I've been scrapbooking like there was no tomorrow. Since the page shown in the last post, I've done twelve more pages. Some are pretty rudimentary and will not be shared here, but there are a few that I worked extra hard on and am very proud of.

This first pair is done on pre-cut templates that I bought at a craft show well over a year ago. I actually took the first 2 pics while the coach was still on the sales lot but after we bought it. Everything else was taken over the first few months we were traveling in it.

I had to figure out picture sizes and reprint just about every single one so they'd fit in their allotted spaces. That was part of the fun, though. So here's our motor home!


This next pair is of our grandkids in February of 2006. Sha'Micah was about three and a half months old. She was such a little sweetie. We SO enjoyed her.


I found the design for her page in a craft book I recently added to my collection. It was a lot of cutting and hoping and when it all fit together, I was VERY happy.

I couldn't do a page of Sha'Micah without doing a page of Chrislon, too. He's not quite five in these photos and WAY full of energy.


I had so many pictures and wanted to get as many on a page as I could. So I was very happy when I remembered the alphabet templates I have. I had to use my (mediocre) math skills to figure out how big to cut the colored squares. That hurt my brain! But the rest of it fell into place pretty well. At least I'm very happy with it. And that's what counts most I guess.

Ok, no big tips on how to do what. I'm just showing off here, both my grandkids and my scrapbooking ideas.

I know I haven't posted anything here in ages. It's not that I haven't been paper-crafting, but that I have worked on things like Christmas cards that couldn't be shared until after they were mailed.

I also completed the album of our 3-week trip to Europe in 2005. I'm a bit behind in my scrapping, wouldn't you agree?

But I did get a couple pages done at the last scrapbooking day we had here at Royal Highlands. This photo was taken in October of 2005 when the five of us siblings were together after our mother passed away. It's a silly picture and I don't even know for sure what the object is that we gave to him. But the photo is priceless in our expressions of totally having fun at Bob's expense.


Be sure to click on the picture to read some of what the background paper says about family. It's all SO true.

Anyway, once the holidays pass, I know I'll be paper crafting a lot more again. And that will mean a few more postings to this blog, I hope. Since I have nearly two years of pictures to get into albums, I think I'll have to go into overdrive if I ever want to get caught up.

My earlier withdrawals have been satisfied! I just finished my fifth scrapbook page since leaving home. It feels good to finish a page or two after so long a time off.

If you read my previous post, you know that I planned and sketched out a number of pages before leaving home. In fact, I wound up with 31! I was amazed at how many I did get organized. And once those are all finished, my European Vacation album will also be completed.

We seem to have free time here in North Carolina (see my travel blog for details). We're busy, but there are days that feel best just hanging around at home. So that's when I try to work in a little paper crafting. And that's been working out just fine.

I'll be making a couple cards in the near future and I just might post those pictures here. I guess that partly depends on how they turn out.

From time to time, I drag out my sewing machine and make something that isn't paper based. It's true that this doesn't happen with any great frequency, but when the need arises, I'll answer the call.

During our RV travels this summer, we will be stopping in Texas to see our grandkids. Chrislon is six (his birthday is today) and Sha'Micah is about 20 months at this posting. Anyway, grandparents can never come to visit without bringing something for the little ones, right? So I have made this teddy bear for Sha'Micah. (I had made one for her big brother when he was a toddler, too.) We'll have to pick up something for Chrislon while we're traveling.

I did all the sewing and stuffing, but I had a good friend paint the face onto the bear. She is quite a bit more artistic than I am and, besides, she has the paints and I don't.

We won't be in Texas till October, so this little bear will see a lot of the USA before she gets to meet her new owner. If only she could talk, right??

It's just under three weeks until we leave on our big summer trip in the motor home. The current plan for this trip has us away for 96 days. So I have to be organized in order to do any crafting over those three months.

