Nihao, Cupcake!

Ella Publishing May Take 12 Challenge :: Stepping Back in Time [China-Style]

It is time for yet another Ella Publishing Take 12 Challenge!!

CONFESSION: My twelve photos are not actually from May 12th. Shhhhhhhhh! I had a very special day on May 11th. I had a very special day on May 13th (Mother's Day). On May 12th... not so much.

Don't get me wrong. We had a fun day, but it was not a day that was conducive to good photos. Nor was I in the mood to force myself to take photos, as much as I tried.

I call myself "The Moody Photographer." And when the mood isn't there, I don't take photos.

So, I decided to do my layout with the TWELVE photos that did inspire me. On the 11th I went on a special tour with a group of other moms who live in Beijing. We went to a village just outside of the city. It is the one place in the world that makes the special glazed tiles (many 3 dimensional) that adorn the buildings at The Forbidden City, the city gates (including Tian'anmen Square), the temple buildings in the parks, etc.

It is a workshop where they mine shale in the local mountains. They turn that to clay and packing molds by hand, they create these amazing decorative tiles.

After which, they dip them in glaze (made from cobalt, copper & iron) and fire them in old fashioned kilns. 

 

I love these mock old Chinese coin brads I got from Michaels. They come with two other Chinese-esque brads that are equally as cool/beautiful.  

One reason this trip was so meaningful to me was that I have taken ceramics classes at various times in my life; for two years while in Japan, one summer in college when the visiting professor told me I should be an artist and in California with my kids at our local community center. [How cool that they had Mommy & me ceramics classes,no?!]

I chose this paper from the Far East (Die Cuts With a View) paper pack because the crackling reminded me of the dried mud turning into clay in huge troughs at the front of the workshop. 

 

I wanted the attention on my photos so I chose a sketch (Template 1 in the Template packet) from the Ella Publishing Take 12 Guided Inspiration Kit. And I LOVE how it turned out. The photos are definitely the stars of this layout. They tell the stoy.

There is more journaling I would like to add, so I might add a 6x12 insert and if there is space, I might add a few smaller accent photos along with my journaling.

I just loved this day. 

I loved interacting with the artisans, being able to be right in the heart of their workshop - literally stepping over the wet clay shapes waiting to go into the drying room (essentially a giant oven).

This is the drying room. Notice how the pieces are different shades of grey? The darker pieces are the wet ones and the lighter grey ones are almost dry and ready to go to the glazing workshop.

It was like stepping back in time to simpler times before over-litigation and the chaos of the modern world got in the way.

A day like this is one of the magical treasures that seem to happen or find you when living abroad. It's a wonderful surprise to find amazing things that still seem undiscovered. Hard to find any more!

Oh! I almost forgot! The best part was that we got to take home some of these amazing tiles. The lady who organized the tour is fascinated with the mythical creatures on the tiles that adorn the roofs of the Forbidden City. 

This is my lion.

It is this fascination that inspired her to arrange the tour. She worked on our tour guide the entire time trying to convince him to let us purchase a tile or two and he finally broke down when she told him, "My life won't be complete until I get to take some of those animals home!" With that, they opened up their storehouse and we had a great time shopping in the dark, dusty (such thick dust you wouldn't believe it) store house, picking out our treasures that cleaned up very nicely. 

This is my dragon.

To see all my Flickr photos from the outing, including photos of the village with a faded painting of Mao Zedong (I'm pretty sure that is who it is) on one of the walls and a train rushing past within mere feet of us as we stood on a bridge, click here.

To see all of my past Take 12 Layouts and the corresponding posts, go here.

More inspiration from the Take Twelve Design Team:

Like the Car
Janette Carter-Kincaid
Scrap Inspired
Scrappy Wife, Happy Life
Day by Day
Right Here-Right Now
The Scrapbooking Haven Diva
Scrapworthy Lives
People of the Scrapbook
My Little Blessings
Life is Sweet
A Swoop and a Dart
Endless Possibilities
Yeah, Write

Visit Ella Publishing Co. to link up your layout or photos for a chance to win this month's prize.

 

It's Ella Publishing Take 12 Challenge Time Again!

As I mentioned in my last blog post, this month for the Take 12 Challenge I wanted to document ways in which our lives are different now that we live in China and not in Los Angeles. There are so many differences and I could only capture so many in just one day! This may become an ongoing theme. In fact, I've done a layout on this same topic before but I only used four photos and they were all from different days.

I used template #11 from the Ella Publishing Take Twelve Template Pack. It was so easy to use!

My journaling reads:

I wanted to capture the details of our lives that are different because we live in China. In this day I noticed: * friendly caricatures of police reminding me of safety rules * McD’s entrance near the freeway with DELIVERY mo-peds waiting out front * my view behind “the wheel” is very different * “my other car is a TAXI” * bilingual kids menus * distinctive highrises landmark my neighborhood * friendly comics hung around town remind me how to behave * parking my vehicle is a very different experience these days * eloquent translations give wonderful suggestions on what to do in case of an emergency * instant coffee replaces ‘real’ coffee for a variety of reasons * Titanic in 3D is big EVERY where!

And because the elevator sign is hard to read, I will share what it says here:

When eleveator breakdown please keep cool, rings the bell to pray for rescue.

I LOVE that one! My 13 year old noticed this sign for the very first time on the 12th (lucky for me, huh?). It is in the elevator that we ride up and down to our apartment multiple times a day but because it is posted so high in the elevator, none of us had ever noticed it.

 

DID YOU TAKE TWELVE??

Did you Take Twelve photos on April 12th and make a layout? Join the link party at Ella Publishing! There's a great prize. But hurry, you have to link up today (April 18).

Do you want to Take Twelve but didn't do it on the 12th? Not to worry, it isn't too late! (Link party for prizes closes today but feel free to link up next month and/or leave me a link in the comments [here and/or at Ella's blog] and I'll come see your page.) Angie Lucas even gives tips on cheating on the blog. I'm all for cheating in scrapbooking if it gets another story told and a memory documented! It all counts, right?

Don't forget to check out the Take Twelve Flickr group and post your photos & finished layouts.

To see all my Take 12 Challenge Posts including my layouts from past months, click HERE.

