SHEER brilliance!

I had a moment of brilliance this morning as I was trying to wake up, so I decided to give the idea a try... I've got these clear acetate sheets someone gave me and I decided to try to make my own transparencies using stamps and Staz-on ink. It worked! I love the result and have been playing with these (large, small, different stamps, etc.) today. This one I will use on the introductory LO for my Paris pictures when I finally get around to scrapping my Europe photos.

T minus 4

After the crafting weekend with Tam, here's where my list of LO-to-do stands...

2003

• Kayaking the Yellowstone (8.5x11)*
• Bitikofers at Ousel (12x12) - July
• Backpacking the Spanish Peaks (12x12) - 2pg
• Home Improvement - Yard Work (12x12)

2004

• Sweet Pea Festival (12x12) - August 2pg
• Columbia Crest (12x12)*

2005

• 26th Birthday (12x12)
• Charlotte and Elizabeth Pregnancy (12x12)
• Charlotte and Elizabeth Pregnancy (8.5x11)
• Backpacking Hyalite (12x12)
• Yellowstone Bike Ride (12x12)
• Leif and Elizabeth at Lava Lake (12x12) - June 25
• Hiking Middle Cottonwood Creek with Kendra and Lily (12x12)
• Summer Party (12x12) - 2pg
• Bitikofers at Grotto Falls (12x12)
• Leif and Elizabeth at Grotto Falls (12x12)

2006

• New Car (12x12)*
• Washing the Prius (12x12)
• Rhett's Wedding (12x12)
• Texas Baby Shower (12x12)
• Petra Baby Shower (12x12)
• My Iris Bed (12x12)

Miscellaneous

• Before I was a Mom (12x12)
• Our Daily Commute (12x12)
• My Mom, My Friend (12x12) - Grotto Falls Photos 2005

* I still need to print photos for these LO.

Wish List

Ah... so many great crafting products in this world! So... I am starting a wish list (Hey- you never know when people will want to buy me gifts - or Christmas stocking stuffers...) of the "must-have" products I just don't have but am finding it oh-so-difficult to live without. Things like....

• Aleen's Tack-It Over & Over Glue
• Circle Punches in two different sizes
• Fiskars teflon-coated scissors

That seems like a good start for now.

Photos Printed

I finally got my photos printed from Costco! Now I can really get to work on some of these LO. Of course, I have to wait until I get everything else done, so I won't really get to play until Dave and Tam come this weekend, but it's nice to know that I've at least got some photos to play with! I also got pictures of my Texas shower from Angie - she took some GREAT pictures! The ones that were taken with my camera really didn't turn out well. I was pretty sad not to have nice pictures of my first baby shower - and the shower my mom threw for me at that! But Angie saved the day - Woohoo! Thanks Angie! I'll definitely post the LO here once I've got it finished.

All work and NO play...

... makes me very sad! But I suppose school will be over soon (Friday!) and the basement will be finished soon (Friday!) and we will be back from our whirlwind trip to Idaho (Saturday!) and Dave and Tam will be here to visit (Saturday!) and THEN I can play, Play, PLAY! But any time I spend in my craft room before this weekend will have to be spent cleaning up, making sure that Tam and I have AMPLE room to express our creativity. And then.... let the creative juices flow! In the meantime, Hi Ho, Hi Ho, It's back to work I go.....

Favorite Photo

This has got to be one of my favorite photos of Leif. We were on a 40 mile ride through Yellowstone Park 3 years ago and this is about halfway through the ride. We were taking a break and he was tired, so he laid on the ground to give his back a break. I love the perspective with the bikes in the foreground, Leif in the middle, and the expanse of road ahead of us stretching into the horizon. It's one of my favorites.

Christmas 2005 Layouts

I've finished my Christmas 2005 LO - one of our Christmas together here in Belgrade, the other of Christmas with Leif's family in Roundup. Christmas was different this year, mostly because of our anticipated new arrival. Both LO reflect that in the journaling - I don't think I could have gotten away from it. We are just too excited to have a baby to celebrate Christmas with in 2006.

