Life is Fun

It is so often the "little things" that I remember..... the smile on my son's face when he just can't help but show his feelings, the touch of my husband's hand on mine, the way my daughter wears different colors of nail polish on each finger.

I think it is for this reason that I love scrapbooking. A single page can be my opportunity to document those little things and why they mean so much to me. Each page is a 12 by 12 freeze frame of my thoughts, my feelings, and my life.

Take for example, my latest page.....

I realize that my daughter won't be so carefree forever. As she continues to age, the weight of schoolwork, adulthood, and life's little problems will begin to weigh on her, just as they do on me. Yet she will always have this page documenting a time in her life when she could focus on just enjoying life and maybe being a little bit silly. Hopefully that will encourage her to continue to live her life with just a little bit of laughter and fun. Maybe I need to remember that too!

Scrapping With an Empty Nest

Last night I reached a realization.

One of the reasons that I am not scrapping much anymore is that I am not taking pictures much anymore. With my oldest child away at college and my other child a busy teen, I have lost two of my major subjects. Kari is busy with track and field or cross country, both of which are very difficult events to photograph well. The few pictures that I do get are the same images over and over. I get a few photos that Keenan's college pals post on Facebook, but they are usually the typical staged group shots.

With no photos of them, what do I scrap? I know that there are some people out there who scrap about themselves. I tried that for a while. I don't have many photos of myself and I can only do so many pages about my hopes and dreams.

I love my scrapbooking hobby. It has always been a personal release- allowing me to throw my creative energy into telling a story with photos, papers, embellishments, and journaling. It also allowed me a stress release. Alone in my scraproom with all of my "toys" I could create without fear of someone coming by to evaluate the outcome.

I don't really know what my future is, as far as scrapbooking. I don't see grandchildren in my future for quite a few years, but I don't think I can give it up either. I would love to hear from some of you scrapbookers out there who are like me- working women who have or soon will have an empty nest. What do you scrapbook? Where can I go for motivation?

Valentine's Day is Coming...

Christmas is barely behind us and now I need to get a start on Valentine's Day projects. Lucky for me that we had a crop at Scrappin' Mojo over the weekend!

I decided to get a jump start on some V-Day cards.

One challenge asked us to select a Pinterest project that inspired us and create our own card or layout based on it. I decided to make a Valentine card based on one made by Darlene over at Splitcoast Stampers. Here's my finished card:

I love the way the patterned paper peeks up though the the heart-shaped hole. This is one of the first times I have used Baker's twine too. I think I like it!

For my second Valentine's card I tried a different technique.

First I used my Cuttlebug to emboss the white paper. Then I colored the raised parts with my Prismacolor pencils. I used gamsol to soften the color a bit. I added some pearls on some of the flower centers, tied on ribbon and a couple of tags. I LOVE the look!

A Special Page

This weekend my favorite gals over at Scrappin Mojo.com are having an online crop. I happened to have a bit of time so I figured I would join in on the fun.

Terri posted this sketch from Page Maps for one of the challenges:

I flipped through my photos and found the perfect 2 to create a special page. They weren't the size mentioned in the sketch, but I thought that I could adapt it.

When I started working everything just seemed to fall into place. I ended up with THIS page commemorating my daughter's baptism this past Easter.

There is plenty of time to join in on the crop fun. Come on over to Scrappin Mojo. You'll find a link in my list  to the right. They are great girls with very creative ideas!

WHOO HOO!!!

A new year and a new goal for myself.....

Last year I didn't get much srapbooking or crafting done. Work, life, and other things just took too much of my time and focus.

This year I have made a goal or a resolution, if you will, to reignite that creative flame in me and to begin scrapbooking once again. It has always been a kind of therapy for me, a chance to escape the stress of life and work and just do something that I love. I need that back in my life.

I figured that there was no better time to start than January 1, so today I completed a simple, but finished page, focusing on my daughter's love of s'mores.

I used old papers, old chipboard, old letter dies, and some sewing. BOY, did it feel good!

The Best Laid Plans....

A lot has happened since my last post. The most significant thing is that I will NOT be retiring.

The last two months have been filled with a lot of discussion back and forth between myself, the group who was going to be hiring me as a literacy coach, and the Kentucky Teacher Retirement Systems. It took three visits to Frankfort, but today it finally became apparent that I just wasn't going to be financially able to leave my job and take a different one.

I won't bore you with the details. I will just say that there were certain stipulations placed into legislation that I still don't understand. They are just too open to interpretation, and apparently we were not interpreting them the way of the powers that be.

I am a bit disappointed. The idea of a new career had given me a renewed enthusiasm that I had been lacking for quite a while. I only hope that I can find a somewhat similar enthusiasm once I discover what my position will be in education next year.

This is IT!

Today was my last day at school. The teachers met to finish up all of the end of year paperwork and to enjoy a celebration meal together. My principal presented me with the traditional "Bell" that is given to all retiring school personnel.

I am very excited about the future. My new position has given me a renewed enthusiasm for learning and for my career. My head is swirling with ideas that I can implement, along with the teachers at OCES. This is not the end of my "play"; it is merely the end of one act and the beginning of another.