Scrapbooking my life...one page at a time

A Zoo Run & Day 3 ...

A Zoo Run ...

My neighbor, Ms. B, her son, little A & I all spent most of Tuesday at the Woodland Park Zoo (WPZ).  It was a beautiful sunny day and I LOVE the zoo.  I almost always have a current WPZ membership card in my wallet because ... you never know when you'll be experiencing a "sunny-day-with-nothing-much-to-do"  kinda day and the zoo is always a great place to go.  

If you know me then you know that I am always up for a trip to the zoo - with or without little kids ...  I like to just wander around and get lost for a while.  The animals amaze me, the gardens & plants always bring me a little ... Zen ... it is, for me, an oasis - a paradise lost!  Okay, okay - I know, it's not so much paradise when you're experiencing the zoo from behind bars but that aside - I still love the zoo ...

And hey, it's not all bad!  For example, did you know that most zoo's are now an integral part of worldwide conservation & education efforts and that many species that are now lost in the wild exist today ... only in zoos.  The WPZ currently partners with 38 field conservation projects taking place in more than 50 countries.

Anyhoo - we were there for some FUN!  Nothing more than simple Fun, Fun, fun - not to learn or conservate (I think I just made that word up - if you don't know what it mean ... look it up).  We had come to soak up a little of that not so abundant PNW sunshine, get a little exercise, and have FUN - oh ya, and to wear out the baby so he would sleep well later that night!

We just knew that little A would love seeing all the animals, squeal with delight as they pranced about their naturalistic zoobitats and interacted playfully with their cell mates.  Sometimes It's even hard for me to contain my delight as I watch all the exotic wildlife at the zoo ...

-  little A looks excitedly for the animals -

What did he find ...

-  some lazy goats getting ready for a nap -

-  a flamingo napping -

-  a gorilla napping -

Well, we had obviously arrived at nap time - everyone was asleep so we decided to go to the children's play area which ended up being much more fun 

- little A constructing a little bug at the play table -

Day 3 ...

Here is Day 3 of my 365 days ...

 

If you asked Mike, he would tell you that he is not a caffeine drinker but for those of you who really KNOW Mike you know he is a major caffeine guzzler ... as in he guzzle down about a liter of caffeinated diet Pepsi a day!  I am not sure what you would pay for a 2L bottle of Pepsi in Canada but down here - on a good sale - we can get it for about $1.19 a bottle.  The other day I was at QFC getting some steak to BBQ (yum) and they had it on sale for .83 cents a bottle.  A BOTTLE!  That is a crazy good price but. as you can see, they had a 6 bottle limit per customer. Life is so-da good - isn't it!

Crop-tastic!

On Thursday I attended a crop at my friend Trista's house.  We had such a lovely time visiting together, chatting, reminiscing, and scrapbooking for 3 hours.  Trista is a Creative Memories (CM) consultant and so she always has TONS of great scrapbooking supplies available at her crops.

She has decided that for most of the year (she is a tax accountant and so Jan - April is off limits to scrapbooking, visiting friends, shopping or any other activity not directly associated with the IRS, W2's, Pencil Pushing or 1040 forms) she will hold once a month crops.  I love it because now I can just pencil in every THIRD THURSDAY of the month as CROP NIGHT AT TRISTA'S.

I {heart} the idea of attending regular Crop Nights because it will push me to get more organized and get more done.  We are going to meet from 6:30 - 10:30 so I will have at least 4 hours of dedicated scraptime every month - being able to visit with fellow scrapbuddies is wonderful added bonus too!

This month I started work on my Italy Picfolio.  I absolutely love the CM picfolio's.  They are an easy & fast way of organizing for the short or long term an occasion or event for which you have millions of pictures that you want to save but don't necessarily want to "scrapbook" in the tradition way of 1 or 2 pictures per page.  With the picfolio album you can create 'mini' scrapbook pages for each picture but load the album with 4 or 5 pictures per page (the pictures each fit into their own little sleeve)  You can click on each picture to enlarge it and get a better looks. 

