Out....

Out of pages, out of page protectors, out of some categories of stickers and papers, and, most importantly, out of pictures! Caught up again! Two weeks of the dining room looking like this:

Yielded this:

See how clean that table is? No scrapbooking to do, no sewing projects in the works. Take a good look. It won't last. But for now I'm enjoying the look.

And yielded this:

This is only a part of the scrapbooks I've completed. There are 4 other shelves like this.

I read an article on ways to gain more knitting time. One suggestion was rid yourself of other hobbies. I must admit this is one hobby I would let go of. But this is probably the most important hobby I have to my grandmunchkins. So it stays. If I could keep caught up it wouldn't be such a burden. But I don't enjoy it as much so it tends to get pushed back until I'm six months behind and then it's either get caught up or quit. Sigh....

For now, I'm off to enjoy my knitting because I'm OUT of pictures!

Putting life on hold....

Well, as much as possible. But with adorable and active little ones around, there is only so much you can put on hold. She's on the move....which means keeping carpets vacumed, doors closed, floors mopped, coffee tables cleaned off.

We couldn't let Dr. Seuss' birthday pass without some fun. So there were Cat in the Hat hats to create.

And a birthday cake to blow out the candles.

But when I wasn't busy with grandmunchkins I was addressing the New Year's resolution 2011- catch up the grandmunchkin's scrapbooks. New Year's resolution 2011-done! I didn't exercise, except for a few walks, didn't eat, much, didn't do anything the last couple of weekends, except...scrapbook! 2010 is all in the books! There are a few more pictures coming today for January and February 2011 which should take an evening to scrapbook and then I am caught up. It just wasn't getting it down to do a few pages a day. With adorable grandmunchkins changing rapidly I was taking pictures faster than I was scrapbooking them and getting further behind. Now, the next resolution...stay caught up and enjoy scrapbooking again!

There was another swap in the Itty Bitty group in the midst of all that scrapbooking.
The theme was, "Let's start at the very beginning" or, in other words, "A" is for apple. It was an apple swap.

Three more knits for my 2011 tally. These were the requirements for the swap package. The rest was left up to our discretion, choice, and creativity.

This is the hat I received in my swap package. It is adorable on the youngest grandmunchkin.

And talk about creativity! This is the swap package I received from my swap partner...all the way from Ireland!

Here's to hoping the blog stays caught up with the scrapbooking. There are some sewing and knitting projects in the works!

I am making progress...right?

Three things to do this year: catch up scrapbooking in 7 albums (I am 6 months behind) and knit the stash down (I have a bunch of yarn), and read a bit more, and all the while cold sheep as much as possible and cold paper. Cold paper is like cold sheeping but for scrapbooking and reading. I have a lot of scrapbook paper and stickers. A.Lot. And then my daughter sprung digital scrapbooking on me. She suggested it might be faster and more cost effective. After I use up the supply I have. That would be in 3 or 4 years....maybe. And books? I have a few of those too and I'd be better off using the library. I originally bought all those books because I wasn't reading fast enough to get them back to the library in the alloted time. So with those goals in mind I have completed this:My first knitting project for 2011. It's the tulip sweater for our 6 month old granddaughter. A h at to match is on the needles.

And this was what I completed in a weekend in scrapbooking. As in two days! I'm amazed. But there's much more to be done. This the youngest granddaughter's first album so there were a lot of birth-day pictures. But her album is now caught up to her cousins. And I'm waiting on more pages and pictures to progress further. Guess that means knitting and reading time.

And I've read two books already this year. I'm making progress!

2008 is in the books

Literally, in the books. One of my goals for 2009 was to be less mongamous in my crafting and more polygamous. Apparently I still have a lot of work to do in that area when it comes to scrapbooking. A stack of pictures drives me to my scrapbook table and despite a back ache or the late (or early) time of day, I stay until the stack is in the books. But I have a closet full of yarn that I can ignore and projects that I want to do and it doesn't drive me like scrapbooking does. If I could get a handle on why, then maybe I could get the stash down. My husband went out of town for a business trip and so there was no one to keep my scrapbook goals to a sane level and to insist I needed to sleep. My daughter loves the insaneness because she gets another movie so Mom can keep scrappin. (I did fix her regular healthy meals and make sure she exercised so I didn't totally ignore her) But as of 1am, or as my husband would say, O dark thirty, all of the grandmunchkin albums are caught up through Christmas of 2008. Did I mention that I have 6 albums to do? One for each of the younger grandchildren. Chalk up another insanity mark against me. But after they're done, I look back at my pages and usually love what I've done and love seeing those little cherub faces. Below are a few of my favorites, although I like them all.

