Saturdays are busy around here, so I did a simple school photo page. I signed up for May Flaum’s class at Big Picture Classes which inspired me to add some mist to jazz up a pretty basic page.

Then Sunday inspiration struck as I walked the dog. I let my mind wander as I walked and found myself realizing how I’ve had a sense of scarcity in my life lately. Denying myself things unnecessarily, saying I can’t to things I’d like to do, seeing limits where there aren’t any. When I looked through my stash a little later, one of the first papers I found was a 7 Gypsies paper featuring the word ABUNDANCE. A collage was born. Used a lot of old Daisy D’s rub on’s, played with some Distress stain and mist, added some bits and pieces. Love this page, felt like a break-though.

Then, LOAD progress stalled a bit. I decided to apply for the Simple Stories DT call and also decided that I shouldn’t post those layouts. So I kept scrapping, but didn’t share. And that’s when a cold got me and self-doubt crept in. The cold is mainly keeping me from getting enough sleep which really saps my creativity. And how could I possibly apply for a DT without the gremlins coming out to play mind games with me. Sigh.

So I fought back Wednesday with another basic school photo page.

Thursday the cold got the better of me. It didn’t let me sleep the night before and I had lots to do to get ready for guests. I took some Nyquil and went to bed early.

Friday I found these photos from five years ago. I drive by this place almost every day and I still miss that little train.

Day 4 was simply a busy day and I needed to focus on family more than scrapping. So a simple page about something I love.

Took me forever to get around to doing this page, but when I did, it came together quickly and easily. Love this photo, but wasn’t sure how to scrap it.

Silly page about our beloved Boxer on Monday. Papers I love in colours I love with a set of photos I love.

Tuesday’s prompt was “I always thought…” and the only thing I could think of was my mom. I thought we’d have more time. A common thought, but a painful one. I put off making this page, until at last the deadline loomed and I really just wanted to go to bed. Kept it pretty simple, cried, and called it a night.

Wednesday was an active day. I got back on my snowboard for the first time since I broke my wrist last year. I found I could still do it, but that my legs are definitely middle-aged and tire quickly. Came down the mountain tired and sore, so my page was one of my fall-back plans. A simple school photo page for my boys’ school albums. Done.

Thursday I didn’t fare so well. I got my page done, but I didn’t start until almost 9 PM, so I was tired and just got it done. Liked the idea, but the page not so much.

Today, I learned from all my late starts this week and got my page started in the afternoon before the boys got home, then finished off some details after dinner. Nice to have time for other things in the evening.

1. Climbing trees – I really wish our property had a good maple tree to climb.
2. Hearing myself think – a rare thing these days with three boys in the house and unfortunately I seem to have forgotten how. Even when I do get a few quiet moments, I busy myself and fill the silence with internet stuff or music or chores instead of listening to myself. Need to work on this.
3. Swinging – not the wife-swapping kind, though! I’m the innocent children’s playground kind of swinger and I’d like to keep it that way.
4. Seeing cows in a field – not sure why, but they just make me happy.
5. Walking on an ocean beach. Miss that more than I expected now that I’m living inland.
6. Printing photos in a darkroom – I miss my student days when I could spend hours seeing images appear by magic.
7. Driving on long winding highways – always feels like an adventure, even if it’s a well-travelled route. Of course, this assumes there is light traffic on the road.
8. Finger painting and other ‘kids’ crafts. So fun to get back to basics when making stuff.
9. Staying up late in a silent house reading in bed. Pure bliss. I love seeing my boys tending to do this already.
10. Exploring a new city. Love to travel and see how people live in other places.

If you’d like to see more Ten Things lists, check out Shimelle’s blog.

1. The LOAD gallery. Really there is such a wide variety of styles and stories to be inspired by.
2. My paper. For Monday’s layout, I started with a selection of papers and started layering them. Then I found a photo to use and then I added embellishments. It was a fun change of process and helped the page come together quite quickly since I wasn’t overthinking every product selection.
3. Using my stash. This might seem to be related to #2, but it’s really a little different. My paper has been inspiring me to get started on my pages, using my stash has been inspiring me to stretch a bit when embellishing them. Both are clearing the way for some shopping in my future!
4. Taking photos. Typically I don’t take many photos in winter. The light is either really gloomy, or blindingly bright, the days are so short, etc., etc. Always an excuse. But I’ve been taking my camera with me when the boys are in ski lessons and spending the time taking photos. It’s great practice to find interesting photos, even when the light isn’t inspiring or cooperating. Haven’t printed or scrapped any of those photos, and maybe I never will, but the practice is helping me see possible photos everywhere I go.
5. Deadlines. I resist them, and leave my pages until late in the evening, but they are working and I’m getting the pages done. Gonna try to get started earlier in the day, though. Really need to get caught up on my sleep.

Here’s what I’ve done so far:

Went slightly mad on Wednesday and did a (rare) two page spread. I’ve wanted to scrap these photos of my oldest starting to eat solids for years now. I’m really happy to have these done.

For day two I found another ‘old’ photo, this time of my middle boy at around three. I loved his expression in this photo, but always struggled with how to scrap it because the white balance is off. The photo is decidedly yellow. So I tried to counter that with some retro-bright papers from Cosmo Cricket and Crate.

These are photos I’ve been wanting to find and scrap for a long time. I have very fond memories of the peach tree in our backyard when I was a young child. I remember reaching out of my brothers window to pick a firm, ripe peach.

