Halloween 2015

Usually, I dedicate one layout to Trevor's Halloween costume and a second layout of him trick-or-treating with his friends. This time I combined the two. I didn't really have anything to say about Trevor's costume: I'm not into Star Wars, I did absolutely nothing creative for his costume (except using my Crop-a-Dile to punch a hole in the belt to make it small enough for him to wear), and I didn't get tons of great photos of him in his costume. Steve and I dressed as Civil War soldiers because it was easy and fun. It was the first time we dressed up in something that didn't coordinate with Trevor's costume. I mentioned that in my journaling, but it didn't need an entire page on its own. I also mentioned in the journaling that our trick-or-treat group was smaller, since Trevor's best friend moved away.  

Nine years of Trevor celebrating Halloween scrapped!

Garden Carrot Snack

Earlier this week, a thought popped into my head that I should make a snack that looks like a carrot. Using carrots. So I did. 

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Garden Carrot Snack

Materials: soft flatbread (I used lavash), whipped cream cheese, grated carrot, chives

1) Cut the flatbread into long triangles with a sharp knife.

2) Spread cream cheese on each triangle.

3) Put grated carrot on the triangle, leaving the top 1/2" uncovered.

4) Press chives into the exposed cream cheese.

Eat the carrot snack as is, or roll it up first to make it easier to eat. Either way, it's delicious.

Walt Disney World, 2013

I'm not obsessive about staying 'caught up' with scrapping, but I do prefer telling the stories sooner rather than later so that I don't forget the details or what exactly I wanted to capture. I'm pretty good about journaling daily, so it's easy enough to go back much later and find the story as I recorded it the day it happened. But sometimes having a ton of journaling is more of a curse than a blessing when it comes time to scrap a page. Such is the case with practically every vacation.

Because of my weird quirk, I only create one 2-page spread per trip. Once in a blue moon, I break my own rule and split a trip into two 2-pagers if the two halves of the trip are very distinct. Such was the case with the 2013 trip our family took to celebrate Timothy's birthday in Florida. We spent one week at Walt Disney World and then a week on a Disney cruise. 

I finished the cruise layout in 2014, but the WDW portion of the trip has remained 1/2 finished on my desk, buried under a dozen other half-finished layouts, for 2 years. The reason? Too much to say, and not enough space to say it. After numerous false starts and attempts to reduce my journaling, I realized I didn't want to cut any of my stories. So I put all the journaling on one 8.5" x 11" page, folded it into fourths, and tucked it behind the photos. I'm not a big fan of hidden journaling, especially when there's nothing private about it, but I decided it was more important to me that all the stories made it into the scrapbook than that the whole story is immediately visible.

Once I committed to the hidden journaling, everything else fell into place. Thank goodness. 

5 Years of Blogging!

My blog turns 5 today! This post brings me to a total of 1333 posts about kids' crafts, scrapbooking, birthday challenges, cooking competitions, rabbits, and all the other aspects of my life. For five years, I've written an average of 266 posts a year, which is slightly more than one per weekday. And I've loved every minute.

I've had posts that have been ridiculously popular, getting dozens of hits every single day. I've had posts I really like go largely ignored. I have posts that still make me laugh out loud when I read them. I have blog posts I don't really like (no need for links there) and ones where I like the blog post, but don't love the way the project turned out. But overall, I'm really really happy to have five years of my creative life documented so thoroughly.

Let's celebrate my blog's 5th birthday with prizes for you! After all, it is you, my readers, who bring life to the blog and make it more than just a journal. You inspire me to keep blogging and sharing my successes, failures, and everything in between.

(Image credit)

Here's how it will work. For each comment that you make on ANY one of my blog posts between now and Sunday, April 17, you will be entered to a random drawing to win a box of items I brought back from CHA. I have autographed DVDs, coloring books, papers, embellishments, pens, needlecraft items, and a ton of other stuff, all brand-new and direct from CHA. There's so much stuff that there is plenty for multiple prizes! If you want to go back and comment on all 1333 posts to increase your chances of winning, more power to you. Any comment left between April 4 and April 17 gives you an entry.

