Project Life Update ~ 11.17.14

Wow, have I ever been out of touch lately.  Life has taken a few twists and turns that have kept me busy, and away from blogging.  Hopefully things will slow down a little around the holidays (go ahead and laugh at the fact that I actually BELIEVE this!), and I can get back to some chit-chat around here.  I really miss it!

I recently realized that I had taken photos of a few new scrapbook pages, but never shared them with you.  For the most part, these pages are about family adventures - one of which is the Mum Fest.  I shared about that HERE.

I've been pretty lax when it comes to keeping up with picture taking for the blog, so there are other completed pages that I still have to photograph for you.

One of those pages I cannot show you, but I will tell you about.  Many of you know that I work at our church providing nursery-care during the week for moms who attend English classes, Bible studies, and mom's club. I cannot tell you how these sweet little ones steal pieces of my heart.  I want to remember their faces, for all-too-soon, they move on to the next department -- or in some cases, move away.  One day, I decided to snap a bunch of pictures to preserve in my scrapbook.  I don't think I have to tell you that the page is especially precious to me.  I won't share the pictures of my precious MINORS here, but suffice it to say... they are cuties!!!

That's all for now, friends.  Stay tuned for more, coming... well, hopefully SOONER than later!  Thanks for hanging in there with me.

 a college soccer game :: an apple orchard and a dam spotted on the ride home

lunch with a friend :: celebrating our 22nd anniversary

...and the Mum Fest

Project Life Update ~ 10.6.14

Whew!  Where has the time gone?  So much for doing a weekly Project Life update, right?  I promise not to make any more promises on that front!  LOL

In some kind of convoluted way, this first album which I've shared with you (concluding with this post) is really my second album, chronologically speaking.  I also have completed an album which reaches back further than this one.  I may share bits and pieces of that one randomly with you -- but basically, my plan going forward is to share in exactly that way... moving forward!

Here we go with the next series of pages which, as I said, brings us up to date.  I have a handful of recent pictures to print, but I am happy to say that they are all from the last few weeks, so I REALLY AM current!  WooHoo to the Project Life.  This is revolutionary stuff.

Here we go:

My first trip to IKEA

A popcorn adventure in a local college town

 One of my favs, this layout is for our church's 80th anniversary celebration, and the installation of our new pastor!  It was a stellar day in the life and history of our church -- quite the celebration, complete with picnic and foam machine, painted faces and photo opps!  "One happy day" indeed!!  It was fun to include a lot of the grayscale ephemera from the day, which matched up nicely with cards from the "Christian" themed kit.

Goodbyes :: A new school year :: A trip to a local nursery

 A Cleveland picture-taking adventure

[see post here]

And the last page for this album... where I snuck in a picture of my girl and her bestie -- in Cleveland for a concert (her first, and yes, parent-chaperoned!)

If you hung in here until the end, here is your reward...

This month, Becky Higgins celebrates FIVE YEARS of her Project Life business endeavor!  In celebration, she is partying it up this month.  Just last week, she started the celebration with 40% off everything in her SHOP for FIVE hours.  I stocked up on the big packs of pocket pages, which have been hard for me to find around here.  Stay tuned to Becky Higgins on social media for other special offers during the rest of this month.  You will find her on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, not to mention her BLOG.

Happy Scrappin'!

Project Life Update ~ 9.15.14

Here's another handful of pages for you!  These are from spring/summer 2014, so we're catching up to real time!  In looking over these, I've decided that I must scrapbook according to my mood.  Some pages are all matchy-matchy, and others, well, not so much.  I'm okay with that.  I don't stress out about it.  Sometimes though, when the mood strikes me, I might change some cards around on a page, or switch out cards for something new I've gotten that "works better."  I love the flexibility to do that!

I'm so proud of our daughter's efforts at school last year.  She had a real struggle transitioning from homeschool to public school, but each year has been so much better than the last.  Her confidence has grown by leaps and bounds, and she has matured beyond her years.  She's amazing.

I wanted to make this page especially colorful and eye-catching.  This is something our son has been waiting to do for a long time, and he LOVED it!

Can't believe this guy on the right (below) is TWENTY.

How am I old enough to be his mom?

Young mamas are you listening?  DON'T BLINK!

I tell you a lot about my daughter... she reads my blog, so she "gets it."  My son, like his dad, enjoys his privacy and is not really into all my sappy blog-stuff -- but I'm going to brag on him a bit.  He's a working man at TWO jobs, and we couldn't be more proud of him.  He's a very hard worker, and has recently undergone a lot of changes in his work place.  He's held it together, hung in there, and risen to the challenges.  He knocks my socks off daily.  No lie.

I'm so proud to be his mom!

What's new in your scrapbook?

Project Life Update ~ 9.8.14

Welcome!  I'm sharing more of my Project Life today.  If you're stopping by for the first time, I should mention that these are still "catch-up" pages out of season...  No words of explanation for each one, as we're heavy into the back-to-school routine this week, and all that means for our family.  For me, it means lots of babysitting for week-day programs at our church.  How I love those little ones!  I'm so anxious to see how the little "regulars" have grown up over the summer, and to meet new faces too!

ENJOY the pics!

Happy Monday!