As you can see above I have 4 pictures per page and left a single spot on each page for journaling.  The pictures are now together in an album, protected and can either live in this album forever or if/when I decide to do a fancier scrapbook I can removed all of some of them.  I love this new picfolio that CM has come out with because I can add as many pages as I need AND I also have traditional pages in it because I have the option of adding single pages which you put a traditional 12x12 page into.

I also bought another 'Quick Kit'.  I love these little 8x8 albums that come with the pages already loaded in them and also comes with the matching stickers, word art and other embellishments.   

These kits are great if you have a LOT of pictures (I do!) and either don't have a lot of time (I do!) or don't just never seem to get around to getting your pictures put into albums (me again!).  I am thinking this will hold my 2008 family reunion photos!

Holy Crop!  Look what I won! 

I won a door prize at the crop - this super cute little bag and a matching mini album.  I think I will load the bag up with extra crop tools & glue so that it is always ready to go with me to every crop I attend.  Trista is thinking about planning an 'end of summer' weekend retreat and I am already looking forward to that PLUS ... Jess and I both signed up for the Abby 'BC Crop for Kids' which an annual crop for charity that raises money for the BC Children's Hospital.   It sells out every years and so we were excited to sign up in time this year ... it sold out in 2 hours! 

Oh YEAH - Mike & I were at our local 'home improvement' store yesterday (getting a dripper system for my yard) and as we strolled past the paint department I noticed this super-cute paint sample cards in the 'Disney' Paint section.  As you can see - I grabbed a bunch - I am going to find a use for them in my Disneyland album.  If anyone wants a couple just let me know - as you can see I have lots!

YUP ... it's beginning to look like a CROP-TASTIC year!

Have a great day!
- n -

Life at the Beach ...

This is a recent scrapbook that I made for Mike's sister & her husband to Thank them for inviting us to stay out their beach house in Delaware.  It took me a while to put it together but I think it was well worth the time. I was one of those projects that just came together in the exact way I wanted it to.

Oh, by the way,  I love how it turned out.  It is so cute - the perfect colors, perfect pictures and just 'reeks' of a beach cottage at the edge of the sea ...

Follow me along the construction trail ...

The first I did was to gather some beach glass nuggets that I collected over the years and then I researched how to drill holes in the middle of them because I knew from the onset that I wanted to make some Beach Glass Buttons. 

I found some directions online about how to drill glass and found out that you needed to do it with a diamond tip drill bit - I already had my trusty Dremel [this is the best tool ever for people who like to partake in the Arts & Crafts]  but had to go down to Ace Hardware to get the drill bit.  Done.  Next the directions instructed me to get a bowl of water and a block of wood to drill on top of.  So, the key to success is drilling very, very slowly under the water.  There is definitely a 'knack' to drilling through the glass without breaking it - I ended up destroying quite a few pieces before ... SUCCESS!

Next I gathered up the chipboard book paper and acrylic sheets that I was planning on using.  I LOVE the look of the acrylic - it is one of my favorite scrapbooking mediums. 

Then I covered the front of the album with the paper that I had chosen - After gluing the paper onto the chipboard I sanded all the edges to get it nice and then I used a blue stamp pad to ink the edges of the cover ...

So I covered both the outside front & back of the album with the paper that had the 'beachy' words on it and then I covered the inside covers of the front & back of the album.  I love the paper which I used - the word paper and  the blue & white striped paper to line the inside of the covers.  I think they are perfect colors for the album.

After the cover's were finished I attached my 'Beach Glass Buttons' to the front cover along with 2 starfish that I had.  The buttons are tied on - I punched holes through the chipboard and threaded some rope-like string I had through the buttons and cover and tied it in a knot.

Next I decided which picture I would use on the first acrylic page.  I wanted a photo that really spoke to the beaches on the East Coast and I thought this one with the dried grass and weathered fence did just that.  It was especially important because whatever picture was placed here would be seen through the cutout in the cover {see the finished book at the top}.

Here is the front cover and the next page is the beach scene which you can see through the cut-out.  At this point I just started covering the inside pages with paper and adding pictures and decoration as I went along.  The book is alternating pages of chipboard and then an acrylic page - most of the chipboard pages have cut-outs in them and so it did take some time making sure that they all lined up.

