Is blogging making a comeback?

In the past few months, I have seen some of my old blogging friends have started making small appearances via occasional posts on their sites and it is so heartening so see memories documented and deep thoughts shared again through this medium.
Social media these has become a whole lot about pretty pictures and less about the emotions behind them and its hard to know through a 'like' or 'heart' button if they just like your pictures or they got the emotion you were trying to convey.

Anyways, the reason I started to type my thoughts today was that its the first day of the #HundredDayProject and I have been thinking hard and deep about the things that I'd like to bring my focus back to in the next hundred days and there were quite a few things in my life at the moment that I can bring my attention to, there is a paper I'm working on and I can focus on its research; there is a certification that I'm trying to attain and I can focus on the study plan; I'm missing my fitness goals and I can bring them into the fore... the list goes on... But as with all social projects to be accountable they must be tangible enough to share and interesting enough for your fellow travelers to care about your journey.

After mulling over various details and complexity of the schedule that I foresee in the next few months I've decided that I'll focus on #100daysOfMemoryKeeping
Ever since I moved to California more than two years ago, half of my scrapbooking supplies are still packed in boxes and I'd like to change that and I'd like to document more about life in general.
I plan to make 100 memory pages/projects in the next hundred days and even though I won't be able to make one page per day I'd like to commit to devoting 15 minutes of memory keeping activity each day. Some of the things I plan to do are

1. Sort, edit and print pictures. 
2. Sort and categories scrapbooking supplies.
3. Print enlargements and frame pictures
4. Blog about previous and upcoming trips and share pictures
5. Make digital pages/books
6. Document my progress on the blog

With those intentions and a picture of one of my dad's paintings... lets begin this 100 day journey!

Please leave a comment if you are pursuing a 100 day project so I can come check out your progress and encourage you on the way. 

Evolving memory keeping methods...

Back in 2006 when I started this blog, I had still to make the transition to a DSLR and was getting a steady stream of pictures printed at the local pharmacy shop from my film SLR and scrapbooking was my only method for memory keeping.
As time passed, more and more of my pictures were digital and scrapbooking was a creative process more than a tool for memory keeping; and as we all know creative processes are often slow, evolving, and subjected to moodiness. I realized that my family wanted to see the trip pictures right away and not wait for over a year to be documented into a very fancy books that has to be handled with extreme care and treated as family heirloom.

Out of the necessity of a memory book which is easily shared with kids, doesn't take long to produce and easily recreated, I turned to digital photo books.

A Week in Life - 2014; progress

Here's a summary of pages for the 'a week in Life' challenge. I couldn't keep up with updating the daily routines on the blog after the migraine on Wednesday in my challenge week and after that I wasn't sure if I should skip the day, add it later and missed the whole update in that dilemma.

Wednesday at home...

A Week in Life - 2014, Day 2

Today is day 2 of recording my week and it started beautifully. I had forgotten put my regular alarm but woke up right on time 4:51 am, thanks to my puppy. I guess, I have yet to make a formal post about welcoming our new puppy into the family but you’ll get to hear a lot about him this week before the intended post is uploaded.

Anyways, even before the first rays of sun hit the sky, I was done making three entrees for my annual party at work. We are trying out recipes to make food ourselves. And had walked the dog and my FitBit had recorded 9 minutes of activity already.

And when the sun actually came out, it cast a beautiful pink glow in the living room. It was so gorgeous that I was tempted to play hooky and just sit and watch the sun rise up from its slumber.

Sunrise Today: 7:44 AM

The day progressed fine, a lit bit slow. I only had 5 hours and 17 minutes of sleep with 6 interruptions of restlessness... thanks to my new gadget now I can find specific reason to pity myself. Gonna leave the work details out of this post but for lunch we tried some yummy contributory food cooked and now I know I'll be cooking about about 40 lbs for meat for an upcoming work party.

Just noticed that there is snow predicted for later in the evening and that has dampened my spirits... although I shouldn't really complain the weather has been so gorgeous lately.

Was trying to take a selfie with Leo, and then he decided to lick me

Coat, hat and shoes are always ready by the door as we train Leo

Took my younger daughter for swimming and worked on my hand quilting project while waiting to utilize the time.

Grandma's Fan, my current hand quilting project

Sunset Today: 6:05 PM

Its gonna dip below freezing in the next couple of days… blowing out sprinklers

Left over sweets, fruits and nuts sitting on center island, tempting me to eat them

Dinner today, was all left over. Matar (Peas) and Paneer (Indian Cottage cheese) curry and rice. The lack of sleep caught up to me by the evening and I have since been moving with a fog around my head. 

