a cute scrapbook album.  It was so worth it.  And I've noticed they're always having sales too...so watch for those!

If you like to compare products...then check out this post.  She compares different photobook printers.

K :)

When the kids went to bed....

Packing for holidays is never fun.  I don't know about you, but it always seems I spend the week before running around like crazy making sure I don't forget anything...which always happens.  After seeing some super cute travel mini albums (here, here, and here) I got it in my head that I was going to make one.  With only about 20 minutes to round things up I put together a little kit (which means grabbing whatever I can think of I might want to use).  

I made sure to pick up this camera before we left to make it super simple to complete this mini album.  It was so much fun taking pictures and the boys loved watching the picture appear!  I would keep my little stack of pictures in the pocket of my camera bag and once the kids went to sleep I was free to scrap...of course while we watched the first season of modern family!!  Love that show!

Now to see some of the layouts...

I actually didn't even bother to make a cover for the album.  I just kept stacking my layouts on top of each other...it seems to work.

I tried to keep the album about favorite memories and moments...and little details and thoughts about the trip.

This really is one of my very favorite holidays...and so I love that I created this while I was there in the moment.  I hardly pulled out my dslr camera the whole trip, but I'm okay with that.  I am happy to have caught a few fun clips using my new instax camera...and that they're all kept right in this album.

One of our family traditions is to go to the go-karts when we're there.  I don't think there has ever been a year that we haven't stopped (even in the rain!).

*sigh*...how quickly it feels like I was never there at all...

K :)