Below are a few of the pages from inside the book.

I found this GREAT new toy on the internet - it's called Wordle and I used it to create & print out this great 'word cloud'.  Click above to go check out the site - the best part is that it's FREE & EASY.   Yup, you heard me right ... FREE & EASY. 

See - I just made another one!  It really is fun and easy!  Give it a try.  I may have mentioned this site before but seriously, if you haven't tried it - you should!  I think it would make some great birthday party invitations ....

 
Anyway - that is my 'Rehobeth Beach' scrapbook.


Hope you are outside enjoying the sunshine
- N -

Ten On Tuesday ...

Today's Ten On Tuesday is a little different than usual:

Here are the TOP 10 Random Thoughts on my Mind today ...

1:    We are NERVOUS about our trip to Chicago - nervous that Mike will get offered the job and nervous that he will not.  I feel like we are living in limbo - just waiting to see where he will ultimately find a job and where we will be living ...

2:    I am EXCITED to share this 'killer' FREE Photo Editor I found online.  I would whole heartily recommend it to anyone who has a lot of digital photos stashed on their computer and while it doesn't sort or organize your photos it does an amazing job of editing them.  Just download it and begin.  It is easy, simple & does a very nice job - just click on www.photoscape.org to check it out!

3:    I remain PESSIMISTIC about the economy - I believe the worst is yet to come.

4:    I am so HAPPY that my very talented & good friend Dana came by on Sunday for a wonderful visit.  We drank Mike's Hard Cranberry Lemonade, chatted & Mike even made us dinner.   It was so  nice to see her because I had not visited with her since our return from Wash. DC. Since just before Christmas Dana has been trying to open a floral design studio in her home called 'Blissful Blossoms' however opening any new business during this tough economy is hard so she is moving forward with it slowly.  She made me an absolutely gorgeous arrangement for Valentine's Day.  Isn't it beautiful - I LOVE  the little purple butterfly hovering atop the roses.  CLICK on the photo's to enlarge them.  They were a beautiful gift from a beautiful friend.  Thanks Dana

5:    I am WORRIED about Katy's old dog Sneakers.  She is now ramping up on her 16th B-day and she seems to be crankier by the day.  She has begun barking & snapping at Buster all the time even if he bothering her. Last night she was growling & barking at Buster when for no reason at all. I am wondering ... Do dogs go through menopause??? ....

6:    I am GLAD that Mike & I finally went for our walk around Bellevue Botanical Gardens yesterday (he finally finished his homework).  Unfortunately we didn't get there until after 3pm and I was so tired by then [I had gotten up just before 4am] that we only stayed for a nice but short walk ...Don't you just love the frog who stands guard at the entrance to the gardens ...

7:   I am MAD - so very MAD at myself ...  I have not been to the YMCA once since before Christmas.  Good Grief, I'm paying for it so lets get moving  girl!!

8:    I am very PLEASED that I have finally started work on a new scrapbook.  It is a Thank-you for having us out to your Beach House book for Jo [Mike's sister].  All I have so far is the front cover but I LOVE it [I'll post pic's of it soon]

9:    I am HESITANT to begin an all out job hunt because I don't want to start a job and then have to quit it a couple of days/weeks later. Mike says I just shouldn't worry about that but I just don't feel right about taking a job knowing I might have to quit again right away ... but ...

10:   I am so GRATEFUL for all the sunny days that we have been blessed with here in Seattle lately.  Everything feels & looks better on a day filled with sunshine so Here's to another week of glorious sunshine that warms the earth and all who inhabit it ...

What random thoughts are on your mind today?

- N -

Scrapbooking & Six Degrees of Separation ...

Holy Scrap!  I have spent the last 4 days fighting with Typepad trying to figure out why it would not upload pictures for me.  The Typepad Help desk has been trying to help but we just were not getting anywhere and then FINALLY - tonight - after almost 3 hours of detective work ...

Mike FINALLY figured it out.  It's a MIRACLE!!! 

