November Scrapbooking Tutorial

Enjoy!

Using the F word

Today, I'm going back in time to a piece I wrote last year on how grateful I am for the "f-"word...
 

Forgiveness isn't always easy to earn. I'm sure there have been situations where you've thought to yourself, oh I could never forgive this! And, don't get me wrong, sometimes that's entirely appropriate. But to be on the offending side, thinking you've lost (or inevitably will lose) it all...well then all sorts of reasons why you should be granted amnesty seem obvious.
Forgiveness isn't something you can convince another to give you, either. Sometimes that idea can get in the way of working to repair the damage you inflict until someone reaches the point of saying, enough is enough!
Forgiveness opens a door in your heart that unwise or unplanned decisions, foolish or foolhardy acts, and deceitful cover-ups tend to close. Maybe if we all loved ourselves a little more, believed in our pureness a little more convincingly, we could love others better as well...and I believe there's a book about that!
Having been on the receiving end of heaping helpings of forgiveness in my life, I guess my final thought for now is that, hate hurts. Resentment builds walls. And, sometimes, people (or horses) make mistakes. So open your heart to a situation you've vowed not to allow forgiveness towards, and send love in that direction instead. Learn from those examples that have come to mind as you read this monologue.
This Thanksgiving and holiday season, I wish you pleasant days, however they're spent. And if the food gets burned, your team loses the game, you run out of pumpkin pie and can't have it for breakfast tomorrow,  etc., just remember...Forgive! Forget the hate but not the lesson! (And maybe assign cooking duties to someone else for next year)

 

Season of Selling?

November is a time for gratitude, and I always feel that when I get to spend the day with my mom in a booth selling whatever we've made to shoppers in the mood to purchase handmade awesomeness.
We decided to take part in my local elementary school's first such event, and it was a truly enjoyable-albeit chilly- day in the gym.
The best part of the day, aside from being with my mom and sharing a delicious breakfast she packed for me, was when our good friend Becca stopped by. Not only did she exclaim as many other's did over my mom's super cute snowmen made from socks of all things, but she also bought a handful of pre-made scrapbook layouts I'd created.
Later that day, Becca really set my heart aglow when she texted me the completed layout- I love the picture she chose! You know, for some scrap bookers, only using one photo on a page can be a bit of a challenge, but I have grown to enjoy it because the photo really gets to take center stage this way.
This would be an easy page to recreate, or "scraplift" as I say; just take a 12x 12" piece of solid cardstock, this will be your base. Then take a 12x12" piece of patterned paper, and cut it down to 11.5x11.5." Next, you'll need either some striped patterned paper, like I've used here, or some border stickers, or some ribbons, and lay them to one side or the other, across the top, or down on the bottom- it's your layout! Add a photo mat, a title and a journaling box under a light sprinkling of embellishments, and you're set to scrapbook!
Here's another one of those layouts I'd made- this is actually just a photo! I have no physical version of this any longer, but I was still able to use it for a photo of a Pampered Chef party I hosted as a fundraiser for our preschool. How? Through the magic of a favorite (free!) app I have installed, called Photo Grid! I opened up the photo, added text and the photo, and bata-bing-botta-boom: Insta-sta-scrap!
Let this be a reminder to you that it can pay to take photos as you go, before you actually add the photos, haha. You could use a few pages to create a whole album of template scrapbooking, right on your phone, and then send it off to a photo book service for additional cool points :-)

If this is a dream...

"Last night I dreamt of San Pedro..."
Well, no not really, last night I actually dreamt of being in my own bed, cradled in my lover's arms. No children ensconced warmly on either side of me, no concern about whether the time of morning awareness being appropriate for rising, and no breakfast to prepare literally looming on the horizon... just me and my honey, alone and in love. Fully awake at the lovely hour of whatever comes before o'dark-thirty, and with my overly sensitive heartstrings twanging, I took a moment to just lay in bed and thank the stars I knew were still out for this golden opportunity I'm enjoying... cause folks, this week the girls and I are living it up on La Isla Bonita, Kauai!
My mom has invited our family on many a vacation since it's inception, but this fall is the first time the girls and I have  been able to join her. This opportunity means so much to me! Number one, my mom is FUN to be around. She's my go-to for going anywhere, really. Wine tastings? Check. Shoe shopping? Check and double check. Scandinavian folk dancing? Oh yeah, we're there!
Number two, I'm simply grateful to still have my mom in my life. Aside from bouts of teen angst interferring with our relationship many moons ago, there was that damn breast cancer she had to go through getting in the way of our entertaining each other last year.
She has been promising for about the last ten years that she would have her ashes spread in Hawaii for no other reason but  than to send me here for an undeniable purpose, but man, am I glad that's not why we're here this week :-)

We are instead spreading smiles. The radiance of our similiar ready-to-share-grins engages both my daughters and the strangers we've met about town, and invites them to participate in the love we share for each other and our shared experiences.

Number three, if I need to put one down, is that, if I'm honest, I've been a little jealous of my in-laws for having had two week-plus vacations spent soley in the company of their son and grandchildren. Granted, they live thousands of miles away most of the year, but STILL. I'm loving it that my mom finally gets us all to ourselves (especially me)!
So here we are, living it up Aloha style- full of love,  full of life, full of spirit(s)... and craft supplies at the ready, of course <3