Father's Day Make a Page Monday (on a Sunday)

Father's Day has been both happy for me this year as we celebrate the amazing Daddy and husband Joel is for our family, but also bittersweet as this is my first Father's Day without my Dad. I'm not going to say much as I don't want to dwell on being sad today, but I wanted to share this layout I made awhile back. It's of our final Father's Day with my Dad, just one year ago.

Journaling reads "Susan, Jen, Joel and Dean went to visit Eddie for Father’s Day 2010 at the Assisted Living Center where he was staying. They took him a cupcake from the bakery at Whole Foods, which he seemed to really enjoy! The nurses had given him a flower to wear on his shirt and we saw a bit of the old Eddie grin when we put his OU hat on him for our picture. It was a bittersweet day as I think we all knew deep down that this would be our last Father’s Day together. Little did we know this would be the last family photo we would take with Eddie."


Credits:
Credits (all from Sweet Shoppe)
Cindy's Layered Templates #52 by Cindy Schneider
He's the Man by Traci Reed and Dani Mogstad
Misc. flowers and elements from Sweet Escape by Kristin Cronin-Barrow and Sunshine of My Life by Susan Bartolini.

Make a Page {Thursday} - Anniversary Edition

Well, I didn't get my Make a Page Monday post done on Monday, but I thought today was a good day to share a couple of very special layouts I created for my Dad's Tribute Album. Today would be my Mom and Dad's 39th Wedding Anniversary if my Dad were still living. It's kind of a bittersweet time with that AND my first Father's Day without my Dad just around the corner. But working on this album has been such a comfort to me. It is so nice to be able to remember my Dad before Alzheimer's came along and to see him smiling and happy in these photos!

So here are the layouts with credits below. The first one is of my parents on their wedding day, June 16, 1972. I'm actually not sure I'm loving this layout. Mostly it's those 2 large flowers (at the bottom of the photo but on top of the photo - the blue one and the pinkish-purplish one) - I think I need to get rid of one of them. The symmetry is distracting me. Or maybe make one smaller? It just looks weird right now. I don't know. All I see are those 2 big flowers. What do you think??

All available at Sweet Shoppe Designs:
Cindy's Layered Templates - Half Pack #3 by Cindy Schneider
Wonderful Tonight by Julie Billingsley and Jady Day Studio
Alpha from In His Footsteps by Traci Reed

And this one is of my parent's 35th Anniversary just a few short years ago (my parents are the people in the top photo) when they went to dinner at Spago's in Wailea to celebrate with sweet friends Jim and Linda who happen to share the same anniversary:

Template by BellaGypsy Designs (Gotta Pixel)
Note to Self by Zoe Pearn (Sweet Shoppe)

And that's it from me. I'll be back with a few card posts this weekend, so be sure to stop back by! Have a great day!! And thank you all for humoring me in the sharing of my scrapbooking layouts each week - your support keeps me motivated to continue working on this special project!!

Make a Page Monday

Well, I've been slacking once again with my Make a Page Monday posts the last few weeks. Things were just super busy around here with Dean's preschool graduation and my MIL's 2-week visit. But I did get several layouts completed this week, so I feel awesome about that!! I'm going to share a few of them with you today. If you're not familiar, Make a Page Monday is a weekly blog post where I share a handful of layouts with you from the Tribute Album I've been working on about my Dad's Life (he passed away in November from Early Onset Alzheimer's Disease at the age of 59) and maybe a layout here and there from Dean's baby / toddler book I'm trying to catch up on. None of these will be in any particular order. And if you're interested in the details you can probably click on the layout and see it slightly larger. So here goes...(credits below each layout).

I didn't get anything new done on my Dad's Tribute album, but I got 5 new layouts done for Dean's album, so I'm just going to share those with you today and save some of my Dad's layouts from my stash for future posts (I have a feeling I'll be working on his book quite a bit in the next few weeks as I'm feeling a bit nostalgic with Father's Day and what would be my parent's 39th Anniversary coming up).

It was the week of bath layouts. First up is this simple but adorable layout using photos from Dean's first bath back on December 11, 2006:
Credits:
Bees Knees Templates by Connie Prince
Good Clean Fun by Bella Gypsy
Alpha - Children at Play by ASlagle
Wordart by Ali Edwards (Designer Digitals)
Tab from This Boy's Life by Traci Reed (Sweet Shoppe)

And another bath layout, this time the photos are from when Dean was almost 3 months old - late February 2007:
Credits:
Rub A Dub by Traci Reed (Sweet Shoppe)
DJB I Love Me Some Celeste font by Darcy Baldwin (Sweet Shoppe)
Gimme Some Layers Seeing Double Vol. 1 by Cluster Queen Creations (Digichick)

And my favorite of the bunch - just some pics of baby Dean resting peacefully when he was about 3 weeks old:
Credits:
In This Together by Shawna Clingerman (Sweet Shoppe)
Cindy's Layered Templates #17 by Cindy Schneider (Sweet Shoppe)
Wordart by Ali Edwards (Designer Digitals)

