FIVE Years of Me

Today marks FIVE years since the start of this blog.

FIVE.YEARS.

That blows my mind, that I've been blogging that long.  That I've had that much to say, to share, to remember.  It just blows me away.  I've never kept a diary that long, never mind FIVE YEARS. 

Looking back on the years, I've noticed the decrease in my posts.  The decrease in scrappiness shared. The decrease of people stopping to say Hi.  It is what it is.  I'm not here to have people "follow" me.  If people like what I've got to say or share, & they leave a comment, that's fabulous.  However, I'm not doing this for any of that.  I'm doing this to remember.  I want to remember all the good & bad, though lately I haven't shared much of either...I know, I know, I'm trying to get back to being the "better blogger". 

I had planned to post my new scraproom for my "Blog-aversary", but life got in the way.  I've been working on Project Life (still catching up), & I need to tidy up the room a bit before I take pics.  Of course, between all this, the summer has kept us busy & now we're in full "back-to-school" mode.  The last couple of days have been spent clothes shopping & school supply shopping....fun stuff. 

Like I mentioned, I have been working on Project Life so I hope to have my June pages to share soon.  I would love to get caught up quicker once the girls go back to school, so I won't be so far behind.  I seem to constantly be two months behind & all the inserts slow me down a bit too.  I need to remember to "Keep It Simple", but I'll get a spark of mojo & run with it before I realize that I'm complicating something that's designed to be simple.  Story of my life.  Oh well.

With that, I do want to thank anyone that does take the time to read my words.  It makes me happy to see comments from people, I really appreciate the love, Thank You. 

Made with the Silhouette Cameo, just using the "Arial Black" font & a great quote I found on Pinterest.

Project Life May 2012

Starting off the month of May with the end of April. Can't start the one without the end of the other!



We ended April with Gianna's 1st Communion.

We started May with the kick off to my scraproom. The ball started rolling & May was a busy month!

Of course I took a ton of pics for Gianna's Communion so I printed my favorites & included them in an insert.  Seriously, just slipped them inside & called it done but I think I'll go back at some point & back it with some cardstock or something to "pretty it up".

 Front:

Back:

May was intensely busy, which means a lot of inserts.

Of course every month there's my take on the Take 12 challenge.  Sorta wishing at this point that I made it into a separate album because my PL album is getting seriously full & it's just up to May.

The back pic came out blurry but I didn't take another shot. Sorry.

This week everything happened at once.  Mother's Day, then we got the call the cabinets would be installed this week so we needed to tear out the carpets & get the electrician in to install lights ASAP in my scraproom....then of course was Marissa's 11th birthday!  Seriously, one thing after another, after another, but all good.

Marissa's birthday was celebrated literally all weekend, so that meant another insert.  Once again I lost steam on the back of the insert so I'll go back at some point & make it pretty.  I'm all for getting it in the book right now & catching up.

I had to mix up the days here & there on this page since Wednesday had 2 pics that wouldn't fit in a small slot so I switched it.  The slots are both dated with the stamp & Silhouette weekday tags, I'm good with it.

I don't know when I decided to end May by itself on this page, since I had 2 empty slots that I could've started June with but I think I like having it by itself.

I particularly like this part.  I had the image in my head & it came out exactly like I planned using my Silhouette Cameo.  (Just used the Arial Black font & that's it.  Easy peasy.)  That just never happens, so you can bet I was thrilled!  Sadly the color doesn't do it justice in this pic.....

With that, I am working on June.  I'm farther behind than I would like to be.  I believe I thought I could catch up faster than I am but the summer keeps us busy (and I tend to over think everything I do), which means more to add to the album.  I have been working on this every free chance I get, which is one reason why I haven't been the best blogger (but not the entire reason). 

To be honest, I haven't done a 12x12 traditional scrapbook LO in ages.  I feel that I need to clean up in between projects & if I "clean up" PL I might not go back.  I need to catch up, then work on it once a week....at least that's how it is in my head.  Yes my scraproom has space but I can't seem to "let go" of the.....I don't know, Guilt??, that if I stop I might not go back & finish it.  Basically, I'm starting to feel annoyed that I started doing PL.  There, I said it.  Doesn't mean that I'm going to stop. I am enjoying it, just want to have the freedom to work back & forth between PL & "real layouts".  Make sense??  With that said, I'm going to finish up another week before heading to bed....