T minus 5

Whew! This week has FLOWN by. It's been a busy one, too, so I haven't been able to do as much scrapbooking as I would have liked. I have gotten a lot of other things done, though, so I guess that's good. The updated list (including the LO added mid-week) looks like...

2003

• Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center with Dave and Tam (8.5x11)*
  
• Kayaking the Yellowstone (8.5x11)*
• Bitikofers at Ousel (12x12) - July*
• Backpacking the Spanish Peaks (12x12) - 2pg*
• Home Improvement - Yard Work (12x12)*
• Home Improvement - Building the Deck (12x12)*

2004

• Sweet Pea Festival (12x12) - August 2pg*
• Columbia Crest (12x12)*
• Installing the Hot Tub (12x12) - September*

2005

• 26th Birthday (12x12)
• Charlotte and Elizabeth Pregnancy (12x12)
• Charlotte and Elizabeth Pregnancy (8.5x11)
• Backpacking Hyalite (12x12)
• Basement Construction (12x12)*
• Yellowstone Bike Ride (12x12)*
• Leif and Elizabeth at Lava Lake (12x12) - June 25*
• Hiking Middle Cottonwood Creek with Kendra and Lily (12x12)*
• Summer Party (12x12) - 2pg*
• Stephanie's Baby Shower (12x12) - 2pg?*
• Dad's Airplane (12x12)*
• Bitikofers at Grotto Falls (12x12)*
• Leif and Elizabeth at Grotto Falls (12x12)?*
• Dad and Leif Playing Bocce Ball (12x12)*

2006

• New Car (12x12)*
• Washing the Prius (12x12)
• Big Horn Sheep (12x12)
• Rhett's Wedding (12x12)
• Texas Baby Shower (12x12)*
• Alyse (12x12)
• Petra Baby Shower (12x12)*
• My Iris Bed (12x12)*

Miscellaneous

• Before I was a Mom (12x12)
• Our Daily Commute (12x12)
• My Mom, My Friend (12x12) - Grotto Falls Photos 2005*

* I still need to print photos for these LO.

Wow... 34 LO to do. I think I'm adding to the list faster than I am finishing LO! I guess technically my goal was to catch up on the 1st five years of our marriage, so the 2006 LO don't count toward that... but still. That's a lot of scrapbooking I have ahead of me. Better get going, I guess.

Bright Colors, Fun PP

I love these photos of JD and Kara. We got to see them recently when we went out to Seattle for a wedding. Kara's shirt was so vibrant and it was such a beautiful day when we took the picture... I don't usually do bright, colorful LO, but I loved how this pp worked with the photos and how the ribbons matched, too. The rub-ons were from my stash - never knew what to use them with. I love how this LO came together!

Another one bites the dust

I got 3 more LO done tonight - two were on the list, one was not. All three are very different, but I like them all. I've got 5 LO to scan still (including these three), so hopefully I'll do that at some point in the near future. In the meantime I'll need to clean off my table so I can actually find the stuff that I'm looking for!

I also realized the other night that I think I've finished about 40 LO in the last 3 weeks. Woohoo! Leif pointed out that that's really only about 2 LO a night, so I guess the number is feasible, but BOY does that sound like a lot of scrapbooking! I've been having fun. And that's what I've been able to do while working full time... In a week I'll be done with work and have SCADS of time to play!

Take a moment....

to enjoy the splendor of the world God has created. This is one of my favorite photos from our trip to Glacier National Park a couple summers ago. "Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good..."

Baby Announcements

We had craft night tonight and I actually accomplished everything I wanted to! I worked on making baby announcements and made some signficant progress. It looks like I will be able to follow through on my ambitious baby announcement undertaking! Yippee! I'm looking forward to sending out some super-cute announcements.... and I expect you to look forward to receiving one...

Adding to the list...

I recently came across some other photos that I need to scrap, so I'm adding to the list...