Matar Paneer & Rice

Spent most of the evening organizing kids rooms and their laundries. Didn't meet my 10,000 steps, I'm 2300 short.
I washed puppy's blankets as well and I would like to think that he's all smiles :-)

This Raccoon is the noisiest and his most favorite toy

Hope for better and longer sleep tonight… back with updates tomorrow :-)

A week in Life - 2014, Day 1

Starting to document at week of our lives as we live it in present... thanks to Ali E for the inspiration.
I sincerely hope that I'll find time to transform these into a scrapbook page as well.

Monday: 27 Oct 2014
Today, I mostly wrote all my observations on the calendar printout that I downloaded from Ali's website. It was an average Monday, except that I started using FitBit today and so watched my food intake and monitored my steps. and needless to say, right before I sat down to type this post, I ran up and down the stairs so I could meet me goal of 10,000 steps.

I usually fast on Monday (skip breakfast and lunch), kids usually get taquitoes for lunch. DH drops off and I pick up kids from school. Tomorrow I'll ask DH to take some pictures of the usual morning routines but today I find the post very me-centric. Started listening to David and Goliath on DH's recommendation and continued reading the first book from the Harry Potter series.

The special moments of the day was drinking high tea with DH and looking at pictures from undergrad years while cleaning the basement.

Here's some pictures from the day…

Working and showing off my FitBit

The New book that I started listening to today

High tea with DH, he worked from home :-)

Girls came home form school and safeguarding shoes from the puppy

My puppy talks to me in barks… big communication gap

Left overs, I was so hungry that I forgot to take pictures of food before eating it all.
Spinach and Tofu curry, Roti and Rice with Indian style spice pickle

  

My Happy Place - 7/50 pages...

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas, ours was a quiet family affair. And while taking care of the rest of the family, I was able to sneak in this page. As with most of my pages, it is inspired by my friend Mary Jo's page where she talks about the Library being her happy place. 

My happy place is somewhere in nature, whether is lake superior, Grand Canyon or Dal Lake in Kashmir, there is a innate connection that breathes through me and I feel closer to the creator in a natural outdoor setting.

My Happy Place:

This picture is a selfie taken during a shikara boat ride on the Dal Lake in Kashmir. I love the mood that  this picture conveys and wanted to capture it in a page. Mary Jo's page was the perfect incentive to document this moment and the perpetual feeling that I get whenever I am in nature…

The Journaling says: Being in nature gives me a chance to connect to a deeper self… Lake, Mountains, canyons, they all take me breath. 

With this page I have finished 7 out of 50 pages before 2013 ends… I have a few other pages in the works that I need to add finishing touches to.

Update in terms of miles run, I am at 26 miles and have 24 more to go before 2013 ends…

Also, along with all that I have managed to revamp my craft area. Took all the stuff out and painted the wall white, brought it a new tall table and added a Ikea 4x4 Expedit. I am slowly bringing the stuff back in the room in a more organized manner. I hope after that the page making speed should pick up…  

Some more scrapbook pages...

Sharing some more scrapbook pages in this post. 

I know the going has been slow but glad that because of the goal of 50 pages, I'm still doing it otherwise it would have been easy to put it all on the back burner… Work has been very busy lately but it seems things are getting under control and I'll not have to work weekends any more and I'll be able to focus on other aspects of my life.

The Bike Ride:

This summer we biked a lot as a family and as couple on dates. It was our goal to bike together for 15 miles but we couldn't do it, not because of stamina but didn't find a long enough playdate for the kids where we could leave them and go biking. Hoping to rectify that in spring. In this page I used our selflies from various rides and included a distance/area map of the bike ride from my phone app (we use runtastic pro). A simple page with straight picture placement, the design of the background paper played well with my choice of pictures. 

World Masters:

Our daughter was the district world master Champion last school year and this page was devoted to celebrating her achievement. She was one of the youngest winners and her teachers and school were as proud as the parents. Again simple lined picture placement, I included a clipping of the newspaper article announcing her achievement and used tree and ruler symbolically for growth and measurement. The flying paper plane stands instead of the cliched 'fly'. 

