…4 years of age and I have been there for two of them. I`m forever thankful  to Stacy Julian and her team for creating this wonderful community for learning and growing. I joined BPS January 1 2008 after reading this blog post @Feast on Scraps. In December 2008 I had made a total of two scrapbook pages. But I was shopping and admiring Ingunn`s beautiful pages. New Years Eve I entered LOAD (Layout a Day) hosted by Lain Ehmann at BPS. I have no idea what possessed me to do this – committing to make a layout every day for 31 days. In the dark and cold month of January, working crazy hours – I still managed to make 31 layouts. Not great work, but I was scrapbooking!

Later that spring I found the courage to join Kolette Hall in her Art of Becoming More class. That was an amazing experience.

I had to work hard with this class. First of all it was done in a foreign language and that stressed me out – totally. I was listening to a foreign language and I was reading it. So – how was I supposed to write my journaling. My head was spinning. Reading in my album today I find a funny mix of English and Norwegian.

This is the last page in the album. I locked myself into the store after midnight to be able to take this photo because when Kolette and Jason Hall said that they believed I was a champion – I believed that too.

I have completed a lot of classes at BPS and I have made several albums, but this is the album I love the most. Because it is beautiful and because of what it means to me. I learned so much about myself. About how I have lived my life and how I want it to be. I wrote my wants and my goals. Looking through the album it feels complete and it is me. Maybe it is time to  revise the goals? Maybe it is time to set new goals?

Congratulations to Stacy Julian and her Big Picuture Scrapbooking Team!

…My biggest fear when I make albums is that I will get the facts wrong. I don`t have a good memory and there is no one to ask. My older brother has a better memory but I can not force him to get his stories down on paper. The good thing is that he takes an interest in what I am doing here, and for that I am thankful.

So – maybe I was a little pissed last night when he called to tell me that I got the story all wrong? How could I know where my father found the stones he build “the wall” in the garden at our childhood home? I was about five. My brother knew, and the fact that my father built the wall with the foundation from the old house is important information. I might have sound pissed last night but mostly I am grateful that my brother took the time to read and correct my information. (And it is difficult not to sound pissed when you have a toothbrush in your mouth).

You got to love digital layouts – it is so easy to correct wrongs…

 It`s a good thing he called before I hit print:)

Today we are most happy about our youngest family member who finally had a go with his first home this weekend. We have been waiting for a few weeks now to be sure that he and his fiance would be allowed to buy this apartment. Friday the happy couple could sign the contract and pick up the keys.

Template – Cathy Zielske. Paper – Fei-fei. 

And Saturday the parents hit the road for a visit. It is difficult not to interfere when your youngest son is buying  his first home. Even if you wanted to – you have to allow him to make his own decision.

A nervous mother – waiting to see the apartment.

I might have to agree with my brother that a new kitchen is needed.

Me? I have always been in a need for a new kitchen. Did I ever get a new kitchen? No. So when my brother mentioned that the young ones needed a new kitchen I was thinking; okay, then they have to keep wanting it and in the meantime they have to save the money for it…

So – maybe I have to rethink that thought? I mean – I would like this to be a great place to raise children. Since the apartment have a lot of bedrooms I trust them to have a lot of kids? I might be willing to sponsor a child? So – how is the baby planning going?

…and I bet it will be a long ride home for the supporters.

I have spent time trying to get back into the paper scrapping again today. Always find it hard to play with the paper layouts after spending too much time on the computer. Digital scrapbooking is fun and I enjoy that you can put up a layout in no time and the photos look much better on-screen. I even like how they look when printed. Love digital when I have a lot to say.

But – there is something about the paper…

I have enjoyed myself with the video handout in May Flaum`s kit class at BPS this afternoon. Since I don`t have kits I looked for inspiration for how to approach his class. May is showing us to put together kits on our own, but I find that hard to do. (That is why I always buy lines of paper that coordinates from the manufacture). There were a lot of talk about Jenni Bowlin and I knew I had something of her lines in my stash. And now I know why I still have it. I found both the paper and the embellishment difficult to work with. I have a whole stack of journaling cards, a unopened pack of crepe paper ribbon and some label thing . Love her alphabet though.

