My Craziness!

I am amazed at how crazy my world can get. When my world gets crazy it seems as if the last thing I am able to do is sit down and post to this blog. I also find it difficult to take time out for myself and lock myself in my scrapbooking room and play. I have to wonder if I am the only one that this happens to. Are there others out there like me that seem to put their passions aside because of the craziness that is going on around them? Does that mean that I am not as dedicated to this craft as I would like to be since it is so easy for me to set aside? I have so many ideas in my head and I want so badly to get my pictures into albums and tell a story but the first sign of craziness what do I do....nothing.
I purchased (many months ago) the journal called This and That from Stampin' Up! and it has sat in a draw since the day I pulled it out of the box. Well a couple of weeks ago when I was having one of those crazy moments of craziness my husband grounded me to my scrapbook room. He told me to do something to get my mind off of things that are going on around me and to my surprise I took his advice! Talk about therapy!!!! I had the best time decorating this journal and finding pictures and journaling for my boys. Although I am not even close to being finished with it I am absolutely in love with the Smash book journals.

Front Cover

Stampin Up also sales a package of designer paper for the This and That journal book and I am pretty sure when I purchased this item that it must have been a bundle deal because I also had matching wash tape (which I had never used but have fallen in love with this product) along with some ribbon and buttons. I had also purchased some journaling tags from Michael's that go along with the Smash books they sale and was able to use some of the tags in this book.

Inside Cover and 1st page

I decorated the inside cover with the designer paper and also cut out the shapes from a 12 x 12 page that was nothing but hexagons. The picture is of my guys! This picture was taken while we were in Branson, MO for our oldest son's 15th birthday. He wanted to do ride gocarts and I snapped this picture as they were walking back to me. I used stamps from Stampin' Up to stamp the word Dream.

Pages 2 and 3

Page 2 of this book already had a pocket and the two envelopes in it. I am thinking I will make another envelope out of the designer paper and write a note to each one of the boys. There is a small envelope included and I thought about putting in coins from 2013.

(Do you see how messy of a crafter I am?)

Pages 3 & 4

 Pages 5 & 6

 Pages 7 & 8

 Pages 8 & 9

I have made one page layout for each one of the boys and then also one for brothers and then one for my husband. At this point I am gathering photos and trying to figure out what else to add to this absolutely amazing little book that I discovered!!!