Techniques

I made this over a year ago. Sometimes its just nice to have it all written down, with visuals to help you see. So, here are several techniques stamped and glued onto a CTMH Photo Brag book to keep them all in one place. These are what I'd probably call my beginner set - the ones I use the most often for stamping. (Sorry the first couple of images are so blurry - not sure what happened :0(

Happy Birthday and Merry Christmas

Whenever your birthday is this year, Have a Happy One! I made sixty-five of these for all the ladies at my church this year, to hand out on Sunday's. If they don't come they'll miss the treat that goes with them, but they'll still get a homemade post-card. More on those later. This is my new favorite stamp set - from Key To My Heart, the winter special from CTMH. It's large - 4 x6, but these are just 3 x 3 cards, and it works. The font comes from Say It With Style, another fav. I haven't posted in a while. These were done by the 14th, but just getting up today.


This 2 page spread started with sewing and that cute Bazzill Basics scallopped edge. From there it became last Christmas. I don't use the collage method often, but this time it filled up the frame and helped me feel like there wasn't one image or one child that stood out. It was just everyone happy that made it all work, and I love that the fleece projects Cowgirl and I made are sprinkled throughout. The journaling is unreadable unless you're up close. I chose a gray-scale font to put the emphasis on the photos, not the words. My favorite photo - the teeny, tiny one of our family sent out in our Christmas card at the very bottom, in the frame MyGirl bought me the year before for Christmas. The paper is an older packet, Everlasting from CTMH. It feels soft and faded, like old memories. I love that.

My creative time came to a screeching halt for a couple of weeks, but my sanity demanded that I find time, so while everyone else in my household was watching a movie, I just slipped away. No one missed me. My recovery from surgery is going well, my busy church calling is coming along, my family's needs are always present and my downtime is very limited, but sometimes life just demands that we stop and create. I like how Elder Uchtdorf put it best, " We know that sometimes it can be difficult to keep our heads above water. In fact in our world of change, challenges, and checklists, sometimes it can seem nearly impossible to avoid feeling overwhelmed by emotions of suffering and sorrow. . . . Creating and being compassionate are two objectives that contribute to our Heavenly Father's perfect happiness. Creating and being compassionate are two activities that we as His spirit children can and should emulate." So, there. I WILL create without guilt and with joy, as the remaining hours of the day and days of the week are spent doing everything else. And, my suffering was pretty minimal. Who doesn't like to stay in bed and get waited on hand and foot, really??!!??

Memories . . .

This is completely not creative, but reminds me part of why I scrapbook is to remember the life I've lived. I wish I would have taken pictures of the meteor shower or when I sung karaoke with my roommates, before that was even a word in our vocabulary or when I donated blood, but they were all experiences I had before I owned a camera or even thought about preserving memories. Life changes. I can't donate blood anymore. I doubt I will ever return to Venice or sell Girl Scout cookies with my daughters, but they were all good memories, and ones I wish I had in my books. I didn't keep a scrapbook of my college years. There are very few pictures I have of that time. Fortunately, the memories still feel fresh. How blessed I am that my parents took me to Europe the summer I was 19, and how ridiculous does it seem that I've been to Pisa and not Yellowstone! (That's a goal as well as reading the whole Bible, not just the seminary-required-chapters.) I loved being a young adult, and truly deep down, I don't feel a day over 25. . . well, this week I do, but not usually :)
Overall, though, this brought back a lot of good memories. Copy it, change it to reflect you, edit out my comments and enjoy!

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii (the top of my blog is the view from Waikiki)
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland or Disneyworld
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables (3 inch failure carrots in Las Vegas - edible, but this was before baby carrots were popular!)
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Olde Faithful Geyser Erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris - (stood beneath twice, why not UP????)
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie or on a TV show
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Had an encounter with a wild animal
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets, or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating - does Trout count?
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a Jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake (just put my foot in it)
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee - (when it was dead, does that count?)
100. Taken a martial arts class