I just checked this book out at the library for Erin and LOVE it! The art work is so beautiful and the language is amazing. I am simply in love with this book. You can see more pictures and text from inside the book hereAnother absolute favorite Children's book that I love for the artwork as well as the story is "Wink: The Ninja Who Wanted to Be Noticed." Such a great story! You can check it out here
Keeping these two books in mind for some future scrap projects!

Scrapping, but not really!

So this is the Feb. 7th Sunday sketch over at Studio Calico. And to be perfectly honest, I'm not going to get to it this week. I haven't done a single Sunday sketch since middle of January. Well, actually I did one, but didn't photograph it. Just stuck it in the album. Done!
We have all been pretty sick here off and on the past month. Colds, ear infections...etc... So I've been scrapping a bit here and there, but nothing big.
And Project 12, well I haven't even really looked at placing an order for January photos yet. So I probably won't make the deadline. But I will most likely start it eventually :0)
But at least I accomplished a head start on getting my scrap room cleaned. It was a DISASTER!
And if anything that just makes it harder for me to scrap when piles are laying around everywhere! So the right and middle side are clean.
The left side...not so much. But that's next! And then I will free to start scrapping regularly again. And maybe we will all finally be healthy. And maybe I'll have some scrap project photos to post.

Studio Calico Sunday Sketch

Here is the sketch from last Sunday...
and my layout. I pretty much followed the original completely this week! Not colors I'm used to or comfortable with so it got me out of my comfort zone. But that can be a good thing :0)
If you want to join along, there is a link to the Studio Calico blog on the right. They post a new sketch every week. And if you link a photo of your layout to the blog post by the following Saturday you have a chance to win a gift certificate to their store.

I'm going to an all day crop tomorrow, so hopefully I will have some more projects to post this week :0)

Sunday Sketch at Studio Calico

Here was the sketch put up on their blog Sunday, January 10th.
This is my take on it. My layout is 8 1/2 x 11 because most of the Ireland layouts are going to be in albums this size. And I say albums because I'm planning on doing one of just the trip. But then I am doing one just for me with my thoughts and feelings about the trip. This layout is going in my album :0)

Scrapping in 2010

Just a few scrap projects I am looking forward to this year besides scrapping Ireland photos :0)
1) Project 12 is something I found out about at the Studio Calico site and am really looking forward to giving it a try. I did something similar last year with a monthly recap layout page for our 2009 family album.
Anyway you can see more about Project 12 Here if you are interested. What I like about this project is the use of sketches. I am really loving sketches right now as a jump off point for designing my layouts. It just makes the whole process faster, but I can still make it "my own"

2.) And speaking of sketches and Studio Calico, I am so happy they have started this
Sketch Sunday :0) I plan on trying to participate as often as time allows! I wouldn't mind the chance to win an SC gift card so that sweetens the deal :0)

3) Another favorite scrap site, Two Peas in a Bucket, is offering free on-line scrap classes in 2010. Check the list of offered classes out here I am really intrigued by the mini-album a month class they are offering.
I tried a few of the classes in 2009 - Year of You, Cards, and the Super sketch classes. All had a different idea or project each month. Truthfully, I only completed an "assignment" here or there. I think I did two months worth of the cards class, one month from year of you, but I did the most from Super Sketches.
These classes didn't require you to participate every month so I was pretty happy with what I accomplished. I finished several layouts for the Sketches class that I really loved, had six cards to give to friends and family. Plus the Year of You class layout in January was a layout I used several times for my monthly recap layouts in my 2009 family album. Completely worth checking out!

4. And last but not least! I found a scrapbook challenge site through a few other blogs and I think it looks like a lot of fun. It's called scrapping the music I love music and I love using lyrics for journaling and titles. So I think this will be a good challenge site for me even though I'm usually not big on challenges. This one might be different :0)

How about you? What projects are you looking forward to in 2010?

Nine in 2009! :0)

Here are nine of my favorite scrapbook projects I created in 2009 (in no particular order)
From a trip to the Magic House.
Erin's obsession with Snuggle Bunny on YouTube had to be documented :0)
As did her daily favorites :0) These are the kinds of photos and documentation I sometimes wished I would of had from my childhood. So I'm glad she will know :0)
Definitely a favorite!

A shadowbox I made to highlight a photo of my Nana. This was a gift for my mom on Mother's day.
One of my all time favorite layouts ever because I really am a lucky mom! most days ;0)
I loved using this graph style layout inspired by a free class I was taking over at Two Peas in a Bucket called "A Year of You". This was the only style layout I really liked personally from the class, so I used it as the format for a page representing each month.
That's my girl in a nutshell!

And this little ladybug I made for Erin was so much fun!

Here is an example of one of the pages.

And Stacy Julian had a great post on her blog brought to my attention by Susie. You can see it
here I did a post on this with my photos on my family blog and didn't feel like reposting here. But it was a lot of fun and reminded me of some truly great memories! I would definitely recommend trying it :0)

One Little Word

For the past three years or so Ali Edwards (my scrap guru) has talked on her blog about picking one word to focus on over the course of the year. You can see her post for this year about it here

This year my word is "purpose". Lately I feel as if I have been just coasting along and not really accomplishing what I seriously need to do. My goals (personal, family or house wise) are not being met. Procrastination is huge factor in my life and I simply cannot live like that anymore. Most days are spent just trying to maintain and get done just the basics so we don't descend into complete chaos.
I spend my time picking up after kids, wiping up spill and cleaning up mess after mess, doing laundry, dishes and getting meals taken care of, going to doctor appointments, grocery shopping, handling little errands like the post office or Target, paying bills, filling out school paperwork, helping with homework, helping out friends with their children by babysitting, bedtime routines, playtime, arts and crafts time, to name a few things.

And in all that I do day after day, I still would like to live my life with more purpose. I would like to just say goodbye to putting off tasks I dread and focus on getting things done! Just trying to find the time somewhere to get that little extra project done, so it's not hanging over my head.

So here's to living 2010 with PURPOSE! :0)

My New Scrap Blog

I decided to make my family blog private after much personal debate. But I miss sharing with the scrappy world, so I am starting a blog that is just scrap and arts & crafts related.
I need a scrappy creative outlet and a place to share! :0)

This is the new blog address I will be sharing on the message boards from now on. I need to do a little more work on it to get started though, so stay tuned :0)