Photos of the pages!

I've hacked away a chunk of my project, and I've decided to post some results.

November: I was still working with the photos from the old album, so I had to somehow make photos that were cut without a straight-edge work. I think it worked out pretty well.

Interestingly enough, I used to not order that many photos for the album because the old album lacked space. So, I went back and ordered some more photos, that way I can insert another page on our Vegas trip right in here. Yes, I ordered two pages worth of photos.

December: I was still dealing with the old photos. These are also pages I had to redo in order to give more room in the margins for the pages to flip. The things you learn....

I wish we had more photos from December, but it was such a chaotic month with us moving. Some photos are definitely better than no photos!

January: The last of the curvy-edge photos. I'm sort of figuring out how I want to lay things out in January-March. Note that these are also pages I had to go back and redo in order to give more room in the margins for page flipping.

February: Feb only had a few pages of partial photos. Thank goodness. The last of piecing together oddly-cut photos and trying to piece together photos into categories. Things got easier (although the number of photos grew) after this month.

March: The beginning of straight edges. This page for March was actually the first page I did in this new album. I did have to redo it in order for the margins to work, but I don't think I did too bad. I loved this look so much that I decided to buy my paper cutter after this.

I decided I'm not a huge fan of design backgrounds. The lines taught me this. But sticking to mostly solid colors ends up being cheaper anyway!

This right-hand page is also the start of me using categories and labels. See the little block that says "Maddie Days"?? That's the first one. It really emphasized me categorizing things in the months to come,which resulted in a much better overall flow.

This green page (below) is the last of me having to cut for margins. Thank goodness.

April: April is technically the first month where I used my magazine letters for month titles. I'm still trying to think of a way to get the letters to pop a bit more. I think buying a sharpie and better making it a block might help. Or backing in something I don't normally use: Black paper.

I also became aware in April that a little extra planning could result in having page spreads. Here (below), I wanted to have two garden pages for April. By spacing it out, I was able to plan to have them both be visible on one page opening. I also realized that I don't always need a ton of captions-- see, on the right-hand side? Only some labels and a tiny caption.

Regardless of the amount of planning, there will always be photos that I randomly put together. I hadn't planned on including the weird birds, but I did want to include the new chickens. So, I put them together. But, with labels, it wasn't quite as mish-moshed, I don't think.

I'm really beginning to experiment with layouts more in these pages.

May: A long month, but good for practice.

I cut this month out in advance of sorting. Now, I more sort the photos, decide the layout for each page, and then cut. You see more of the pre-planning in June.

But what a difference sorting into categories makes!
I had to leave "San Diego Trip, Part IV" blank because I'm getting photos from my dad. Yes, I planned it out-- one page worth's only.

I began in May to also insert small pictures occasionally to fill in some blank space. See the orange pictures on the right-hand side? Not great, but it does expand my ideas for things to use.

June: Finally, on to June. I really like using these song lyrics as categories on the first page of June (right-hand page, below).

An excellent example of planning a page spread and planning my photo cuts. I also love how all these little photos kind of look like seed packets. Interesting note: I actually did all of the left-hand page and then outlined each photo/caption in black ink. Result? I HATED it. But, the right-hand page was yet-to-be-done, and I wanted them both to be in the same style. So, I re-did the left-hand page to have no black ink. I had to be pretty creative in paper usage, since I didn't have much paper left at this point. But, it worked. And now, I have two alike pages with no black ink outline.

I had some turf and chips photos I wanted to insert, so I decided to make an entire page. But it was a bit empty, so I decided to add in these little flower drawings. I think it worked out well.

One of my favorite pages: The chicken page. I love those orange drawings and the title boxes across the page. I really like how this page turned out.

So, that's it so far! July and October have been ordered, as well as the additional Vegas photos. Until they arrive, I get a little bit of a break.

Scrapbook Update!

Remember: My project is to finish every month, July 2009 through June 2011, by July 2011.

Here's an update!

I've redone all months that had been done in the old 9.5x11 format: November '09, December '09, January '10. I also redid the part of February '10 that had been done in the 12x12 format.

In addition, the rest of February through May is finished, with June being partway finished.