Check out the blogs of the other Ella Publishing Take Twelve Design Team:

Like the Car

Janette Carter-Kincaid

Scrap Inspired

Scrappy Wife, Happy Life

Day by Day

Right Here-Right Now

The Scrapbooking Haven Diva

Scrapworthy Lives

People of the Scrapbook

My Little Blessings

Life is Sweet

A Swoop and a Dart

Endless Possibilities

Yeah, Write

Ella Publishing Take Twelve Challenge {March}: Our Day in Feet

I had lots of fun this month for the Ella Publishing Take Twelve Challenge. As I mentioned before I wanted to change things up visually so I changed my perspective and I pointed my camera down the whole day capturing our day through our feet (and sometimes our shoes).

Over the past few years I have done a lot of documenting my family's everyday lives through Project Life, Week in the Life, etc. and I thought it was time to find a new way to capture one of our days.

I like the repetition of seeing the same thing, although a little different, in each photo. It's kind of a fun and easy way to see life in a new way.

The calendar circle in the top left of the layout is from the Ella Publishing Take Twelve Inspiration kit. So many cute things and ideas are included! 

Did you take the EPC Take Twelve Challenge this month?

Go to the Ella Publishing blog by March 18 to link up with your photo or layout and have a chance to win a great prize from Persnickety Prints! I can't wait to see what you did!

PS Don't forget to check out the great deals at the Ella Blog today! 

Tomorrow (US time) its time for another Ella Take Twelve Challenge

via www.ellapublishing.com

Do you have your camera battery charged? Your memory cards cleared? It's 1 PM here on February 12 so I've started filling my memory card already.

What's your theme going to be? Or are you going to go with the flow and capture details of your everyday as you move throughout your day?

It's so much fun! Why not give it a try? And don't forget to link up on the Ella blog when you've completed your Take 12 Layout or have your twelve photos? I can't wait to see what you do!

March Blog Hop x 2 {FAMILY x 12 Blog Hop } and {#ProjectLife Blog Hop}

Another double blog hop day! Welcome!

Every month on the fifth, I host a blog hop for people who want to take at least one photo of their family each month. It's amazing to realize how few family photos we take, unless we take a moment to notice. Thanks to this blog hop, I have gotten much, much better about making an effort to take family photos on special occasions and not so special occasions. Like this month!

Here is our photo for the month. Truth is, we cheated! I didn't manage to get a photo in the short month of February (even though we had the extra day), so this was taken last night before everyone headed off to bed. When I knew I was going to be cheating, my idea was to get a pajama photo. Not everyone is in their PJs, but we are all in our lounge or comfy clothes, so I suppose that is close enough. I'll do better this month! A late photo is better than no photo and by the end of the month, we will have at least twelve family photos.

If you are interested in joining us next month for the FAMILY x 12 Blog Hop, send me an email (in the subject line of your email put April 5 FAMILY x 12 Blog Hop) and I'll send you all the details.

If you are here for the Project Life blog hop, keep scrolling down, otherwise it is time to continue on the FAMILY x 12 Blog Hop...

Next on the hop is Monica.

 

Margie     http://xnomads.typepad.com/blog

Moncia    http://questtoperfectimperfection.blogspot.com

Ruth       http://www.chattycraftyartypig.blogspot.com

Jo         http://www.mrsbeee.blogspot.com

Jill      http://jillconyers.com

Patricia   http://patoliveira.wordpress.com/

PROJECT LIFE BLOG HOP

Thanks to Jill for hosting the Project Life Blog Hop every month. This is lots of fun.

This month I have quite a few weekly spreads to share. I had hoped to share my Project Life photo work flow, but I've run out of time again! I have all the screen shots ready, but I need to upload my photos and compose my explanations. I will post it soon, I promise!

The black and white pictures are not actually photos. They are place holders until I order my prints. I wait until I need 100+ photos and then I place my order.

The pictures are just fast quality printed out in grayscale on my printer. Nothing special at all - quite the contrary. But it allows me to keep moving forward on my Project Life layouts.

 

To save time I have used coins to cover up the faces of people who are not in our family to preserve their privacy. Isn't that tricky?!

 

Sorry about the bad quality of the photos. I didn't take my photos until the sun went down. There is so little time in the winter for decent natural light, isn't there?

In this layout, I took a photo of the book I read for book club. And we kept a wrapper of a treat that my son picked out from the store in our apt complex.

I saved tickets and advertising materials from a literary festival.

 

More wrappers and photos of things my kids are into and up to these days. My youngest LOVES jumping rope every day after school and my oldest competed in his first swim meet on Saturday.

I'm also linking up here:

Thanks for stopping by!

Next on the hop is DONNA.

Here is the list of all the participants in case you should get lost along the way:

 

Jill http://jillconyers.com/

Margie http://xnomads.typepad.com

Donna www.joyfullydonna.blogspot.com

Tamara http://tamarasscrapping.blogspot.com.au/

Natalie http://dalys2012.wordpress.com

Devon http://www.youhadmeatneurotic.com

Alissa http://lifeonlakeland.wordpress.com/
April http://capturethememories.blogspot.com

Noelia  www.noeliaevangelista.typepad.com

Sharon  http://projectsofmylife.wordpress.com/

Jennifer http://vogtstories.blogspot.com

Sarah http://documentingchaos.wordpress.com/

Arlene http://craftymomma-ph.blogspot.com/2012/02/project-life-2012.html

 

 

A Family Story for Storytelling Sunday

Thanks for stopping by my blog today! I'm linking up at Sian's blog for Storytelling Sunday (first Sunday of every month). Sian shares a story and invites others to tell a story on their blog and join her linky party. If you have a story to tell, why not think about joining in?!

I'm excited to get this story documented today. I can't believe I managed to get a scrapbook page made as well!

Here is the journaling:

Guilou: This is likely a word we heard while we were sitting at a table in public in Golmud, China in 1997. We were traveling with our friend Bob (from London), who we met on the road. Bob studied Mandarin in Beijing so he was our translator. On this day, we were sriting postcards and since foreigners were a rare sight, we attracted quite a crowd. Bob made a sign (in Mandarin) asking for a few kuai (about 5 cents) to watch the show. Unfortunately, we didn't get any takers so our only take away was a good story!

It is a short but sweet one today. I hope you enjoyed it.

American Artifact?!

I haven't been sharing much on the blog lately. I suddenly had a change of heart and needed to be away from the computer as much as possible. I had felt like I was doing far too much documenting my life and then sharing it online and not enough living my life. That was easily remedied.

I have even been enjoying ordinary household chores now that we let our housekeeper go. That is an entire story in and of itself, but for another time! I am still taking photos nearly every day and working on Project Life, I'm just letting go of some of my self-imposed deadlines. I had taken some of the fun out of the whole process and with this small change, the joy is back!

