DONE!!

I'm so happy this project is finished!! The boys have been home just over a year and I was feeling pretty bad I hadn't tackled this yet. I had nearly 600 pictures covering the 26 months our boys were at Children of the Promise in Haiti - taken by volunteers, the Orphanage, or adoptive parents. I printed all the pictures, put them in chronological order (as best as I could), printed the email updates we received every couple months on 4x6 paper, created 4x6 dividers to mark each month, loaded the album and glued it all into place. The album had 500 4x6 openings, so I had to leave out some of the pictures, but I had quite a few near duplicates. It was a challenge to get the pictures organized in a pleasing manner as the direction of the pictures did not always line up with the 3 landscape/2 portrait layout of the album's pages. I was able to use lots of swap and PIF items for the monthly dividers which made the project go a lot quicker (like the adorable paper pieced bear boy on the first page). I am so happy to have this album put together for my boys!! Love you both! So glad you are finally home!

Next - to create an album covering the 9 weeks I was in Haiti with them waiting for the US Embassy to issue their Visas... Which means I need to get some more pictures ordered!

Maybe I'll make a few Christmas or Anniversary cards first!

Once Again, No Time for Scrapping...

A couple of months ago DH said it was time for all the clothes in the attic that were too small for our children to go. If we have any more children, we'll deal with clothing them when the time comes. It took me a couple weeks of 1/2 hour sessions (as that's all I could fit in at a time) to sort thru all the bins and organize them by size, and move the small sizes into an "outgoing" pile. I have about 7 bins of clothes that need to go. And that's after sending several bags of clothes to Goodwill. We tried having yard sales a couple times, but we weren't able to move much at all. So now I'm attempting Ebay. I have piles of clothes and envelopes everywhere. Trying to maximize my photographing skills to get the best pics. Learning all about estimating postage costs and devising shipping containers. So, if you know anyone who needs some little girl clothes, sizes 0-about 6/7, or any women's professional clothes in smaller sizes, send them to my Ebay listings: akcpa is my seller name. Or send me a comment if you are looking for something in particular! I would love for these piles to find a new home!
Besides, this will free up some room for new scrapping supplies, right??

This is a card I made this weekend. I started with the center piece, which included a little shaker window filled with tiny silver balls and stamped happy birthday as well as the striped frame. I received this from one of my online friends in a PIF. I'm not sure who made it, sorry I can't provide credit for it! Then I matted the shaker with blue and green and put on the front of a card. I used my new Hero Arts candle stamp from their cupcake stamp set to add a little extra to fill the white space on the edges. I used Stickles for the candle flames and used a little zig marker to add a touch of green to the candle images. Hope you like! Love having PIF or swap items to use as a starting place for making cards!

Happy Birthday, My Dear Daughter!

DD1 turned 13 yesterday! Golden Birthday - 13 on the 13th. I can still remember being in L&D at 11PM and joking about holding on for another hour so that she wouldn't be born on the 13th. By then the contractions were very strong and labor lasted all day, there's no way I could have waited. And fortunately, she's never been one to be superstitious about the 13th. Congratulations on your Birthday! I love you so much! And I'm so proud of the wonderful young woman you are growing up to be!

Can you tell things have been busy?? The school year is in full swing and it is going smoother than I dared to hope! A lot of what the first graders and kindergartner are covering are review so far, so that has taken some of the pressure off of all of us. This way I don't feel too overwhelmed covering a ton of new material, and the kids get off to a positive start covering things they feel confident completing. The big girls are covering new things, though, and I think they got a bit of a wake up call on their first quizzes that school is really back in session and they will have to buckle down and concentrate.

I haven't really had much time to scrap. I'm really hating that I haven't gotten a chance to even touch the boys' Haiti book this week, but other things took precedence. I did play with some Studio G stamps one night and put together a couple cards made with paper scraps I had on hand. Hope you like them!

Homeschool Begins

We started the school year this week. Whew!! The two oldest do most of their work independently, but I have two 1st graders and one in K-4. It is WAY more intensive and time consuming than the two in K-5 + a preschooler last year. But we are off to a great start. We are using ABeka for 1st grade language and math. The first few lessons are VERY easy, so it's giving the kids a nice way to gently slide into the school year. DS1 is a bit disappointed that school hasn't been taking long enough for him to get out of taking a nap yet, but DD3 is pleased to still have rest time. I'm glad to get the break for a few extra days too.
As for scrapping, I am starting a project I have procrastinated for years. And I really won't have any pictures to show when I'm done. Which might be part of the reason for the procrastination. I am working on putting together an album with the nearly 600 pictures of our sons over the two+ years they were waiting to come home. The first step was ordering all the pictures and getting them organized by date. Some pictures came from the O staff, some from volunteers, others from adoptive families. That took about two weeks to organize and order and for it all to arrive. Now I'm working on putting them into an album with 4x6 sleeves - I am not going to scrap all these. But I am going to scrap a little 4x6 title for the front and 4x6 dividers for each month. Once I finish this project, I need to figure out a way to memorialize the monthly update emails the O sent over the two years. THEN I will work a "real" scrapbook of my 9 weeks in Haiti living with the boys at the O guest house....I AM DETERMINED to finish all of these Haiti related projects before 2009 is over! Hopefully sooner so that I can do some more recent projects. It's just that these are so big and hard for me to organize and determine a format that I just keep putting them off. And now that school's starting my time is going to be even more limited. Wish me luck!! I really want to get this done so that my boys have a memory book of their time in Haiti.