Documenting Life

This reminded me of something very important....

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Last weekend Nicholas did something he often does.  Grabbed his mini book from our day at Disneyland in 2008.  A little while later Jackson was in the mix.  He isn't in the pictures (he was just about 3 months in my tummy).

What it reminded me is that I hadn't made a mini book in a while.  And it reminded me why my Library of Memories system is so worth the effort.
So when I stopped into one of my LSS this past Saturday and saw some older Cosmo Cricket blackboard photo boxes and cigar boxes for $5, I picked up a couple with an idea.
Saturday night I sat down with Basic Grey Oliver papers and embellishments and in 2 hours I put together this little mini photo box for Nicholas.  I covered the box with paper and embellishments and punched a hole for a ribbon handle.  The interior 16 pages used up 32-4x6 photo's from my 2009 & 2010 photo storage binders. I paired just 4 sheets of kraft cardstock with strips of patterned paper and coordinating embellishments. I kept the pages simple since they were going to be for frequent handling with little hands.
On Sunday morning I handed Nicholas the box and I got the sweetest "aahhh" I have ever heard.  Later I heard him call it "my book mommy made".  He kept looking at his pictures and talking about things we had done and the different family members in the pictures.

Now I need to come up with an idea for smaller hands, because it is time Jackson had his first book just for him.

ScrapTiffany - Brads & Eyelets Oh My!

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This week for ScrapTiffany the Design Team was challenged to bring back eyelets and use brads on our project.  This was definitely a challenge for me.  Because in the "Great Scrap Room Clean Out" in January 2010 I got rid of almost all of my eyelets.  But I did keep a small amount in a few colors so I came up with this. All I can say, is thank goodness for the Crop A Dile.  I hadn't used it to set an eyelet in a very long time (if ever).  With my short supply of eyelets I had to be careful with the practice to get the hang of it again.  But I was happy with the playful look the eyelets and the colorful brads gave the page, and then of course what page is complete without some buttons.

The background white was a bit too bright, nothing a bit of Maya Mist can't fix. I also threaded some bakers twine through the eyelets.

Highlight bullet points with some tiny brads:

Shopping and Trains

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Last Friday I hit up the local scrapbook store, Scrapbooks Etc., where I have a big fat store credit from selling off my unwanted supplies.  They had the new Basic Grey Oliver goodies which are perfect for one little train dude in this house.  So I picked up several fun things to play with.

And I started using them to make this page from a sketch from the Camp Scrap class I am taking at Big Picture Scrapbooking.  I don't do many 2 page layouts on my own, so a sketch works good for me on the 2 pagers...I have had these pictures for a few weeks now looking for the perfect home.  I think I found it....

Side 1
Side 2

This Kid Made My Day

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Jackson is VERY, VERY vocal, even though he only says about 5 words and doesn't point, wave or make other gestures to communicate.  He was advanced in all his physical milestones so we have assumed that he was more focused on that than talking. Tonight I walked in the door and he started waving at me (which he had never done before).  I was pretty excited because being at work during the week I miss some of those firsts.  It made my day to see this one.

ScrapTiffany Weekly Challenge

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This week's challenge for ScrapTiffanywas to go "monochrome".  I had been thinking about this one all week.  By the time I sat down to work on it Friday I had decided to go with using a pool picture and use blues to make my layout.  I found a picture and just started grabbing blue colored papers, color mediums and embellishments and it just started coming together.

I had a blast with this layout, using different color mediums and Technique Tuesday Fundamental Circle Tiles. I painted white Thickers to match the page, inked the circle with the dots, misted the inner and outer circle and cut the Echo Park paper on the Cricut.  I cut out the inside too to conserve paper, and then used it for my "sun".

What I Loved About the Weekend

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Boys with fresh haircuts...

Friday night scrapping....

Coffee and silence on Saturday morning...

Looking at scrapbooks.....

Peaceful naps....while mommy is cooking

Making cookies with little boys....

Placing a pre-order for this awesome new machine....
...and the best part of my Monday was a visit from the man in a brown uniform....
I'll be back later this week with cooking adventures from the weekend, my ScrapTiffany challenge for the week, and what's in that Studio Calico box.  I have been working on catching up with a month and a half of photos and playing with lots of PSE actions.  I am pretty excited at how some have came out so far.

