Something new for 2009!

Well I didn't get the Paper Adventure finished... in fact I haven't done anything on it since April 08. It just seems like 'life' has been really busy (and challenging) this year. I'm looking forward to the start of 2009... there is a feeling deep inside me that this is going to be a GREAT year for me... does anyone else feel that way?

I've got a project that I REALLY want to do so I'm going to put it out to everyone else as well... feel free to join in or just have a read (and hopefully comment) when I do a new post :)

I've just finished reading a really good book... you know the ones that touch your life in a way that makes a difference for you??? The movie 'In Pursuit of Happyness' did the same thing for me :) Getting back to the book... it's called 'Burnt Toast' and was written by Teri Hatcher of Lois & Clark and Desperate Housewives fame.It's definitely not a book about being famous, celebrity parties, Hollywood lifestyle etc... it's more of a story about one woman's struggle (Teri's) juggling work, parenting and everyday life.

When I finished it a couple of days ago I thought... I really need to put some of the things from this book into place in my own life... and the idea has been forming in my head ever since. So I've decided to create myself a scrapbook of my journey to the life I want :)

I haven't made my album yet but I do know that I'm going to do my pages in an A4 size (8 1/2 x 11 3/4 inches). I think I'll make an album on rings so that it can 'grow' throughout the year. I've also decided that I'm going to journal by hand in this album... somehow it just seems 'right' for me.

So far I've done my introduction page because I want to remember why I'm doing this album:
If you can't read the journaling here's what it says:

You know how sometimes a book just 'grabs' you? When you pick it up and just know you have to read it? That's just happened to me!

I was in a little secondhand book shop last week and this book leapt off the shelf at me. It's written by Teri Hatcher and definitely not a book I would usually pick up. I've never even watched Desperate Housewives so why me??? But this book is FANTASTIC!

It's not about Hollywood lifestyles, flashy parties or 'problems' being famous. It's simply the story of a woman juggling work and motherhood and dealing with her own doubts, fears, insecurities and issues... someone not that different from me on the inside!

Every night I looked forward to reading more of her book and in many ways it was like having a chat with a close girlfriend after the kids have gone to bed. I laughed and cried. Felt angry and surprised. But most of all it made me really THINK!

It's made me really think about the way I've been living my life. It's made me question WHY I'm doing things I do and why some things aren't working the way I want them to. So... I'm going to make some changes.... some BIG and some SMALL! Now on with the journey :)

I've decided to call me album: Creating My Life... really love that title (and feel free to use it if you want as well)

I'm committing myself to doing a-page-a-week documenting my journey and using a prompt so like I said earlier... if you want to join in that would be great :)

I'll be back on the 1st of January with the first prompt and then every Sunday after that :)

Happy New Year

Shell xx

Operation 17

It's been a busy week here but I have managed to keep up :)

Operation 17: Something new - Tell me, what is something new in your life?
You may have actually bought something new. Or maybe you rediscovered something and it feels new to you again. Maybe you made something new that you are enjoying. Think about it. Write about it.

We've had a lot of new things happening around here... Miss Krystal has just started her first part time job - stocktaking for a craft store! She's loving it! She's working full time at the moment while she is on school holidays and everyday she comes home and tells me about all the new products I need to see LOL

I've been playing with some new techniques and styles... and of course I've bought a few new scrapbooking items (as you do) but the major new thing in my life is our new retaining wall!

At the beginning of the year we built a brand new patio area... and it's FANTASTIC! But during the building process the old retaining wall fell down so had to build a new one and last week we finally got it all done. It's a big relief... especially since it's rained almost every day since we did it!!! I took lots of photos so that I can make a mini album but my favourite photo of the project was a random shot of the wall with the shovels in front of it LOL

Click HERE if you want to check out the D.I.Y. (Do It Yourself) project. Have a great week :)

Operations 15 & 16

Yes I'm playing catch up again LOL... but it's school holidays here in New Zealand so hopefully I'll catch up on all my projects and be able to stay that way... dreams are still free right??

