Happy Father's Day

My dear friend Cynthia posted a photo of her and her dad on her blog the other day...and it immediately reminded me of the photo above. (Note the same paneling and same harvest gold "dad chair" recliner.) I love Cynthia's style and her ability to work her most nostalgic memories and treasured photos into her writing, journaling, scrapbooking and memory keeping...and have it feel so fresh and new and interesting. And yes, Miss Cynthia, I am long overdue for some SCRAPPIES and you so inspired me to get crackin' on some layouts!

But first - the photo above (haven't done this scrapbook page yet....but the ideas are perking!) The photo is from the 70's, of course. It is my dad (the day he came home from the hospital, hence the heavy beard and moustache - he was usually clean shaven.) Perched on his knee is my baby sister, Niki. I took this photo as part of the one roll of film I shot to earn my photography badge in Girl Scouts. It is the only photo I ever took of my dad (he died in April of 1975 - not long after this photo was taken.) The only other photos I have from that roll are of our cherry tree in the front yard. I have no memory of the other photos....sisters...any ideas? Wonder what became of them....(see how important memory keeping is!)

The things that I see in this photo:

• Our dad always had a pen in his pocket (appears his glasses are in there too!)...he always wore a watch and his wedding band...and Niki was his favorite! (hee)


• That yellow and red book in the magazine rack on the right is from the circus...not sure what year was the last time our dad took us, but I remember looking at that book over and over again. My dad loved the circus.


• The flowers in the bottles on the divider wall were my creations...I used empty vanilla extract bottles and any other little glass vessel I could salvage (upcycle!) to hold these flowers. It was a craft kit I got for Christmas - I think they were called "Dip It" --you formed a wire petal or leaf and dipped it into the goo...it then hardened into a transparent film. {This site is the closest thing I could find for it. Mine looked NOTHING like those! I only had red and green "goo" - but my kit came with red-tipped yellow stamens and green floral tape, too! I remember it was VERY smelly. Probably toxic! eek!}


• I had forgotten the kitchen wallpaper design (harvest gold and orange and avocado green--oh yeah.) I still love cafe curtains (tho' I don't have them in my house).

And so...inspired to keep jotting down my memories and cobbling together minutes (hours!) to create scrapbook and journal pages. Cynthia and Sandy, I promise to upload my pages to SISTV!

In the meantime, here is one I just did early, early this morning....Little Miss's hands at play. Love that she is a LEFTIE! xo (sorry the scan is so crappy)

Double Shot Espresso Energy Drink is to blame!

.....for my being awake until 3:30 a.m. last night (this morning). But I got through a few hours of taped TV shows and gathered up all the PURPLE I could find in my immediate stash surroundings and this is the result. Posted it to SIStv for the weekly Fashionista Challenge.

Not a big fan of PURPLE PAPER for layouts....but somehow I have acquired quite a bit of it (for specific projects and for the nieces, of course!) - so in keeping with the spirit of the challenge to 'use a color you normally wouldn't'---I went PLUM CRAZY (oh yeah. had to say it.) and slapped on all the PURPLE bibs and bobs and bits and pieces I could lay my hands on (well...without venturing too far away from my current corner crafting sector....that is, I did NOT venture into the belly of the beast that is the BASEMENT and start rooting through all THAT.)

I kinda like it! Not the 'purple crayon' color so much- but all the berry and plum colors out right now are calling to me. (Have you been in Anthropologie lately? PLUM YUMMY.)

Also -- I've taken to journaling on the backs of my layouts, too, when I don't have room on the front and/or when I don't want to post the "too personal" stuff. (Also leaves something for family and friends to find when they look through the actual scrappy books--rather than the online images.) I like Ali's idea of "love notes to the future" and the hidden or extra journaling tucked away appeals to me.

They are COHEEESIVE

Love having nieces in COLLEGE (Em and Jess!) - so proud of them going forth so bravely and (in Jessie's case!) FIERCELY! Love that they are so excited about being away from home and in school, and that they have made friends so easily.

Jessie's first email to me about her roommate was that they felt like they knew each for forever--that they were "coheeesive" -- love the lingo : )

This layout came together quickly with scraps and bits from my craft table and lots of inspiration from the SIStv gals'---lots of bright color and fun - which is how these smiles make me feel!

Love ya, Jess! xox {Photo by Jessie :)}

Now which niece/nephew wants to be next?

Layouts for Looksies!

So inspired by Cynthia and the Leading Ladies that I have been getting some pages done & posting things on SIStv! SO ITCHING TO GET MY HANDS ON THE KIT!! In the meantime...here are some scrappies.

I am noticing my favorite "style" right now is more art/journal-y than "clean scrapbooking" - and I really am loving it. SO LOVE the doodling and all these SHARPIES and WRITING ON THE PHOTOS and FAUXLAROIDS and just messing around with all my stash. Sometimes it is just about the PLAY. I think what had kept me from getting more layouts done was that I didn't have a story ready to tell or the perfect journaling figured out or all the "gotta haves" that trip us up and keep us from JUST DOING IT. So I decided to JUST FORGET ABOUT the self-imposed rules and do it for FUN for a bit. I still will document the stories that need to be recorded....but there is plenty of room in my EMPTY BOOKS for these kinds, too.

And that is making me happy.