One of Dean's many, many trips to the beach as a baby - but his first time dipping his toes into the Pacific Ocean! (And I am in LOVE with this template!)
Credits - all available at Sweet Shoppe Designs
Aloha by Lliella Designs
I Love Me Some Celeste Template by Darcy Baldwin
Misc. Elements from Kona Coast by Julie Billingsley

And here's one with an adorable photo of Joel and Dean in the front yard at my Mom's house after a birthday dinner for my brother in March 2007:
All products available at Sweet Shoppe:
Family Man by Shawna Clingerman and Penny Springmann
Cindy's Layered Templates #78 by Cindy Schneider
Font - DJB Print by Darcy Baldwin

2011 Scrapbooking Goals:
Total Pages Completed: 5/132
Dean's Baby Album: 5/66
Dad's Tribute Album: 0/66

Make a Page Monday

It's Monday again and that's means it's time for my Make a Page Monday post where I share a handful of layouts with you from the Tribute Album I've been working on about my Dad's Life (he passed away in November from Early Onset Alzheimer's Disease at the age of 59) and maybe a layout here and there from Dean's baby / toddler book I'm trying to catch up on. None of these will be in any particular order. And if you're interested in reading the journaling you can probably click on the layout and see it slightly larger. So here goes...(credits below each layout).

I'm excited because I actually scrapped this week - I created a layout for Dean's baby book! It felt good, but I'm sure not making much of a dent in either of these projects. So I've made it a goal to create at least 4 layouts / week for the rest of this year (2 for Dean's book and 2 for my Dad's book) - that means if all goes as planned I'll be scrapping about 132 more layouts this year! (yikes). And I'm going to start posting my progress towards this goal at the end of each of my Make a Page Monday posts to hold myself accountable. Some weeks I might not get this many done, but some weeks I might get more done. Fingers crossed!!

But for now, I'm still working on sharing the layouts I have in my stash that haven't been shared yet, so let's get to that. I'll start with my new one that I finished this week...

This photo is of Dean and I when he was 4 days old, December 10, 2006. Journaling reads: "I have to admit that 4 days in, I was feeling completely overwhelmed in my new role as Mommy. I felt like I had no idea what I was doing. Breast-feeding was SO much harder than I thought it would be and I was constantly worried Dean wasn't getting enough to eat. And what does that cry mean? Is he hungry? Does something hurt? Do I need to sterilize this binky every time it falls on the floor? I was so exhausted but often found that I couldn't sleep, instead I'd just lay there watching Dean sleep, listening to him breathe, amazed that I could love another human this much."
Credits:
Cindy's Layered Templates #52 by Cindy Schneider
Shabby Sugar by Zoe Pearn
Font is DJB All the Cool Chicks by Darcy Baldwin
Other random elements:
Alpha - Winter Wonderland by Zoe Pearn
Photo Corners - 12 Months Mega Kit by Penny Springmann
Flower - Sunshine of My Life by Scrapkitchen Designs
Branch - Note to Self by Zoe Pearn
Flower - The Reasons Why by Kristin Cronin-Barrow and Meghan Mullens
Bad Sewing Machine XVIII: Kinda Kleen by Traci Reed

And here's one with several photos from one of my Dad's many "Guy Trips" with a group of his close friends. This trip was a camping trip in 1992 to Red River, New Mexico (one of their favorite spots). Journaling reads: "Eddie, Lucky, Jim, and Jesse on one of their regular “Guy Trips” to Red River, New Mexico for camping, four-wheeling, exploring and fun-filled adventures. Eddie would look forward to these trips for months - studying maps, planning their four wheeling trails and packing and re-packing his camping equipment. Sometimes it wasn’t clear which he enjoyed more - the planning or the trip itself!"
Credits:
Cindy's Layered Templates #36 by Cindy Schneider
Pumpkin Spiced Latte by Dani Mogstad
Alpha - He's the Man by Traci Reed and Dani Mogstad
Alpha - In His Footsteps by Traci Reed
Flowers - Oh Snap by Kristin Cronin-Barrow; Blink of an Eye by Kristin Cronin-Barrow and Traci Reed