2003 -
Bitikofers at Ousel (12x12) - July
Backpacking the Spanish Peaks (12x12) - 2pg
Home Improvement - Yard Work (12x12)
Home Improvement - Building the Deck (12x12)

2004 -
Sweet Pea Festival (12x12) - August 2pg
Columbia Crest (12x12)
Installing the Hot Tub (12x12) - September


2005 -
Yellowstone Bike Ride (12x12)
Leif and Elizabeth at Lava Lake (12x12) - June 25
Hiking Middle Cottonwood Creek with Kendra and Lily (12x12)
Summer Party (12x12) - 2pg
Stephanie's Baby Shower (12x12) - 2pg?
Dad's Airplane (12x12)
Bitikofers at Grotto Falls (12x12)
Leif and Elizabeth at Grotto Falls (12x12)?
Dad and Leif Playing Bocce Ball (12x12)

Miscellaneous -
My Mom, My Friend (12x12) - Grotto Falls Photos 2005

Completed Albums

Leif and I were married in December 2000. That means I've got 5 years of albums to do in order to catch us up to date. Well, I just finished scanning in the 2001 album (I've had the album itself done for a long time) and assembling the 2002 album. Woohoo! Two years completely finished. I'm moving the albums upstairs to their permanent (?) home on the living room bookshelf. I'm making pretty good progress on the other years, too, and I completed two more LO today. I have other things I was planning on accomplishing today (like cleaning and grading) and it's almost evening, so I should probably get started on those. But I wanted to share my small victory - two albums done, three to go!

T minus 6

Six weeks left and these are the LO I still need to do... Italicized are LO I've added to the list since I originally made it.

2003

• Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center with Dave and Tam (8.5x11)*
  
• Kayaking the Yellowstone (8.5x11)*

2004

• Yellowstone Bike Ride (12x12)
• Yellowstone with Robert (12x12) - 2pg

2005

• 26th Birthday (12x12)
• Charlotte and Elizabeth Pregnancy (12x12)
• Charlotte and Elizabeth Pregnancy (8.5x11)
• Backpacking Hyalite (12x12)
• Christmas in Belgrade (12x12)
• Christmas with Leif's Family (12x12)
• Basement Construction (12x12)*
• Oregon Coast (12x12)

2006

• JD and Kara (12x12)
• New Car (12x12)*
• Washing the Prius (12x12)
• Big Horn Sheep (12x12)
• Rhett's Wedding (12x12)
• Texas Baby Shower (12x12)*
• Petra Banquet (12x12)
• Alyse (12x12)

Miscellaneous

• Before I was a Mom (12x12)
• Our Daily Commute (12x12)

* I still need to print photos for these LO.

Personal Challenge #1 - complete

Yay! My first personal challenge is not only complete, but ahead of schedule! Even with a trip to Billings (2+ hours away) today, I still managed to do two more LO based on LO saved in my BOS. Here they are... (with links to the inspiring LO)

"Adventure"
(inspired by this LO)

"Corn Maze"
(Inspired by this LO)

For both of these LO I ended up using some pp I really didn't know what I would ever use for. And I actually like how both of these turned out, even with the die cut corn in "Corn Maze". I've had the die cut since we lived in Iowa (it was fitting then, and they weren't nearly so out of style) - and I've finally used it! I've been trying to use my stash... I seem to accumulate so much stuff that I never use - either I can't find a good use for it, or I am "saving" it for that perfect LO. Well, now is the time to be ruthless and use it all up! Those papers I've never really liked and those marvelous embellishments I've never been able to bring myself to use. The time has come!

Personal Challenge #1 - progress

I am happy to report that I am halfway to meeting my first personal challenge. I got 3 LO done tonight - all inspired by LO in my BOS! I'm pretty happy with how all three of these turned out. Two more to do and then I'm done with my challenge! I also need to finish the May challenge with Tam - use three different fonts in a LO title, then make an embellishment for Tam using either 3 different fonts or items from a hardware store - or a combination of both! I know what I want to do for that challenge, I just need to print a few more photos.

Anyway- here are the three Personal Challenge #1 LO and links to the inspiring works...

"Practice Makes Perfect"

Inspired by this LO


"Hiking Palisade"
Inspired by this LO


"Smores"
Inspired by this LO - one of Tam's!

Personal Challenge #1

My personal challenge for the weekend of May 13-14 is to do 5 LO with designs inspired in some way by my Book of Scraps (BOS) on 2peas. I've been looking through all the LO I've put into my BOS and I REALLY like a lot of them. So.... I'm going to finally use them for inspiration.

