Nichol Spohr LLC

new glasses.

he loves them.

I was a little worried about him. Worried that he may get teased. I tend to worry about things too much.

He couldn't wait to pick them up and proudly wore them the rest of the day Wednesday. Was completely thrilled that he could read signs on the way home. He ran in the house from school yesterday and said that school was great. He could read the board and didn't have to walk to the front of the room to write down his homework assignments. He didn't have a headache. And best of all, no one made fun. In fact, a friend of the kids got glasses the day before and so it was sort of cool. Who knew? When I had to get glasses in Kindergarten I was mortified and I swear it was so not cool. But apparently glasses are cool now. go figure.

and I wanted to give a little shout out to my friend, Laura Vegas. She helped me learn how to put the super cool black border around my photos, something I've wanted to know how to do forever. Thanks, girl! I owe ya!

more shares.

for the top layout, I redid four layouts to make one 2-page layout. that makes me happy. there was really no way that these photos told a story on their own. I am not a big fan of single photo layouts unless it's a really strong photo. I think that these photos grouped together like this make a much stronger statement and tell a much better story. gosh he was a cute little guy. :)

the single photo layout was another one I've been wanting to do for awhile...a layout on the kids' relationships with one another. the top photo is from 2001 and the others are more recent (march and december of last year). love using photos that span several years to tell a story.

Got to run and pick up Brenden's new glasses (he was having trouble seeing at school and sure enough the poor kid is like his mama and blind as a bat). will share some photos later!

{31 in 31} update.

a little behind but my goal is to still get all 31 layouts done by the end of the month. I ordered a few photos to finish up last year's my favorite photos minibook so I will share those a little later this week. I also ordered photos to complete an album I created for Ethan's first year (yea, I know, that was 2 years ago). I am always behind. Anyway, the album is basically finished except for adding the photos. I'll share it later this week, too. Feels good to complete some ongoing projects.

I am a little addicted to Karen Russell's Narratives product right now...I just love those phrase stickers...my fav's.

More later...

busy life.

so crazy busy right now with just regular life. a little stressed out.

this makes me smile today.

he likes to "read" books to himself and this is the face I was rewarded with when he caught me photographing him. what a little stinker.

I have a few more layouts to create to get caught up with the {31 in 31} challenge but here are a couple that I finished up yesterday. such good memories.

 

[studio questions & answers]

[thanks for sharing your pictures. Were your ladder shelves from the pottery barn?]

The ladder shelves are from pottery barn. they are the studio wall shelves. I have had them for about 3 years and I love them. I am a big fan of open storage and display.

[I love your studio! What color is the wall. Is this room located in a bonus room?]

The wall color is called Bengal Grass from Sherwin Williams. It's greenish but just neutral enough that it looks great with lots of colors.

My studio is a combo of 2 rooms. The main part is an actual room on the upper floor. No clothing closets or anything, I believe it was always intended as an office space. The other room would likely be considered a bonus under the front eave of the house. The walls are sloped. We put the window in the space (where my desk is) when we bought the house. Much more usable space this way!

[Absolutely LOVE your space...I am building a home right now and thinking I am going to get the same desk line from PB (Bedford I think?!) So are you going to be adding where some of the major pieces are from? I really like the wall unit that holds the ribbons....]

The corner desk units (I also have the regular desk unit it just isn't up yet), file cabinets and ribbon holder are all from Pottery Barn. The desks/file cabinets are the Bedford line. The unit I use to hold decorative trims/paper trims/ribbon has been available from Pottery Barn around the holiday season the last few years. I don't see it right now but you could try calling and asking about it.

[Not to long ago you posted a wonderful little bag that you had sewn with beautiful printed fabric..Do you ever sew fabric on your layouts?]

Yes, I have sewn fabric on my layouts (not in awhile...good reminder to do that again soon!) and several years ago I made several fabric scrapbooks (mini album type books). Those were really fun and add such a nice "touchable" quality to scrapbooking.

[I was just wondering if you are planning on doing any classes again this year?]

I don't have any classes planned right now. I have been enjoying working less/spending time with family more for the last few months. I will update my blog if and when I design any online classes. I really appreciate the interest.

[I was wondering what kind of printer you use for your pictures?]

I have an Epson Stylus Photo R1800. I have had this printer for almost 2 years and really love it. Prints a 12x12 page (and a bit larger if needed). I have considered getting the Picture Mate in addition to my R1800 but just haven't done it. I have heard wonderful things about it from Danelle. It is on my list of gadgets I'd like to have sometime! :)

nasty weather today.

Today is one of those great stay inside all day because it is so awful out type of days. The wind is howling, the snow is blowing, the roads are icy and our school district is almost the only one in all the surrounding areas that hasn't dismissed school early. peachy. should be fun trying to pick kids up this afternoon. ha.

Been busy here on the home front. Ethan had a check up to see if the ear infection cleared up (I kind of suspected it had not since he told me "ear hurt" on Sunday). Still has it so we're on yet another antibiotic. lovely. poor little dude. good thing that he is in a good mood most of the time and doesn't complain or fuss too much.

I finished up a few more layouts for the {31 in 31} challenge over this past weekend.

Took a couple of days "off" to do some things around the house, catch up some laundry, go on a Target run, etc. Love the cycle of creativity.

Back to work. (and heading to the kitchen for a cup of hot chocolate!)

sharing.

here are a few photos of my studio.

I still need to get some close ups and add more descriptions but this gives the general idea.

I also got my photos today that I ordered and finished this layout:

and here's one I did last night:

I started another layout today and ordered photos so I can finish it next week. I am planning on creating several more this weekend. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend full of creative fullfillment!

I *love* scrapbooking.

For all you scrapbookers out there, do you ever just stop and think to yourself, " wow. I really, really love this hobby."

The last few days as I have been creating layouts that I love I just keep thinking to myself how much I love recording my family's memories. How much I love looking at the photos. How much we will all treasure these albums and the memories they hold...now and well into the future.

I can't get over how big my kids are getting, how fast they grow up, how precious those early memories are to me. It really gets me all choked up...reminds me to treasure those everyday moments and to remember to record them...those everyday memories are the ones that you hold onto forever.

Here's the layout I did today. Really reminds me how my photography has improved over the years but the photos and memories are precious just the same. Brenden in 1999, when he was just 7 months old.

In addition to the layout I shared yesterday, I also created these two layouts yesterday. (I was on a bit of a roll)

I cleaned my studio too. Totally tickled with how great it looks. I'm going to take photos and share my *new* space tomorrow. :)

wednesday already.

I think that this month is flying by almost as quickly as December.

I am almost embarrassed to admit this but not enough so that I'm not going to type it: I am so, so, so glad that new episodes of my favorite television programs are on this week. :)

I was dying with only reruns and reality t.v. (I know, I know...I think I may be the only person, besides Chad, that really dislikes reality t.v.). Grey's is new tomorrow night and I am so ready to lose myself in a t.v. show for 60 minutes. :)

I have still been scrapping away on the {31 in 31} challenge and really enjoying every little bit of it. I can't believe the layouts I am getting completed. I haven't felt this good about scrapping in awhile. Feels good to do projects just because. No agenda.

Here is my one for today:

I didn't really make a new year's resolution this year, not on new year's anyway. There are always the same things I would like to resolve to do better at: eat better, excercise more, shop less, spend more time doing what I love and less time doing things I don't, etc. This year I decided to just resolve to live by a word (inspired by Ali's 2008 Word Post).

SIMPLIFY

This is the word I want to live by this year. It's amazing how complicated life becomes (or maybe it's just how complicated we make it). I am trying to incorporate this word into all aspects of my life: simplifying my shopping: only necessiites, consider fun purchases carefully, simplify my scrapbooking: do projects that I love and really record those memories and improve my journaling, simplify home tasks by getting the whole family more involved in keeping things picked up and remembering to enjoy those simple moments and memories, and record them with my camera so I can remember them always.

Wishing you all a simply wonderful day.

so far so good.

Today's layout. Been finishing up/redoing lots of older photos for this daily scrapbook layout challenge. It makes it easy since I already have the photos grouped together to be scrapbooked and sometimes even have the layout started (I completely redid this layout as I had started it back in 2000...so yes, it was a bit dated. ;)

I did a layout yesterday too (with all NEW photos) but I ordered the photos so it will be a later this week before I can share.

Back to scrapping (my sweet dad came and hung my flat screen tv arm and tv in my office this afternoon and I am enjoying having tv. :) First time to have a tv right in my studio. I don't have all my channels working yet, hopefully the cable guy will program the box for me tomorrow! yea!