Don't get me wrong, I'm still going to document and share on the blog, I'm just cutting back for the time being.

Here is a recent layout I made. I love the photo that my son's teacher took! Too funny!

Ella Publishing Take 12 Challenge :: The Best Part Layout & Another Story from the 12th

I had so much fun with this layout. We had a party for my youngest son on the 12th of this month so it was easy to get 12 photos. There was more to my story than a birthday party. It was all about how the party came together. It was truly a family event. I could not have pulled it off without the help of my entire family especially my two oldest sons. 

I wanted a layout that allowed me to tell the story I wanted to tell and I found it in the Ella Inspiration Kit. The design you see was perfect! I could show the highlights of the party on the left and BEHIND the SCENES on the right. BEHIND the SCENES is also one of the themes suggested in the Inspiration Kit and I love how it inspired me to tell this deeper story of my son's party.

JOURNALING READs:

The best part of this party was behind the scenes. Even Dad remarked after it was over that this was one of his favorite birthday parties because we all worked together to make it happen. And now that it is all over, I wish I had more of those photos. If I could do it all over again I would take some photos of Reece drawing each treasure hunt clue in amazingly accurate detail (I did save the clues), Reece & Nicholas planning out the treasure hunt and planting each clue, Nicholas planning secretly to be the Birthday Santa, hiding in the ayi closet ready to give out the goodie bags at the end of the treasure hunt, Mom searching the internet for the perfect Superman “B” image to print out and trace for the birthday cake, Mom printing out Superman & B logos to wear for the “photobooth”, Reece helping mom set up the backdrop for the photobooth, our neighbor Kristin stopping into the store to look for balloons after mom texted all of her friends to be on the lookout, Dad cutting up the yellow paper for the scrapbooking we ran out of time for, Mom planning out the cake with Braden and making the design happen with chopsticks and frosting.

 

The journaling spot is also from the Ella Inspiration kit. Isn't it cute?

Visit Ella Publishing for more information! And don't forget to go to this Ella Blog Post to add your layout or 12 photos to the linky party and your chance to win (linky closes on the 18th - see end of post for exact time it closes).

Visit the rest of the Take 12 Design Team:

Alizia

Amy

Angela

Jennie

Stephanie

Van

Valerie

Monika

Lisa D

Janette

Lisa O

 

ANOTHER STORY FROM the TWELFTH

There was also another amazing story to be told on the 12th of this month but for privacy reasons I cannot share the photos. I had the amazing privelege of meeting the new family of one of the children I care for at the orphanage I volunteer at every week. The family who had just adopted her, was in town an extra week or so waiting for their new daughter's passport and they asked to meet with some of us volunteers. I was so excited. She had been away from the orphanage for only one week and the first thing I noticed when I walked through the door was how she was a completely different child. She was animated, instead of sullen, she was smiling instead of somber, she was affectionate, instead of crying, she smiled and laughed and giggled more in that hour than I had ever seen her do in the year+ I had known her at the orphanage. She looked at her new parents and big sister with such love and adoration, it was astounding. I couldn't believe a child could bond with their new family so quickly and that she could so quickly become the child she was always meant to be. I had always felt so strongly, if this little girl could just have her own family, she would blossom. But I had no idea she would blossom so quickly and that she had so much potential to ever be that child I met just a week later. 

Many of the children at the orphanage have special needs. We don't always know all of their details so we often wonder. We had said that she was so somber and rarely interactive in a distinct way that we wouldn't be surprised if someone said she had special needs and yet we wouldn't be surprised if they told us she was perfectly normal. After that meeting, it became clear to me that she is perfectly normal and she is now exactly where she should have been since birth! What an amazingly lucky little girl to be with a family so full of love! It warms my heart to think about her sleeping safely in the loving arms of her new family in her fresh PJs, squeaky clean hair and adorable rosy red cheeks.

If only her little friends still at the orphanage will be so lucky.

 

#LOAD212 - Day 8 {Jodhpur Fort}

Even though I have been keeping up with the LOAD (Layout A Day) Challenge, I haven't been posting my layouts here every day for a couple of reasons. Sometimes I have something else to post and other times, I have other people in my layouts that aren't in my family so I keep those layouts only in private galleries.

The papers for this one as well as the sequin-type things at the top were purchased on my trip to India at a neat paper store in Delhi.

What's the most exotic scrapbook supply that you have ever purchased? Where did you buy it?

To see everything LOAD related on my blog, click here.

To see everything SCRAPBOOK realted on my blog, click here.

 

Layout A Day Feb '12 Day 7: Learning to Swim

So yesterday I mentioned that Ali Edwards had announced on her blog she would be documenting a day in the life on Wednesday. I was all for it and had every intention of waking up today and documenting my day. And then I woke up and I had zero desire to do that! So, I didn't! I have done so much every day documenting that I think I need a little break!

I will be doing the Take Twelve challenge this Sunday as part of their TAKE TWELVE team (see button on sidebar to link to the Ella Take Twelve page), so I will save up my mindfulness until then! I'll be sharing my photos on Sunday or Monday (since I am a day ahead) and then my layout a few days later. Please come back to see! Will you be doing the Take Twelve challenge this time? Go to the Ellapublishing.com for more information!

My Trick for Keeping Up with ProjectLife {Jan 22-28}

Even though I feel like I am scrambling to keep up with Project Life, I am still keeping to my commitment behind the scenes anyway. My original plan was to post the past weeks photos on Monday and then on Tuesday post my finished album pages from two weeks previous. I am having a tough posting my photos. But that doesn't mean I'm not rating them, editing them and uploading them to Flickr for back-up. And then finally uploading them to Snapfish and getting the prints delivered to my home. The last part takes a little longer because I live here, in Beijing. 

At first that was really throwing a wrench into my plans to keep up with my album. It is hard for me to put everything else in without photos. I could rush things and use photos SOOC (Straight Out of Camera), but that is just not my style. Photography is my first LOVE so drab, dark photos just wouldn't make me happy. Therefore, I need that extra time. And I only edit photos that I am actually going to use.

Have you figured out yet, my solution for still going forward with my album? I mentioned it in my post on Sunday for the Project Life blog hop.

I am printing out my photos in B&W on ordinary paper. This saves on ink and paper. The first time I did this, I made the mistake of printing them in color. Printer ink is expensive as it is, but here in China it is so expensive that it is silly. I don't print my own photos because I am not happy with the quality, I have read that they don't hold up as well over time and as I mentioned before, the ink here is ridiculously expensive and photo paper is unavailable. 

