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?