Ole-Talk

My Day in Photos

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Following in My Big Sister's Footsteps

I knew that I wanted to do a layout for today's blog post but had no idea what I was in the mood to scrap.  Then I say Francine's blog post from yesterday and had an an ha moment.  I remembered that I had blogged about this photo back in December so decided to follow in my big sister's footsteps and do a blog post to scrapbook page.

I tweaked the journaling just a bit and it reads:

Reunited! Although it seems that Francine and I see each other often before reuniting in December last year (2010) we had not seen each other for six and a half years...not since my dad's funeral.  So last Christmas (Dec 2010) was doubly special since I did not only get out of the cold but I got to spend face to face time with my sister.  Barbados 12/23/2010 

Here is a close up of the butterflies on the left of the page. The bigger ones were cut with my Silhouette and I enhanced them with glam-rocks using the i-rock tool from Imaginisce.

I really love this technique and plan to use it a lot more going forward.  Sometimes you just don't have the time to do a complete layout but it really does not take a lot of time to get the story down in a blog post with the photos.  Plus it makes it easier when you do have the time to scrap as you already have the story written down and you don't have to rack your brain trying to remember the details that go along with the photos.

Been Blogging for Five Years!

Happy five year anniversary to me.  Can you believe that is has been five years since I started this blog.  I started over at Blogger and then made the decision to move my blog over here to Typepad after my sister told me about it (she also helped me to make the move - thanks sis).

As part of my anniversary celebration I thought that it would be great to get to know my blog readers a bit better. So leave me a comment telling me where you are from, what you like best about my blog, and what you would like to see more of.  If you leave a link to your blog I'll stop by and say hi as well.

And of course what is a celebration without goodies...so on Saturday I will choose one random reader from all the comments and send them an altered chalkboard clipboard accented with the color of your choice, plus some chalkboard labels cut with my Silhouette, because we all know how much I love to use that machine (smile).

Thanks to each and every one of you who take a few minutes out of your busy day to stop by and read my blog.

Spring Why are You so Late?

I took a look back at what my blog posts for around this date in April last year were and on April 5 I blogged about the walk around Battleship Cove taking photos that Sheldon and I did and on April 7 there was an explosion of flowers on my Weeping Willow plant.  Obviously spring is late this year because it is definitely not warm enough to take a photo walk at Battleship Cove and my Weeping Willow is only now looking like it has some buds on it but definitely no flowers.

So my question is...spring why are you so late?  Where is the warmth?  Where are all the flowers?  Hopefully this will change soon and I will awake one morning to an explosion of flowers on all my trees as well as much warmer days.

Has spring come to your neck of the woods as yet?

Crossing Some of the List

I was doing so well!  Blogged four days in a row and then...bam!!!  Life interrupted!  Worked late on Thursday and did not get a chance to blog and then Friday I was so tired plus dealing with a headache I just had no motivation to blog.  So today I was determined to get a post up and get back into the groove of things.

I decided today to tackle a few things on my ever growing Teux Deux list one of which was to print two e-books that got from Ella Publishing as a birthday gift from my sister.

I also finally upgraded my iPhone and Firefox to the latest versions.  At last I was able to cross some stuff of my list and it felt great.

Oh Summer! Where Art Thou!

As I look outside my window and see snow falling on the third day of spring I can't help but dream about all the things that I am looking forward to when it finally warms up and summer is here:

Sun dresses

Flip Flops

Long summer days

Warmth

Snow cones

Sandals

Walks with my camera

Riding my bicycle

Sitting outside in the sun

Exploring new places with Sheldon

Cirque du Soleil

Bar-b-ques

Plums from my back yard

Outdoor games

Green grass and flowers

 

Did a Little Baking

I have been planning to make these  cupcakes for about three weeks now.  The butter and eggs have been sitting in a bowl waiting for me to take them out and use them.  Finally today I found the time to make these - Spiced Ginger Maple.  I found these on Pinterest but the recipe is from this blog post.  I did make my own frosting using my standard marshmallow fluff frosting but adding some ginger and spices to it for a little extra flavor.  I love how they came out and they taste pretty yummy too if I may say so myself.

My Intentions

I am once again doing Shimelle's class Blogging for Scrapbookers.  Hoping to make it to the end this time.  This year I think that I will use a new approach.  Last year I attempted to make a layout for each prompt and fell way behind.  My new approach for this year is to attempt to blog each days prompt some with photos and then do layouts for the ones that appeal to me at a later date.

Today we start by stating our intentions for the next three weeks of the class.  It just so happens that I am also doing 30 days of Lists and one day we had to list our blog goals.  So this is what I hope to accomplish.

• Update my blog more often
• Have more followers
• Have at least 2 weekly features (so far I have one on Sunday)
• Share more about my life
• Take part in a blog hop
• Restart my recipe/food blog

I know these are more blog specific than scrapbooking specific but I think that if I can accomplish the above then my posts will translate into scrapbook pages that will have more meaningful journaling on them.  And for the posts that I add photos to it will allow me to write the story behind the photo while it is still fresh in my memory.

So whether you are doing Shimell's class or not, what are the intentions behind your blogging?

Ready for Journal Your Christmas

Last year I attempted Shimelle's Journal Your Christmas class and did not get very far.  Ok to be honest I got as far as the cover and the first page.  The neat thing about this class is that if you joined in once you can participate every Christmas after that for no additional cost.  So I am trying again this year.

I am being smarter about it and instead of just having all the supplies that I think that I will use handy I went ahead and put my album together.  Now all I have to do is add the journaling and a photo for each day.  I can add extra embellishments as well if needed.

The class runs December 1st to Jan 6 but I am going to stop on December 31st.  Here is my album and a sample of the pre-made pages.  Page 1 was from last year but it pertains to this year as well so I guess I am a day ahead already!  I used stuff in my stash that I have had for at least a year or two and my Bind-it-all.

 
  

Lessons Learnt

A weekend of lessons:

• Anything can be accomplished if you have the correct tools and supplies
• I would rather play with paint and ink than do laundry
• You can never have too many popsicle sticks (smile)

• Time waits for no man...or woman
• Take the time to fold and put my laundry away as soon as it is out of the dryer or it will sit in the basket for days
• Art jounaling requires lots of patience...it is literally like watching paint dry
• Gesso covers all mistakes
• The internet is like a blackhole...once you are on you can't escape