And finally, a 2-page layout that is one of my favorites so far in my Dad's Tribute Album. This set of pages captures the story of my parents' first trip to Hawaii in 1983 with good friends Lucky and Donna Eisenhour. Journaling from the right-side page reads: "Susan had always wanted to go on a Hawaii vacation, but Eddie had never been interested. Susan and Donna had talked about it, but could never get Eddie to commit. Then one evening Susan caught Eddie looking at one of his new guns he had just purchased and saw the price - that was it - if he could spend that much on a gun, they could go to Hawaii! Lucky and Donna joined them on their first trip to Hawaii in 1983. They spent a few days on Oahu, staying at the Beachcomber in Waikiki, then the rest of their trip on Maui, staying at the Intercontinental in Wailea. Everywhere they went, for some reason Eddie was chosen to go up on stage to dance hula - at the Polynesian Cultural Center, the luau, and even the free hula show at the old Wailea shops. They all did lots of tourist activities - a snorkel cruise to Molokini, Pearl Harbor, and Susan and Eddie went up to Haleakala and saw Silverswords. They spent 2 days on Big Beach before discovering Little Beach, then spent their last day on Little Beach. Unfortunately, while they were gone, 7-yr-old Jennifer was very ill back home. Everyone thought she was just homesick for her parents, but after several days of complaining of a stomach ache, they discovered that she had severe appendicitis and she had to have an emergency appendectomy. She was in and out of surgery before Susan and Eddie even knew anything was wrong. They tried getting an earlier flight home, but weren’t able to, instead they brought home LOTS of Hawaiian goodies for Jennifer! Despite the troubles of Jennifer’s surgery, they had a wonderful trip and fell in love with the island of Maui from that very first trip and returned again and again, year after year - eventually making Maui their home."
Credits for left-side page:
Cindy's Layered Templates - Half Pack #7 by Cindy Schneider
Take Me Away by Dani Mogstad
DJB Executive font by Darcy Baldwin

Credits for right-side page:
Cindy's Layered Templates Set #83 by Cindy Schneider
Take Me Away by Dani Mogstad
DJB Executive font by Darcy Baldwin

So that's it from me today! I hope you all enjoy your Monday!! I'm at work all day, hoping Joel is at home as he's supposed to be overseeing our carpets getting cleaned (LOVE it when that happens - makes them seem brand-new! And they definitely need it quite often with a 4-yr-old!). We have a busy week getting stuff done around the house, preparing for my mother-in-law's arrival on Thursday and making leis for Dean's preschool graduation next weekend!!

2011 Scrapbooking Goals (starting week of 5/16):
Total Pages Completed: 0/132
Dean's Baby Album: 0/66
Dad's Tribute Album: 0/66

Make a Page Monday

It's Monday again and that's means it's time for my Make a Page Monday post where I share a handful of layouts with you from the Tribute Album I've been working on about my Dad's Life (he passed away in November from Early Onset Alzheimer's Disease at the age of 59) and maybe a layout here and there from Dean's baby / toddler book I'm trying to catch up on. None of these will be in any particular order. And if you're interested in reading the journaling you can probably click on the layout and see it slightly larger. So here goes...(credits below each layout).

I took the last couple of weeks off from this post (did anyone even notice!? ha!) because I was sick and then just really super busy. But this is something that's important to me and I really want to keep it going - I'm hoping it will motivate me to continue working on (and hopefully finishing) both of these projects. So here goes...

I actually made this page yesterday as it seemed appropriate to scrap these photos on Mother's Day. These are photos of my Dad as a young child of about 18 months old. It's 1952 and he is at the park in El Reno, OK (my hometown as well) enjoying a Mother's Day picnic with his extended family.
Credits:
Cindy's Layered Templates #12 by Cindy Schneider (Sweet Shoppe)
Learning 2 Love Myself by Melissa Bennett (Sweet Shoppe)

This one is about a motorcycle trip my Dad took in 1998 with his good friend Jim Corwin. Journaling reads "1998. Eddie and Jim rode their motorcycles to New Mexico on yet another adventure together. They made several stops along the way, including a Railroad Museum where Eddie found a sign for the Lahaina-Kaanapali train".
Credits:
So Sunny Templates by Connie Prince (Gotta Pixel)
Dude! by Fee Jardine (Sweet Shoppe) - retired kit

This layout is all about Christmas, 1984. Gotta love those fabulous 80's memories! ha. Journaling reads "Christmas, 1984. Eddie, sporting one of his many signature plaid flannel shirts, got a dog grooming table and what looks like work slacks and some type of massage tool. Jennifer (8) received a skateboard and Jeremy (5) received some Legos. Both kids got Cabbage Patch Kids and Care Bears and lots of other toys of the 80s".
Credits:
Cindy's Layered Templates #22 by Cindy Schneider (Sweet Shoppe)
I Believe by Lauren Grier and Shawna Clingerman (Sweet Shoppe)

And finally, this layout is about my Dad's 50th birthday celebration. My Dad's birthday is Christmas Day, by the way. Journaling reads "To celebrate Eddie's 50th birthday in 2000, Susan rented a limo and along with good friends Jim and Judi, Lucky and Donna, and Gary Charisse, they enjoyed champagne and birthday cake while looking at Christmas lights in Chickasha and Yukon".
Credits:
He's a Jolly Good Fellow by Shawna Clingerman (Sweet Shoppe)
You've Got Heart templates by Connie Prince (Gotta Pixel)

OK, that's it for this week! My scrapbook goal for the next several weeks is to work my way through sorting and scanning and starting to get some layouts done with more of my Dad's childhood photos. There are SOOOO many of these photos. I'm having a really hard time picking and choosing which ones to include in the album and which ones to just put away in a box. More than likely most of them will get used in the album (because let's face it - those photos that get put away in a box usually don't get looked at all that often!). What do you think? Less is more? Or should I just go ahead and use most of them? The nice thing is that my grandmother did a fairly good job of documenting the who/what/when/where so there aren't too many mystery photos. I'd love to hear your opinion!

