Scrapbooking

 I don't do much scrapbooking anymore. But, last weekend, I decided to finish up some pages that I had started a few months back.

I use the small bed in the craft room as extra counter space to lay everything out. These pics were from a trip to Victoria that we took about 3 years ago. I managed to get all the pages done, and it didn't take me but a few hours. I love scrapbooking and crafting. I really should spend more time at it.

Project 52 - Week 3

If you recall, I only had 39 items last week. Well, this week, I made finding 52 items part of my list... and then completed the list! Sneaky, huh? Click on the link above to see the list in total.

For my Accomplishments this week:

1) Try two new recipes every month (2/24)
This time, it was Pork Chops stuff with Brie. Only we used Camembert instead. They were good!!! I was going to take a picture of them before we ate... but we sat down and devoured more than half before I realized that I hadn't take a picture. So, a pic of the recipe book will just have to do...


9) Scrapbook at least 2 pages every month (2/24)

I don't usually buy prepackaged scrapbook pages. But, this was too good to pass up. 2 pages, with all the matting, stickers and embellishments, for $4.99... marked down an additional 90% off. Wow! It was perfect for the school pictures of the kids that we get each year.

11) Finish my 2011 scrapbook calendar -- Done! See last Friday's post for details.

13) Eat healthy -- I've been doing well this week, staying away from junk food despite the amount of chocolate in the house, and finding organic healthy alternatives for snacks.

16) Lose 40 lbs (3/40) -- ok, I'm down another pound. The loss is slow, but at least I'm not gaining! Am I following a plan of any kind? Not really. Just trying to eat less, eat healthy, and move more. Eventually though, I will have to set some kind of plan up to follow.

18) Read 20 books (2/20) -- This week I finished Nora Ephron's "I Remember Nothing".

28) Create a budget, and track our expenses -- I've started a spreadsheet for this now. It's going to be one of those ongoing things.

40) Choose 52 items for my Project 52 list -- DONE!

41) Setup an automatic savings program -- DONE! A small sum of money is now coming out of my chequing account each month, and being deposited to my high interest savings. I used to do this 'manually' each month by transferring the money online. But, usually what ended up happening, is that I never did the transfer, and spent the money instead. Now, there are no excuses!

52) Blog about my "Project 52" every week (3/52)

I had a really productive week this week. How about you?

Finished

I finished my scrapbook 2011 calendar. And it's only January!!!
This is an accomplishment for me. I've tried to make a scrapbook calendar for myself for years, and each year, I start off good, and then end up getting to the Aug or Sept pages and then... just stop. I don't know why. I've made scrapbook calendars for other people, and finished them before Christmas without issues.
This year (or actually last year), I picked up this Calendar kit on special from Michael's.

It had all the paper, stickers, embellishments and pages needed to finish a calendar. All I needed to do was print out 12 pictures, and get to work. I mean... how easy is that?? So, I started in December, and raced through the months pretty quick. But, then the Christmas festivities were upon us, and I put it down. I guess that was my mistake. I should not have put it down.
Anyways, I put the calendar on my Project 52 list, and decided this week to finish it off. Here are just a couple of the pages I have to look forward to this year...

crafty fun

Every year, "A" hides my Christmas gifts in the spare room downstairs. I'm not supposed to go in that room for the month of December. I know this. But, I often forget. So sometimes, I'll wander in to go to the bathroom, or to vacuum, or to look for something, and then realize that I'm not supposed to be poking around in there.

Last year he made a sign for the door. "Elves at work. Do Not Enter".

This year, after almost walking into the room a couple of times this weekend, I decided to get out the cricut and make up a permant sign...

Call me crazy! But, I guess I was just looking for another reason to use my cricut!

Scrapbooking Recipes

Before I start on my blog entry....just an update for you on the fishies. It would seem that Ms. Snow White was just being a little diva yesterday. By last night, she had come around, was swimming just fine, and was eating as much as Spot Jr. was (if that's possible!) Anyways, it looks like everyone is doing well, and will survive.

Meanwhile, I've been working on a Scrapbooking project. I have a small recipe book that I bought some time ago. I've decided to fill it with my all time favourite recipes. Here are a few of the pages that I've done so far...

OK...so Weed Killer and Hummingbird Feeder recipes are exactly "real" recipes. But, each year, I forget what's in them, and have to look them up on the internet again. This year, I decided to print them out.

365 challenges

Have you seen Julie and Julia, the movie? About a girl who decided to cook one recipe of Julia Child's every day for a whole year.
Then there's the woman who wrote a book about "Being Oprah" for a whole year. That's where she followed Oprah's advice every day for a whole year.
There's another guy out there who followed the bible (literally) for a whole year. The results were published in a book too.
What is this with year long challenges....called 365 challenges? What possesses someone to make that kind of committment? I can't do anything everyday for a whole year, except maybe brush my teeth, and get dressed.
Anyways, I was blog surfing, and found a scrapbooker's blog, who has decided to complete one crafty project every day for a year, and post it on her blog.
What??!?! Every day!!
Most of the posts to date are of scrapbook pages. But, it's the 22nd of January. That means 22 pages so far. I don't even think I did that many scrapbook pages in all of last year!
Well, good for her. But, not for me. Nope.
However, I will shamelessly peruse her blog for ideas for my own scrapbook pages. And, maybe I'll be inspired to do a few more pages than normal. If you want to check it out, you can find it here at Smile Everyday. Go to her January 1st post, to see all the details.

weekend update

We did a lot of chores this weekend. We did a lot of running around to pick up stuff we needed. We stopped at Mom's and Grandma's in our travels. We gardened a bit. We called BCAA about the truck. Turns out it's the battery. But we also think the cables to the battery need to be replaced too. It's still in the driveway, while we decide where we are going to take it, and how much we will need to spend to get it up and running again. I even got to do a bit of crafting this weekend. I actually had time to sit down and work on my pictures from Norway (from Feb 2008). No, I haven't finished the wedding album yet. I wanted to work on something different for awhile. So, I commandeered the dining room table, and went to work.

My craft room table is a little too small to spread out, so when I have lots of pictures to organize, I use the dining table.

I'm making good progress so far. Hopefully, I will get sick of looking at the mess in the dining room, and get the pictures finished sooner rather than later. :-)