In the Storm

December Daily 2022 | Story 5

Probably going to be one of my favorite pages in my album. I made a list of things I 'need' to do and want to do this December season and simply made a page of the list. I have had this page of inspiration in my inspiration folder on my computer since 2014 and finally made a page off that idea.

This page came together fairly quickly: a recent photo of me, typed up my list and printed it, then simply adhered everything to that gorgeous gold foiled specialty paper. Love the Kraft and gold look. And, I'm a huge fan of trees. 

Yep, some things didn't happen. At least not yet. But, most of it did, or will. I'm good with that, too.

December Daily 2022 | Story 4

For this story I let the photos (mostly) tell the story. Jeff and I visited the botanical gardens again this year and rather than a drive thru as in the past couple of years they opened up the grounds to a walk thru. This posed a problem that Jeff solved. And, I was delighted.

These are mostly digital pages using Paislee Press templates. (I have ALL of her December FAVS templates and elements from all the years. They are just so good. She speaks to my minimalist heart). I did a minimum of embellishments, because embellishments are the bane of my scrapbooking existence.

It is here - this - that has my heart. To erase all concerns that I would be able to walk the entire lights display Jeff brought home a wheelchair his boss had in storage. Thus, we were both afforded the opportunity to enjoy the entire night without any worries of me not being able to walk it because of pain. But, let's be honest. It was a struggle to accept being pushed around.

December Daily 2022 | Story 3

Next, I am sharing story 3 in my December Daily album. Every year for the past several years I've - taken stock of, looked back on, the year and captured my favorite things about the year. There is a reason I do this.

The year can be hard. I've experienced a ton of personal and physical difficulties and sometimes I get lost in the - hard. I need to see the good when that happens. Listing my favorite things about the year helps me to see the reality of the year. It hasn't all been bad. In fact, when I begin listing out my favorites I see clearly, the blinders have been lifted, the fog clears, and I see that it's been a pretty darn good year.

This year is no different. It's been a good year even amidst the difficult. These are a few of my favorite things...

1. Surpassing my reading goals for 2022. My reading goal was read 100 books and I surpassed 100!

2. I captured 31 Sunrises in July and documented them in a 4 x 8 album. This is my 3rd year of capturing sunrises in July and it has become one of my most favorite projects of the year.

3. Completed another #100dayproject. Writing on a 4 x 6 journal card by Ali Edwards Design story kits, telling my stories and putting them all into a 6 x 8 album. For 100 days I wrote my story.

4. Jeff left Choate after 14 years and immediately, within the end of the week had another job without a reduction in salary, with less stress (like 90% less stress) and a Christian boss!

5. We did a mini-renovation of our kitchen (after living in our home for more than 27 years it was a long time coming). We replaced countertops with quartz, added a backsplash, a new chandelier in the dining room, new screened / sliding glass doors, a beautiful shiplap wall (yes, shiplap can be beautiful), a fresh coat of paint that goes well with oak cabinets, and had those oak cabinets cleaned and re-stained.

6. Early morning (4:30) read a-loud with Jeff. We finished reading through the entire Bible this year. Read through the New Testament (again), began reading through the Bible (again), and finished 3 spiritual formation books.

7. Hosted book club in my home 10 of 12 months of the year. I was sick for those two missing days.

8. A quick but fantastic weekend trip to Charleston. Leisurely trip, lots of good food and supreme carriage rides.

9. We gifted John and Jarrod tickets to go see CATS live on stage for Christmas 2021 and this year we saw CATS together. The best part was us watching John and Jarrod watching CATS.

10. Seeing the amazing Beyond Van Gogh exhibit. A moving experience.

11. Saturday mornings breakfast with Jeff. It's like a second date of the week. We get up early on Saturdays and go find a breakfast spot around the city. It's a great start to our weekends.

12. 52 Tacos. We ate homemade tacos (with homemade taco sauce that we call Parent sauce) every Tuesday night for dinner. It makes meal planning for the month extra easy.

13. Even though I had to step down because of physical reasons one of my favorite things of the year was being asked to be a brand ambassador for Ali Edwards Design, Inc.

14. One of my most recent favorites is joining an online international Bible Study Fellowship group. One of the ladies in my group is my online scrapbooking community friend, Yin.

15. All the scrapbooking I've done throughout the year. Definitely a favorite past time.

16. In June our SLEEP NUMBER bed arrived and I have had the most amazing sleep ever since.

17. We had a family reunion this year (my side of the family) and Jeff and the boys were able to attend. I, however, was not (not my favorite) but even though I wasn't there I am so thankful Jeff had all the kids and grandkids in one place.