Make a Page Monday

It's Monday again and that's means it's time for my Make a Page Monday post where I share a handful of layouts with you from the Tribute Album I've been working on about my Dad's Life (he passed away in November from Early Onset Alzheimer's Disease at the age of 59) as well as a layout here and there from Dean's baby / toddler book I'm trying to catch up on. None of these will be in any particular order. And if you're interested in reading the journaling you can probably click on the layout and see it slightly larger. So here goes...(credits below each layout).

From the files of the Awkward Harper Family Photos, circa 1986 (I was 10, my brother Jeremy was 7):
Cindy's Layered Templates - Half Pack #5 (with additional photo added) by Cindy Schneider
Thankful for You by Jen Barrette and Zoe Pearn

From one of my favorite adventures with my Dad, our first white water river rafting trip (I think this was 1994, but it might have been a year or 2 earlier. The photos weren't dated). After this guided trip, my Dad went out and bought a raft and all the equipment needed so we could go river rafting on our own (his theory was after so many trips, the equipment would pay for itself in the money we'd save by not paying the tour guides / rafting companies). He spent SO MUCH TIME researching rivers, water levels, planning trips, etc. We did take a few family rafting trips and he took a few "Guy Trips" with his friends - but I'm pretty sure that raft and equipment did NOT pay for itself in money saved by not paying guides / rafting companies. But I'd say it was still worth it in the memories we made! And I know my Dad had a BLAST on those trips (and planning them - he was a planner!).
Template by Janet Phillips (Sweet Shoppe)
Johnny Appleseed kit by Bella Gypsy Designs (Gotta Pixel)

Christmas, 2004 - our first Family Christmas with all of us on Maui - My Mom (Susan), my Dad (Eddie), me, my Brother (Jeremy). Joel was still back in Oklahoma finishing up his final year of wrestling (and school) at OU:
All Decked Out Template by Connie Prince (Gotta Pixel)
A Lot Like Christmas by Dani Mogstad (Sweet Shoppe)

And finally, a picture of my Dad and Dean playing together in May 2008. This was early in my Dad's illness when he was still sort of himself, but couldn't really be left alone for long periods of time. However, this was before we had started taking him to Adult Day Care (which turned out to be a lifesaver for my Mom). So one day a week during the week (on one of my days off) I would go pick up my Dad and bring him to my house for at least half a day and he'd just hang out. We'd have to make some kind of excuse so he didn't realize we were "babysitting" him - I'd usually just tell him I had some old photos I needed his help sorting and he'd sit for about an hour and look through the same box of old photos week after week, telling the same stories each week. He seemed to enjoy this though and it was an excuse to get him out of my Mom's hair and give her a break while still allowing my Dad some sense of dignity I think. Anyway, these photos are from one of those days:
What's the Rush template by Connie Prince (Gotta Pixel)
Are We There Yet by Bella Gypsy Designs (Gotta Pixel)

That's it! I hope you all have a Happy Monday and a great start to your week!!

Make a Page Monday

Hi there! Happy Monday! I'm back with my 2nd installment of Make a Page Monday, where I share a handful of layouts with you from the Tribute Album I've been working on about my Dad's Life (he passed away in November from Early Onset Alzheimer's Disease at the age of 59). I'll probably also throw in a few layouts here and there from Dean's baby / toddler book I'm trying to catch up on. None of these will be in any particular order. So here goes...(credits below each layout).

A heritage layout from my Dad's book with photos of his parents (my grandparents):

Cindy's Layered Templates #37 by Cindy Schneider (Sweet Shoppe)
Sunshine of My Life by Scrapkitchen Designs (Sweet Shoppe)
"family" wordart by Ali Edwards

My parents at my Dad's Senior Prom in 1969:
Cindy's Layered Templates #15 by Cindy Schneider (Sweet Shoppe)
Abide by One Little Bird (OScraps)
Alpha is from He's the Man by Traci Reed and Dani Mogstad (Sweet Shope)
Various flowers and floral stems from a variety of Sweet Shoppe kits)

My Dad and one of his best and oldest friends, Jim Corwin, at a Block Party in 1979:
Orange You Glad template by BellaGyspy Designs
Flying High by Dani Mogstad (Sweet Shoppe)
Alpha is Color Your Own Pencil Lines Alpha by Zoe Pearn (retired - Sweet Shoppe)

And finally, here's Dean and I the day after coming home from the hospital - he's 3 days old (and yes, my boobs are ginormous!! LOL).
Cindy's Layered Templates Set #86 by Cindy Schneider (Sweet Shoppe)
Patchwork Friendship by Melissa Bennett and Meghan Mullens (Sweet Shoppe)
Alpha - Breath of Fresh Air by Scrapkitchen Designs (Sweet Shoppe)
Alpha - Birthday Boy by Zoe Pearn (Sweet Shoppe)