Wildwood Weekend 2012

This past weekend we took an unplanned trip down the shore.  Joe asked if I wanted to late Friday & I said sure.  Very spontaneous.

We told the girls that if the weather wasn't horrible we'd leave early in the morning, but made sure they knew it might not happen.  We packed our bags & crossed our fingers.  Joe has friends in Wildwood so he made some phone calls in the morning & we got the "ok" on the weather.  We left a bit later than anticipated but made it there around noon & got lucky finding a room. (Like I said totally un-planned)

We quickly got changed & headed to the beach!  The weather was BEAUTIFUL!  Not crazy hot but nice with the slight breeze.  It was a perfect day to sit on the beach & soak up the sun.  The girls had a blast!  I'm not sure what they enjoyed most, the waves or digging in the sand.  I brought my camera with me but left it in the room & mainly used my iPhone for the weekend.  Quick & easy. 

The girls loved hunting for shells.  Bringing me bits & pieces to hold onto & the biggest smiles.

The last time Gianna was at the beach she was tiny & was intimidated by the waves.  This time she took to it like a fish.  Once she mastered jumping with the waves she was fearless!

Marissa was thrilled to find this shell intact.  Her smile made my day.

Gianna was easy to please with the sand.  It didn't faze her a bit to make sand angels & be covered in sand from head to toe.  She's happy-go-lucky.

For dinner Joe took us to The Ravioli House.  All the pasta is handmade & delicious!!

I had the "Trip around Italy" that had a sampling of pastas & meats.  From what was on the plate I left the spaghetti for last since it is what it is, but this was fabulous!!  It was hard to stop eating even though I was so full!

After dinner, we headed to the boardwalk to walk it off.  The girls went on rides, while I took a gazillion pics, namely of the ferris wheel.

This was beautifully lit up & huge!  We didn't go on it, but I can imagine the view!

We tore the kids away from the rides after awhile to walk the boards some more.  Marissa had a snack, that was a twist between a french fry & a chip.  I may or may not have helped her finish it..... ;) 

We walked a good part of the boardwalk, according to Joe about 4 miles. By now it was late & we had been up since early, plus the 3 hour drive down, plus the day in the sun, WE WERE BEAT!! By the time we made it back to the hotel it was close to midnight & we crashed.

The next morning, despite setting our alarm, we slept late, but that shows how tired we were.  We headed out to grab breakfast then it was back to the beach.

The night before we bought the girls shovels & pails & that made the beach that more fun for them.  Joe helped them dig & before we knew it the talks of a sandcastle turned into seats for the girls to sit in.

Gianna would often run to the water to wet her sand pile & I would follow her, using it as an excuse to walk off more of last night's dinner.

That night we couldn't help ourselves & went to back to the Ravioli House for dinner.  Did I mention how good it was??  We also went back to the boardwalk to spend some time in the arcades & let the girls win prizes before heading home.

I talked them into a few pics as the sun was going down.  I probably should have used my real camera but I'm happy with these. 

It was a great, quick getaway that was much needed & much enjoyed.  Starting to plan a  l o n g e r  trip for next year. ;)

Project Life April 2012

I have procrastinated so much about posting my Project Life pages for April. 

There I said it. 

The reason being?  It took SO long for me to get through our trip to Disney for Spring Break.  I didn't want to share bits & pieces of April so I waited until I was done with the whole month.  Of course then I procrastinated about taking pics, but that's besides the point.

April was pretty much the start of craziness around here.  With Spring Break, then Marissa's braces, followed by Gianna's communion.  It was a non stop month.

After a very long drawn out process of how to incorporate our Disney trip, I finally decided to use THESE page protectors.  I think it made including lots of pics so much easier for me.  Plus the extra space made things more fun.

