MIA - Where Have I Been? and an Anniversary Card

I know, I know...  I've been MIA again for a while... for a whole lot of reasons.  First and probably foremost, I've been super busy on a hush, hush project for my parents' 50th wedding anniversary on September 28th.  To put it in perspective, I had to do about 50 layouts in 30 days; well, actually, it was only 28 days.  I still cannot believe I managed to do it in only 24 days, particularly since I'm slow scrapbooker who usually needs about four hours per layout.  I could not have done it if it was not for:  1) my dear hubby who took care of a lot of things around the house for me so I could scrap; 2) limiting my choices to mostly the Cinnamon Edition of paper from Project Life, 3) my scrapbooking layout board on Pinterest and 4) my scrapbooking layout notebook.  Now that it's done and the gift has been opened, I'll share the layouts and where I found my inspiration over the coming weeks.

It seemed like an impossible task, but I know that often times the impossible is possible if we simply reframe the situation.  That's probably why there are so many great quotations about achieving the impossible, like some of my favorites:

At first glance, it may appear too hard.  Look again.  Always look again.  - Anne Rodmacher

Nothing is impossible, the word itself says "I'm possible!"  - Audrey Hepburn

It always seems impossible until it's done. - Nelson Mandela

and, of course, the one that I think is my favorite of all the time:

Start by doing what's necessary, then do what's possible, and suddenly you are doing the impossible. - Francis of Assisi

But when it was all done, I had to identify most with this one:

It's kind of fun to do the impossible.  - Walt Disney

Yes, that one was perfect for more than one reason if you know what a Mickeyphile my Mom is (and I have to admit that it's rubbed off on me a bit). 

But, in addition to that, it has been super busy at work so I've been tired when I get home and haven't felt the urge to be crafty if I didn't have to be, the hockey season started again, we have a lot of birthdays in September and early October, our anniversary was this week, I spent some time cleaning up the list of blogs that I follow as well as adding a few new ones, etc.  All in all, it contributed to a lack of things and time to post. Even when the project was said and done, I think I just needed some down time. 

But, due to a completely unexpected loss in the family this week, I've felt a bit numb the last couple of days and the need to keep busy.  Yesterday, in the glorious fall weather, we did the big outside clean up, hauled a year's worth of soda cans to the recycle place, ran a few errands and finally (on impulse despite a few weeks of research - go figure) bought a new laptop.  Oh, not that there's anything wrong with my glorious Dell.  No, it's still working just fine since Randy replaced the hard drive.  It's just that as much as I love my Dell, it's simply too big and heavy to travel with easily. Basically, what makes it perfect for my craft room (the huge screen) makes it difficult for travel.  I mean it doesn't even fit in a laptop bag.  I have my Ipad Mini that I adore, but it doesn't really work to work while I'm travelling, but is perfect for entertaining myself on the plane and in any down time I have (yeah, like I have any down time when I travel for work - it's like working two full time jobs).  I need a 10 key and the ability to have multiple programs open at once. Since it's clear I'm going to be taking regular quarterly trips for work for the next few years, I really wanted a smaller, lighter laptop for travel.  It didn't have to be fancy, but it did have to have a 10-key pad.  I've looked at them for a couple of weeks but while returning a cord to Best Buy that didn't work to hook my parents' TV up to my Mom's laptop, I saw a Lenovo on special.  It's a discontinued model, but it had everything I needed for work and, best yet, it was in the price I wanted to spend. 

So today, it was time to get back into my craft room.  To craft?  Oh no.  Rather it's to catch up the blogs I follow; I had almost 500 posts to either read or to pin something I saw that I thought would inspire me later. Interspersed with laundry, it took about five hours to finish. Now that is done (the blogs, definitely not the laundry), it's time to prepare all the posts of things I've completed but have yet to post.  So, yes, I've been MIA, but now you're going to see regular posts for some time to come with a mix of pages from the book and things I've been working on since then. 

To begin, let's start with the anniversary card I made to go with the gift.  Usually I have to start with some inspiration, but this one just came to me.  I had leftover Thickers from making the 50 year album for my parents and I loved how the O's looked like rings.  So I simply intertwined them, added a mat for some pop and then stamped the sentiment using a mix of stamp sets:  Creative Imaginations Wedded Bliss for the anniversary and the 50th and the happy from  Hero Arts' All Occasion Messages (using selective inking).  This is not the best picture, but with the flash it was too shiny.