Calendar progress

Well this calendar idea is a great idea (this is a pep talk for myself..lol) but seriously I like being able to make calendars and notebooks because I seem to use so many on a daily basis. And personally there hasn't been a calendar that can do all the things that I need it to do at a reasonable price and also at a size that I love. But enough about all that. I can't believe how much I actually have accomplished in the few hours that I have been working on this project.

The calendar pages are done, the menu planner pages are done and I have decided to have it be effective and also a reasonable size to carry around in my purse, I need to only do it from August to December and then re-evaluate how I have it set up and what I am using it for next year.

I have decided that I no longer want it to be a bracket shaped album, especially since the point on the bracket shape would eventually be destroyed. And then the shape would like weird.

Here is what I have completed so far...

I love that I my "draft" allowed me to see that I really didn't love the look of the stamped undefined sections of the original design and so I really needed to make sure and make it look cleaner. I know that many don't use calendars or planners but I have since forever and I haven't just made one or two in my day. I originally made calendars when I was a teen by using printer paper and a ruler. And the stamped date section really felt like it was just too unorganized for my taste.  I say that to say, it doesn't matter what your calendar is just as long as you like how it looks and know that it will help you. And too much undefined space would surely get cluttered to me (especially since I love to write).

I cut all the pages from the cricut using MTC (my most favorite go to tool) and before I could blink I have a really neat looking planner. I am now going to cut down some college ruled filler paper and add a notes section. And I am still debating on having the bill paying section after each month or having a separate section (tab) just for that.

Well I gotta get some laundry done, some kids fed, some calls made and... until next time!

PS...I have huh duh moment while working on this project. Originally I was cutting the rounded rectangle on my cricut and then running it through my printer on top of the a previously printed word doc to get perfect alignment but after I thought about I changed the margins of the word doc, and then put the previously diecut cardstock directly into the printer and then printed on that directly. I couldn't believe that all that time I had spent re-taping a next cardstock piece on top of the printed image and then printing one side and then un-taping and doing it on the other side. I completely forgot that with my new printer that I could adjust the size that I was printing...huh duh! LOL!

PS#2...I really can't believe some of the other things that I have forgotten about since moving into this house. I completed decorated the office a certain way (on a budget) but honestly I don't love it. I love that there is an office, but really am not loving that the kids (especially the girls) get into everything all the time. And I'm trying o figure out a way to make my stuff not be so accessible. Well I opened one of the cabinets that I haven't been able to get into because the youngest one's desk blocks it, and I could have slapped myself. I mean I knew that my felt was in there and mini album stuff and old homeschooling stuff but I'd completely forgotten that I had 2 band spanking new 8.5x11 American Crafts 3 ring (alterable) albums...really how could I forget that? I have been postponing working on the girl#1's  album because I didn't know what size album to make for her. And school will be starting soon and I just knew that I wanted to be prepared for Kindergarten pictures. But  my budget doesn't allow any spending on scrapbooking stuff right now...well I don't need $$. I also couldn't believe that the albums had $2 stickers on them, but then I remember that I got them from the garage sale at Scrapbooks, ETC before I left MN...oh I miss local scrapbook sales where you can get 8.5x11 new albums still in plastic for $ 2.00! At that price it is a bonus and a treasure to loose them and find them again when you really do need them!

Hello everybody..

Well its been a little time since my last post but I wanted to stop by and share some ideas that I have. I have been really working on getting licensed as a home childcare provider. And although I am scared of the idea and I am working hard to get all things done, I still have been crafting (a little bit). I am also trying to get the kids ready for school, well the oldest is already back. But I have two others to work on. And honestly now that I am not working, I don't know if I really want the other 2 to go to the school right around the corner. I mean it is the first time that we had a school within walking distance that I wanted the kids to go to. I had been driving the boys since 5th grade for our oldest and kindergarten for the our second oldest. But even before that I didn't want our oldest to ride a bus to school so I would walk with him (summer months only) and then drive all the rest of the year. But that was in MN but now there is good weather all year long. And when I was working I liked being able to walk with the kiddo to school in the morning. I mean the school literally is in our backyard.

