Sunday, April 19, 2009

Create with Cheryl

Thought I'd share some scrapbook pages I've done over the last couple of days (yay! I scrapped!) and share a few more of the poems I wrote, but first--how was your weekend?

Ours was good. And, even though we did lots of stuff, it didn't seem near as hectic as usual. (In fact, right now it's a Sunday afternoon and I'm able to pop on the computer...which means, it's absolutely not been as hectic!)

McKenna had color guard tryouts and made it for the third year in a row (she is hoping to either be captain or co-captain this year, and she's excited about the squad they've got coming in); Delaney's school softball team came in third in the county tournament (there were 11 teams and one particular team was really dominating and impossible to beat, but HMS put on a really good showing!); Sydney and I went and watched the Hannah Montana movie all by ourselves (which was really nice); and I actually had time to finish the latest mystery I'm reading and cook a good Sunday dinner. So, it was very nice...

Now, how about some of my scrapbook pages?

Here's a fun one I did with two pictures of Delaney being silly on the day of her school pageant this past November (yep, I'm still way behind!)...

And I decided to make a mini-album with my favorite pictures from the pageant as well (I really love mini albums, and this one went in with the others in my "mini album basket"). I bought a cute and cheap clasped photo album from Hobby Lobby, then added pictures, a few embellishments, and some journaling. Just super duper easy...





Then I actually got to work on some Christmas photos. I did two layouts; one I titled "anticipation" and it has two of my favorite pictures from the season, as Sydney stood on the side of the road during our Christmas parade and waited for Santa Claus to make his appearance...


And the other had some pictures from our family gathering with our friend, Raymond. You'll remember that Raymond lost his Mom before the holidays and we took it upon ourselves to make his Christmas as special and "normal" as at all possible. My journaling says that "true joy" really only comes from serving and loving others...

And then I had to go back and do a page of Delaney playing volleyball (again, back in the Fall). Even though the sport was new to her, she just fell in love with volleyball...


And then this was just a super-easy simple layout that I wanted to create to focus primarily on the picture, which is probably my most favorite recent one. The moment captured in this photo just reminds me that it's the simple times shared with those I love that make life worthwhile...


I am in the middle of several more layouts, and also two mini albums (one from Sydney's Christmas play, and one of last year's awesome Bama football season), so I hope to share those with you soon as well.

And now, how about a few poems to complete this "creative" post?

I've been doing the poems over at the Poem-a-Day-Challenge, so I thought I'd share a few of my favorites from the last week.

One of the day's challenges was to write about a specific memory...

singing on the way to school:
1975

Puff, pooh, and stewball
the racehorse

Lyrics, melodies,
happy tunes
sung in the car
as morning broke
with Dad
on the way to school

The Byrds singing about
purple heather
Cat singing about
the wild world

My world felt perfect,
content, free,
easy as a bird flying
seamlessly in the blue
sky above

with Dad’s voice,
and my small one
mingling together

Another day's challenge was to write a poem that included the phrase, "So we decided to"...

so we decided to

the day yawned,
my feet resting,
outstretched
on the window sill
of that little
red
coupe.

the wind whistled,
my hand resting,
intertwined
on the gear shift
of that little
red
coupe

the minutes stretched,
the highway stretched,

so we decided
to take the
long
way
home.

One more challenge was to write a poem based on a color...

Purple

haze
bruise
rain

And the sky
at that
symbiotic moment
when day and
night
join.

And your eyes
at that
same juncture

clouded,
changed
by
dreams,
love

go from
blue
to
purple


I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. I'd love to hear what you've been up to (have any of you been creative as well?), and I'm going to be popping by as many of your blogs as possible.

Have a good one!

20 comments:

Nancywithajones said...

Look at you, scrapbookin, writin poems you are just oozin with creativity girl. Throw some this way!!! hehe Love your pages. that last photo is just adorable!

Adrienne said...

Great pages! Love the mini book! I have some I need to post as well lol.

Gin said...

Awesome pages.

I'm glad someones got the scrappy mojo going on. i need it!

Auburn Kat said...