So far, I’m three for three. But I have to admit it’s been a struggle. Not in terms of finding the time or battling perfectionism so much as my creative demons are on the loose. Trying to tear me apart for trying to create daily. Strangely, they don’t attack my layouts, just me. I’m countering them with hugs for my kids and hearing their giggles, ’cause nothing cuts through negativity like a little boy’s giggle and hug.

#10, which is: Margie S of Nihao, Cupcake!

I’ll be sending you an email, Margie to find out where to send your goodies.

My usual approach to life and projects like LOAD is rather ‘fly by the seat of my pants’. I have to admit that it’s had mixed results, it works OK for some things, but in the big picture, not so much. So this is what I’m doing to get ready:

1. Getting warmed up. I have been scrapping quite a bit this week to get the creative juices flowing again after not scrapping since November. No pressure to complete, just do something creative every day.
2. Making a list of stories I want to scrap. Since the theme this time around is the past and I’ve inherited boxes of family photos when my mom died last year, this is my kick in the butt to start scrapping my childhood and to start recording what I know of my family history. I don’t know all the stories of the photos I have, or even who all the people are, but I want to start writing down what I know. Hopefully I’ll find someone who can help fill in some of the gaps later. I’ll be mixing in plenty of my kids’ stories since those are easier for me to complete quickly.
3. Organizing my photos, scanning the old photos and printing them. This will be an ongoing chore and will likely be what holds me back from scrapping more of my history in February.
4. Making page kits. I plan on having at least ten kits made up at the beginning of the month and will replenish every few days. Some of the kits I’m making up will be specifically for the crazy days when I won’t have much time to play. They will be extremely basic and that’s OK. I’ll tackle my pile of school photos on those days.
5. Gathering and editing inspiration. I have a small stack of magazines at hand, and am pinning lots layouts and sketches. I’ve also pinned a number of Shimelle’s starting point designs. I love these more than sketches lately.
6. Meal planning – in a fairly flexible way. I am not very good at freezing meals and such, so I am making up a list of easy quick meals and making sure I have what I need to throw something together. I’d like to add take-out to our dinner routine sometimes, but this seems to be more of a production than cooking in our house for some mysterious reason.
7. Tweaking our daily routines and habits to get that stuff done as efficiently as possible, with the boys being more independent. Hopefully that will be a legacy that will last into March and beyond. OK, so maybe I’m dreaming.

I hope you’ve enjoyed the LOAD 2/12 blog hop and perhaps picked up a few tips and tricks to help you complete the challenge, or maybe even inspired you to sign up if you’ve been undecided.

If you joined the hop here, or somewhere in the middle, your next stop is Margie at Nihao, Cupcake!

Margie http://xnomads.typepad.com <– Go here next
Kelli http://www.scrapbookgirl71.blogspot.com
Jennifer http://atthebluebarn.blogspot.com/
Lisa http://lisahausmann.blogspot.com/
Monica http://scrapinspired.com
Kimberly http://www.kimberlykalil.com
Eileen http://thinkinkpaperscissors.weebly.com/blog.html
Danielle http://acoffeeaddict.com
Pam http://dailypamage.blogspot.com
Katrina http://k84mansramblings.blogspot.com
Cate http://www.lifebehindthepurpledoor.com
Gayle http://www.lifeonlilypadlane.blogspot.com
Heather http://heathersdragonsden.blogspot.com
Gina http://randomthoughtsmindlessmusings.blogspot.com
Kristie http://kristiesloan.com
Janet http://khashabfamilymusings.blogspot.com
Lydia http://lydiaink.wordpress.com   <– You are here

At our house, I’m known as the Hug Monster, my husband is the Zombie of Love and our littlest calls himself the Monster of Love. I’m happy I’ve recorded this fleeting nickname, because he’s already changing it to Love Man, inspired by all the superhero talk at preschool.

I didn’t have ‘monster’ photos, so I grabbed some recent informal portraits. I’ve been loving the divided page design lately, so started with that as my foundation and just added a few monsters and hearts.

Not a huge dent in my stash with this page since I used a lot of scrap bits, but I’m happy to keep it simple this time.

These are photos from our first family camping trip last summer to Dinosaur Provincial Park in Alberta. The boys looked forward to this for weeks before we got there. Great memories.

I didn’t really start out with a design idea for this page. I had a title and a background paper I wanted to use and simply moved my photos around until I was happy with them. Then I hunted for bits and pieces to embellish with. My stash-diving was not as deep as yesterday, but I still managed to make a small dent. I started with a Cocoa Daisy kit from August of last year and added a few journalling cards, die cuts, stickers chipboard and letters.

I am loving my stash-reducing exercise so far. It will be a great warm up for the LOAD challenge next month. I am finding ideas all over the place, and have been starting page kits for many of them. If only I had started sooner!

I love, love, love this photo of my boys from our last summer vacation. We stopped in the town of Field for a bite to eat, but had to visit the world’s biggest dump truck before we found a restaurant. With three boys, how could we miss it?! This photo says so much about each of their personalities right now – Rock Star, Goofy Boy, and Mr. Full of Beans.

My idea for this page was to repeat the big circle of the wheel with pattered paper using colours from their clothing to direct the eye around the page. I had a lot of fun finding little embellishments to add after I decided on the main design.

I think my stash-diving was quite successful today. I used:

• three sheets of patterned paper, leaving only small scraps
• two pieces of chipboard
• rub-ons from three different packages
• a strip of Tim Holz filmstrip
• Crate border stickers
• one die cut (‘ephemera’) postcard