28 Days of Sketches: Days 25-28

Finally...the last four sketches from the amazing 28 Days of Sketches, taught by Lisa Day at Big Picture Classes.

Sketch 25:

In the Summer of 2008 I was passing by a garage sale and saw a bounce house for sale for $75.  I told Prince Charming right away and he ran down the block to buy it.  I knew Bug-a-Boo would absolutely love it and I also knew it could come in handy when friends were over.   She just loves to bounce in it and it was worth every penny.

Sketch 26:

The small pictures made this one difficult to find a subject for but then I saw the photos from a cousin sleep-over at Grandma and Grandpa's house over Thanksgiving.  This was Bug-A-Boo's first "sleep-over" we were a little nervous how she would do.  She had a great time though and did fantastic.  This would be the first of many.

Sketch 27:  Sometimes one photo is all it takes to tell a story.

I love this photo.  Bug-A-Boo was a little over a year old and my parents came to visit.  Mom decided to give all of the dogs a treat and Bug-A-Boo wanted one too.  All four of them lined up and took their turn.  The best part about this photo is that all of our beloved Fur Babies are in it.  Our cute little Cori and our much missed Kady who we lost 3 months after the picture was taken and my parents dog, Sable, who left us a little over a year ago.  

Sketch 28:  This sketch is very linear with the focus on the photos.

I chose three pictures from a defining moment for Bug-A-Boo.  Getting out of the crib and into a toddler bed.  She had been climbing out of her crib for a couple of months at this point and we couldn't put it off any longer.  She was so excited to help put it together and climb in for the first time.

That's it!  Thanks for following along on this journey of 28+ Days.  Check out Big Picture Classes for more wonderful classes like this one.

Chore Chart

We have decided that this summer is the perfect time to introduce Bug-A-Boo to the idea of household chores.  We have also decided that we will be giving her an allowance for doing these chores to start teaching her about the value of money.

The first thing we did was decide on an amount that she could make weekly.  We decided on $3.00 a week.  One dollar for every year of age.   We then decided that each time she completes a chore she can earn $.10, however if she chooses to not complete a chore, and mommy or daddy has to do it, then we get the $.10.  So, the maximum she can make in a week is $3.00 and it goes down from there based on whether she actually does the chore.  Right now this seems to be working.  Since we started, there have been a few times when she has said she didn't want to do one of her chores and when I told her that I would get her dime she quickly changed her mind.

The other nice thing about this system is that as she gets older she will be able to make more money but it will mean we add new chores and new responsibilities appropriate to her age.

THE CHORE CHART

I created the chore chart on the computer.  I made a grid in Excel and added cute clip art and photos to make it interesting and fun for her.  

Her chores are as follows:
Monday-Friday:  Make bed (we all get the weekends off)
Monday-Sunday:  Help feed Cori, Help set the table for dinner, Help clear the table after every meal
Monday:  Help gather trash
Sunday:  Fold the napkins
Twice a week:  Help empty dishwasher

The number of times she has chores to do is 30 at $.10 each is $3.00 a week.

I've hung the chart on the side of the refrigerator where she can reach it.  I used an 8-1/2" x 11" sheet of magnetic paper and printed 30 dimes on it.  Using a 1" circle punch I punched out the dimes.  When she completes a chore she gets to mark it off with one of the dime magnets.  This is also helping her in her counting and figuring of money.

We also plan to introduce "bonus" chores when needed.

TEACHING THE VALUE OF MONEY

The main reason we are doing this is to not only teach her about household responsibilities but also the value of money.  Right now we are pretty lucky in the fact that she isn't one of those kids that starts to throw a fit or is constantly saying, "I want that, I want that", when we are at a store.  I'm guessing it is just a matter of time before this starts.

Our goal is that when she does start doing this we will be able to tell her that if she wants something, we can go home and count the money in her bank and if she has enough we can return to the store and she can buy it with her own money.  Knowing Bug-A-Boo she will change her mind pretty quickly.  If she doesn't have enough in her bank she can either keep doing her regular everyday chores and save up the money or she will be given the option of  doing extra work and this is when the "bonus" chores will come into play.

As she gets older and starts to understand the concept of money a little better we plan to introduce a more  detailed teaching.  A percentage (40%) of her weekly allowance will automatically be put into her savings account (similar to having taxes taken out of a paycheck).  A percentage (10%) will go to charity, which will be chosen around the holidays each year.   A percentage (15%) will go into her college fund, which we will match on a yearly basis (similar to a 401K plan).  The remaining (35%) can be used in any way she wishes.

With a $4.00 weekly allowance this adds up to $83.20 a year in savings, $20.80 a year to charity, $31.20 into her college fund ($62.40 with our match) and $72.80 a year to be used however she would like.  Not bad for a four year old.

28 Days of Sketches: Days 21-24

We are coming into the home stretch.  Here are Sketches 21-24.

Sketch 21:  This sketch also works great when rotated.

During one of his many Hilton Head Island trips Prince Charming made a side trip to Savannah, GA to check out the sites from the book, "Midnight In The Garden of Good and Evil".  Just waiting for his journaling.