So.... on the completed list:
November 2009
December 2009
January 2010
February 2010
March 2010
April 2010
May 2010

Nice!! I also know that I did not take a ton of photos in August or October 2009, and I think July 2009 was a bit minimal too, so I think those months will be easier. September 2009 has Maddie puppy photos, so we know that'll be a long month.

It's still a long way to go... 24 months total, only 7 done. But, still much better than NONE done!

Seattle and Bainbridge Island

Last Friday, we set off for Seattle.

I had my trusty copilot corgi (and a very washed out white complexion. Geez!).


Soon, however, my other carmates fell asleep.

The corgi, too, began to fade.


And then she konked out as well. Yes, collapsed completely on the center console, beached-whale-style.

Once we finally switched off drivers though, Bailey was wide-awake.

Happy to be in the front seat!

Maddie, her copilot duties relieved momentarily, caught some sleep in the back seat.

Bailey as all-too-happy to oblige by taking over the happy-front-seat-dog duties.


He may or may not have been drinking (water) and driving.


Yup, happy dog, almost to Seattle.

Copiloting is a very serious duty.


After 5 hours of driving, we were almost there, but both dogs were pretty tired.

Mads still found ways to make us laugh.


The hotel? Fabulous dog fun. There was a BED. Remember-- our bedroom is in a loft, so no dog access. The dogs were beside themselves.

After sushi that night with my sister and her boyfriend, B and I headed back to the hotel and immediately passed out. Driving really takes it out of you!

The next morning, we headed to breakfast. Maddie enjoyed staring at Daniel (sister's boyfriend), trying to occasionally sneak a cheek lick in. Daniel, not used to dogs, was a tad wary. Perhaps a bit entertained too, but a tad wary of the grinning corgi lurking nearby.


Maddie finally went back on my sister's lap. Bailey passed out in the crack between seats.


Maddie is very good at stare-offs that result in her winning and getting to lick someone. She's not much of a licker, but she's a great sly occasional licker.

Happy dog. Happy sister. Sister is currently pet-less, so she got a good dosage of pets while we saw her.


There was ample butt fluffage.


Sister could not help but grab the butt fluffage. It's quite impressive. And if you had told my sister 3 years ago that she would be grabbing my dog's butt fur, she would have scoffed. Cuteness and fluffy fur make a person do seemingly strange things.

Before we left Kirkland to head to the ferries, we had to reorganize the back seat for the dogs. This meant the sister had to hold onto one dog for a few moments. This photo should give you a pretty good idea that Bailey is no longer TINY. Um, he's over 20 lbs. And gangly as all heck. He looks pretty unimpressed in this photo.


So, up and over Lake Washington to Seattle. It was a beautiful clear day, and you could see the Olympic Mountains in the distance. Gorgeous! There were some hefty waves on the north side, but the other side of the lake was pretty flat.

The University of Washington is over there somewhere....

All rested up, the trusty corgi copilot was by my side.

Yup, I guess we read the directions correctly. Hello, Seattle.

I'm always impressed with how many cars can fit on a ferry.

The corgi was right by my side, but perhaps a bit nervous at where the car was driving.


The ferry crossing was pretty quick-- half hour tops. But beautiful! We left the dogs in the car. They were allowed on the top deck, but it was just too windy for my comfort to take them up there. And cold!


View looking back to Seattle from the ferry.


Olympics in the distance.


Another ferryboat heading back to Seattle. Exact replica of the one we were on, but headed the opposite direction.


While waiting in our car for the ferry to finish pulling up to Bainbridge, I happened to look at our GPS. Apparently, we have an amphibian car.

The final part of the crossing was apparently very boring to the dogs. But, on the positive side, Bailey discovered that bottom fur makes a most excellent pillow.

After exploring the island a bit, we headed back to the new hotel, changed, and went to the wedding of our two friends. It was at a beautiful location-- Islandwood, an educational school/camp/getaway in the woods on Bainbridge Island. The architecture was GORGEOUS.

We were pretty impressed with the buildings. And the wedding was beautiful. Congratulations, Maggie and Brian!

My date. he looked all swankified.

And finally, we crossed the bridge the next day to get to the west sound. Off the island and headed south, back home. The handsome husband and copilot corgi led the way.