Re-Challenge #9

This post was originally published on June 14, 2011.  If you haven’t done this challenge yet, now is a good time to do it!  If you’ve already done it, see if it needs some updating! 

P.S.  This is our last re-challenge!  Next week we will start on some brand spanking new challenges two times a month, plus I have many Fast Fact Fridays planned to help you record your life story before Christmas!  That will be every Friday starting next week!  Awesome!!!  Now, on to the re-challenge!

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No, this isn’t a fairy tale challenge! But close…enough.

This week’s challenge: Make a timeline of your life!

This does sound hard, but in fact, it is quite easy! Think of the most important dates of your life and just put them in order! I recommend starting with the dates you know in your head already (even if it’s just a year): birth date, HS/college graduation, wedding, children, etc. Start with the big things—the things that really have made an impact on your life! Next, fill in with the smaller things: moving, jobs, religious ordinances, etc. Obviously, the older you are, the more you will have to fill in!

You can type this in a document, make a scrapbook page of it, scan some pictures and turn them into a slideshow with music and dates on them, write it in a blog, or whatever else you can think of to do!

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What I did: I opened up a new Word document and did my timeline vertically as opposed to horizontally in the picture (which I just totally made up for the sake of having something visual on this post). I started with the dates that I knew by heart, even if it was just the month and year. Then I filled in the smaller things that I thought might be important. I saved it in my “This is Me Challenges” folder. I wanted to do it this way, because I can add to it as I go. (Hopefully that will be a long time!)

I am not posting a picture of what I really did, due to the sensitive, personal nature of it. (And I recommend that you don’t publish it on your public blog if that’s how you’re completing your challenges.) Here is a basic look at what mine looks like:

(Date): Born in (City, State)

(Date): Moved from (address to address)

(Date): Started High School

(Date): Graduated from ________High School

(Date): Graduated from _______ University

(Date): Got married to __________ in ___________

(Date): Bought 1st house in _________

(Date): Had first child

(Date): Moved to _______

etc.

Now, I challenge you to make a timeline of your life! You might be surprised at how fun it is to see all that you’ve done in your life in one little place!

Re-Challenge #52

This is a re-post of a challenge that was issued on Oct. 3, 2012.

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Most of us have some kind of collection, whether it is an on-purpose collection, or something we unconsciously collect!

What do you collect?

Now, if you don’t purposefully collect anything, you can be creative on this one…for example my husband jokes that I collect plastic sacks, because I keep them in various places around the house so I don’t have to go get one from the collection bag in the kitchen every time I need one. 

But, most of us probably have something we buy as souvenir’s each time we go somewhere, or that people always give us a gifts.  This is also a fun challenge for kids to do who collect something.  I plan on doing this one with my 7 year old who collects rocks from everywhere we go! 

Here are a couple of ideas to get your mind going, but remember, you don’t have to scrapbook it.  Even just taking some pictures and writing a blog post about it is great!

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What April did:

Explanation: I never intended to collect bells. It just sort of happened. One year for Christmas someone, I can't remember who, gave me a bell. And from that time on everyone thought I collected bells and continued to give me bells for birthdays, Christmas and just for fun. So I started getting bells in all the places that I traveled and all the places that mean something to me. Each bell has a story and has become a history of who I am and where I've been.

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What I did:

From the time I was young, I have loved elephants, and started collecting them when I was a bit older.  Though, when we moved 6 years ago, I packed them all up and only took them out today to photograph—I have little kids now and I don’t want them to get ruined!  So it was fun to pull my little collection out and see them.  My 3 year old twins were in awe of all these cool elephants they’ve never seen before.  Sadly, I will have to pack them back up again until our basement is finished and I have more room to properly display them!  It was fun though, to remember all the places I got them!

Product sources: Template, Scrapping With Liz.  Papers, Crystal Wilkerson and myself.  Brushes, Dainty Swirls 2.  Fonts, Smiley Monster, Homemade Apple, Mom’s Typewriter.

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Now I challenge you to record about something that you collect!

Re-Challenge #40

Originally posted on Feb. 8, 2012

I remember once reading an email about some of the perks of being a parent—and the first one of those perks was naming rights.  Having had the opportunity to name four children myself, I know it’s fun and also a bit intimidating!  A name is with a person for life.  Sometimes there’s a reason for a name, a story behind it.  So…

What is the story behind your name?

