I {heart} bronzer

In the past couple of weeks, I have noticed this heart revealing itself in my bronzer. I probably wouldn't have been led to take, let alone post, this amusing picture if I hadn't seen this post recently! How fun to have a blog... it gives me an excuse to make note of simple things that make me smile.

Join Emily for Tuesdays Unwrapped at Chatting at the Sky for more moments worth noting.

A Sweet and Easy Gift!

I like to send cards and notes to those I care about.

For a birthday or other special occasion, I would also love to lavish them with gifts. But there are a couple of problems with that: 1) I don't have unlimited funds, 2) some people are really, really hard to buy for, 3) do they really need more "stuff"? and, 4) I don't have unlimited funds. Yet, for certain people and occasions, while a gift may not be necessary, a card just does not seem like enough!

My favorite choice in that situation is to make a quick and easy Paper Album!

These images are from a beautiful Paper Album that my sweet friend Robin made for her husband. This precious little book celebrates their 10th wedding anniversary! The 12 pages showcase pictures from their years together, with memories recorded by Robin's hand.

Ronnie keeps this on his nightstand.

In honor of Father's Day, Creative Memories is offering this limited edition "Make it for Dad Featured Project Bundle" which includes everything you need to make a quick and easy gift! Last year, my kids and I made a paper album to give to Gil, with each child completing two of the pages themselves. You can see part of it here. I offer workshops to help families make their Paper Albums, too.

Paper Albums Kits are sometimes called our "15 photos in 15 minutes" album. You can definitely finish one in about an hour. Everything is included, and beautifully coordinated, so it is fun and easy to put together. And, with a variety of options, you can find one for almost any occasion. They even come with an envelope to make them easy to mail!

It is also fun to have a Paper Album Party! These make a fun girls-night-out where everyone brings 10-20 photos. It is also a fun birthday party project. When my daughter turns 10 this summer, we will be making "all about me" albums using a couple of photos and Paper Album Kits.

These make awesome gifts when you put them together for someone special. Think about teacher gifts, grandparents, coaches... so many possibilities! Or, for a crafty kid, give them a Paper Album Kit to complete on their own. Who can you bless with a Paper Album?

A Meditation on Motherhood

Last week was one of those weeks. I found myself feeling overwhelmed and underappreciated. I feared that no one around me valued the contribution I was making. I even started to question all I do and my worth. I was feeling discouraged. And it started to affect my actions as I approached the "why bother if no one cares" downward spiral.

Through my discouragement, I clung to the Lord. I was reminded of Colossians 3:23-24, "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving."

Convicting. Whether I am appreciated or not, forge ahead in excellence, doing what He called me to do. Be the best mother and wife I can be, in His strength. Another verse, Nehemiah 8:10, propped me up: "...for the joy of the Lord is your strength."

This year for Mother's Day, I asked not for cards or gifts, but for letters from my family. The letters I received from my kids were sweet and funny and encouraging. Especially from my nearly-10 and 12 year olds... I could see that they "get" it. They know I try make them a priority, that being their mom is important to me, that my many mundane tasks matter. I appreciated the letters and felt loved.

Last night, though, I was moved to tears when my husband came home from work and handed me a letter he wrote. How my heart melted and my spirit soared. I am happy to serve the Lord. But it is so, so nice when my man acknowledges me and my contribution to our family. God truly gifted my heart through these words from Gil:

You are the rock in the midst of the constant roll of life. It is because
of you our children have security in their place in the world. You are steadfast in your direction and love for each. Different in style -- you meet them where they are in life.

At times, it may seem they choose me over you. But I think it's because they are so secure: Mom is their rock, she is our constant.

So if you ever have days when you wonder what your life is worth, stop and think of Zachary, Abbie, Jacob, and me, for that matter. For without you we would all be rolling, rolling with no direction of home.

What a gift these words were to me. It was a holy moment... my heart cries to God reflected back to me through sweet, thoughtful, unexpected words from my husband.

Where's Mom??!?? Part 2

In March, I wrote this post called "Where's Mom??!??" In the past couple of days, Emily at Chatting at the Sky visited this very topic. Of course, she is far more eloquent than I am. Her post is definitely worth a read, as are all the comments.