This was the start of April, nothing fantastic, especially since I started out not feeling well right before the trip.  I was determined to not let it get the better of me though & pushed through it.  I also used a lot of OLD items from my stash.  From Making Memories to Heidi Swapp, everything old is new again!  Makes me glad I didn't purge it. My Silhouette Cameo is my "something new" that gets a workout on these pages too.

I cut all the day images all at once to make things easier.  Knowing I'd lose the dots to the "i's" I didn't bother saving them & used a small Mickey head punch to dot them.  I stuck to the same style for each "date title page", just changing up the colors....and washi, lots & lots of washi!

I had trouble taking pics of these double spread LO's so please excuse the glare...they look so much better IRL.

For something so simple, my favorite square is that top right corner of us flying.  Paper from Pebbles, letters from Lily Bee Designs & washi tape. Simple, simple, simple.

I was starting to think I'd fly through these pics since I was having so much fun with them.  Using old stash, playing around, just having fun.  It felt good.

Seriously, I was not exaggerating in the use of washi.  Another item I used a TON of are the tiny alphas from Making Memories.  I have a huge pile of them & always pick up a few packs when I see them, but sadly I don't seem to find them as easily at Michaels anymore.  I will be sad when they are gone.

 

To make the days different from one another, I printed a park icon to 5x7 & made a simple 8x8 LO to show which park we were at each day.  Again, simple being key.

We love hanging out at the Magic Kingdom so there are always a lot of pics to include.  I added these to the back of that 8x8 LO.  Easy peasy.

Sunday was Easter.  So much to do!

Our hotel had a "candy scramble" for the kids, then we were off to the Magic Kingdom for more fun. 

Another thing I use more of in my album are stamps.  Any & all sorts.  I've been keeping a lot of stamps from Studio Calico & Technique Tuesday within arms reach on my table.

Of course Easter was bound to have lots of extra pics!  In the lobby of our hotel, they had these gorgeous handcrafted chocolate eggs.  They all had different themes, both Easter & Disney.  I simply printed them wallet-size & slipped them into THIS pocket page.

Another insert for that day is my park page.  Our first few days of almost any trip, are spent in the Magic Kingdom.  I kept to the same design concept to make things easier.  Nothing on the back this time.

I think this is where I started slowing down a bit.  Can you tell??  To make things move along, I kept it very, very simple.  Not my favorite, but it's done.

This side came out a bit better, but I was not going to stress over it.

The park title page insert.

Don't know if it's obvious, but washi, flair buttons & my Silhouette Cameo are my go-to supplies.

Park insert page.  That paper is from Making Memories.  It's actually a pretty green color from one of their Christmas collections.  I couldn't seem to get the color right...

This page was more fun for me.  It's simple, but I like how it came out.

This part was my favorite on the page, but it's so simple.  I printed the pics small then punched them out with my square punch & arranged them around the tiny alpha letters.

Another simple park title page.  Just realized I didn't add the Mickey head I've included on all the other park pages.

Having the twelfth fall while we were in Disney made my "12 on 12", very easy.

By this time I was petering out of ideas. I just wanted to get past the trip since I was so far behind on my album, but despite that I like how this one came out.

Really dug through my Disney stash with this page.

The last park insert.  One of my favorite pics from the trip.  Family pics are always my favorite.

Sunday was supposed to be a two-pager, but I didn't have enough pics & I ditched the remaining few, making this a simple one pager.  I liked how it came out.

Making that last Disney page one page, I managed to change back to the page protectors that came with the PL kit.  Sticking to the original one week to one page protector style that I started with.

Usually I start each week with Sunday but since that ended our Disney trip I obviously started with Monday & just used a page filler.

As if coming back from Spring Break & getting into a routine wasn't hectic enough, we had Marissa start her procedure for braces, as well as dress shopping for Marissa & I for Gianna's communion.

This week focused more with Marissa towards Thursday & Friday.  She got her braces on Thursday & oral surgery on Friday.  She felt awful from the surgery so of course there were no pics that day.  I just took a screen shot of my appointment calendar & added journaling.  No sweat.

I'm ending April here for now since the end of April is on the same page as the beginning of May.  The very end will be included with my May post.