AYM/2

 My layout: "cooler Queen" and "Relaxing bath."

My second layout for our "abc" album is "Sisters weekend" and "walking Tickets." Yes, Debbie, Sally and I got three tickets EACH for walking illegally on Belle Meade Blvd.---1. Walking on the wrong side of the road; 2. Walking three abreast; 3. Failing to yield (little did we know that when walking, you are supposed to stop at each driveway and look to make sure no one is backing out). Crazy. We took it to court and it was thrown out---although we were guilty of all offenses. Everyone else there was for a traffic violation. They all busted out laughing when we were called up for "walking illegally."

 Linda's layout "Mason" and "Napping."

Another of Linda's layouts, "Ordinary Moments" and "Pond Place."

 My layout for "W" and "X."

 My "U" is "Unbridled Enthusiasm." That's how I felt about the arrival of Prince George. I like to scrapbook current events too. My "V" page is "Vintage." I made some little log cabin quilt squares with the different patterns.

 Linda did a quilt layout. She included a fold out.

AYM/1-By the Numbers

For the month of September, the challenge was to tell 3 stories from school.

This is Carla's layout.

This is Janet's layout and her journaling:

 My school career began in 1960; I was enrolled at St Jerome’s Catholic school. I was lucky, there were no nuns teaching kindergarten, (NO Num Fear!). My teacher was Mrs. Macken and she was great. She was the one that made sure all of us learned how to read and write our names, telephone number and address. That is my 1^stMemory, which occurs to me  every time that I hear that today children have to know those things just to enter kindergarten now. Mrs. Macken also had a memory of an elephant, it didn’t matter if you saw her 5-10-20 years later, she knew who you were and could still call you by name, which always amazed me. {Picture d– Friend, Tommy Hein, Me and Mrs. Macken in the classroom that was in the first St Jerome’s building built, the first church,. Later the school & new church was built. And shown is my sister & brother in our front yard where you can see the new school building in the back ground, 1955.]

During 1^st grade I have a combo memory. 2.a) First, mid school year my Mom pulled my sister & me out of Catholic school during the middle of the day. She had a big disagreement with the Parish Priest and decided that we were no longer going to attend Catholic school. The day after that I started going to the public school system and attended Gibson Elementary School. This meant I had a much longer walk home from school. b) To be exact it was a 9 tenths of a mile walk down Cobourg Lands Dr. The kids that lived one street over got to ride the bus. So the second part is really about walking all that way home by myself. I really don’t know how long that walk took but some days it felt like it took over an hour.

     The next stop for my education (1967-1969)  was at Central Junior High (now they are referred to as “Middle Schools”) which included bus service, it was a bit future from our house. That seemed to be when everyone changed so much you weren’t even sure who you were half the time. The next bus ride took me to Riverview Gardens High School (1970-1974), where after the first 2 years no one wanted to ride a bus – but to get out of that you had to have a car and a parking spot, 2 very hard things to get. But the 3^rd memory was Friday night football games. It wasn’t about football but more about my group of friends. We always got to the game, at some time and we would stay for a while but what was done before and after the games was 95% pure high school FUN!  {Picture of me Junior year in High School 1972-73)

Carla's layout and journaling:

3 Memories

1) My first day of Kindergarten still remains vivid in my mind.  My Dad took me and many of the other kids were crying.  I wanted to cry too, but Dad said, "you're my big girl and you are not going to cry.  So I did not, but it was really hard.

2) At the beginning of 3rd grade we moved from Millstadt and we had to go t a school in Fults.  My sister and I hated it.  The desk raised up and kep hitting us in the head until we got used to them.

3)  For 8th grade we moved again and I finished 8-12 in Waterloo, IL.  I became a cheerleader and made friends easily.  I was a cheerleader in high school too and because I was so short I always got to be in front.  That is the only time I didn't mind being short.

Pam's layout. 

 Karolyn's layout---and of course, cool memorabilia. She had a story that she wrote and a report card signed by her dad.