Kathak outdoors:

This summer I got the opportunity to perform Kathak (North Indian Classical Dance) at the Flint hill Children's festival with my group and even though I did have any pictures of the event from my real camera, I wanted to document this event and used the couple of pictures that I had from the cellphone.

With these three layout, the tally is 6/50 pages done and 44 more to go.
And for jogging, it s 11 miles done and 39 more to go…

scrapbook page 3/50 before 2014

This page was inspired by the Creative Scrappers sketch #256 that MaryJo posted about on her page and there was a neat prize draw sponsored by paper issues for finishing the page and I think I missed the deadline but that’s not the point. The fun part was using my protractor for my scrapbooking project can you imagine the excitement?

50 scrapbook pages before 2014...

As November rolls in every year the end to the once very brand new year comes in sight and also the urgency to meet the goals for the year. I usually don’t set year end targets, my deadlines are usually scattered throughout the year based on the respective activities but at this time of the year I like to set new goals for the New Year’s dead line. To set up targets that would organize the long winter evenings into segments of tasks and take the mind off the lack of sunlight.

There is 45 days left of 2013 and I plan to…

Make and post here at least 50 pages of scrapbook (remember the Scrap-fest from back in September and I had more than 50 inspirations pictures and this would be good incentive to put them to use).

I’ll start here with the two pages that I made last night:

Playing Dress up in Kashmir :

Last year during our trip to Kashmir, India, we stayed on DalLake in the house boat and during the stay we hired a local photographer to take our pictures in the native costumes. It was so much fun playing dress up and I am glad that DH agreed to play along. We all have warm memories from the trip and that day in particular and I have tried to capture that in the page. It’s a basic page without too many intense techniques but I like the way our pictures stand out along with a few words.

Krishna Janamashtami :

Every year sometime in August (specific date based on lunar calendar) we celebrate Lord Krishna’s Birthday day. As kids, DH and his sister used to decorate with a Tableau of life events from Krishna’s life and we have continued this tradition and have taught girls to do the same. Since a lot of native toys are not available, we make do with what we have. Barbie dolls playing the role of Radha and Yashoda, other baby dolls became gopikas; the thugs from ‘Tangled’ movie became jail guards, a wood pagoda cabinet became the dark jail where Krishna was born… and so on. The girls are very involved in this festival and so I wanted to make the page for them and their favorite parts of the Tableau. Since the girls learned to read and write Hindi this summer from their Grandma, I added the title (Jhanki) in Hindi.

I also need to make a few photo books to document the journeys and I’ll try to get at least three of them made before the year end. While I am at it, might as well announce that I plan to jog at least another 50 miles before the end of this year, per prior experience this would be a good motivation for me.

So far 1 & 2/50 scrabook pages before 2013 ends...

Scrapfest 2013 at Mall of America

Sharing some pictures from the annual scrapbooking event, Scrapfest. It is organized by Minnesota based National chain of scrapbooking store Archivers and has always been hosted at Mall of America.

In the glorious days of scrapbooking, this event was held with much grandeur and spilled into the other local Archivers stores as well with overnight scrap-nights hosted by various sponsors but this year’s event  was, let’s say, more on a budget. 

There weren’t as many product booths and correspondingly not enough people either; though there were a few vendors demonstrating good techniques and ‘make and takes’ which attracted longer lines. That said the Parking was still bursting to its seams and I ended up parking on 6th Floor at the parking ramp (p.s. the Mall is only four levels)

A few scrapbook pages #2 & #3

I am trying to pick up on the story telling and documenting part of my creativity and the challenges on Cropper Cottage facebook page are keeping me motivated.
Although I am running a week behind I am glad I am doing them anyways... posted about challenge #1 last week, and here is #2 and 3.

Challenge 2:
The challenge was to use black and white in colors and flower for shape. And I chose to use a black and white picture of me along with the huge pink flower. I was trying out the dress and jewelry before the show last year when DH clicked it.

Journal: The moments you remember are written in time... tiny, little marks the passing of seconds made on your heart in hopes you can feel them going by again in future.

A couple of scrapbook pages... #1 and more

There are plenty of inspiration around but I still couldn't find motivation to create any scrapbook pages.
The most I did was to create photo books at the end of the vacation trips so we can flip through our memories in pictures and relive the moments.

I wanted to change that and so I posted a challenge on the Facebook group, 'Cropper Cottage'. It used to be an online store and chat forum for scrapbookers for exchanging ideas. The words of encouragement that I received from my fellow scrapbookers was enough to get me to action.

