Retrospect

documenting life, creating art.

Tag Archives: time


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Times, they are a changin’….

Hello! It’s been a while since I was last here, and I owe you all an apology! My daughter and I have moved to our own place, I’m working a lot, spending a good amount of time trying to take care of myself (soul-searching, reading, journaling), and moving mountains (or so it feels) to get myself back to college so I may at some point in the future (crossing my fingers) become an RN.

I have been needing some changes in my life, and if I were a car, I guess you’d say I am in need of an overhaul. A major one. It has been a rocky road for me lately, but I’m doing what I need to do to become a better person, and this journey is not a walk through the park. It’s more like the yellow brick road where sometimes I’m dancing along just fine, and at other times I stumble across a road block…..but I keep on going, and I’m bound for the “Emerald City”. Also known as self-fulfillment and happiness. Wish me luck!

One thing I have not changed is my love for scrapping and documenting my life, good and bad. Thank goodness for Project Life which lets me do just that, only at my own pace which can sometimes be quickly, sometimes slowly, but lately quite steady and on track. I just haven’t shared anything yet (I’m rather slow at this blogging thing!). I showed a snippet of week 11 last post, and I am ready to share weeks 12 through 17. Be warned, this is photo heavy!

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAHello to Fadhilah, my sweet friend! I was so touched by her email to me a while back asking where I’ve been because she enjoys following me, and I must say I didn’t realize I had such followers! She is kind, intelligent and fun to talk with (through emails); we share our experiences of motherhood and scrapbooking. She is a joy, and I have learned that whatever country, culture or religion a woman belongs to, we all have more in common than we may realize. Thank you, Fadhilah! You are a blessing to me.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAThis is the inside of the folded card with “School Days” and the typewriter on it; it also contains the business card of the counselor I had a meeting with. This was a very special day for me; the counselor was so supportive and friendly, and when I left, I literally broke down in tears I was so overwhelmed with emotion. I’m really going back to school!! It was a dare I gave myself, and I didn’t chicken out. Amazing! The doubt and fear I have been harboring inside for the last 20 years has kept me stuck in one place. It’s time to stop spinning my wheels, face the challenges head on, and grow. I look forward to documenting and scrapping this journey, too.

Thank you for stopping by and allowing me to open up a little piece of my life to you, and thank you to my family and friends for being so supportive. I may not have all the time in the world to blog as much as I’d like, but trust me, I’ll be back as soon as I can. Happiness and best wishes to all of you,

Jennifer

[Oh- I almost forgot to give credit to Becky Higgins' Project Life for the base of the album (including the small page add-on for two 4x6" photos); Studio Calico for the majority of the journal cards and embellishments; Lawn Fawn for some of the wood veneer elements and paper clips; Ormolu for badges; Elle's Studio for journal tags, and Michael's for most of the washi tape.]

 

 


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An inspiring collaboration has been born.

Ever since my mom retired last year, she has been letting her creativity flow. She now has more time to do the things she used to be too tired or busy to do, and quite frankly, I couldn’t be happier for her. She has always been very talented when it comes to using her hands to make, do and create beautiful things; I remember as a child, when we didn’t have much, my mom would sew clothes for my brothers and me; she would paint and wallpaper various rooms; she could decorate with panache even before Martha came along. Actually, to me, she was the original Martha Stewart, making everything she touched special and fabulous. Since I started scrapbooking a few years ago, my mom has taken an interest in whatever I create, and now that she has more time to indulge in her creativity, she has caught the scrapbook bug as well. She’s not exactly putting together 12×12 layouts, but she has a fancy for mini-albums…she has made quite a few nice ones which overflow a lovely basket sitting on her gorgeous fireplace hearth. She enjoys making small journals (or what I call mini-albums) so much, that she can make them faster than she can fill them up, and actually has more fun creating the books than using them for herself. This is where a brilliant idea was born for us to collaborate and sell the journals and books in my Etsy shop, Retrospect

The Everyday Bingo journal

The Everyday Art journal (also known as our version of a Smash book)