Make a Page Monday

It's been awhile since I shared any digi layouts on the blog. I tackled a HUGE scrapbooking project in December / January with creating a Tribute album about my father's life with the intention of completing it before his Celebration of Life in February. I didn't quite meet that goal of having the entire book done (there are just too many picture to scrap and I didn't have enough time), so I opted not to have a professionally bound hardback book done just yet. Instead I had the 12x12 pages printed from ScrapbookPictures.com (AWESOME quality, btw - very pleased) and just put them into page protectors inside one of the Stampin' Up 12x12 linen ring albums. I can continue to add to this book as I finish up the rest of the pages (I have LOTS of photos from his childhood to sort and scan and still a lot from my own childhood to scrap). Then when I'm completely done with the book I can still have it professionally printed and bound in a keepsake hardback book and I figure I'll just give the linen album to my brother or if he wants a hardback book too I'll keep it to pass on to Dean some day. I don't know. It doesn't really matter. But I've put a lot of work into the book and I was happy to have as much done as I did for his Celebration and everyone seemed to enjoy looking through the book and it was nice to relive some of those memories.

So anyway, my point is that I haven't yet shared any of those pages here and I thought I would do that. I hope you all don't mind. I know that most of you aren't digi srappers, but hopefully you can still find some inspiration from the pages - whether it's motivation to get your own stories told (because you just never know), papercrafting inspiration (because even though these layouts are digi, the basic design elements carry over to paper), or whatever. And who knows - maybe it will spark an interest in digi scrapping in someone new? I'm going to *try* to share a few digi layouts each week on Monday unless I have some DT assignment that needs to get posted. Not all of the layouts will be about my Dad - I've also been working on Dean's albums so I'll share some baby and toddler pages too!! And normally I won't do this much blah blah blah first.

And don't worry, the rest of the week will still be regular normal old papercrafting stuff! :-) But thank you for humoring me!!

So here goes...(credits listed below each layout). Click on a layout to see it larger or to read the journaling.

This first layout is actually the inside cover page of the album.
Credits:
Cindy's Layered Template Set #15 by Cindy Schneider;
Breath of Fresh Air by Scrapkitchen Designs;
12 Months Alphas by Penny Springmann
(All from Sweet Shoppe Designs)

And here's one with a photo of my Mom and Dad from my Dad's Junior Prom in 1968:
Cindy's Layered Templates #13 by Cindy Schneider;
Wonderful Tonight by Julie Billingsley & Jady Day Studios;
Some elements from Time Flies by Dani Mogstad
(all from Sweet Shoppe Designs)

And this is one of my favorite layouts from the entire book as it is just SO my Dad! (read the journaling for the full story).
Chill Out by Dani Mogstad (Sweet Shoppe)
Template from Amaryllis by Sara Gleason

And last, I thought I'd share the inside cover page of Dean's baby book - isn't that an AWESOME Baby's First Year template I used!?
All products available at Sweet Shoppe:
Cindy's Layered Templates - Baby's 1st Year by Cindy Schneider
Alphabet Soup for Boys by Zoe Pearn
Kraft Essentials by Julie Billingsley (retired)
Alpha - Birthday Boy by Zoe Pearn
Alpha - Blink of an Eye by Kristin Cronin-Barrow and Traci Reed
Alpha (12) - In His Footsteps by Traci Reed

OK, that's it! What do you think? Is it OK for me to share these here on Mondays? I hope so! I've never seemed to get much response on the blog to my digi layouts, but I figure I put so much effort into these that I might as well share them! And if people aren't really into it, well - tough crap. You'll just have to deal - it's only 1 day a week. ;-)

Digital Scrapbooking - Picasso Junior

It's been awhile since I've shared any digi-scrap layouts, and since I'm on vacation I thought this was as good a time as any to get some of these posted. I'll divide them into a few posts and share several layouts with you over the next few weeks. I know a lot of you aren't digi scrappers, or even scrapbookers at all - but bear with me. Maybe you can appreciate the creative process?

All available at Sweet Shoppe:
Carnival Thrills by Julie Billingsley
Artist's Canvas by Kristin Cronin-Barrow
Teeny Tiny Type by Zoe Pearn
Font - DJB Tweenybopper by Darcy Baldwin
Half Pack #1 Templates by Cindy Schneider

All About Dean

Hi! I thought I would share this Digi Project I created this weekend for my son Dean's preschool project titled "All About Me". The parents in Dean's class were given an assignment this month to put together a little poster about our child for them to display in the classroom. We were given a little handout with prompts and were asked to include photos and told to "be creative" and were provided with the poster board, which was an 11x14 inch NEON GREEN (seriously. think 1987 day-glo green) piece of poster board to work with.