The challenge was to use green color (anything from mint to emerald) and chevron shape. This following one is the Layout I came up with. The pictures are from the sari party at my home. I used light green card stock and the chevron pattern for direction from India to Minnesota using black and white photo corners...

Thanksgiving layout

Nothing prompts me to action more than deadlines and this layout that I did using the pictures from 2009 is a result of such inspiration. 

My friend Mary Jo posted a challenge on the blog 'Craft Your Nest' to scrapbook Thanksgiving pictures and that made me go back into archives and retrieve pictures from past three years. I managed to scrapbook these ones from 2009 and still have to tackle 2010 and 2011, good thing I see a long weekend in my future. 

This layout focuses on the food that we cooked for our Thanksgiving meal and a few friends that joined us. Its a simple layout and the pictures capture enough detail that I have chosen not to journal although the pictures from 2010 would have a substantial story behind it, but its not ready to be shared yet.

Thankful...

Thank you as always Mary Jo for prompting me to action.

Some quick scrapbook pages

After last week’s inspiration from Mary jo, where I wrote a letter to my daughter and made it the focus of my scrapbook layout, the momentum of it carried me to finish a couple more pages.

A few months back, I started an assembly line of scrapbooking pages, cutting, gluing, journaling and embellishing several pages at the same time. Needless to say some finished and other got stuck in the pipeline but the whole process wasn’t as mundane as I thought; it was actually very liberating for once to not try to design my best page for each single story that I need to document and actually finish making the pages and get the sense of accomplishment.

Sharing two 2-pages spreads from our trip to Florida a couple years ago. They are simple 4x6 pages with all 4x6 pictures. I have seen that whenever I try to enlarge a picture and make it a focal point, it complicates it so much that it never gets done unless there is a deadline making it crucial. I am way behind on my 300 page goal for the year 2012 and as the weather is cooling down shortening the daylight hours and the year end is coming close, I’ll be working on it more diligently.

I also have a few updates for my ‘Project life’ project, yeah believe it or not, I am still at it just haven’t shared it for a while, more on that coming up soon.

This first page is from the impromptu photo shoot on the beach after attending a wedding in a hotel that was right on the beach and we decided to take a walk with our traditional dresses on. I love the pictures and cherish the memories; there wasn’t much of a story other than being in the moment…

Before I explain this second layout I have to rant about something… So I was at Archivers’ looking for some rocket related stuff as these pictures are from Kennedy space center on the space coast and after going through aisles after aisles I found it in a section labeled, “Boys’. I think segregating hobbies, colors, toys based on gender is my pet peeve, it just pisses me off. So what is it about rockets and astronauts that are off limits for girls? Being an engineer by profession who was born in a ‘third world country’, I find it very hard for me to wrap my head around the gender biases that this country holds. Anyways, now I’ll get off my soap box now and continue about the page….

The page is another one of the 4x6 picture collections. On this particular day we were celebrating our wedding anniversary and chose to visit ‘Kennedy space center’ (I guess this is what happens when two engineers decide to spend their lives together). The girls had tons of fun and there most favorite memory was of the videos when rockets took off… a reverse countdown to the zero followed by a ‘blast off’ was their most favorite game for a long time after the trip was over.

If you are a fellow scrapbooker, and looking for some inspiration then ‘craft your nest blog’ is hosting another challenge (One word titles) this week and I am hoping to play along. And in case a challenge is not quite enough to push you over the threshold, here’s a picture of the goodies that Mary Jo sent me just for playing along. Thank you Mary Jo.

More on scrapbooking soon...



Dear Daughter...

My friend, fellow scrapbooker and blogger, Mary Jo has provided me with plenty of inspiration in the past, as I had mentioned and this time again she managed to stir me into action.

I posted a picture of my daughters on their first day of school on Facebook and while everyone else commented for and wished the girls, she asked me, 'How am I feeling?' that shifted my focus towards me and about the role that I am playing as the kids transition on to a new year in school.
Then she posted a scrapbooking challenge on craft your nest blog about writing a letter in your layout, which gave me a chance to put my feelings into words and document it for future.
The stirring and the challenge resulted into a scrapbook layout, something that I had not done in quite sometime...

The focus on this page is the letter that I wrote to my daughter as she is transitioning into third grade with minimal embellishment and literally no clutter. The journaling states...

