A Peek Between the Pages

I love love LOVE to get happy mail in the orange box (from Shutterfly...if you've never gotten happy orange box Shutterfly mail, you SHOULD...it's good for the soul). Just like every other year, I'm NOT caught up on my albums for the year. I'm totally okay with that. I live a real life. I don't have tons of free time. And when I do, I don't always feel creative (go figure).

I find it better to celebrate the accomplishments rather than focus on what's not done yet. So here's a little celebration of my most recent happy mail. I got my 1st quarter 2015 album in the mail! Wanna see?  Here' a peek at a few pages...



A few albums ago, I discovered the concept of including 1/2 pages in my bound albums. Yes, at first, I did have to overcome the fear of CUTTING the bound pages... but it turns out, it's not all that scary once you just do it. I love the end result - these little 1/2 pages are some of my favorites. I love that they add texture & interest, and give a little extra space for the overflow of photos and stories to tell.




Here's a peek at a plain ol' pocket-style spread. The colors on this make me happy, even though this was a scary week for us. We almost lost Dublin this week. :(  The ding dong ate a knee-high soccer sock, and got it stuck. He was in ROUGH shape. So glad he came out on the other side ok.


Inspired by a focus on the photo, I included a few 2-page spreads of one giant picture. Here's an example.




I also feel free to include a "regular" layout -  a more traditional approach to scrapbooking, I guess you could say. I figure there are no rules to how the album needs to be put together. If I feel like doing a layout every now and then, into the album it goes. :)


This half page tells a specific story. Everything related to this one memory is included on this 6x12 insert. Meagan dreamed up the idea to make a peach tart (???). This was the result of that idea :)


Sometimes the 1/2 pages are perfect for one larger photo.


And the back cover. I'm planning to keep the cover the same for each quarter of this year... just changing out the 3 months on the front cover that are included in the book. Keeping it simple and cutting down on the amount of work I have to do to call a book DONE.


Just a note... Last year I ordered Shutterfly's lay-flat pages to try them out. I was tired of things falling into the abyss between the pages. Turns out, I LOVE the lay-flat pages. They are a great solution for maintaining the integrity of the content toward the center of the layout. As for the impact of the pages on the album itself... the album is thicker for sure, but the pages are much sturdier as well. The one real drawback is the additional cost. If you don't want to splurge on the price, then it's just as doable to avoid adding details to the center of the layout.

Collecting Dust

Sad, but true.
My blog has spent much of 2015 collecting dust.
9 months of dust.
Hope you're not allergic.

This morning, there's a lot running through my mind - from ideas for house projects, to to-do lists for cleaning said house, to thinking about getting a bit more caught up on my albums, to wishing I knew what I was going to make for dinner.

Life has gotten NUTS this year. Fun. And fulfilling. But nuts. Not lots of downtime. Not lots of time for planning and prepping and relaxing. I think my mind and my heart are longing for a bit of simplicity. I love the idea of being able to get up and have a clean house, with all of the projects finished, and have time to try out a new recipe for dinner or bake some cookies that didn't come out of a plastic pouch (just call me Betty). With the world around me moving at a chaotic speed, I think I'm longing for a slower pace and simplicity at the moment. I think it's natural to wish to have control and order in some part of life, if you can't have it everywhere... for me, that sense of order comes from having things squared away in my home.

So, I spent some time poking around Pinterest (the almighty sucker of time and space), looking for some inspiration. I found lots of ideas... and a quote that kindly reminded me that nothing gets done if I don't get off my ass (thank you Pinterest for that). And then I somehow stumbled back across my own blog. Ha! That's some funny stuff...at least the way I see it. And then I thought, "hmmm, wouldn't it be nice if I actually paid attention to this thing again, since I have found joy and satisfaction in it for so many years?" And thanks to Pinterest's gentle reminder (see previous sentences), I decided that the only way my blog comes back to life is if I bring it back to life.

Step 1: Write a blog post.

So here is me, blowing off the dust...stand back, it's gonna be a big cloud.
Here is me thinking I might just make a point to renew my love of writing and storytelling and photographing and documenting. Not because you all care all that much. But because I enjoy it.

The. End.