Grandson #3's album, or Mr. W:

Granddaughter #2's album, or the 2nd Miss S:

Grandson #4's album, or Mr. B: (did I mention that all of the albums for this family are done in a Disney theme? I've got to have a reason to buy and use the great Disney scrapbooking stuff that's on the market and a trip to Disneyland is a few years off.)

Isn't his smile a killer? This little guy is so photogenic that the pages don't need much!

And Granddaughter #3's album, or Miss R. Her album is Disney as well, but I get to use Princesses in hers along with Mickey and gang. And the album I use for her has Mickey engraved on the front.

I also have a different color album for each grandchild so at a glance they know which albums are theirs.

While I've been busy scrapbooking, my busy daughter completed her very first granny square afghan. She continues to amaze me. I taught her how to do a granny square thinking I'd have to hold her hand through every square. I was wrong. I taught her to do a flat braid join for the squares, again thinking hand holding would be neccessary. Wrong again. This is her creation. She picked the colors for each square, she crocheted them, she crocheted them together. I know hand work is really really good for her and keeps her brain not only active, but growing, but it gives her so much more. This proudly rests on Her chair!

And now without further ado, since the eyelids are drooping...I'm going to get a few zzzz before tonight's Knitting Guild meeting.

Before I go, I have a chuckle to share. I care for my grandchildren and the two year old had me all to herself the last couple of days. I try and teach them sign but in the car I was trying to teach her the names of her parents and where she lived. Part of this was self preservation, she's into the "why?" stage. So today I asked her what her Mommy's name was. Her reply, "no, no, no" and to which she added, "My Mommy says No." She stuck with that every time I asked. Too cute...for me...maybe not for Mommy.

Help! I've been trapped!

I've been trapped here for the past several weeks but unable to get out the last 4 days! My sewing/scrapbook room. My husband left for his annual fall fishing trip several days ago. As is typical I schedule a project or two to complete while he is gone. As is also typical, the project (s) are much too lofty for the time allowed but I do it every year. Since I don't have to get up at 5am every morning to fix his lunch for work, I can stay up at my own hours. This year my projects were to catch up on scrapbooking (should have stopped right there), complete MS4, and start and hopefully complete a sweater for my granddaughter. But I was trapped! I was only a few months behind on the scrapbooking but there are 7 scrapbooks to do, one for each grandchild and the family book. And all 7 grandchildren have birthdays within a 6 week period, during the summer, when there is also a family vacation. Four of the grandchildren share the Same birthday. Lots of birthday pictures! So a few months behind is. a. lot. So, unless you like scrapbooking, you can skip the rest of this post. At 8 am this morning I completed the last of the birthday pictures and am up through August. Now I'm just two months behind with very little happenings in those months. Light at the end of the tunnel. But my creative mind is very finite and the pages just weren't happening so I cleaned up the scrapbook room and am taking the last day and night and knitting, or crocheting. For your viewing pleasure, here are some of my favorite completed pages. At the risk of boring you, I've only uploaded 5.

Try as I might blogger would not let me turn this picture around. It's right in my files so I don't know what's up. I chose mostly a Disney theme for three of my grandmunchkins since their Mommy also scrapbooks and there wouldn't be a chance of doing the same pages. We are mother and daughter after all. I have noticed though that scrapbookers all have their own way of doing it, even mothers and daughters who are pretty similar in tastes.

Camping and beach pictures, what could be better. I must say most of my favorite pages are due to the pictures rather than the page decor. Good pictures lend themselves to good pages very easily for me. Crowded pictures or those without a theme, while important, are hard for me to design a page for.

I liked this lay out so much I repeated in two other albums but changed up the colors and stickers.

Many of my page ideas come from the Creative Memories idea books and/or Debra Kukuck. Debra Kukuck is now out of business I think. Too bad, she had great ideas but her customer service was not very good. I never even received my last order despite phone calls and emails.

And while I was trappped my youngest daughter, my side kick, my connection to the hip, was madly crocheting on this poncho for our oldest granddaughter for Christmas. I am very proud of her! She can't read so she memorizes the pattern as I teach her. She is very receptive to frogging when there are mistakes and doing it again. I think she's a process knitter/crocheter. I am definitely not into the process as much as I am the product!

Crocheted with worsted yarn from stash and eyelash yarn from stash. It's more maroon than the pictures show.

I should add a disclaimer that being trapped in the scrapbook room right now is not a bad thing given the constant barrage of political commercials on TV. I was glad to escape it!

We now return you to our regularly scheduled programming.