And one just for the fun of it.

We are one week closer to Christmas and I had to look at the calendar to make sure that I still have three weeks to get ready. That is plenty of time if nothing goes wrong. (Although – something always goes wrong).

Happy creative week to everyone.

…and the cup – final this weekend. The cup that turned into a local match between Molde and Aalesund. The match goes in Oslo tomorrow and everyone slightly interested in football has left this part of the country and gone to Oslo. Me – not interested at all. As I see it – we win either way.

I have spent the morning listening to Ali`s video handout from her class Yesterday & Today. Someone on the board said that they always saved the video for Saturday morning and I found that to be an excellent idea. It is a lot to take in and why not enjoy myself doing so.

In my LOM category - Places, I found a photo that inspired me. It is showing a little bit of the barn at my childhood home. It is written 1977 on the back of the photo. I have no idea why it is taken even if I did it myself. It was no trees or flowers surrounding the barn back in those days, and I do remember another time. A time where the barn were used as a barn and there was a horse in the stables – a working horse:)

I also found a photo taken from almost the same spot in 2007.  Now it is a garden with a lot of large trees. The barn can be used as a “party tent” and there are no horse in the stable – yet…(there might be soon…).

Since I was home from work this morning I was trying to take some photo`s at different time through out the day, but the sun left and the light was shifting more than I liked. And I was too lazy to get out and move around to find a motive.

 Yeah – who would have thought 6 years ago that this would be view ouside my door?

And today is the big Digital Scrapbooking Day. There is a lot of freebies to collect around the net. I found a lot of goodies @ Oscraps.  I better hit the shower and get to work. It is Saturday and  I have an evening shift waiting.

And, no – I still havn`t hit the pay button…

…totally wasted. I slept long in to the morning and the rest of the time I have been browsing the online shops, looking for albums for my LOM-system. It is so difficult to decide on type of album. If I find one I like, size and colour, there are only one left. Of course I could start with one, but can I trust that I will be able to find another one just like it? These days you can`t trust anything.

I do have AC modern albums in 8,5 x 11 size – brown. I would love the lime green but it is hard to find in 12  x 12. Since it is so hard to find the same album in the long run I decided to go for We R Memory Keepers in one colour. They have a nice name plate at the back. But no – the shop only have one or two left.

Now I am leaning towards one colour for each child. What ever type of album – they will probably produce albums in red, brown and blue? At least that is what I think and if I have the courage to hit payment, this is the album I go for:

The American Craft faux leather. I can`t spend more time with this, so I am going to hit pay and go to work – do my evening shift and try my best not to regret my choice.

…Christmas is a lot about trends. One year you are supposed to fill your home with angels. The next year you have to fill it up with Santa figures of all sizes. The trend moves from shine brass to minimalistic glass. In between lilac, blue,  red and white. So – what do I do? I am not known to follow the trends:)

Last year I did not open the door to the storage room containing the Christmas stash. Since I have been on a quest to declutter  my home since early spring I am a little afraid of looking inside now. I know it is stuffed with Santa figures  in there and I really don`t feel like loosing them, even if I don`t want to put them on display this Christmas. Seems like a lot of work to take it all out just to put them back in. But – that is what I need to do – because I need to find the things I want to use. Hm…

I need a plan.

I have been reading through the handout in Elisha Snow`s photography class and like all photo classes – it is all about light.

Template – Story teller, Tiffany Tillman, Little Shoppe Design. Paper – Sue Cummings.

It is dark when I go to work and this is what I get when I come home. Me – I like the blue one down in the corner. And I love Santa. Sometime I want them all over the place. No free space without a Santa. Just not this year.

I guess I have a plan:)

 …once again at Big Picture Scrapbooking. Registration starts today. If you are taking one class next year – this is the class!

