Make Something Monday

This is the two page spread I made today. Again, it is SIMPLE, but it is DONE and ready to go into the page protectors and that makes me happy.

If you took the time to make something (even just took 5 minutes to write notes about a family member, yourself or a memory....) you would have 250 little somethings in 5 years. That is a very big deal.

Do not clean your space (just push stuff out of the way if you have to). Do not spend any money (we know we all have enough stuff). Do not surf on line for ideas (how much time do we all waste surfing for ideas or scrapbooking supplies and then we never even use them). Just pair a photo with a memory this week.

YOU CAN DO IT! I know you can. Happy Scrapping!

Make Something Monday

I uploaded and ordered photos....  it is all I could do today, and in my book, IT COUNTS! :)
I am reading Stacy Julian's Photo Freedom book, and she even says that labeling photos, ordering them, organizing them, etc counts as scrapbooking....  so for this Monday, this counts for me!

Here are a few of the photos I uploaded and ordered enlargements of. I feel so lucky every day to have these two little buggers call me MOM!

I even love simply watching (and taking pictures of course) of this child eating.

Here are the girls all lined up for the parade. It rained on us, but did not get rained out! (Good thing Neil kept working on those bike decorations)

Here they are in the parade...

Here is one of Kaya with Mommy and Daddy with Kalli. Right before the parade (and the rain) started. How lucky am I to have this as my super cute little family??

Every year I take a photo of Kaya from the BACK in the bike parade. I need to gather them together and create a page. She was TOTALLY last in the parade last year....  slowly pedaling away and chatting with the police man bringing up the rear. This year, she kept saying "There are people still behind me, right? I not last this year." Man, she cracks me up. And, for the record, she went FAST this year and I had to run to keep up with her. Next year I need to take my bike! :)













Busia always comes to the Parade and cheers on her girls. Man, she is amazing. In the rain at 85 years old, she never missed one thing these children do. I mean, really, how darn lucky are we to live with this bundle of love? She loves this parade and had no problems getting wet by the end. We sure to love Busia.

Kalli Makes Something This Monday

Kalli made her first purse. She is SO EXCITED for me to teach her to sew. She is going to have her own table in my upcoming craft shows. She even has a logo and a little money box. I want to go pay mystery shoppers (strangers) to come buy something from her. It was fun watching amazed by the sewing process. I am so glad I learned to sew in high school. I love the process of taking fabric and making it into whatever I want it to be. She has a lot more planned....  She is even going to open a little www.etsy.com store once she has some made.

 

For those of you who are new to reading this blog. I try to Make Something Every Monday. HERE is the original post on why I picked Monday to make something. If you make just ONE LITTLE THING every Monday for 5 years, you will have created over 250 little somethings. I love looking at it like that. 

Also, I took 5 little girls to the park AND grocery store on Sunday all by myself. I know some of you have that many kids (and I think you are incredible people). I really felt like someone should give me a little merit badge on my way out of the store. Like I had done something incredible by handling 5 kids alone in the car, park, AND grocery store! No one came with the trophy I was expecting in case you were wondering. :) 

 

Have a great week!  

Making something else on Monday!

Hey - I did it - I got creative! I am in a challenge with my friend Shannon (we pull things out of a jar each week) and I had to use a rub on. I wanted to work on this anyway, so here it is.... 

This is an excellent item from Once Upon A Family called "I am always with you". It is for me to stick in my bag when I travel so I have photos and little notes from the girls and Neil. I can hang it up in my hotel room and look at their cute little faces. Kaya is working hard on her note from me as you can see here....

I am working on a treat for them when I go out of town later this week called "While I am Away" I cannot wait to show that to you guys when it is completed.  I love that these products let me do little things that really matter to my family.

Hope you made something today!

Make Something Monday

Hey - to those few of you remember when I started Make Something Monday??  And a few of you played along? I have had a couple people email me and ask me to keep doing it because it motivated them to create something. So, here we go, I will try to get myself BACK ON TRACK to making something every Monday. Remember - just one little thing on Monday (printing photos, uploading pictures, cutting paper, setting up albums, etc) will mean you have done over 250 little things in 5 years - how cool is that??  We can do this. I know we can.

I have high hopes at bigger creativity tonight, but for now, I have made invitations to my local Creative Workshop, stapled them to new Once Upon A Family catalogs, & put them into cool clear bags. When Kaya and I go get Kalli from school, if the weather stays nice we will put them on our neighbors' doors this afternoon.

I am excited to help people create a meaningful gift for the holidays. If you are local and want the Creative Workshop information, let me know and I can email you a PDF of all the projects. Heck, if you live far away and want to see it, let me know because I am sure I could mail out the kits wherever you are, too. I have no clue how to post a PDF, but email me klsb@comcast.net and I will email it right out to you. It has about 12 projects you can come create where all you have to do is bring the photos I list for you (once you sign up) and you will leave with an AMAZING gift! I am so exicted about this workshop. I really hope some people sign up because I love everything they can pick to create.

