Whistle

I created this page a couple days ago. I really need to get back into scrapping so I don't get further behind!

Postcrossing Update + Two Layouts

We were out of town for the weekend so today has been what Mondays normally are, but a little more. Cleaning, laundry, putting things back where they go - pretty much a never ending job.

In an earlier post, I talked about Postcrossing. It's been so fun!! So far I've received 14 post cards (which also means I've sent that many). I currently have five "travelling", which means they are out there somewhere in the world and will arrive at their destination soon. Once they are received, I'll be getting 5 more postcards from random people somewhere in the world.

A really cool thing about Postcrossing and that they send you an email at month's end showing a pie chart of where you sent cards to and where you've received them from along with your rankings in your country. It's not a competition, just really fun stats! I plan to scrapbook about it someday (hopefully soon).

I've received cards from China, Singapore, Thailand, Australia, Canada, the USA, Romania, Netherlands, Latvia, and Argentina! I've sent postcards to Brazil, Germany, Finland, Russia, the USA, China, Netherlands, and Ukraine.

Below are a couple pages I put together. I'm loving scrapping summer pictures. The colors are so fun and cheerful!



CREDITS for "Hello Sun"

CREDITS for "For 500 Years?"

Caseville

Here is page one of our trip to Caseville for Memorial Day.

{Credits}

Home Owners

I know I haven't scrapped in a while! Today I finally sat down to work on a page. This one came together really quick. I love when that happens!

[Credits]

Postcrossing

While I was on Facebook today, I saw someone post a link to a site called Postcrossing. I went to the site and was hooked.

Postcrossing: the postcard crossing project, by their own definition, is where you “send a postcard and receive a postcard back from a random person somewhere in the world!” I thought that it would be so fun to try. I think the world God created is amazing and the idea of being able to reach out to people anywhere in the world in such a fun and simple way is so thrilling to me!

It's free to join. The only thing you have to pay for are your postcards and postage. A total of 203 countries participate. You can send up to five postcards at a time (each to a different person). Once they receive your postcard, they register it online (more info on the site) and then your name is brought to the top of the list as the next person to be selected to receive a post card. It's not like a chain letter where you have people who break the chain and then you don't hear from anyone. This is pretty much a guaranteed set up.

It's cool to read about others who have been doing this for years. They have saved all of their post cards and put them in photo albums. I think it's so neat!!!

You can select to send postcards anywhere from 1-5 people. I decided to go to the max - five. It was so exciting to see where my recipients would be from! Do you want to know? *Drum roll please*....Brazil, the Netherlands, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the REAL kicker....SHELBY TOWNSHIP, MI! That one made me laugh! There was an option to whether or not you'd want to get/send post cards from people in your own country and I thought, why not! Our own country is amazing and so are the people who live here!

Now I'll be on the quest to find some fun post cards from our area. I've never looked before so I'm hoping there will be some fun ones!

Won't you join too?! It's a cool project for kids too - with their parents help. It's such a fun way to learn about other cultures and the people who live there.

Happy Postcrossing!!

Summer 09

It feels good to be plugging away at 2009 photos! I'm halfway through August yet I've done a lot of pages between then and now. So it's nice coming across pictures and reminding myself, "Yep, I already scrapped those!"

Pogo Sticks

This page came together quite easy - it helps when I keep it simple. That's kind of my scrapbooking theme - simple with focus on the pictures and journals. Although that sounds like what all scrappers would do, it's not. If you like it, keep at it. :)

{Credits}

A Month?

I'm finding it hard to believe that it's almost been a month since I've posted! Blogger has been a real bugger, so that is the main reason. Here are some pages that were created in the meantime.


{Credits}


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{Credits}

I've heard the above song (Just the Way You Are) before and when I was at a conference this past weekend, a dance was done to it and I thought of this picture. Here's the end result!

