Scrapbook Journey + Freebie

Digital scrapbooking is one of my creative outlets that has wove it's way in and around my online world for nearly two decades.  I had to sit back and really think that through before I typed it out.  Two decades?  those years flew by in the blink of an eye.  I originally started this journey when my oldest children were maybe three and just born.  I remember wanting to put together a screen saver for my parents that would have photos of the kids so they would feel connected to us since we lived about 4 hours away.  I searched online for free background images just to make it a bit more polished and fell down the rabbit hole of designers offering freebies on their blogs.  Digital kits to create scrapbook pages to print.  

It didn't take long and I was hooked.  I always wanted to get into paper scrapbooking but several things held me back.  First of all, supplies were expensive and we just didn't have the disposal income to fund another crafting hobby.  Second, pulling everything out and putting it back up in a hurry seemed like a lot of work.  I have this thing about needing/wanting everything to have a specific place and with paper scrapping there's a lot of supplies to store and we had limited room.  I'm also not one that can leave unfinished projects laying out and with creative time at a premium, the time spent taking out supplies and cleaning up seemed like a waste of precious time.  With digital scrapbooking all that wasn't an issue!  Winner!

So there's the backstory of how I got into digital scrapbooking.  I know I have some of those early pages filed away on an EHD somewhere and I'm sure they are cringe worthy but we all have to start somewhere and the memories those pages hold are dear. I'm sure that some of you have similar stories of how you got into scrapbooking.  Now onto current events.  What have I scrapped recently?

The first one was made with #2025 May by Connie Prince and Banner Play Vol 1 by Connie Prince template.

The second one was made with Memories {Bundle} by Connie Prince as part of a challenge at Ginger Scraps.

The last one was made with #2025 June by Connie Prince.

Participating in the challenges at Ginger Scraps helps me have a focus and prompt for my creative journey which I need at the moment.  My mind is still very cluttered with teaching/job tasks and I need something to guide me into the creative side of my brain.  Otherwise I find myself just staring at the screen.  I have also found that I absolutely can not open Facebook/social media during my creative time.  Once I do that, I get sucked into watching videos.  Yes, I'm discovering new things but at the same time, I'm not being productive.

Here's a couple of blasts from the past. The middle layout above is of our youngest daughter.  She's about to graduate from High School (a full year ahead of schedule).  She's currently taking her final class as a Summer Credit Advancement course through our school district.  By July 17th she will be completely done.  She has always been a trailblazer, one to find her own path and follow through with her decisions.  

I wish she could see herself through my eyes.  Every time I look back at the layouts from the past 17 years I see a fearless, imaginative, inquisitive, creative, and joyful child.  I pray that she never loses that spirit as she enters this next chapter of her life.  

Those moments captured in those three layouts are why I scrapbook.  As I pulled them up I was transported back to the moment those photos were taken, the moment I scrapped about and how I felt.  The nostalgia brings all the emotions back to the surface and makes me appreciate what I have in life.  Three pretty awesome kids who are finding their own way in this world, finding ways to make their own marks on the world around them.  A loving husband who has made sure I know that I'm loved, that I'm enough, that I am valued.  We just celebrated out 30th Anniversary this past week.  We have a good life and together we are finding joy in the small things.

I have another 4X6 card front printable for you today as a "thanks for stopping by" freebie.  You can get the download by clicking on the image below.  Thank you for taking time to visit today!

~Susan~

Our Jurassic Jungle + a card freebie

Today was one of those days where I woke up early but couldn't seem to focus for very long at a time.  I did go out and take some photos of some of our plants that my husband has planted.  I absolutely love the variety!  Here's a few of my favorites out of the coleus, begonias, hosta, and caladiums.  There may be a few other plants in here as well.  Matter of fact, the deep black and green plant in this first picture is a potato plant.  I've never seen this variety before and it's so cool!  My husband picked out the caladium in the photo and it is one of my new favorites as well.

I told my husband that I think we are trying to grow a prehistoric jungle. I'm praying that my son and mom remember to water these lovelies while we are gone in a few weeks for about 5 days.  Otherwise we may return to utter devastation from the Texas heat.

Oh!  Look at this caladium!  This leaf is huge, about double the size of my hand.

I have a free 4X6 card front for you today. I may play around with making a mini-kit to go along with this idea over the next week and make up some different card fronts to share.  It's been a while since I made something to share like that.  I won't be able to host this freebie indefinitely so if you like it, snag it by the end of June 2025.

DOWNLOAD HERE

~Susan~

Life, crochet, and ramblings... FREEBIE word art and printable

Every time I think I'll get this blog up and going, life gets complicated and I let it sit there in the background, neglected.  Not on purpose, but yet, neglected.  Tonight I decided to try again.  I can't promise to engage and stay consistent but I'm going to try to do better.  

Where has life taken us?  Well, last year we were on a journey of survival with my husband and I both teaching in the year we all felt like we were scrambling every day with each new curve ball thrown our way.  I'm not going to spend any more time talking about it though because it's now behind us and this year is already looming on the horizon with the 21-22 school year starting for us in another week.  Actually I have three days of in-service training next week and then the following week, our son starts his Senior year with Summer Band Camp in full swing. 