How did your parents come up with it?  Were you named after someone special in their lives?  Do you like your name?  What does it mean?

You can record this in many ways, and go into detail on it or just skim the surface.  If you’re not sure, be sure to ask your parents, an older sibling, or someone else who may know.  Even if you think you know it, it doesn’t hurt to ask! 

Here are a few ideas for you:

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What Kim did (wrote on her blog):

My name...

At one time in my childhood I remember liking my name. In fact, I liked it so much that I wanted to have triplets and name then: Kim, Kimber, and Kimberly.

At another point in my childhood I remember hating my name and wanting to change it to Cynthia.

Now, I love my name again.

I go by Kim, because it's easy, but I think Kimberly is a pretty name...and I LOVE my middle name--Lillian.

The history of Kimberly:

I was named after my brother.... who was named after a doll. :) If I remember correctly (which I may not)... my older sister had a Kimberly doll and my parents liked the name. When my mom got pregnant with what they thought was going to be a little girl, they decided that she would be called Kimberly. When my brother was born, they decided to give him a more masculine name--luckily. They saved the name Kimberly for me, their next girl.

The history of Lillian:

Lillian was passed down from my grandmother's care-taker, Lillian. I never met Lillian; she passed away before I had the chance to meet her. But I do love her name.

It's origins are Latin and come from the flower lily. I think lily's are a very beautiful flower as well, which just adds to the enjoyment of my middle name.

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What April did:

I love my name and was excited to do a page about where and how my name came to be. People have always asked me why my parents chose my name and how come they picked it when I wasn't born in the month of April. It was fun to put the story of my name in a scrapbook page.

Photoshop Brushes: "Out of the Blue" by Seishido.biz, "Watercolor" by Mcbad  Fonts: Cambria (Journaling), SNF Infinity Bold (Title)

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What I did:

I made a traditional scrapbook page, and just told how I got my name and why it’s meaning fits me perfectly.  To be honest, I don’t make a lot of “girlie” scrapbook pages—I don’t think my boys would appreciate that too much in 20 years—so I’m not good at it, but I did have fun using half a package of flowers!  I must say it was a fun change! 

Credits: Patterned paper—Sandy Lion.  Cardstock—Bazzil.  Flowers—Prima.  Buttons—Unknown.  Letter stickers—SEI.  Pen—Sakura Gelly Roll.

Now I challenge you to record the story of your name!

Re-Challenge #28

This was originally posted on Oct. 25, 2011.  Here it is again, for you to do for the first time, or a second time if you want. 

This week’s challenge is somewhat similar to Challenge #4 (Playtime), so it could all be rolled into one challenge if you want to.  (Though for me, playing and relaxing are two different things—playing I have to use my brain, and relaxing requires little to no brain power.)  So, here’s this week’s challenge:

How do you like to relax?

You can approach this one many different ways.  Record your favorite way or ways to relax, tell about your favorite place, compare how you used to relax as a kid/teenager/young adult/parent/grandparent, and even record some places you’d like to relax.  You can tell about your favorite ways to relax alone or with family, friends or your spouse.

Here are some examples of what I and a couple of team members did!

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What Kim did on her blog: 

I took this challenge as "How do you relieve stress?" Cause really... I am only relaxing when I am sleeping. :)

Going for a family drive... especially in Alaska.

Taking Pictures (sort of goes along with our fun drives).

Reading stories, coloring, or playing games with my kids.

Going for walks or hikes with the family.

Watching my favorite TV shows with my Husband.

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What Rachel did:

For this assignment I decided to do two layouts-one traditional and one digital. I made a list in my mind of all the things that I love to do to relax. Basically they are all the things that I enjoy doing in my spare time. I love playing outside with my two boys and spending time as a family. We love to go on walks and play on our swing set. I love reading, exercising and of course scrapbooking! Those things help clear my mind and elevate my stress. If only you could see my bookcases of rows and rows of books and exercise DVD’s!

Credits for digital page: All paper and embellishments are from “Play Day Pack” by Albums to Remember. Pictures by Rachel.

