40. How did that happen?

I turned 40 yesterday. It's a completely weird idea. I'm so not even close to where I thought I'd be. As a teen I was always dreaming big. Scientist. Author. Even President. (Because I like telling people what to do. What can I say? It's the big sister in me.) At any rate I was someone successful. Accomplished.

What have I accomplished since being a dreamer in high school? Just about every job I've had I've worked my way up to a supervisory position. From seasonal help to store supervisor. Temp worker to forecast analyst for service parts of a multi-million dollar lawn and garden manufacturer. But now? I'm a mom. Of two boys. I always thought I'd have a daughter. But I have boys. And I don't think we'll be having any more. Who wants to have a baby at forty? Sounds exhausting. Looking back, it seems like my whole life was preparation for being the Mom of boys. Always surrounded by boys, whether relatives or friends in college. And cleaning animal skulls as a job completely out grosses anything they can think of. I hope.

I teach scrapbooking and stamping, and sell supplies thru The Angel Company. I could even be considered passionate about it. But I'm not going to force people to tell their stories. I just try to explain that everyone has stories their family will want to remember, and scrapbooking is how you pass them on. Everyone has their own version of events, and scrapbooking is how you get to tell your side of the story.

I guess I should have taken more art classes. I never thought I'd be earning money in any art related field. But I've always been crafty, so I guess I shouldn't be that surprised.

I have gained 50 pounds since college. It's horrible. I'm surprised everytime I look in the mirror, because the outside so does not reflect how I feel about myself. Two years ago, I did manage to lose 20 pounds, and kept 15 off for a year, but the stess of the past year just undid all that work. But I have to lose the weight. My cholesterol count is way too high, and it just keeps getting worse. If I want to avoid pills for as long as possible, I need to loose weight. So. I'm dieting again this winter, and this time I'm going to keep going till I'm where I need to be for health's sake. And yes, I know I need to exercise too, but exercise alone will not help me loose the weight. It can help me loose 5 pounds here or there, or help me maintain weight, but in general it won't help me loose 50 pounds.

So here's my public announcement. Because I'm great at making big plans, but terrible at follow thru. You guys are my weight loss assistants. Feel free to ask for updates, but please don't nag. Nagging makes me feel contrary. Just ask Jess.

On the December Daily Bandwagon.

I have been meaning to write this all month so that if anyone wanted to play along with us, they'd be able to. However, we're all familiar with the problems of even the best-laid plans, so it's no surprise my haphazard planning has led me to post this at the last minute.

For those who are not familiar with it, Ali Edwards has been running, or perhaps instigating, a December Daily Scrapbook group for three years now. She has put together a flickr group, and posts her planning, designing, and creating process on her blog. For info about this year's group go to her blog. That will give you all the information you need to play along if you want.

This will be the second year I do this. Last year I did not manage to take a photo every day, but I got photos and story for most days. I thought I'd share what I did with you. I'll also post before and after photos for this year's book on my flickr page (link on right) and try to update here on a regular basis.


I used a planner from Martha Stewarts' craft line, and added a bunch of different papers to try to achieve an eclectic look. I may have only made it to "hodge podge," but I like it. Of course there are some pages I like more than others. I'm only including the ones I found interesting here:


I loved using the acetate overlays and plain pages. They added a fun element of depth and unexpected layers. Here's a couple more from later in the month:







And page 14? A piece of Tim Holtz's grungeboard. I love that stuff. I even used craft foam for a couple pages:



And I used die cut pages, and shaped my photos to conform:


Other favorite techniques included full page photos on the backs of single sided papers.




Not all my photos were well composed; some of the ones I used could be considered downright awful, but they documented our life last December. That was the point. To be in the moment, rather than trying to recapture a feeling or thought months after the fact. And to enjoy that moment for what it was, in all its daily messiness. I hope you'll consider playing along.

I only have duct tape so I can make costumes. And hold doors together until the contractor can get here.

**This blog is no longer being updated. If you want to see more of my crafty life, please join me at http://heatherdubarry.com/ If you have more of a scrapbooking bent, please visit me at http://noexcusescrapbooking.com/ Hope to see you there!**


Making Ethan's Lifesaver costume was very easy. I measured how tall Ethan was from his armpits to his knees, and around his chest, then got a piece of scrap material in those dimensions. I laid out a piece of florist's wire on each end so I could give the finished piece some shape when I was done. Then I just covered the cloth with two strips of duct tape and used each color in turn.

