Celebration

It is raining here, what is new. I am having a nice cup of hot chocolate to celebrate the completion of my kids' school yearbook! Wahoo! First I need to share my opinion. Yearbook creating is NOTHING like scrapbook design. Nothing. Second, I am a procrasinator, always have been, hopefully won't always will be, but I have finished this project! Now I just need to finish the rest on my work projects due on Thursday. This is the fun stuff.....

Stacy Julian

Just a few short weeks after I moved away from my home of 30 years, I was feeling pretty down and wanted to find something to occupy my time. I ordered a book to get me back into scrapbooking, it was called The Big Picture. I read it, sent a copy to a friend,and read it again. It compeletely changed my life and how I scrapbook. I didn't need to keep working on the piles and piles of photographs from years past, when my children were growing up right in front of me. I needed to document what I was doing RIGHT NOW! A few months later, I was able to go to Reminisce in Iowa City, with my good friend, Sue, and listen to Stacy talk about her book and the philosophy of Big Picture Scrapbooking. It was only a couple of hours and I learned so, so much. I learned that I needed to change, and I do believe that I have. I scrapbook the moments, my thoughts, my kids right now. I scrapbook pictures from yesterday because I have a story to tell, that might be forgotten when I get to them in years after they are gone and the moment has been forgotten. I don't take hours on layouts, but try to keep the creativity going by working on projects that only take a short time to finish.
Here are a few lessons that I have learned from Miss Stacy Julian:
*You can only scrapbook in the way you are organized (need to work on this one :)
*Limit your options to help with your creativity
*Write down what your kids say
*Take a picture with your heart (This is your journaling)
*I am not caught up, cause' I am so far ahead....
*Sprinkles can change anything
*Scrapbooking is not about the pictures (it is the pictures and the stories)
*Be where you are, otherwise, you will miss your life.
*Make it so

Good luck to you Stacy, in your continuous endeavors. You have inspired so many people, including myself, to be a better person. Just today, I have taken a bit of time to organize my albums, I am reading Photo Freedom and trying to find a jumping off point. I was thinking to myself, "I wish Stacy could see this..." . At most, I still feel very overwhelmed with my albums, photos, etc. But as I look through them and their 'random chaos' I know that I am getting the stories that are important. That is all thanks to you...

Easter Sunday Dinner

Ready, Set, GO!




photos taken by Sydnee...

For Easter Sunday Dinner, I tried to recreate the atmosphere of the restaurant, Table 52, which I had visited with Linzi, just last weekend. Every detail on the table was created with love and kindness. Even though spring really is taking it's sweet time here in Iowa, I wanted to try to bring a bit of Spring to our table. I came home a little bit early from church, to set the table and hide the Easter eggs so they all would be surprised. I think they were, except my little ones thought it was all created by the Easter Bunny, so that made it even more magical!