When you read Pioneer Woman as often as possible (which I do) you tend to get your camera out more often. You read the manual. You make your kids pose for 49 pictures at a time. You scan your house for the best possible natural light. But there are times when you may take your Pioneer Woman addiction too far. Times when the macro function on your little point & shoot camera has no business being used.

Like when you’re in the middle of cutting up a butternut squash from a friend’s garden to try in a untested recipe, and you decide the light is really nice, maybe you’ll just try for a little close up on the squash. And you get this:

I’m not sure if this is really good, or really scary.

I’ve managed to keep up with a layout a day for the first week of October (and then some!) My first page, inspired by a chance watching of The View, and recalling meeting Whoopi Goldberg:

I even dreamed about making that one. Day two I got out the stamps, and then proceeded to mess up the title. Oh well. This isn’t for publication, but for fun!
That’s one of my favorite photos of Ethan as a baby. Day three, and I needed something quick, since we were busy going to a concert. Cue the dog pictures, and color-blocked paper:
Day four, and I wasn’t sure what I should do, and then Simon suggested working on my zoo pictures. I’ve only had a plan for these since 2004. I did four pages (6×6) since they’re so small.
Bite-sized even!

Day five was more of the same: Simon helped me do 6 more pages for the mini zoo book by putting on the flowers and buttons.

I decided I wanted to do the prompt for the day as well, which encouraged using fall colors, so I did my first, quick, completely digital page. Now I just have to get some 8.5×11 photo paper.

Day six, and Simon and I finished up the mini zoo book. That’s ten pages for you.
Day seven, and I used one of the leftover zoo pics to do a page about my favorite sister. (Hi Jess!)So that’s 25 pages done so far this month. I rock! (If I do say so myself.) More next week 🙂

I signed up to do a Layout A Day for the month of October. That’s LOAD to you 😉 That’s a scrapbook page every day of October. Even the days I’m teaching, or celebrating my darling sister’s graduation from PA school, or wandering the neighborhood trick-or-treating. Just the idea of this makes me happy, simply because I will have 31 more pages of my story done.
And by my story, I don’t just mean pages about me, although there will be plenty of those, but also pages about my lovely children and my goofy husband and the rest of my wonderful family. The idea of having physical reminders of how much I love these people just fills me with JOY. That is my word for the year–to share joy and spread joy, and find joy in the everyday.
So are you ready? Do you have a story to tell?
Get set…
Go!

Since the simple idea of it got me all teary eyed, I started thumbing thru photos, and came upon one of my guys all together and smiley in the back seat of my mother’s car. So here’s the layout I made with Lain’s inspiration:

I used some of my favorite products: flowers from making memories and close to my heart, tim holtz’ grungeboard and distress stickles. The patterned paper is from DCWV’s sweet stack, I believe. I think it looks like chocolate cake, how about you?

So, what makes you think of home? Is it a person, a place, a smell? Cleaning out my mother-in-law’s house has made me a little more aware of what makes me think of home.

I made some cute little gift cards for my relatives for Valentine’s day. (With some help from my youngest.) I thought I’d show you how to make them, since they’re so easy and cute. (I wonder how many times I can say “cute” in this post?)

I used the new Green paper stack from DCWV for the ones I sent my relatives, with dotted swiss bazzill paper as the inside page. The final one you’ll see here I made with scraps when I realized I hadn’t taken any pictures of the finished product. I’ll think of someone to send it to, I’m sure.

You will also need a strong double sided adhesive, like redline, or stick-ease. I’m not sure a regular tape runner is strong enough to hold the pockets shut. (I used tombow on some we made for my son’s class, and they did not stay put.) And of course you’ll need a trimmer, straight edge (aka ruler), craft knife, and a bone folder or stylus, as well as a long reach hole punch. And stamps, stickers, or photos that you love.

Start by cutting off a four-inch strip from a piece of 12X12 cardstock. I wasn’t too concerned about how “finished” the inside would look, since I knew it would be filled with pages and candy, but that may concern you, and you may want to use something double sided.

Just as an illustration, the above items are a bone folder, stylus, and scoring blade for the fiskar’s trimmer I was using. Any of these will work to score folding lines in your paper. You want to score three lines across your paper strip, one in the middle, at 6 inches, and one at 2 15/16 inches from each end. Just run your bone folder, stylus or scoring blade down the center channel of your trimmer. I prefer my bone folder because I can be rather heavy handed, and have been known to break through the paper when using the scoring cartridge.

For those of you who are mathematically challenged, here’s 2 15/16 inches:

I hope that helped 😀

Next you’re going to cut off the top outside corner of each end. You could just fold the corner under (I’d use a glue dot to hold the corner down) but I wanted to make these as light as possible since I was going to mail these all over the eastern seaboard.

The next step may require a little help. Stamp, sticker, or otherwise embellish a 4X6 piece of solid colored cardstock, and score a line down the center (at the 3 inch mark if you need specifics). This is where my little helper came in. For any family reading this, each of your pages tells a complete story. I have no idea what the story was; you’d have to ask Simon.

Then run a piece of double sided adhesive along the edge of the flap, and tape down. Voila! You’ve got a little two pocket folder. It’s not quite big enough for school work, however. I put a piece of candy and a bookmark in each pocket after I finished assembling the card, but gift cards or love notes might work too.

To assemble, place your decorated 4X6 piece of cardstock inside the folder, and punch two holes just a bit above and below the center point. I wasn’t too exact here, I just wanted a little distance between the holes so they acted as a hinge, rather than a pivot point. From the outside, thread a piece of thin ribbon through each hole, then back out the other hole. Tie together and you’ve got a cute little package for someone special. I also added a little heart on a pop dot to the front of our valentine’s cards, but I think this pirate’s ship is pretty cute, don’t you? It’s from TAC.

I hope you’ll try to make one. It would make a great holder for a gift card or cash for a graduation or wedding present as well. Have fun creating!

I had a bunch of posts planned for this month, but life has just gotten a little too complicated to keep up with the fun (read non-stressful) things. To give you an idea of the things that have been happening around here:

My oven decided it didn’t want to light anymore. Stovetop, fine, broiler, good to go, but bake anything, NO WAY!

My washing machine decided (at 13 months of ownership) that it didn’t like where it was, and started vibrating/walking all over the place.

My computer, with all my pictures on it, wouldn’t turn on. It was just the power supply, but I went out and got an external hard drive and backed up all my favorite photos and uploaded them to an online site as soon as I got it back.

My dog, while fooling around in the backyard by himself, managed to stab himself in the chest with a 6 foot long tree limb. $500 and a few sleepless nights later, and he’s fine.

My mother, who’s been doctoring for heart trouble for a few years now, was told by her doctor that she needs to do open heart surgery within the next 2 months. I’m trying to talk her into getting a tattoo when it’s all over.

My mother-in-law, who had been sick since Thanksgiving time, was finally diagnosed with cancer in February. It had spread from her colon, to her liver, and into fluid around her lungs. The weekend before she was to start chemo, she passed away. Her memorial service is tomorrow.

So that’s why I’ve been unable to keep up with the blogging and writing lately, in spite of it being one of my resolutions for the year. Here’s hoping we have some wonderful, positive things coming our way soon.

There are times when my kids do something that is so very different from myself and my husband that I wonder where the impulse originates. Take for example, peas. I really don’t like them, and neither does Jonathan. We both can relate stories of swallowing them whole just to get them down as kids. However, Simon loves them. He’ll ask for them for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. It’s gotten to the point where we’ll keep a bag of frozen peas (and some green beans, too) on hand for whenever Simon’s got a hankering for green drops. (As they are called in Charlie and Lola.) In fact he asked for them today. Twice.

He loves peas and will gobble them up just like that. How did we find out he liked peas? He asked for them at a restaurant once. And after reading this. Now they’re a staple.

Now, since both Jonathan and I don’t like them, and neither do our mothers, where do you think he got a hankering for them from? I’m betting on his great grandmother K, who, although she made a salad for just about every dinner, never really liked vegetables. Except for peas. She loved peas.