Worthy of a Read

I love this article:  http://www.scoutiegirl.com/2011/11/building-your-creative-bookshelf.html  I was her!  Although I don't think I had nearly the collection she had accumulated.  But in my first few years of teaching, I bought numerous works of literature because I thought I should read them--and then they sat on my shelves--some for almost ten years now.  I purged quite a few before moving from SA to MS, although it was difficult to admit that I really had NO desire to read "Catch-22."  In MS, I joined a book club and adored reading different genres and in general, renewed my love of reading.

This past year I've read forty books!  In 2010 I only read about twenty, so you see how intentional I have become in my reading.  There were several factors that helped me along the way:

1.  We didn't have cable, so there were less distractions.
2.  Jason deployed to FL and so there were even less distractions.  (Comparing the first part of the year to the last part--I read twenty-five books in the first six months of the year.  I have only read fifteen since July--considerable slowdown.)
3.  I renewed my desire to read all of the Newberry Medal books--some of which were waiting for me on my bookshelves, while others I have found at the library.
4.  I only read what I want to read and I do not read what I think I "should" read.  I'm much more likely to pick up the book and read it regularly if I'm enjoying it. 



The books leaning to the right have been read.  There were five more, but I sent them back to their owner. :)

 When I moved to FL I brought a certain number of books--I had hopes that I would get through the majority of them before we moved again.  Alas, that wasn't quite the case.  Again, distractions, and also borrowing other books from friends and the library.  I'm also pondering if I want to read some of the titles on my shelves.  "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo" was incredible, but also gritty and emotional--I have to be in the right frame of mind to continue the series, so those books sit. 

Those are my literary ramblings for today. 

Cheers!

Gettin' Crafty

I never have less than three or four projects percolating at one time.  That's just me.  One such project has been on my mind for a couple of years.  My Aunt Bev showed me a darling Christmas tag she though I could reproduce for her, since I am the artsy one in the family.  I took the tag and tucked it away.  I finally decided I needed that project off my mind.

Here is what she wanted me to replicate:

Very pretty.  These were some of my better attempts at the tree using watercolors:

Kind of got there, but I didn't feel like I could do that for many tags.  I turned to Storybook Creator 4.0, my digital scrapbooking software.  Here are two different results:

I'm happy.  Now to buy some good paper to print them on--I have some, but it is in storage.  Everything feels as though it is in storage right now.

Latest Projects

In the last week I have completed several projects.  The most notable, in my world, is traditionally scrapbooking my freshman year of college!  I haven't focused on traditional scrapbooking in awhile, but I have a lofty goal of finishing college in the next four weeks.  Yikes!  So, to work I must go.  Below are two pages.  I've also completed many digital calendars that will be Christmas gifts, which is why I can't post them right now.  I did include a page from our 2011 album of Jason's promotion.  I love the textures and layers!  



All projects were created using Creative Memories products.