Credits for traditional page: Creating Keepsakes Hall of Fame “Laugh and Play” by Loni Stevens two page layout; Caribbean and Cappuccino Twine from “The Twinery”, Misc button, Bermuda Bay marker by Stampin Up. Pictures by Rachel.

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What I did:

I created a table in Word and compared how I relaxed when I was a kid, a teenager, in my 20’s and now. 

I made another “Fast Form” for you this week.  Click here to download it if you want to get this challenge done quickly! (Please make sure you’re a follower somewhere!)

I changed it a little bit from last week’s, in that I put a spot in front of each word that you can just check or x, so you don’t even have to circle things!  Hope someone can use this!  (Even if you don’t want to use it for yourself, print it off and have your mom, dad, spouse, child, grandparent, aunt, uncle or neighbor fill it out!)

Now, I challenge you to go record how you love to relax!

Re-Challenge #8

Oops!  I totally spaced doing the re-challenges for the last two weeks.  This is why consistency is so important for me!  I am still going to post those re-challenges, and you will see one today, one tomorrow, and then the one I’d scheduled for today the day after that.  Don’t feel like you have to get them all done in 3 days—please do these at your own pace!

Here is the re-post of challenge #8.

 

Addictions. Everyone has them. Some people are addicted to bad things, some are addicted to good things. Some people won’t admit it, and other’s happily admit it!

This week’s challenge: What are some addictions that you have?

You can focus on one addiction, or you can record all of them. You can make a list of them and tell why. You can take a picture of each one and make a slideshow or scrapbook page of them. You can record in detail what you’ve done to try and stop this addiction, or you can say nothing at all about it. You can laugh about it, or get serious about it. Write a song or a poem about it. It’s up to you how you want to record it!

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What I did:

I took a picture of one of my addictions—lip junk as my hubby calls it. I took it on a white background so that I could blend it onto a white blank document in Photoshop. Then I just wrote about my addiction to lip junk. Simple. Easy. Here’s how it turned out:

Fonts: Cry Kitty and Pea Laura, both from Kevin and Amanda’s Fonts for Peas. Check out Amanda’s site for tons of cute fonts for FREE! We love free!

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This post was from over 2 years ago, and it’s fun to see this because I’ve ditched the Carmex for another lip balm…which I’m now addicted to (Burt’s Bees, if you’re curious).  I honestly forgot how addicted I was to the Carmex, so I’m glad I recorded that little slice of my life!  I’m so going to be doing this challenge again, though probably with a different (current) addiction.   

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Now get out there and record something you’re addicted to! 

Re-Challenge #43

We have a fun re-challenge for you today!  This is one you can do every few years as well, so even if you’ve done it, it’s always an option to do it again!  Laura just did this one, so I’m adding it to the top of the original challenge.  Also, I forgot to update my finished challenge once I found the appropriate picture, so I changed that as well. 

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When you look back to a few years ago, isn’t amazing to see how much has changed?  You’ve changed, your family has changed, the world has changed.  This week’s challenge will help you document some of those changes.

How have you changed in the last 5, 10 or 15 years?
(Or even add 20, 25, 30 years ago!)

Here are some ideas to get your memory going about ways you can, or have changed.

-Family situation (Single, married, kids, etc.)
-Job at the time
-School
-Styles of hair and clothing
-Hobbies
-Beliefs
-Eating habits
-Body type (maybe you gained or lost a lot of weight)
-What you spent most of your time doing
-Place you lived
-Close friends or room mates at the time
-Changes in your personality
-Strengths now that used to be weaknesses
-Goals and dreams
-World and local events
-Favorites (foods, colors, TV shows, music, etc.)
-Technology differences that you’ve used
-And another stellar idea should go here, but I can’t think of anymore…

To do this challenge, you could pick just one topic and explain the details for each of the years.  You can just pick one “year” and talk about the many differences between then and now.  You can choose the years you want to do (ie: 10 yrs. ago, 20 yrs. ago, etc.).  You can just do a few things or do many—whatever you want to do and have the time for!

