I'll Love You More Than Anybody Can

I have been reading Amy Tangerine's blog and admiring the beautiful papers and kits over at Studio Calico for a while now. I don't remember how I stumbled onto their blog and shop, but I love their papers and embellishments. I've been interested in subscribing to their monthly kit for a while now, but I was unsure if I was willing to commit to a monthly club, especially since the shipping is a little pricey. What if I don't like the kit and I'm stuck with $40 worth of supplies I know I won't use? My house is close to a Michael's megastore, but lately I'm getting tired of their offerings. It's always the same stuff, and they carry a pretty limited number of brands and supplies. And the scrapbooking stores in my area don't usually carry SC. In fact, my last visit to Stamp Antonio was a little disappointing since they only carry Bo Bunny, and I don't I'm a BB kind of gal. I thought I might try one kit as a single purchase and then make the call when I received the box. I had been admiring Brooklyn Flea for some time, and I finally decided to try it, when I discovered it was sold out. Imagine my disappointment!

Then yesterday, I received an email about their big clearance sale. I clicked around and discovered the past kids are actually on clearance. They don't have all of the past kids (looks like some actually did sell out), but they have some good ones, and they are anywhere between 40% and 60% off. So I got my Brooklyn Flea, and it was only $13 plus shipping. I'm so excited!

Yesterday, my husband had to set up a show featuring his elementary school students' artwork, so it was just me and my little man for dinner and playtime. We had a great time at Panera, and I was actually able to eat while Ben got mac and cheese all over himself. We came home and changed into jammies and read books and watched Elmo for a little bit before bedtime. The most magical moment was went I was getting his jammies on. We were singing "Outdoors" by Jason Mraz (the Sesame Street version of "I'm Yours"), and as we danced, and he leaned in and hugged me tight. He laid his cheek against mine and sang into my ear. Every day with my son is a blessing. I'm so lucky to have such a beautiful, healthy and happy little boy in my life.

This photo is from my time on maternity leave with Ben. If you read my last post, you saw the silly pictures my husband captured with Ben at two months. I was so jealous that I didn't have any of the two of us together, that I decided to try my hand at it. Ben loved his play gym, and he spent lots of time lying there looking up at his reflection in the mirror. One morning I tried lying down next to him and I got this shot. The title is from a John Denver song called "For Baby." I listed to that song over and over again when Ben was just a newborn. I loved how perfectly he captured the joy and the excitement of being a new parent. I used MS Kids again, along with a K& Company 3 months sticker 3-D,and I was inspired by Marnie Taylor's layout Outnumbered that was featured on Write. Click. Scrapbook. I used a strip of MS Kids paper that has a line of numbers, and I left the 3 just peeking out on the end. I like what I came up with, but I feel like it needs something. I'm not sure what, but I don't feel like it's finished. Any ideas?

p.s. I apologize for the picture quality. I don't know if it's my lighting or my camera, but the pictures came out poorly again. It's a sad day when you realize your iPhone takes better pictures than the digital camera you bought only five years ago.

Partners In Crime

It's almost April which means the end is in sight. Summer is so close, I can feel it (all teachers can, you know). I'm looking forward to catching up on all that nothing I've been putting off. For starters, my husband gave me a gift certificate for a spa day back in December, and I have yet to use it. I was reading an article in this month's Real Simple about women and time management, and it said women who regularly make time for themselves are happier and more satisfied in almost every aspect of their life (I'll have to remember to do that once I get a chance... kidding... not really...). 

So with that in mind, I decided to work try and work with some photos that have been on my mind lately (more on that next time). These two are some of my favorites. My mom described these as, "No, Dad, Mom said we weren't supposed to!" and "Heh heh, that was fun..."Ben was only two months old, and he was just beginning to smile and laugh here and there. I was amazed that Jimm captured the two of them so perfectly. If you can't tell, Ben gets his mischievous streak from his dad.

I used my trusty MS Kids papers, and I took my inspiration from the excellent Francine Clouden who writes and designs for Write.Click.Scrapbook, quite possibly my favorite scrapbooking website. I'm afraid the colors look really dull in this photo. I promise it's my lighting and not the paper.