The problem was so random I am still marveling that Mike ever figured it out.  Turns out an add-on from Real Player [which has nothing to do with Typepad W.H.A.T.S.O.E.V.E.R]  was messing my ability to upload pictures up!

Extremely random but finally Fixed ...

Anyhoo ... This past weekend Jess & Aidan came down for a visit and so Jessica & I could attend the BIG Scrapbooking Convention in Bellevue.  It is a BIG 3-day scrapbooking extravaganza!!  We only attended on the Saturday but it was GREAT FUN.  We took several classes & spent the day poking around all the vendor booths checking out the newest Scrap-toys!  But ... the best part of the whole Scrapbook Convention was the HUGE crop that we went to from 7pm - 11:30pm.  As you can see below - there were so many people that attended the crop and talk about a SMALL WORLD ...

Jessica & I went to dinner before the crop and it was just packed by the time we got there - we were only about 20 minutes late.  Jessica finally spotted a table with some extra chairs way, way in the back of the room so we wove our way back and set up shop.  There were only 2 other ladies sitting at the table so it worked out great ... we had lots of room to scrap. 

So anyway ... amongst this sea of scrapbookers I glanced over at the table next to us and I saw a woman that looked exactly like Daphne. For a few minutes I kept glancing over thinking ... that sure looks like her but would she really be all the way down here at a 'Scrapbook Convention'?  Finally I just got up and walked over and said ... 'Daphne' and surprise!  It was her.  She had come down to the convention with 2 girlfriends.  We chatted for a few minutes - it was such a nice surprise to see her there!

 And talk about -Six degrees of separation ...I am still in shock because it turns out that the 2 Never-met-before women that Jess & I were sharing a scrap-table with & I had a mutual friend in common!!!! 

Talk about your Six degrees of separation!!  We were busy doing the, 'Hi - how are you - how long you been scrapbooking - what are you working on?' kind of getting-to-know-each-other chit chat.  Just Scrapping & Chatting away ...

The conversation then turned to the convention and what we had seen - and if we had found anything interesting.  Then I said, 'Hey, did you guys see the booth for that Camano Craft Hideaway Retreat' on Camano Island?"  They had and the conversation moved on to scrapbooking retreats.  I said I had never been to one but Jessica & I were already making plans to go to the Camano Retreat for my birthday and they said they had been on one but it was in Monroe and was with a woman named Tracy and a Creative Memories group.  Hmmm, that name sounds familiar and I thought for a moment and then I said her name didn't happen to be Tracy Bohman did it?  Well - as you probably guessed it was!

They asked how I knew Tracy and I explained that I didn't really know her but only of her through another friend of mine ...
'who they asked'
'Trista', I said. 
'Trista Charlton' they said.
'Yes!', I said, 'except it's not Charlton anymore - she just got married!'
They were thrilled to hear that Trista & Charlie had gotten marrie

Denise & Joyce (I hope I have their names correct - my memory is atrocious - so correct me if I'm wrong Trista)

It was so funny, amazing & exciting that out of such a large group of people I had run into Daphne & then sat at a table with 2 of Trista's friends. 

So ...
as the Sherman Brothers wrote:

It's a world of laughter
A world of tears
It's a world of hopes
And a world of fears
There's so much that we share
That it's time we're aware
It's a small world after all

There is just one moon
And one golden sun
And a smile means
Friendship to ev'ryone
Though the mountains divide
And the oceans are wide
It's a small world after all

It's a small world after all
It's a small world after all
It's a small world after all

It's a small, small world What a small world!

Let's go out & make it a great Day
- N -

Walkabout Catch-up ...

WALKABOUT NO. 20
Walkabout No. 20 was taken during my 3 Day Retreat taken with Sand in August of this year.  We had a wonderful walkabout at the Bloedel Reserve on Bainbridge Island (I have already posted about our trip but here is a scrapbook of it I just made). 

