Done & Documented: September & October

So, in my last report, I had finished 2009 totally & completely, an absolutely amazing feat for myself.  So proud yet, it brought to the forefront of my mind a couple of issues with that current style of memory keeping.  First, 8 4" thick 12x12 albums for each & every year of our lives? HUH?! who has room for that??? Definitely not us in a time when we are getting serious about downsizing our house and 'things'. Second, without children of our own to hand things down to automatically, where will these monstrosities go when I am gone? Truthfully, this one bothers me, so much less than the first as I am truly doing 99% of them for me in the moment. I use scrapping as therapy, as my creative outlet, as my me-time, girl-time, bonding time with my mom, Grandma & aunts. Occasionally, I use it to work through some issues, some feelings, and document that not everything is truly as it looks. On that other 1% I use them to send messages to people in my life unsure if they will ever see them or know how I feel, but I feel better getting it all down on paper & put in the stack to someday get put in a book. :)

So when I pulled fresh photos out to scrap, I had an all together different thought process. I knew I needed to cut the pages down in each chapter: 6 pages=3 layouts is going to be my cap for the majority of chapters from here on out. Many are falling in at 2 or 4 pages even.  This is freeing up A LOT of printed photos to hand off to friends & family for their books or trash, whatever they deem necessary.  The best part, I am doing it all guilt free. I am working hard to get the important stories told in those few pages & oddly, not even struggling most of the time.  Come to find out, I am much more of a photographer than a story teller, but I am learning to combine the two. Many less 'here we are at the lake again', '4th of July parade 2013', or 'kids at Christmas' pages more 'this summer at the lake we..... ' & 'a change in the parade this year was.....' and 'this year for Christmas the kids got/did/wanted.....'  all of them with a valid story to tell rather than just fun photos. I am also using Picasa to create collages then printing them in 8x10 or 5x7 to be able to include many more photos when they are needed but still wanting to keep the scrapped page tally down.

Since instituting these changes, I have been on a roll!! I have scrapped so many pages, I have lost track of a count & even quit photographing them all.  In fact, looking back, I haven't photographed any since the beginning of October, but here are some favorites from September & October:

 these are from 2 of the 3 birthday parties I scrapped from January & February 2013.  I have since moved over to 2010 and have scrapped a WiiFest gathering at our house, a family 4th of July dinner, Easter, a road trip to visit an aunt, 2 kids' birthdays & a brother's surprise birthday party. SERIOUSLY this rocks my scrapping world!  I have 2 Christmas celebrations, Christmas program, Father's Day gathering, graduation reception(which may already be scrapped), the January snow (there was a lot of it), adding Sammy to our family as a puppy, and some lake pictures to scrap. That will complete the year! That's amazing to me. My current goal is to finish the 4 pages of Father's Day I have on my desk-less about the holiday & more stories about the pictures. then I will probably take a break from 12x12s & 2010 to work up & do the December Daily I blogged about last week. I might just be sure to have the right photos in the 2010 basket instead of the basket that holds all of the photos that need scrapped, so that in January when I am ready to get back to big pages, I can transition easily.

That said, I never want to be caught up. I never want to be with out something to scrap. I simply want to be less years behind :) maybe some day being able to scrap the current year would be fun.

you can see my January, February, March, April, May, June, July, & August  reports here.

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Done and documented is series of monthly posts that highlights Jess's progress completing unfinished travel 
albums from years past. I will be following along by doing my December Daily 2013-CHECK, then plan to finish 2009 (2 chapters)-CHECK & start a new year. Feel free to play along.

Done & Documented: August

When I look at this in collage form, this makes me giddy! These are all the pages I completed in August! This also completes Labor Day 2009 AND THAT completes 2009!! I cannot say that about any other year. Scrapping is such a  funny hobby. I love to get chapters completed but don't ever want to be caught up! Being caught up would mean that I had nothing left to scrap & I don't ever want to feel like that. I do however feel comfortable that that will never be an issue for me :) 