The Travel journal

When my mom showed me these journals she made for the first time, I’ll be honest, I thought to myself, “This is something I should have in the shop…” No kidding. They are really cute, and something I would definitely buy from her, if she had a shop. Luckily for me, she’s content with being a “member of my shop”, which pleases me to no end since I just have not had much time lately to create much. It’s a bit difficult, sometimes, working full-time, being a wife and mother, going to church, volunteering, and running a business (now you know why I have not blogged in a long time). I’m waiting for 36-hour days to be invented…but until that time comes, I am grateful for the extra help to keep Retrospect going. It’s nice that the shop has a few more items to sell, and as soon as I can, I will be adding more journals and mini-albums in order to fill up the shop more. I am sure looking forward to seeing what my mom and I can come up with next; with her talent and ideas, I’m sure not to lose my inspiration or motivation any time soon, thank goodness. So be sure to come take a look around the shop sometime in the near future; hopefully you’ll see something that sparks your interest! Thanks for stopping by!

 


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Today is the kind of day I absolutely love: I’m off work, I got to sleep in a little, I feel good, I have no specific plans and I have an itch to be creative! The only problem I have at this time is deciding what! I have so many projects hanging on the sideline waiting for a day like this, it’s difficult to choose…

  • Do I want to learn a new stitch and create a cute little notebook?  [Get this kit here]

Kit from Erinzam on Etsy

  • Do I want to do Mou Saha’s self-paced class I purchased on Big Picture Classes? [Get this class here]

"Grateful Every Day", by Mou Saha (I even have Gelatos for the drawings)

  • Do I want to finally do that Valentine’s themed book?

Kits by Elle's Studio and Saturday AM Vintage (both no longer available, I'm sorry to say)

  • What about taking Ali Edwards’ Storyology Class?

 

  • …Or Ali’s Five Class?

No matter what I choose to do today, it won’t be a waste of time, and it will be lots of fun. So, daylight’s burning, and since it is Daylight Savings Time, I better get moving. I’ll be back later with whatever I come up with!

-But! I am caught up with Project Life so far for this month of March (except for today, of course):

Days 1-6

I just love adding in these notes we leave for each other!

Days 7-9

Yesterday, the 10th.

For those days I have more than one photo, or I have extra journaling, I use Cathy Zielske’s Tiny Templates, available at Designer Digitals. She has 4 different variations, and I highly recommend them!

Thanks for stopping by!

 

 


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December Daily, days 6-9

Busy, busy, busy!! I’m working, going to various meetings, doctor’s appointments, cooking, getting ready for Christmas, and tending to an ill child….oh, my! It’s not unusual for this time of year to be rather time-consuming, and I admit, that this project of mine does take more time than I’d like it to. I think the perfectionist comes out in me, and I can’t just print out any old photo and just paste it onto a piece of paper and be done. No. I want it to look good. I think that’s because I looked back on last year’s Christmas album, and I was utterly appalled with what I did. I took short-cuts and just threw things together to save time. I am now trying to see if I can do things better without spending every moment of my free time doing it–oh, wait…I have free time? News flash: I didn’t know that!

Day 6

Day 7

Day 8

Extra page of every day ephemera

Day 9

I may not be able to post every day, but I will get each day recorded and documented, and when I have a chance I will post the pages here, even if it means posting numerous past days all together, like here. That’s okay; I don’t want to stress too much about ‘shoulds’; I want to do what I can and concentrate on the ‘coulds’. Life is too short; enjoy today! See you next time!

 


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Class update

Whew, it’s been busy in my studio lately! Taking these classes has been quite a challenge, and I probably wouldn’t take so many at one time again, but I have to admit that I have really learned quite a lot, and the pace and challenge has been good for me. I’m learning to scrap faster, prioritize better, and I feel like I’m doing a better job with my finished layouts. Here are the latest finished assignments:

Colour! Or, is it Color? week 5: the color purple

The Mother LOAD week 5: putting together a layout in 30 minutes or less. I did not.

Design Challenge #10: using photo strips in a layout.

Now, this week is also the ‘Week in the Life’ project, which I am participating in, however, I have not had the time to post any more of my daily photos. I have just been too busy keeping up with class assignments. Next week I will be gathering my notes and photos and putting them together in a nice form to show here. As for today, I am tackling Design Challenge number 11, and updating my summer journal. See you next time!


