Journaling Prompts Tuesday

• How do you celebrate Thanksgiving?  What are the traditions involved?  Also think of things like football, watching the parade, games, etc, not just food.
• Create a list of what you are thankful for.  
• Have each member of the family write down what they are most thankful for.  
• If you have participated in "Attitude of Gratitude" or "30 Days of Thankfulness" posts on Facebook, make a layout using your posts (see my examples here).  
• Who's house do you hold the festivities at?  If it rotates, make a list of the past several years and where it was held.
• Take a picture of each food dish on the table.  If they were made by different people, make a tag with the name of who made it to go with the picture.  
• Take a picture of the guests.  Is it different every year or the same?
• Take a picture of the decorations. 
• Tasks: who does what?
• Take before and after pictures of the cooking process (thinking of the mess involved).  
• Take pictures of the guests after the big meal?  Are they napping, lounging, cleaning, etc?  Tell us what happens afterwards.  
• Do you have memories of Thanksgivings past?  Share or compare.
• Document times.  What time did you start the cooking?  What time did you eat?  Finish?
• Where did you get ideas for dishes, decor, etc?  If from a magazine or website, print and include in a page about your Thanksgiving inspiration. 
• Do you dress up for Thanksgiving or keep it casual?
• What's the conversation like around the dinner table?  Do you have to stay away from certain topics (like politics) or does anything go?  Or perhaps it's pretty quiet because everyone is chowing down?
• Do you just have one big meal for the day or do you still have 3 meals? 
• How many days of leftovers?  :)
• Scrap those recipes.  Is there any history behind them?
• Did you travel?  Tell of your journey.
• Do you break the wishbone?  Who always wins?  Who "won" this year?  
• Do a "signs of Thanksgiving Day" page.
• What about your own festivities and traditions is different than most people you know?
• If you always go to someone else's house, would you want to host the festivities?  What would it be like at your house?  Or are you grateful you don't have to host?
• If you play games together, what do you play?  Document who wins?  Who is the most competitive?  Who is the silliest?
• Create Thanksgiving trivia with blanks missing and have your kids/family try to fill them out.  It can be a fun (and funny) activity for Thanksgiving, but it also can be great to scrapbook!  :)
• If you have a lot of guests, bring small pieces of paper (think shapes) or fabric (for a fun twist) and have them all sign a piece as they come.  Arrange them on a page.  You could have them expand this and write what they are thankful for and then sign it.
• If you were rating this Thanksgiving what would it get?  Best ever or room for improvement?
• Sometimes the "mistakes" and mishaps of the day are the best memories.  Don't be afraid to include those in your pages.  You can look back later and laugh.  

Shout it out if you have more suggestions and I will add them to the list!!!

Thanks for stopping by!  

And have a fabulous day!

Attitude of Gratitude

For several years now, every November, I have been posting "Attitude of Gratitude" posts every day on Facebook.  Basically I just post something I am thankful for each day.  There are lots of people playing along.  If you haven't started, it's not too late!  ;)

Well for the past three years I have also used my Attitude of Gratitude posts and made a layout with them.  It's fun, and I love looking back at them.  You can see my past Attitude of Gratitude layouts here.  This time I decided to make a 2 page layout to fit it all in better.  The Facebook posts are from last year.

I used the wonderful Hopscotch collection from Fancy Pants.  It is hands down one of my favorites.

Here's my layout:

I really love how it turned out.

Here's how I made it:

1.  I printed off my Facebook posts.  I actually did a screen print and essentially saved a photo of my computer screen for each of my posts and then opened them in Photoshop.  But you could just copy and paste your posts into a document.  Or you could even just print your full Facebook screen and cut the parts out you want.  

2.  I created a base for my layout.

I didn't have enough full sheets, so as you can see from one the picture, I had one sheet that already had a leaf cut out of it and also had to piece together one side of the blue polka dot papers.  No big deal.  :)

3.  I took a craft knife and cut out each of my posts, leaving a tail to make it look like a word bubble.  You can always use scissors or a trimmer and just cut it out normally.  I've said this before, but don'w worry about being perfect!  You can see that mine are not cut out perfectly at all.

4.  I already had an idea in my head oh how I wanted my layout to turn out, so I arranged my Facebook posts and adhered them down.

5.  I cut strips of patterned paper and laid adhered them to my layout.  I made sure to extend them across each page of my layout because I love the way that looks.

