Color Me Happy

It's official...

I am the world’s SLOWEST scrapbooker – ever! How do I know this, you may be asking. Well, I saw an incredible page by the talented just g over in the Studio Calico gallery, and in the comments she mentioned that her sister challenged her to do a page in 20 minutes. Now, in my book, that is just plain crazy talk. I often spend 2-3 evenings working on a layout so I thought maybe I should give this a try.

I grabbed a favorite photo and the contents of my Studio Calico Continental kit, set my timer for 20 minutes and got to work. Twenty minutes later I wasn’t anywhere close to done but I wanted to know exactly how long it took me to do the page so I started my stopwatch and kept working. Here is my layout:

Guess how long it took me. Are you sitting down? This baby took me a total of 2 hours and 25 minutes! Seriously, how could it possibly take me this long? The gorgeous patterned paper did all the work for me. I didn’t layer a ton of things on the page. In fact, I think I kept it rather simple. 

In my defense, I probably spent 45 minutes picking out these word stickers that I included in my journaling. There were lots on the page and I had to pick words that would communicate something I wanted to say and I didn’t want to use any green or pink words so I had to omit those in the process. It would have been much easier to write out all the journaling, but I do like what the stickers adds to the page so I guess it was time well spent.

Overall, I’m happy with how this turned out. Maybe I over thought my choices because I do LOVE the photo and wanted it to be the focus of the page, but I did start and FINISH it in the same night, so I’m happy. 

I would love to know how long it takes you to complete a page. Give it a try and link me up to your results. I can’t wait to see what you do and how LONG it takes you. 

 

A New Era...

Last month Wyatt turned 15 and started High School, exciting times for a teenage boy that is anxious to begin driving.  I just had to do a layout about the changes in store for him during his High School years so I drug him up to the school, snapped a few photos of him and ended up with this layout.

I can say that I’m not nearly as excited as he is about the whole driver’s permit thing. I’m simply not ready for him to start driving. Seriously, time seems to have flown by so quickly. Where did all those years go? How did we arrive at this point in time so quickly?

I made myself feel better about him growing up by scrapping some photos from when he was much younger. Like this one, when he was two weeks old.

Or this one when he was 4 years old writing his name. He was so excited about starting Kindergarten.

 

Tonight he is going to his first homecoming dance. I was really excited for him, that is, once I got past the late notice that he gave me. In true teenage form he told me he was going on Thursday night at 10:30 pm. Let’s just say, I was a little freaked out by the late notice but we managed to get the appropriate attire last night. Now, I can’t wait to see him and his date all dressed up in their formal attire.

I hope this is the first of many fun times he will have during his High School years.
 
 

Second Hand Treasures

I’m back with a little “show and tell” of the goodies I found at Canton Trade Days a couple weeks ago. I hit the ground running and immediately spotted a tent with lots of quilts. The chenille fabric in this one caught my eye. I really want to make a quilt but until I find the time, this one will do quite nicely. Sam likes the quilt too, I’m sure I’ll be sharing it with him many times through the winter. 

The next item to land in my cart was this old typewriter book. It is full of different exercises to teach you how to type. At some point I will alter it and make it into an album where it will live next to my Underwood typewriter.

I also found an old ledger. Only two pages were used and it had a unique 6 x 12 size. They were used by people to track their expenses. They wrote down how much money they received and every single thing they purchased along with what it cost. My Great Aunt also kept track of her expenses in the same manner but she used a regular notebook. It is fun to look through and see what she bought and how much it cost.

About a year ago I found a lady that makes jewelry from typewriter keys. The pieces are so unique and most of them spell out something. I purchased a bracelet from her. It has “X O” in the center and a small metal tag that says “Love” dangling from it.  Also found a few wood letters and a glass cash register key.

I really liked this jar, and it was full of game pieces that I’m sure will make their way onto some of my scrapbook pages.

Last up, the Bingo game. I think the cards will make a great mini album. I have never seen a complete game before so I was really surprised to find this one.

In the few trips that I have made to Canton, I’ve learned that certain vendors carry the things that I like. In the future, I will definitely plan to hit those first and if I every find an old red typewriter – it WILL be mine!

Dear Blog...please forgive me.

Dear Blog, I’m sorry I’ve neglected you this summer. Please forgive me! I have thought about updating you every day, does that count for something?!  It has recently come to my attention that people are actually reading you and an update is in order. Since it has been so long, I won’t bore you with the entire summer. I’m just going to jump in with the most current activities. Here we go…

I recently made a trip out to Canton Trade Days, one of my favorite places to look for “old stuff”. I didn’t have a game plan, but I’m always on the look out for interesting things that can be incorporated into an album, scrapbook page or my home decor. Other than that, I was just in the mood to dig through things to see what I could find.

Some of the vendors take a lot of pride in how their items are displayed. I especially love it when they group like items together. It really draws me in. Like these old microphones, just think of all the stories they could tell. I’m not even into collecting microphones but this would make a really cool display.

I like how this vendor displays their mirrors on the tree.

I love these old gas pumps. One of them would be perfect for our Route 66 themed game room.

Another favorite vendor always has lots of letters, typesetting blocks and game pieces. I always find a few things to pick up here.

I did find a few treasures and am anxious to start using them. Once I get some pictures taken, I’ll share my finds. Have a fabulous weekend!