I do plan to make some changes in how much I scrap for each chapter.  I have slowly come around to the idea of not needing to scrap every single printed picture & even find pleasure in handing off 'extras' to those either in the photos or someone else related that wants it for a project, scrapping or just to have a photo of them. :)   I never thought of storage of these many huge albums for each year NOR where they would go when I am gone since we don't have anyone to hand anything down to.  I like to think that the nieces & nephews might want the pages of their families as they are of them growing up at many family events & that if there is anyone left in our lake family that they or their kids might want those ... but those thoughts are getting pushed out as I am just going to continue to enjoy creating & to heck w/what's going on after I am gone ;) (thanks Tiffany & Tracie @ ScrapGals podcast for even making me think about it. :))  I am going to have to cut back on what is put into albums as there is no way we will ever have space to store 8 12x12 albums holding 45 sheets each, making them about 5" thick EACH. FOR.EACH.YEAR. lol SO, my plan is to try to cut it down to one lake album & 2 family albums for each year from here on out.... wish me luck ;) 

here are some of my faves from the month.

these first 2 are high on my list. I love that I was finally able to use this gorgeous fishy paper that I have had forever, that I was able to couple it with the plastic fish buttons I have also had forever and that I was able to document a great moment.  Those twine knots are also one of my favorite things I've done this month.

This pink & black page is pretty & I don't often pull off a pretty lake page.  I got to use the old calendar page, and new 'people' paper, washi tape & brads. So fun!!

This one was another one where I got to use some old stuff that's been laying around on my desk combined with some new goodies.  the chipboard arrows are dwindling down in my stash & I am sad about that (better pick up another pack soon) but I have what seems like an endless supply of flowers :) 

This is one of my simpler pages & I am glad I kept it that way.  This 8x10 is one of my favorites, I even considered framing it instead of scrapping it but as you can see, its scrapped! this is pink vellum on black cardstock w/a scrap strip of some tan French love in script on cream background slipped in for grounding. Thickers, cricut cuts & little letter stickers with a clock, ribbon & twine for the title corner, then under the smaller photos that are slipped int a flip flap is the tiny bit of journaling about how I love capturing a great reflecting sunset on the water.  Now, to get sleeves to get them into & then into albums! Then, on to a new year!

you can see my January, February, March, April, May, June, & July  reports here.

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Done and documented is series of monthly posts that highlights Jess's progress completing unfinished travel 
albums from years past. I will be following along by doing my December Daily 2013, then plan to finish 2009 (2 chapters) & start a new year. Feel free to play along.

Done & Documented: July

July around here was its typically busy level of excitement which leaves little time for scrapping & I kind of like that every once in a while & its especially convenient in the summertime when there is so much to do outside & other places. We hosted my family for 4th of July dinner after the parade on the 4th, we went to the lake for the Sunday after, our pup, Kora, had surgery on a cherry eye, we have taken a couple of totally down days where we didn't do much involving moving off the couch all day, Tim has worked most Saturdays so that's when I tend to run my errands, etc. A few Saturdays, however, I have taken some time to scrap.  On the 19th, I took supplies & went to Grandma's to do a page & helped get her going again.  On the 26th, I spent the afternoon & evening in Grinnell scrapping with my aunt & her friends.  That day was almost painful for me getting back into scrap-mode mentally so I only got one page done, it did prime me-so to say- for Sunday however, as I was able to put together 3 pages the next day. So here they are. & a couple more over the last week of the month.

 these 2 will be next to each other in the albumusing scraps & circle clips to coordinate, 2 Elle's Studio pieces, old rub on letters & random orange floss

This one was a fun photo to use. one of my husband & (at the time) brother's girlfriend. They have such a fun relationship-maybe its required to be able to put up with our family ;) - but I was able to combine those old 6x6 square sheets & the new Elle's Studio cards & strips really easily. 

 This was another fun one. She doesn't have many pages of just herself these days surrounded by 3 kiddos she's usually busy. Mostly old supplies with the new 'beautiful' frame. Made to coordinate with the previous page. 

  these 2 coordinate in real life, I just snapped crappy phone shots of them to share before it got any further into the month! random old supplies USED makes me GIDDY. 

crazy as it sounds, I completed 9!!!! pages over the first weekend of August so I will have LOTS more to share in my August report as I am closing in on the end goal!


you can see my January, February, March, April, May, & June reports here.

________________________________________________________________________________________

Done and documented is series of monthly posts that highlights Jess's progress completing unfinished travel


albums from years past. I will be following along by doing my December Daily 2013, then plan to finish 2009 (2 chapters) & start a new year. Feel free to play along.

Done & Documented: June

I am so very excited about how far I have come this year!! 2 of my 3 projects COMPLETE. WOW!! that's huge for me! :) Here is the Booming start I have on Labor Day Weekend 2009:

 These two pages were a bit tough for me to finalize, the pictures mean so very much to me that I was afraid I wouldn't do them justice but finally I 'just did it' & walked away. Love that my sister in law was quick enough thinking to snag my camera & capture these moments between my nieces & myself on the boat one afternoon. I loved using all the pink, some new supplies (the bingo cards) & old, the paper, letter stickers & die cuts & pink/blue flowered die cuts

these weren't initially designed to be across from each other but the colors work so well, I think they will be fine.  the left is a collage of my many faces during a conversation. I totally didn't realize she was snapping away, now I know how my friends feel when they see some shots I have captured of them in action ;)  I also, finally understand what my grandparents mean when they say I am 'expressive' LOL  The right just might be my favorite page of Tim.  He's a pretty serious guy most of the time so these are really him in his natural state.  more old goodies used.

these photos make my heart happy.  I love this foggy sight in the mornings at the lake, I just wish I could truly capture it on film. a new paper pack & coordinating paper strips but old supplies.  In fact, the title, "relaxing"  down the right side, was an accidental cut from my Cricut machine a long time ago & once inked, worked out perfectly for this page. Love all the buttons & Elle's Studio tags.  

My first time using Washi tape. I have been collecting different rolls of it for over a year but hadn't braved using it on a page until this one.  This is a 5x7 collage of the 2 littlest campers of the weekend bonding. Super sweet so used some new goodies to hightlight that moment.

Papers like this are AWESOME & I find myself buying them, but then I struggle to use them because the design on them is so cool & so big that I hate to cover it with photos & embellishments.  Luckily this 4x6 collage worked perfectly in that right top corner to not take away from the paper.  Then I inked some raw chipboard letters & cut up a black lined sheet of cardstock to journal on with a white gel pen. LOVE.

a fun one mixing new paper & embellishments with old stuff & even some inked embroidery floss. a collage + a 4x6 print. Love this page & its colors.

8x10 collages ROCK!! makes for SUPER SIMPLE page that includes a ton of photos!! 

the 3 moon shots are trimmed down 4x6s & I love the stars the lanterns made! more new goodies on this one.

new paper & metal clock pieces, old clock stamp, letters & rub ons but another awesome 8x10 collage = easy page!

this one I struggled with a long time, so much so that I almost decided not to scrap the photos at all. new paper, fun Elle's Studio journaling block, OLD embellishments mixed with new & washi tape again. Not a favorite but done & documented.

Oh this one I love love love!!!  that paw print die cut totally stole my  heart, the dog quote popped up on facebook right before I ran across this photo of Tim with Gus & was perfect then I just added the paper strips & blocks cut from a new paper pad & some ribbon knots w/brads & WALA! perfection.

you can see my January, February, March, April & May reports here.

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Done and documented is series of monthly posts that highlights Jess's progress completing unfinished travel albums from years past. I will be following along by doing my December Daily 2013, then plan to finish 2009 (2 chapters) & start a new year. Feel free to play along

Done & Documented: May

Completing my December Daily 2013 then jumping into Christmas 2009 worked really well for April but May either got super busy or I was sick of looking at Christmas/Winter themed photos & supplies... so there are only a few pages to report for May-& some of them were even created on June 1st but I am totally claiming them for May ;)-  Its my blog, I can do that, right? 

First up, here is the collage of them all together: 

 the end of one family's celebration & the beginning of the other.  When I was creating the collage, I realized it was cutting the sides off of some of the pages so, if you aren't a scrapper, feel free to hit 'next' & I will see you on the next post :)

The above & below photos will go together in the album.  I loved using this paper pack. gorgeous Christmas colors with out trying.  the star embellishments were perfect to tie these pages together & I have been hoarding that 'read' ribbon plate for.ever. so happy to get to use it finally. All old goodies on these 2 pages.

This next page was so MUCH fun to create! I opened a brand new (but old) pack of Creative Memories paper, photo mats & sticker sheets, then was pleasantly surprised to see how well so much of my old goodies went with it. the snowflake water fall is an entire baggie of snowflake die cuts & punches from ages ago; some inked, some on foam squares for dimension & others just run through the xyron for adhesive.