Hope you make SOMETHING today. If not today, set time to do one little things this week. Remember - do not make it harder than it needs to be - just create something and I am sure it will make you happy.

Capturing Handprints....

When I saw this Once Upon A Family product....

I instantly thought it was to be used only for children....  and then I thought better! I gave my friend the idea to take the book to her family reunion this summer and she created an AMAZING family heirloom by capturing the handprints of her entire family.....  so, I decided to do the same - and we started tonight for Make Something Monday!

 

And this book is sure to be something we love forever and ever..... 

  

We are going to get Busia tomorrow and Neil's whole family over Thanksgiving. There are a few basic questions like Favorite Color, Favorite Food, Favorite Book...  things like that - I LOVE THAT MY GIRLS will have this for their entire family. Man, that makes me happy. :)

Think about how awesome it would be to get your entire family to do this over Thanksgiving or Christmas or any time you all get together. You will never be sorry. I will be sorry forever that I do not have my Mom's handprint to press my hand against when I want to. 

Get your handprint book here. It is so easy and fun to do. I just used a foam brush and acrylic paint.

I am working on a simple title page - need to cut some letters out, and I will post it once I get it all glued down. 

Have a great day today. 

KLSB 

Please tell me

That you guys are creating wonderful memories for your family.....  I hope you are. I am in SUCH a funk about Kalli going back to school that I cannot create anything without crying....  what is that???  I am simply printing photos of us on our Colorado Journey and tears are pouring down my face. I feel so lucky to have taken this trip with them....  but looking at the photos is making me sad.  Here are a few photos of the journal I created along our journey. My Uncle made fun of me the entire time, because as my Aunt drove the van, I journaled about what we just did and stuck in ticket stubs. I love it because it came home almost complete, and I just need to stick in photos (if I can stop crying as I print them). Ugh. I hope this is a weepy phase that goes away soon. Maybe I just need a nap! :)

So, I guess I made this on Monday, but posted on Tuesday....  still counts, right? :)  Remember - it is not always about how fancy you make it - just that you make it at all. I love these journals - messily written in a moving van and train and all....  not going to win any awards, but my girls will have them to relive our journey, and I think that really matters! :)

OK, I added a few more photos before I went to sleep. I sure do love these kids. Scrapbooking makes me happy.

I sure do love these little faces and feel lucky to have been with them on this journey. And I feel a little happier tonight knowing I have recorded how much I love them in this journal.

Is it just me??

Or do Moms get really sad taking their kids to first grade??  I mean, what is my deal? I want to cry about it.  Kal is so good about it this year (last year she cried until November at drop off) and I feel ill. I am not kidding. Ugh. I need to get over this and be OK with the fact that she is growing up, but I am struggling. Totally struggling. Here are a couple photos of us walking to school today. I pulled Kaya in the wagon and Kal scooted along side of us. It hurt my heart to watch her walk in.  She looked so small in that large sea of students. I pray life is kind to her tender little heart.

I will be back later with photos of what I am making this Monday - the plan is to simply print some photos of our Colorado journey and put them into our travel journal. I love that book and will post it later.
Hope you make a few minutes to create something that matters to you.

Make Something Monday - Guest Artist

Here is a super cool, simple project from Shannon at Yellow Fence. She is ALL ABOUT making things systematically, so she can keep up with them from year to year.... I love her simple approach to all of it, and she makes things happen! I loved this album from the first page she made in it, and I asked her to share it with all of you.

This is her Characters Album. A simple 2 up photo album in which she will put photos of her super cute kid Cole (and any other future babies) posing with Characters. She lives in Florida, so there will be plenty of Mickey Mouse... but this album can also house photos of kids with Team Mascots (Go Gators), the Target Dog, and lots of other Character photos. How cool would it be to look back at you and your siblings with photos of you and Characters throughout the years? My Mom loved making us pose with everying in a costume - I so wish I had thought to create this album for her. I know it would have been one of her favorites of all times.

A simple format that includes a 4 x 6 journaling block as needed to seperate sections... 

And on some of them, she printed the titles right on the photo, but if you are graphically challenged like me, you could just use Rub Ons!

A close up of the title page so you can see what she typed - once you format this to fit - save it and reuse it over and over to create your journaling blocks faster.

This project is already a cherished family heirloom and Cole is only going to turn two! Can you imagine flipping through this is 20 years???  Totally an awesome idea. Simple, meaningful, and DONE up to this point. Please do not think it is cheating to use a photo album. Even if you are a professional designer on many design teams, this could work for you to help you get things done, take away pressure, and let you be super creative on a few pages. Too many of us pressure ourselves to make everything award winning. Remember, this is for YOU and your family - and you can do it anyway that works for you. Thank you Shannon for showing us a different way that works for YOU!

Did any of you make anything today? I honestly hope you did. When this posts, I will be in Colorado with the kids and Busia. I am willing to bet I at least wrote a little bit in our travel journal and probably stuck in some memorabilia, too. :)

Getting back on the train tomorrow night to come home. Cannot wait to post photos of our journey for you.