Photobook

Since I haven't met most of you, I thought I'd post a photo of myself so you could have a face to put with the name. The first is of a trip to Costa Rica last summer. The second was taken in Charleston this past weekend, that's my boyfriend Darren with me.



Now for the "crafting" part of this post. I really enjoy scrapbooking, and several months ago I started to hear about "photobooks", basically scrapbooks that you make online. At first, I wasn't too fond of the idea, because it didn't seem like you had as much freedom as when you make your own book. Which is true, you're limited to the layouts that are provided, and you can't glue fun extras in, like the ticket stubs from that show you saw, etc. But it does have a nice professional look to it, because once you're done with the book you can have it printed like an actual book - it kinda reminds me of a yearbook.

Anyways, I decided to make one of these books using photos from a trip to Albuqueque with my family this past October. I gave it to my mom for Christmas and she just loved it! I'm still not going to give up true scrapbooking, but this was pretty fun too. It was especially nice being able to work on it from any computer, and not having to have a mountain of supplies with me. I used the http://www.shutterfly.com/ website, and if you'd like to see the book I made, here's a link:

share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AYsWzdm4cN3GQ

Slow Progress In the Midst of Chaos and Sickness Which Drives the Mommy Mad

I finally finished Sarah's baby book. It's only her first year but I plan to add other things to it, like teeth and first hair cut. I actually finished a while ago but Lily got the chicken pox, then Rachel got...something that gave her a 103 degree fever, which she gave to Ella, which she gave to Sarah and now Lily has it, of course. I plan to begin on Rachel's book today. I am anxious to get these done because there is a lot of sewing to do.

Have you guys seen that Ravenhill finally has her Etsy shop open? Check out these babushka dolls; I'd love to get one.

A Change of Pace

In case you were wondering if I had totally switched gears and stopped sewing altogether, I didn't. When I cleaned up my room with my mom we made a list of things I should accomplish before I started any new sewing projects. The last thing on my list is to finish Sarah and Rachel's scrapbook of their first year. I have put my sewing machine aside and covered my sewing table with scrap paper, scissors, tape, stickers and various other scrapping tools. So far, I have scrapped 6 pages in the last two days. Today I'll start on 11 months for Sarah. What a relief it will be to have these finished. Then I can start on Lily's and try to not be behind.
I already have a list of sewing I want to do when this is over and it's a big motivation for me to finish the scrapbooks so I can satisfy the sewing itch. I have a skirt to sew for my mom, and one for me, a pair of pajama bottoms for each of the girls and some things I've been mulling over in my head that I might be able to sell in my etsy shop.

Craftiness of All Kinds

So I thought I'd go ahead and post the rest of the crafty things I did for Christmas. Now that we are home from Ohio I have a minute to go through my pictures and get it done!!

I made more puzzle balls for my nephews. I used the cutest assortment of doggy fabrics and I think they look really fun!


For my mother-in-law and sister-in-law I made these bird ornaments. My mother-in-law keeps a tree up all year that she decorates for the seasons and I thought these would look nice there. My sister-in-law is just really excited about bird watching and birds in general. I couldn't really tell how much my mother-in-law liked them, but my sister-in-law really liked hers.

Finally, I made 5 scrapbook calendars. I did this last year too and I really like the idea. I make one for my mom, one for Jerry's mom, one for each of my grandmothers, and one for me. I make all the pages for each month and just don't put on any pictures. Then each month, I print, crop, and cut the pictures to fit the pages I already made and send them out. That way, everyone gets updated pictures every month. It is a lot of work initially, but I think it is worth it. I have a hard time keeping up with scrapbooking, but this way, I have a page every month. At the end of the year, I can put all the pages in an album! Here is the January page I did: