A Few of My Scrapbook Pages

I thought that I would share a few of my scrapbook pages from the retreat.  They're still lacking the journaling, I save that until I get home.  All four layouts are pretty simple and I didn't realize until now how many layouts I did on the white page itself, which makes for a lighter book.

These spreads are from our 2010 Western Caribbean Cruise.  I started this album in 2010, sad, I know but now I am finish with the album after I journal.

I love this spread.....15  (4x3) pictures, what a way to summarize a trip!

 This spread is another favorite (I think it has something to do with the colors) take one large circle and cut it in half then add a rectangle across the two pages with ribbon. 

I will pour out my thoughts to you,

I will make known to you My teachings.

Proverbs 1:23

Blessings to all~
Carla

Scrapbook Retreat

We were all surprised to wake up on Saturday morning to this.  Yes, to our surprise it had snowed during the night and everything was covered with snow Saturday morning.

The snow made for some gorgeous pictures, something wonderful to scrapbook of course.

Alicia and I out in the snow.  I love this girl and yes, we have our pajama bottoms on. (I did change out of them for the group picture before lunch)

 This is the only time in four days that I left the lodge.  This year our group stayed in

the basement so we had no reason to leave the lodge especially with the weather being soooo cold.

Alicia, me (Carla), and Megan warming up in front of the fireplace after being outside for our group picture

Early morning view from the lodge.

Our group, most of which have been attending since we started the retreat 8 years ago.

The snow on the ground had started to melt by this time but it was still snowing and the trees were still covered.

Friday night was Pajama night, along with ice cream....YUM!!

I had to get a picture of this mother, daughter pair....Alicia and Brenda in their matching PJ's





This little guy hung out on the dumpster behind the lodge all Thursday night. I guess he was waiting for some garbage. Everyone kept and eye on him and I am sure that he kept an eye on all of us.  He never moved but was gone by morning.

It was a WONDERFUL weekend!!!! This was our 8th year and by far the BEST yet.  I accomplished everything that I wanted to, which was a first, meet new friends, visited with old friends and ate way too much food!!!

 Keep asking, and it will be given to you. Keep searching, and you will find. Keep knocking, and the door will be opened for you.

Matthew 7:7

Blessing to all ~

Carla

Weekend Happenings

This weekend was kinda my weekend at the house.  Jonah and Courtney went to Gatlinburg with the youth group for CYC and Phillip worked.  So with the scrapbook retreat just around the corner and my scrapbook room in a disarray, sorta.  I devoted my weekend to preparing for the retreat.  I sorted through alot of stuff and pulled out over two boxes of items to sell at the consignment table. 

Then I started power sorting an album for the retreat and that's what led to this mess and an aching back!!  I do apologize for the mess, but trying to pack for a retreat is a crazy process that involves lots of bags, as you can see they were everywhere.

As I was on a hunt for the right paper, I decided that it was time to sort through my patterned paper which I keep stored and sorted by colors in paper trays on this book case.  By the way, ignore the shadeless lamp on top of the book case, it's my Goodwill find that I need to buy a shade for.

I must have sat on the floor for a good hour (therefore the aching back) sorting through and getting rid of paper, most of which were already sorted by colors but a couple of the trays at the top are speciality (seasonal, holiday, speciality, etc) those trays took the longest, since I wanted to sort them back out.



Sad thing is this is the after picture and you can barely tell that I removed any paper, but I do have proof (see next picture).

This stack of printed paper, is going on the consignment table in hopes of not making it's way back to my scrapbook room and instead into the heart of someone who could use A LOT of printed paper.  It's close to 4 inches and yes, that is my pile of stuff to sell in the background.

If you are wondering where I keep my solids, here you go.... 

 I used to have all my paper in trays but I found that I liked to having my solids where I could pack them up and take them to a crop if need be.  It's still tight when I'm looking for a certain color but I'm hoping that after this scrapbook retreat I'll use some of it and it won't be as tight.  There is always someone needing a certain color so maybe I can thin out some of my solids.

By the way, I did take a break to go see the movie, Safe Haven with Phillip.  It was just as good as the book, a must see!  As for Jonah and Courtney, they had a wonderful time in Gatlinburg with their youth group and arrived home safely Sunday afternoon.  The stories they told made me wish that I had went.

Commit everything you do to the LORD. Trust Him, and He will help you.

Psalm 37:5

Blessings to all ~

Carla

A Few Of My Favorite Things

This weekend was the state tournament for All Stars Baseball and part of the tournament was played here in Ocala only about 2 miles from our house which was nice for an Aunt who was very proud to see her nephew out on that ball field. Which leads me to one of my favorite things BASEBALL, of course my nephew, Spencer played AWESOME. He mainly played first base and did not fail his team at all, he definitely has the height to play first base.
Spencer heads to third
Catches a pop fly!

My BROTHER would be another favorite thing of mine. He is a wonderful brother and a great father to his boys. I guess I need to say that his boys, Brandon and Spencer are two of my favorite things as well. They are such good kids! Another one of my favorite things is SCRAPBOOKING!! Last night I enjoyed a little scrapbooking time, something I had not done in a very long time. It took me a little while to get motivated and I flipped back and forth through pictures for a while with no ideas. Finally I spotted these two pictures, the only two that I have and they are from a few years back, in fact I am not sure where I am going to put this layout/page since I have already completed the album from that year. But I ended up completing the page and was very pleased with it. I still need to add a little journaling, I think the girls where pretending to ice skate, but I better verify before I write. Hopefully this page will spark some creativity with me and maybe I can spend a few hours scrapbooking this week. Our Ky guests have made their way back home, we hated to see them leave. Courtney is on her way to Bryson City, Tennessee for the week with her friend Ashley. This will be the first time that Courtney has ever went away without family. I know that she will have a blast, Ashley and her have been friends since infants and they have a week of plans in the mountains.

My Space

My Space and no I am not talking about the website, I am talking about my little space that I call my own. Behind this door is my space, where I can go scrapbook and escape from the rest of the household. Courtney was so sweet to make this sign for my door and for the most part, when I am in my space, I am left alone to enjoy my time scrapbooking.

Where the words CREATE, help me do just that. When we were looking for houses last summer, I was also looking for an area that I could call my own, a place where I could sneak away from the ciaos and be in My Space. This area in our large walk in closet does just that. Everything that I already had from my old scrapbooking cabinet fit just perfect on the shelves in this closet. Plus I have space where I can keep the cricut out all the time. My fellow scrapbooking buddies gave me this picture last summer before I moved, so now every time that I sit down to crop, I think about them. It was these four that kept me busy scrapbooking last summer while Phillip was out of town.

Organization is the key in this scrapbooking closet. When we moved I made it a point to organize all that extra memorabilia that I had scattered about, movie tickets, party invitations, special cards, newspaper articles and now I am working very hard to find a home for those things in my scrapbooks so that I can appreciate them a little more. So far I have accomplish a lot but still have a box of things to go through. However I am feeling pretty good about what I have accomplished. Yes, I am one of those people who loves to get rid of unnecessary things, like receipts, junk mail, old papers; it makes me feel good.
My creative space is just the right size, it helps me to stay on top of things by putting things back when I am done with them.

A must in my scrapbooking closet, is a jar of Jelly Belly Jellybeans, which is my all time favorite snack while I am scrapbooking.
The DVD player keeps me company within the four walls. Of course some of my favorite DVD's are Grey's Anatomy, 7th Heaven, Little House on the Prairie and Reba, plus the additional Chick Flicks.
A small bulletin board above my creative space, gives me the perfect spot to put those ideas, memorabilia or extra pictures that I need to find a home for.
Maybe I like my space so much because its just big enough for me and Rascal. Yes, I do allow Rascal to come in, he likes to lie under my table or if I am sitting on the edge of my chair then he likes lie behind me in my chair and usually he leaves me alone, maybe this is his quite space.

Scrapbook Retreat

WOW! What an awesome time we had. Phillip drove me to the airport early last Thursday morning and I did not arrive home until late last night. I have learned the hard way that scrapbooking supplies weigh more then we think or should I say more then we want to admit. When I arrived at the airport, my suitcase was 6 pounds over the limit, but I managed. I shifted around some of my supplies and I was able to carry a few more items on the plane with me. My friend, Jacqueline (aka JP) picked me up from the airport early last Thursday morning. We spent part of the day together, doing a little shopping and enjoyed lunch at Kyotos (my favorite Japanese restaurant). One day, Keith and I will hopefully get her interested in scrapbooking but for now, it was nice to be able to spend the day with her. While in BG before the retreat I stayed with my friend Alicia and her family, even though I did have the invitation to stay with several other great friends and I do appreciate those invites and I may just take you up on them one day.

Terri, Judith, me, Alicia, and Joanna (aka the basement scrappers)
This was our retreat shirt from last year, that nearly everyone wore on Sunday.

This year's shirt was too cute, if I do say so myself. Alicia and I came up with this while we were on vacation together in the spring and with her cousin's connections, we were able to make it into a very cute chocolate brown and pink t-shirt.

Judith and I

The group photo, 32 in all.

The retreat was wonderful and I am happy with everything that I was able to accomplish. It was nice to see old faces again and as always it was nice to meet some new ones.

I'll try and post a few pics of the spreads that I accomplished later in the week.

Scrap Book Retreat or BUST

Courtney made this wonderful sign for me, since this time tomorrow I hope to be in Ky getting ready for another wonderful scrapbook retreat. I can not wait! My flight leaves at 5:25 in the morning and I should arrive in Nashville just a few minutes after 8. I am looking forward to scrap booking with my wonderful buddies this weekend. This will be our third annual retreat and we plan on 32 wonderful and talented ladies to attend. I can not wait, sorry did I say that again. I guess I am really excited about this trip even though I am leaving out before daylight in the morning, which means that I will probably get no sleep tonight and if this retreat is like the past two, I'll probably end up staying up all night one night scrap booking, I am excited about seeing everyone again. Did I mention that I do not leave to come home until Monday evening, that's FIVE whole days in KY (YIPEEEEE). Well if you think about it say a little prayer that my travel goes well. Love to all and I can't wait to see everyone this weekend!!!