Picture Summer Days 1 - 10

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I was going to skip out on Picture Summer at Big Picture Scrapbooking, but I have seen a few blogs recently of other scrappers that were signed up and decided to go for it.  I started a few days late, and I am now caught up with my assignments. I used my Sony DSC-TX1 point and shoot for all of the pictures (except the one in the pool). I used PSE actions from Pioneer Woman for most of the pictures, although for a few I did my own manual post-processing.

Day 1
Summer is the boys having fun and playing outside in the evenings.
Day 2
Splashin' in the pool.
Day 3
I love the way the fountain in the courtyard is angled to line up with the windows on both sides.
Day 4
Grilling is a big part of our summer and always on the 4th.
Day 5
It doesn't matter the season, for me a glass of wine in the backyard watching the sun goes down is perfect any time of year.
Day 6
A view I haven't noticed much lately that was one of my favorites when we moved to our house 5 years ago.  Looking down our street at the lake from our hallway windows.
Day 7
This starfish was hanging out on the side of the aquarium. I thought the colors of its belly were splendid.
Day 8
The prompt for today led me to photograph these shells I have had for years.  I had collected most of them as a kid.  I have had them in one of my bathrooms at each home we have lived in  for years.  I see them every morning when I get ready, but haven't thought much about them in years.  Yet, every time I update the bathrooms I always hang on to this bit of my childhood.
Day 9 
These textured balls are on display in my entry way. Love the different textures and sizes.
Day 10
A scene I don't want to forget.  Nicholas and Jackson pillow fighting in the family room.  I heard them this morning giggling and playing while I was checking my e-mail I snuck up on them and found this.  I know they will be teenagers in a blink of the eye, so I want to enjoy the toddler rough housing while it lasts.

Love Long Weekends & My First ScrapTiffany Challenge

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I took Friday off so we could have a nice long weekend, filled with family time and lots of cooking and grilling.  So I stayed up late Thursday night finishing up my first ScrapTiffany challenge.  This week's challenge is Self Portraits.  There are 18 ladies on the design team, so the DT reveal's are on Monday and Friday.  Mine is up today, so I can share it here.  I like to do pages like this a couple of times a year and it had been a while since my last one.

Making Me Happy Now

On Thursday this week I will be hosting Thrifty Thursday over on the ScrapTiffany blog, so make sure you check it out.

We started off Friday with a quick breakfast out at Mimi's and then headed to the new SeaLife Aquariam at Arizona Mills.  It was crowded but it didn't matter too much.  Nicholas had fun and even touched some starfish.  We got an annual pass so we could go back several times.  If you live locally, it is probably the better way to go.  It is kind of pricey to just go for the day. It only takes about an hour to walk through one time.

We had lunch at Rainforest Cafe then headed back home for the afternoon.  I finished up The Short Life of Bree Tanner, (the Twilight novella) that afternoon.  Mike's been doing all the cooking lately, so it was my turn.

I took this....

And made this....Smoked Salmon Pasta,Tomato Bread Salad and garlic cheese bread.

The salad is definitely going to be a repeat recipe.  The salmon pasta on the other hand was just okay.  Just as I was about done making dinner, we heard a horrible noise coming from one of the A/C units.  So we had to shut it down and got to sleep in a warm room (thank goodness for ceiling fans and more than one air unit, or it would have been the couch again).

On Saturday Mike made us pancakes for breakfast.  Nicholas and I went to see Toy Story 3.  He fell asleep half way through and I cried like a baby at the end.  On the way home from the movies Mike called with the news that the compressor had gone out on the A/C, at the price tag of $2K.  So we are now up to $4K in the past month in A/C repairs. If it would have all blown out at once we could have replaced the unit for $5K.  So hopefully the A/C gods will be nice to us the rest of this summer and we can budget to start replacing our units next year.  You would think you shouldn't have to replace your A/C units after only 5 years, but I have concluded that Carrier stinks (and that is the G rated version).

