Recycling with a Flourish

Yesterday, as I was lugging the blue bins out to the curb for our weekly recycle pick-up, my trained eye noticed a flash of something "flourishy." And then as I was picking through the cans and plastic bottles, I found another something "flourishy." Not one, but two of my most well-used flourish stamps magically made their way into the recycle bins. And these flourish stamps just so happen to be in active use on  my Italy album which just so happens to be 1/4 completed (after almost three years, but honestly, that really is a whole other storybook of excuses, so let's not digress). With stamps rescued from impending recycling and tragedy averted, I pondered the next question... how ever did they get there?

As I later found out, someone with very small fingers and superb problem solving skills has found that she can reach everything on my work table by simply stepping onto a step block. (At least someone is using the step block. When I saw it pulled out of its usual dusty hiding place, I thought there for a second that maybe Derrick was doing some aerobics or something.)

So after taking one look at my work table, she apparently decided that clean up was indeed necessary, and she grabbed the nearest items and made for the recycle bin. After all, why toss when you can recycle?

All of that just to inform you that I am now working on my Italy album. Again. But this time and with any luck, I intend to finish it up and hand one copy over to my Mom. I'll be creating an Italy album in the sidebar, so if you care to look, you'll be able to see all the pages in once place. When I get them done, that is. These will be sporadic installments, but in any case, wish me luck.

Here's the first page of the Italy album (I always save the title page for last, so that won't be showing for a while):

If you read Simple Scrapbooks, you might have noticed this page in the March/April issue! It looked a tiny bit different because I had to edit my journaling so it was shorter and more readable in the magazine. What can I say? I get wordy sometimes. Maybe you've noticed?

It's all about our welcome dinner on the very first night in Rome. I was incredibly jet-lagged and a little awestruck at the copious amount of red wine I managed to consume, so I got shutter-happy and took about thirty photos of food. And then I kissed an Italian. Ooooh, no wait, he kissed ME. Make sure Derrick's got that straight, ok?

The whole album is going to follow a similar format. Collage of photos on patterned paper, journaling on cream cardstock backed with kraft. I kept it pretty simple because I wanted this album to be do-able (hahahaha!), and I want the focus to be on the photos and journaling.

That large flourish is a digital brush that I stamped onto a canvas in Photoshop, printed to a transparency and trimmed to add to my page with a few well-placed glue-dots.

Italians have an enviable lust for life. Learning about their history and culture, if just from a tourist's perspective, made for an amazing trip and one I would do again in a heartbeat. So the way I see it, it's actually been a blessing that I've neglected all these photos for years. I get to live my trip over again. (I tried to convince Mom of this simple logic as well, but she doesn't buy into it quite as easily.)

Supplies: Patterned Paper: Die Cuts With a View (The Old World Stack); Ribbon: Close to My Heart; Metal: Stampin' Up; Rub-ons: Creative Imaginations; Stamps: gel-a-tins

Comments

[laura vegas]

that sadie is such a funny girl ... love that she's trying to keep the studio clean for you though. lol!

your first pages are gorgeous! so pretty ... and some amazing photos! i can only imagine how much fun a trip to italy would be ... and so neat that you shared that with your mom!

[sasha farina]

the ones you're showing here is awesome! Glad you rescued those stamps from the bin.. LOL.. she os too cute! cleaning up ... LOL

[Dani]

Oh Mary, how funny that Sadie recycled your stamps! Isn't she just so helpful? :) I love your album! We had so much fun in Italy, too!!! It's a whole different world there, huh? :)

[Rhonda Steed]

good thing you caught those recycled tamps!!!!! :)

[Lynn Ghahary]

I bet that was one memorable trip! We visited Rome and Florence years ago (before digital cameras *sigh*) but I do remember vividly how much fun we had. And considering that I'm Italian myself I wholeheartedly agree with your statement about our lust for life! Hee hee! Glad you rescued those stamps as well! Honestly that is part of the reason that I changed to a stand-up scrapper and bought myself a great big tall craft table. Harder to reach! Although with a little strategic placement of stools and whatnot ANYTHING is possible! ;)

[Sara Rossi]

The story of "Sadie the Recycler" alone is precious! I bet you'll be checking out the trash from now on. Guess Sadie cleaning up means you're a messy scrapper too. ;) Good to know we're all the same!

I remember seeing this in the magazine & loved it! What part of Italy did you see? I'm excited to see this album! I have many relatives all over Italy but haven't visited since 1984 so I don't remember it all.

[Heather M.]

what a smart little cookie! i'm glad you found the stamp though!

love that layout every time i see it!