It's Finished!

The gardens were so colorful and vibrant, we spent a great deal of time walking through with amazement. My young (at the time) daughter just loved all of them, skittering from plant to plant pointing and exclaiming.

More posing in front of displays, These two pages are accented with my Heartfelt Creations Delicate Aster stamps and dies and accented with the Spellbinders Floral Flourish dies.  The closest we made it to gambling was an afternoon stint at Circus Circus.  Since this was a trip when financial challenges abounded, we resisted the temptation to spend money on entertainment.  Two exceptions were the trip to the M & Ms store where we bought some expensive (for M & Ms) hand selected varieties of the candy treat and some game playing at Circus Circus. 

This is where I have to disclose- my husband is highly competitive.   I think I've mentioned his stint as a softball coach.  Occassionally, his need to win comes out and he successfully "beats" young girls.

This layout is proof that he doesn't always win.  The entire family played this racehorse game.  The object was to slide balls into targeted holes to move your racehorse along the course.  You've probably seen this game at the county fair.  When the race was over, the man walked over and handed our daughter a toy giraffe.  She was the winner. 

Since I didn't leave much room for journaling on this page, the story is relegated to the back of the page (with a highlight on the front page story). 

All in all, I'm so pleased to have finished this.  I have a few cards that I now have to get photographed and posted.  It seems this is the season for weddings and birthdays so I've a few requirements to meet before I can think again about getting some more planned projects finished and maybe catch up a bit on my scrapbooking.

This picture of the front page was snapped in order to get the post up.  I've typed out a vacation "story" that will fill the space under my title. It seemed wiser to get this all posted than to wait until I get that story down.  Thanks for bearing with me during these longer posts and the amount of time that it took me to get them posted.  I appreciate all the kind comments.  They've seriously encouraged me!

The Volcano

For the most part we stayed inside after dark.  Walking around Vegas in the daylight was its own kind of special with young children.  Walking around at dusk waiting for the volocano show, nighmarish!  It is fun people watching, but one wonders what it taught my children.  I'm thinking less than I thought, but more than I expected, ha ha.

The fountain at the Bellagio was the same kind of special.  The musical light display was certainly captivating.  Let's face it folks, we were a bunch of certified tourists for the week.

Whether it was the white tigers at the Mirage or the Lion enclosure at the MGM Grand, both kids have always enjoyed a good zoo-like display. 

Freaky eyes, dude!  If this scrapbooking effort wasn't inherently worth the time, seeing how far I've come on the picture taking front was worth it.  Some of the errors were tool based- the first point and click digital cameras weren't that great.  However, a lot of the issue had to do with my use of the camera.  Yet, there is nostalgia in these photos that our current level of detail and perfection can't achieve without actual skill.  Yeah, that's what I'll claim... nostalgia.

Thanks for bearing with me as I get these all loaded and edited.  I'm working through this!

True Beauty

Just a couple more pages to share today.  The Bellagio's Conservatory was probably some of the best times on our tour.  We went back more than once.

The lobbies of each of these hotels have stunning flower displays.  My little rose was not outshown by their beauty. 

Thanks for patiently viewing my layouts.  I've had fun finishing this project and sharing with you.

The Millers

Today includes one of my favorite family photos ever.  A very kind stranger offered to take a photo of all four of us right in front of the fake Eiffel Tower.  Instead of snapping one or two, the stranger snapped quite a few, so I have these series of similar photos and I honestly can't figure which I like best.

I finally just picked one to be highlighted and made this super simple layout leaving the photo the star.

Lots of cheesy smiles as we wandered the town doing the wholesome, free activities.  It's good that my little ones were raised to be tourists from a young age.  They were super happy to stop at each site along the way.

Just a few more pages to the album.  I feel a little like Dory... Just keep snapping, editing, editing...

Freely Captivating

I've got a lot of pictures of scrapbook pages to get through and so I'm going to stop apologizing for the rough job I did of them.  The memories and the journaling are complete, so having these in an album is the most important part.  OK, I'll admit that they are currently sitting in a pile on my coffee table in the front room waiting to finish the photography to get them posted to the blog.  I have committed to getting them into an album at or around the time that the last post is made.  Wish me luck.

I did try to keep things simple.  Hopefully, this sharing is of the kind that make you feel more adequate to the task of keeping up on your crafting goals. 

It's hard to believe that time has passed so quickly- the kids have grown so much.  It really brings to mind what I like most about scrapbooking- the preserving of memories, not just photos.

So, get out those supplies, whittle down the stash and finish a project or two today.  I'm still taking and editing photos... more to come.

 

It's Vegas Baby!

These scrapbook pages are literally the result of years of effort.  First, the supplies and pictures went five years between purchase and the first efforts to scrapbook them.  Then, I pulled the supplies together into a container and brought them to a scrap night with Brandy over two years ago.  That night I designed a couple of layouts and began the process of identifying embellishments.  I tend to desire including many of the photos I take during a trip, rejecting the notion that one picture layouts are for me. 

So, these pictures were placed two years ago and just recently the titles and embellishments finalized.  This is what takes me so much time!  You may read sarcasm into that statement- these pages are not highly embellished so I don't really have an excuse for how long it took me to finish.  :)

My kids have grown so much since these photos were taken.  The other thing I noticed is how dark these photos are.  They were taken with one of our early digital point and shoot cameras.  At the time we thought how much better these photos were than the old 35 mm photos.  Now, owning a DSLR camera, I see how ineffective my use of the digital camera was.  I'm still learning so it's interesting to give a pause and see the differences.

The other thing I notice is how dark all of the patterned papers that I'd chosen were.  I didn't look for too many pportunities to counter this fact.  I couldn't think of a better use for these quite specific patterns, so into the book they went.  In the end, it is about creating a book of stories and pictures from our trip that will last and be more personal than just photos in an album.

Catching up on a scrapbooking effort

I've mentioned my recent determination that I'd finish some projects that I'd begun long ago.  I've gotten into the habit of creating cards because they are quick and easy and used new supplies and tools right when I purchased them.  However, this means that items purchased for scrapbook projects years(!!!) ago have long since languished in the stash without being used.  Pictures long since printed have remained in their packages. 






My blog friend, Jessica- who blogs over at Errant Scraps, changed all that.  She's delightfully consistent- not overwhelming prolific, but constantly pushing out layouts for her boys.  They aren't in any chronological order, just persistently crafty.

I decided that this album from a 2006 trip to Vegas was the place I would start.  Those looking for inspiration are warned- all supplies were purchased back in 2006-2007 when I worked at a LSS and could select from the new releases and samples that came into the store.  Most of the embellishments are as old as the trip!

At the time of this trip, we were experiencing a very difficult financial season as a family.  We own a time share, but didn't have $500 to actually go anywhere and do things once we got there.  Living in Phoenix, we turned to Vegas as a close five hour drive away.  At the time it seemed like a good fit- not too much money for gas and the time share would include a kitchen so that we could make our own meals and a rooftop pool that would occupy the kids.

We did a little research of all the free things one can do in Vegas- lots of walking down the strip (which included covering the children's eyes because you can't image what strolls down the sidewalk unless you've actually been to Vegas) and rushing into the cool, air conditioned casinos.  You'll not believe me but we didn't spend one cent on gambling of any kind for the entire 7 days of our trip.

I think the entire book is made up of coordinating two page layouts.  Please be patient with me as I share these pictures over the next week or so.  I'm committed to processing at least 4 pages every couple of days.  Editing pictures and narrating the layouts.  I'm not sure how helpful supply lists will be because so much of the product would not be able to be sourced today.  Sorry for that!!  Hopefully the layouts can inspire you much like Jessica's work inspires me.