I have been coveting this kit, Guinevere’s Beauty by Scraps of Ellay, for months but never had a good reason to buy it - it is pretty girly and I have my two sweet boys. I know that *I* am a girl but I don’t scrap many photos of myself plus I am trying to finish the boys’ first year books. Well, I decided to get it anyway and use it to do some of the challenges at Stuff to Scrap and something for my P52. Isn’t it lovely? The colors are fab and, as always, LA's elements are beautiful and unique. I especially love the papers with sparkle and the ones with flowers - neither of which works well for the boys but I need to get pretty kits sometimes darn it!
And there is this wonderful add on kit that is a must have - I have this on my wish list too as I hate to not have all parts of a particular kit - lucky for the designers - lol.
My first layout was for the Word of the Week challenge at Stuff to Scrap – the word was Treasure. I did a layout about my birthdays (fairly non-exciting with a few bright spots) and my hopes for the boys’ birthdays (also low key but with traditions that they will hopefully remember and appreciate like I remember and appreciate the tradition of picking my cake and dinner).
This one was done for the Theme Challenge at Stuff to Scrap– the theme is Romantic Comedies – you should see the beautiful and creative ideas people have come up with! I love all these girl movies even though the mister can't stand them. He loves westerns which I can't stand so luckily we have more than one tv and lots of tolerance. :)
Next up will be one of the new designers at Stuff to Scrap - Designs by Ashlee. Since she is just getting started, it is either a spring kit or a green froggy kit - I haven't decided yet as they are both really cute. Jane of Little Red Scraps also has a new kit coming and it is just lovely. Hopefully I'll have time to get some stuff done with that kit as well.
First off I did a cover page. I got a coupon from Scraps ‘n Pieces for printing at Persnickity Prints and since the prices were better than Costco with the coupon and there was free shipping, I ordered all of the pages of J1’s book that I had completed and 8 x 8 prints of my P52 layouts. I was a bit nervous since I hadn’t heard anything about Persnickity but I have to say, the prints were so awesome. The paper was really thick and wonderful and the layouts looked great. I will definitely order from there again. So anyway, since I printed some of my P52 layouts and put them in an album I decided I needed a cover page. Below the title I have some biographical info so it won’t look so empty in my actual album.
Here is my Embarrassment layout again for those interested in actually reading what I wrote. :)
Next we had to write about where we grew up:
And then my job - the prompt was "what do you tell people when they ask you about your job" and I always say my profession rather than say "a mom" so that's what I wrote about.
And next was the things we like about ourselves. For this one, I sat down and wrote out everything I could come up with and then did the layout. They are random things but I do appreciate all of them. You should try it sometime - it is nice to focus on the positive things about yourself, even if some of them are silly. 
Next we have to write about our most memorable birthday. This one is hard for me because I just don’t remember anything super remarkable about any. I mentioned it to the mister and he was a bit offended since he set up a nice surprise at a fancy renovated hotel in Eastern Oregon one year and he also mentioned my 30th birthday which my mom and sister made special. And both of those were great so I don’t know why I didn’t think of either. All I could think of was that I never had a surprise party, no one threw me a fancy sweet 16, I never had a huge bowling party or anything like that – all the things I *think* would make a birthday memorable. I guess I need to rethink my fantasy criteria and focus on real life so stay tuned for that. Oh and D - if you did something fabulous for me that I am not remembering - don't be offended - apparently I have a mental block!
This week for My Life IN Scrap we were supposed to make a layout highlighting our most embarrassing moment. Fortunately for me, I couldn’t think of any so I just wrote about not really getting embarrassed. Since this is supposed to be a biography about me, it was what I needed to write - thanks D. for talking me through it! By the way, most of the pictures I am planning on putting in these layouts don’t directly relate to the layout, they are just random pictures of me through the years. Anyway, I have to say, there were some pretty funny stories – you should go check them out. It isn’t too late to start this project either. The host of the challenge said this:
I would love that at the end of the year - that each of you can look back and see that you have given future generations a biography of YOU. I think it would be one of the greatest gifts to give your family. I know that I would have loved to have something like this from my Mom.
Who wouldn’t love to have that? Just to have the insight and stories from your parents when you are all grown up – so cool! That is the main reason I am doing this challenge, something to leave the boys. Anyway, here is my layout. The next one will be about a day in my life – who won’t fall asleep reading that?? LOL
Well, since I just started digi-scrapping in June, I didn’t have a project for 2009. Didn’t even really know such a thing existed until December when people were talking about how they didn’t complete the P365 for 2009. For those not in the know, generally speaking Project 365 consists of taking a picture daily of every day things so you can have a record of what day-to-day life is – at least that is my understanding of what P365 is. I think the number of layouts can vary though because I saw some people talking of doing a daily layout for their picture but also a weekly recap of the daily photos. The latter seems infinitely more do-able but I am doing neither. I know myself and can’t possibly remember to take a photo every day. I would have failed by day 1 really as I have no pictures of New Year’s Day – we did nothing so there was nothing to photograph. So a Project 52 is one layout a week for the year and no daily picture requirement.
I had been considering doing some sort of project but nothing had really struck me until I saw a post at DST about a P52 at My Life and Scrap (MLAS). I had never been to that forum before (although I have undoubtedly shopped there!) but I headed over to read about it. Since I won’t be able to do it justice, I will just copy the challenge text – it is called My Life IN Scrap.
I am your hostess for Project52 - My Life IN Scrap. Every Friday I will provide you with a prompt to inspire you to scrap about YOU.
What is My Life IN Scrap? Well think of it as a biography of you IN scrap. Journaling will be the largest focus of this challenge. Since I love genealogy; I jumped to host this challenge. I hope you will join me.
I would love that at the end of the year - that each of you can look back and see that you have given future generations a biography of YOU. I think it would be one of the greatest gifts to give your family. I know that I would have loved to have something like this from my Mom.
Doesn’t it sound cool?? I am not sure why this appeals to me so much but I am really drawn to it so I went ahead and signed up. I really like the forum so far – the comments are great and everyone seems super friendly. Just what I needed – another site! Anyway, one layout a week seems like something I can do, even during tax season. Based on my lessons learned in 2009 – the first layout for the project – I definitely need to keep scrapping. The other fun thing is that I don’t have any kits from MLAS which gives me the opportunity to use one of the (many, many, many) kits I have acquired but not used. I will inevitably buy some kits from there but I am being extra picky now since I am running out of space on my scrapping hard drive and am already having to move my layouts to make room.
There are so many poignant and thought-provoking layouts already. It is sort of a different take on scrapping as I have seen it. The focus is most often kids and the pages seem to center mostly around big events, holidays and vacations. Just getting insight into the women as people, people who have struggles, problems, sadness and joy just like you is really special. Go check it out if it sounds interesting. And join in – how often do you scrap about yourself??
Here is my week 1 layout.
I forgot to credit this kit - it is Root Beer Float by Shelleyrae Designs.