 This is another of the new/old Creative Memories papers & stickers.  The title is actually chipboard from Maya Road that I inked to coordinate & then the live*laugh*love card is from Elle's Studio.  I am a big phan of getting so many photos scrapped by creating collages in Picasa & then printed through my developer in either a 5x7 or 8x10.

 Another photo collage, more Elle's Studio, but the paper this time is really old Basic Grey (I think), the die cut frame, snowman & blue printed snowflake stickers are old as well.

 this page helped me to finish off a sticker sheet-I do love finishing something off. it all seemed to go so perfectly on this paper with photos of my mother in law & her annual birthday Poinsettia.

 More really old paper, die cut frame & cardstock oval worked really hard on finishing off those Creative Memories stickers & used some thickers for  the title & 'snowflakes'

*Whew*  That felt good to report! I feel like I am almost done documenting Christmas 2009 & then I will get to pack away ALL.OF.THE.WINTER.STUFF. for a few months ;) 


you can see my January, February, March & April reports here.

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Done and documented is series of monthly posts that highlights Jess's progress completing unfinished travel albums from years past. I will be following along by doing my December Daily 2013, then plan to finish 2009 (2 chapters) & start a new year. Feel free to play along! 

Done & Documented: April

So, I got the December Daily done last month -YAHOOOOOOO!!! I am sure I have mentioned it before but its worth mentioning again, I am not good at finishing a project. Any project. I have high hopes & good intentions but usually get overwhelmed or bored in the final stage & just walk away long enough that by the time I get back, there is no interest at all in finishing so I bag it up & put it in my unfinished project bin. Is that sad? So anyway, when I actually follow through with a project to the finish line, I am super stoked. So far, its only these little books & Tim's first hog hunting book that are finished.

So then next on my list is 2009 Christmas & Labor Day Weekend chapters in my 12x12 books.  I cannot wait to have them complete as that will mean that I finally have a whole year complete. UNHEARD of for me!! (or many scrappers, I hear)  Here is a collage of the first bunch of Christmas pages I completed following the December Daily in March.

top left to right:

1. the first 2 are a set from a Close to my Heart workshop I attended.  We had them constructed complete just waiting for photos & even after I trimmed the photos on the left page to fit, I was unhappy with it so I pulled the pieces off, reassembling in my normal non-linear, off kilter, clumped up way of scrapping & fell in love again.
2. the next 2 may not sit in that order in the book, but they are all the photos snapped in one session-out takes & all :) was pretty excited when I used those 3 pink love themed pieces from Elle's Studio, that are gathered together because they were the final pieces I still had from an old 2009 collection & happy to toss the empty packages.
3. middle row left side pair will NOT be across from each other but they were each an odd page scrapped so put them together for the collage. the left is a fancy die cut shaped paper that I had been hoarding for a bit & only wanted to minimally embellish it so I didn't take away from the paper itself.
4. the right one is a collage of me w/the nieces & nephews (at the time-remember this is 2009 & we have added another since then;)) Scrapping Christmas on brown was a little odd for me but then it just seemed logical when I tried pairing the photo w/other more 'Christmas-y' papers. Inked the chipboard letters to spell 'Aunt'. These photos are from the many they took when they were sharing the camera.
5. back to the left, bottom 2 are a pair that will sit across from each other in the book.  I had the die cuts leftover from a pack & pulled the matching papers out of a different pack & was amazed at how well it all fit together.  needing some texture, I used foam squares behind some of the die cuts, & white fuzzy yarn around some. The important parts were the photos & the journaling yet, I just couldn't stop w/a flat page.
6. the last set will also be together. These papers & die cuts came together in a pack (this is the pack the die cuts from the previous set was from).  More of the same as the previous set, fuzzy white yard & foam squares for texture, keeping the interest on the photos & journaling. 