I just taped the sides together on the inside and outside of the tube, then made two straps out of duct tape folded over on itself. (Simon took the photo above. He does a good job for a four year old, don't you think?)


To make the label, I cut a piece of handmade paper that my sister gave me to approximately the right size, and cut out letters with my little cricut. I think they were 5 and 5.5 inches high, from the Opposites Attract cartridge. I just used a glue stick to attach them, then used a piece of clear shelf liner to attach and cover the whole label on the tube.
And now may I present Darth Vader and his LifeSaver:

Fully LOADed

Well, I made it. Actually I made a lot. Two twenty page mini albums, 28 more layouts, 5 of which were double paged, for a total of 73 pages done. That's 131 photos out of my storage albums and onto pages. I need to push myself like this more often. How's February sound? Anyone want to join us? I'll be sure to let you know when that starts getting organized.

Anyway, here's the rest of my LOs for the month.

I was feeling rather worn out and sicky, so I thought about just slapping a photo on some cardstock and calling it done. Then I thought, what about using labels to make a photo mat, and it just snowballed from there. This has an awful lot of stuff on it for a slap it on the page kind of day. Oh, and have I mentioned how much I love grungeboard and stickles? Cos I do.

This photo has been sitting on my desk for weeks, calling me. I scanned it before I put it on the page, and then had fun weaving some patterned paper scraps together. I'm really loving these particular letter rubons. Getting them on clearance at AC Moore's may have something to do with that.

This is an inside joke for the adults; my kids will never know the pleasure of Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom. Since some days seem like I'm living in a zoo (Who am I kidding? Most days...) I thought the nature documentary style journaling would be appropriate.

And here's today's page. I figured I'd do a Halloween page and get in the spirit. After all Halloween may be the most important holiday for us, since if it weren't for a Halloween party thirteen years ago tomorrow, I wouldn't have met my husband. He was a pseudo-french intellectual with the Communist Manifesto under his arm, and a cigarette in a cigarette holder. I was the night sky. We've been together ever since.

That's all I've got for now. Look for a wonders of duct tape as costume material post soon. You too can be a GIANT roll of LifeSavers.

Heading Into the Home Stretch.

We've been rather busy lately, but I've managed to keep up with LOAD. I've been trying to keep it simple, so I can do other things, like dishes and laundry. You know--housework! You all know how much I love and enjoy that, right?
Anyhoooo....
This was my next page, one 5x7 and a mat only attached on two sides makes a cute pocket for some journalling. If you're looking for something to say, writing a letter to the person in the picture is a good place to start. Love this kid.


Another thing you can do, is to make a list of traditions or meaningful things, and then expand on that idea. I love this page. Not only are the photos okay, but I love all the product I ended up using. If I could use the Making Memories journalling cards on all my layouts I would be a happy woman.


And I'm seriously loving all the pieces I ordered from Scenic Route. It's really sad that they are going out of business.


Another thing I'm really really enjoying is the Doodlin' Around stack from DCWV. There's a page for every season.


This is not a great page from a design point of view, but it really carries the idea of legos well. I used paper strips and a circle stamp set to make the "legos."


I have had piles of brother themed stickers lying around for ages. I decided I should use them before my children are grown and out of the house.


Simon's been helping me by picking out photos to use. I've had a craving for jellybeans since I made this page.


I got a book called Scrapbook Page Maps by Becky Fleck. There are all sorts of cool designs, but what I really like about the book is the set of cards in the back. I now have a deck of sketches for quick and easy reference and inspiration.


Feeling no creativity, I used a kit from Creating Keepsakes Kit of the Month from a couple years ago, and took advantage of someone else's creativity.


And then I figured out which pictures I could use to go with this paper. The design of the paper totally dictated how I did this. I can see a few things I might have done differently now, but on the whole I like it.


And then I made another mini-book. Twenty pages, most of them very, very simple.