I have been "out of touch" as I was attempting to regain lost ground, win the battle, and return my room to a multipurpose room, not a scrapbooking room. I was behind, very behind. 1 year to be more precise. Since starting scrapbooking some 12 years ago,I've not been behind more than a week and even less since the entrance of digital to my life. I take 'em, edit 'em, print 'em, scrap 'em. Then enter my daughter, pregnant with three, count 'em three. Bi weekly dr appts I take her to, cleaning her house, and numerous other tasks to allow her and her husband to focus on getting 3 healthy little munchkins here. And enter 3 grandmunchkins, ages 5, 4, 4 months, that I care for daily. So what gives...scrapbooking (as well as knitting, crocheting, cross stitch, and other hobbies). Well the three arrived just a little early, safe, and other than three weeks in the NICU, pretty healthy. But then there is more Granny duty. I had twins but triplets! We're talking a whole nuther baby! So what gives? Again, hobbies and the little time I had for hobbies was given over to the never ending quilts. But then, just ahead, a little light, a little window of time! So the sewing/scrapbooking/quilting room looked like this:

And now it looks like this:

Why? Because these are caught up! A year worth of pregnancy, baby, kiddo, pictures are now tucked safely in albums. A year doesn't sound like much but when you have six of them to do it takes on a new meaning. 'Bout chucked it but my 5 year old grandmunchkin asked me if there were any new pictures in his album. And every time they visit they get out Their album and relive their memories. That convinced me it was worth it. And here they are! Even caught up my "brag book".

The seven reasons I scrapbook and I don't find the time to scrapbook!

And now without further ado we return to our regularly scheduled programming. We apologize for the interruption. The situation has been deemed under control. We now join the scheduled program already in progress.

Knitting. Crocheting. Cross stitch. Maybe Ravelry and reading blogs. Reading. I am in several KALs. I "bagged" out of two for this month, the Loose Knit group (this month's project was bags..get it?) and the EZ Almanac group. I do want to catch up on the Mystic Light KAL. I'll catch up with the Loose Knit group and EZ next month. Then there are the read alongs. Morning nap time or early morning between getting Fisherman off to work and S up for school sound like a good time for that. I've missed reading....lots.

Do I really have to return to these regularly scheduled programs?

Ok, so this one I could definitely put back in my schedule...SLEEP, ah sweet sleep!

IF you teach....

...a man how to fish, he will feed your family! Jason caught his second sturgeon. 51 inches and really yummy. They're not much to look at but they taste wonderful. My husband knows, after catching several himself, how to cut them up to get the most meat. He cuts them in chunks, we coat them in Pride of the West batter, and fry it up. Talk about a feast! We served it on Shega's birthday a couple of years ago and even the non-fish eaters were coming back for seconds and thirds. It's also called poor man's lobster when you boil it and dunk it in butter.

...a child to read they will have a life of entertainment, fantasy, knowledge, and the list goes on. Summer is in the first grade but reading far beyond her age and more importantly-loves it! I purchased Hooked on Phonics after I started watching grandmunchkins almost two years ago, and spent 15 minutes a day with Summer and Jayce. I am getting my money back listening to her read! And she loves Dr. Seuss...like her granny! It was wonderful to hear her read and laugh out loud at the antics in the story.

...a grandmother, or mother,(or even father or grandfather or aunt or...) to scrapbook, she will relive her memories while leaving them for someone else to enjoy and it will give her a creative outlet and it will be a source of calm/escape in a storm (as are most creative outlets). I'm slowly catching up the baby scrapbooks for W, B, and R. They're only 8 months old! I went with a Disney theme for their baby books because: number 1-I love Disney and number 2-they'll be different than the baby books their mom is creating. W's book is complete for his first 6 months. Life has been full of trials these past weeks and scrapbooking provided the needed escape to happier times. I can pray while scrapbooking but I can't think beyond the papers, stickers, and pictures which is what I needed. Books also provide that for me, an escape. So not much knitting or crocheting going on. I tend to think too much when I'm doing that.

Creative juices are flowing.....

MIRACLES!

I alleuded to a stressful couple of weeks and finding solace in scrapbooking. I found solace and comfort and prayer in God's Word and the prayers of fellow Christians and in the book: Prodigals and Those That Love Them by Ruth Bell Graham. I asked that God would fight the battle (II Chronicles 20) and that He would grant us a miracle because in my human way of thinking, there was no other answer. On Friday God won the first battle (the war rages on) and He gave us a miracle. The situation is still heavily in my prayers and devotions but God is still working miracles in lives. He also had to deal with my pride on the issue and I am now asking for a miracle in the life of another.

the weekend

I managed to finish three pairs of bootees for Winken, Blinken, and Nod...but not clue 3 on the MS3.

I started scrapbooking Savannah's first birthday...but didn't finish it...and still no progress on the MS3.

We had friends from church over for a bbq. The drizzle made the yard bbq a deck bbq but the Blue Angels flew lower so we not only provided food and fellowship but entertainment as well.

The grandmunchkins came home with us after the wedding and spent Saturday night and went to church with us in the morning. Still nothing accomplished on the MS3. I think it really is becoming a UFO.