Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Project Life Week 27

Welcome to week 27 | July 2 - 8

I haven't done week 26 yet. Because it was my brothers wedding and I'm waiting until I get all the pictures from him. And then I will attempt to put that week together, oh my. It's going to be a project folks !! Sooooo many fun and amazing photos that I want to use.

Back to the present week. Week 27. Mostly full of July 4th festivities. Which were very mild but still fun.

THE FIRST PAGE :

I embellished the title card a little. Wanted to add the week # on there.  I also wanted to make one of the photos bigger. I chose to do it with the firework picture because it fit best in the spot, as far as being cut up.

The red arrow is from Ali Edwards found here . The white star is from Studio Calico. The bottom outlined brush can be found here.


THE PICTURES : I created this one myself in photoshop. I took two of these great looking Polaroid frames. They are a great freebie found here. Then I took 2 instagrams from that week and put them in the frames. The instagram button is from studio calico kit, but I believer Marcy Penner makes them in her shop. The arrow is a freebie from persnickety prints


Family shot


THE JOURNALING CARDS :

LEFT SIDE : I used the stars from this freebie brush. I just recolored the stars. The 2012 is from Ali Edwards brackets brush.

RIGHT SIDE : This is one of the freebies that Becky Higgins released for us. Here is the link to her freebies page . This one was done by Cathy Z. 


THE SECOND PAGE :


THE PICTURES : This one is of Katelyn's shirt. I just love getting everyone in their "RED, WHITE, & BLUE." I had the cream overlay from my stash and then I added the banners and the heart.


Arrow is from Studio Calico. 


This one is not from the 4th but from the week. I used one of the digital journaling cards and made it a little smaller, so that it fit into the space that I needed. Added my journaling and printed it out.

The brush is from Ali Edwards Summer Rocks.


THE JOURNALING CARDS :

LEFT SIDE : I used this great 4th of July themed freebie. A sticker on the top and call it done.

RIGHT SIDE : Scalloped tag from Maya Road. #4 From American Crafts. Elf I believe. 


LEFT SIDE : This photo didn't turn out to well, but I love the actual photo of Noah with his sparkler. He would have lit them and held them all night, he was so fascinated.

Little stars from Studio Calico.

RIGHT SIDE: Stamp that I have had forever.
  

And another week done. Yeah !! I am still loving this project and enjoying every minute of it. Have a great Pre-Halloween weekend everyone.


Tuesday, October 23, 2012

The Everyday Moments


I just wanted to write a short post today and make sure you all had a chance to see this video. It was shared on Becky Higgins site and it is WONDERFUL.

It talks about the everyday moments that we share as a family, as a person. And how they are so important. I truly believe that they are the most important part of life. Yes, the BIG things are great and fun and important too. Like birthdays, parties, vacation, and holidays. But it is the everyday that strengthens relationships.

That is why I totally LOVE Project Life and how it has given me a chance to capture those everyday moments, for they are the ones that sometimes get forgotten.  The little snapshots of life, the quotes from the kids, ect.

So I challenge you to watch this video. Then get your kids involved, or maybe your spouse, with the household chores, the laundry, the meal preparing, ect. The EVERYDAY. The relationships that will start to grow will amaze you. It is something that I have tried to get my children involved in. They are getting a little older now and can help me with the everyday stuff. We have conversations that otherwise would have been missed. The best part though is that the house gets clean, the laundry gets folded, and so on.

The second challenge is to leave your camera out and accessible for a few days, if you don't already. You will be able to capture those everyday, spur of the moment, shots that otherwise would have been missed while you were getting your camera. I like to do this every week or so, I just leave my camera out in the kitchen so it is there when I want to snap a picture. 


HERE IS THE LINK TO THE VIDEO



Here are two photos from yesterday featuring everyday moments

Sometimes I am fortunate to cook dinner by myself. I do enjoy this every once in a while. Patrick and the kids went to the gym and left me alone to get dinner done. When I am alone and cooking dinner I like to pull out my ipad and catch up on my supernatural reruns. So I wanted to get a photo of it. I set it on the counter behind me and set the self timer.


And this one is of us playing phase 10. It was Monday night FHE. Again, set the self timer and we are good to go. We love to play games together. The picture didn't turn out to well, but oh well. You get the idea.



So go out and capture some of those everyday, or otherwise forgotten memories that happen in your life. Your wont regret it.

P.S. Don't forget to watch the video

P.P.S. I am finishing up another week of PL. So hopefully in the next few days I can share that with you !

Have a great rest of the week everybody.


Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Project Life Week 24/25

Another week is in the books. June 11 - 17.

This week was split up between the start of swimming lessons and a birthday party. I didn't have any other pictures from that week and it was ok. I'm not stressed about it. This project is all about capturing the every day/little moments that we call life. And also the big events that happen. Together they make this such a wonderful and complete tribute to our lives.