6.  Then I added my photo, my title, some leaves and some buttons.  For my title I cut down slightly the negative parts of the numbers and adhered them first.  Then I took the numbers and put them on top, but popped them up.  I really like the cool look it gives the title.

And here are some close up's of my layout:

Well there you have it.  :)

Thanks so much for stopping in today!!!

Have a fantastic day!

Sketch 227 Challenge

Hi everyone!  I've been a little absent lately because the stuff I am working on is not stuff I can share with you yet.  ;)

Well it's time for another sketch challenge.  Yeah!  I LOVE that you guys are playing along with me.  :)

If you are new to my sketches, here's how it works:

I essentially create three versions of one sketch each time. There will be one 12x12 scrapbook sketch, one double page sketch (12x24), and one card sketch (A4). This makes it easier for all types of crafters to participate. :)

Of course, there will be prizes.

So for today's sketches:

Sketch 227a (12 x 12 layout)

Sketch 227b (2 page layout)

Sketch 227c (card--A4)

And now for the prize up for grabs...

This contains:
* 48 sheets of patterned paper!  2 of 12 different designs from the My Family collection from Fancy Pants Designs.
* 1 package of 6 flowers from Prima Marketing.
* 1 package of 4 flowers from Maya Road.
* 1 package of Ledger Transparencies from Maya Road.  (4 designs, 12 pieces)
* People chipboard from Maya Road (6 pieces)
* Chipboard brackets and shapes (42 styles, 84 pieces) comes in metal tin, from Maya Road.

Nice, huh?

THE RULES:

*  Your project must be newly made for this challenge, and then linked below.

*  You can use the sketches for any type of project, not just scrapbook pages or cards.

*  Please post which sketch you used with your project.

*  Feel free to combine with other challenges.  :)

*  You can enter as many times as you like.  

AND FOR BONUS ENTRIES:

*  Check out my sketchbook here.  Pick a favorite sketch and use it for an additional project.  You can do this as many times as you'd like.  These must be newly made for this challenge too.  

DEADLINE IS THURSDAY, NOV 30TH.  

I hope you play along!!  :)  

And who wants to know who won the last challenge?  I'm quick this time.  ;)

The winner is...

Congratulations Heaney!!!  Send me your address to pamelacy@msn.com and I will get your goodies mailed out to you!  :)

And thanks again to everyone who played along!  

And one last cool thing I wanted to share with you.  I've designed a few stamps for Unity Stamp Company.  I have some in this set and this set that I designed.  I'm having fun with it and hope to do a lot more.  :)  Unity has a fantastic sale going on now, so it's be the perfect time to get the stamps sets that have some I designed in them!  :)

Ok, well I hope you have a fantastic day!!!

LINK UP HERE!!!

Journaling Prompts Tuesday

First of all, let me warn you—this list is long.  It is not meant to overwhelm you.  Certainly you don’t need to use it all.  I am just hoping something catches your eye and inspires you to scrap the everyday life.  We, as scrapbookers, are usually good at capturing the events and holidays in life, or the special places we go, but we often neglect to record those everyday life moments.  And these are the type of things I would most be interested in reading about my ancestors…even my parents.  So browse the list, print it and keep it on file somewhere…it is here for your use. 

(List is completely random…this is the way my brain works)