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Show and Tell.

I’m catching up on my Big Picture Classes homework this weekend, and I have accomplished quite a bit. I have Four new layouts, thankyouverymuch!

First, “Colour! Or is it Color?”. This week we are focusing on the color green. You know, each week I am finding that I like each color more and more, thanks to this class. I am discovering the importance of color in my layouts like never before. I am certainly appreciating colors more, as well.

He is Content.

I followed instructor Nic Howard’s lead as far as style and composition here. Quite out of my comfort zone, which is good. I am here to learn and push my limits.

Next, “Design Challenges”. This is a truly fun class! The challenges we are given are so unique and interesting. Challenge 4 is to use a vintage type, or font. I love fonts, and I have always found them an important part of the style of a layout.

A Fourth of July party photos I hadn't yet scrapped. Kizmet!

Challenge 5 is to use symbols in our layout. We were given links to a font website for free dingbat downloads, which really  helped. Dafont.com is also a good resource for free fonts and dingbats.

Pause. Christmas photos I never scrapped. I'm batting a thousand.

And finally, “The Mother LOAD”. Basic training for the goal of hopefully becoming a “super scrapper” one day. I’m keeping my fingers crossed. This assignment is to create any layout we choose, but to keep tabs on how long it takes me; what is my process; how do I go about choosing this and that, etc. It took me a long time, and I do not have a method or protocol I follow; rather I am somewhat scatterbrained at times. I don’t think about the order in which I am doing things, or how long it is taking me, or taking any steps to organize anything. I am just doing. One thing I have learned is that I tend to get lost in my creative process. I am so happy, content, focused and creative-minded, I lose track of the time, whether I am hungry, and sometimes what is going on around me. It’s not intentional. But, I do have to admit that there are also times I do dawdle and end up sidetracked looking at Twitter posts, or playing my turn on Words With Friends. Love that game.

Hello Summer, inspired by Ali Edwards.

I feel accomplished today, and it feels good. Yesterday was productive, and today will be too, as I get to work on creating cards for a friend. Happy creating!


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April, in retrospect

Getting a late start in encapsulating April; at the beginning of each month, I go back to the previous one and gather up photos to put together collage-style as a sort of retrospective for the month. I’m behind in doing April, but at least I got it done! So, here it is:

page 1

page 2

page 3

So, as you can see, I don’t incorporate much journaling, there’s nothing fancy about it; just simple photos to sum up the month for me. It’s super easy using this digital template by Biograffiti at Oscraps; it also comes in 12×12, but I like the 8.5×11 simply because I can quickly print it out here at home. Of course, you can also add more journaling if you would like, as well as cute embellishments if that’s more your style; these templates are a breeze to manipulate and make your own. I enjoy having a “snapshot” of the months as they go by, so when I find myself asking, “Where did the time go?” I can just whip out my album to see! Happy scrapping, and enjoy your month!


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Documenting ordinary days

Have you ever thought to document one full day? Try it sometime. Pick a random day, get your camera out (or just use your phone’s camera), and capture your day. What do you actually do all day? What happens, and how much time do you really spend on ordinary things? I found out about that yesterday, which marked Week 9 in my Yesterday/Today class by Ali Edwards. I didn’t realize just how much time I spend on the computer, and little moments spent suddenly had more impact and meaning to me, especially seeing it captured in a photo.

I have often found myself wondering where the time goes, and what exactly did I do on such-and-such a day. If you do something like this, just for fun, put it in your scrapbook, and I can imagine you’ll be amazed at how you’ve lived, years from now. Your children will get a kick out of it, too! Perhaps it will do nothing more for you than to make you think about your day, your time, your life. That’s good enough. Life is short, after all, hold on to what you can (that’s one of my biggest reasons for scrapbooking ;-) ). Here’s another random, ordinary moment that I am so glad I caught with my camera; my daughter is growing by leaps and bounds, and in just a few years I will look back on this simple moment with such fondness and love.

Quintessentially you.

Enjoy your weekend, and if you document any of it, have fun!

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