Project Life Update ~ 9.3.14

Well, so much for a regular day of the week to post Project Life updates.  I started with Monday, but then after one busy weekend, thought I would move it to Tuesday to give me more time to take the photos... Of course, then the Labor Day holiday got thrown in there and that delayed me to Wednesday.  Oy.  Oh well, better late than never, I always say.

Here are this week's pages.  As always, I remind you that the photos (though in chronological order) are oldies.  Last week, I was "gabby" -- so today, I'll keep it simple...

Cousins Halloween Party 2013

Cards used: Sunshine edition core kit, Fall themed kit, leaf embellishment (my own from scrappin' stash)

Fall 2013

Cards used: Sunshine edition core kit, Fall, and Celebrations themed kits

November 2013

Cards used: Family, and Fall themed kits

I love the pictures of our Thanksgiving table.  They ended up being the only pictures I got of that day... before everyone arrived.

December 2013

Cards used: Christmas themed kit

December/Christmas Eve 2013

Cards used: Christmas themed kit

Christmas Day 2013

Cards used: Christmas themed kit

New Year's Eve 2013

Cards used: homemade from some Christmas paper I had on-hand

Sometimes photos of things around the house evoke such a feeling of the time and place...

things that are popular at the time... traditions...

I love this page!

What pages have you worked on lately?

Project Life Update ~ 8.26.14

Well, it's finally happened.  I knew it would eventually -- but I had no idea the mix of emotions that this would cause...

I am up to date with my photos!  Well, to be specific -- I have a few current photos to put in the books... but, I am caught up on my fall-2010 through July 2014 photos!  !

I am:

• relieved beyond belief to have this off of my plate (and if I am honest, to this I will add guilt-free.  Yes, I confess, I was experiencing a bit of guilt for letting these memories sit so long)
• excited that scrappin' no longer feels like a burden, but has become totally manageable
• a little bit sad that the big push to catch up is over
• happy that I have found a workable answer in moving forward

Hmmmm, who knew?  And with that -- here are today's catch-up pages:

As I've mentioned before, every event is not a two-page spread for me.  Case in point: the photo below.  The left-hand page has a few different summer-time events, and the right-hand page starts a photo-heavy section for our son's graduation party.

WooHoo!  What a party!

I love these photos of the next day, too -- a gathering of six cousins.  I loved photographing this girl-time.  Love these sweet faces!  This is another photo-heavy spread, but I did manage to cut a title card in half to use in the smaller pockets for a little journaling.

More adventures around town.  We happened to see the blimp out one day, and followed it to the hangar, where it landed, and took off, and landed.  Lots of cars pulled into the parking lot to watch.  The blimp was pretty awesome -- and HUGE up close and personal!  Additional photos are from a trip to Amish Country.  I love the cards on this page.  They are from the "Hi Sunshine" Value Kit.

Most summer Saturdays, we get in the car and drive somewhere.  Sometimes we know where we're headed, and sometimes we don't.  {I think my hubby "knows" most of the time, but doesn't let on that he has a plan.}  Here's a perfect example... we headed to a car show that I [yes, it was me this time] read about on-line, but ended up driving some country roads, and getting some other fun pictures.  Cards on this page are from the "Road Trip" themed kit.  Perfect!

Off to Hershey-country, where bottles of Hershey's chocolate syrup are as big as... well, BIG!  These pages use only title cards from the "Road Trip" kit and  the "Hi Sunshine" kit.

These pages wrap up the previous ones, and move on to all-things-fall: football and apple orchards!  Cards are from the "Family" and "Fall" themed kits -- and the football cards are homemade with bits and scraps that I already had.  I shared those with you on previous pages.

You can see that I have a couple of tendencies:

1. I have photo-heavy pages.  As much as I love the Project Life cards -- THEY do not tell my stories... my photos do.  I use the cards to fill in the visual blanks, and to help tell my stories with journaling.  In most cases, I do not use them to stretch a few photos to an entire one or two pages.  I said most cases.  I have a weakness for beautiful fall pictures, and I love our fall adventures.  Upon occasion, I do a more traditional two-page spread.  Spreading the photos out over two pages, I use the cards more decoratively, or in a pattern to fill in the blanks.  You can see some examples of that style of page in this older post.
2. Additionally, I am committed to NOT letting this type of scrapbooking stress me out in any way.  It is such a fun process for me, and I want to keep it that way.  That said, I may scrap my photos one way one week, and totally different the next week.  Sometimes I edit my pictures down to fit in a certain area.  Other times, I let extra photos spill over onto the next page.  This is my family's story, and we understand the flow of these pictures -- and that's all that really matters.  Below, you'll see a perfect example of this.  My fall photos spilled over from the previous pages, but didn't fill the space -- and I only had a few pictures of homecoming.  The homecoming shots just fit in the last quarter-section of the two-page spread.
3. Overall, I think I lean more towards an old-fashioned "scrap-as-it-happens" technique rather than prim and proper layouts.  Of course, just when I say that, I find myself breaking that "rule."  ha! FLEXIBILITY IS THE KEY!!

One thing I am learning through this process: stick with horizontal pictures!!  {Or, at least until I change my mind about using different style pocket pages.}

Stay tuned!  More's comin'!  *wink