• Routine.  Scrap your daily routine or a weekly schedule.
• Daily things you do (this is different from your routine, such as every day the boys seem to fight at least once, or every day I sing as I work.)
• Focus on a specific time that is important in your life (for example, 3:15pm every day I have to be at school to pick up my kids)
• Character traits
• The roles you or others take on. 
• Tasks.  Who does what?  Do the kids have chores?
• What shows do you watch on tv?  How about the kids?  How much time is spent watching tv?
• Parenting issues.  How do you make your parenting decisions?  What applies most at this time in your life and the age of your children?
• Feelings on who you are and what you do at this age.  Can ask others this too and document it. 
• Hobbies in the family
• Things you tend to say a lot.
• Things you tend to hear a lot.
• Meals.  What time do you typically eat meals?  Who cooks?  Picky eaters?  Favorite recipes?  Do you eat out a lot or eat home-cooked meals?
• Job.  What is it?  How long have you been doing it?  What are the hours?  Duties?  What is your dream job?
• Do you always wear make-up or try to make yourself look good? Do you like to dress up?  Or perhaps you wear your pajamas all day?  What does a typical day in clothing look like?  (perhaps your kids have a school uniform?)
• Friends.  Who are you closest to right now?
• Car.  What kind?  How much time do you spend in it?
• Any quirks about you?  What about the rest of the family?
• What places do you go to?  What stores?  How often?
• What do you look forward to most in your day (or week)?
• The costs of life.
• Are you an early riser or perhaps a night owl?
• Faith, values and religion.  It is such an important part of life, why do we often leave it out of our scrapbooks?
• Your “bucket list” (what you want to do before you die), goals, ambitions.
• Politics.  Are you a Republican?  Democrat?  What issues are near and dear to your heart?  (We promise not to hold it against you).
• What makes you laugh until you cry?  What about the rest of the family, is there something that always cracks a specific person up? 
• What do you love most about yourself?  (Face it, we focus enough on the bad, why not record what we like).  What do you love most about each member of your family?  (We all need to hear it sometimes).
• What would people be surprised to learn about you or a family member?  
• Pet peeves.
• Create a top ten list of favorites right now.  Now do it for each family member.
• What you can’t live without.
• Do you like routine or prefer to switch things up?  For example, do you always order the same thing at a restaurant or do you like to try new things?
• Are you a planner?  Document some of those plans. 
• Show what your kid’s favorite toys are.  Doe he/she have a comfort toy or blanket?
• Lessons learned.  What lessons do you have to learn/teach over and over again?
• Advice you want to pass on to your kids.
• Scrap an excerpt from a blog or journal.  Or a used page from a calendar or planner. 
•  Addictions, who has what? (I’m thinking more like CHOCOLATE!) 
• How often do you have to go to the store for groceries?  What specific kinds of groceries do you buy the most of?  What would be a splurge?
• What do you have to put limits on?  For example, one of my boys would watch tv all day long if he could.  I, myself, would read all day long and forget the rest of the world sometimes, if I could. 
• What are you learning about right now? 
• What are you tweeting?   Or share some of your status updates on facebook.  J
• Too much.  What is there too much of in your life?
• How do you reward yourself or your kids for doing something good?
• Do you have a color in your wardrobe that is more prevalent than others?
• How do you keep creative?
• How do you encourage creativity in your kids?
• What’s on the news these days?  It’s ok to talk about specific events.  How do you feel about it or how does it effect you? 
• What traditions do you and your family have?
• Scrapbook a conversation.  Or take a picture of a conversation via texts on a phone and scrapbook it.
• Share about your neighborhood.  What does it look like?  Do you all decorate for holidays?  Do you know your neighbor’s names and talk with them or are you like the thousands who never interact with their neighbors?
• What brought you to the state (or location) you live in?  What do you enjoy most about it?  Do you plan on living there the rest of your life? 
• Who drinks the most coffee in your family?  (My mom drinks a pot or two a day…it’s one of the  things I remember about my childhood)
•  A messy home is a happy home or a clean life, happy wife?

And the list really could go on and on…

If you have more ideas, shout them out! 

Thanks for stopping by today!
Have a fantastic day!

Journaling Prompts Tuesday

Hi there everyone!  So every Tuesday in November I will be posting journaling prompts to help out in scrapbooking.  If you have some ideas to add, shout them out in the comments section and I will add them to the list.  :)

Today I am focusing on a very important part of your scrapbooks that often gets neglected.    

