Time Travel and an active Imagination

It is Friday! Friday! I’m doing my Friday happy dance! I just came home from a lovely evening out with a friend. We ate at a yummy vegetarian restaurant in town. Sometimes I don’t realize just how much I need a night out with good food and good conversation with a friend. I need to do this more often!

I’m so happy this week is winding down. I spent nearly every day the past two weeks at the kids’ school painting some canvas panels. I finished them five minutes before the bell rang on Wednesday. It was such a relief to see them done. I loved the process of drawing and painting. I loved being in the school lobby. It was a really positive experience for me. As all of you know, I have hermit tendencies so it was good to get out out of the house a bit. I have a renewed appreciation for being at home now. It shook me out of a rut and that was really needed. I spent yesterday and today tying up lose ends I hadn’t gotten to the past few weeks. One of those things was creating a couple of layouts for Simple Scrapper.

I made two very different layouts.

1. One is about the albums I loved as an older teenager. Even now when I hear the songs I am instantly transported back in time. I can recall the feelings, the smells, and the intensity of the moment. I wonder if it will still be this way when I am 90. I was inspired by a template that included two doilies. It seemed a bit odd that I might think doilies belong on a layout with Nirvana and RHCP album covers. I grunged them up with some purple mist and black ink. It seemed symbolic to me of a girl coming of age. The layout has bit of a messy look that fits well with how I felt back then.

2. This layout was so fun because it encompasses everything I love about Disney World. The joy I wanted to my children to experience when my husband and I took them on a very special trip in 2013. I wanted the layout to have some Winnie the Pooh elements on it but I didn’t want to detract from the photo or journaling. So I was happy to include a bit of patterned paper and stickers of bees and honey. I could look at the photo of my kids all day!

Did I mention that Simple Scrapper is hosting  a free photo organization class? Sign up here.

Next week I hope to write posts about a cute little gift my friend gave me tonight, the paintings I made for the school (I have yet to take photos of them), and some thoughts I’ve been meaning to share for the past couple months. We’ll see how that goes. In the meantime, I wish you good weather, peace, love, good health, and happiness!

This is going to take awhile.

In November, my family went to Disney World. It was the first visit for my kids. My husband and I hadn’t been there since he proposed eight years ago. One of my goals for 2014 is to complete the album of our vacation. I’m using pocket pages in a 12×12 D-ring album. Between pocket pages filled with 4×6 photos and journal cards, will be full page 12×12 layouts.

For the two layouts I’m sharing today, I used templates and a story starter journal prompt from the premium Simple Scrapper membership.

1. For this layout, I was inspired by a journal prompt listing all my favourite things. I put my own twist on it and instead wrote about the favourite ride of each family member. I had intended to use a list and number the photos with the items on the list. In the end, I wrote a paragraph with a more in-depth description about the rides and didn’t number the photos.

I used traditional paper supplies.

2. For this layout, I used all digital supplies. I had this cute journal card I wanted to use but the sentiment on it wasn’t working for me. So I used the clone tool to “erase” the words and then added the word “destination” in a font and colour of my choosing.

For the title “holiday”, I used the arsenale white font. I added a drop shadow and then warped it so it would look like a cut file. I put a stitch through the middle. I think it looks like paper!

Digital Supplies used:
All Mapped Out | Elements by Dawn by Design
Walt’s Park: Holiday Kit by Scotty Girl Design
Penny kit by creashens
Wonderland | Journal Cards by Sabrina’s Creations

To see more blog posts sharing in the Simple Scrapper community show-and-tell, click here!

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I’m dreaming of Disney

I thought I was a fan of Disney World. Once I was past the age of 10, I was never really into Disney movies or culture. I just liked the theme parks. When I was three I went to Magic Kingdom for the first time. At age 11, I went to Epcot and Magic Kingdom. At 15, I went to MGM. I was always very nostalgic about those trips.

My husband took me to Disney World to propose. Unfortunately, I developed a nasty case of pneumonia. Fortunately, he still proposed. Oh, and I survived the pneumonia… let’s not forget that!

It was our dream to take our kids to Disney World. So, this November we did exactly that. It was mostly wonderful and magical. Somehow when you’re planning a trip like this, you aren’t imagining the whining that will accompany it. I did plan for down time and expect that everyone would have their less than perfect moments but still it can be stressful when people get overwhelmed, overheated, and plain tuckered out.

What I discovered is that it is the first day and last day that matter most. A first day is all about first impressions and feeling the magic of the place. The last day is your last impression and what you will remember simply because it happened last. You want to leave on a good note. We had a wonderful entrance to the Magic Kingdom (which I will talk about in a future layout which I will share later) and our last day was our most relaxing day of all.

I was surprised to discover I am not as big a fan of Disney Parks as I had thought. Even with low attendance in the parks, I found it too busy, too loud, and some of the park staff (cast members) had unnecessary attitude. I did not expect the latter. No big deal on the first half of the trip but by the end I was tired and overwhelmed which made me oversensitive to everything around me. Just like my kids! I got my fill of the place and don’t need to go back for several years.

We have been back half a week and every night I have been dreaming of Disney. Just some little aspect of our trip, looping over and over all night long. I must be processing the trip. Last night, it was standing in a line on a ride. No wonder I woke up with a headache!

I have 3600 photos I need to sift through, edit, and print for my scrapbook. This could take awhile!

In the meantime, last night I made a layout!

I used Karla Dudley product. She is having a 25% off sale until November 30th. If you spend $10 in her shop, you’ll receive a free Holly add-on kit. It includes the template I used in my layout!

credits:

Holly | add-on pack by Karla Dudley
Chris the kit by Karla Dudley
Holly the kity by Karla Dudley
Toolbox Mists v.2 by Gennifer Bursett
Toolbox Mists v.1 by Gennifer Bursett