Last year I took everything. Every tool, every piece of paper and every kind of supplies I have in my stash. Most of it hid under the bed (there's a good deal of space under there). The problem with that is that whenever I wanted to craft, it seemed that Julian had already gone to take a nap. His being ON the bed made it impossible for me to get UNDER it to get my stuff. So this year I'm getting more organized so I only take what I'll really use and be able to keep it somewhere NOT under the bed.

My best friend suggested that I spend my time before the trip planning out pages, not making them. That way I'd have the proper tools, papers and supplies set aside and not take anything that I wouldn't be using. This plan is working well. I have 14 or 15 pages planned out (so far) and I think I'll be able to fit it all into my one rolling craft case. Of course, the possibility exists that I will change the plan of a page and then not have the supplies I need, but I can live with that. I will return in October and those changes can be completed once home.

The reality of all this planning of pages, however, is that I'm not getting to do pages. So I have nothing new to post. I haven't created anything all month. I'm in withdrawal! So a couple days ago I sat down and made a card. But the ribbon I glued to it is already falling off. Aaaarrrrggghhhh!! So I went back to planning. I've since come up with a couple ideas of how to fix the card and will try to do that in the next few days. But the planning will continue until the last possible moment. If I don't finish them all on the trip, they will still be easy to do once home.

I seem to struggle with kids' cards. But with two grandchildren, I have to find ways to "git 'er done". I had printed the picture of the card below from Scrapbooks, Etc. online. I like the card, but didn't know who would get a similar card, nor when I might get around to making one ... if ever. I do that a lot; I've got tons of ideas clipped and filed in a binder.


Anyway, I was looking at the original when it occurred to me to make the flowers into balloons and then it would work for my grandson. He turns six in July, so I'm hoping he'll like the card. I guess if we put money inside, that would help, huh?


By the way, I used my Cricut machine to cut out the balloons. The words were printed directly onto the colored squares. I used embroidery floss to "tie" down the balloons.

You know, sometimes things just "work". That's the case on these two cards. When inspiration hit me today, I ran with it.

Our very good friend lost his mother this week, so I wanted to make a sympathy card. I'd had these square paint chips sitting on my craft table for ages and I guess I finally found a good use for them.


Karen, you'll like this card I made for Chris's birthday. Do you know why? I often find it hard to make masculine cards, but this one just came together. It was a bit time-consuming, but I think the end result is way worth it.


I'm on a roll, so I think I'll head back to the craft table and see what other gems I might be able to crank out today. But I had to share what I'd accomplished so far today.

When you are a crafter, you look at everything before you allow it to be thrown into the trash!

I pulled something off a top shelf in our hall closet today, and it caught on some flower-pens I had made some time ago. Anyway, one of them got trashed in the process. But these leaves intrigued me... what could I do with them?

Since I'm "into" flowers right now, it seemed natural to put them all together and this is what resulted. I added the rub-on words outside, as well as inside, saying "Happy Birthday".

There are a couple of cool things I used to create this scrapbook page that I wanted to share with my "crafty" friends. (Bob, you can skip this post.)

The orange and green sheets came from the Canon scrapbook web site. They offer lots of backgrounds, borders, fonts and tags in PDF format for free. Well, OK, you still have to spend your own money for paper and ink, but at least you don't have to pay Canon to get the files. They are all letter size so you have to get creative if you scrap 12x12 pages, as I do.

The other fun thing I did was in getting the Don Quixote in the top corner. First I "stole" an image from an online source (that shall remain namesless) and plugged it into my image editing software, making it the right size to fit the space. My sister-in-law gave me a few sheets of clear, full-page labels. So then I printed it onto one of those sheets and cut it to size. Voi-la! My very own sticker created to my exact specifications. So if you're ever stuck for just the right sticker -- this is one way to get around it.

One day recently I started playing around with a card idea that I might mass-produce and then sell online (eBay or something). I tried this and that. Well, nothing was working out. But this card was the end result, even though I won't be mass-producing it.


As the design was coming together, I realized it would be a wonderful card for our friends (and neighbors) who will be celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary at the end of June.

I was so proud of how it turned out that I just needed to share. So if you check in here from time to time, you'll see other creations of mine -- both cards and scrapbooking.