Taking on the LOAD

Hi all,

I have not fallen off the face of the earth.  I swear!

I have been very busy taking care of my kiddos.  I have found that with every new country we move to the first go round of winter sickies we get slammed.  I think it is new germs.  Since New Years Eve someone in this household has had a fever and a horrible head and chest cold.  But I am happy to announce that as of today all my kids are better and back in school!!!!

To celebrate that amazing feat I have decided to treat myself to a little creative challenge. I joined the LOAD.  Have you heard of it? What I am talking about is the LayOut A Day challenge that Lain Ehmann created and hosts.  You can learn all about the LOAD challenge on Lain's blog.

For some helpful hints and tips you can go here and read this blog post from a fellow LOADer.

Why did I decide to take on this challenge?  I have many reasons for deciding to do the LOAD challenge in February.

•  My kids are all better (that is a good enough reason right there). 
• Having moved and then waiting 5 months for our stuff to arrive, I have lost my creative flow.  Has that ever happened to any of you?  Well I have lost it and I want it back.  I think that LOAD will help get the creative juices flowing again. And knock down some creative blocks that I have installed since we moved.  
• This is the first time that all 4 of my munchkins are in school.  At first I was really lonely and I missed the constant interaction I had with my kiddos.  Then I started to adjust and became comfortable with having time for me.  I also rediscovered the art of homemaking again.  The way I like it, not the let's-get-it-done-cause-we-have-to way we did it when we schooled.  The kiddos helped with household chores so everything got done, but it was not a relaxing event. It was part of our school day and I was always in teaching mode.  Now I have re-discovered the joy of laundry, the fun in cooking, and the relaxing swoosh of sweeping.  
• I have time in the afternoons that I can use to be creative, to scrap.  I have dreamed of this for many years and now the dream is a reality. And the reality is that I am a little overwhelmed with this new found freedom. Weird - I know. 
• Company.  I know that sounds weird (I'm just a weirdo).  But I have no scrappy friends here and I miss the company of my fellow scrappers.  I miss being able to talk about paper and embellishments and whether I should make a 2 page spread or just a single page.  I miss the lingo! I also miss chatting about the why's and how's of scrapping.  

The bottom line is simple, I just want to be challenged to create everyday  - for the joy of it.

For Him & For Her

Here is a super quick card that I made for my nephew.  I used my Cricut Lite Dude! cartridge to cut out the skater dude.  The UR Great was a title I cut out from DCWV The Doodlin' Around Stack.  The background paper came from Cosmo Cricket 8x8 paper pad called Get Happy. 

I love this card.  I was inspired by Kristina Werner MACM.

I used some odds and ends that I pulled from my paper scraps box.  The flowers are from Sassafras called Blossoms mod pods.  The Happy I cut from that same sheet of paper from DCWV that I used on my nephew's card.  The ribbon is CTMH White Daisy Ribbon rounds.  The birthday came from CTMH A Little Everything  (D 1408).

Brithday Card

January is a big birthday month for us.  In my family alone there are 3 birthdays - within a week of each other.  If you add in extended family and friends we have an additional 6 birthdays.  That's 9 birthdays within the next 2 weeks.  Oh-my-goodness!!  For my girly friends I have made a couple of these cards.  I wanted to use the stuff I have on hand.  (Keeping with my New Year's resolution.) I pulled out this stamp circa 1999.  It is a wood block stamp that I have had for ages (obviously).  I used some of my copics to color the tulips. I pulled out my CTMH Coloring pencils and used the Grey Flannel to color the metal container.  For the leaves I used CTMH Garden Green and Sweet Leaf ink pads with a blender pen.  The ribbon and the papers are all from my stash of paper.  For my inspiration I went here. 

Now, I have more cards to make. 

Have a good one. 

2011 calendar

A new year - already!?!  I am shocked and amazed at how quickly 2010 rolled by.  As many of you know we undertook another big move in 2010. The process of this type of move takes up big chunks of time, the preparation, the move, the getting settled and wham! - a new year.  Wowzer.

Along with the passage of time going quickly when you live overseas you are always aware of the weight of your household goods.  You get a certain allowance of weight coming and going.  So for the duration of your overseas adventure you are constantly aware of trying to balance the weight of what you brought over with the weight of what you want to take home.  Part of our families weight allowance was very selfishly - mine.  I chose to bring the majority of my scrapping supplies:  paper, adhesive, embellishments and tools. I don't know about many of you, and perhaps I am the only one out in the scrapping world that has this problem, but it seems that i have a collection of scrapping goodies that is essentially equivalent to a small store.  Shame, shame, shameful!  I know, trust me I know.  Why did I chose to bring all this stuff with me?  Well, because for the first time since I became a mom - over 14 years ago - I knew I would have time to scrap.  How did I know this?  Well, for the first time all 4 of my munchkins would be going to school.  That meant that I would have at least a few hours a week all to myself, to do with whatever I wanted.  My fantasy of leisurely scrapping and creating would finally come true.

When I brought all of my goodies with me I promised myself that I would do my best to use what I have on hand.  I would not succumb to the lure of the newest paperlines and pretty embellishments that I would see on-line or in magazines.  I would use what I have with me.  That's the deal I made with me.

With that being said, I decided to make myself a new calendar for the new year.  I attended a scrapping convention in June with my BFF, a tradition we started years ago.  And at that convention I took a few classes.  Often when you take classes you get goodies. One of the goodies that I got was an 8x8 12 month Calendar from Boxer.  When I unpacked that calendar I knew I had to use it.  I dug through my stash of goodies and picked 1 paper pack (also from the show), coordinating card stock, 3 types of embellishments and I went to town and created this  . . . . .

 Our family in November of 2010, up on the north of the island in a little town of Kyrenia.

 I chose to not use photos in every month of the calendar.  I just used 5 photos in the whole calendar.  The other months I just embellished.

 The big square on the calendar page is highlighting the weekends.  I like to group my Saturday and Sundays at the end of the week.  Helps me at a glance see how busy our weekdays are and how busy our weekends are.  Weird, I know.

 Another shot of an old building in Kyrenia, up in the north.  All the pictures I muted the color and then printed on yardstick to keep in the color family of the calendar.

 This is an older photo of the fam.  We took this back in 2008.  I like to see how the kids have grown and changed.  And what a difference 2 years can make.  My oldest, now taller than me, is equal to his dad.  My second oldest is now my height.  Wow!  Also, September is our anniversary month and I like that saying 'when we love, we grow.'  And, in 2010 we will celebrate 20 years of loving one another, and have been blessed to have such a beautiful family.

 Every Thanksgiving that we spend overseas we open our home to new friends.  These Thanksgivings tend to be the ones that are the most memorable. And they tend to be filled with kids.  We tend to really reflect on the goodness of life and the many blessings that we have.

This is a picture of one of my Christmas ornaments.  I collect the White House ornaments, have done since we got married.

I really enjoyed the process of keeping my choices limited and using every inch of product that I chose.  I also like the simple layout design that I used.  It made putting this calendar together super easy and super quick.

So, am I the only one with a huge stash of goodies?