Sketch 22:  Pretty simple.  Two photos.  You could convert the square photo to a landscape 4x6 and maintain the look.

The only holiday photos of Prince Charming from before we met.  Here he is with the Ellis family and showing off one of the gifts he received that year.  Waiting for him to write his journaling.

Sketch 23:  This sketch is designed to have one focal photo and four accenting photos.

I chose photos from the one and only time I went on Spring Break while in college (or ever, for that matter).  I went to Florida with my roommate Melanie and her friend from High School Karin.  I saw the ocean or the first time and went to bike week at Daytona Beach. 

Sketch 24:  The teacher called this a "classic sketch" - one that she can go to over and over again, each time creating a different look.

This is one of my all-time favorite photos of Bug-A-Boo.  It is from her first Christmas.  My parents got her this fun hat to join her collection.  She just loved wearing it and unbeknownst to us a sign of the emerging "silly" personality in Bug-a-Boo.

Only four more layouts to go!!

28 Days of Sketches: Days 16-20

I know, I know.  It has been way more than 28 days since I started this awesome class at Big Picture Classes.  Life has a way of preventing me from scrapbooking every day.   Anyway, here is the next batch of layouts.  I kept them pretty simple and pretty close to the sketch.

Sketch 16:  This sketch is designed for 14 photos but could easily be adapted to work with less, which is what I did.

I was able to combine the photos from the rest of the day after I ran the Half Marathon at Disney World.
I really love the simplicity of this page.

Sketch 17:  This could be changed to squares or rectangles.

When searching for a subject for this sketch I went first to my Memorabilia Box.  I found these butterflies that I saved from Bug-a-Boo's 1st Birthday Party cake.   She found them one day a months later and put them in her hair and we declared her a Butterfly Princess.  

Sketch 18:  This is another grid-based sketch that can work with 12 photos or can be combined with larger photos.  

I love these classes at BPC because I'm able to use the sketches, etc. as a way to get photos from Storage Binder #1 scrapped.  Storage Binder #1 contains photos of mine and Prince Charming's lives before we knew each other so from 1970 - 2000.  I chose to use this sketch to document some photos that had been hanging around forever that documented a pretty cool summer when I was in High School.

I had a friend that did some PR work for one of the stars of Days Of Our Lives during the late 80s, early 90s.  She knew I was a fan and would ask me along on some of the personal appearance gigs.  This was a really cool thing for me.

I added a pocket page to hold the memorabilia that I had in my Memorabilia Book from this particular trip.

Sketch 19:  The teacher of the class really likes to work with smaller photos.  I however am having a difficult time with this but am up for the challenge.

Again, I chose photos from Storage Binder #1.  I don't have to many photos of Prince Charming from this time period so I definitely want to scrap ALL of the photos I do have.  It is sometimes difficult to scrapbook something I wasn't around for and have absolutely no frame of reference for.  Fortunately, Prince Charming is onboard with my endeavor and he is happy to write the journaling for these pages that feature him.

Sketch 20:  This is a simple sketch, with photos on the right side and title on the left.  You can rotate to work with photos that are oriented differently, if you want.

More early Prince Charming photos.  These come from one of the many trips to Hilton Head Island he took in the 90s.  I just waiting for him to give me some journaling that will go in the upper left above the title.

Next up...21-24!

Father's Day Card

There is a blog out there that I follow on a pretty regular basis.  It is called Scrapper At Heart and it is right here at Blogspot.   The author, Jennifer, is one of the most talented Scrap Artists I have ever seen.  I have garnered inspiration from her on many occasions and plan to respectfully scrap lift some of her designs for Disney pages.  Her creativity with the Cricut is amazing to me and I look forward to new projects on her blog.

One such amazing project she highlighted was a card that she made using the Toy Story Cricut cartridge.  I had seen her post of Sept. 2010 shortly after getting my own Toy Story Cart and I was blown away.  She had made a card for her husband that featured the Lil' Green Aliens in the Claw machine.  It was awesome.  I knew I had to try it.

I had no idea how to implement the design and I didn't really have a reason or a person in mind to make it for.  That is until Bug-A-Boo's 3rd birthday weekend.  My parents and my brother and his family made the trip to Ohio for the big party.  The night before the party we decided to take all the kids to Dave and Busters for dinner and games.

I'm not even sure who's idea it was or how it started but my dad sat down at the claw machine and decided he was going to try to win Bug-A-Boo a stuffed toy.  Well, an hour or so later he was dubbed, "The Clawmaster" and had won not only Bug-A-Boo 8 different prizes but Sammie and Emma walked away with about 8 things each as well.

After that night Bug-A-Boo has called him "Clawmaster" and whenever she sees a Claw game she says, "Momma, look.  It's The Claw.  Grandpa is the CLAWMASTER!!!"

I knew immediately that I had to make the card with the Toy Story aliens for my dad.  That was in August of 2010 and I am just now getting around to doing it.

With Father's Day being this past weekend I thought it was a perfect occasion to make the card for my dad.