Here's the title page:

And then we were back to Simon for inspiration, and a sketch from Page Maps. Love the arrow from Scenic Route, and the mesh paper has got to be at least five years old.


One more Page Maps Sketch, and more of Simon's favorite foods. I didn't use any patterned paper on this page, but used stamps to create my own on the strips on the right hand side of the page.

That's all for now. I've got today's page almost all done, I'm just waiting for the glitter glue to dry before I finish putting it together. Four more days, and LOAD will be done for October. It's been a fun ride so far.

LOAD Week Two

Or perhaps this should be titled "Maintaining My Groove?"

At any rate, I began week two of LOAD with one of my favorite photos--a picture of Simon and I wearing Little MissMatched Socks. Four different and colorful socks makes me a happy camper. If you haven't given yourself permission to wear mismatched socks, go check them out now. They're too fun for words.

Ethan turned 8 on the ninth, and I decided to actually do a birthday page. I think this may be the second birthday page I've done, ever. What can I say, I don't concentrate on events, but rather moments. As an aside, he would have been very unhappy if he had not gotten any legos. When I saw the little guy holding up the page below, I knew that set was for Ethan. The lego figure even looked like him, don't you think?

I put this page together while working the table at my local Joann's for the meet the teachers open house they do every month. I think it may be a little bare, but I'm not going to waste my time second guessing myself. Moving on...

This photo was taken by a family friend (Hi Marios!) I used paper and stickers from DCWV, and I love how they all go together.

Next I used some new papers I got in my order from Scenic Route. They are going out of business (sniff), so if you like these papers, order some quick. When they're gone, they're gone!

These are the first two pages in my Me:The Abridged Version book. The design is by Cathy Zielske, and she put together a great class teaching this at Big Picture Scrapbooking. Even if you don't take a class from her, you should make a book like this. It will change the way you see yourself, and how your family sees you.

This page I did NOT do for LOAD. I made this at the beginning of the year as a memento for choosing the word "JOY" as my word of the year. This is something Ali Edwards talks about, and it's a great idea for bringing mindfulness to your life.

The prompt for yesterday was to revisit your word of the year, if you had picked one, and make a page about it. This is what I came up with. Hankies may be necessary.

I finished off the week on a decidedly cheerier note, with a photo Simon took of me last spring, and a bunch of silly quotes I like to use.

So that's it for this week. Seven layouts, and nine pages, for a total of 34 pages this month. Woo hoo! Nothing like list making to make you feel more productive :)

The Perils of Pioneer Woman

When you read Pioneer Woman as often as possible (which I do) you tend to get your camera out more often. You read the manual. You make your kids pose for 49 pictures at a time. You scan your house for the best possible natural light. But there are times when you may take your Pioneer Woman addiction too far. Times when the macro function on your little point & shoot camera has no business being used.

Like when you're in the middle of cutting up a butternut squash from a friend's garden to try in a untested recipe, and you decide the light is really nice, maybe you'll just try for a little close up on the squash. And you get this:

I'm not sure if this is really good, or really scary.

My first week of LOAD

I've managed to keep up with a layout a day for the first week of October (and then some!) My first page, inspired by a chance watching of The View, and recalling meeting Whoopi Goldberg:

I even dreamed about making that one. Day two I got out the stamps, and then proceeded to mess up the title. Oh well. This isn't for publication, but for fun!
That's one of my favorite photos of Ethan as a baby. Day three, and I needed something quick, since we were busy going to a concert. Cue the dog pictures, and color-blocked paper:
Day four, and I wasn't sure what I should do, and then Simon suggested working on my zoo pictures. I've only had a plan for these since 2004. I did four pages (6x6) since they're so small.
Bite-sized even!

Day five was more of the same: Simon helped me do 6 more pages for the mini zoo book by putting on the flowers and buttons.

I decided I wanted to do the prompt for the day as well, which encouraged using fall colors, so I did my first, quick, completely digital page. Now I just have to get some 8.5x11 photo paper.


Day six, and Simon and I finished up the mini zoo book. That's ten pages for you.
Day seven, and I used one of the leftover zoo pics to do a page about my favorite sister. (Hi Jess!)So that's 25 pages done so far this month. I rock! (If I do say so myself.) More next week :)