Operation 15: What's for dinner? PIZZA!!! I LOVE pizza... all different kinds... I'll admit that wood-fired pizzas are still my ultimate favourites but I'm not fussy... home made, bought, takeaways etc so my page for this operation is dedicated to Pizza :)

Operation 16: Inspired - I'm inspired by lots of things...sometimes songs, or a layout in a magazine, colours, themes, texture, fabric. I love reading blogs (in fact I spend far too much time blog hopping). I love working with challenges, swaps, sketches and projects. Recently I made my Mum a birthday present (click HERE to have a look) and she loves vintage style. Now that is one style that I love looking at but something I thought I could never do... but luckily I was wrong... and right now I'm finding myself really enjoying this style so I hope you like my page for this operation :)Now I'm off to help build a retaining wall... our D.I.Y. is still going strong here... and hopefully I'll get the next operation done in a few days time :)

Operation 14

Operation 14: Looking Forward

Originally I was going to do this Operation about Mum's birthday present I'm making and she even said 'You can blog it.. I won't look'... Yeah right!!!

But on the weekend Dave saw an advertisement for a 'Beatlemania On Tour' concert! Normally Dave will say something like: "The gypsy fair is in town" and he'll point out the advertisement but this time he tore it out of the newspaper (and he was careful not to rip it because he knew I'd want to scrapbook it LOL) and asked me about going.

So yesterday after work I went down and bought us two tickets!!! We've got GREAT seats - Row F - which is only 5 rows back from the stage! I'm really looking forward to April 26th now!!!
I think I was meant to scrapbook this instead too because the whole thing came together in about 15 minutes... definitely one of my fastest layouts!!

Operations 12 & 13

I'm back... from school camp that is! We've just been away for a few days at camp and we've had a great time :) I went go-karting... went down a HUGE flying fox and even swung out of a tree on the Tarzan rope and landed in the lake! Lots of fun but EXTREMELY tiring!!!

Now I'm home and have totally enjoyed having a bit of time in my scraproom! So here's the next couple of Operations!

Operation 12: Luck - I'm a big believer that we make our own luck - the choices we make and the way we face challenges determine how much 'luck' we have in our lives. Something that I believe is pure luck though is Lotto! Would I like to win the lottery... of course!!! I buy a ticket most weeks and probably one of the things I really enjoy is daydreaming on a Saturday about what I would do if I actually did win! I never check my ticket until Sunday morning... that way I get a whole night to imagine winning! I've had a little bit of luck... around the $30 mark... but you never know... one day I might just win LOL

Operation 13: Spring - I love spring! I love the days getting lighter earlier... not having to light the fire at night... the beautiful blossoms and the sounds of birds in the trees. I think I must have always loved spring because Mum found a letter that I'd written to Nana (my great-grandmother) when I was about 5 and in the letter I'm telling her all about spring:

Dear Nana

How are you? I am well. In spring the blossoms are being pink and white. The Sinton's are having new baby lambs and daddy is getting cows in with our baby calves. Our house is nearly finished. It is being painted and when we went to the zoo.

Love from Shelley

I have no idea about that last sentence... obviously we must have been to the zoo LOL I really love the little sentence about the 'blossoms are being pink and white'... sounds so cute! It's a real treasure having these letters... thanks Mum for keeping them for me!

Operations 10 & 11

I've been so busy with other projects that I haven't had a chance to do any Operations lately but with the long Easter weekend I've finally managed to get two more done :)

Operation 10: Got Talent? This week, write about your talent. Yours. Not your dog's, or your friend's or your kid's. Allow yourself to be impressed with what you can do. I found it a bit difficult to journal this one without sounding like I had a huge ego!!! I've never thought about myself as talented... creative yes... but not talented! I've always loved being creative: sewing, knitting, crocheting, cross-stitching & making things... that's one of the things I love about scrapbooking... it seems to bring all the things I like doing together!

Operation 11: Habit - Tell me: What habits to you have? What routines to you follow? Are these habits ones you would like to break, or are they a part of you that you enjoy? I decided to journal about a habit I'd like to break... one that I'm working hard on!!! I'm fairly disorganised! I often put things down - or worse still, put them in a 'safe' place... the problem is remembering where I've put them!!! I even found my wallet in the freezer once! So I've started organising my scraproom. I built myself a big cabinet last year and then I've just put up some shelves and peg board to store stuff and my room is starting to get more organised. There's still heaps more to do but I'm really getting somewhere with it all now :)I'm definitely enjoying these Operations and always look forward to seeing what Elise has for us each week :)

Operations 6, 7, 8 & 9

Yes I've been busy!!! Dave has been away for a few days at his brother's wedding so.... while the cat's away the mouse scrapbooks!!! LOL

Operation 6: Colour - I LOVE colour!! Colour is a really big thing for me. I definitely go through phases with colour. At one stage everything in my house seemed to be blue... I had blue carpet, curtains and wallpaper (it was a rented house) so I went and bought myself a blue sofa! Most of my clothes are black or denim... and the bits of colour that I do have in my wardrobe seem to be browns or neutrals. My craft room has quite strong colours... and I love it! I was in a bit of a 'girly mood' when I did this operation so I've gone for pink, purple and turquoise! So here's my page for this operation:

Operation 7: Make a bold statement! I really enjoyed this operation... thinking bold has never been a problem for me (yes I did know that Mum!!!) The only thing that I've never really thought boldly about is ME! But I'm learning to... Over the past couple of years I've made a lot of changes to myself (most of them for the better) and now I'm very comfortable being me so here's my statement: I am ME!Operation 8: Something Old - I've done quite a bit along this line... I've journaled about my doll I've had since I was 2 and I've journaled about inheriting my great-grandmothers dressing table but I've never journaled about the fabulous print I inherited from my grandmother! This print was hanging up in my grandmother's house for years... it came out of a newspaper from 1906! When I was a little girl I used to lie on the floor and look up at it and it always made me feel good. It was on the wall about a tall archway and I'm pretty sure that not many people even really saw it there but I always loved it. My Dad's family have Romany Gypsy ancestry and this print came from my Mum's Mum so it has double meaning for me:Operation 9: Take it or Leave it - advice that is! I had to laugh at this one... there have been times when I've taken others advice and ended up in a real mess and times when I didn't listen to others and ended up in a big mess... but overall it's when I haven't listened to that little voice inside myself that I've ended up in the worst trouble! So now I make a point of listening to my heart and believing in myself and things usually turn out reasonably ok most of the time! I'm trying to instill this advice into my girls as well because I think if you're true to yourself then at least you can say you tried!So now I'm all caught up and ready for the next operation! I'm having a great time with these operations and my journal is filling up pretty quickly :) Thanks for all your comments because they do mean a lot to me!! Have a great week :)

Operations 4 & 5

I've finally done another couple of Operations... thanks Marjolein I needed the hurry up!!! :)

Our school year in New Zealand started four weeks ago so for the past couple of weeks I've been really busy setting up my classroom, doing planning and getting to know my new students... as well as teaching! Hopefully things will settle down soon and I'll have a bit more time to scrap!

Operation 4: Freeze Time - I'm not sure if you'll be able to read the journaling but part of it says: "Sometimes I feel a bit like Meg Ryan in the movie 'You've got mail'. She says she lead a 'small but valuable life'. My life feels a lot like that too. I don't really think my life is very 'exciting' but a lot of what I do impacts on others... particularly my roles as Mum and school teacher. I chose to 'Freeze Time' for Saturday and keep a note of what I did in the day... and it surprised me!!! I had no idea how many activities I do in a day... it's just my life. Saturday was really cool though because I'm the team captain for our school Walk for Life team. We're raising money for the Cancer Society in our area and each time needs to raise as much as they can... so on Saturday we had a sausage sizzle and we raised $583!!! Go us!!!

Operation 5: The Little Picture - This operation involved picking a 'small part' of our lives and journaling about it. I chose going to the gym for mine so of course had to photograph my gym bag, waterbottle and trainers... I should have made sure my MP3 player was in the photo too but it was charging at the time LOL :) I've been going to the gym for 2 months now and most of the time I really like it. It accounts for only 3 hours of my week but the benefits are huge!!! I'm losing a bit of weight, feeling positive, definitely feeling a bit firmer and more toned and it's helping me to stay focussed through the day. Plus I'm going with Miss 15 so it's a bit of mother/daughter time for us as well :)So that's me for now... I'm going to try and get some more done before I need reminding LOL

Operations 1, 2 & 3

I've made a start to the operations now and I'm loving it! I'm so happy with my journal size... it's A5 size and it gives me just enough room to journal my ideas and add a photo :)