5 BOS-inspired LO finished by Monday, May 15. (Which, btw, is the next craft night. I'm going to work on putting together my baby announcements. Minus the birth information, of course.)

Hopefully Sunday night I will be able to post 5 LO with links to the inspiration pages as well as an updated list of the LO that still need to be done. We'll be in Billings for Mother's Day on Saturday, so this truly will be a challenge for me!

Tada!

I was planning on working on my last blank baby album next Monday at craft night. But... for some reason I pulled it out tonight while I was on the phone with a friend and - tada! - it's done! That means I am completely finished with blank Phoebe albums. Woohoo! The green is for me and the blue is for my brother. I've already made a black and white one for myself (because babies are just too adorable in monochrome) as well as blank albums for the grandparents. I still have the baby book (i.e. record book - 1st smile, 1st car ride, etc.) to do, but that will be a whole different type of album. As for the blank ones - ALL DONE!

... and there was much rejoicing.

Keep plugging away...

I keep plugging away at my list each night and I'm getting closer. Got 3 LO done tonight. I counted up the LO I've done in the recent past - 20 not including the 2 baby albums. Woohoo! Tonight I did a 2pg 8.5x11 LO from 2001 - back when we bought our kayaks. I'd forgotten I needed to do that until I found the photos. I'd been putting it off for so long that I forgot I even had those pictures! But it's done. I also did 2 Glacier LO (12x12), which means I just have one Glacier LO left and then I'm done with those pictures as well.

I ordered pictures to be printed from Costco tonight, so hopefully I'll pick them up tomorrow and be able to work on the LO I've just been waiting for pictures for.

Craft Night!

We had craft night tonight and I got one of the two baby books completely finished! Woohoo! That's a big check mark on my to-do list. I should be able to finish the last book at the next craft night - then I'll be done with baby books for a while... I've got two done for my own sweet bambino already, so those first few months should be covered!

In other craft night news, I think we've decided to move craft night to every week instead of every other week. Let the creative juices and the good times roll!

Today's Progress...

I managed to get some work done on our Alaska Album today... and got it completely finished! I'll post photos when I feel like waiting for blogger to slowly upload a dozen or so photos... In the meantime, I did work on my 2003 stack as well. I discovered that I'd already done a LO of us at Ousel Falls, so I can mark that off my list. I also did LO of Dave and Tam in Bozeman and us in front of our home.

(I wrote a bunch of journaling underneath the green paper... mostly I talked about how much I love the food at these places. To read the journaling, see my post on 2peas.)

That means... I'm done with 2003 until I print the remaining photos! Yipee! Ah... progress feels good. I told Leif today that working on this goal and seeing progress and tangible results gives me a very satisfied feeling. It also gives me hope that maybe, just maybe I'll be able to reach the goal that I've set. When I set it I didn't think I could. But now... well, maybe I can.

Tomorrow night is craft night and I'm planning on bringing along the two baby books I need to finish - one for me and one for Robert. I was making pretty good progress on them until my sewing machine started skipping stitches. I got frustrated and gave up. I think it's time to pull them down again and see if I can't make some serious progress in the few hours we craft tomorrow.

T minus 7

7 weeks left to accomplish my scrapbooking goals. Here's the updated list:

2003

• Dave and Tam in Bozeman (8.5x11)
• Hiking Ousel Falls with Dave and Tam in Bozeman (8.5x11)
• Hiking Palisade Falls with Dave and Tam in Bozeman (8.5x11)*
• Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center with Dave and Tam (8.5x11)*
  
• Leif and Elizabeth and our new house (8.5x11)
• Kayaking the Yellowstone (8.5x11)*

2004

• Glacier with Dave and Tam (12x12)
• S'mores with Dave and Tam (12x12)
• Yellowstone Bike Ride (12x12)
• Leif and Dad Hiking Sacajawea (12x12)
• Corn Maze with Shannon (12x12)

