Catching Up :: Project Life!!

I thought I would bring you up to date with some of my Project Life Pages.  Please note: THESE ARE NOT CURRENT PAGES, therefore you may see some "out of season" photos!  My purpose in posting them is to talk about the layout of each page.

Often times, Project Lifers do a two-page spread which encompasses one week in their life.  I have some weeks where I don't take a single shot, others where I take just a single shot, and still others where we have a handful of events and LOTS of photos.  So, I knew I couldn't count on a two-page spread to represent any certain time frame.  You'll see what I mean once we start rolling through the pictures.  I'll comment a little on each one as we go...

Ready?

The 2012 high school football season.  Me and my girl went to a few of the games.  This was her freshman year, and she didn't know a lot of people yet (coming from homeschool), so she was glad to sit with her mama -- just to be able to enjoy the experience.  These are the Design A pocket pages, and you'll notice that I slipped a photo into one of the smaller pockets in the middle.  I love using those slots for verticle photos that I can trim down.  [Psssst!  This is a great way to fill the space without using 8 cards for each and every two-page spread.]  Notice that I used the entire season's photos here.  Three different games.  The football [vertical] cards are "homemade" and are simply gray cardstock as a mat around football scrapbook paper.  The other vertical cards are from the Project Life school-themed kit.

One of our 2012 autumn adventures -- and there are several.  Fall may be one of my favorite times of the year to take pictures!  I didn't use the typical colors here, choosing to carry out the "sky" colors with light blue Project Life cards, letting the orange pumpkins pop.  I used a sticker as an extra embellishment on one card.  Notice that rather than cutting a photo in half to make it fit in the smaller spaces, I cut a journaling card in half, and wrote on it accordingly.  Don't be afraid to break [what you think are] the rules!

I love this pumpkin-carving layout.  Since I only had one vertical photo to fill the center section, I used some patterned scrapbook paper to make my own cards and displayed them in a pattern in the center section of the two pages.  It carries the eye from one page to the next.

Another autumn adventure.  [Told you!]  Some pages don't require a lot of journaling -- just some notes expressing what you appreciate about the photos.  Again, some sticker embellishments on the small vertical cards.  I think all of these cards came from the fall themed kit from Becky Higgins.  I love ordering directly from her website, but try to plan my orders so that I am ordering enough to take advantage of her free shipping!  I have also purchased the theme kits at Hobby Lobby with my discount coupon.

Also: I used one of my favorite techniques on this spread.  Notice that on each page's center section, I have used the two center card-spots to hold a divided photo or title card.  I like the way this visually breaks up the routine of one photo directly above/beneath another.

This page represents FOUR different events or subjects: my nephews birthday, my mom's birthday, my son's new job, and my daughter's first semester artwork.  One of the original kits that I bought from Becky Higgins [a few years back] included great little arrows that help identify the picture to which the journaling refers.  This is helpful on a page that has a lot going on.  I tend to [most of the time] break down a two-page spread into quarters - letting the photos dictate how much room each event needs.  For example, on this page, you can see that my nephew's birthday fills the first quarter-section with two photos [top and bottom] and two small vertical slots in between.  One slot is used for an additional picture, and one is used just to say how old he was.

About the larger title cards... I don't tend to use them too often.  This is mostly because I tend to be loaded with photos, and don't want to give up the space.  HINT:  They CAN be trimmed down to make two of the smaller cards, which I obviously go through faster!  The layout above is Christmas Eve, and Christmas Day.  The small vertical cards are from some leftover favorite Christmas paper, and the date number/words are also from a page of December dates that was in my old scrapbooking stash.

Well, this was a lot of chatter!  But, I hope it gave you some insight into my process.  Becky made this system to be flexible, and so... I really try to let that work for me, instead of being uptight about "rules."  If you are working on Project Life, I would love to hear about your process, or your favorite tip!

Don't forget to keep your eyes on Becky's summer specials.  It's on her website under Project Life, and at the bottom of the long list of products on the right of the screen.

Also, check your craft stores for clearance items.  I scored a core kit at Michael's the other day for half price, and had a 20% off coupon good for sale items.  Cha-ching!

Scrap on!