A Boy and His Dog

It's been an exciting couple of days. I received some lovely comments about my first entry, my foray into blogging, and my page. Thank you to everyone who visited, even if it was only for a minute or two. It was incredibly exciting to discover I had a visitor from Germany and from New Zealand, although I suspect the New Zealander was my friend Vanessa Lisowski who came here via facebook.

I first started scrapbooking over a year ago. I have so many pictures of my son, and I was trying to figure out what to do with them. It made sense to start working on his scrapbook, and I ambitiously thought I would be able to finish his first year album before his birthday. It was summer after all, and I thought I had so much time on my hands. What I discovered, very quickly, is that I am an obsessive perfectionist when it comes to crafts. I need things to be just right before I can commit to actually taping, gluing, cutting, punching, or writing. And that's just using the blank pages that Martha inserts in her sleeves. Don't get me started on using my beautiful papers.

Before I started, I spent a lot of time looking at different sites, different blogs, different companies. I sifted through countless bins at Michaels. My friend Lesley thinks it's contradictory, but I don't like cute. I don't like flowery (I have a little boy! I have to find alternatives to flowers). I don't like saccharine. But I do like good design, balanced layouts, interesting placements and playing with patterns and colors. I do enjoy a beautiful print or an interesting texture. On occasion, I have been known to include a touch of glitter. And I absolutely insist on good photography. I am always surprised by people who pour so much time and energy into a page but use mediocre photos. It's more than difficult to measure up to expectations when I was raised by a graphic designer, my brother is a designer and professional photographer, and my husband is a fine artist. At times, there seems to be little room for my amateurish pursuits.

However, lately it seems a lot easier not to take myself so seriously. After a long, hard day at work and a short couple of hours with Ben, who has the time or energy anyway? And if I agonize too much about what to post, it'll never happen. So for now, I'm going with my big sister Amethyst's advice, paraphrased from William Stafford's You Must Revise Your Life: when you find you have writer's block, lower your expectations! So for now, I'm going to focus on being consistent instead of being a creative genius.

A Boy and His Dog
I used MS Kids again for my materials, including the main page, the flags, and the zigzag embellishment running down the center of the page. The silver glitter letters are American Crafts Dear Lizzy and the black block caps are from Recollections. I would like to attribute the layout to someone, but I honestly can't remember since I looked at so many sites. I flipped back through my bookmarks, and nothing stands out. Is it possible I came up with this one on my own?

The photo is from my time on maternity leave when it was just Ben and me. He loved lying on his playgym and spent many a morning staring at himself and talking to himself in the mirror. My little man was also quite pensive back them, and he would look out the window and just think all kinds of little thoughts. Our dog Jasper stayed as close as I would allow, and he often tried to sneak even closer to Ben. He just wanted to be close to his boy, and he would sometimes crawl over slowly just to sniff or lick his hands or his feet.

My first post

I have been thinking about starting a blog for a while. I really admire the bloggers that I follow on a regular basis, especially their commitment and dedication to their blogs. I would like to think that I will post on a regular basis. For now, I'm going to commit to posting two times per week. And I have decided to make a firm commitment not to talk about work. I can't really talk about my job without compromising my students' privacy, so there isn't much to say on that front. Besides, I don't want my blog to turn into a rant about anything work-related anyway because I know that will only add to my stress.

I have been scrapbooking for a while, and I recently created what I consider my best layout to date. I'm so impressed with it because when I started working on my son's scrapbook over a year ago, I was pretty lost. I look back at some of my early pages and cringe a bit. But something about this one really came together nicely.

This photo is really special to me for a lot of reasons. This was the last time I ever swaddled my son. It was early morning, and I was trying to get ready for work. Usually I was able to feed Ben when he woke up around 5 am, and then I would lay him back down for a nap before we left for daycare. Then I was free to get ready for work. On this particular morning, Ben was very fussy and wouldn't give his mommy a break. I decided to try swaddling him, and I put him back on his play gym with his kitty. He drifted off right away. He looked so sweet lying there with kitty that I had to grab my phone and capture the shot.

I used the Martha Stewart Kids line of papers and embellishments. And I have Donna Jannuzzi from Write.Click.Scrapbook to thank for the inspiration. This was inspired by her blog post on patterned papers and her page titled "Sometimes It's Hard." Thanks, Donna! I love all of your beautiful pages and your adorable pictures of your children.