1. this group of pages was created before the 12th when Mom & I went to a fundraiser crop for her birthday.  
2. Top 1 & 2 are going just like that in the scrapbook. They are using great Christmas papers & embellishments I have been hoarding for a while.  I love scrapping great 5x7s & thats what these pages use.  Some chipboard, metal & buttons, oh my!  
3. Bottom 1&2 are going like this in the book as well.  For some reason, I didn't enlarge any of J's family to a 5x7 when I ordered so I 'fixed' it by stacking 2 4x6s instead. Totally works for me.  More of the same cool paper collection, chipboard, tags, & some Close To My Heart metals.  I also designed these pages around the stamped images I received at a a crop a while back ('Joyful Tidings' & various stamped ornament embellishments on the pages).  
4. The Top & Bottom #3s are a matching set.  the bottom one, you saw in the collage above, but I felt the need to share it again when I shared its match.  another paper collection but lots of variety of goodies. 

the only other 4 I completed in April:

1. the top 2 are a set -the red on the right is really more red than pink as it shows-funky lighting when I snapped the shot.  Mom got all 5 grandkids felt cowboy hats & puffy painted their initials on them. HUGE HIT! 
2. the bottom 2 are also a set, some new Hobby Lobby goodies + some really old stuff. love the collages as a quick & easy way to get a lot of photos scrapped together.

ps. where did April go??????

you can see my January, February & March reports here.

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Done and documented is series of monthly posts that highlights Jess's progress completing unfinished travel albums from years past. I will be following along by doing my December Daily 2013, then plan to finish 2009 (2 chapters) & start a new year. Feel free to play along! 

Done & Documented: March

I decided to document this month's pages with a series of collages, maybe it will be easier for you to view than individual photos with too much clutter around the edges & in the background. This page was so fun. its the first day of our Christmas Break. a collage photo of all the shots taken over the day by the various photographers in the house, a pretty satin ribbon behind, the star clip, the letter bottle caps, buttons, arrows, another hinge sticker & lots of cardstock stickers.

 here is a peek at our Christmas Day celebration.  We celebrated my side of the family on Christmas Day.  I was pretty pumped to finally use a cardboard CD case that had come in another kit but set unused on my desk.  I used it in the 2 right photos. (top shows it closed, bottom shows it opened) & then I have 2 pockets to put things in as I come across them later. the gift tags are creations of Mom's with her Cricut as she has done in the past few years.

 Here is the 3rd of 3 Christmas programs we attended this year.  Super simple, super sweet. then a great time playing w/the Arispe 3 (the way I often refer to my niece & nephews that live near Arispe)
love that music sheet paper with the love themed tags. The full pages are the square photos on the right. (I feel like I have shared this one...)

Here is the set pages for Christmas Eve, documenting our little gift exchange just between the 2 of us. 

He surprised me with a shot glass rack I have been drooling over at the Iowa State Fair for years.  I hadn't even unpacked my collecting when we moved in this house in 2007 for lack of space to appropriately display them. Not only did he get the shelf, had it personalized w/'Jackson Place' on the swinging doors at the top but he HUNG it that night! I had so much fun arranging my glasses around the shelves, so that the ones that came from certain people or trips were all together.  I got him some hunting gear from his list, all the journaling is inside the pocket on the right page.  Oh & I swapped out the white heart clip for a gold star clip after I had photographed it.

 Here is a pretty page using pink again.  I was determined at this point use up some supplies I have been hording.  the papers were actually 4" strips I pieced together then used the stickers to cover the seams, used up my blue buttons & then a lot of the pink stickers on 2 different sticker sheets. This was our pajama day that we made chocolate dipped cookie dough balls from pinterest & our annual applesauce + cinnamon ornaments.  Totally fun hands on day at childcare.  A few more pages & it was finished!!  check one project DONE!! :)

Then I got to work on Christmas #1 of 2 for 2009.  It just seemed logical to keep working on Christmas photos even though they are 4 years part. I am having a BLAST using up some bigger items I couldn't work into my December Daily.  This is the first time in a REALLY LONG time I have scrapped 12x12 Christmas pages. Below is a collage of cruddy phone pictures of the pages I have done so far. (all but the middle set on the left are matched as they will be in the book but the other 2 are not going across from each other)

I am so enjoying knowing that I 'have to report in' at the end of the month & I had better have something to report :)

you can see my January & February reports here.

________________________________________________________________________________________

Done and documented is series of monthly posts that highlights Jess's progress completing unfinished travel albums from years past. I will be following along by doing my December Daily 2013, then plan to finish 2009 (2 chapters) & start a new year. Feel free to play along!