I could add 

18. Jeff and I saw Anastasia on stage (tickets were a gift from our daughter Elizabeth).

December Daily 2022 | Story 2

I'm sharing story 2 in my December Daily album. A gratitude list for the month. Sort of a reverse advent - 24 Days of Gratitude. I used a Heidi Swapp paper and those amazing numbered strips from the main December Daily kit from Ali Edwards Design, Inc.

I adore the brightness of the paper for a change of pace as I am usually a more subtle color girl. Pink is that color I adore but would never, say, decorate with.

I added a large quote with Ali Edwards' word art on a transparency, mostly for a place to hold the number, but also to highlight this is a gratitude page. I am keeping a running gratitude list in notes and will print them out on clear sticker paper and adhere them on the numbered strips once I collect them all.

Super simple page but I love it!

what I've been reading | October 2022

Besides having a fairly decent reading month I created my most favorite addition to my READ album for 2022. I adore this 2-page library card-like page where I actually pulled out my READ stamps and went to town. Love how it turned out. Down below I'll be sharing more glimpses of this 2-page layout. But, first, the books:

And now here are those additional look-sees at my pages I created:

Lastly, I am sharing a 'filler' page for my read album. These are pages I create when I need a side filled in from one month to the next because, for instance, I've only created one-page layout one month and a two-page layout the next month. This was super fun to make for October to 'fill in'.

December Daily 2022 | Story 1

December is a time for documenting stories. Every year since 2011 I have been participating in this year end project in one way or another, large scale documenting in 12 x 12 size, small scale, 4 x 6 size, or most often in a 6 x 8 album size. I have equally harnessed rousing success or - not over the years and even on those years I still have an uncomplete album the sum of all the stories I have documented tells so much about our lives each December.

This year I am once again documenting in the 6 x 8 album size even though a new size has arose in the scrapbooking community. The 10 x 8 size album. And, let me tell you there is some lusting after all the exquisite pages coming out of our amazingly creative community of memory keepers. Yet, I have no desire simply because the larger size is too enormous for me. And, my photos - I'm a horrible photographer - would not do the landscape justice. So, I am happy with the 6 x 8 size.

Today, I am jumping right in to the story telling with my first story of the album. I do have 'part' of my front page and reason why completed but it's not quite done yet. Injecting an, "I'm ok with that," right here.

This story totally has my heart. The story is about the gift I made - and gave to my book club.

I started with the photo. I simply added a piece of patterned vellum from the add on specialty papers from Ali Edwards Design Inc's (AE) December Daily collection. Because I am embellishment challenged I went simple. The story number, a piece of chipboard from Paislee Press's December Daily kit via AE and adhered the vellum with ribbon.

I typed my story directly onto the photo in Photoshop Elements prior to printing.

Can I just say that this was such a fun craft - and gift. I figured out a system to making the 'books' for the ornaments and they really only took a few hours to finish. I made 9 total ornaments, including one for myself, of course.

 

what I've been reading | September 2022

I saw that Fredrick Backman has a new book coming out. The Winners, the third installment in the Beartown trilogy. I'd read Beartown before but for some reason had never read Us Against You. In anticipation for The Winners I re-read Beartown this month and followed that by Us Against You. I loved Beartown the first time through but even more so the second time. I didn't think, I couldn't imagine Us Against You could be just as good, even better but it was. Two more books definitely going on my Top 10 books in 2022.

I also added another book by J.D. Robb to my collection. I own all of the In Death series books and the majority are 5-Star books for me. I'm a huge fan of police procedural / murder mysteries with a kick a** female lead detective plus her gazillion-are rich husband and all the spectacular supporting characters. Yet another 5- Star book in Desperation in Death. 

Without further ado...September's books: 

 

what I've been reading | August 2022

I realize I've been remiss in posting here. Most often I can be found over on Instagram @suebug63. Yet, I still appreciate a really good blog (note: this is not a really good blog), but I've been thinking about re-invigorating this place, but to start I need to catch up on what I've been reading lately. Well these past many months, anyways. 

I only had one 5-Star book in August and it will definitely be on my top 10 book list for 2022 - Where the Lost Wander by Amy Harmon. In July I read What the Wind Knows by Amy Harmon as well and I loved it so much (it will be on my top 10 book list as well) that I knew I wanted to read more by the author.

I did read a couple 4-Star books that were really good but just didn't wow me like Where the Lost Wander. I'm pretty sure I was generous with a couple of the books I read as well.

Every month I create a page, or 2-page layout for my READ album. The photo at the top of this post is the main page(s) to that layout but I also made a 'cover' page. I wanted to share this 'by the numbers' cover page because I just loved it so much.