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What Laura did:

Supplies - cardstock - We R Memory Keepers; patterned paper and stickers - Simple Stories

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What Kim did:

I think its harder for me to see changes in myself than it is for other people to see the changes in myself. So I am just going to highlight some changes that have occurred in the past 5 and 10 years.

Changes over the past 5 years:

I learned how to become a mother of 1—5 years ago.

I learned how to be a mother of 2—2 years ago.

Changes over the past 10 years:

I became a wife 7 years ago.

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What I did:

I made a layout showing what I’m like now, 5 years ago, 10 years ago, and 15 years ago.   I wanted it to span and show a glimpse of me and what I’ve done and how it made me who I am today.  I tried to keep it all kind of the same types of things for each section, just to have a better comparison.

Page credits: Fonts (Century Gothic and Sofia).  Texture: Kim Klassen.

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If you want a simple and easy way to do this challenge, I made a PDF file that you can download here.  Then you can either print it out and fill it in by hand or type it up on the computer!  Quick and easy!  (I couldn’t upload a picture for you to see it, so you’ll have to click the link to preview it.)

Now I challenge you to record your 5, 10, 15! 
(Or whatever numbers you want to use!)

Re-Challenge #20

I must admit, it’s been fun for me to go back and see these challenges again.  And though I’m taking the summer off from recording challenges, it’s made me really want to go back through and do some of them again, just because things have changed that much and I want to record the now as well!  How grateful I am that I recorded the things I did when I did.  And yes, when I have a spare minute, I will do some more recording! 

Here is this weeks’ re-post of challenge #20:

 

Not one single person in the whole entire world is like another.  We all have different physical features, different likes/dislikes, different habits and talents.  Even identical twins are individual and unique!  So, here’s to uniqueness:

The Challenge:  What are some of your funny and unique habits and talents?

In this week’s challenge you can focus on just one funny or unique habit or talent.  You can make a list of every unique thing about you.  You can focus on some of your funny talents.  Complete it how you want to!

This week’s challenge would be a fun one to do with the whole family—get them all together and have everyone write what they think all the other’s funny and unique talents/habits are!  It would be a fun game!

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What Kim did on her private blog:

This one happens to connect with my soccer days as well:
In high school we had to jog in place while passing the ball back and forth to a partner for warm ups. It was part of our daily routine.
To this day when I play soccer (which is only once or twice a year now if I am lucky) I still find myself jogging in place when either passing the ball against a wall or to a partner. I've noticed that when I pass it to another person they will look at me like I am crazy because they are just standing there passing it back and forth, but my feet just won't stop jogging!

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What I did:
I had a busy week, so I just made a quick list of one thing for each member of my family.  (For the kids, this is just a look at them now—phases if you will—because we don’t really know what cool talents they have yet.)  I am dreaming up a scrapbook layout with a picture graph of each person and one talent and one habit.  Someday…  Here’s a quick look at what I have finished, to give you some ideas of things!  (Or just laugh at...!)

Quinn:  Can touch his tongue to his nose!
Emily: Can arch one eyebrow—on both sides!
C: Can make new friends anywhere he goes.  He pretty much tells them his life story in 5 minutes.
T:  Goes from the worst kid that makes us scream to the sweetest, world’s best kid in 2 minutes flat.
R: Has to take his “Dog Dog” stuffed animal EVERYWHERE!  (That thing is nasty.)
C: Can talk like Tarzan on his vowels!

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Now, I challenge you to record your “you”niquenesses!

Re-Challenges #7 and #34

Okay, here’s another two re-challenges for you…sorry that I didn’t get any up last Wednesday or the one before that.  We went on vacation to the beautiful Black Hills area of South Dakota, where apparently there aren’t many cell phone towers for me to get on to the internet.  And on top of that, we camped at campgrounds, so no free wi-fi for some reason.  ;)    So, here are the challenges I’d planned on doing, but forgot to schedule before we left.  Oops.  Sorry. 

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Re-challenge #7:

Have you ever seen a magazine article or an ad with numbers in bold, and then some information that is pertinent to that number? Well, that is the inspiration for this week’s challenge!

The Challenge: What numbers best represent you?

You can do this a couple of different ways. You can make a list from 0-10 (or even to 20!), and think of something about you for each number. You can also write a list of some things you’d like to share and figure out the numbers for each thing.