Mike grilled us steak, asparagus and pineapple for dinner Saturday night and I conked out early that night after starting a new book.

The 4th for us was spent at home making breakfast, swimming, making cheesecake, grilling hot dogs and potatoes and playing outside in the evening.

I also kicked off my new scrapbook organization blog - Michelle's Scrapbook Studio.  I am starting off with a tour of my room and features on how I organize my stuff.  After that I plan to feature organization tips for organizing our creative spaces.

After a quick bath for the boys, we finished up our 4th by watching the fireworks from a nearby park (Tumbleweed) out on the greenbelt across the street from our house. It was great to avoid the crowds. It was a quick walk home afterwards, which was a good thing, since Nicholas fell asleep during the fireworks and I had to carry him home to bed.  Mike and I had the chocolate chip cheesecake I made for dessert and again I crashed pretty early.

This ended up being the best fireworks shot.

Of course at the end when I was trying to get a good picture of the finale two cars parked down the street from us to watch too, and left their headlights on facing us.  Thanks neighbors! :)-

Today we slept in, me after waking up at 3:30 a.m. and not going back to sleep until well after 5:00 a.m..  We had made a breakfast casserole last night, so breakfast was easy and we spent the rest of the morning in the pool.

This afternoon I was tackling scanning of a bunch of old photo's from my mom's boxes.  It's fun to look at so many of those old pictures. I think I spent the age of 3 with my mouth open, because I found several pictures where I looked like this.

Tonght Mike grilled steak tacos topped with his yummy Pico de Gallo (which ended up way too hot for me this time) served with a tomato, corn and avocado salad.

 

Now that I have to go back to work tomorrow, I wish I had one more day.

Halfway there....

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...to my 4 day weekend that is.  Work is busy this week.  Internal audit is visiting and our air conditioning went out (again) yesterday.  We had to sleep on the couch in the basement last night to keep cool.  Our bedroom was a stifling 85 degrees with the fan blowing full blast.  That doesn't make me happy, it makes me cranky...those poor auditors. :). Air was fixed today so back in my own bed and a comfy weekend at home is planned trying out some new recipes.  Saturday we made this Smoked Salmon Pizza it was so yummy....

Nicholas and Jackson are playing pretty well together now....well maybe too well.  On sunday, after several minutes of very loud noise and a closed bedroom door we walked into Jackson's room and found this....

Trouble with a big fat capital T, I tell you...
Also on Sunday, Mike pointed out I had not updated our family room banner.  It still said Spring from one I made a couple of months ago.  We were having the family over for dinner Sunday evening, so I had an hour or so and whipped this one out.  Not super fancy but I love the colors of the Echo Park Paper Sweet Summertime line.  Mixed with some Sassafras whimsies and banner stickers, a few Making Memories glitter stars, ribbon from Michaels, a few punches and Studio Calico Carter and Storytime alphabet stamps and Stamps of Life  stamps I whipped this up in no time. We now have a Summer banner....

Love Saturdays....

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We got up a little after 5:00 this morning so Mike could do some cleaning up outside (you have to when it is going to be well over 100 degrees).  So I was able to get up and have a quiet Saturday morning with my coffee and computer before the kiddos got up. I worked on Operation Organize the House and cleaned out my bedroom drawers and bathroom cabinets, stuffing a huge bag full of clothes to give away and another with expired stuff to throw out.  The rest of the day was spent doing exactly what I hoped...relaxing.  I took a nap (a rarity for me anymore), scrapped a bit and planned my shopping list for the Studio Calico reveal tomorrow.

I did this layout using the Studio Calico Partly Sunny June kit/add-on's plus an additional coordinating We R Memory Keepers paper.  I had done a similar page about Nicholas a little while ago so I wanted to do an "alphabet journaling" page for Jackson, too. It worked great to do an 18 month page for him.  I found this 6x6 alphabet section on the backside of the polka-dot WRMK paper and the page was born.  And I love, love, love the stamps from this SC kit too.

Jackson is...

Salmon Pizza is baking in the oven and the boys are eating bagel cheese pizzas (because no matter what time we plan dinner they want to eat earlier.)  Looking forward to some more scrapping tonight after the kiddos are in bed.