OK. So obviously these people don't know me very well. I can't work in these conditions. Really? REALLY!? Joel and my Mother actually discussed amongst themselves NOT TELLING ME about this assignment, fearing that I would go way overboard and perhaps somehow damage my young son's status as a "cool kid" with a highly "scrampified" (Joel's word) project. What?! Me? Go overboard on a CREATIVE project. Come on. That's just crazy talk. I got this, Dude. I am ALL over this shit (pardon the language). I mean, this kind of thing IS the reason I had a child in the first place, right? ;-) (kidding, kidding)

Here's the list of things we were supposed to include - This is me, My favorite food, My favorite activity with my family, My favorite book, My special hobbies, My house, My pets, My family, My favorite place to visit, My favorite toys.

So yeah. Dean has the raddest All About Me project in the entire Turtle Class at Children's Garden Preschool. Check this out (credits are listed at the end of this post):


I know you can't really read the journaling (although you might be able to click on the photo and see it larger), so here's what it says:
1. My name is Dean Edward Tapler. I am 3 years old. My birthday is December 6, 2006.
2. One of my special hobbies is reading. I love to read books. I am a very good reader. (this isn't on there, but yes, my 3-yr-old can somehow read. Don't ask me how. I have no idea. He started teaching himself sight words at about 18 months and soon after started reading by sounding out the letters and is now reading at about a 2nd or 3rd grade level. It baffles me. Probably too much Sesame Street on TV as an infant or something, LOL).
3. My favorite food is cupcakes. I especially love chocolate cupcakes with lots of frosting.
4. Another one of my special hobbies is painting. My favorite things to paint are planets and nebulae.
5. I love hanging out with my family at the beach. We go to the beach almost every weekend.
6. I don't really have a favorite toy, but I love my books about Space. I know lots about Space.
7. One of my favorite places to visit on Maui is Keopuolani Park to play "Ninja Warrior".
8. I love everything about Space. I can name all the planets and their moons and lots of other information.
9. Another activity I enjoy doing is hiking. I love hiking to waterfalls and swimming in the streams.
10. My address is *** (maybe I shouldn't post that here?). I live in a house in Maui Lani in Kahului. There are plenty kids in my neighborhood.
11. My Mommy's name is Jen and my Daddy's name is Joel. We are a happy little family of 3.
12. I have 2 cats. Their names are Nani and Spooky, but Nani is my favorite. She loves it when I pet her.

So there you have it! You may notice the recurring Space theme. My 3-yr-old is currently obsessed with Space / the Solar System / the Universe and knows things about Space that I have never even heard of. It is weird. So yeah, there's a Space theme there - but I want to remember that about him at this age.

Oh yeah - so what did I use on that layout? I altered Cindy Schneider's Year in Review II template to make it fit the 11x14 size I needed for the project and used the absolutely adorable Another Galaxy kit by Traci Reed and Julie Billingsley. Both products are available at Sweet Shoppe Designs.

I'm having the thing printed today at Costco in the 11x14 size and am just planning to glue it to the stupid Neon Green poster board (so none of the poster board is showing) and will turn it in Wednesday when I drop Dean off at school. Joel just keeps rolling his eyes at me. But I'm sorry - I just couldn't turn in a Neon Green poster board with a couple of photos and magazine clippings glue-sticked to it and Dean's name written at the top with a Sharpie. LOL. And if Dean's embarrassed by this, well, let this be a good learning experience for him, because if my own childhood is any indicator - it's only bound to get worse!! ;-)

Good Grief - Word Association

I think most of my regular blog readers know that my Dad, who is only 59 yrs old, is in the late stages of Alzheimer's Disease. Watching a loved one slowly slip away from you emotionally and cognitively while they remain (for the most part) physically intact creates a very difficult and unique grieving process. In reality, the amazing man who raised me is already gone and has been gone for quite some time. I mean sure - there's an unresponsive, agitated, incontinent, grumpy, anxious, weird-smelling, detached man who essentially looks exactly like the man who raised me - but trust me, that is NOT the man who raised me. However, I'm finding it harder and harder to remember that amazing man who was my father and instead when I think of my Dad, I first think of THIS difficult person. And that is my greatest fear - that all of my wonderful childhood memories will slowly be replaced with memories of this person that Alzheimer's Disease has left us with. And I had a pretty kick-ass childhood in great part because I had such a kick-ass Dad!! I don't want to forget that.

So when I discovered the Good Grief blog - a scrapbooking journey through loss and healing - and their scrapbooking challenges related to helping you scrapbook and journal about a loved one you have lost, I decided this might be just what I need to help me deal with the roller coaster of emotions I am experiencing as I watch my father quickly decline. And hopefully, this will help me hold on to more of those happy memories and not dwell so much on what's happening now. And yeah, I realize technically my Dad isn't DEAD, but for all intents and purposes my Dad is already gone, ya know?

So anyway, I hope you all are OK with me sharing my Good Grief creations here every now and then. These will be my "Therapeutic Posts"! LOL. So here goes my first Good Grief Challenge...