Summer Reading... A Really Slow Start

These days, I find that I do much of my reading on-line, reading blogs.  It's completely different that the page-turning reading of yesterday (my never-will-I-read-an-ebook daughter just squirmed a little), but it's satisfying in a completely different "give me the answers I need right now" kind of way.

Before our early summer vacation, my daughter read The Fault In Our Stars by John Green.  She went on and on about it, and recommended it to me as a vacation read -- so I took it along to the beach.

It's hard to read about cancer...  [no disrespect to those of you who are dealing with it] and it was doubly-hard for me to read about teenagers with cancer.  I like my reading to be an escape of sorts, so this book wasn't for me.  Several chapters in, I closed it, never to return.  Left my daughter speechless, I think.  Left me without a book at the beach.

~~~~~

NEXT:

My sister-in-law and her family lived in Germany for a short span.  When she arrived home, she discovered that her body would not tolerate anything "wheat" without reactionary hives.  Having some... reactionary issues in recent years, I was interested to hear what she had to say on the subject.  Her thought was that in the U.S., our wheat is processed differently, rendering it inedible to some -- unless with consequences.  That made me sit up and listen.

While we were at the beach this year, I stumbled upon an interesting title in our favorite book store on the island.  Wheat Belly by Dr. William Davis.  I know, right?  What a title.  You might say it made me look!  In addition, there is a companion cookbook -- which gave me hope in case this was the road I must travel.

Since then, I have come to the un-scientific conclusion that my issues may be more about SOY.  I'm sure there's a book out there somewhere about that subject matter as well.  So far, I'm just avoiding soy -- which shows up mostly in the form of soy sauce in my favorite dishes.  Of course.  Needless to say, Wheat Belly has been put on the back burner.  It was interesting... but kind of heavy reading.  Glad I borrowed it from the library... and waited on the cookbook.

~~~~~

NEXT:

I wish I could tell you who recommended the next book.  It was a blogger, for sure -- and perhaps one that I visited via the Beauty That Moves "This Week In My Kitchen" blog hop.  The book?  A Homemade Life (stories and recipes from my kitchen table) by Molly Wizenberg, the creator of Orangette (a blog).  At last, an enjoyable summer read.

From the back book-flap:

"...Molly Wizenberg recounts a life with the kitchen at its center.  From her mother's pound cake, a staple of summer picnics during her childhood in Oklahoma, to the eggs she cooked for her father during the weeks before his death, food and memories are intimately entwined..."

~~~~~

My favorite read by far, though, has been our new scrapbooks.  I don't think I realized how much I missed having current scrapbooks that recount all of our family adventures.  Since the first week of July, I have completed just over two years in my Project Life albums.  {I now have two albums.}  I'm not sure, but it's possible that people see me coming, and run the other way for fear I will try to convert them.  LOL.  I'm just sayin'... I am a HAPPY CAMPER!!  By the time winter hits, I will be able to curl up under a blanket with scrapbooks that bring me almost up to the minute!  Yep.  Happy Camper indeed!

What have been your best summer reads this summer?

My Old Scrapbook Supplies Made New :: Project Life!!

Before I get started, let me just say that I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Becky's card-products for Project Life.  She has some amazing designers working for her, and I have done my part in supporting her product line -- BELIEVE me!  But, I like to think that Becky might enjoy the fact that I am being thrifty with my old scrapbook supplies. So today, I'm going to tell you a little about how I have transformed some of my "traditional" scrapbook supplies to use in my Project Life albums.

First of all, you know all of those great stickers and embellishments that you[I] used to use?  You can still use them.  Add them to a plain PL card to dress it up, or to an already pretty card to boost the drama.  Here's an example:  I used number stickers/embellishments to add numbers [ages] to my son's and daughter's birthday layouts.

I confess that I still have some traditional scrapbook papers that I especially LOVE, and that coordinate well together.  Guess what I have done?  I have trimmed them down into title cards and 3x4 cards!  Why not? It's not hard at all.  I just used a PL card for tracing the correct size/shape, trimmed it, and rounded the corners.

In addition, I had a small unused pad of colorful papers and a pad of written thoughts that would probably now go to waste.  I decided to use the same process to cut them into PL-sized cards.  I was able to get 1-large, or 2-small cards out of each page, and now have two complete, homemade, PL-like set of cards.

Last but not least, I want to show you how I'm storing my cards.  The core kit cards come in a great storage box from Becky Higgins.  The theme kits, however, are just in a plastic pouch with a cardboard page that shows all of the cards that are included in the pack.  I've used that page as a divider, labeling it with the theme, and putting the themes in alphabetical order in a plastic mini-crate.  It is rather amazing to have most of my supplies gathered in this one box!!

I'll readily admit that I have totally jumped on the bandwagon when it comes to buying the themed cards.  I have tried to be thrifty about it, buying Becky's summer specials [from her website], and using my coupon at Hobby Lobby, which I have found to be my best local source.

I just ordered OCTOBER pictures the other day, which include a family Halloween party with all of the cousins. Is there a "Halloween" themed card kit?  Why, yes there is -- and perhaps I'll purchase that sometime in the future for another Halloween.  This time though, I am opting to use some fall-themed cards with some other coordinating cards that I already own.

Do you sense my excitement about this process?  No?  [You're kidding, right?  LOL]  Since early July, I have completed January-July 2014, November and December of 2013 [thats NINE months!] -- and, as I said, have just ordered more pictures... August-October 2013!

Here's one of my favorite random pages:

I have a kazillion other pages to show you, but taking pictures of all the pages is a process, so please bear with me.  I'll share them here and there...

I am certainly not an expert on the Project Life system, but... I'm getting the hang of it, and enjoying the process!  Pretty soon, I'll be so caught up that I won't even be able to stand myself.  Then, in all my spare time, I'll have some pretty cool scrapbooks to peruse!

I would love to hear from any of you who are on the Project Life bandwagon!

What's your best tip?

Afterthought from Sally:

In looking for something "fall" today, I came across some strips of scrapbooking paper -- about 3.5" wide. They are from cutting 12x12 sheets down for 8.5x11 scrapbook pages. {Yes, my mom and I are about the last hold-outs for those   8.5x11 albums, I think!}  Anyways, those strips are GREAT for making PL-style cards!!!  I knew that I would use them SOME day!  LOL

Okay - throwing it back to YOU.  Tips?  Anyone?

Memories of... THE Dress

September 26, 1992

It was a very good day.  Our wedding day.  I cannot believe we're approaching the 22-year mark!  It seems like forever in all of the very best ways.  That's not to say that every day has been perfect.  But, it has been a perfectly beautiful life in the sense that I am right where I belong.

Our wedding was simple and relatively small by some of today's standards -- but it was perfectly US.

My parents paid for the wedding.  Tradition.  What may not be so traditional is that they gave us a budget for the entire thing and said, "Beyond that, it's up to you!"

Recently, my mom revealed a wonderful tip on how they came up with the funds for my wedding.  You see, I attended college locally, living at home until I married.  But it wasn't a free ride.  From the time I got my first job, my parents asked that I pay a certain percentage of my paycheck to them as "room and board."  They, in turn, set aside that money, letting it accumulate until it was time to plan my wedding.  Then, they knew exactly what they could afford, and what would be up to me(us) to pay.  As I recall, I stuck pretty close to that budget, realizing what a gift it was!  We had a beautiful wedding -- but I was pretty practical, and didn't have much of the excess that weddings seem to have these days.

