Scrapbooking!

Man, it has been a long time since I have had any real scrapbooking mojo, but I think it’s back! It started when we went into lockdown and I decided that I needed to work on Project Life in real time. So now I have a system and it’s actually working! Each Sunday night, I go through my phone and choose photos from the week and email them to myself. Then on Monday, I squeeze in little pockets of time to print the photos and get them in the album. They are not the most creative layouts that I’ve ever done, but I think it’s way more important to get the stories captured in real time than to agonize about which embellishments to use. Week 11 was our last week “in the wild” so during week 12 I completed the week 11 layout. And it was like a dam broke! I’ve now completed weeks 11-16 in real time, and then I got inspired to try to fill in the gap. So I went back and did weeks 1 and 10. AND weeks 32-37 in the 2019 album! I think this is actually a doable way to stay current and catch up. Fingers crossed! I have 8 layouts in 2020 to do and 16 in 2019.

Then I decided, what the hell, maybe I should give scrapbooking another go. lol. And it was super fun! I ignored my huge backlog of layouts in favor of scrapping some pics from March. I’m enjoying doing Project Life in real time so much that I think I’m going to keep focusing on current layouts. It would be amazing if I could actually finish the previous month’s layouts in real time!

So what does this mean for actual goals? Well, first priority is to keep doing the previous week’s Project Life layout on Monday. Then work on both the previous month’s scrapbook layouts and filling in the gaps on Project Life. Once Project Life is up to date, I’ll think about a plan to catch up the actual scrapbooks which is going to a huge undertaking. I think I’m currently on August of 2018. ::sigh:: But, I made a scrap list for March 2020 and I’ve started working through it. I also got out all of my mixed media goodies yesterday and made 9 background so that should speed up the process. ๐Ÿ™‚

My CoronaCraft

Despite having multiple ongoing projects that I need to work on, I decided that this would be a great time to start a whole new project! And you know what? I have no regrets. lol. That’s right y’all, I finally started on my 60* diamonds!

With my hexagons, I didn’t know any better so I just cut out all of my papers on my Silhouette. It worked just fine, but I was bummed that I wasn’t using a standard size and so I couldn’t get an acrylic template to use for fussy cutting. This time I ordered my papers and acrylic template from Paper Pieces and they are awesome! So much easier than cutting them myself. ๐Ÿ™‚

I’m not sure what the final quilt will look like, but obviously it’s going to be scrappy!

Specifically, a scrappy center with a coordinating low volume outer.

And naturally, there are plenty of fussy cuts!

And it should come as no surprise that I’m going with a full on rainbow theme. ๐Ÿ™‚

I’m trying to decide how big to make this, but I know that, at minimum, there will be 2 hexies of each color. That could make a pretty cute wall hanging. But maybe I should go all in and plan on a lap quilt? Thoughts?

April Goals

This is a bizarre new normal we’re living in. :/ But I still love goals and I still love crafty things so lets see how March went.

  1. Butterflies and Caterpillars. I did almost nothing on this. But, I did decide on one of the green fruits! I’m going to do olives. ๐Ÿ™‚ So maybe I’ll make some more progress on it this month?
  2. Scrapbooking. Well, I did order some cardstock so that’s something. lol. Still need to set aside an evening and make the backgrounds.
  3. Project Life. I didn’t make any progress on the older layouts, but I did decide that, with everything going on in the world right now, I needed to document more “in the moment.” So I ordered my binder nad page protectors for 2020 and decided that I would do the previous week each Monday. And I’m happy to report that I have weeks 11, 12, and 13 done! At minimum, I’m going to continue with this plan, and eventually I’d like to get to where I can slowly fill in the gap. Of course, I’m now sharing my office with my first born, lol, so we’ll see.
  4. Road trip prep. Obviously we cancelled our spring break trip so I never made a book.
  5. Hexies. I am happy to report that I surpassed this goal! I got the first half of the hexie quilt finished!
  6. Pixilated Heart Quilt. This has been put on hold for now since, obviously, I’m not currently having sewing class. At least not in person.
  7. Bluebonnet Pics. Done!
  8. Tomatoes. We actually planted them! And now that we’re home all the time it’s actually getting watered. lol. Kind of wishing I’d put in a more substantial garden now.
  9. Blog. hahahahahaha.
  10. Move more. hahahahahaha.

I was going to add a pic of our bluebonnet pics, but Kate’s doing school on my big computer right now. lol. Maybe I’ll make it a post all its own!

So, April goals.

  1. Butterfly and Caterpillar Quilt. Finish butterfly and caterpillar applique. I think I only have half of a caterpillar and 3 or 4 butterflies left to do. I’d also like to prep the olive applique.
  2. Start on EPP diamonds. Since I lack all self control, I went ahead and ordered some papers and a template to start a EPP diamond quilt. lol. It should be arriving today!
  3. Journal every day. I ordered journals for Kate and myself and we’re attempting to journal every day. So far so good!
  4. Project Life. Keep up with current layouts.
  5. Windchime Quilt. I finished my 6th block yesterday! Only 19 to go. lol.
  6. Birthday Party Prep. The babies are turning 5 and I need to figure out how to have some kind of virtual birthday party for them…
  7. Mixed Media. I want to go ahead and make those mixed media backgrounds.
  8. Scrapbooking. I’d really love to get a few traditional layouts done this month. Maybe 5?
  9. Montessori Trays. I made the babies some last month and they seemed to enjoy them for a day or 2. We’ve been working in a workbook for their “homeschool” which they actually love, but I’d like to change it up a bit and have some other activities for them to do.
  10. Maintain Sanity.