And After 3 Years ...

... it's done.

I finally finished ds#1's High School Baseball book.  Sound the trumpets!

Finishing this up now, three years later, I think I might have done some things differently.  That's what happens when it takes 3 years to finish something. But my son will LOVE it.  He's away this weekend at a retreat, and a burst of energy came over me.  It was the perfect time to finish this up.

When John was a HS senior, I found the red/black/white sports mini album kit by Teresa Collins.  These are the colors of our high school, so how perfect was this?  I bought two (for each son) and got some friends to buy one also.


We got together only once to work on this as a group.  We probably drank more wine than actually worked on the album, and my non-scrappy friends made me laugh ("What if I get ink on my hands?"), but this was the start.

Add the perfect American Crafts Thickers, and anything red and black from Jenni Bowlin Studio, and I had the best collection of supplies to get this done.

After day one, this was promptly stored away and I didn't work on it again until a weekend crop with my friend Amy.  Amy had brought Slice to the crop and generously let me use it, so add various Slice images to the mix and the book was taking on an even different look.

Fast forward to yesterday!  I had a lot of newer items in my stash that were perfect for the album - especially Jenni Bowlin Studio stamps, flatbacks, rhinestone stars, and stickers.  Friday was spent finishing freshman year (I had "lost" the photos) and adding these goodies to the rest of the book.

I thought I was finished late last night, until I saw the three blank chipboard tab pieces peeking out from the book.  The Hear Ye Hear Ye Banner Stickers worked great for these.

I have some blank pages that I'll leave for ds to add whatever he wants, I messed up the binding a bit, and as I said, there are some things if I was doing this start to finish now that I would change.

But I showed ds#2 my finished project and he carefully opened and looked at every single page:

ds#2: "This is amazing. He's going to love it."

me: > sigh of relief <

ds#2: "Where's mine?!"

And so the next project begins ... !



Have a great and creative weekend!

The Little Album that Almost Wasn't

Before I get to my little album story ... I want to share some exciting news that I'm sure many of you have heard already ...  Jenni Bowlin Studio has gone digital with a shop at JessicaSprague.com ! Oh be-still-my-heart!  Can't wait to share some projects with you, but you really need to see what the creative team has been doing over at JS with Jenni's lovely designs ...  take a look at the shop and choose a product ... look at "other images" and you'll see some gorgeous works of art!

Now, the little album that almost wasn't story ...

When I first learned how to scrap digitally, I took a beginning lesson from Renee Pearson.  It was a great class!  As we learned, we created a mini album.  I altered the theme and colors a bit in order to create a book for Matt about playing All-Star baseball when he was 12.  I never finished the album.  To me it was more of a learning experience and the finished product didn't matter.  When the class was over, I had a 1/3 of a completed album tucked away.

Now and then, I go on major purging sprees.   This usually happens after watching an episode of "Hoarding".  If you're in my way, watch out because you might get thrown out also.  During one of those "purging attacks", I happened upon the little baseball book.  It was only 1/3 done, I didn't think it was very special,  and I didn't even think twice when I threw it in the trash.

Now Matt happened to see this book in the trash.  What he was doing looking in the trash I don't know to this day.  But he saw it and brought it to me with an incredulous look on his face.

him: "You were going to THROW THIS OUT?!"

me: "But it's not even done, Matt ..."

him: "What if I didn't look in the garbage and find this!"

me: "Oh .... ok Matt .... hmmm ..... sorry!   It's not even very good!"

he left muttering and all I could hear were words like "crazy", "nuts", and "jeeeeeeze".

So I took the book and worked one weekend to finish it.  It was pretty easy to finish really.  Very basic, nothing fancy.  Lots of journaling about that summer.  I sent the pages off to Shutterfly for printing.  When the pages came back, I simply inserted them in the photo album I had bought and decorated  years ago and gave him the book.  The crazy boy loved it.

Fast forward a year.  I didn't give the little book much thought until the other day.  I was picking up in Matt's room when I saw this little book on his dresser that he displayed front and center, before heading off the college again.  I flipped through and thought how silly I was for throwing this book out without even a thought.  Here he has this little book, simple as it may be, but rich in journaling about his 12th summer of life.  How he played his little heart out.  How we "bonded" one night in a rented room with no electricity.  How he would pick me out in the crowd and give an incredible smile.  How his team performed under incredible pressure in front of thousands.  How beautiful he thought Cooperstown, New York was.

Silly, silly me.  Why did I toss this?  Because there weren't enough embellishments?  Because an album of memories 1/3 done isn't worth holding on to?  I'm not really sure.

I read this little album again and I'm not ashamed to say that I bawled like a baby.  Was I crying because of the sweet memories?  Because this boy was gone away again? Because his college team calls him Ducky too?  Because this little album almost wasn't?  I'm not sure. But how wonderful to have this little album now.

Much accomplished at a Fiskateers Crop!

Thanks to Amy I'm now a proud Fiskateer!  And Amy had a wonderful Fiskateer crop Saturday after trying to find a suitable place among the storm damaged area.  Some people STILL don't have power around here!  Wishing them power real soon! 

I did get a lot accomplished!  My October Daily is done!  Only one day went by without a photo:

John's highschool baseball album now has 2 years down with 2 to go.  Must finish before son graduates college!  And then I can start Matt's - who's already playing college. LOL!

And then I created a very special piece to a very special garland.  You can see all the pieces being put together here!  I just love this idea!

Another project done too - which I love and will post soon.

Ya', I know some people get 50 things done at crops.  But I'm one very slow scrapper!

Have a creative day!