But this post was supposed to be about the dress.

I tried on a few dresses at dress shops, but it wasn't really my style to have someone fussing over me like that. So, I took what some would say was the easy way out.  But, I never looked back... never had one regret.  I ordered the dress on the cover of the JCPenney catalog, which I had fallen in love with.  These days, the on-line selection at Penneys is rather limited, showing only statuesque styles that are rather plain.  But, 22 years ago, they had a real bride's catalog!

"Cascades of lustrous simulated pearls accent the V back of this shimmery satin gown.  Lace-over-satin princess bodice has sequins and simulated pearls on front and back.  Extended padded shoulders fringed with simulated pearls over sheer lace sleeves."

Since I am being sentimental about the DRESS itself, the picture I've shared is the original catalog page, which showcases all of the beautiful features of the dress perfectly.  The lighting of this photo shows the details of the dress better than my wedding pictures.  I recently pulled the catalog page out of my wedding file box to attach to the dress for purposes of selling it.  Yes.  Selling.

Until very recently, the dress had been hermetically sealed in our attic and/or basement for the past 22 years. I decided it was time to open it up, and offer it to someone who will be able to put it to good use.  Although plenty of people commented on it at the garage sale [a gentleman even said he thought it was the prettiest wedding dress he had ever seen], nobody showed any real interest in it.  We'll be trying to sell a handful of our unsold garage sale items on Craig's List, and I just have to try to sell it there before I donate it. We'll see how that goes.  I have a friend who just raves about Craig's List -- but it will be a new experience for me, so I'll try and remember to keep you posted.  *wink

If any of you sell on Craigs List, I would love to hear about your experiences!

Weekend Review, and the Best Phone Call EVer!

The garage sale is over.  What was I thinking?  It was a lot of work... the most stress the first day when we just didn't know what to expect.  Easier the second day -- but then a whole lot of work cleaning up.  With the exception of a handful of things that we still think we can get some money for, we loaded up two vans and drove straight to Goodwill.  BIG PURGE!!  Oh, that was absolutely the right thing to do -- while our momentum was in full swing!  If we had waited, there's no telling when it would've gotten there.

My sweet hubby and daughter located all of the garage sale signs and removed them, and we took them to the recycle place in our township -- along with our tub of paper recyclables that was full to overflowing from all of the garage sale activity!  Boom.  Killed two birds with one road trip -- so to speak.

We didn't make lots of money -- but I have a little more than I did last Thursday.

We managed to have everything that was for sale out in the driveway so that it was more visible from the street.  As we sat in the garage visiting [and waiting for more shoppers] -- other items would pop into my head, and I would run to find and price them.

Such was the case with my kids' baby bassinet.  There it sat on the top shelf in the garage... wrapped in double layers of large, strong, black trash bags and [practically] hermetically sealed with duct tape!  I pulled it down and ripped through the bags to find a 20-year-old, like-new baby bassinet!  Perfect.  Not yellowed, and only a little dust that flew in when I opened the packaging.  I cleaned that up, and put a price sticker on it -- and wouldn't you know?  Somebody snapped it up for their step-daughter who was having a baby soon!  I'm so glad it will be put to good use!!  Makes me happier than having it sit on the shelf wrapped up, that's for sure!

It also makes me happy to have my basement cleaned out, my garage back, my van cleaned out, and to be getting things back in order around the house.  I think that thoughts of this garage sale will haunt me for a very long time.  Not the garage sale itself, mind you.  It was fun to hang out with my family for two days.  But... it was [after all] the culmination of too much saving and holding onto stuff -- and I want to avoid that like the plague!

Speaking of happy...  I put some pictures of the stuff we were selling up on Facebook for local friends to see. So, from time to time over the weekend, I checked Facebook to see if there were any comments.  Yes, one friend asked me to hold something for her!  Anyway, as I scrolled through my newsfeed, I spotted this post from a friend.  It made us all laugh so hard, and I asked her if I could share it with you.  Thanks SUSAN! You're the best!

____________________

So, every time I am on the phone...my parrot mimics my entire conversation. So today, I received a unlisted number with a sales call...and decided to let the parrot talk with them.

Ring...ring...ring

Hawkeye: Hello...
Salesperson: Hello, m'am, I am calling today about the....
Hawkeye: Hello?
Salesperson: Hello, m'am, I am calling today about the....
Hawkeye: ok...ok...ok...you'll be fine...
Salesperson: umm....what was that?
Hawkeye: uh huh...ok...who are you?
Salesperson: this is Sam from the....
Hawkeye: ok...ok...uh huh...do you want a coffee?
Salesperson: ummm...what ?
Hawkeye: Hawkeye want a cookie? Hawkeye want a coffee?
Salesperson: hey guys, I think I am talking to a parrot...I'm putting it on speaker phone...
Hawkeye: Who are you? I know who I am. Do you want a coffee? Do you want some? Is that good? 
Salesperson: oh my gosh...a talking parrot...this is great (much laughter from other sales people on the speaker phone)
Hawkeye: ok...uh huh...hurry up, Allayna...let's go. Tommy, laundry !!! Hey dad....mom...mom...mom...hey mom. Bye Bye...you'll be fine. 
Salesperson: (laughter, laughter, laughter, laughter) Hey thanks man, this was the best phone call ever !!!!!