2005

• 26th Birthday (12x12)
• Thanksgiving in Texas (12x12)
• Charlotte and Elizabeth Pregnancy (12x12)
• Charlotte and Elizabeth Pregnancy (8.5x11)
• Backpacking Hyalite (12x12)
• Christmas in Belgrade (12x12)
• Christmas with Leif's Family (12x12)
• Basement Construction (12x12)*
• Oregon Coast (12x12)
• Alaska Album - finish the journaling (10x10)
  

2006

• JD and Kara (12x12)*
• New Car (12x12)*
• Washing the Prius (12x12)*
• Big Horn Sheep (12x12)*
• Rhett's Wedding (12x12)
• Texas Baby Shower (12x12)*
• Petra Banquet (12x12)
• Leif Holding Tjabe (12x12)
• Alyse (12x12)

Miscellaneous

• Before I was a Mom (12x12)
• Our Daily Commute (12x12)

* I still need to print photos for these LO.

My plan for today is to work on a few more LO. It would be great to get 2003 (except for the LO I still need photos for) done.

Happy National Scrapbooking Day!!!

... now go get some creativity out of your system!

I celebrated by buying clearance scrapbooking goodies at Joann's.

Three down...

28 to go...

(Me and Leif in Pasco, July 2003)


(Rachel's baby shower in Pasco - Pictures lift up to reveal journaling underneath)

(Pasco, WA - on the beautiful Columbia River)

Scrapbooking Goal

My goal is to be caught up on my scrapbooking for the last 5 years (since we got married) by June 30th. I've been working like crazy on it, so at least I've made a dent. I've got the first two years finished, and am mostly done with 2003. Just a few more LO there and I'll be ready to move onto 2004. Here's my current list of LO to do, though I seem to be adding to it daily as I come across more photos...

2003

• Rachel and Elizabeth in Pasco (8.5x11)
• Leif and Elizabeth in Pasco (12x12)
• Dave and Tam in Bozeman (8.5x11)
• Hiking with Dave and Tam in Bozeman (8.5x11)
• Leif and Elizabeth and our new house (8.5x11)
• Kayaking the Yellowstone (8.5x11)

2004

• Glacier with Dave and Tam (12x12)
• S'mores with Dave and Tam (12x12)
• Yellowstone Bike Ride (12x12)
• Leif and Dad Hiking Sacajawea (12x12)
• Corn Maze with Shannon (12x12)

2005

• 26th Birthday (12x12)
• Thanksgiving in Texas (12x12)
• Charlotte and Elizabeth Pregnancy (12x12)
• Charlotte and Elizabeth Pregnancy (8.5x11)
• Backpacking Hyalite (12x12)
• Christmas in Belgrade (12x12)
• Christmas with Leif's Family (12x12)
• Basement Construction (12x12)
• Oregon Coast (12x12)
• Alaska Album - finish the journaling (10x10)
  

2006

• JD and Kara (12x12)
• New Car (12x12)
• Washing the Prius (12x12)
• Big Horn Sheep (12x12)
• Rhett's Wedding (12x12)
• Texas Baby Shower (12x12)
• Petra Banquet (12x12)
• Leif Holding Tjabe (12x12)
• Alyse (12x12)

Miscellaneous

• Before I was a Mom (12x12)
• Our Daily Commute (12x12)

That's pretty much what I've got to work on for the next two months. It'll keep me busy, that's for sure. 30 LO to do - if I work on a couple each night, I should be done in no time.

I decided that for as much as I love my baby blog, and as much as I love posting on 2peas, I needed a place to share and post my recent creative endeavors. Mostly I hope to post recent scrapbook layouts to share with family and friends, but I also plan to muse, and post other domestic or crafting projects here. I am almost done with school for the year, so I hope to have more time for crafting in the near future. Not to mention that I have a LONG list of scrapbooking/crafting projects I plan to tackle before the baby arrives in July.

And as for the name... after a three year hiatus, I'm just glad that my inner "Martha" (I mean, really, is it necessary for me to refer to Ms. Stewart by anything other than just "Martha"?) has returned. I've missed her.

So here, in this tiny corner of cyberspace, I plan to celebrate the return of my prodigal creative self by subjecting others to my crafting whims. Enjoy!