I bring it from home, but that takes up lots of space and weight in the luggage and then when it is gone, it is GONE! And I do like to print my own photos every once in a while.

Anyway, now you know! Perhaps this trick may help other people who don't print their own photos or who like to order prints in bulk. If I order more than 100 prints at a time, I don't have to pay for delivery. That makes it worth the wait for me.  

I hope you enjoyed my Project Life album layouts for the week of Jan 22. My favorite part of the week (as far as the album goes) is that I added a couple of embellishments to the card behind the apple juice carton (that is what the little yellow-ish card is with the Chinese writing on it). I don't typically do things like that, but it is a fun surprise for anyone who pulls it out. I also added a little tab to it so it would be more noticeable. The folding journal cards in the new kits don't come with tabs. I miss that, so I am adding my own.

What is your favorite thing you did this week in your Project Life album? Tell me in the comments.

PROJECT LIFE BLOG HOP

On March 5, Jill will be hosting another Project Life Blog Hop. If you are interested in joining, send her an email at jillconyers @ gmail (dot) com and tell her MARGIE sent you! I will be sharing my photo work flow that I use for Project Life. I hope you'll stop back by then.

You may want to check out these Project Life posts:

Reason #257 Why I LOVE Project Life (tell me why YOU love Project Life)

Feb 5 Project Life Blog Hop

 

OTHER COOL SCRAPBOOK EVENTS AROUND THE WEB 

 

Ali Edwards announced today that she will be doing a Day in the Life (just like Week in the Life but for ONE DAY) on Wednesday this week. Since I can never resist this type of challenge, I will be documenting my WEDNESDAY (that is tomorrow). She has a free download to help track your day.

 

 

ANOTHER TRUE SCRAP event is coming in April!! HURRAY!

True Scrap 3 has a great line up of teachers. Some of my favorites from Spawn of True Scrap are back, like Noell Hyman and Kelli Crowe. And Becky Higgins is the keynote interview. Awesome!

Some links are affiliate links.

Using Up Scraps of Old Basic Grey to Make This Page for #LOAD212

I had fun creating this page with some scraps of old Basic Grey. I fantastic way to stretch your patterned paper and use up your stash! The journaling tag is a free download from Scrapbooks, Etc (I think) I have had on my hard drive for a long time.

I made this for Day 2 of LOAD.

Welcome to the Pre-LOAD {Layout A Day} Blog Hop!

Welcome to my blog and the Pre-LOAD {Layout A Day} Blog Hop! LOAD is a challenge hosted by Lain Ehmann for scrapbookers. It is just like it sounds. A bunch of us scrapbookers commit to producing a LAYOUT A DAY for one whole month. We post our layouts every day (by midnight PST) in our Flickr group gallery, cheer each other on and offer encouragement. Lain sends us daily emails with prompts, and this month she's got 29 videos to inspire our creativity! There are even prizes.

This blog hop is meant to offer ideas and encouragement for newbies and alumni alike on how to prepare for the month ahead. Some of us are seasoned alums with lots of wisdom to share, others of us are brand new and sharing our goals and plans and some possible fears for the month ahead.

Before I tell you about my LOAD experience, I have to begin by telling you about the layout at the top of this blog post. I made that layout in 2002. Guess how long it took me to make it?

GUESS?

It sat on my dining room table for ONE WHOLE MONTH before I finally finished it. I wanted so badly to design a layout like the ones I saw in the magazines. I had Becky Higgins'   Creative Companion at my side and I studied all the different self-made backgrounds she had so neatly indexed. They looked so finished, impressive and even easy but for some reason, I couldn't pull them off.

See the border of blue rectangles at the bottom of the page? I had originally made an entire background using those rectangles, but it didn't look right to me, so after a MONTH of arranging and rearranging the parts and pieces, I finally came up with that finished layout. 

Now it is a nice layout and in all honesty, it doesn't look too dated. It is a pretty classic design and tells a nice story and does a good job of highlighting the photos. BUT IT TOOK ME A MONTH! That is just way too long.

I would hear about people with shelves bursting with albums filled to overflowing with scrapbook pages and all I had was a handful of painstakingly made layouts. At this rate, by the time I died, each of my 3 kids would be lucky to have two layouts each! I needed a different strategy.

Fast forward a few years...

Along came LOAD. 

I signed up for the very first one. It was January of 2007, lead by Lain. January wasn't a good month for me (too close to the holidays with a birthday towards the end). I only finished one page that first time!

The following year it was going to happen in February. I was so excited because I was committed and raring to go. I loved the idea of a challenge and I knew if I had the right mindset, I could do it. And guess what? Much to my amazement, I did it! I completed one page every single day in February of 2008. It was so much fun!

We did it again in May and October. And I am proud to say I completed 31 days in May and again in October.

Now it is 2012, and I have participated in two or three LOADS every year and have completed countless layouts. I now have shelves bursting with albums overflowing with pages. I've been published, I'm a BPC Library of Memories coach and I was asked to join the Ella Publishing Take Twelve Design team. I even have some wonderful new "internet friends" since joining LOAD back 2007.

I credit my regular participation in LOAD (among a few other habits) to be a large reason I was able to make all of these scrapbooking goals come true.

You could say I am a seasoned LOAD veteran. 

So how can you be successful at LOAD?

*Besides having some basic supplies at your disposal (i.e., for paper & hybrid scrappers: lots of your favorite adhesive, plenty of cardstock & patterned paper, printed photos, etc), most of the preparation for me is the mindset of being comitted to a layout a day. 

*Plan the page into your day. Decide the night before or first thing in the morning the photos you will work on, the story you want to tell. Think about it throughout the day so you have a basic idea of what you want to do when you sit down to work.

*Refer to your favorite inspiration: sketches, magazines, your photos

*Mine your blog for stories. I have a category on mine for Future Scrapbook Pages - couldn't be easier to find something to scrap about.

*Finish up any online classes that aren't complete - LOAD is the prefect time to do it.

*Finish up any incomplete albums (vacation albums, mini albums, Xmas gifts undelivered).

*Catch up with Project Life - this year or even last year! I always do a few spreads each time.

*Make quick decisions while making a page. Trust your gut. Glue it down and move on. 

*Get the story told.

*Leave perfectionism behind. LOAD helped me get over that and learn to trust my gut.

 

DONE IS BETTER THAN PERFECT!!!

 In Layout a Day DONE is the most important thing. 

