Crafting Jewish Style Passover Card

It creeps up every year. Just as you are thinking how fun Purim was... bam! Time to start thinking about Passover. This card is the first and only step of my Pesach preparations, so far. 

I used Crafting Jewish Style's Passover line to make this card. I love the muted colors, and the lines and circle elements are quite fetching. All I added from my stash was some baker's twine, and 2 tiny pearls. 

May the rest of Pesach planning be as fun (and easy) as making this card. Amen.

March Take Twelve Layout

Voila:

It helps me a lot that my Cocoa Daisy kit comes right around Take Twelve time. I can get to work, inspired by new photos and new products. I used some items from older Cocoa Daisy kits as well, and Ormolu's Go Flair Buttons fit perfectly with my focus on transportation this month.

You can still post a link to your photos or layout at Ella Publishing Co's blog, for a chance to win a $50 gist certificate to Persnickety Prints.

When Max saw this layout sitting on my desk, he said, "There aren't even that many pictures of us? Why do you take pictures of random stuff?" ? Teenage boys can be so charming. But the question is a reasonable one, no matter how it's phrased, so I replied that one day, when he's, like 50, it might be fun to look back and see the bus you took to school everyday. Who knows in what part of the world he might be in in 10, 15, or 20 years, and a glimpse of the New York City subway system might bring back some pleasant memories. Or, maybe not. I guess it's likely that everything that I think might be meaningful one day might not be at all. I guess we'll just have to wait and see. (Check back to this blog in 2052 for the update! You might want to bookmark it, so that you remember.)

Do your kids ever find your scrapbooking a drag?

Purim 2012

Ahh, Purim. My favorite holiday has come and gone.


A quick overview: On Purim we read the always engaging story of Queen Esther saving the Jewish people from the wicked Haman. To celebrate, children (and adults) dress in costumes, send packages of food to each other, eat hamantashen, and engage in general merriment. 

This year I had to work on Purim.  I'm working later hours than I have in years past, so I missed a lot of the merriment, and the delivering of packages. It wasn't an easy choice, but teaching at Jewish school, I had spent the last few weeks teaching my students about Purim. So I felt I should be there for their celebration. And celebrating at school meant that it would be a hectic day for my co-teachers, and I felt it was unfair of me to leave them with that. So while I strongly believe in family first, this was one situation where I felt that working was the right thing to do. I feel pretty confident that my kids have the blessing of two parents, who,while they work, are pretty present in their every day lives. So, this was one situation where the right thing to do was not the easy thing to do. Sam took it pretty hard though. And, I had a heavy heart the while time at work. But I enjoyed every second left of the holiday as soon as I got home. A few neighbors stopped by our place to deliver food to us, and then we enjoyed our Purim meal together:

So all that background information was just so I could share this layout with you.

It tells a little about how Sam and I were sad on Purim because I had to work. But, it also tells about how last year Max spent Purim out with his friends. Sam thought he might do the same this year. But Max said to Sam, "We already don't have Mommy here, so we should stay together." 

For Purim 2010, I scrapped my many photos in January 2011. In 2011, I had so many pictures, I made a four page layout. This year, I started this layout on Purim itself, and it might just be the only story I need to tell. I love it that much.

March Take Twelve Photos

Now March 12th is almost done, and I've completed my Take Twelve challenge for another month. As always,  before I began, I looked to Ella's Guided Inspiration Kit for, well, inspiration. I used some ideas as a starting point, and then discovered other little moments I wanted to document along the way. Before I ramble about my photos, here's a friendly neighborhood reminder to post your pictures in Ella's 2012 Take Twelve Challenge Flickr group, and post a link to your photos here by Sunday, for a chance to win a $50 gift certificate to Persnickety Prints!

So lets' give it a go, shall we?

As I've mentioned before, we always go out together to see the kids off to school. All four of us. 1) Sometimes we laugh. 2) When a Netflix video DVD needs returning, this is the time. Sam runs down the block and back to put it in the mail box. 

One of the ideas from the inspiration kit was about capturing your "primary mode of transportation." This one spoke to me, because one of the things I love about living in the city is having a rich, connected, always there for you, public transportation system. Also, on an average Monday, the four of us go off on four different vehicles. 3) Max, by city bus (then train), 4) Sam on the school bus, 5) I head to the subway 6) with my handy Metrocard, and 7)Dave rides his bike.

8) I couldn't help but capture some signs of spring.  (I could have filled this page with two dozen pictures of buds and bulbs and things just beginning to bloom.)

