2009 Shellnut Thanksgiving Album

WOW! By this time last year I had created a dozen layouts and written nearly two dozen posts on this blog!! And here it is March 1st and this is my FIRST entry for 2010!! Man, have I been slacking.

However, in the last six weeks of my pregnancy, I'm going to try and scrap and post as much as is comfortable for me to do so. (And as much as my Monday-Thursday single motherhood schedule allows!)

I actually finished this Thanksgiving album back in January. Yes, it sat on my scrap table in a state of partial completion for nearly the entire month, much longer than I ever like to let a project sit. But, in the end, I got it finished, the memories are captured, and that's what counts.

It documents the Thanksgiving celebration that we had with my side of the family this past year (I still have to print pictures and make the album for the Thanksgiving we shared with Kevin's family!! It's on the to-do list.) We celebrated at my sister's house, and it was really weird not having my parents there with us. They're officially snowbirds now.

This album flips kind of like a perpetual calendar. And there are several "little" squares in between each page that has each person's thankful thoughts on them so that we can pull it out next Thanksgiving and be reminded of what everyone was thankful for in 2009.

Front Cover

First & Second Pages (My sister's family)

Third & Fourth Pages (My brother's family)

Fifth & Sixth Pages (My family)

Seventh & Eighth Pages (My cousin and her husband)

Back Cover

MacRay Harbor Accordion Album

Our fourth of July holiday weekend (and my week of vacation following that), was kicked off by a trip to my cousin Deb and her husband John's boat on Lake St. Clair on Friday, Jul3 3rd.

They keep their boat at MacRay Harbor, which is a very nice, fun place to hang out...when you're not out on the water in their gorgeous boat. The boys went swimming in the pool and we had dinner at the Marina (all you can eat BBQ which was delish!!)

I made two versions of this accordion album, one to give to Deb & John as a thank you gift, and one to keep. The only difference between the two albums is the color of the background cardstock (ours is yellow, theirs is blue) and a slight variation in where some of the embellies are placed (all from a CTMH Stick Ease set).

It was GREAT doing two of the same albums at once. Something I will definitely do again in the future.

Front:

Pages 2 & 3:Pages 4 &5: Back:Pages 7 & 8: Pages 9 &10: Overview (I love how this accordion album can stand up on its own for display):

Father's Day Album for my Dad

Also, back in June, I made this Father's Day mini album for my dad. It was a SU! Stamp Camp project from last fall. I have since made other versions of this super simple album for other occasions, but this one is the original. All I had to do was add the pictures, journaling, and embellies.

Front of Album:

First Page (I thought this quote was PERFECT for this picture and for my parents' relationship):

Shawn's Picture and Note to my Dad: Jeremy's Picture and Note to my Dad: My Picture and Note to my Dad (the photo I took here is SUPER blurry, so if you can't tell, that's my dad - with a mustache! - in his firefighter uniform, in front of a firetruck, with me, age 3, wearing his fire helmet.): Last Page:

Kev's Father's Day Mini Album Card

Lest ye think I've spent my entire summer neglecting my papercrafting love, I made this mini-album/card for Kevin for Father's day back in June. It was actually a project that I made at my SU! Stamp Camp, that I turned into a Father's day album. The colors don't show up very well in the photos, so let me just say that I turned all the pictures to sepia. And the album papers/cardstock/ink colors are purple and a mossy green.

This is an aerial view of the mini album. It was quite involved with all of those flippy flaps, but pretty cool.

Front:

Inside:

Jordyn's Note to Kev:

My Note to Kev:

Symmetrical Inner View:

Liam's Note to Kev:

Owen's Note to Kev:

The very inner inside of the album / card:

Lessons on Motherhood from my Mom

I read a bazillion scrapbook / artsy type blogs. And several weeks ago, I got this idea for a mother's day album and fell in love with it. I wish I could remember what blog I saw it on so that I could give props to the idea originator, but, like I said, I read a bazillion blogs and tried to re-find it, but gave up after ten minutes.

Anyhow, the idea was to show two pictures, on of your mom and you as a child, and the other picture of you and your child - doing a similar activity or at a similar event.

I was able to put together this album using 2 sheets of 12x12 cardstock, 2 sheets of 8 1/2 x 11 cardstock, scraps from Owen's 5th Birthday layout, a couple of rings, and some lengths of different ribbon. Easy Peasy.

I love love love the way this album turned out.

Looking back on these photos, I realized a couple of things.

• My mom was a very pretty young mother.
• Owen looks SO much like me.
• I look SO much like my mom.

Happy Mother's Day!