Our Crew 2011

Recently I saw a post by Katie the Scrapbook Lady about Wendy Zine's latest set of actions. One of her actions would crop your photo into three or four sections, put borders on them, and put them in a collage. I did buy the set of actions, but couldn't figure out how to get that particular one to work ( the fault is entirely mine, as I am still somewhat action-challenged.)

Not to be discouraged, I just sat down and figured out how to do the same thing. It took a little longer than the action would have, but I am happy with the end result. And I have decided this is a great way to treat large group photos. It really adds a bit of umphh.

Journaling reads:  I never seem to remember, when the kiddos are all home at one time, to gather them together for a group shot. Today Cassie and Erik had just made it in from Atlanta, and Cassie was fixin’ to head out to the airport for her flight to Spain. Before she said her good-byes I made everyone scrunch up for a quick photo shoot. Getting this many kids to all look my way and smile at the same time is challenging. I can only imagine what it will be like in years to come as our crew continues to expand. March 3, 2011

I used a photo I took recently when I had the kids together for a short time, and happened to think, 'Oh. I should get out my camera for a group shot.' I never think to do this when everyone is here. Never. As in I have done a total of two photo shoots of all of them together over the past four years. Bad mother.

 I made three photo spots of roughly the same size with mattes behind them. I sized my photo for the first cut, and clipped it to the photo layer. Then I duplicated the photo to keep the picture size the same and clipped to the next photo layer, moving the picture to show a different part of the photo. I did that one more time for the final photo layer. The I moved and twisted the layers a little to look like they were spread on top of one another and added shadows. And wa-lah! I had the same look as the action, it just took a few more steps.

On this layout I tried to keep it simple. I didn't want to change the photo to black and white, so I kept the color scheme very neutral. I tend to mix and match papers and elements from a bunch of kits and today was no exception. I used these kits for this particular layout:  Happy Snapper by Captivated Visions; Passionfruit collab by Designs by Kat and DeCrow Designs; A Fresh Start by Kristin Cronin-Barrow; and 52 Inspirations kits Week 1, Week 2, Week 9, and Basics by Vicki Stegall and Sue Cummings.

I really like the look of words on a background paper that are not part of the main journaling, so I made my own for this layout. I kept the font color lighter than the main journaling so that it almost fades into the background. This is a close-up of a strip of journaling that just lists the kids ages, repeated over and over to fill up a journaling block.

I can definitely see myself using this technique of cutting apart photos, adding borders, and putting them back together again on other layouts.

Spring

While I know there are many folks in the US who are still struggling in winter's grip, we here in the South are enjoying the beautiful beginnings of SPRING. Around my house many things are finally blooming. Daffodils, forsythia, spirea, flowering quince, and loropetalum. Yellow, cream, coral and fushia loveliness.

I love wandering around my flower beds and seeing new plants pushing up through the soil to greet the springtime sun. Usually at this time of year Theodore and I start taking daily walks around the yard to see what is new each morning.

I am ready to clean out my flower beds, getting rid of the remains of last years plants to make room for new beauties.

Gretchen Rubin, in her book The Happiness Project, says there is wisdom in spending money on the things that are of value to you. I value the plants in my yard. They give me quiet joy. Sitting in my room, looking out over my plants and bird feeders as I fold mountains of laundry, gives me enormous pleasure every day of the year.

In spring I see the new growth of perennials planted in previous years and I daydream about other things I would like to plant alongside them. In summer the hummingbirds come to visit my colorful flowers and the feeders that are outside my window.

In autumn the coleus still has brilliant color, but the leaves on the pecan trees are beginning to turn brown and fall to the ground, while busy squirrels try to store away their nuts for the winter.

In winter my bird feeders are constantly busy with black-capped chickadees, tufted titmice, cardinals and finches. They are thankful I have left the dead stalks of the summer's coleus as resting places for them while they wait their turn at the feeders.

All in all, the long-lasting bang I get for each buck spent on my plants is plenty of reason for me to enjoy some guilt free shopping time at our local garden centers over the next couple of months. A wonderful happiness boost for me and a pretty yard for all of us to enjoy - what could be better?

This is a little layout I made one rainy day last week as I was dreaming of spring days to come. We still have a few cold nights in the forecast, but I am happy that soon life will be balmy and brimming over with color and gardening joy.

After LOAD

March has arrived, signaling the end of LOAD 211. While I am glad for the let up from the pressure to create a new layout each and every day for an entire month, I am a little sad that it is over. I will miss the daily inspiration of looking at everyone's layouts and the kind comments about the layouts I uploaded.

I was able to complete 50 layouts this month, FIFTY, which means I tied for second highest contributor during the February LOAD. ( I tied with kskreations who also submitted 50 layouts. Michellecm was the highest contributor with 54 layouts-WAY TO GO!) This is the final two-page layout I made compiling most of my layouts from LOAD 211.

For a while I tried to stay in the lead, once I got over the shock of finding myself in first place, but life just kept getting in the way. The kids still needed their lessons, and clean clothes. Hubby wanted us to eat on a daily basis, and the little piranhas wanted something to chew on every hour it seemed, so the cooking of meals and making of snacks still needed to happen.

I decided that I just had to slow down and be content with one layout a day. I was happy when I managed to finish two, three, or even more layouts a day, but I really wanted to be able to be content with just one. I wanted to be present in the day to day doings of my family's life and scrapping too many hours wasn't letting that happen.

For now I am going to sit back a bit and enjoy a different pace of life - do a bit more reading with my little guys, and more one on one lesson time with my girls, my flower beds need tending, the lawn needs mowing, and there are grandbabies that need cuddling. I want to capture more moments with my camera and get a bit more consistent posting on my blog. We have a fun spring vacation with extended family coming up as well.

Oh, I will still be scrapping, but if I only get one or two layouts done in any given week, well, that's okay. I can be good with that. I'll be making memories and documenting them in spare moments. There is life after LOAD 211.

Besides, May is coming, and I am already signed up for LOAD 511.