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Walkabout No. 21
Walkabout No. 21 was quite different also in that yesterday Mike & I joined several other couples for a walkabout out at the Gold Creek Pond .  We went with Therese & her husband Dave, Patti & her husband Kevin and Sharron & her husband Kevin.  It was very, very interesting because it was lead by a Snoqualmie Forest Ranger & she was quite knowledgeable about plants, animals & the area (not to mention quite funny).  There was no one else in the group so we ended up having our own private tour & walkabout.

Gold Creek is located at the Snoqualmie Pass.  It is the area where Therese, Patti & I went snowshoeing several times last winter and are excited to resume when the snow returns.

After the walk we all went back to Patti & Kevin for a wonderful lunch of homemade chili, cornbread & wine.  It was a wonderful day ...

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A Perfect Fall Day & A Pink Scrapbook

Okay - I have made a GIANT decision - I have given it a lot of thought and it's one that I don't make lightly ....

But ... I am officially changing my favorite season from 'Spring' to 'Fall'.  I've been thinking about it for a long time now and it just feels like a the right thing to do and here's why:

1. I love the cool crispy mornings that arrive in a soft misty batting 

2. Halloween, pumpkins, apples, cozy wet days & crackling fires

3. I love it when all the deciduous trees begin changing into their 'Coats of Many Colors'

4. The browns, oranges, greens and yellows ...

5. Birds still chatter to me all day long from the tree outside my Scraproom window & some are even saying goodbye but many are with all winter long ...

6. I love the the 'old - in with the new' state of mind I always find myself settling into at this time of year

7. And wait ... one more thing, isn't that the faint jingle-jangle of sleigh bells I am starting to hear ...

Yep!  It official - Fall is my new Spring! Fall is 'for sure, 100%, withoutadoubt, hands down -  my new favorite season -

This morning I had to drive out to Snohomish for an appointment and it was such an incredibly beautiful Fall day.  I haven't had such a peaceful solitary day in ages & ages.  The kind of day where it's just you, the sun is shining & you have no need for a clock - you have all the time in the world to just wander & ramble about.  It was such a fine fall day & Snohomish is such a quaint touristy little town full of shops, coffee bars & lots of hanging baskets  (sounds a lot like Poulsbo eh, Sand). 

Anyway - I just wandered around for about 1.5 hours, looked around some of the shops, bought a few goodies and went for a coffee before my appointment.  In honor of my newly adopted favorite season 'Fall' I bought the little quote board above and the 'yummy' brown acorn sprigs to 'Fall-up' my kitchen island.  I love the color of the acorns and the orange of the board. 

I also found bought this one because I absolutely LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the quote - I know exactly what place  Pearl S. Buck is referring to - I have been to that place many, many times & she's right ... for me it's an artesian well that keeps my spring from ever drying up - it is the place where hope springs from in Alexander Pope's, 'Hope springs eternal in the human breast'...

**********************************************

Jessica & her team, 'Power2Pink' did the 'Weekend to End Breast Cancer' walk this past weekend.  What an adventure ...

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Well done ladies!

 

A World of Memories ...

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Gone on Vacation ...

I am up again early (3:30am) - our bedroom was too stuffy & warm.  Now it's only 5am and my tummy thinks it's breakfast time.  Yikes!

Sandra & I are off on an exciting 3 day vacation to the fabulous & exotic Island of Bainbridge - talk amongst yourselves and we will be back soon!

For Jessica - Love Mom
Smile!

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Family Reunion ...

 

Sorry for the delay in posting about the reunion and getting some pictures up but I have been busy trying to get my Scraproom in order and helping Katy get ready to return to school. 

Anyhoo ... as most of you know, this Saturday past was the 1st Johnston-McCusker Family Reunion and despite the weather - clouds, rain, SUNSHINE and more clouds we managed to have a GREAT REUNION!

I had such a wonderful time planning, hosting & attending the first reunion but I will admit it was very much a learning experience.  Yes, many lessons learned - the biggest being that next time I will, "Visit More - Stress Less" ... Yes, I did not spend nearly enough time visiting with everyone and far too much time running around worrying about stuff.  I apologize for that - my loss, my bad!

This is a short post because Katy & I are off to get her some much needed 'back to school supplies'.

More later - enjoy the scrapbook for now!

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- N -