If you messed up one day, you can do better tomorrow.

KEEP CALM and SCRAPBOOK ON!

 

LOAD starts on February 1st. If you are not already signed up, it's not too late to join us! Click here for more information. It's the nicest group of scrapbookers on the internet!

This month's theme is PAST PERFECT. The prompts will encourage us to scrapbook about our pasts, but how far back we go, is up to us. And if you want to scrapbook something totally unrelated to the prompt or the theme, that is totally fine too!

                 

Now on to the other inspiring blogs... But before you go... Leave me a comment - SEASONED VETRANS: your best word of LOAD advice; NEWBIES: your biggest LOAD fear.

Then on with the blog hop to KELLI. (Please return here if you get lost along the way, to make sure you visit all of the blogs on the hop today.)

 To see everything LOAD on my blog, including all my posted layouts and the last blog hop, click here.

Pre-LOAD Blog Hop Partcipants.

Margie                          http://xnomads.typepad.com   <--- You are HERE.

Kelli                                    www.scrapbookgirl71.blogspot.com   <--- Go HERE next.

Jennifer                         http://atthebluebarn.blogspot.com/

Lisa                                    http://lisahausmann.blogspot.com/

Monica                        http://scrapinspired.com

Kimberly                        www.kimberlykalil.com 

Eileen                                    http://thinkinkpaperscissors.weebly.com/blog.html

Danielle                         http://acoffeeaddict.com

Pam                                    dailypamage.blogspot.com

Katrina                        http://k84mansramblings.blogspot.com

Cate                                     www.lifebehindthepurpledoor.com

Gayle                                    http://www.lifeonlilypadlane.blogspot.com

Heather                        http://heathersdragonsden.blogspot.com

Gina                                    http://randomthoughtsmindlessmusings.blogspot.com 

Kristie                                    http://kristiesloan.com

Janet                                    http://khashabfamilymusings.blogspot.com

Lydia                                    http://lydiaink.wordpress.com

 

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More Project Life Layout Catch Up...

Another spread from summer. I can't believe the time has passed so quickly. I feel like I just did all these things and collected all of these little bits of memorabilia. It was the week after A Week in the Life so I was in the habit of collecting everything & taking lots of photos! 

How easy is it to slip the ticket from the circus in with a photo from that day? It's also simple to punch a hole through the packaging of a toy...

...flip it over and write your story on the back side. I do find that I run out of room on the journaling cards, so writing right on the packaging is a great way to get additional writing space. I espcially find this is true if I use the journaling pocket pages for photos, receipts, tickets, etc. Adding journaling spots directly on to the photos also gives more space. 

Of course writing directly on your photos helps too, but I have yet to find a pen that I love. Those Sharpie fine point paint pens are great but they are so hard to find! And they run out so quickly.

I'll share more tomorrow. And since it is Tuesday, I'll be posting my photos from last week and hopefully my Project Life layout from Week 2 2012 (haven't gotten my photos printed yet, so we'll see if I can do it)!

Thanks for stopping by.

Ella Publishing Take 12 Challenge :: Layout & Jetlag

 

I can't tell you how much I love a project like this. Take twelve photos on the twelfth of every month of the year and then make 12 layouts, of course! Give me a photography challenge and I am there. And taking everyday photos is my favorite.

On the 12th of January this year the boys and I had a 13+ hour flight across the Pacific to be reunited with their Dad who was back in Beijing, China. Not the most exciting activity to take photos of. But there in lies the challenge, no?

We take this flight four times a year - twice there and twice back. It has been a big part of our lives for the last three and a half years. This should be documented. I try to take one or maybe two photos every time we fly but I have never tried to "tell the story" of the flight. I am so glad that I did! I love how so many of the photos turned out.

I used template #12 from the Ella Publishing Take Twelve Template Pack. It was so easy to use! I am still suffering from jetlag - there is a 16 hour difference between California and Beijing - so I didn't want to spend a lot of time on my layout. (I need more sleep!) This template was perfect and it's so cute! I used digital papers and ribbon from Tracie Stroud Designs to add some color. The simple text is Arial.

 

DID YOU TAKE TWELVE??

Did you Take Twelve and make a layout? Join the link party at Ella Publishing! There are prizes. But hurry, you have to link up today (Jan 18).

Do you want to Take Twelve but didn't do it on the 12th? Not to worry, it isn't too late! (Link party for prizes closes today but feel free to link up next month and/or leave me a link in the comments [here and/or at Ella's blog] and I'll come see your page.) In fact, Ella Publishing has a discount on their TAKE TWELVE Inspiration Kit just for procrastinators. Angie Lucas even gives tips on cheating on the blog. I'm all for cheating in scrapbooking if it gets another story told and a memory documented! It all counts, right?

Don't forget to check out the Take Twelve Flickr group and post your photos & finished layouts.

Check out the blogs of the other Ella Publishing Take Twelve Design Team:

 

Like the Car

Nihao, Cupcake!

Janette Carter-Kincaid

Scrap Inspired

Scrappy Wife, Happy Life

Day by Day

Right Here-Right Now

The Scrapbooking Haven Diva

Scrapworthy Lives

People of the Scrapbook

My Little Blessings

Life is Sweet

A Swoop and a Dart

Endless Possibilities

Yeah, Write

 

PROJECT LIFE

I loved the photos my boys and I took on the 12th so much that I came up with a way to integrate more of them into my Project Life album. I'll post that tomorrow (Beijing time) along with my finished Project Life layout from week one that was meant to be posted on Tuesday. (Jetlag is a killer!)

 

It's almost time for life to go back to normal...

So I might not be posting much over the next week. I'll try to post some Project Life completed pages before the chaos of preparing for a 13 hour flight with 3 kids and one me ensues. I got a few pages done tonight! I'm very excited since it is hard for me to focus on any kind of memory keeping while I am a visiting. But I finally did it so hopefully I can find some good light tomorrow to take a few decent photos & I can share with you!

Let's Put the "Scrap" Back in Scrapbooking, Project Life Update & A Giveaway

Another big day at the blog! I wanted to take a blog break (I have so much to do to get ready for my trip home), but there is just too much going on to stay away.

It is the first Project Life Tuesday of 2011. With my committment to keeping up with PL this year, I couldn't miss the first one. So, I am posting my photos from the first week and some layout updates from 2011. I'll post my first layout of 2012 next week with this week's photos. That is my plan for 2012.