 Here's my layout and journaling:

When I think back to my childhood school years, it seems that the negative things are the ones that come to mind. I’m sure it’s because these incidents made a lasting impact on my life. Nuns were just downright mean in my day. But in hindsight, I think their “mean-ness” was a good thing. We learned to respect authority---maybe “respect” isn’t exactly the right word---more like fear. But given how today’s out-of-control kids are, I don’t think that was a bad thing.

St. Aloysius was a really old school. In fact, my grandmother and her siblings went there when they lived on their farm in Spanish Lake. They had all since moved when my parents moved to the “sticks.”

The first time I ever got in trouble at school was in the second grade. I didn’t do anything. My best friend, Reenie had just learned to whistle and was whistling in the hallway. The principal caught her and drug her by the arm to the front of the class. She yelled at her and shook her, but Reenie never cried. When the principal asked the teacher who else might be a whistler, my teacher offered me up since I was Reenie’s friend. As I moved to the front of the class, I just started crying right away. I was always a crier. I learned the lesson of “guilt by association.”  And I learned that crying doesn’t help.

In the 3^rd grade, I needed to go to the bathroom really bad. My teacher kept saying “no, you should have gone at recess.” No matter how many times I asked, she kept saying “no.” Finally, she would ignore my frantically waving hand. Soon, it was my row’s turn to go to the bookmobile. I could not help myself---I bent down and peed all over the floor. I have no idea what happened after that. I was sure I’d get in trouble, but I never heard a thing about it. I guess the bookmobile lady wiped it up. What I learned from this incident was to go to the bathroom when you have the opportunity. You just never know where the next one will be.

When I was in the 6^th grade, Dick Hoffmeyer passed gas. The whole room was laughing uncontrollably. Sister Richard Maureen came in and asked what happened. He stood up and confessed that he had “cut the cheese.” I had never heard that term before and cracked up. I couldn’t get it under control. Sister put blue striped masking tape over my mouth and made me stand outside in the hallway all afternoon. When school was dismissed, all of the kids filed past me. My teacher had forgotten me. I was more afraid of getting in trouble at home since my sisters and brother would get there before me. I learned that there are consequences for your actions that are far-reaching! Years later, I had the opportunity to meet SRM again. I told her she was the “meanest” teacher I ever had!

Despite these stories, I have to say that I had a great school experience and wouldn’t change a thing!

Jeanne's layout.

Technique Share

When I go to Creative Haven retreats, I always teach a class. This time, the class was called "Tools and Techniques"

We created a title page using mists, masks, punches and a little sewing. Prior to the class, someone asked me if they were going to learn how to make masks. I hadn't planned on that, but realized it would be easy to do. Soooo, I did!

 I started by cutting an image out on my Cricut. I used a piece of cardstock that I knew I would never use---basically a "scrap" piece.

I used the negative as the mask. Using Heidi Swapp's "Colorshine", I sprayed two colors. With this technique, it makes ALL of your negative cuts worth saving. Really so simple.

I also sprayed the glossy chipboard with the mist to tone down the "white-ness."

Here's the end result. Simple, yet adds a finishing touch to the layout. Give it a try. Email your results to me and I will post them here!

AYM By the Numbers

This month, I challenged the club to come up with 8 lessons we learned from our moms. Here are the results:

Carla M. used the zentangle technique on her "mom" letters. She said it took her a few hours, but was a lot of fun to do. Basically, it's intricate doodling. It does look like fun.

 Erin---I really like how she journaled down the right side and used the old lace behind her "mom."

 Carla B. amazes me at how quickly she puts her layouts together---and they always look great.

Jeanne's layout---as my sister, I think it's funny that we picked one of the same pictures to use. She had more pictures of her and mom than I did. She also thought to use mom's First Communion picture.

Janet's layout has some great old pictures. I always envy the people that have pictures from their childhood. We just didn't have that many. I don't think my parents owned a camera until the 1960's. Anyway, I like how Janet used the patterned paper to cut out her letters to match the skirt on her doll.

I really like how Susan covered her "mom" with the plaid paper and used the "8" as the center of the "O." She read her journaling to us, but hadn't yet typed it up for her page. 