On a Roll

I was able to knock out three pages in one day! I don't know the last time I did that! These are all pictures from 2009. When I was looking through my folders yesterday, I had to do a double take at the dates of the folders. 2009? Really? I haven't finished 2009 pictures yet? Then I remembered the cold, hard truth. *sigh* Sometimes I feel so far behind. It can be hard not to get discouraged about it. On the bright side, at least my kids aren't 20 and I'm just now scrap booking. There have been a lot of pages done between 2009 and 2011 pictures, but just the idea of still having pictures from 2009 to scrap almost makes me tired. But I'm still working at it!

[Credits for Adventure-ous You]

I scraplifted and flipped a layout by Ali Edwards for this page. I know a lot of people are able to scrap pages with just one picture, but I'm so used to piling pictures on pages and when it came down to one picture, I almost didn't know what to do. So I got out a few old CK magazines and came across a layout that I thought would work great for this picture.

[Credits for Rub a Dub Dub]

Layout Featured

Good Afternoon! I was uploading some layouts to DigiShopTalk and noticed I had quite a few comments on one of my layouts. I do not remember getting email notifications about the comments, so I was really surprised. What surprised me the most was one comment saying that my layout was featured on the Gallery Standouts blog on February 16! I didn't even know of such a blog! It's very humbling to have my page selected for such a thing. The site is flooded with layouts and I'm shocked that mine was even looked it. If you'd like to take a peek (including great comments towards the element's designer), click here!!!

History + Rockford Vaca

Yesterday I went to the township to "protest" (don't worry, I was kind) the raising of our taxes. When the man pulled our file, I saw this picture stapled to the front. I said, "That is NOT my house" but I knew it was our property. I also knew that a trailer used to be here before our current house was. Inside the folder was a picture of our current house and garage. The man said I could have the picture of the old one so I jumped at the chance to have it! I love the history of things so this was a little treasure.

For those that don't know, our driveway used to be part of the Grand Truck Railway (I found out the official name of the railway yesterday while going through paperwork). When the previous owners bought this piece of land, they did not own the railway. The bought it from our neighbors years ago. Before that, the driveway was on the east side of the house. For those that have been here, you'll notice that the two trees that are on the east side of our property hadn't been planted yet. In 1994/95, the previous owners removed the above trailer and pole barn and had our current house put here and then built the garage in 2004.

I'm so happy to have this picture as it's a piece of history of the land we live on.

For the last week or more, I've been working on the pictures and pages of our trip to Rockford last year. I wanted to post them altogether so that is why I waited. It's kind of crazy to think that I made 6 pages of our trip, but I couldn't help it. I so enjoy including as many pictures as possible. I feel like I'm leaving part of the story out if I leave certain pictures "behind".

Last 3 Rockford Pages

Summertime Kit

Love Hearts Kit + Talk Bubbles Kit

Go!Go!Go! Kit + Flags and Ribbons No.1

Snow Fun...but it was (get it?)

Ok, bad joke. Moving on. I love it when I take pictures and scrap them the same day. That's what happened today! Fresh off the press pictures! I know there isn't much color going on, but I kinda like that sometimes. I like the stitched heart on the picture of the two of them. I ended up making all of the pictures B+W because of the colors on their coats, etc. It opens up options in the color world.

It's such a pretty day! I'm going to exercise before I need to start making dinner. I'm still undecided as to what to make tonight. Goulash, pancakes, or .... It's pretty much between those two right now and they are on completely different playing fields! Enjoy your evening!

I'll close with a song whose couple lines have been going through my head today.

'Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus
and to take Him at His word;
just to rest upon his promise,
and to know, "Thus saith the Lord."

Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him!
How I've proved Him o'er and o'er!
Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus!
O for grace to trust Him more!

O how sweet to trust in Jesus,
just to trust His cleansing blood;
and in simple faith to plunge me
neath the healing, cleansing flood!

Yes, 'tis sweet to trust in Jesus,
just from sin and self to cease;
just from Jesus simply taking
life and rest, and joy and peace.

I'm so glad I learned to trust Thee,
precious Jesus, Savior, friend;
and I know that Thou art with me,
wilt be with me to the end.
- Louisa M. R. Stead

Jesus is amazing!

