Until That One Time In January.....

I would never be praised for being a super star blogger.  I get distracted, I get overwhelmed and sometimes there is so much flying around in my brain that I don't know what to type first.  Lately, it has been a little bit of all of the above rolled into one.  My list of post topics is so long that quite frankly it intimidates me because hello, sometimes I can't peel myself away from binge watching Empire (how can anyone get enough of the cat fights between Cookie and Boo Boo Kitty????). Sadly, that is a 100% true story....at least it was this past weekend especially since I am pretty much all but benched from all cardio in the entire world with the exception of swimming.  Anybody local have a pool handy for laps????  But that's a post for another time. I have been so very blessed to have "met" so many wonderful women through blogging.  Many I am only able to communicate with through email, blog comments and snail mail (love it!). While others I have had the pleasure of meeting in person and the really special ones I consider dear friends.....you know who you are!!!!  Anyway, I would say that 99% of my social media connections were born via blogging.  Until that one time.... Somehow, back in January or so I stumbled upon Ali's IG....you can find her at unrefinedsweetlife. At that time I don't think that I was actually following, but I started as quickly as I found her.  She does amazing hand lettering that I just swooned over.  I do have fairly decent writing, but have not managed to master the art of hand lettering. After scrolling through her feed and seeing so many of her daily doodles...this one stopped me in my tracks...

My One Little Word for 2015 is SHINE.  I just knew that I had to have something similar.  I quickly liked the picture and commented asking if she had a shop.  Much to my dismay she did not.   She said it was definitely something that she had thought about but it just hadn't happened yet.  Lucky for me, Ali is from Boston and she was bracing for the first round of blizzards.  She said she was bored and would be happy to make something up for me.  My heart was full and I could not believe that a virtual stranger would go out of her way to not only make, but ship something half way across the country after a brief IG exchange.  To take it to the next level she made up several versions so that I got to choose....I told you, this lady is a GEM with a heart of gold!

I chose the one that I loved the best and with a few final tweaks, it was done.  I had to patiently wait through endless snow, because Ali was unable to get to the post office.  I was not in a hurry for it, but was thrilled none the less when it showed up.  Here is the finished product and honestly....I couldn't love it more, not only is it beautiful....so it the artist - both inside and out!!!

I couldn't leave out the sweetest part of her work.  Ali left me a note on the back....I loved that personal touch, and that she considered me her first "customer".

I am happy to report that Ali now has a shop for her "doodles".    She has some designs that are available for immediate download and if I am not mistaken, she is also available for custom orders.  If you are interested you can find her work HERE.  You won't be disappointed! In case you are interested in learning more about Ali, you can find her (and her hubby, James) blogging at unrefined sweet life.  Yep, they both blog!  In their words:
We are James & Ali, a happy couple living in the great city of Boston. Our little blog first started out as a way to keep track of all our kitchen creations. However, after a year, we decided to branch out and write about other parts of our life that we are passionate about. We hope you enjoy our little slice of the internet!
Thank you so much for stopping by...even though I am the most sporadic blogger ever.  BTW, it drives me plum crazy when no matter what I do, the spacing on my post WILL NOT COOPERATE!  #sporadicbloggerprobs

A Wedding Scrapbook: Gina and Ronnell

I will be honest, I was not all together sure that I would be posting here in 2015.  My blogging mojo (did I ever really have blogging mojo???) not only left the building, I am fairly certain it left the country. My deciding factor was could I remember my blogger login...you think I am kidding.   That is when you know you have  neglected your blog for far too long.  Luckily, it all came  back to me and here I am.  I can't  even begin to catch up on all that has been going on, but suffice to say, I am doing well and I truly miss contributing a post here and there.   So, in case there is still anyone out there...I'm back.  I am betting that some of the blanks from the last 5+ months will be filled in to some extent....as weird as that may be.
But for now let's talk about something fairly current.  I finally finished this wedding scrapbook for a former coworker.  I have been working on it on and off (mostly off) since May of last year.  When I told her I would do it, I did preface it by saying  that I had no idea how long it would take me to compete.  I truly never know when I am going to be inspired to scrap - whether it is my own pictures or someone else's.  Without further delay....here it is...

Click here to view these pictures larger

I also made a box for her to put all of her shower and wedding cards.  I enlisted some late night help via  text from a fellow crafty.....she was a life saver and with her wonderful suggestions, I was thrilled with how it turned out!  Thank you, Lisa!  You are the best!

Even though it took me quite awhile to get it finished, Gina was thrilled with it and that is definitely my favorite part!!!

For those of you that haven't forgotten about me, thanks for coming back despite my ridiculously long absence.  I will be back, hopefully sooner rather than later.  Have a great week and thank you so much for stopping by!

snap.scrap.share: Thursdays w/ Katie Stories - September 2014

Hello and thank you so much for stopping by today!  Katie and I took a little break from snap.scrap.share last month, but we are back in the swing of things this month and I am so excited to have her back!

I don't know about you, but I am in a bit of a scrapping rut.  I desperately need to finish a  wedding album that I am working on for a former co-worker, and hopefully Katie's post will help to get me moving in the right direction.

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Hi everyone!

We took a little break from snap.scrap.share last month, but I'm back here at Julie's, and I'm so happy to be here!

I've been working on an engagement scrapbook for a long time, but when I was putting together my chronological "regular" scrapbook albums, I was sad that I didn't have anything engagement related in them. All of those layouts were in my engagement album, and I felt like something major was missing as I flipped through those albums.

So I decided to make new versions of layouts covering the same events to put in those albums.

This was my first layout. I used a divided page protector, and pictures of my rings that I took right after we got them.

For my new layout, I decided to use the same big picture strip of all of the rings that I tried on. This was important for me to use again, because trying on all the rings was a really big part of ring shopping for me.

But I also wanted to add my all time favorite picture of our rings, which I hadn't taken yet when I made this layout! So I was pretty happy to be able to add it into my scrapbook :)

I also borrowed the same journaling that I used in the original layout for my second layout. I was making this new page about 18 months after the fact, and I thought my "old" journaling was better than what I could have written this past June! But I figured it is the same story, I just wanted it in two different places!

It was really fun to re-create this layout. Its not something I usually do, and doing it with my engagement album was the first time I ever re-scrapped something that was already "done".

Have you ever gone back and re-done an event in a new page?