Karolyn's layout. I have to say, I am always jealous to see what she does. She has THE most amazing memorabilia from her childhood. She made a pocket on the right that has all kinds of fun things from when she was little to go along with the lessons she learned from her mom---including sewing---she used an old pattern to cover her "mom."

This is Pam's layout. Several of us journaled down the side of the page. She covered her "mom" with the lime green printed paper that was in the kit. I like how she decorated it with the flowers.

My layout. I incorporated my doll in to the title by cutting a row of paper dolls to spell "lessons." Susan and I had the same idea of using the tickets as the base for our numbers.

A few more things:

 This is Carla B.'s layout from last month.

 Susan had a good idea. She tied bows on to each of her strap hinge albums and attached initials to signify who the album belongs to.

Next month's assignment is to tell 3 stories from elementary school. I'm anxious to see what they all come up with. I included lots of fun school related items in the kit---pencils, assorted school papers, school bus die cut, penmanship paper for journaling and several other fun things.

I'm trying to get a photo of my grade school, but I'm not sure I'll be able to.

Photo Scavenger Hunt

I have the AYM photos to post, but I'm going to post these first. I'll post the others tomorrow.

Carla M's. journaling: For this month’s scavenger hunt I looked through my old photos and found three out of the five photos in my travel photos.  In the Hammock photo, Jim and I are enjoying a day on a private island owned by Norwegian Cruise.  We were on the cruise with my friends Mike and Alesia.  In the Boundary Waters we found a beautiful water lily blooming.  Jim and I are inside the Coliseum in Rome.  We were on a business trip for my work, but we had a little time for fun and exploring.  The water fountain is the Dancing Fountain in Dubai, which we plan to visit early in 2014 to see our daughter and her family.  My page would not be complete without a photo of one of my grandchildren.  Here we have Adrian Bibb on a little fire truck. 

 Carla B's layout. At 9 a.m. she had me take a photo of her on the porch swing. She drove in to town to find a fire station. She met the fireman, Wilson and took his photo. She went to Walgreen's to have her pictures printed and was back for my class by 10 a.m. Then, she had her layout finished by the time we had our AYM meeting at 1 p.m.

A Year of Memories Paper Doll Challenge

The August assignment was to document "8 things your mother taught you."  Along with the August kit, I presented an optional challenge for the club. Many decided to participate. Now it's your turn to vote for which doll you like the best. I'm going to try to point out specific things for each doll as only one person sent a description for her doll.

Number 1:

 Meet Pamie.  I'm wearing a plaid pleaded skirt made of plaid paper.  My coordinating kelly green blouse has white stitching down the front, white button with pink thread, rolled paper for piping on the sleeves and a scalloped collar, all made of paper (with the exception of the buttons and thread, of course).  My accessories include a string of white pearls, a knit hat in pastel colors of pink and green to match my skirt and a very stylist watch.  I am also wearing brown flats to match my brown leather purse with a silver chain. My long brown hair is made of brown card stork and curled on a crochet needle for long lasting style and my makeup consists of brown mascara for longer lashes and eyelet-red (get it) lipstick.  Hope this pleaded skirt doesn't make my butt look big so I can win this stressfully contest.

Number 2:

Notice the petticoat, shoes and pink pearls. Cute hair-do too---I've been trying to get my hair like that forever!

Number 3:

 Cute blouse with collar and skirt.

Number 4:

 Cute hair bow, purse, sequin halter top and shoes.

Number 5:

 Another cute dress with petticoat. Notice the matching hair bow. The lace stockings and shoes are the perfect touch. Blonde hair and make-up to set her off.

Number 6:

 Notice the cute lacey scarf, glittery brads that hem the skirt and the hair.

Number 7:

Notice the realistic make-up and hair, lace hem and belt buckle.

Now it's your turn to vote. Just leave your vote by number in the comments or email me directly:
orgnz4u@comcast.net

I'm impressed at how much time everyone put in to this challenge. I can't wait to see the rest of the layouts at our meeting tomorrow. I'll be posting them tomorrow night.

I'll announce the winner of the challenge on Wednesday. Happy voting!