The final four are little tidbits of our life: 9) Last week we celebrated the Jewish holiday of Purim, and the Hamantashen (the cookies) in the background tells that little story. Another story in this little photo: While I felt super healthy, and like a wonderful mom for making brussel sprouts for dinner, I also ate about half a dozen hamantashen when I came home from work. Oops. 10) Another little sign of Purim just past- a Purim layout in progress. 11) Sam is in the middle of reading Wonderstruck, by Brian Selznick. Sam reading is always good (not his favorite pas time), and that book is just so pretty. And finally, 12) my newest addition; my little baby; my first DSLR. Of course I had to take her picture with my old camera.

Can't wait to see your 12!

It's Time For Take Twelve

The eve of Take Twelve seems like the perfect time to share some of my own exciting photographic developments.

 Back in December, around the time that I decided that "camera" would be my One Little Word,  there was a deal on Living Social for a 6 hour photography class at Brooklyn Creative. Well, today was the day of that class, and it was absolutely perfect. It was chock full of information, right at the level that I needed.

 In preparing for the class, I was looking into renting a DSLR for the day. Long story short, while looking to rent one, I bought one. It was kind of a  crazy, spur of the moment decision for a large purchase, but after it was done, I was so happy I cried. Weird, I know. What can I say? Scrapbooking and photography are important to me. I am grateful to be moving to this next level of photgraphy.

So here's some of what I managed to do today:

Me and my Cammy. I like the noises she makes. Click. Snap.

I finally got Depth of Focus

My usual MO. But now in Manual Mode

And when I came home, I was able to do this:

When all was said and done, I had taken about 350 pictures. After reviewing them all, I think I have less than a hundred now. But every "mistake" was totally worth it, because I understand more today than I did yesterday.  

I am totally ready for Take Twelve. What about you?

Redecorating

In December I painted my apartment. A lot. It was exhausting. But, I love the new color. 

And since December, I've been pondering, thinking, making, and collecting things to put on my new, neutral colored walls. Part of my motivation to paint was that I wanted to change the artwork on the walls. I was drawn to colorful items like this:

And wonderful, eclectic arrangements like this:

Inspired by those, I made these:

And hung it all up to look like this:

And this:

Some fun facts:

-I have had those bird and the giraffe prints for 2 years, but never bought frames for them, or knew where to hang them- till now. I bought them from an amazing artist, Kristiana Parn, while vending at a craft fair. I adore them.

-The wire shelf is a drawer organizer, I think, that I found in Marshall's. 

-Those houses are fom Crate and Barrel, and are sold as Christmas stocking hooks. I found them so beautiful, I asked Dave to get them for me for my birthday. He actually got me something else in the end, but  I loved them so much that I asked him to get them for me anyway. It was helpful that my birthday is December 27th, and thus, these were heavily discounted.

-I bought that ring of keys in Israel. I had admired them in a little shop all summer long, and decided before returning home that I was going to splurge on them whatever they cost. If I was still thinking about them after 7 weeks, I must really love them, and it would be worth it. So I reasoned to myself. When I asked the shopkeeper how much they were, he said, "30 shekels." That, my friends, comes to about $8.00. I asked again, sure that I had misunderstood his Hebrew. Then I asked, "Yes but what's the price for the whole set of keys?" Again, he answered, "30 Shekels." It took a few more minutes till I finally believed him, and then I happily handed over my money.

-I spent hours measuring, and re-measuring, and marking and drilling, and hanging and checking that all was level. By the time I got to the pink frame with butterflies, I did not care that it is totally crooked. Still don't.

Break the Silence

I've been in a blogging rut (a "blut," if you will), probably because I've been in a bit of a scrapbooking rut (or, a "scrut.") And, just like when I need to get my scrappy juices (scruices?) going, I just have to sit down and make something, I am just going to sit and write.

I do have one layout to share. After much scrapping about Max, I wanted to focus on Sam. Easy, peasy, I thought. He's always doing cute and funny stuff, and he loves posing for pictures. Except suddenly I couldn't think of any stories I wanted to tell about him. I know I should just be able to make pages that just say things like, "so cute."  But, right now my scrapping has really focused on stories, and that's what I was missing. But, how could this be when there are so many things I just love about Sam? And so many pictures that I just love?
So, instead of a story, I just focused on the feeling, and scrapped about that. As it says the page, "No fancy story or title, I Just Love You."

And then I just wrote a stream of conscience, things I love about Sam like the way he chooses his clothes, how he plays, or how he insisted we buy no kill mouse traps for some uninvited guests who have come to live with us. And how could you not love a guy, who at any given moment could come into the kitchen looking like this:

In the half hour since I took the above picture, he has changed into a Joker costume, and has duct taped a bunch of rulers together to make a machine gun. 

And what about that giant contraption he is standing next to? That's our new popcorn maker that Max won this weekend. It's monstrously large, it makes me a little crazy, and I need to find a place to put it soon. However, there is something strangely nice about having a cabinet of popcorn on your counter: