Wow it's May!!

Hi everyone or anyone!!  I haven't posted since January!! I can't believe it!  My goal was to post every week, and it seems that every week has been hectic and crazy,  then add in some health issues and here we are, it's may.  Well, I got a new laptop, so I have been busy transferring everything over to the new one!!  I spent many many nights and weekends working hard on the 8x8 scrapbooks for the "grandmas" of Khloe and of course the one for my step-daughter who had a baby boy back in september!   The scrapbooks were of Khloe's first year, and all the grandma's loved their albums!!Well those are now all completed and the last one went out in the mail yesterday!!  Success!!  The thing is though, I've worked on those albums for over 1 year...  4 albums, and of course one for me (that will never have an end!)  It was hard letting them go!!  I know it sounds goofy, but, do you know what I mean??  You put your heart and soul into the books and then give then away, hoping that they bring as much joy to the person they are meant for, as the joy I had making them!!

So, now that those books are done, I am now going to return to working on some pages for my album!!  Here is the neat thing about my pages, they are shared pages!!  One of my best friends can design a page that should be in a magazine!!  She will often send me pictures of her pages, and then I use them for inspiration.  Because, when I am finished with my page, it looks nothing like hers, yet the inspiration or colors came from her.  AND what is even neater is the encouragement I received from my scrapping girl friends as I worked on them!!  So, I guess my message to everyone is, share your creations with others!!  Encourage each other in their creativeness!!  It can all be inspirational!!

On that note, let me share with you the first page of my book about Khloe's first year!!  (for those of you that don't know me well, Khloe is my beautiful grandaughter, who just turned one!)  I hope that it gives you inspiration to create a page of your own!!

Enjoy!!  And happy scrapping!!

Leslie

It's been a productive week

Good evening everyone!!  Well I must say it has been a productive week for me!!  I completed a 2 page layout that was 12x12 and then did 4 more identical ones that were 8x8!!  All I have left to do is to cut the mats for the photos and I can't really do that until I get the photos printed!!  The design was simple, but it really takes me a long time to put my thoughts into the design!!  Often times I will get a copy of a layout a friend did (called scraplifting) and use that as inspiration!!  99% of the time, my pages turn out looking nothing like the ones I used for my inspiration!!  This time, it was completely my own design!!  Tomorrow I think I will try to post the layout here!!  I've never done that before so please bear with me!!  Hope y'all had a good week!!  I will enjoy an extra day off for the holiday!!


So, my question for you this week is where do you draw your inspiration from??  Do you have a favorite blog whose layouts match your style?  Do you have a favorite designer you like to draw inspiration from?  I really really like the layouts from Webster's Pages!!  I also LOVE to browse the gallery at A Cherry On Top or also at Scrapbook.com!!  I save layouts I like to a seperate file on my computer to use at a later date when I am in a funk and can't get my crop on!!

Have a great week!!  Leave me a message!!  I can't wait to hear about your inspirations!!

Always,

Leslie

It's A Brand New Year!!

Well, 2011 has come and gone, but brought a lot of changes to our lives!!  Donnie is doing well in his sophmore year of college!!  Kevin and Katrina have moved back home and blessed us with a beautiful grandaughter Khloe!!!  Jim is still working crazy hours and I am still working with special needs students.  Looking back it seems like 2011 was all about getting thing done for everyone else!  Not that I mind that, but I think 2012 is going to be about accomplishing MY goals!! haha!!  One of those goals is this blog!!  It has been neglected for far too long!!  So, my goal is to post about my scrapbooking, crafting adventures at least once a week!!  AND to throw out some challenges for everyone, as well as ask you all for ideas on how YOU do things!!  One of my favorite things about crafting is how crafters share ideas!!  It's so neat to learn from each other!  So here we go!

I own a cricut expression and with that, I own many cartridges!!  I really struggle with keeping my carts and books organized!!  I do own a gypsy and she is wonderful!!  BUT, when I go to a crop, I still feel the need to bring the carts and books with me, just in case someone needs to borrow them!!  So my question to y'all is this....  how do you keep your carts and books organized??  How to you transport them to crops??  Let the sharing and learning begin!!!

ScrapnLifeAway: Full of Ideas

ScrapnLifeAway: Full of Ideas

Full of Ideas

Well, I had a super conversation with a dear friend this evening!  And as I was trying to sleep, my mind was just racing with so many ideas for this blog!!  There is so much I want to share!!  I have many friends who are so talented when it comes to paper crafting!!  From scrapbooking to card making!!  Whether you use your Cricut Expression to add detail to your project or use your Cricut Gypsy to design your own details, these women are an inspiration to me!!  Or even if you are really creative and create without using technology, share with us!!!   I would like to use this blog to share with you the many projects we all work on!!


Right now, a few of my friends are working on cards for a few of the local children's hospitals.  Just simple cards, easy & quick to make.  Something that families who have loved ones in the hospital can use or just a card to cheer up a patient in a sometimes not so cheery place.  What an awesome idea!!  And it also kind of touched my heart.  How many of us know someone who's day would be made just a little bit better when they open their mailbox and find a homemade card, made just for them.  I hope to snap a few photos of some of these amazing cards to share with you.  I hope that they will inspire you to make a card to send to a loved one, or maybe someone you know that just needs to hear a "hello"!!!

I would love to have some of these talented women share some of the pages they create with you.  To share with you some of the techniques they use in creating their treasures of paper crafting.  So much of this creativity would not be possible, to the extent it has become, if it weren't for this adorable little scrapbook store we all love to spend our money at !! The store is called Just A Little Bit Moore and they are located in Mooresville Indiana.  These women are true angels, and take such good care of us as we create and laugh along the way.

I think it would be neat to share things like our favorite quotes for journaling, kind of like a quote of the week kind of thing.  And as my followers grow, how fun would it be to do challenges once in a while to help us jump start those creative minds of ours!!  The more we share, the more we grow, and the more we grow, the more we contribute to our families and our communities.  It is my hope to update this blog as often as possible, so that we may all learn from each other, and pass that knowledge on to others who share a love for paper crafting!!

The look of this blog will change over time as I learn how to design it to reflect who I am and what I stand for in this crazy thing called life.  If you have any ideas you would like to share, please do so!  I welome any an all input on how to make this a place for all to share!!!

I am going to have to learn how to post pictures here, as well as some videos, not to mention sharing with you the adventures we all have on this wonderful journey!!  If you've made it to the end of this post, thank you!!  I can only hope that there will be many many more posts to come (only not at 3am!!)

Always,

Leslie McGrath
ScrapnLifeAway

Here I am!!!

Well, this is my very first post here!  I am setting up this blog so that I can share my love of scrapbooking with people who share my passion for paper crafts!!!   I am sure the look of this blog will change as I learn more about how this whole thing works!!!

Here is a little bit about me!  I have lived in Indiana since 2005, but grew up in Cleveland, Ohio!!  I have been married for almost 26 years now!!  And that is an accomplishment!!  I have two sons, both in college!!  I also have a soon to be daughter-in-law and a beautiful new grandaughter who is just 6 weeks old today!!  We also have a 2 yr old "puppy" named Sophie, and she is a lovable mutt!!  They are all the joys of my life!!

I work as a special education teaching assistant in a life skills classroom at a local high school!!  This is my 17th school year working with special needs students and I still love what I do for a living!  I am blessed to be able to get up and look forward to going to work each day!!  I will do this until my body says that I can't!!

I've only been scrapbooking since 2007 and I've learned so much and I look forward to sharing my work with others and learning from each other!!!  So, as I get this blogging thing all figured out, hopefully this page will reflect my personality and my "style"!!!  I look forward to posting and hearing from anyone out there who loves scrapbooking and paper crafts as much as I do!!!

Always,

Leslie