Thank you for five years of friendship and support. I hope the next five are just as great!

March Photo Challenge, Soda Springs Snow Trip

One of my creative goals for the year is to practice photography through photo challenges (January, February). I don't know that my photography is improving, but I'm having fun and I'm photographing things differently than I would without the challenges, so I consider this experiment a win.

For March, I used this Picture Scavenger Hunt by Doodlecraft as inspiration. I brought it along during an impromptu snow trip we took with our friends Suzzi and Ronan. We usually have a larger group and do our snow trips in Bear Valley where my inlaws have a cabin, but it isn't available for us to use this year. So the five of us ended up renting a place in Soda Springs for two nights instead.

Rather than finding all 36 items, I chose 25. I didn't take them all at once; they're spread out across three days. Here we go! 

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SOMETHING RED: Trevor's jacket, the snowball maker and the snow poles in the background are all red.

SOMETHING TO EAT: Does everyone eat freshly fallen snow, or just those of us for whom it's a novelty?

SOMETHING CLEAN: More freshly fallen snow.

SOMETHING SHARP: Icicles!!

SOMETHING HARD: More icicles! Yum!

SOMETHING TINY: A mug-sized Trevor!

SOMETHING BLUE: It was snowing pretty heavily much of the time we were there, but we did get beautiful intermittent blue skies. 

SOMETHING THAT MOVES: It was COLD for those of us spoiled by Bay Area temperatures! I loved looking at this old-timey thermometer, not only to check if the mercury had moved, but also because it was just cool. 

SOMETHING NOISY: This snowplow is not going to be sneaking up on anyone.

SOMETHING WET: After a spectacular crash, there was snow down his shirt, down his boots, and in his mittens, but Trevor wasn't going to let being a little wet and cold end his snow play.

SOMETHING PINK: We had very little space to pack since all five of us drove up together in our 5-person vehicle, which was stuffed with cold weather gear. I handled all the cooking, carefully limiting what I brought with ingredients that could be used in many ways. We had ham with almost every meal!

SOMETHING SPECIAL: Ronan and Trevor have a wonderful relationship. They're both only children (though Ronan just gained a stepbrother and stepsister a few months ago!) and Trevor has always thought of Ronan like a big brother. I love seeing them together.

SOMETHING WHITE: Sour cream. One of the very few foods Trevor doesn't like. He didn't put any on his stuffed potato. Ronan doesn't like cheese. Weird kids.

SOMETHING BLACK: Ronan was dressed in black from head to toe!

SOMETHING SHORT: Me. A good way to feel REALLY short is to stand under a tall tree and look straight up. 

SOMETHING GREEN: The pine needles looked so pretty covered in snow.

SOMETHING WITH WHEELS: It's like our car was playing hide-and-seek!

SOMETHING ALIVE: I love taking selfies of Steve and me together by sticking my arm out and hoping for the best (no fancy selfie stick or cell phone that lets you see what you look like in the picture for me). I didn't realize I was so zoomed in! It's a cool shot though.

SOMETHING ORANGE: I baked yummy orange bread for breakfast. It's the recipe that's made from unpeeled oranges. You can see the peel in the bread if you look closely. 

SOMETHING COLORFUL: Dyed eggs became tasty breakfast burritos. 

SOMETHING DIRTY: Acres of gorgeous, freshly fallen snow and this kid is playing with the snow that was plowed off the road?

SOMETHING YELLOW: We played a lot of card games, including Phase 10. That yellow nine was the last card I needed to make my phase. Hurray!

SOMETHING GLITTERY: I love the way this frozen drip sparkled in the sun.

SOMETHING TASTY: Being me, I couldn't resist preparing a taste test for the group. I brought along this awesome Dark Chocolate Tasting Odyssey and score sheets. So. Much. Fun.

SOMETHING YOU LOVE: This face, smiling up at me after a sled crash landing. I really, really love this kid.

March's photo challenge, complete!