The school is ok, but honestly I like the idea of smaller class sizes and full day kindergarten that might start later in the morning?? So whenever I wanted these options in MN I went with a charter school and it seems that I might have to do the same thing again. And so I have been working hard at looking for other options. And believe it or not there are lots of options here for schools.

So enough about that...I am currently working on a menu planner and monthly calendar. I should say that I am in the process of designing one. I haven't done any planning yet but I started my list of what I want the book to have in it.
I know that I need it to have a monthly at a glance calendar section, and a weekly calendar section that allows me to write a little info. I know that it also has to have a 1/2 sheet in the middle of the 2 pg weekly calendar section for me to write a weekly menu for all three meals daily and also a section to write a grocery list.

I don't want this to be a super big calendar/menu planner but it has to be at least 11 inches tall. I don't know exactly how wide it will be at this point and I haven't created the calendar pages as of yet because I have been searching for ideas online. But haven't found many that are helping me in my decisions. 

Well I am off to get something done but when I get a chance I will make sure to take photos of the project as I go along.

Birthday cards are always fun!

I am so excited to be able to have something to share honestly I was truly excited because I made cards for a co- worker and I didn't get the chance to take photos of them before I handed them off to her. I wish that I would have planned my time better but it's hard to do that when you get asked to do something at the last minute and then you still have your everyday life too.
So I made cards that I could get photos of so that blog wouldn't feel abandoned. I truly thought that I could sit down a couple of days and make a bunch of cards, but what I found out really quickly is that the girls have raided my supplies. And there are a lot of things that are now damaged. After the initial oh my goodness they broke that (which was my very last tape and runner dispenser and refill that I can't get anymore--sigh) and they left the top off that ink pad...and so on and so on I cleaned up my desk. And decided that I might need to move my scrapbooking space into a secluded area, maybe away from the main office where everyone can hang out, play computer games and do arts and crafts at their own desk, which somehow now has become code for my desk when I am not at home!

But back on task Tracy...I was able to get a couple of fun cards that I have been wanting to do for awhile. The images/stamps are ones that I got when they were brand new but I was never able to sit down and play with them. And birthday cards are always a reason to pull out something fun and new. This first card has an image that I wanted to use for Valentine's day (2010) and say that I'm sweet on you, but I have never gotten around to that but it did make an awsome wishing you...a sweet birthday card...

And this next card has a stamped image that I loved too. I actually got this stamped image from a friend how purchased the stamp set. I scanned it into my computer (after stamping it) and then enlarged and shrunk it until I found a size that seemed better for the front of my card. I love the stamp but the size wasn't perfect for this card front. But here is that card too...

I know I mentioned several stamps/images that I have, and there are about 15 more that I want to play with and have decided that I am going to try to make a birthday card of each of these images at least once a month for the next couple of months because I know am going to be home a lot more. Or at least that is what I am planning. I love the hand cut grass on this card. Mostly because I didn't think that it would turn out so nice and also because it didn't take nearly as long as I thought that it would. I initially thought I need to purchase a grass die or get a svg, but really how often would I really use a grass diecut? Maybe once or twice so it wasn't worth the expense. At least not right now. But I do have to find myself some really cute patterned papers with gray and bright cheerful colors. I really do. But I have many things to accomplish in a very short time.

June is almost over...

I was making a plan of all the things that I want to get done before the kids head back to school and things that I just really planned to complete before our 1 yr home anniversary and realized that June 28th is our one year anniversary and it is almost over. We have a builder one year walk threw so that they can repair on cracks, paint, tile etc. And honestly there is very little that they need to do. Because I didn't wait until the 1yr walk to let them know about any issues. I called and had the few things that I needed repaired done right away.

I can't believe that time has flown by so quickly for both the amount of time that we have lived in our house and also the fact that this year is half over.

So there will be some catching up on photo updates of each room in the house to come in the next few weeks. I have things that I am still working on (like painting). It never seems to end when it comes to remodeling but honestly I love that the issues are major ones at all.

And so while working on printing pictures the last couple of weeks I realized that all of 2011 and most of 2010 scrapbooking pages need to be done. And for anyone who lives in AZ, you know that this is our "winter". Which means most days you are inside because it's 100 degrees outside or more an then you go outside in the evening/night. Or you go out early in the morning. We seem to be doing a little of all of that. But the point is this is the perfect time to actually scrapbook. So that is my plan. Somehow I am going to fit scrapbooking into my few more weeks of summer and finish the house...wish me luck!

