The Esme Update: Friendly's

PVS, Challenges, and More

The Facebook group Stephanie and I created for local scrapbookers is going great. We are up to 45 members and have planned our first event and are working on our second. So happy to make some new friends, and feeling really excited about scrapping. We took last week's challenge from this blog, and this is my take on it.

Challenges

There are sooo many challenges for scrapbookers out there, it's hard to sort through them all and decide which ones you'd really like to be a part of. A friend and I are planning to offer challenges every week to our new local scrapbooking group, so I guess for me that's a good a place to start as any! If you have a challenge group you really like, please link me, cause I'm looking for some more inspiration!

Here is my layout for this week's challenge - from a sketch posted by my friend:

Reading Separately and Together

Now that Esme is older and her reading skills have grown so much, we've lost most of the time we used to spend poring over picture books together. Esme still loves picture books, but it is far more likely she'll grab one to read aloud to me than for me to read to her.

However, we have found a new love - chapter books. She's really enjoying them on her own - everything from Encyclopedia Brown to Beezus and Ramona and Ivy and Bean to Horrible Harry. We also love reading them together. I've read aloud Sarah, Plain, and Tall, The Phantom Tollbooth, Charlotte's Web, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, Pippi Longstockings, and we're working on The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. I find I'm MUCH more motivated to make the time for reading aloud together every night if it is a book I really, really love. When I was a little girl I loved Pippi, but I didn't love it as much this time around. I also wasn't so much on The Phantom Tollbooth, but the rest I've really, really enjoyed. Esme seems really, really interested to know what is going to happen next in Narnia.

The Esme Update - Ed's Kitchen

We are really on a roll with these videos - since we were in CT visiting friends the last couple days we had occasion to eat out, and made another installment of The Esme Update.

The Esme Update - Panera Bread

Esme had such a good time making her Bueno Y Sano review, she decided she wanted to do another one. Panera is usually our go-to spot if we have to be out running errands.

Time for it all.....

I really wish I had time to scrap a page every day, make more cards, paint a lot more, and still be an effective homeschooling mom and Girl Scout leader, as well as work an adequate number of days at my job. As it is, I'll have to settle for doing some of those things. I was really pleased with how quickly this layout came together - these photos were from my brother's family's Christmas card.


This week I am hoping to travel to my bestie's house (about 75 miles away) and spend the night actually scrapbooking with her IN person! It's been soooo long since we could have time together that was about us, and not just running the kids from place to place.

Finished Layout - Best Boy

A friend and I have been going through old scrap magazines and pulling out pages for inspiration. When I looked through my enormous pile, I realized that what I like most is pages with A LOT going on. I love busy layouts!

Some friends and I recently started Pioneer Valley Scrapbookers - a group for local scrapbookers. We used to be part of a really active crop group that was great, but it pretty much fell apart over time. This way we can chat with people locally about our favorite hobby, and hopefully maybe even start up a crop or two. I made this layout for the first challenge.

working on a layout

Still learning to use my Flip cam - will post the finished layout later - thanks for stopping by!

The Esme Update - Bueno Y Sano

snowed in AGAIN

Well this is the SIXTH day school has been cancelled in the city where I work this year. Luckily, my long term assignment ended yesterday so today I would have been off anyway. What's a girl to do when snowed in? Scrap of course!


Since I didn't have any page kits ready to go, I took a bunch of tags and stamps next door so I could visit Shannon and Baby Andrew and just did some experimenting. I am ashamed to say I am totally behind the times when it comes to all the cool mists out there. I have 2 store-bought bottles and one I made myself following tips from 2 Peas. I made three tags using varying amounts of layering, stamping, punching, and misting. Ready to give it a go on a page now.

Summer Pages on a Cold Day

The snow is super deep here and Ethan had to spend most of his day shoveling. We're at about 8 inches so far. Meanwhile, I'm dreaming of summer and parties at Vicki's house. Here's two layouts that include my nephew having fun at her house.

Christmas Cutie

This is an older layout, but looking through pages on some other websites I was reminded of this look and how much I like it. I love the combination of all kinds of different elements clustered together, surrounded by negative space.

I have been scrapping tons of photos of my nieces and nephew lately. When I first started my oldest niece's album, her dad thought I was giving them the album. I was like, yeah, when I die! These are my memories of my niece - I want to keep them! I'm already on volume 2 for both her and my nephew. I have been on a scrapping roll lately and I'm enjoying it very much.

Cookie Booth Video

Writing Projects

We had a big snow day this week! Esme did get most of the day off from lessons, since her dad had to spend most of his day shoveling. I also got the day off from kindergarten.

Esme is starting a new big writing project and given the choice to write about anything she wanted, she decided to write about Barbies. She is writing about playing with them, playing with them with friends, and collecting them. Meanwhile she's gotten in several hours of playtime with the kids next door - luckily she's not trying to call it research.

Snow Day

Wednesday we got about 18 inches of snow here. Since I am a long-term sub right now, I got to celebrate a real snow day. And lucky for me, I have another scrapper right in my house who invited me over to scrap with her. My friend/tenant and I scrapped her table for a few hours while the kids alternated between playing outside and warming up in the playroom. I did two coordinating layouts of my nephew.

Winter Visit

This is an older layout but still one of my favorites and I thought it would b e the perfect page to post on this snowy day. I love making pages with a grid - so fun to arrange the photos and add the embellishments!

homeschooling friends, Math lessons, and more

We are excited that we have two other homeschoolers in our Girl Scout troop this year. It is so nice to know that Esme is mixing with not only schooled children, but children having similar experiences to her own.

This year we have been focusing on Math a great deal. Esme's reading and writing are already far exceeding our expectations in second grade. We want to make sure she is at or above grade level for EVERY subject. Ethan is spending many doing Math with her.

I am teaching Kindergarten right now and it is hard to balance teaching at school and getting anything done at home. I go back to part time in early February and I am looking forward to having time to really work with Esme!

trying to get my scanner to work....

I really, really want to post more pages in 2011 but I am facing some challenges. First of all, my scanner seems to be producing inconsistent images. Parts seem overexposed and I'm not sure what to do about it. Secondly, I have yet to find a great stitching program that works with Windows 7 and and doesn't cost an arm and a leg. I used to use a program that came with my scanner - well, two or three scanners ago. That definitely isn't going to work now. Third, I really, really stink at photographing layouts. Even when I use a tripod I can't seem to get a good image. If anyone has any good tips I'd love to hear them - this is how my layouts are coming out right now:



BTW as bad as that image is, I LOVE those photos. That's my niece last summer grabbing onto my daughter in the kiddie pool. Plus I love those bright Doodlebug papers, and the simplicity of the whole thing. Thanks to Jennifer for giving me the Bazzill border.

New Year's Resolutions

I have three New Year's Resolutions this year:

1. Get my arts and crafts area clean and organized, and maintain it. This will make me so happy.
2. Invite my friends over to scrap and/or craft more. This will make me super happy too!
3. Scrapbook more. I love all the other things I do, but I think scrapbooking has got to be my greatest love. I love photos, pretty papers, and all the tactile stimulation that comes along with embellishing.

To get myself started I did a layout for the Doodlebug challenge at Two Peas.