Hand-made Gifts

Are you craft around the holidays? I am!!! I make my Christmas cards, scrapbooking calendars for family (since they're soooo far away and don't get to see Erica very often), and little goodies for others here and there.

I just saw this GREAT idea for a teacher's gift. Erica's teacher is AWESOME and I want her to know how much we appreciate all she does. So I will be making this cute set for her...sort of. This site has two sets of instructions

1. The first is a HUGE file that is already in color...print it on heavy cardstock, cut, fold, adhere as instructed and you're done. Don't forget to include four invitation size envelopes for the cards.
2. The second set of downloads (two) are templates if you want to use your own supplies.

I plan on using this as a guideline and making my own....can I do anything simply? NO!!! I have a problem with that, sorry. So come back this weekend and I'll have a picture of the finished project. But don't wait for me...go check out the website and get those gifts cranked out for the teachers (or others) in your life.

Telling the Story

Do you journal on your layouts? If not, why not? Do you not like your hand writing? Does it take too long (either on the computer or hand writing)? Are you just a pictorial scrapper? Do you not know what to write? Do you think you'll always remember the story and can repeat it to whoever sees the album? For me, it used to be all the above...until I received the world's best scrapbook from my daughter's "Three's Teacher" at day care: Mrs. Marie. When I first looked at the scrapbook (without reading the journaling), it was nice. I glanced at the journaling (done on address labels) and remember saying, "Nice address labels." Not a nice reaction, and I'm very embarrassed by it. But I tell you this because once I read the journaling, it changed me...I'm now a journaler! And I encourage everyone I know to journal, too.

Why did this change me? I read things in that scrapbook that I'd never known about my daughter and that I didn't even notice about her 3-year old art work. One of them was a note that pointed out Erica was trying to write her own name on her art work. See, the teachers always did that so the art would go home with the correct child. Erica tried to do it on her own for this particular page in the scrapbook. I cried when I read that. How many times had Erica tried writing her name and I didn't notice it before? And how much art work had I thrown away not even realizing it? There was a story I wouldn't have even know had the journaling not been done. THIS IS WHY I JOURNAL!!!

So I have a story to tell and I'm still not sure how to tell it...it's the story of Erica starting Kindergarten in 2008. It will likely be hidden journaling added to this page, or maybe typed from the computer and added to a second page (since it's such a long and important story to me). Why is this such an important story? Erica was not old enough to start school this year. BUT, her birthday fell in the trial period (first two weeks of the cutoff month) where she was allowed to be tested to see if she could start provisionally for 4 weeks. In order to do this, she had to undergo a long and difficult test sequence that took nearly 4-hours...wow!!! Not only that, she had to score in the top 2% to "pass." I always knew she was bright, but even I wasn't convinced she was in the top 2%...she is!!! So far she's doing great...she even "gets school" as her teacher told us in our first parent-teacher conference. We're so proud of her...and amazed at the things Kindergartners are learning these days.

Fun New Scrapbooking Terms

OK...once again it's been WAAAY too long since I've posted. So here's a fun bunch of new scrapping terms defined for us. And come back this weekend, I'll have some new layouts posted of Erica...I promise!!! Oh, and I don't know where these terms came from. I saw them on a forum I visit and the person who posted it didn't share her source. I'll update the source as soon as I find out.

• Scraptrum: The full range of 37 different shades of paper between light blue and medium blue.
• Catscraptrophe: The combination of Murphy's Law as applied to cats' natural curiosity, occurring 30 seconds after you leave your scrapping supplies unattended on the table to visit the bathroom.
• Scraplooking: The scrapper's second-favorite hobby, when the visit to the scrapbook store comes BEFORE payday.
• Scrapitulate: To buy scrapbooking materials with that last twenty bucks you said you weren't going to spend.
• Scrapdashery: The art of risking a traffic ticket when the decision to scrapitulate comes as sudden inspiration while sitting at home just before the local scrapbook store closes.
• Scrapplication: The art of tuning out bothersome distractions (family, work, etc.) and concentrating fully on your project.
• Scraptivity: Solitude (generally self-imposed) preventing one from engaging in lesser activities until the current project has been completed.
• Scraptain: The leader of a small group of scrapping friends, who usually decides what the day's project will be.
• Scrapperpillar: The project you're completely disgusted by, until it metamorphoses into a beautiful finished work.
• Scraptice: If at first you don't succeed...