I've Been Creatively Busy This Weekend

After a very disappointing Friday, I decided I was going to just take some me time. See, Friday the entire county was hoping, crossing their fingers and holding their collective breaths for snow. So we could get our first official snow day. Didn't happen. I was so darn bummed. I'd planned to be in my pj's all day, put a pot of chili in the crockpot and scrap the day away. Instead I sifted through a pile of files that have been overtaking my desk for approximately two hours. Oh, ya. Did I mention that even though school wasn't cancelled, they had us on a 2 hour delay...that I didn't hear about until I was half way to work. Ya. Love my county. They're just so on the ball with this stuff. ~sigh~ At least my files are now neatly organized and put in their proper place, my recycling bin is seriously overflowing and my Professional Porfolio has gotten a shot in the arm! My Staff Development person was thrilled when I emailed him with questions about that! Poor guy has been trying to get me to start my portfolio for about five years. It's not "mandated" but "recommended". I rarely do things that are "recommended" because quite frankly, the second I do it, they want to reinvent the wheel. They drop the idea they had so tenaciously hung onto for so long just to adopt another inane thing that we teachers are supposed to jump on the bandwagon and do. Seeing as my job may not be 100% secure, I figured getting a portfolio of my achievements over the past few years wouldn't be such a bad idea to have if I ever needed to interview...

Anyway, I got home on Friday and let my creative juices start flowing after I got the kids to bed. I was determined I was going to scrapbook. I've got a bunch of photos from about 2003 and on that still haven't been scrapped, let alone put in any album. So...this is what I created on Friday night:

Ok, the picture isn't the best. I have no idea how to scan and stitch my layouts yet, so a picture's the best I can do for now. The title (which I know you can't see) is "So Tired" and it's of my little guy John who fell asleep sitting up at almost 3 months old. So sweet. I love scrapbooking because I get to go back and reflect on old pictures and just remember how little and dependant and sweet they were. It also reminds me how quickly the years fly by.

Yesterday was pretty busy with Maddy's dance class, so errands and some housework, but I did manage to get a couple of layouts done as well.

The first one is called "Big Sister". It's one of Maddy about 3 weeks after the boys were born. I remember what a good girl she was. She really wasn't jealous and was so very good during that tremendous time of change and adjustment for me.

The second one is a two page layout of our Christmas celebration at Gramma's as we would be away that Christmas to see my family in Canada. I was just so not inspired with this layout for some reason and I'm not 100% satisfied with it. It's so "plain". I dunno. It's not my favorite, but it's fine.

Then today I got my mojo going! LOL. I really like this month's Creating Keepsakes issue:

Lots of good, motivating ideas along with some quick and easy layout sketches that I made use of today. Thank goodness for some inspiration today or my next two layouts would have look pretty hum-drum. Here's what I was inspired to create based on some of the quick layouts shown in this issue:

The one on the left was a sketch I found on page 40-41. I liked how different from my usual 4x6 picture layouts. I have a hard time cropping my pictures to such a small size as seen on the verticle strip. It really made me focus on the picture and what was important as opposed to the entire scene. It helped me focus what the "story" was I wanted William to know about this particular Christmas when he's older.

The second one is of Maddy on Canada Day 2004 at the Canadian Embassy in Washington D.C. I varied slightly from the sketch provided on page 32-33 of the magazine, but I think it's still fairly similar. Again, I had to stray from my penchant to use the entire photo and crop out the unimportant details of the picture. The pictures I cropped are a bit bigger than suggested in the sketch, but I think it looks just fine. I also put the journaling in a different spot than was suggested in the sketch.

I like the sketches because they give me a starting off point. I don't feel like I have to follow them exactly if I don't want to, but it's nice to not have to come up with something wholly original each and every time I scrap. It's nice to get some creative help every so often.

I feel much better now that I've had some time to be creative and to find some quiet time to myself. Gotta love a husband who'll do laundry and make dinner on the weekends in order to make that happen. Love you, honey! :)

Now...hopefully this work week will be a breeze! ;)