The question is, are we in our pictures? In years to come, will our children know we were present in their lives, or will they wonder where we were? Emily, and another blogger, Karin, encourage us to take self-portraits if we have to. So in that vein, I decided I would do that with my kids tonight! On a whim, I picked up the camera, we all piled on the playroom couch, and took a few pictures.

I actually had to hand the camera to Zachary for him to take the photos because I couldn't keep my arm out of the shot!

This Mother's Day weekend, let's make sure Mom (you!!) are featured in some photos... preferably with your kids!!

"Obedience"

Cute things they say...

I found these cute little Clementine mandarin oranges at Costco this week. I loved that they were the perfect size for snacking and lunch boxes. Rather than peeling an orange to divide among 3 kids, I can just give them their own. Well, Zachary is fine with peeling his. Abbie prefers a banana. And Jacob, who just turned 6, can't exactly peel an orange yet.

This morning when I was groggily making lunches, I had the fruit laid out. Jacob reminded me that he needs his orange peeled. I assured him that I definitely planned on peeling his before packing it in his lunch.

After school, this is what Jacob said to me:

"Mommy, I couldn't hatch my orange."

"What?" I said. "Hatch your orange???"

"My teacher had to open it for me," Jacob said. "But then I could peel it myself!"

Of course I apologized for my oversight! And ran to pick up an extra orange and the camera to document this cute moment!!!

Teacher Appreciation Gifts!

One of my favorite pastimes is making albums for other people. And when I am hired to make albums for others, it is even better! In my former career, I did quite a bit of desktop publishing and publication design. I did so much, in addition to my regular job, that colleagues started asking me to design their flyers, invites, and brochures. I loved it! I found great satisfaction in tailoring the graphics, layout, and fonts to fit their personality and the event or program they were promoting.




When I began scrapbooking 12 years ago, doing custom albums for hire was a natural progression. It has truly been my joy and my honor to be entrusted to create special albums for others. It has always been fun for me! I have one client who commissioned 20 albums over the course of two years. Other clients have had me create special gift books to commemorate a special anniversary, or a child's high school graduation. Wedding books and baby books are always especially enjoyable. In the beginning, everything I completed was with traditional scrapbooking techniques. But for the past few years, I have been doing lots with digital books and pages, too.

Many of my clients are people who love the look of scrapbooks, but do not feel inclined or able to make them for themselves. Almost all have been only too happy to leave all the creative details to me. I consult with them to determine style and theme, as well as the goals and purpose of the project. I am usually working with photos, so I make sure I understand how they all fit together and who the principal people are. But then I am on my own to create!

I find it very interesting when people who actually scrapbook, and enjoy scrapbooking, ask me to do albums for them! On one hand, I am happy to have the work and love a new project. On the other, it is a little intimidating to scrapbook for a scrapbooker! I am always learning and adapting ideas from my scrapbooking buddies, so I definitely don't claim to be the best page designer ever!

I am a very project-oriented person. I throw myself into each project... become fully immersed in the process... and have the ideas flowing even when I am away from the work. I find inspiration in the pictures, or the materials I am using, or the person for whom I am creating the book. I love having a new project by which to be inspired!!!

Recently, I was finishing up a commissioned baby album (which I still haven't shared -- but will soon!) when I was contacted to create end-of-the-year gift albums for the teachers of a client's children. For this project, she wanted predecorated albums. She plans to add the photos and the finishing touches herself .

These are 8" x 8" books, with 24 sleeves each to hold the layouts. I used an Elementary Power Palette Kit. While an 8x8 Kit is available in this design, I didn't choose it. By opting to use the 12x12 kit and trim it down, I ended up with enough supplies to complete two albums from one kit! I just had to supplement with 16 additional sheets of extra card stock.

When I trimmed the 12x12 sheets of decorated papers down to 8x8, I first trimmed off a 4" x 12" strip. Next, I cut a 4" x 8" strip from the largest piece, to arrive at an 8x8 piece of paper. I used the trimmed "scraps" to decorate a complementary page for each two-page spread. With two albums finished, I still have lots of scraps left over!

These books will be from the class to the teacher, so the children's names will be added. I made up some title blocks with the names of each child... some cute lettering off my computer printed onto nice cardstock, and matted with a bit of black cardstock. I left these off the pages for now so that they can be added with the photos.

It really is kind of hard to visualize what these pages will look like when they are finished, with photos on them... but I think they will look great! At least two photos will fit on each page. More pictures can be added if they are smaller.

I just know that these teachers are going to love these gifts!!! But not because of my layouts. These albums will be treasured for the faces, the stories, and the memories they contain. Because that is what it is really all about.

Who can you bless with an album?

Tasty Tuesday! Simple Salmon

My blog friend Jen at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam is the new host of the Tasty Tuesday Parade of Food! Click on over there for lots of inspiration and links to other yummy dishes. I was excited to participate with my own easy, yet impressive, recipe!

Whether on the grill, or under the broiler, I love to cook salmon this way. It makes any dinner seem like a special occasion. This is a great dish for company. And it is soooo easy to fix! My mom is visiting from Arizona, so we made this salmon Friday. Truly, it is so simple, a 12 year old could make this.

Start with some simple ingredients:

• Salmon (I get mine at Costco... this is about 1.5 pounds, fresh)
• Foil (Wrapping in foil makes it easy to grill or broil... and clean up is a breeze!)
• Herbs & spices (If you have fresh herbs, wonderful! If not, improvise with whatever you like.)
• Fresh Lemon (Optional, but it really adds something special.)
• Salt & Pepper
• A couple dashes of Olive Oil

Lay a large piece of foil out on a big cookie sheet. Add a bit of olive oil to keep the salmon from sticking. If your salmon has the skin still on, then you would lay it directly onto the oiled foil, skin side down.

If your salmon is without skin, then you will want to season both the top and the bottom. Start with a row of sliced lemons across the foil.

Next, add your seasonings. If you had fresh herbs, you could lay them down on top of the lemon. Dill, rosemary, thyme, cilantro... all are delicious! I only had dried herbs, so that is what we used. See how easy this is? Oh, look... My 12 year old son is prepping the salmon!

Lay the slab of salmon onto the bed of spices and lemons. Then season the top.... salt & pepper, herbs and spices. Zachary is using garlic, paprika, and herbes de Provence.

Finally, end with a layer of lemon slices. Add a drizzle of olive oil across the top.

Wrap it up in foil. I wrap it twice, and make sure that all the seams are tight. If I were grilling (it was too soggy outside to grill this time, unfortunately), I would turn the grill burners on high and lay the foil packet right onto the grill. For the broiler, I keep the foil packet on a cookie sheet.

Somewhere along the way I heard that fish should be cooked 10 minutes for every inch of thickness. So, when I prepare salmon, I put it under the broiler for 6 minutes. Then I flip the packet and cook for another 5 minutes. On the grill, I follow the same procedure... 6 minutes on the first side, flip, and 5 minutes onto the second side. It usually turns out perfectly!!! But, if you open it up and check it and find that it is underdone, you can close it up and put it back for another 2-4 minutes.

Doesn't that look delicious?!?

If you had a big crowd, you could prepare several large pieces of salmon early in the day. After seasoning and wrapping up the packets, you would refrigerate them until close to serving time. Fifteen minutes before serving, pull them out and throw them on the grill or under the broiler. Your grill could accommodate 4-5 salmon packets, if it is about the size of mine. You could probably put 3 packets under the broiler, directly on the rack without a cookie sheet underneath.

Can you imagine... a beautiful, tasty main course ready in just 10 minutes! If I have leftovers, I love it the next day for lunch on top of a salad. My husband likes to have salmon with eggs in the morning. But we usually don't have many leftovers!

He has risen indeed!

He is not here for He has risen, as He said.

~Matthew 28:6

Praying for Stellan

This precious baby boy that I don't even know has been on my heart all week, and most of last week, too. He is hospitalized with a heart condition. He seems to be turning a corner, but his family and doctors still have many decisions to make. You can read all about him on his mama's blog, My Charming Kids. I also like this post that Jennifer of the Magic Brush wrote about Stellan this week. She captured my thoughts so much better than I could. I am praying for this little guy... actually our whole family is!