I also just realized it is TEN on TEN over at Shimelle.com. I missed December, so I can't miss January, too! My original plan was to list my top ten favorite online scrapbook classes, but I totally forgot about it until a few minutes ago, so instead, I thought I would feature my TOP TEN pages in the photo album of my six months in ENGLAND in 1990-91.

While I am visiting from China, I am staying with my mom. She is kind enough to store all of my beloved photos so my only opportunity to revisit these wonderful treasures is during these trips home. This album was the last album I made before I 'discovered' archivally safe scrapbooking. I was excited about my new hobby, but wasn't about to take apart the album that took me so long to finally complete (five years). I'm still not ready. Yes, the photos are probably disintegrating, but I don't want to disemble it until I know how I will preserve it in its next home.

The FIRST photo above is from the top of the World Trade Center in 1990.

2 This was our visit to New York City in 1990 on our way to London. It was the second visit of my life. This day we were meeting up with my friend who was visiting her friend who worked at the World Trade Center. Little did we know what would happen at this location 11 years later. I did not stay in touch with him, so I have always prayed that he was not working there (or escaped) by the time 9/11 happened.

 

3 I love all of this memorabilia that I collected from my trip there. LOVE IT! I was able to work in Britain for six months as part of an agreement our governments had (and may still have). Any student can automatically get a six month work visa.

 

4 Did you notice what is missing from this album? Yep! Journaling. Not one ounce of it. I need to fix that, don't I? This is my friend from college who grew up in England. He happened to be visiting for the first time in ten years and was nice enough to meet us first-time international travelers at the airport to help us navigate this new big city. I was beyond nervous. My friend had HUGE suitcases. I had suitcasees too but not as many and not as big. Anyway, I was so nervous we wouldn't get them on the Tube in time for the doors to close.

Here is lots more memorabilia. I love including maps! LOVE IT! You can also see the business card and receipt for our hotel in the Merlyn Court area. It was known for being slightly dodgy and for having a lot of Aussies. They are a dodgy sort, you know! (Of course I am only teasing!)

 

5 More amazing memories come flooding back. It was my birthday and we were doing whatever we did in London (looking for a job or maybe exploring the city) and I just happened to run into two friends from college! This is the only time this has ever happened to me while traveling or living abroad. My husband, who went to a significantly smaller school, is always running into people from his university. He may not know them, but he meets them. I NEVER do. But that is another story. It was a great surprise running into these friends on my birthday so far from home! WHat are the chances? Do you see the note tucked under the photo? That is the note they left for me arranging a meet up later that day. I love that I still have it.

This page isn't beautiful but if that is not scrapbooking, what is??

 

6 My rental agreement, my rent book, my checkbook (from a foreign country, no less - such excitement for a 21 year old who had only ever been to Mexico, which to a So Californian feels like an extension of California), my bank card, etc, etc. I only had the cash that I earned and a few hundred dollars I brought with me. It was quite a lesson about living within my means!

 

7 My best friend from college came to visit me (She is the only friend or family member that has come to see me every place in the world I have lived. And she just called me today to tell me she has purchased her ticket to visit me in China!! HURRAY! Her record will be 4 for 4! I feel a mini book coming on...) Another map!

 

8 Don't you love my text on this page? I used to do this all the time - collect letters and phrases from magazines, save them in envelopes and add them to my photo albums.

 

9 Our work Christmas party. Don't you love my Eddie Bauer sweater? I worked there part-time in college. This was my first introduction to the English Christmas cracker. I love then and think they are so fun. Now we can buy them in the States and my kids got to pop some on New Year's Eve (only because I forgot to bring them to our Xmas celebration).

 

10 And here I am with the other employees in the home department at Debenham's in Cambridge. I went back in 2008 but didn't find any recognizeable faces. It was fun to have my photo take in the home dept with a pan and in front of The Grafton Center, the mall where this store is located. So many memories there...

I love adding memorabilia to my beloved photos. It tells a richer story even without journaling. That is why I am loving Project Life! Not sure I would have continued the project for the third year if I didn't start adding all the goodies. It is so easy to do. Much like the magnetic albums I used before my discovery of the scrapbooking we know today.

 

PROJECT LIFE

 

I only managed to complete three total pages. I was so poud of myself and thought I was so creative, but when I woke up the next morning to see what I had gotten done, it all looked so plain! (I'm saving my Amber kit to use on my 2012 album so I only brought the grid journaling cards to the States with me. I'll be reunited with the rest of my supplies on Friday.) But nevermind, plain means done and lots of stories told, right!?

 

 

I am using the date cards as a filler because I have premade date cards waiting for me at home.

 

Here's a glimpse into what I have started for my 2012 album. I've stuck it into a broken three ring binder temporarily until I am home so that I can keep it organized while I work on it. As you can see, I am slipping memorabilia into the pocket that corresponds with the day. At this rate, I won't have any room for journaling cards! I may take some of these things out, but right now, they stay. See the brown tag? I put the plastic string around the middle ring. I kept that because it goes to a fun water bottle and it is significant since I haven ot been drinking enough water lately and the fun bottle is meant to encourage me to improve on that.

The Sound Bites card was also put on the middle ring. My son bought that toy with his own money and he has been annoying us all wiht it ever since. It makes fake sound effects and each sound effect is listed on the back of the card. ON the front of the card, I plan to glue a photo of my son where he is holding the toy.

 

 

I cut up the Trader Joe's CC Joe-Joe's box because my son kept sing a little ditty about the cookies and for about a day we assumed he had made up the words until we noticed them on the side of the box! So typical of him. Such a jokester! And his favorite gum is Big League Chew.

 

See? I saved a Christmas cracker crown from our New Year's Even crackers this year. See a connection with my photo from the album I shared above? I feel a scrapbook page...

 

Of course I saved that adorable picture my six-year-old drew. I need to ask him who and where it is. I am including the page I ripped from Family Fun magazine because I might want to make the project next Xmas. I am more apt to see it and remember it for next year, if I stick it in my PL binder! And it shows the craft trends of the times.

To see everything PROJECT LIFE On my blog, click here.

I'm linking up at The Mom Creative for Project Life Tuesday.

Oh, and here are my photos for the week:

 

No dates today. I need to get to bed!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for stopping by and helping keep me accountable with my PL album. I still ahve to post the last three photos from 2011 and my seventh photo from the first week of 2012 and my title page for my 2012 album. That will all come next week! Along with more PL inspiration around the web.