Our oldest daughter, Hannah, is a Junior in college, Nate is a Senior in High School,  and Rachel is an 8th grader.  I'm starting my 25th year of teaching in the public school and for the 4th year in a row my job has another twist and bit of chaos involved with it.  I am getting to go back to teaching 5th grade music and 6th grade choir, but due to the wonderful pandemic wrecking havoc on the choral world, my choir is half the size it normally is and lucky me, the dance classes filled up so I'm now teaching dance to 6th graders.  That's right, dance - to 6th graders.  I'm totally out of my comfort zone and honestly this has consumed me all summer.  Stay tuned for the humorous stories that are going to come out of this experience.  

So, to settle my nerves I've turned to my self-care stress reliever of crocheting. If you get to looking for me, you'll find me in the corner crocheting up a storm.  I've made baby blankets galore, which turned out to be a blessing for my husband since 5 of the staff on his campus were expecting a new addition to their families by the end of last school term.  I've spent the summer replenishing our stash.  I just finished up a shawl for me that I need to take a photo of and started another baby blanket this week. I think this about sums up my feelings...

If you like the text in the middle of the card, you can pick it up HERE for free.  It's in png format so you can size it down (never try to re-size things larger because that distorts it when you go to print).  

The graphics I used on the card are from the 2021 June: Strength digital scrap kit by North Meets South Studio. I kept it simple because I wanted the text to stand out a little more but this kit has a lot of lovely elements in it.  The card is a printable 4X6 size and if you would like it to print for yourself, you can pick it up HERE.

Sometimes I'm inspired by random images I run across on Facebook.  This was shared in one of the crochet groups I'm a member of and I thought it was really cool! This is Malaga, Spain, where the women who lived there crocheted and put together this shadow-giving miracle. Below this is a pedestrian street with shops and cafés.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend. I'm going to crochet, work on some motivational prints for my two classroom spaces, and maybe go take some photos outdoors. That last one may not happen but the thought is there. I'd love to hear from any of you that stop by the blog! My plans for the blog as of now are to still share scrapbooking ideas, inspiration, freebies, recipes, crochet ideas/inspiration, faith based posts, and just life in general.

See ya later!

Choose Joy Free Mini-kit

Today was one of those days where I started on a project and it morphed into something totally unexpected.  I started off with the idea of making a Word Art with some watercolor splashes.  Something that would only take a little bit of time but I was going to use that to make the front of a card for some friends.  Off I went searching through the CU files I had on my laptop which led me down a rabbit trail (I never found the brushes I was looking for.).  I started playing around with different things I found and before I knew it, I had a mini-kit designed.

Now, it's been a while since I really put on my designer hat and after today, I'm sure I'm not going to pick it back up for a while longer other than these random moments like today.  I'm too much of a perfectionist and I get wrapped up into the design and neglect other things (like laundry that was already piled up).  That was one of the reasons I stopped designing in 2012, I couldn't balance my design focus with my family's needs.  However, from time to time I'll have something here on the blog to share with my digital scrapbooking friends.

Here's what started my foray into designing today.  Super simple but it was fun to play!

I may offer that card front sometime but instead of that, today I'm giving you a mini-kit. Now, I have to be upfront with you.  I didn't include some of what is on the card in the kit.  The kit went a different direction but I think some of you may enjoy the mini-kit more.

DOWNLOAD FREEBIE HERE

If you wind up using the mini-kit, I would love to see what you make!

I'm off to crochet for a little bit and then off to bed because I have an 8 am class tomorrow.

Have a great week!

Susan

My Hope is Built....

It has been a beautiful day today.  I have enjoyed having our windows open and being able to listen to the birds outside.  It's peaceful and I've enjoyed taking a day just to enjoy being still and working with some digital scrapbooking things.  I actually started this post earlier today because of a piece of music and that led to me spending some time scrapbooking/crafting/designing.



The words I used in the WordArt title kept spinning through my head this morning.  The hymn " The Solid Rock" is a favorite of mine and was written by Bill Mote in 1834.  I felt pulled to use these words from that hymn in something creative today.  The kit I used is by Connie Prince called Garden Party.

There are pieces of music that I have held close to my heart that God has used to speak to me.  Some in instrumental form and others in song form.  Hymns of faith, songs of worship, and songs that have a depth of emotional connection beyond the notes on the page.  These pieces of music have the power to bring me to my knees in a reminder that I serve a God that knows my every thought, hears every prayer, and only wants to pull us closer to Him.

My heart is breaking for the brokenness of our world but my hope is built on the promises that God will bring us through these troubled times.  I have seen the resilience of His people.  That even when we are separated, we find ways to connect with each other.

This song by for King & Country spoke to my heart today and I hope it brings some comfort to you as well.

______________________________

Scrapbooking friends, crafting friends, I have a gift for you for stopping by the blog today.  It'll only be available for the month of May but I hope you can use it in some way.

BLOG FREEBIE

DOWNLOAD HERE

Jeremiah 29:11