 My pre-assignment page. I worked hard with this one. Following the posting in the gallery as the date for class to start came closer I could see all these great pages coming up. I had no idea what I was doing.

This is the one page I made that I like the most. Not sure why –  because now I can see all the mistakes I did. I have learned a lot about using the computer in the year between now and then. Very much to Cathy Zielske`s credit.

I am going back and forth about signing up. I probably will because I want to feel the buzz that CZ creates in her classes and I want to spend more time learning about colour and type – this time around.

I promise – you will not regret signing up for this class.  Design Your Life .

…today November 4 2009…

Links:

May Flaum

Elisha Snow

May`s class at BPS

…at yesterday and today is so much more fun than I ever thought it would be. I have always loved the “old” photos but I had no idea how fun it would be to put them together with the new ones. This is one of the benefits of organizing my photos according to Stacy Julian`s LOM system. Mixing the photos from years back with the new ones creates a lot of stories. When collecting and organizing photos back in January and February I found 3 photos of my father working outside with his two-year old grandson. The photos are of bad quality and they are taken from the window.

Baby Jan was hyper active and was always busy helping out – or doing pranks. He kept his parents and his grandparents busy 24/7…

I have wanted to make a layout with these photos from back in 1981 ever since. Today I was inspired. One of Cathy Zielske`s skethes from Design Your Life was a perfect fit for this. I keep focusing on what Ali Edwards is teaching us in her class. Embrace the imperfection. The pics are blurry and you can`t see their faces but closing my eyes I can see them both clearly.

A proud grandfather and a happy little boy. Happy memories. But this would not have been much fun if it weren`t for the fact that looking through my storage binder from August 2009 I found this photo:

The photo is taken from the same window 28 years later. The little helper is now a grown man and he has his own little helper who is eager to help his dad.

As an alumni I will be invited to join Stacy Julian`s Library of Memories class starting in February 2010. I am so thankful for that. I did manage to implement most of her system but it need to be worked with. In fact it needs to be worked with all the time and I have been a slacker these last months. I have done good with printing and I have kept up with my storage albums. February will be just the right time to start pulling photos for my category drawers and emptying some binders.

November 5 Big Picture Scrapbooking opens registration for Cathy Zielske`s Design Your Life running in January, February and March 2010. Take a run for it. You will love this class. As an alumni I can sign up for half the prize. I want to but haven`t decided yet. It is the same class that run in 2008 but this time Cathy has implemented digital templates for all the sketches she is giving in class. This templates are worth the prize alone.

I was so inspired when I took this class that I spent too much time making layouts instead of learning, so it might be a good idea to do the class all over again. And CZ is fun!

… My family has had a few of those – like most families. In the 60`s my father and his brother had a good idea. They wanted to build a cabin together. They were brothers, colleges and best friends. Thankfully their wifes put their foot down, so  in the end they built two cabins. My father would leave early Sunday morning and come home late in the evening. Building this cabin was his way of therapy from a stressful job. It was finished in 1969.

In return for the land my uncle  built on, my father was to receive the same from my uncle, who had settled in their family home. Only – this never happened. They both died without either of them getting any papers on land.

It has been an ongoing talk for 40 years. And finally – we are so close.

Mostly this story comes out of Ali Edwards class at BPS, and the photo my brother gave me of the pin – marking the land he now receive on behalf of our father. The pins were put down a few days ago and  after 40 years – issue solved. I also found my father’s word, written in the cabin journal from September 14 1983. It is a statement where he direct us on how he wants things settled.

 It is settled, and crazy as I am – I can see these to sitting up there, raising their glasses…

Childhood memories from the happy days – at the cabin…

1971 – 72.  Me – dragged out of bed. My mum with a bottle of beer. My mother that never touched any kind of alcohol – ever:) You can see how uncomfortable she is just holding the bottle. And my dad with the accordion. Always with an accordion. Almost every photo I have of my father – there is an accordion. This photo bring up so many memories and I can see a long line of scrapbooking layouts coming out of this. Good thing Ali E is showing us how to do layouts with words – a lot of words.