I’ve thought about some things to give you a jump-start:

Places I’ve lived.

Years I was in formal schooling.

Years I have been married/dating.

My age.

Number of children/grandchildren/nieces/nephews/brothers/sisters/etc.

Pairs of shoes/ties/jeans/sweaters/etc. I currently own.

Bedrooms in my current home.

Times I’ve been a patient at the hospital.

Pets I’ve had.

Times I’ve been outside the U.S.

Hours of sleep I get each night.

Minutes I spend getting ready for the day.

Projects I’m currently working on.

Vacations I’ve been on this year.

Traffic tickets I’ve gotten.

Accidents I’ve been in.

Childhood friends I’m still in contact with.

Countries I’ve visited.

Continents I’ve visited.

Boyfriends I had.

States I’ve lived in.

Countries I’ve lived in.

Continents I’ve lived on.

Boys/girls I kissed.

Cavities I’ve had.

Years I was/have been in the military.

Years at my current job.

Years playing instrument/sport.

Hobbies I’m currently passionate about.

Paid jobs I’ve had.

Years until I retire.

Foods I’m allergic to.

Cars I’ve owned.

Eyeglass prescriptions I’ve had.

Minutes/hours I read each day.

Mountain peaks I’ve climbed.

Times I’ve been bungee jumping/skydiving.

Times I brush my teeth each day.

Times I change my clothes each day.

Minutes/hours I spend on the computer/facebook/blog/etc. each day.

And yes, the list can go on and on…!

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What I did:

I went through this list, and decided which things I wanted to highlight. I made a 12x12 scrapbook page, similar to a magazine ad I saw. I wanted to put a cute picture of me on there too, but alas, I am always the one behind the lens and I seriously couldn’t find anything but the picture I already used on a challenge.

Here’s a look at my page.

This is just another version, using only the numbers 0-10.  Scrapbook Credits: Paper, scallops and stitching: Creativity by Crystal, Fonts: Cooper Standard, Pushkin, and CK Higgins Handprint.

You don’t have to make a scrapbook page though—you can just write it down in a journal or word processing document. You can write a simple poem or jingle about it. You can even take pictures that represent these things and put them on your blog or make a slideshow with music if you want! The possibilities are endless on how you can record this week’s challenge! Now, go write down your own numbers!

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Re-challenge #34

This challenge was originally given in December, but I though it’d be fun to bring up again in July, since most people have fun summer traditions to record then too!  (Well, at least it’s summer here on the northern hemisphere…)  What are some fun summer traditions you have?  Family reunions?  Summer activities like boating, camping, hiking, a certain vacation spot?  Certain holiday get-togethers?

Every time I hear the word “tradition”, I can’t help but sing the same titled song from “The Fiddler on the Roof”!  A lot of traditions are deep-rooted, and have been around for too many years to count.  Other traditions have just been started, or are a few years old.  It doesn’t matter how long it’s been, it’s still fun to record it!

What are some of your favorite holiday traditions?

You can record some of the traditions you’ve had your whole life, some you had growing up, or some you have started recently.  Make a list of all the traditions you can think of, record one favorite from each time period of your life, or even focus on all the ins and outs of just one.
Here are some sub-questions to help you get thinking:  How did it start?  How long has it been going?  Have you changed the tradition at all through the years?  How long do you foresee this tradition continuing?  What do you hope your family will remember about it?  How has it helped your family grow closer to each other? 
Here’s a couple of ideas of things that we did, and there will be a few more next week from the rest of the TIMC team! 

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What Laura did:
For the past few years, I’ve put together a December Daily album*.  I’ve approached it a few different ways.  Last year I also participated in a month-long photography workshop where I was prompted to take a different picture everyday in December.  My journaling for my book last year didn’t necessarily go with the picture that I took, but at least I got journaling written and a different picture taken for every day.
This is the page that I put together for last year’s mini-book.

And the journaling:

I love the traditions that we do share as a family, even if they aren’t extravagant.  I think everyone’s favorite in our house is the night we watch The Polar Express.  We make a big bowl of popcorn and enjoy the movie and being together as a family.
(*If you’ve never heard of a December Daily Album, check it out on Ali Edwards’ blog here.)