• Share a “day in the life” of…
• How do you answer the question “who am I?”
• Create a page featuring two self portraits—one that details how the world sees you and one that details how you see yourself.
• Create a layout that documents the different roles you play: Wife?  Mother?  Colleague?  Friend?  Volunteer?...
• Talk about your career: what you do, how you came to that job, what you like about it, what you don’t like about it, how you felt the day you first were offered the job…
• Quick, list half a dozen (or more) values that are important to you.  Why are they important?
• Create a “top ten” list that documents your favorites.  Think about the years past, how have your favorites changed over the years?
• What makes you laugh until you cry? 
• When you look at yourself in the mirror each day, what do you think?  What do you love about yourself?
• Do you have a signature style…tell us about it and why you chose it. 
• What are your religious beliefs?  How do you worship?  Why are you a Christian (or replace with whatever you call yourself)? 
• Do you dream?  Do you remember your dreams or have a reoccurring one you can share?
• What questions wake you up in the middle of the night?
• What is the greatest achievement of your life so far?
• What is the biggest risk you have taken?
• What have you learned about risks not taken?
•  Think about a life-changing event you’ve experienced.  What advice would you offer a friend going through your situation?
• What would people be surprised to learn about you?
• Go ahead—get up on that soapbox!  What issues are near and dear to you?
• What’s one thing you would change if you could?
• What’s on your mind today?  Go ahead, write it down!
•  So, who are you when no one is watching? 
• What are your goals and dreams for your life that are yet accomplished?
•  What do you do for fun? 
• What special groups are you a part of?
• Do you volunteer?  If not, what kind of things do you hope to volunteer with in the future?
• Is there a specific song that you would think of as your “theme song”? 
• What's made you change over the years?  Good or bad?  
• What's something you should have listened to in the past?  
• What do you think your kids, family or friends think is the best part of who you are.  
• How do you make it through the day?
• Do you have a word or phrase that you say over and over again?  Tell us about it.  
• What do you think of rules?  Made to live by or break?  Where do you draw the line?  
• Take a page from a journal when you were younger and compare it to a recent page.  How have you grown?  What about writing skills or styles?  
• What inspires you?  
• Do you plan things out or fly by the seat of your pants?  
• What do you do to relax?  
• What's your dream day look like?  How about your dream life?  
• City girl or country girl?  Why do you prefer one over the other?
• Would you rather dance by yourself when nobody is watching or waltz with your husband on the dance floor? 
• What could you write a book on?  What would you tell the whole world if you had a chance?
• Do you consider yourself right or left brained?
• The shoes in your life: a closet full or only a few?  Do you wear high heels or prefer flip flops and tennis shoes?  
• What do you like to read?  Romance, Science Fiction, Non-fiction?  Or perhaps you get the most enjoyment out of a good trashy magazine. Tell us about it.  
• What would you do if you had more time in the day?

I will keep updating this list.  :)  
Thanks for stopping in!

Have a wonderful day!

Sketch 225 Winner

Thanks to everyone for playing along with my last sketch challenge!   Hope you will play along with my current one too.  ;)

Here's the winner for sketch 225:

Congratulations Missy!!!  Send me your address to pamelacy@msn.com and I will get your goodies mailed out to you!  :)

And thanks again to everyone who played along!  You can find the current challenge here.

Have a wonderful day!

Sketch 226

Hi everyone!!!  Hope you had a happy Halloween, for those who celebrated.  Both of my boys wanted to be vampires for Halloween.  I told them only if I could may them sparkle.  :)  They even both had Seattle shirts so they wore those too.  I thought it was funny.   I tried to convince Hayden to wear jeans and go shirtless, and we'd put some spray-on tan on him and call him Jacob, but he wouldn't go for it.  :)

And then Eryn was a cute little mouse.  The costume was mine when I was a kid, for a church musical I was in.  The ears have seen better days, the wire part wouldn't really work much anymore.  But it didn't bother Eryn.

And just for fun:

It was a good night.  Well until my car died and left us a bit stranded.  But I am thankful we had people who could help in this situation.

Anyways...


Well it time for a new sketch challenge!!  You ready?  

If you are new to my sketches, here's how it works:

I essentially create three versions of one sketch each time. There will be one 12x12 scrapbook sketch, one double page sketch (12x24), and one card sketch (A4). This makes it easier for all types of crafters to participate. :)

Of course, there will be prizes.

So for today's sketches:

Sketch 226a--12x12 layout

Sketch 226b--2 page layout

Sketch 226c--card (A4)

And now for the prize up for grabs...

That is THREE full collections:

*  The Silver Valley collection from SEI  

*  The Summer City collection from The ScrapCake

*  The Sweet Childhood collection from The ScrapCake

THE RULES:

*  Your project must be newly made for this challenge, and then linked below.

*  You can use the sketches for any type of project, not just scrapbook pages or cards.

*  Please post which sketch you used with your project.

*  Feel free to combine with other challenges.  :)

*  You can enter as many times as you like.  

AND FOR BONUS ENTRIES:

*  Check out my sketchbook here.  Pick a favorite sketch and use it for an additional project.  You can do this as many times as you'd like.  These must be newly made for this challenge too.  

DEADLINE IS THURSDAY, NOV 15TH.  

I hope you play along!!  :)  

Have a fantastic day!  I will be back tomorrow to announce the winner of the last sketch challenge.  

LINK UP HERE!!!