Goodbye Summer

Another summer has come and gone and I've neglected my blog once again. I can't believe the last post was in June. What was I thinkin'? For some unknown reason I forgot to record our trip to Ohio, our visit from Neal and Emily and the many trips to Bowling Green to move Amber back home. I didn't record how super excited I was to have her back in the house for awhile after missing her all these years while she finished her degree. I didn't tell you about her new boyfriend and his visit or all the times that Hannah's boyfriend came to visit and hang out with us. Somehow I missed recording how much fun we had at the Braves baseball game with the Bacas and Mathesons or the movies we saw and the things we did. I didn't tell you about our road trip to Asheville, NC to look at apartments for Amber, Hannah and Maggie which was a wasted trip since they weren't ready to move yet but at the same time a fun road trip with my girls. Didn't mention picking strawberries and blackberries at Adam's farm or attending the Scrapbook Expo in Duluth, GA with Nicki and Tiffany.  And I guess you don't know that Russ became a deacon at church and that we adopted a second grandson here in Georgia named Micah  because he's such a sweet little guy that makes me smile. And then how we heard the sad/glad news that James Finney passed away. Sad because we will miss him but glad because he is in a better place than we are. I neglected to tell you about my great nephews coming by to have dinner with me or the frustrations I felt over my computer virus attack.  And how did I forget to tell you about getting to see my favorite baby in the whole world Mr. Liam as he turned three months old. His smiles and laughter made August a pretty special month.  I read a bunch of books, walked a lot of walks and did a little scrapping.  But I guess you didn't know that because for some reason I haven't posted in this blog since June.  It's a good thing I did a scrapbook about this summer or you might have missed out on a lot of the details of what a great summer 2011 was.  But now it's fall and the leaves are starting to change so I'm thinkin' I'd better try to be a better blogger for fall or who knows what you'll miss out on.  I just started my birthday challenge of 52@52 with a list of 52 things to accomplish this year.  Maybe I'll tell you all about it in my next post but if you're curious in the meantime, you can read all about it here:  http://scrappyru-52at52.blogspot.com .

Scrapbook Room

 I was looking back over my earlier blog entries and realized that I'd shared my scrapping room at our previous house but had never posted any pictures from my current scraproom so here it is.  It is packed full of supplies that will last me a lifetime.  This first picture is my computer area.  I have a bulletin board on the back wall where I post inspirational quotes etc.

 Here's a close-up of the desk where I spend all my time either working on digital pages, browsing facebook or pinning on pinterest.  Although you can't hear it, I've usually got a little piano music courtesy of my pianist husband serenading me while I work in the evenings. 

 This shelf houses my albums I'm working on and my big shot and zutter.  I filled the rest of the shelf with pictures and things that inspire me.

 This next picture shows the area where I scrapbook.  I got the table from my daughter's apt.  They were discarding it and it was perfect for my room so I snagged it.  It's usually scattered with paper and embellishments.  I work better once I get messy. 

 I really want to paint the room in a color I love but I put this quote up when we first moved in and hate to lose it when I paint.  I may just have to tape it off and make a frame around it. 

 As you can see I've got quite a big collection of scrapbook inspirational books.  Whenever I'm stuck for an idea I just start browsing my books and something inspires me.

 I got this pie safe at a yard sale a friend was having and I was so excited to get it for my room.  It houses many of my stamps.  My cats have a little window seat to sleep in while I scrap.  They like hanging out with me in the scrapping den.

 Another yard sale find was my paint holder.  I think the girl holding the sale used to be a store owner because she was selling many of her racks for supplies.  I was thrilled to get this and have a place to organize all my paints.

 One more close up of my hobby lobby shelf.  My Mom gave me a bunch of old cameras that she had throughout her house last time I was home visiting so they are scattered throughout my room too. 

A Little Digi Sharing

Here are a few of my pages from some of the Jessica Sprague Classes I've taken.  I have many more classes saved to complete but thought I'd try out the movie uploading option for my blog and see how this goes.

Organizing Pictures is an Endless Job

For the past three or so years I've been watching as the Library of Memories class comes to Big Picture Classes and thinking that I'd really like to take the class.  The price was always a little higher than I wanted to pay.  I think it was over $100 or so.  Stacy Julian has always inspired me anytime I hear her speak.  She and I think a lot alike so I've been drawn to this class for awhile.  Several years ago I bought her book "Photo Freedom" to learn a little about her system of organizing photos and began to rearrange the way I scrapbooked.  Still I've never quite been satisfied with my system of organizing and have become more intrigued by Stacy's after hearing others talk about it.  Last month she became advertising a revised version of her Library of Memories class and has called it "Photo Freedom".  She lowered the price quite a bit and has also added in more information on storing digital photos and how she works her organizing system with those.  So for my summer class I FINALLY took the plunge and registered for "Photo Freedom".  I was amazed by the amount of information she has compiled for the class, the time she's put into videos and handouts make the cost of the class well worth it.  I'm gradually working my way through the process and trying to keep up.  I'm already feeling a little more organized as I've started purging photos that are blurred or just plain ol' bad shots from my computer.  I can see already how this can shorten the amount of time I spend looking for just the right photo for a project or deciding what to scrap next.  I'm only on the third week of the class but I am so glad I signed up.  Looking forward to organizing yet another part of my life.  Thanks to Stacy Julian for another inspiring class.

It's official.....I'm a Nana

Meet the new little man of my life.  I think I fell in love at first sight.  Mr. Liam Wellington Barnhart made his appearance in this world on May 22 weighing in at 7 lbs. 8 oz.  Thankfully, Russ and I were able to be in town for the festivities of his first few weeks of life.  We arrived in Colorado on the 19th, attended Cory's graduation on the 20th and spent the 21st at the hospital with them for 22 hours of labor.  I certainly don't feel old enough to be a Nana but I guess those years kind of snuck up on me.  He is a handsome little one and I can't help but look at him and see his Daddy.  They really do look a lot alike.  I did a few comparison photos of the two of them and posted them on facebook. I especially like this yawn comparison because it was cute how both were posed at the same angle.  It was like deja vu watching all of Liam's facial expressions as he slept.  I think I took about 1000 pictures on our trip and probably 900 of them were of Liam.  I'm sure I'll find many uses for them within my scrapbooks.  It was VERY hard leaving him when it was time to come home.  I don't think we'll get to see him again for several months so he will have grown a lot by then.  I hope to at least make quarterly trips for the first year so I can see him growing.  His other grandma is living down the street from them this year so she will get to enjoy his first year up close.  I'm hoping I will get to watch him grow via skype and weekly pictures of him from Stephanie.  It's going to be rough being a long distance Nana.  Cory is already showing signs of being an excellent Dad.  He is mesmerized by his little man and I was so thankful I got to watch his face as he saw his son for the first time.  It was a treasured moment for sure.  This Nana has had a beaming smile since I got to meet Liam.  I'm counting the days until I can hold him in my arms again. 

New Favorite Authors

I haven't quite embraced the e-reader concept yet.  I still love holding a good book in my hands and turning pages.  Since I spend so much time on the computer, it's nice to switch to reading a "real" book.  Today I was reading through my facebook news and saw a post for one of my favorite authors, Francine Rivers.  I read several of her books last year for the first time and fell in love with her writing style.  I'm always on the lookout for knew authors and she quickly became one of my favorites.  I loved her books "Her Mother's Hope" and "Her Daughter's Dream".  I shared them with several of my reading friends and they too enjoyed reading them.  I think they really spoke to me at this time in my life as I look the the ever-changing relationship with my mother, sister and my daughters.  Karen White is another one of my favorites.  I found one of her books about a year ago and loved it.  When I love an author's writing style I tend to go and check out all I can find written by them.  I eventually read everything she wrote and now own all but one of them.  I've shared these among my reading friends and they too have added her books to their list of favorites.  Her books always have a bit of a mystery the main character is trying to solve based on an old scrapbook, old letters, old artwork or old houses.  She is writing the types of books I would love to write someday.  This past winter while browsing in a bookstore, I found a book called "Keys to the Castle" by Donna Ball.  I always read the first few pages of a book before buying it to see if it grabs my interest at the start and this one definitely did so I bought it.  Loved the book so as usual, I looked her up in the library and found her LadyBug Farm series as well.  The interesting thing about her is that she writes under several pseudonyms and one of them is "Donna Boyd" which is my maiden name.  I felt connected just from that little tidbit in the author preview page.  I stumbled upon a book "Life is a Verb" after listening to a Paperclipping Podcast.  This is another book that grabbed me from the beginning and is one whose style connected to the scrapbooker in me.  Loved this book too.  It's by Patti Digh and was a nice change of pace from fiction.  I found several quotes I loved in this one too.  I immediately ordered several of her other books and am working my way through those too.  I'm always looking for new great authors to follow.  There's nothing like a good book to enjoy while soaking in some sunshine. So if you're looking for a few good books to read this summer, check some of these out of your library.