Katie the Scrapbook Lady

So many feel like they are not including story in their scrapbooks

 

Wow! There were so many great comments and entries for the Hello Story Workshop giveaway. I really wish I could pick all of you! So many of you are feeling like story is getting pushed aside in your memory keeping, I can really see a need for this workshop and I know Ali will be the right person to lead us all in this journey. Since there is no way I would ever be able to choose a winner, I relied on random.org to pick a number from the 159 comments and it came up with #85.

 

Congratulations to Linda Farrow!

 

One theme that kept popping up over and over again in the comments was from people who are actively recording their memories already in formats such as Project Life, or even traditional layouts – they feel like they are not really getting to the story. I love that people are longing to include more of this type of journaling. It’s soooooo important! Even though I feel like I’m pretty good at including a lot of real story details on my pages, I am also anxious to learn and practice more. I can’t think of a better opportunity to focus extensively on these goals. I’m excited for the challenge and I hope to see many of you in Ali’s workshop in just a few weeks!

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a Smash Book for our travels

 

My daughter and I started a new project back in December and I’m still really excited about it! We decided to get a Smash Book that we could bring on all of our travels and work on it together during each trip. We started off with our big day at Disneyland on 12-12-12 and finished it up with our stay in San Diego. Since we didn’t do very much in San Diego (rained almost the whole time) we were able to fit everything on these two pages. I used a calendar pocket to keep all of our brochures and postcards. We really only want to use a few pages per trip so we can fit a lot of different locations in the same book.

It was super easy and so much fun! If you want to see my Disney pages and read all about the process, head on over to my post at Capturing Magic for all the details. You will definitely be seeing some more Scrapbook Lady “smashing” in the future!

 

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Snuggly fleece blankets

Just a few days before Christmas, my daughter and I had a brilliant idea for a gift for my soon to be sister-in-law. We decided to make her a fleece blanket. I had made blankets for both of my parents and my youngest brother (who she is engaged to) back when they moved to New Mexico at the beginning of 2004. Zach told me that Jenn loved to snuggle up in his blanket so we figured it would be something she would use and appreciate and a fun way to welcome her to the family. We went to the fabric store and found this fun hot air balloon fleece fabric. That seemed like a great choice since it was a bit of a nod to New Mexico where my brother has lived until this fall.

 

I used the directions for this no-sew blanket with the exception that I do like to sew a border stitch around my blankets first (about 4 inches in). I think they stay together better and seem nicer with the stitching, but it certainly is optional. If you look closely, you will see the line of stitching almost next to the tied pieces on the edge. Jenn loved her blanket and we were so happy to be able to give it to her!

We were so excited about this blanket that we knew we wanted to make more. My daughter asked me if I would help her make one for her Dad and brother. We also wanted our own blankets so we picked out fabric for ourselves to work on after Christmas. We started with Alex’s blanket – electric guitars for the rock-n-roll guy! He has slept with this blanket every night.

 

Next up was Jeff’s (Dad’s) blanket. We picked out the wolf fabric because he loves the story of the good wolf (me too!) He has loved this blanket so much and also has slept with it many nights.

 

I decided to be sneaky and make Riley her blanket as a surprise. I did the whole thing while she was at a play with her Dad. I love the bright colors! Not only does she sleep with it, she often has it with her when reading, knitting, or watching tv.

 

Together, we made 3 blankets in 3 days. I added in the extra one while she was gone so I actually worked on 4 blankets in 3 days. I guess that is why mine still hasn’t been put together yet. We plan to do it this weekend though. I love the funky fabric I picked out! I’ve borrowed the other blankets a few times for some naps and I can’t wait to have my very own.

 

These were so much fun for us to make, and really pretty easy to put together. We’ve decided that we need to make another batch to keep in our basement for everyone to use during movie time since we all like to have these blankets in our rooms right now. There’s nothing as comfy as a warm fleece blanket to cuddle up in!

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Inspiring ideas

For the first time in many years, I’m not setting new year’s resolutions or even coming up with a list of things I will get done this year. I have to admit that it’s a very different way of thinking for me. I’m pretty driven by goals and lists, but I’ve come to the conclusion that I’ve been bombarding myself with them. I already get stuff done, but I have a lot of projects, classes, and ideas that have been put on the back burner because I’m constantly setting new goals and expectations for myself. I think I need to catch up a little bit.

That said, I still like to keep track of ideas that inspire me. Things that I do want to do someday. Maybe even this year? Pinterest is great for keeping track of these kinds of dreams. Here are some pins that I want to revisit and use for motivation:

 

I want to buy some beautiful prints from sellers on Etsy. I love this one!

Source: etsy.com via Katie on Pinterest

 

A wall of black and white photos would be so stunning! I would love to do this somewhere in my house.

Source: google.com via Katie on Pinterest

 

I’m currently working on styling our bookcases to look better. We have a lot of books and a lot of bookcases!

Source: sasinteriors.net via Katie on Pinterest

 

I’m liking this idea for my son’s bedroom. He needs a bigger bed and he’s always running out of bookshelf space.

Source: houzz.com via Katie on Pinterest

 

Finally, I just love this one. I am a person who is happy with a calm life. Unfortunately, not everyone else around me feels the same so sometimes that makes my life chaotic. I need calm. I love having our home be a refuge from the world.

Source: melodyross.com via Katie on Pinterest

 

What’s inspiring you lately?

 

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366 phone photos later

Actually, I’ve taken a phone photo every single day since December 1st of 2011 so that really means I’ve completed 397 phone photos in a row. For this post though, I’m just going to focus on the fact that I completed a year’s worth of daily photos and congratulate myself for a job well done!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There’s something very satisfying about seeing all of those calendar spaces filled in! This is the app that I used to make it extra easy to keep track of my daily photos.

 

Many of you might wonder if I’m going to continue on with this project for 2013? Even though it was easy and very worthwhile, I’m going to take a break from it this year. I’m sure I’ll still take a phone photo almost every day because it’s a habit now. I’m just not going to officially track it or use the calendar app for awhile. If you are looking to do a photo-a-day project, I highly recommend using a phone camera or at least giving yourself flexibility to use whatever camera is easy to access each day. Most of my photos aren’t really artistically beautiful, but they capture my everyday life and I love that!

 

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