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What Rachel did:
I took some time to reflect this week about some of our family Christmas traditions and where they came from. I could have made some many layouts just on this topic. I picked a couple traditions that we do with our kids and took pictures of them. In addition to what I have on my layout; we also go to our church Christmas program, read and watch Christmas stories all month, read the bible Christmas story on Christmas eve, have a special family Christmas meal…I love the holiday season and everything about it!

Credits: All paper and embellishment are from the kit “Christmas” by Albums to Remember. Pictures by Rachel.

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What I did:
My husband and I got married 4 days before Christmas, which meant we were on our honeymoon for our 1st Christmas together.  I thought it’d be fun to buy a Christmas ornament to remember it by, but then it became a tradition!  Most every place we go on vacation, we buy a Christmas ornament, or something that we can make into one.  We all love reminiscing about the places we went and who went and how old the kids were as we decorate our tree each year!  I decided I wanted to scrapbook the story of our ornament tradition!

Credits: All designed by me.

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Well, there you have it…a little bit of something fun to record.  Take some time to record some fun summer traditions and a little bit about you by the numbers! 

Re-Challenge #16

This is a repost of a previous challenge.  Laura has now done this, so I added her finished challenge to the post. 

Today’s challenge is one that I’m sure you will just LOVE to do, because sometimes it’s nice to vent, isn’t it?

What are some of your pet peeves?

There are a few ways you can do this—you can record the things that bug you most, you can focus on just one thing that annoys you and go into detail on why it bothers you, or you can pick a subject (say, crazy drivers) and list all the pet peeves you have just for that.

When I gave our team members this assignment, part of it was to keep it light and positive for the blog—I didn’t want anything negative on here.  Now, you don’t have to do this, you can be as mean and ornery as you want, but remember that whoever reads it will also see it in that way…so, you may want to keep it as positive as you want as well!

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What Laura did:

Supplies:  patterned paper - Bella Blvd; card stock - Bazzill; arrows - Studio Calico; letters - Simple Stories

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What I did:

To keep this in a positive direction, I made a list of things that are opposite of my pet peeves on a digital scrapbook layout.

Credits: Fonts: CK Becky (“opposites”), Sketch Rockwell (“pet peeve”), Pea Valerie (“my” and journaling).  All other elements and papers by me.

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What Rachel did:

“When I was given this assignment to write about my pet peeves and to keep it positive, I had no idea what to do! I thought about it for a week or so, and then it hit me! I could mention some pet peeves but then think of something good about them instead of griping about the negative. So, my pictures and journaling are pretty self-explanatory. I realized after the fact, that I kind of have a thanksgiving theme with my layout. “

Credits: My Memories Suite 2 software. Papers and Embellishments are “Walk in Splendor by Becca” and “Fall for Autumn by StoryRock”. Top two pictures taken by Rachel.

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What Kim did: 

I am actually a pretty patient person; I don't get too annoyed with the little things that don't matter. The one thing that annoys me is bad drivers, so here is my road rage tangent...

1. When people don't turn left on a yellow light when there are no cars.

2. When people drive under the speed limit.

3.When people tailgate me.

4. When people cut me off.

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Now I challenge you to record some things that annoy you!

Re-Challenge #4

Today we have another re-challenge for you!  This is an oldie (challenge #4), but a goodie!  (Because honestly, who doesn’t like to play?)

 When you have a few minutes or a few days, what do you like to do in your “play” time?

You can share what you do now, what you used to do as a child, or even what you’d like to do when you retire! Make a table showing the things you’ve liked to do to play in different periods of your life.  What has changed or stayed the same? Why do you like to do those things? You can expound on this, or keep it simple! This is a challenge that would be fun to do with kids too—have them record their favorite activities a few times in their lives or once every year.  Wouldn’t that be fun to see later?

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What I did:

I explained a bit about what I like to do now: create things. I made a two page digital scrapbook layout about how I love to create things, and the individual things I take time to do to “play”. I added in some pictures that I already had on my computer of some of those things that I wrote about.

Credits: Template: Scrappin’ with Liz, Blue circle, and black & white paper: Summertime Designs.

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The challenge is now yours! Now…go PLAY! (And record about it!)