Scraplift

Hi everyone! Sorry for my being so quiet lately, I've been working on a lot of quilting projects still. I now have 6 quilt tops that need put together, just waiting on my thread to arrive in the mail so I can get going on them! I will also be debuting my etsy shop soon so I'm working on goodies to fill it up!
Last week on the Pebbles blog we were asked to scraplift a fellow design team member. I chose to lift a page by Sarah Webb who always has the most beautiful embellishment clusters. You can see her original layout on this post and here is what I came up with:

I'm getting so sad that my stash of Fresh Goods has been whittled away... I only have a few scraps left over!
Also, I've been trying really hard to catch back up on Project Life. At the end of January we had a lot going on- two families came to visit us back to back and then we all got sick with the stomach flu so I just didn't have the time. Then from there it just kept getting put on the backburner so when it was time to get back to it I was already four weeks behind. I was also a little weary about posting it here because well, let's be honest, PL is everywhere already. I'm not doing anything earth-shattering here- this is for my family to be able to look back on in a few years, not so much a gallery project. But, I figured I may as well, because occasionally I may have something fun to show.
Here are my first two (and only) fully completed weeks.

I decided that this is a really good way to use up supplies, so rather than have an underlying theme throughout my album, I'm choosing a scrapbook line for each spread. I have a lot of 6x6 pads that need some love, along with a lot of collection packs that need broken into so this works out really well for me!

Week 2 uses some old OA, Thrift Shop, I think.

I'm also getting a lot of use out of my Silhouette!

Next, I wanted to show you how I'm catching up. I emailed myself all of my cell phone photos and then sifted through my memory card from my camera to find all the photos I wanted to use. Since I'm using the Type A page protectors, I randomly resized my photos to either 4x6 or 3x4 not really worrying about what slot they'd go in. (If I needed to change it, I reprinted later). Then, I wrote the date on the back of each photo.
Then, I filled my album with a bunch of empty page protectors. Going through each two page spread, I labeled a sticky note with that week's date range.

Then I started putting my photos in according to their corresponding dates. Since I pre-labeled, it was really easy and fast.
At this point, I found that some of my weeks had only a little bit going on, so I decided that rather than try to fill a million slots with randomness, I'd dedicate only one page to them. I moved the stickies around and started being more particular with where my photos were going.
In under fifteen minutes, I had all my photos in place, ready for embellishment!

Now I'm in the process of finding the paper I want to use for each spread. Even though I may have two separate weeks facing each other, I plan on using the same line or color scheme just to make this part a bit easier. Once I choose them, I start cutting them down to fit the empty spaces, pop my journaling cards in where I want them and then begin figuring out what extras I want to add.
I think I actually prefer this batch method to doing a single week at a time. This way, I can also write down which Silhouette shapes I want to find, make, or use and can cut several at a time. I can also throw my notes for the happenings that week into an empty slot until I get to finishing it- this way I don't forget anything if I happen to take a little longer than usual to get them done!
I'll be working on filling the rest of the weeks up shortly, so I'll be back to share those eventually.

Scrapbook Therapy

I haven't really played with paper very much in the last few weeks- I've been really trying to focus on de-stashing fabric-wise by making up a bunch of quilt tops. I had a Pebbles assignment that needed done though, so I pulled out my scissors and got to work. I was on such a roll, I decided to keep going, and I came up with another page.
I've had these pictures of my great-grandparents printed and sitting in a pile for a long time. I just couldn't find any papers that I thought went very well with them, and I wasn't sure I could do them any justice. I just got my Studio Calico Daydream Believer kit a few days ago though, and the muted colors in the kit were perfect.

Isn't my grandmother beautiful?
I had to really fight back tears when putting this page together. We lost the two of them back in November- it was rough for everyone but also a relief- they were both going through a lot physically and it was really hard. Being overseas, I'm far-removed from a lot that happens in my family- so much so that it really just never hit me that their health was really failing like it was. I just wasn't there to witness, so naively I didn't think about ever losing them.

My grandfather went first, my grandma a week later. They were so in love, so in tuned to each other- I'm sure it was because my grandma just couldn't live without him.
I only hope that someday I can pass along the goodness they gave to me and my family, pay it forward. I miss them every single day.
I was so glad to finish this page as it was really great to sit and think about them as I was putting it together- remember all the silly jokes my grandpa used to say, how you knew you were in trouble when my grandma pursed her lips and put her hand on her hips, how their house always smelled like home, and how every memorable vacation I had as a child involved them. It was therapeutic to be able to write it all down, tuck it in that little envelope, and hope that I was able to convey just how special they were to Luke, who will hopefully want to know who they were in the future.
Have you made a page that was difficult? Did you feel better after "getting it off your chest"?

Spring Time

I made this page for the spring Scrapbook Cards and Today call but it didn't get picked up- it was for the Becky Fleck sketch. I cut the flower with my Silhouette (the petals stand up a bit, didn't get a close up though) and added a bit of hand stitching.

This was such a great day! There is a small field near my village that has seasonal flowers- you pick as many flowers as you want and leave your euro in a small box near the entrance. They have at least three kinds of flowers at a time and they change out every few months. Super cute! Luke loved running through the rows, stopping to smell them here and there. I can't wait until spring comes back and we can visit again.
Now that I have two more quilt tops finished (I'll share those as soon as they're quilted) I'm getting back to Project Life. I have had weeks 1 & 2 done for a long time, but we got busy and sick and then I didn't touch it again. I'm hoping to get all caught up today as this should be an interesting week- I don't want this project to fall through just yet!
Have you been keeping up with your Project Life? If you're not doing PL, what other ways do you use to keep track of your day to day activities?

More Valentines!

I've got a set of cards made with Pebbles With Love collection- created to showcase their cute little shaped paper clips.

They are seriously adorable, right?
We're getting awful close to Valentine's day, do you have any plans with your loved ones? I think my husband and I will be seeing Star Wars in 3D, but that's for his birthday. I'm not sure if he has any VDay surprises or not, but I'm excited to find out!
In other news, I haven't really scrapbooked in a while- I've been trying to finish some fabric projects that I started long ago and then stuffed away.
First is this one, made for my sister.

It's from a tutorial posted by Elizabeth Hartman (called the New Wave quilt). I made one of these a while back for my couch and love how fast it comes together. The fabric is a mix of Parisville and Innocent Crush- very flirty! Now I need to decide what to bind and back it in.
The other quilt top I finished this weekend is another one of Elizabeth's patterns- the Nine-Patch Lattice.

It's another quick and easy quilt. I started the blocks for this one almost a year ago and finally decided it was time to make some progress! I have the backing finished and the binding all cut and ready- and then I discovered I'm out of batting. Oops! (Side note: I'll be selling this one as soon as I get it all quilted, let me know if you're interested!)
And, since I was on such a roll this weekend I picked up ANOTHER quilt top- City Weekend.

This was one of the first quilt patterns I ever bought. I made a few blocks (it's all paper pieced) and then I guess got burned out and put it away. I'm really loving this one though, glad I found it hidden in my stash!
I hope to get back to playing with paper soon (and catching up on Project Life), but I'm going to press ahead with fabric while I've got some steam!