Thursday, October 24, 2013

2012 Vacation Pages 3-4

Hello!
 
I was feeling motivated and creative a few days ago, so I finally worked on some more of the vacation Project Life-style pages I started last year...or the beginning of this  year.  Or whenever that was.  Oops!  And now, days later, I'm feeling lazy again and unmotivated to scrap.  I did start a new knitting project though.
 


 
 
It's interesting to look back at these photos and see just how much Jeralyn has changed in a year!  Whew!

Monday, October 21, 2013

Pumpkin Patch

Hello!  Happy Monday to you!  Hope you had a great weekend!
 
Guess what?  I scrapped a regular scrapbook page!  This is my very first regular scrapbook page for the whole year of 2013 (aside from Project Life)!  And the picture was taken only 2 days ago!  Talk about quick!  I found this new digital kit on Sweet Shoppe Designs and I was having so much fun with it on a Project Life page that I decided just to scrap a regular page.  It was so fun!  Yeah...I really miss regular scrapping!
 

Sunday, October 20, 2013

Project Life: Week 33

Hello!  Hope you had a good week!  I'm back to share another week of Project Life!  I'm about a month behind on the project now, but I'm slowly making progress!  One thing I'm realizing is that I feel much better if I keep up with the journaling.  The pictures are always there, and I can always add fun digital papers and elements, but if I don't have journaling, I feel lost.



 
 
I think I may be leaning more toward not doing Project Life for 2014.  I would like to do weekly pages for Baby #2 and I would like to do regular scrapbook pages.  That's what I keep thinking about.
 
Well, time to read to my girl!

Thursday, October 17, 2013

Pinstripe Hat

Hello!  I thought I would share a knitting project.  It's been awhile since I've done that.
 
A few weeks ago I realized that Jeralyn didn't have a winter hat to wear, so I began to search for a pattern to knit.  It didn't take me long and I found this pattern on Purl Soho's Purl Bee's blog site.  I used Purl Soho's Super Soft Merino yarn.  It's a very soft, bulky yarn.  It's quickly become one of my favorite yarns. 
 
I started knitting the hat in the size for the toddler, but before I got to the crown, I realized that it was going to be too small.  Thankfully, a knitting project using bulky yarn is a fast project, so I pulled out the yarn and then knitted the 'child' size of the pattern.  Perfect!
 
I love the pin stripes!  The pattern didn't give instructions for a pom-pom, but I really wanted to add that to the hat.  I had never made a pom-pom before, so I found this video and made one.  It was so easy and simple!  And fun!

Jeralyn wore the hat a couple of times.  It fits her, but I wanted to make it more secure while she wore it (to stay on) and I wanted some ear flaps to cover her ears.  The hat covered her ears, but I found myself having to adjust it every once in awhile while she was wearing it.
 
I've only made one hat with ear flaps so far, and so I had an idea of how to make it, but I wasn't sure how to add ear flaps to an existing hat.  So with some inspiration from a YouTube video and using my own knowledge/experience, I made ear flaps.  Seriously, it was a proud moment for me because I didn't have any pattern to follow!

It took me maybe 15 minutes all together and the ear flaps were attached.  And the hat looks so super cute on her!
 
This was a fun project!  I think I may need to make one for myself!

Monday, October 14, 2013

Project Life: Week 32

Hello!  Happy Monday to you!  And um...Happy Columbus Day!  Er...yeah!  Normally, my husband would have had today off, which he still does, but it's not as exciting when there's a government shut-down and he's off anyway.  Anyway...enough about that, here's another set of Project Life pages:
 


 
 
I love these pages!  It's because it contains some of my most favorite people! xoxo
 
So yesterday I was talking about how being a mother changes life, like hobbies.  Well, we are slowly cleaning out our "office" which will soon become Baby Smith #2's room.  So that means moving my crafting stuff (what's left of it). 
 
Years ago, when we lived in Wrangell, I had a whole loft to myself to craft/stamp/scrapbook. 
 
 
It was wonderful!
 
And then we moved.
 
And once we moved into our current house, I had half of a room for my crafting stuff.  But that didn't last long when we introduced another computer into the room.  And then I stopped stamping.  And then I had a baby.  And then I sold my stamping stuff.  And now another baby is on the way.
 
Whew!
 
And now I get to pick and choose what I want to keep on a shelf in our closet that's about 14"x 4' (maybe).  Oh how things change!  But you know what?  I wouldn't change it for ANYthing!  I waited so long to have children, so this is SO worth it!
 
And it makes me even more thankful for digital scrapbooking!
 
There are so many seasons in life: let's embrace those changes!


Sunday, October 13, 2013

Project Life: Week 31

Hello!  It's a lazy Sunday morning.  We skipped church today because we didn't want to share germs, and this mama needs some down-time.  I love lazy Sundays!
 
So far this morning I have completed another two weeks of Project Life, which feels really good!  I'm actually caught up to week 35, although we are currently in week 40-something (but who's counting?).  And this morning I filled some more page protectors with scrapbook pages I had printed a couple of weeks ago.  There is such a sense of accomplishment when I slide those pages into the plastic sheets!  I was telling Quent this morning that it used to take 2 albums for 1 year, but now that I'm doing strictly digital scrapbooking and not as many pages, I can fill 1 album with 2 years.  Oh how being a mother can change things, even albums!
 


 
 
As I was filling the page protectors this morning, I was thinking about how I'm not sure if I want to do Project Life in 2014.  I have a couple of months to think about it, so I'm not making a definite decision yet.  I love the project, but I think my passion is more of the regular scrapbook pages.  There are a lot of pros and cons.  One great thing about Project Life is capturing so many more moments than I would regular scrapbooking, but then when I'm playing "catch-up" it's not as fun.
 
I also would like to do some type of weekly or monthly pages for Baby Smith #2 like I did for Jeralyn.  Babies change SO much every week that it was so great to capture all of that with the photos and journaling.  But I'm hesitant to decide what I want to do because I know I will be BUSY and I'm afraid I will be playing catch-up all of the time.  I'm already feeling bad for not being better at journaling things since Jeralyn's first birthday.  I know--I can only do my best, but...
 
So I have some decisions to make before the new year.  I do know there's no way I can do:
 
A baby journal + Project Life + regular scrapbook pages
 
There is just no way!
 
Lots to think about!

Thursday, October 10, 2013

Project Life: Week 30

Hello!  So I'm not as far behind with Project Life as it may seem.  I'm catching up, but I did have a lot of weeks already done many weeks ago.  I'm hoping to get completely caught up over the next couple of weeks, and then I would like to work on single, regular pages as well.  We shall see...
 



Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Project life: Week 29

I'm playing a lot of catch up with Project Life.  Right now I'm getting pages set up with the photos.  I will have to journal as I go and add the digital papers/elements along the way.  It makes me feel better to be doing something!