Love the new pages and all of the pictures!

I really miss playing high school sports!

Cheryl Wray said...

Nancy--I'm just glad I finally found time to scrap. I always love seeing your creations too, and you are much more productive than me!

Adrienne--I always love to see your stuff!

Gin--LOL I know...it's nice to finally get something done.

Kat--We love school sports. Of course! :-)

Gretchen said...

Love all the scrapping ideas, Cheryl. I think my favorite page is the one with you and Scout, but they're all awesome. How sweet of you to be a 2nd family to Raymond. Though you're right--I'm sure you're being blessed, too.

Did your girls ever try a sport they didn't like? Just wonderin';)

Looking forward to being creative as soon as we do a bit more clean up/organizing after the carpet was installed. We're trying to go thru every last thing to keep, pitch, or give, and it's making the whole process tedious. But I know it's all good in the end.

Gretchen said...

PS and BTW, I really have enjoyed your poems--and I'm not a poetry girl at all. :0)

CrAzY Working Mom said...

The pages look beautiful! You're so creative. :) Nicely done.

Here's to a wonderful week.

Cheryl Wray said...

Gretchen--Thanks for your sweet compliments. And really...what I need to be doing right now is what you're doing (cleaning, decluttering, and organizing). Maybe this week I can get motivated to do some of that!

Crazy--Thanks!! I hope you have a wonderful week too.

Anonymous said...

woweeee you have been busy!!! Great stuff!!!

Anonymous said...

Good job on all of it. I really like it when you share your scrapbook creations.

Have a great monday!

Unknown said...

I'm so happy to hear you had a "relaxing" Sunday!

I think I am going to give you all of my pictures to scrap!

GREAT poems!

hippo chick said...

Okay, amazing woman. Just how do you manage it all? This was a great post. I think I remember the pics of Sydney at the Christmas Parade. I am so loving your mini albums. I plan to do more too. I still have my Grand Canyon album to tackle.

The poetry is great. I especially like the one about taking the long way home.

Have a great week.

~hippo hugs~

Edleen said...

Cheryl! fabulous layouts and that mini album is really lovely! so glad to see you scrapbooking :)

wishing you a great week ahead!

Kayla said...

Hi Cheryl,
Good to see you've had time to scrapbook. They look great!

I was also looking back to your Easter post. Your church looks pretty large. What is the name of the church? I'm considering another church, and always like to hear when one is satisfied with their own.

Cheryl Wray said...

Heather--Thanks!!!! It makes me feel good to finally scrap; I'm hoping to actually do some more tomorrow.

Anon--Thanks! Hope your Monday was good too. :-)

Kathy--It was one of the most laid-back Sundays I can remember. And tonight we actually didn't have anywhere to go either...I have to stop and appreciate those days when we get them. :-)

Hippo--I really love doing mini albums. They are much more practical to get done when life is busy. And thanks about my poems.

Ed--Thanks!! You're an other one of those inspiring scrappers out there; I'm always amazed at how much you get done!

Kayla--I'll come by your blog and give you the details on my church. You know...there is no perfect church. But we really do like ours; we have a good group of really laid-back friends that really makes it nice.

Maria Hammon said...

I've been seriously LOVINIG mini albums, too! Such a quick and fun way to tell a story without feeling like you have to invest a dozen hours on the project. I LOVED every one of the pages and pictures you shared here! So darling all of them! I loved the volleyball pages as well! I have so many pics of Sabrina playing basketball and I am so terribly behind on scrapbooking those! You just inspired me to get moving, LOL.

Totally loving your poems, too! Always so inspiring Cheryl. I feel so LUCKY to know you! :D

Tabitha Blue said...

You're so creative!! Those cute pages, the fun mini books and great poems!! This was a fun post to read, thanks for sharing it!!

:)
~Tabitha~

freshmommyblog.com

Marjolein said...

Wow, your scrappin'mood came back!!! Great work Cheryl!

Phats said...

If you lived closer i'd hire you to do scrapbooks for my tennis and cheer squad seniors for Senior Night. You do a great job