                   --------------------------------- THE LETTER------------------------------------

Dear Daughter,

Sweetheart this week you started 3^rd Grade and although it might seem like just another transition to a new grade at elementary school, I am realizing that it is a major milestone for both of us.
I see you trying hard to balance between the big girl roles that you are expected to play as a third grader and yet trying to remain Mamma’s little girl. You are discovering the freedom to fly away independent of constant supervision and then returning under my wings for reassurance. I realize your struggle and find successes while you remain unaware of it and I know it’s impossible for me to show my support in words but I am trying very hard to be there for you when you need me yet giving you ample room to explore, grow and form your own thoughts.
This is just a first step for us to build trust as things are going to get more convoluted as time passes but we just have to know that we will be there for each other, to listen and to support.

You are an amazing big sister and the bond between the two of you is something that I cherish, it will be a foundation that will be a rescue raft for when you encounter a storm in your later years. Sometimes you act as a first layer of filter between the seemingly silly questions your sister might throw at her parents and at other times she pushes you to face your own fears and not be afraid of expressing yourself. You take your role as a big sister very seriously and I am proud of you for being a wonderful role model.

As you are discovering your personality apart from the shadow of your parents and even though you are very much your own person, it’s very interesting to identify little quirks in your mannerisms’ of your Dad and I that you have inherited. You have a strong sense of music and there is certain type of music that demands your entire focus and disturbs your own standing just like your Dad’s. I haven’t been able to pin point it but in past six months I can almost anticipate when you’ll ask me to switch songs because the music is messing with your thoughts and peace of mind.

As you are growing into big girls shoes, trying to make peace with the fact that you are the youngest third Grader in your school and not as tall as other classmates, and trying very hard to win approval of your parents and your teachers, I want you to know that you are loved for who you are and you shouldn’t hesitate to explore your own path for the fear of not meeting expectations.
You have above you a whole new sky that at times might be unavailable for other adults to reach because we are too set in our patterns and in our rules; you shouldn’t restrict your imagination and thoughts for what we cannot comprehend and just believe that we are here for you to hold you up as far as we can so you can touch the stars. 
--------------------------END---------------------------------

Thank you Mary Jo for the inspiration and the challenge... 

Project Life - an update, week 4 & 5

Before you think that I have given up on documenting life through album 'Project life', here's an update from week 4 and week 5. Again I'm sorry about the quality of pictures of these pages because I know they can be much better yet I am happy that they are crappy pictures that no one would want to copy and manipulate.

WEEK4:

 WEEK 5:

And as for the coming weeks and my strategy to keep up with this documentation of our lives, I usually capture the story and notes from day to day in the album and then get pictures printed about once every 3-4 weeks. I have yet to experiment with printing pictures at home but for now, I seem to be struggling with the want of time so that I can crop and add pictures that I have already printed.

Some of the notes from weeks gone by preserved in my albums and waiting for pictures to accompany them on this story telling journey...



Some scrapbooking...

I did a little scrapbooking the other night. I haven’t done much of it in a long time so it was quite refreshing and challenging at the same time.

I had a few pictures left over from the Project Life pile and I was inspired by a scrapbooking magazine that my friend passed on to me after she was done reading it. I used whatever supplies were available at hand without running over to my crafts area and ended up creating these two simple pages.

This one is just a few pictures from the New Year’s Day. The lighting by the loft window was beautiful and both DH and I took a few shots of the kids and each other. I didn’t have any journaling on the page as there was nothing much to say about this impromptu photo-shoot before heading to the temple.

This one about the girl and their braids can use miles and miles of journaling. They both love the idea that I am letting them grow their hair till the Kathak stage performance in late spring, after which I promised them that mamma will get a haircut too along with them, since my hair has been an inspiration for them to wish for long hair and braids. The highlight of the day was that their dolls got braids too just like them.

With these two pages along with the PL pages, I have slowly inched towards my goal of 300 pages for year 2012. I have 291 pages to go…

Project Life Week 2 & 3

Making slow and steady progress with my Project Life. Here are the week 2 and week 3 layouts. There are a couple of blank pockets in the layout, one for week 3, where I need to insert my daughter's MLK day presentation that she gave to her parents and also another one for art from my younger one, 'Word Illustration :Mom'.

Please don't mind the quality of the pictures of these layout, I didn't want to add another layer of hindrance is sharing my pages, it is more for my own accountability.



Week 2, warm weather, science musuem, celebrating Birthdays





Week 3, MLK day picnic, couple of date with hidden journaling, blinds project, my own book