Mother's Day Scrapbooking/Craftmaking Extravaganza of 2013

I had big plans for Mother's Day. I told my girls earlier in the week that all I wanted was to stay home and scrapbook. I still had tons of pictures to put in scrapbooks and Mother's Day was the perfect time to do some of it. I could relive memories of when the kids were little, and get something accomplished at the same time. 

My youngest girl (The Girl) said she wanted to scrapbook too, and my older one (Sis) said "I'm down!" (which actually means she's up for it). Sis just moved into her own apartment and wanted to make something she could hang on her wall.

So we made plans for the big Mother's Day Scrapbooking/Craftmaking Extravaganza of 2013.

On Mother's Day, I set up all the scrapbook supplies on our kitchen table and got to work. I finished a couple pages and was sorting through pictures for the next few pages when Sis arrived.

The first thing she does (the first thing any kid that just moved out on their own does when they come over) is announce she's hungry. She starts raiding the fridge and complaining that she doesn't grocery shop very well.

Then she tells me she doesn't know what she's going to make for our Scrapbooking/Craftmaking Extravaganza.

Sis: I didn't bring anything to make.

Me: That's ok, I bought you a scrapbook and I have some pictures here of you when you were little. Do you want to start a scrapbook?

Sis: Nah, I don't want to do a scrapbook.

Me: Ok, well look online for craft ideas and see if you can find any ideas you like.

5 minutes later, while I'm trying to figure out how many of the 72 pictures of The Girl's pre-school graduation I should include in her scrapbook, the conversation starts again.

Sis: (Makes a noise of exasperation that I couldn't even begin to spell) Moooommmmm, I don't know what to maaaaaaake! What should I maaaaaaaaake?

Me: Did you find any ideas online?

Sis: Well... I could do a band collage.

Me: Great! Do you have stuff from your favorite bands?

Sis: No, it was all in (names her ex-boyfriend) car. (This car was towed a year ago).

Me: Okaaaaay. Then how can you make a band collage?

Sis: I don't knooooowwwwwwAAA. I don't know what to maaaaaaake!

I decided to include 17 pre-school graduation photos in the scrapbook and give the rest to the kid's dad, who's been bugging me for years to give him some pictures of the kids when they were little, despite the fact that said pictures weren't important enough to him to take with him when he left 15 years ago for his internet girlfriend. 

But I digress...

Me: How about you just make a collage of something else? We can go to Michael's real quick and get some stuff. (I cringe when I say this because a trip to Michael's is never "quick" and I really just wanted to stay home and get some dang scrapbook pages done!)

Me again: Your sister will be off work in 20 minutes. We'll go pick her up, then we'll go to Michael's.

Sis: Will you help me pick out some stuff? Because I don't know what to maaaaaaake!

Before I can answer, Sis's phone rings. I can tell it's The Girl. Here's the conversation:

Sis: Hi. (Pause) Yeah. (Pause) Well...um, mom is going with me to pick you up and then we're going to Michael's. (Pause) Because I have to get some stuff to make a collage. (Pause) Because I didn't know what to maaaaaake and I didn't bring anything to maaaaake! (Pause) No, it's ok, mom won't care. (Long pause) No, don't worry, it's ok, mom won't care.

So here's the translation: The Girl wanted her sister to stop somewhere after she picked her up, so that The Girl could get me a card, or flowers, or something for Mother's Day. Which was very sweet, but really, I just wanted to have our Mother's Day Scrapbooking/Craftmaking Extravaganza.

We leave to pick up The Girl and go to Michael's. The Girl gets in the car and immediately starts talking.

The Girl: Hi mommy, (she still calls me mommy) Happy Mother's Day! I wanted Siss to take me to Albertson's so I could get you flowers and some tea, but  I thought it would be tacky to stop and buy you your Mother's Day present while you're waiting in the car, so I don't have anything for you for Mother's Day...Sis, why did you make mom come? 

Me: So I could help her pick out some stuff so she can make a collage and I can be NOT scrapbooking on my Mother's Day Scrapbooking/Craft Making Extravaganza.

The Girl and Sis immediately start arguing about how selfish each other is.

I make a mental note to devote my next holiday off work to Scrapbooking. And to NOT. TELL. ANYBODY.

We get to Michael's and any differences we had in the car were immediately forgotten as we browse embellishments, shadow boxes, papers, miniatures, feathers, flowers, and stickers.

We get home with our treasures and I settle in to laying out the 17 pictures of The Girl's pre-school graduation. While I'm contemplating giving a few more pictures to my ex, just so I don't have to put them in a book, Sis starts asking how to put the background paper on her shadow box and The Girl starts asking which pictures she should put on a scrapbook page, which background she should use, and where are all the embellishments.

Sigh.

I was beginning to think my Scrapbook Extravaganza Day was just not going to happen.

But once I solved the two crises (no really, that's how you spell it - I looked it up), we all settled into our projects and I'm happy to say, we made some progress. Although I didn't finish all 17 pre-school graduation pictures (yeah, that's right, 7 hours of planned scrapbook time, and I couldn't manage to place 17 pictures), the pages I did finish looked pretty cute.

The Girl completed 2 pages, and Sis finished her shadow box and both projects came out pretty darn good.

Here's a picture of a couple pages I had finished before the girls came over:

Not fancy, but not bad for a Scrapbook Rookie

Yes, both pages took me like, 2 1/2 hours

And here's a picture of Sis's shadow box she made:

So, all in all, I sort of had my Mother's Day Scrapbooking/Craftmaking Extravaganza. But the best part was spending time with my girls and doing something creative together. We hadn't done that in a very long time and it felt really good. I didn't even mind the bickering. Much.

Oh, and my brother made awesome barbequed ribs so I didn't have to cook!

Hope everyone had a nice Mother's Day. At the very least, a peaceful one.

Thanks for reading.

P.S. I would be remiss (and my girls would point it out to me when they read this) if I didn't say that each of my girls bought me a $25 Michael's gift card so I can continue feeding my scrapbook addiction. Thanks, my darling girls!