scrap page, and a HUGE thank you!!

so, this is not the scrapbook page I was working on... the pages I was working on (or trying to, anyway) were from when we went to see Les Miserables for my birthday, and I just could not get them to work. (I was miserable, I guess!) I finally got frustrated with that, set it aside, and printed these photos, which I think I put in a blog post a couple weeks ago, actually. This is one of the beautiful things about not scrapping chronologically; I can work with the photos, topics, and materials that interest me, whenever I feel like it- it's a wonderful thing! Anyway, to the page: I believe this page is the first one that I've used kraft colored cardstock for the base, and I think I really like it! (fyi, kraft is a "popular" or "trendy" background right now in the scrapping world.) It works really well with the vintage-y feel of the patterned paper, and also the colors in the photos. The pattered paper is a couple years old, from a "garage sale" at the scrapbook store; they sold variety packs of papers for such good prices, I couldn't pass it up! I have used some of that variety pack previously, but it's always nice to use things from my "stash" of older materials.

The letter stickers were sort of a bust, and an annoyance, but since I bought them, I'm going to use them. I found them at one of our local Big Lots (a store that gets "lot ends" of things from other stores, and sells the stuff for cheap; they get some good scrapbooking stuff now and then) and grabbed three or four packages of letters in different colors. They were only $1 per pack, and are scratch-and-sniff! (haha! ...remember scratch-and-sniff stickers, from the 80s?? I had to get them partly for that reason.) Anyway- I had to fight with the stickers to remove them from their backing without ripping; it took me forever to get the letters I needed intact; and then, to top it off, after all that they barely stuck to the cardstock! I thought about adding more embellishments, like ribbon, rickrack, or buttons, but couldn't decide where to put them, so I decided not to agonize over that any longer and call it done. The memories are the important thing, not the page design, right? Right. Hopefully this is just the first in a string of successful (and completed!) pages.

So, now to the HUGE THANK YOU!!! to my mother, who, after reading my "Happy Birthday to Richard Scarry" blog post, sent me a package that contained magazines and books, like this one:

Some of the actual Richard Scarry books I remember reading as a child!! Thank you so much, Mom!! This is amazing, that you actually still have these, and thought enough to send them to me! This first pic is a book I remember spending a loooooot of time with; the pages are perforated, and the book included lots of different pictures to color, activities to do, and things to make using the illustrations. Lots of pages are missing, but some are still there, like the one below:

The writing on the side is mine (looks like I was going to give this to my 2nd grade teacher, Mrs. Smith) but I don't know if that's really my coloring, there-- the neatness of the coloring doesn't quite match the writing style. Perhaps one of my older sisters helped me with the coloring? Mom?? any thoughts?? :D Here's an inside page of another one of the books... (I didn't get a pic of the cover, apparently, so I don't know the title right at the moment) The story is about a bunny going to the doctor for a checkup; I remember reading this one, too-- I knew just what it was the minute I took it out of the box. (it's so cute; the endpapers are covered with drawings of bandaids!) I just love Richard Scarry's illustrations, and will definitely be spending some time reading through these; and maybe even coloring in a picture or two!! Thank you again, Mom!!