February's challenge is to Use Word Association. That's it. Open to plenty of interpretation. I was inspired by Amanda's Layout - I really liked how she listed a lot of random things that reminded her of her father and I wanted to do something similar, but with a focus on a few key descriptive words and include one of my favorite photos of my Dad, taken just 4.5 yrs ago before Alzheimer's disease robbed us of him. Here's my digital layout (click on the layout to view it larger if you'd like to read the journaling):

Credits: Boyfriend Jeans by Scrapkitchen Designs (Sweet Shoppe); Template from Collection 8 by Janet Phillips (Sweet Shoppe)

Of course, these aren't the only things that make my Dad who he was - but the small words / phrases are more like little "memory joggers" for me - each of them tells a story from my childhood, each special and significant in it's own way - some funny, some poignant and some just very specific memories I want to hold onto.

Thanks for letting me share this with you today!

Embellish Snowflakes Color Challenge

Sorry for the multiple posts one right after another today, but I've been DYING to participate in one of the Embellish Magazine challenges since the very first one - unfortunately the timing just hasn't been right until now! I decided to buckle down and get started early this time and it paid off! Today I have TWO (yep, that's right! TWO!) projects to share with you using the Embellish Snowflakes Color Challenge. Here's a look at the challenge image:Isn't that AWESOME!?!? I mean, really, who WOULDN'T be inspired by all that yummy goodness!? So here's what I created with my "real" paper and stamps this afternoon:
You all know I'm a sucker for some Kraft and I've never been known to miss an opportunity to throw in some chocolate and SU's Baja Breeze is still one of my favorite all-time SU colors (oh, what will I ever do when I finally run out of that stuff?? And it's getting close...I'm starting to hoard it...especially my beloved textured CS!!). Anyway, I went with a softer saffron for this card just because I'm not a big fan of Yo-Yo Yellow and I just couldn't make it look right with this card! Here are all the details of what's included (dontcha just LOVE that big covered chipboard snowflake!?!?) - I was pretty excited to dig into one of my favorite retro Verve stamp sets from last year - Snow Wonderful!

Stamps: Snow Wonderful (Verve) Paper: Kraft, Chocolate Chip, Baja Breeze CS, textured Baja Breeze CS, So Saffron DP (SU) Ink: Fresh Snow (PTI); Momento Rich Cocoa (Tsukineko) Accessories: Brown Satin Ribbon (from quilting store); Apron Lace punch (Fiskars); Button (PTI); Snowflake #2 die (Sizzix); Hemp Twine

And now, I'm not sure if this second creation actually counts for the challenge since it's purely digital, but I was still inspired by the colors in the challenge to create this digital scrapbook layout:
Journaling reads (sorry, please don't hate me! LOL): "Snow? What's that? This Maui boy has never even seen the white fluffy stuff! Our idea of a cold winter day is when we have to wait until mid-morning for the temp to warm up to 80 degrees before we can head to the beach! - Keawakapu Beach, Kihei. November, 2009."

Credits:
Winter Wishes by Zoe Pearn (Sweet Shoppe); A Very Very Very Fine House by Libby Weifenbach (Sweet Shoppe); Summer Lovin' Templates by A+ Designs (Enchanted Studio Scraps)

Scrappy Sunday 8/23/09

Warning: Super long post ahead...

It's been awhile since I blogged a Scrappy Sunday post huh? I'm still hosting the Scrapbook Sketch challenge each week in the Scrappy Sunday Group over on Papercraft Planet - if you're a scrapper, I'd LOVE for you to join us!!

For this week's sketch I decided to use a digital template from the Gift of Gab template set by Connie Prince (Gotta Pixel). I just discovered Connie and LOVE her templates!! Here's a look at this week's sketch. If you're a digi scrapper, you can purchase the template and use your clipping mask tool in photoshop to make creating your sketch layout super quick and easy!! Or get creative and just use the image below as inspiration to create your own layout - all forms of scrapbooking (traditional, digital and hybrid) are welcome!!

And here's my sample for this week: (click on images to enlarge and read journaling if you're interested)

Credits: Gift of Gab templates by Connie Prince (Gotta Pixel); Just Beachy by Jennifer Fox (Funky Playground); Oodles of Tags by Julie Billingsley (Sweet Shoppe Designs); DJB Executive Font by Darcy Baldwin (Sweet Shoppe Designs).

And the rest of these are from previous Scrappy Sunday weeks that I keep forgetting to blog (Credits below each layout)...

Credits: Bottom Ups: Set 1 template by Traci Reed; Growin' My Own: Veggies by Sara Amarie; Apples on a Stick by Libby Weifenbach; Extra Large Painted Chippy Alphas by Libby Weifenbach (All availabe at Sweet Shoppe Designs)

Credits: Beep Boop by Kristin Cronin-Barrow & Lauren Grier; Layered Up in You Shapes by Lauren Grier; XL Chippy Alpha by Libby Weifenbach; Font is DJB Print by Darcy Baldwin; Teeny Type alpha by Zoe Pearn. (all available at Sweet Shoppe Designs).