 

I have a great giveaway today (Tues). I was going to include it in this post but this one ended up so long, I decided to put it in a separate post. For details on my TAKE TWELVE Inspiration Kit giveaway, go here.

Just when you thought you were rid of me for a few days...

I'm back to announce that I have another fantastic giveaway for you! I'll do my best to post details in the next 24 hours or so. Can you guess what it is? Oh, and I'll also post my latest Project Life album pages (only a few) as promised.

It's almost time for life to go back to normal...

 

So I might not be posting much over the next week. I'll try to post some Project Life completed pages before the chaos of preparing for a 13 hour flight with 3 kids and one me ensues. I got a few pages done tonight! I'm very excited since it is hard for me to focus on any kind of memory keeping while I am a visitor. But I finally did it so hopefully I can find some good light tomorrow to take a few decent photos & I can share with you!

 

Some exciting news to share...

It has been a big week for me here at the blog! I have an exciting personal annoucement to share tomorrow (I've left a hint on my blog) along with some of my Project Life photos (haven't posted since I left China) and hopefully an update on the progress of my 2011 album and a glimpse at 2012! WHEW! I hope you will come back.

Oh, don't forget! I will be posting the winner of the spot in the Ali Edwards' ONE LITTLE WORD class giveaway tomorrow too so if you left me a comment, you'll definitely want to check back to see if you won! Comments close at 9 PM PST tonight - so hurry!

Repurposing Project Life packaging into My Inspiration Box for TWELVE. (StacyJulian 's class at Big Picture Classes)

I had a brilliant idea a few weeks ago. I wanted to make my inspiration box for Stacy's class, TWELVE. which will begin this week (YAY!) but I had limited supplies available since I live in China. Yes, I can get creative, but even that can become complicated and time consuming due to transportation issues, etc. I won't bore you with the details!

Anyway, I had a stroke of genius when I realized I had enough cardboard inserts in my Project Life 12x12 page protectors to cut up and use for my inspiration file. HURRAY!

 

I measured out the sizes I needed, got out my craft knife & Basic Grey cutting mat and had my dividers cut in no time.

 

I really wanted to use this Sephora box I had lying around (no Target or other adorable organizing stores in my neighborhood) since it isn't too big and even though Stacy said not to have a lid for your box, I love it's magnetic lid!

 

 

I figure if it is cumbersome, the design of the box allows me to cut it off easily if need be.

 

 

What do you think? I love it and can't wait to cover it with cute patterned paper when I get home. I wasn't able to decorate the box before leaving China for the holidays, but it is ready for me when I return mid-January. I'll be sure to post my finished project when I am finally able to finish.

In the meantime, I will use a three ring binder with page protectors to use as my sections.

I can't wait for January 1st when TWELVE. begins.

Speaking of January 1st, I will be hosting a One Little Word blog hop that goes live at 8 AM PST. It is the first day of Ali Edward's 2012 class and over two dozen new & returning students are getting together to wrap up last year's class and reveal our words for 2012. Click here to see our One Little Word blog hops from 2012.

EDITED on Jan 3, 2012: Just found out I have a really awesome BPC give-away coming up on MY BLOG! More details coming very soon...

December Happiness Blog Hop {Keep A Contented Heart}

Welcome to December's Happiness Project Blog Hop!

A little background on the hop for those of you that are new here. Each month Stephanie of Scrapworthylives.com chooses a theme for the hop based around themes in Gretchen Rubin’s book: The Happiness Project: Or, Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun. Basically all themes from the book are applied to the overall theme of SCRAPBOOKING and how it leads to more HAPPINESS in our lives.

This month's theme from the book is pursuing KEEP A CONTENTED HEART.

In the book, the author, Gretchen, talks about part of keeping a contented heart is all about attitude. In other words, we choose if we want to be happy at any one moment.

I am doing my best this holiday season to apply that to my attitude towards celebrating the holidays. For the past four years, my holidays have been split between China and the States. We spend from Thanksgiving until a week or two before Christmas in China and the remaining week or two in The States visiting family. We have had a small fake tree in our home in China that we decorate wtih a few ornaments we've made and the rest purchased at Ikea. The rest of our ornaments are packed away in boxes in storage along with the rest of our beloved Christmas decor.

When we first moved here, I didn't mind it so much. It was novel. Sure, I missed our ornaments but it was only temporary and the experience we were having was great. Now that we are on our forth year, the novelty is lost and all I feel is the absence of so many of our beloved traditions. Not to mention the loss of experiencing the holiday season in its entirity from Thanksgiving all the way to Christmas, the Christmas parties, the carols coming from speakers other than my own iPod, the holiday art that comes home from school, secret santas, a decorated church, the giving tree at church, etc, etc, etc. I can't help feeling like the most important years of my kids' lives when they would enjoy these traditions while at home, are passing us by.

Ok, so now you know why I am sad, it is time to stop that train of thought and switch to how to change my attitude! Right?! What better way than to focus on the good, than make a scrapbook page of our favorite and most meaningful traditions.

By doing this I was able to see that we still carry on just about every one of our long standing traditions just in a different way and with very different timing. It may not be ideal, but it is nothing to sneeze at either. And the most important thing is the happy memories we are making for our children.

Thanks for stopping by! Come back tomorrow for Project Life Tuesday. I will be posting several more album pages I have completed in my attempt to finish my 2011 before I start fresh on 2012 in addition to my regular weekly photos. I hope to include my plans for keeping up with Project Life on the road as I will be traveling for the next month.

Below are the other participants on the blog hop, please hop around and visit them. Nuggets is next!

To see everything SCRAPBOOKING on my blog, click here.

 

Blog Hop Participants

Fun Mama

Kiss & Tell Scrapbooking

Melissa’s Blog

Nihao, Cupcake!   <--- You are HERE

Nuggets <--- Go HERE next!

Our Life with Spiky Potatoes

Scraps & Sass

Scrapworthy Lives

Scrap Your Life

Slice of Life

Take a Picture and Remember This

This Kalil Life

Your Memory Connection

Collecting Information from Family {Journaling Tool}

The holidays are coming and many of us will be seeing family we don't see during the rest of the year. If you are a memory keeper, it is likely that you like to include information about family (immediate and extended) in your scrapbooks. The holidays are the perfect time to start gathering this information that you can add to your scrapbooks at a later time.