Yes, Sir!

I sat down to scrap these pictures a couple of days ago. I was excited to scrap something different - Army guys! But a layout just wasn't coming together. I thought it was going to be the same today, but this actually came together really fast and I'm pleased with the results.

[Credits]

V-Day 2010

I'm so loving all of the Valentine kits coming out right now! {LOVE.THEM.} Christina Smith came out with a Love Stitched Kit and then I saw Katie Pertiet's Watery Hearts (found at www.designerdigitals.com) and had to have them! I don't know how she got the itty bitty hearts into the paint splotches, but I just love them! Crystal Wilkerson just came out with The Vintage Cupcake paper kits and elements kit - all Valentines. Her new kits are 50% off right now! Prime time to buy!

[Credits]

4th of July

Here are two pages from July 2009. Normally I don't do two pages in a day, but today I was able to. It feels good to be catching up.



Credits: God Bless America, Floss Stitches, and Circle Your Date.

Credits: God Bless America, Go! Go! Go!, and Subtle Memories.

Last June Page

Yay! I've completed all of the June pages! I'm uploading my pages to a print site right now and was happy to upload the completed the "April - June 2009" folder. I have been scrapping out of order so I do have pages throughout the rest of 2009 and a good amount in 2010, just not all of them. I'll have to see what I still have to work on for 2009. I was hoping to get all of 2009 printed super soon, but I don't want to print parts of my folders.

[Credits]

Summertime

Here I am crankin' away at 2009 pictures. Yes! As simple as this page is, I used items from five different kits (not mentioning templates or overlays).

{Credits}

I'm off to put laundry away and finish getting dinner together. We're having beef stroganoff with brown rice, apple sauce and sliced cucumbers. MmMmm! Happy Monday!

B&B

For some reason (colors, patterns, photo quality -probably), I didn't want to scrap these pictures. I wasn't looking forward to it. Today I was looking through pictures and thinking that I had scrapped through August of 2009 and could move into September 2009. Nope. I still have pages in June and July, yet August is done. Haha, oh man. I'm trying not to feel so behind. I want to enjoy the process!

I'm going to be making pizza for dinner tonight with a special bacon topping. MmMmm!

I'll close up with some encouraging song lyrics that blessed me today!

"I know my God saved the day and I know His word never fails and I know my God made a way for me. It's gonna be alright! Salvation is here and it lives in me. Salvation is here. He died just to set me free. Salvation is here 'cause You are alive and You live in me!"

Lambs

I was talking to a friend on the phone about seeing the lambs and it made me want to scrapbook the first time we went to see them. So much fun! I am looking forward to the Spring when we get to see a new batch. Maybe, just maybe, we'll witness a birth one of these years. That would be awesome!

Credits: Beach Bliss Kit and Summertime Kit.

Page 3

This is the final page of the Lapeer Days pages. It's a simple page and came together super fast - I like that!

Today is a special day because we got a new furnace installed. Our other furnace died on Monday so we were without a furnace until noon today. It was a chilly 4+ days! A couple of days I wasn't home during the day because it was just too cold. We used a couple of space heaters for two bedrooms, an Eden Pure, and the oven to keep the chill off until the furnace was installed. Waking up to a 55* house doesn't make you want to get out of bed in the morning! My week was thrown for a loop as far as new schedules go, but I'm trying not to stress over it. I plan to get back in the groove this coming week.

Tomorrow we're heading north for a yearly gathering at a hotel with Brandon's mom's side of the family. Lots of swimming and hot tubbing with the family is in my future!

Oh! But first, we get to stop at Macy's "along the way" because they are having a 40% off sale on food processors. The one I want is $70 OFF and since Brandon got a Macy's gift card from work, I'm really getting it free! It's awesome and such a blessing!

Brandon surprised me with the Anne of Green Gables movies, so tonight after our "breakfast" dinner, we get to watch some. I'm excited!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Tea Party

I took these pictures today with my kids. It was fun having a "tea" party with them. I know they really enjoyed it as well!