Credits: Beep Boop by Kristin Cronin-Barrow & Lauren Grier; Layered Up in You Shapes by Lauren Grier; XL Chippy Alpha by Libby Weifenbach; Font is DJB Print by Darcy Baldwin (all available at Sweet Shoppe Designs).

Credits: You Rock by Zoe Pearn; Extra Large Painted Chippy alpha by Libby Weifenbach; Font is DJB Poppyseed by Darcy Baldwin; (all avail at Sweet Shoppe Designs)

Credits: Uses Forever Young digi kit by Libby Weifenbach (Sweet Shoppe Designs)

Credits: American Pie kit by Libby Weifenbach (Sweet Shoppe)

Credits: Heather Roselli's fun new Water Play Days kit along with the brush only from Black,White & Red All Overlay Alpha and Messie Amanda font by Darcy Baldwin (all avail at Sweet Shoppe Designs).

Whew! That's a lot of catching up!!

Thanks for sticking with that long post!!
-Jen

Scrappy Sunday (on Monday)

It's been awhile since I shared any digi pages here on the blog, so I thought I'd catch up a bit. For all you scrappers out there, I'm still hosting the weekly Scrappy Sunday Scrapbook Sketch Challenge over at Papercraft Planet and would LOVE to have you come play along each week!! We've had a few sponsors join us and will be giving away monthly prizes. We also have a super-talented Guest Designer, Crystal Livesay, joining us for the month of June - stop by the group to see her sample layouts for this week's sketch - they are AMAZING!!

So here are a few digi pages I've thrown together recently (keep in mind, I'm a HYBRID and PAPER girl at heart, so digi scrapping is NOT my strongest suit!!)

First up is my sample layout for this week's Scrappy Sunday sketch. I used the new Jen and Dean by Libby Weifenbach (Sweet Shoppe) - do those names ring a bell?? They should! I'm soooo excited that my name is in the name of a Libby kit!!! That's Jen and Dean as in ME and my son DEAN!! How freakin' COOL is that!?!? Libby designed this kit using Dean's new bedding that my MIL made a few months ago as inspiration! The kit turned out sooo cool and I'm sure you're all going to get sick of seeing it on so many projects in the coming months!! (so you might as well just get used to it!! LOL).
Font is DJB Poppyseed by Darcy Baldwin (Sweet Shoppe)


Show No Fear by Eva Kipler & Zoe Pearn (Sweet Shoppe)

Carefree by Heather Roselli and Tracey Howard (Sweet Shoppe); Frames by Nancy Comelab (the Lilypad)

That’s How We Roll by Libby Weifenbach and Dani Mogstad (Sweet Shoppe); Stripped 4 Template set by Sya’s Blueprints (Scrap Matters); Font: DJB Poppyseed by Darcy Baldwin (Sweet Shoppe)

Layers 2 Templates set by Darcy Baldwin (Sweet Shoppe); Built Tough by Libby Weifenbach (Sweet Shoppe); Font is DJB Poppyseed by Darcy Baldwin (Sweet Shoppe)

That's it for now!! Hopefully you don't mind my little detour into digi land...I'll be back in a day or 2 with some more card creations!!! Have a Happy Monday!!

Scrappy Sunday

Happy Sunday!! I've totally been slacking about posting my Scrappy Sunday sketches and layouts on my blog, so I've decided to start trying to make a point to that again each week. In case you have no idea what I'm talking about....each week I host a Scrapbook Sketch Challenge over on Papercraft Planet - the Scrappy Sunday Challenge. All forms of scrapbooking - traditional, digi and hybrid - are welcome. It's lots of fun, so if you're a scrapper - come join us!!!

This week's sketch is based on a digital template in the Room for Photos #2 kit designed by the uber-talented Sya of Sya's Blueprints. If you're a digi scrapper, be sure to stop by Sya's store at ScrapMatters - she has TONS of amazing templates and some really cute digi kits available!

This week's sketch has room for lots of photos, but don't feel like you have to use that many - feel free to get creative with those blocks of space (fill with printed or coordinating papers, journaling squares, large embellishments, etc), just keep the basic layout the same!

If you play along this week, be sure to upload to the PCP gallery with the tag sb041909 (all lower case) so we can find your layout!

Here's this week's sketch: And here's my Sample using Deerest Spring by Dani Mogstad & Kristin Cronin-Barrow; Rainforest Revelry by Misty Cato; Extra Large Painted Chippy Alpha by Libby Weifenbach; and font is DJB Poppyseed by Darcy Baldwin (all available at Sweet Shoppe Designs): (you should be able to click on the photo to enlarge to read the journaling if you're interested).I hope you'll all come play along!!! You never know when one of the amazing PCP sponsors is going to surprise one of our participants with a treat!!!