The card itself is 8-1/2" x 5-1/2".  I used the Toy Story Cricut Cart for the rocket and aliens.  The rocket is from <Buzz3> and I cut it at 8-1/2" and hand cut the flames off at the bottom.   The aliens were cut at 2-1/2" and I fused together (using my Gypsy) the capital "I" and "moon" shape from George to create the claw.   I can't remember what size the claw is cut at.  I then hand cut some transparency paper to make it look like the alien was enclosed in glass.  The final touches were the shapes behind the rocket. I cut out rectangles and used my Quickutz handle to emboss them with the squares.

I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out.  It took me 2 hours but it was fun to make and I knew that dad would love it!

Happy Father's Day, Clawmaster!!

My Scrap Space

I love my Scrapbooking Room!  It makes me happy to just be in it.  I love the colors and the way it's organized.  Most of my favorite things are in this room.  When we first bought our house we realized that the first room you saw when you walked in the front door was supposed to be for a formal living room.

Well, we didn't have furniture for a formal living room and we knew we would never use the room.  We decided it was a perfect space for my scrapbook/craft room.  I had this fabulous chair that I had bought years earlier for my apartment in Michigan and I absolutely loved it!  I had no idea though where in the new house I would use it.  I seemed a perfect fit for my new scrapbook room.

I called my cousin, Kristin, who was majoring in Interior Design and asked her to come down to Ohio from Michigan and design my room.  She saw my awesome chair and used it as the inspiration for the color palette of the room.  We painted the walls an awesome yellow and I bought my fabulous desk from IKEA and the unpacking/decorating began.

It seems as if the room is constantly evolving.  Here it is in it's latest incarnation.

I collect Disney figurines and those are in the cabinet.  My Cricut is on the credenza behind my awsome IKEA desk along with my smaller embellishments and tools.  I used to work at a scrapbook store that went out of business so that is how I got the paper trays.

On top of the paper trays is where I keep my School of Life storage box and some clean pizza boxes I wrapped with paper, which serve as Material Files for larger theme album projects.

I also use the Karen Foster Snap Boxes to hold pages that are finished and waiting for a home (ie.  I ran out of page protectors for my albums).  I have also recently received Becky Higgins Project Life for my birthday which I am planning on using starting next birthday to chronicle my 40th year.

This bookshelf between the windows is kind of Library of Memories Central.  (more on Library of Memories in a future post).  This five shelf bookcase holds my Category Drawers, Memorabilia Notebook, embellishments, patterned paper, class notebooks and inspiration notebooks as well as my Storage Binders and Material Files.

These are my Category Drawers.  The drawers that Stacy Julian uses and recommends were a little to pricey for me so I decided to just by photo boxes in the colors of my Library.  Green=Places We Go, Pink=Things We Do, Red=People We Love, Brown=All About Us.   On this same shelf is a 3" binder that I use to hold Memorabilia that I have photos to go with and want to scrap.

Two other shelves contain these glass vases that hold embellishments like pieces of ribbon, flowers, and other miscellaneous items, sorted by color.  Another inspiration from Stacy Julian.  Not only does it force me see all the items I have but it also provides some color decoration in my room.

Last but certainly not least are my Storage Binders and Material Files.  The Storage Binders contain all of the photos from 1970 until today that I want to scrapbook.  Seems like a lot I know but there are only 6 binders and Binder 6 only contains photos from Fall 2010 until now.

These are my Material Files.  These folders contain paper, stickers, embellishments and photos that are specific to a theme album or project I'm working on.

This is my wall of color.  My favorite chair occupies a corner and then some cube shelving from Target takes up the rest of the wall.  This is where all my little toys, red-haired dolls, Emerald City and more Library of Memories stuff resides.  The colored bins are again inspired by Stacy Julian's Scrap by Color system.  All of my other scrapbooking supplies like ribbons, die cuts, chip board, pens, paint, ink and more are organized by color and stored in these bins.

This is my Family Words File that lives in my cube wall.  This is where I store favorites quotes, lyrics, poems, etc. to be used as inspiration for scrapbook pages.

This is my Cultural Memorabilia Box (also stored in my cubes).  This is where I store things like tickets, fortunes, tags, etc. that I would like to use as ephemera on a scrapbook page.

This is my large Memorabilia box.  This stores things that are too big for the Memorabilia Notebook.

These are my Family Tree Drawers and my Square-punch Picture Drawers.  I have nine Family Tree Drawers.  #1 is for Me, #2 is for Prince Charming, #3 is for my mom and her family, #4 is for my dad and his family, #5 is for Prince Charming's mom and her family, #6 is for Prince Charming's dad and his family, #7 is for People, #8 is for Places and #9 is for Professional Portraits.

There are three Square-punch drawers, one for each of us.

The final LOM element that is stored in the cubes are my Cold Storage Boxes.  These contain photos that I don't want to scrapbook or do anything with but at the same time I don't want to throw them away.

That's it.  That is my scrapbooking room.  Eventually, I will do posts that explain each individual element and the way I use it to help me tell our stories.  Hope it's been inspiring.