After doing the cover I made an intro page so that at the end of the project I can see what I 'thought' the project would be like... kind of cool to reflect back at the end of projects! So here's my intro page:
Operation 1: Balance - This word has been hovering around in my brain for months... I have a real issue with balance in my life! I often get caught up in one area of my life and neglect other areas so this year I've decided to really USE my diary... and I'm going to plan in some fun times!!! Today was a bit of a fun day... NZ had a national holiday today for Waitangi Day which is a celebration of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi between the Maori and Europeans... Dave and I spent the afternoon out at Kerosene Creek which is a geothermal creek running through the bush... there's a big pool and a hot water waterfall and we lazed and relaxed in the hot water for ages :)Operation 2: Your Souvenir - this was a really challenging one but in the end I decided that my love of learning (and teaching) was something I'd like to be remembered for. I've been teaching for the past 10 years - mostly in primary schools but also teaching adults in computer studies plus I've done some scrapbook tutoring. I absolutely love learning new things and coming up with new ideas and techniques to try so here's my page:Operation 3: What's Next? - For the past 5 weeks we've been doing some D.I.Y. building a new patio area and it's been lots of hard work!!! You can check out the project here! Now that we've almost finished (hopefully by the weekend!) Krystal keeps asking me: 'What are we going to do next Mum?' so that's the theme of my page:You can probably tell by now that I'm loving 'bling' LOL I've only just started using little rhinestones and I'm loving them!!! Marjolein asked about the flowers I'm using in the last post (about the title page) they're rub-ons... not sure who makes them because a friend sent them to me but they're so cool to use :)

Paper Adventure 08

Well I've finally made a start on Elise Blaha's Paper Adventure!

I really loved the Deck of Me project last year and was hoping 'someone' would come up with a great idea for this year and Elise came to my rescue LOL

I've been watching to see how I'd like it and so far it's looking good so yesterday I sat down and came up with my front cover which I LOVE! it's a really different style for me and I'm liking the idea of it being a little 'journal' to add to over the year... so here it is:

Once I'd made my cover I got thinking about a couple of the prompts and have almost finished journaling what I want so hopefully by the weekend I'll have some more to show you :)

My cards are finished!!!

I'm feeling really proud of myself... I've actually stuck with this challenge and completed all of the prompts!!! I've always been a great one for starting projects but never actually following through on them to completion but I've actually done it this time and it's a great feeling :)

Week 49: Time flies! It definitely does... and it seems like the older I get the quicker the years are passing by. I've noticed it more this year than others and I think it's because my girls are really growing up. This year has marked some real milestones... they're both now in their teens, Krystal has her learners licence, Mikayla has finished intermediate and I know that my time with them living at home is getting less. So, I've made a concious decision to spend one-on-one time with both of my girls regularly. I love it!!! And more importantly, they seem to love it too :) I feel like I'm really getting to know them in a whole new way... not so much as my daughters but as individuals. I'm learning about their goals, dreams and ambitions... the things that make them angry and sad... what they see as important and I'm discovering that I really, really like spending time with them!

Week 50: the greatest gift. I've had a lot of gifts over the years... some you can put a price on but most of the really important ones have no monetary value... my girls and family are right up there! For this card I chose one of my oldest possessions... a beautiful doll that my Nana (great-grandmother) gave me when I was only 2. I loved her straight away and called her Susan and she went everywhere with me. Looking back on it now she's even more precious to me than she was back then. Nana had very little money and she had terrible arthritis in her hands and knees but she scrimped and saved until she had enough and then she WALKED all the way up to the shops to buy her for me! These days Susan sits on my dressing table (that used to be Nana's) and she wears the christening gown and bonnet I made for my girls. Week 51: made me think of you. Often when I listen to songs I am reminded about different people and times in my life. Some songs bring tears to my eyes and some have me smiling. There were so many to choose from this week so I've highlighted just a few. 'Amazing Grace' always reminds me of Nana because we played it at her funeral and I remember crying my eyes out... even now when I hear it I often end up with tears in my eyes. God of Nations (New Zealand's national anthem) reminds me of Krystal when she was about 5. She'd been learning the song at school and then she proudly sang it to me at home while I did my best not to laugh... here's the first line of the real version followed by Krystal's version:

God of Nations, at thy feet, in the bonds of love we meet.

God of Nations, at my feet, in the ponds of love we meet.

The song that always reminds me of Mikayla when she was little was called Country Bumpkin by Cal Smith and every time we went in the car she wanted the 'Punkin' song!

Week 52: Art! What a great way to end the prompts!!! I really would like to meet up with my 4th form art teacher now so that she could see how 'arty' my life has become. I remember the day she told me not to choose art for a subject the following year because I 'wasn't good enough'. I LOVE being creative... I love playing with paint, ink and paper and creating something unique. I love getting messy but feeling good about what I've made. I really enjoyed making this art card and I've decided to do more 'art for no reason' in the future.So that brings the prompts to an end. I'm looking forward to seeing what Emily comes up with next for everyone! In the mean time I've decided to create just one more card to finish off and then put the whole thing together... I've finally come up with an idea that I HOPE is going to work. Thank you for visiting (and hopefully leaving a comment) and all the best for the new year!!!