And last but not least here is 2011 Christmas layout...now my Christmas scrapbook is current. 

I finally finished....

My Christmas 2010 layout. I have had this sitting on my desk since the beginning of May and if I had taken a photo of it most of you would wonder why wasn't it finished by now? The problem that I had was that in my attempt to limit my Christmas pages to just one 2 page layout, I couldn't shorten the journaling to say what I wanted it to. Or at least I thought I couldn't so it sat on my desk for almost a month...and today I said no matter what I am going to get it typed and added to by blog. And so I did.

Here is the finished page. I don't know why my photos aren't as great as the used to be with my camera, but I just wanted to share that photo anyway.

And here is one for the family...the kids playing in the front yard (because the back yard still isn't finished).

 So since I am so against guns and I wanted the kids to have something to spray water and play with (since the pool isn't happening for awhile) I found these sprayers at the dollar tree. And they love them! In fact, once we had them playing outside in the front with them, other neighborhood kids came out to play with buckets and water hoses. It was one of those moments when you think back to your childhood and playing in the neighborhood with your friends. Honestly I hope that they have wonderful memories in this house, and in this neighborhood. I hope everyones summer is off to a great start.

Just the inspiration to get something done

Have you ever wanted to do something so badly and just couldn't find the time to do it? That is what I have been going through the last couple of weeks. I have really been wanting to get some scrapbooking done and couldn't. The first reason is simple. My camera (Sony DSC-H55) is broken. It doesn't read my Sony memory stick cards anymore. Not at all. And although I can use a SD card (which I recently found out) I can't print any of the pictures at home that I want and need to sb.

But I found a few pictures that I had printed from 2010 before we moved from MN to AZ and I decided that it was time to get those pages done. The challenge on twopeas inspired me to get those pics on pages since I have been planning the page forever and just never did it.

So here is the page that I completed. My son's 14th Birthday page (and yes he will be 16 in December) but I love how it turned out. All the journaling has been moved since it was personal.




All the supplies used for this page are from my stash and are super old. Everything except the stamp used to make the date. I haven't purchase any scrapbooking supplies in forever. But I am hoping to get some new stamps and some adhesive. Which I haven't purchased adhesive since before moving to from MN. So I have had enough adhesive for almost 2yrs but then again I haven't done nearly as many projects/pages/cards as I would have been doing at any other time.

So that inspired me also to create something scrapbook related for my desk at work. I have to say that I am truly enjoying my job now. I feel so blessed to find a position that allows me to drive less that an hour to get to work. And honestly that was really starting to wear on me and our van. But here is what I created for my desk...
             

And I can't wait to put it on my desk tomorrow. Well I hope that you all got inspiration to do something scrapbook related soon.

Another 10th Birthday card...

Well after working on the first card that I liked, I decided that I would like to make another one for my son and give the first to one of his classmates. Well that was after I looked at a stamp set that I had bought to use on a card just for him.

I started by stamping the game controller in one color and then I decided that it would probably be better if I stamped it in multiple colors. And so I did.

I cut more of the stripes that I had used for the first card since the color scheme actually came from the stripes. And the greeting was the hard part for this card. The stamp set came with a greeting that I really didn't think fit the card theme (it says Game over), and I originally wanted the card to say, LaTrele, welcome to level 10, on the front and then Get your game on in the inside but instead ended up with what I have now because I didn't like how stamping each letter/word out looked. It really wasn't that bad but the font that I had in stamps just didn't seem right for the boy themed card and then I remembered it would be perfect to just use the rusty pickle rubons that I need to use cause some of them are sticking to themselves. And so I did. I think that I am still am going to use the greeting that I originally wanted to but in the inside of the card. Well I am going to try to get some sleep cause I really do need to get up early, I do have appointments to go to and business to take care of tomorrow. So I gotta get some sleep. Until next time, Smiles. Tracy

PS...after taking photos of the card, I really think that it needs some embellishments. Maybe some stars or something but I am too tired to think about it anymore and am really heading off to bed.