A few years ago a put together a quiz for just this purpose. If I remember correctly I got inspiration from several different resources, but I'm not exactly sure which ones, so I will guess for now: Stacy Julian's Library of Memories/Photo Freedom class at Big Picture Classes, Ella Publishing eBook: Quick & Creative Quizzes and Simple Scrapbooks special issue on quizes (from oh, so long ago!). Unfortunately, none of my extended family filled out my quiz. But I just found the stack of un-filled-out quizzes, so last night I had my boys fill them out. Luckily, they didn't complain at all and spent the next 30 minutes or so diligently filling them out. I was so proud and pleased! Thanks guys! :)

I loved the answers!

Here are the questions for your copy and pasting pleasure:

MY FULL NAME:

I WAS BORN ON:

IN THE YEAR:

MY BIRTHPLACE WAS:

HERE ARE SOME OF MY FAVORITES:

color:

book:

holiday:

food:

song:

Place to visit:

 

SOMEONE I GREATLY ADMIRE:

because:

 

MY LIFE'S WORK IS:

AN ACCOMPLISHMENT I AM VERY PROUD OF IS:

 

THREE WORDS THAT BEST DESCRIBE ME ARE:

 

PLEASE SIGN YOUR NAME:

 

Back side of paper:

MY FAVORITE SONG THIS YEAR:

SOMETHING I JUST LEARNED:

MY FAVORITE TV SHOW:

MY CURRENT OCCUPATION:

IF I COULD LIVE ANY WHERE IN THE WORLD, IT WOULD BE:

WHEN I AM 80, I HOPE I AM DOING THIS:

IF I COULD BE SOMEONE FAMOUS, I WOULD BE:

WHAT DID YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GREW UP:

WHAT WERE YOU MOST AFRAID OF AS A CHILD:

WHAT WAS THE NICEST THING YOUR PARENTS EVER DID FOR YOU?

WHAT CHILDHOOD STORY ARE YOU TEASED ABOUT?

 

CIRCLE ONE THAT APPLIES TO YOU:

Hamburger Helper or filet mignon

van or sedan

Yellowstone Park or Disneyland

McDonald's or Rubio's Fish Tacos

Early bird or night owl

Road trip or air travel

White or wheat

on the team or in the bleachers

snow or surf

hotel or camping

 

HOW DID YOU MEET YOUR SPOUSE?

MOST INTERESTING THING ABOUT YOUR SPOUSE?

EVERDAY THING YOU COULDN'T LIVE WITHOUT:

SOMETHING I WANT TO DO BEFORE I DIE:

SOMETHING I WORRY ABOUT:

A STORE I SHOP AT:

SOMETHING THAT SCARES ME:

SNACK I EAT REGULARLY:

A NICKNAME I'VE BEEN GIVEN:

PLACE I WANT TO GO ON VACATION:

WHAT'S YOUR SECRET TO A HAPPY LIFE:

WHAT DO YOU CONSIDER YOUR MOST SIGNIFICANT ACCOMPLISHMENT:

 

I think I might try again this year to see if my extended family will fill one out. And before the end of the evening I'm going to fill one out and have my husband do it too. Perhaps I can make a mini-book out of the answers.

Did you see this?

via www.beckyhiggins.com

I don't surf the internet every day so I missed this announcement yesterday. The new Project Life designs are now available at Amazon.com. In case you are like me and sometimes live with your head in the sand, I thought I would share the news here.

I've already ordered the Amber Edition Core Kit and seriously thinking about Clementine Core Kit for variety. Hmmm...

 

Have you purchased your album design yet? I LOVE this gorgeous album?

 

 

Probably because my favorite color at the moment is orange. But I think I will hold off and buy it as a reward for myself if I keep up with Project Life this year (I plan to post my finished layouts each week here on this blog. Or at least until I go home for summer. I also love the signature albums that are not available yet.

If you are doing Project Life, which design are you going with? Or will you just get the packet of Journaling cards and design your own?

Color Combo Blog Hop & DIY Banner Stamp (couldn't be easier)

Welcome to another Color Combo Blog Hop hosted by Amy. These are so much fun and it got me scrapbooking! I haven't been this inspired to make a page since Spawn of True Scrap in October. (Which was awesome, by the way!)

Our color combo for November is Coca Tints:

I love this combo. I originally thought I would make a Christmas page, even though I rarely make Christmas pages. But, alas, I ended up with the page about 798 (an art district in Beijing). I used a much truer red but I didn't do too bad with the other colors. That paint around the photo is actually beige and not white like it looks in the photo.

I had fun with the page using a few of the free style techniques I'm getting used to playing around with in my Art Journal class at Balzer Designs.

I'm also proud to report that I made my very first homemade stamp! Do you like the banner in my layout? I used a stamp I made from something I had lying around the house. It was a square of leftover medical padding. I'm not exactly sure where it came from, but more than likely it was from when my son broke his thumb over the summer. My mom was taking care of him (while I was in Beijing with my ill husband) and bought a bunch of supplies to rewrap his dressing every night, so I'm guessing it was in that bag and ended up on my desk. 

I've been eyeing it for the past week or so wanting to see if it would work as a stamp but I didn't know what shape to make.

Then I saw this post at Balzer Design's blog, where she carved her own banner stamps, so I thought, "what the heck?!" It is a simple shape and easy to reproduce. I took the nearest pencil, did a quick sketch on the medical padding, cut it out, slapped on some paint and I had myself a stamp! So, I had to use it on my layout. FUN!

See the Project Life Journaling Card to the left? That was the first test stamp. I think the image will be showing up on occasion in my Project Life album from now on. That Journaling Card will be in there because I've got to document my first homemade stamp EVER. 

Have you ever made your own stamp? If so, what material did you use and how did it turn out? I can see myself making more and I would love more inspiration.

 

The rest of the participants for the blog hop are below. It looks like there was an over sight and I was left off of the list. But since I organize two monthly blog hops, I know that things like this can happen with the best of intentions! I have copied the list from another blog (thanks, Joanne!) and I will do my best to participate.

To see everything SCRAPBOOKING on my blog, click here.

In the meantime, thanks for stopping by! And enjoy hopping to the other blogs on the list! Thanks to Amy for hosting.

 

 

www.abstractsmixedwithextracts.com
	http://istampscrapcraft.blogspot.com/
	http:/handmadebykirsty.blogspot.com
	http://spud-pickle.blogspot.com
	http://sugarandscrap.blogspot.com/
	http://digipage-blog.everything-digital-scrapbooking.com/
	www.MichelleRoycroft.blogspot.com
	http://scrapyourlife.net
	http://www.snapsandsnippets.blogspot.com
	http://scribblesstickingstitchingstroking.blogspot.com/