THE FIRST PAGE :


THE PICTURES : Journaling talks about how Katelyn wore her new goggles everywhere.  Brush can be found here .  The arrow can be found here.


The kids started swimming lessons this week. Here is Katelyn and her class trying to splash her teacher.

The brush can be found here. The sun is from pixelscrapper. Found on her website. She has a wonderful array of free digital scrapbook goodies. 


THE JOURNALING CARDS:

LEFT SIDE : Used some of the leftover stickers from last week.
RIGHT SIDE : Cut the photo down and put it on the journaling card. Added washi tape and the sticker from the leftovers from last week. 


LEFT SIDE :

The circle sun is from Studio Calico. Stapled (with Tim Holtz tiny attacher) on an old Ghost letter S from Heidi Swapp.

RIGHT SIDE : Picture of Katelyn on the kick board in her class. 


THE SECOND PAGE : This page was all about Noah's Cars birthday.


THE PICTURES :

I used one of the free 4x6 templates by Paislee Press found here. Brush is from here. I left the color of the background white and it turned out great !!

I made all of the party guests a box car to race in our own piston cup. They each had their own license plate and number. I did a blue porshe (Sally car ) for Katelyn. Maddie and another guest wanted pink Sally cars. It took a lot of work but I think they turned out so cute.


We tried to get a picture of all of the kids in their cars and this was the best we got. 


Birthday boy blowing out his candles.


THE JOURNALING CARDS :

LEFT SIDE: I started off with one of the foldable journaling cards. Spaced out how much room I would need for my journaling in Photoshop. Added my journaling onto white cardstock and printed that out. Then added it onto the journaling card and then cut the foldable journaling card so that it was a single card. The lightning McQueen was a free clipart found online. The white letters are thickers.

RIGHT SIDE: I had taken this instagram on Noah's birthday that week.  I sized the photo to fit onto my journaling card and then printed that out. The birthday boy is from Cathy Z found here.


LEFT SIDE : The arrow is from Studio Calico. The grey letters are from Basic Gray.

RIGHT SIDE: Took a photo of McQueen on the birthday cake. Cut it down and put it on the journaling card. The lightning bolt was found as a free clipart online. Resized it and printed that out. Added the number 95 for Lightnings number. Sorry its so dark.


The next week in my PL album I found that I had taken some photos but not many. So I decided to make an insert and add it into this week so I didn't have to do a whole week. One afternoon Katelyn wanted to take some photos of us. So I let her take the camera and take some pictures. They didn't turn out to well, directly into the sun but I still wanted to include them. I usually don't make an appearance and really should try to get myself in the book more.

I used Becky H. design G and cut the vertical photo part off. Brush is from here. I added the title card to show the dates of the photos. And then added the week in review tag to show that it was a full week.


Here is the other side.


A close up : I love the fact that in our laundry room/mud room there is a coat rack. And lately it has been filled with signs of summer. Googles and swim suits. I wanted to document that and so I used the photo and then journaled on a card.


Here is another close up of one of the photos. I had that family rub on in my stash and then I added some pink letters.


One more photo.  This one was taken with my iphone so its not the best quality. I turned it black and white and I love it !! We had joined the gym that week and we have been over there a lot. This is the outdoor pool.

Brush is from here.


So that is it for week 24 and 25. I tried to go simple as I could (you know me, I like to add stuff) so that I could get it done. But I am happy with the way it turned out.

I'm not sure about anyone else, or if anyone else does the same thing. But lately I have been going through spurts. I will have days and days where I can sit down and create my pages and have it be great and fun. The creative juices are flowing and all is well. Then I hit a wall. Where nothing looks good and it looses its fun factor. Does anyone else experience this ? It is kind of frustrating to me. Because I get on this creative roll and I want to keep going so that I can get some more pages done but it just doesn't seem to go right. That is when I have to take a break and let my album sit for a day sometimes more. And then I am right back to creating again. I have tried different things to get past this, like surfing the web for ideas, checking pintrest for a cute freebie card. And that does help. Wow, look at me just ramble on and on !! I'm sorry. I will stop now. My point to all this was to see if anyone else does this and to let you know that its ok. Moral of the story, take a break. It's good for the soul.

Take care everyone. Until next time.

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Project Life Week 23

Just a reminder that I am skipping week 22. As you might remember that I mentioned that I took a total of 3 pictures that whole week so I decided to just skip it and move on.

Now onto week 24. This week was about our trip down to San Pedro.

THE FIRST PAGE :

School's out and its time to hit the beach !!  


THE PICTURES :

On the way down to San Pedro me and the kids spent the day in Disneyland.

Brush is a freebie from Vegas Girl found here. Changed the color of the brush to match my weeks colors. The arrow is from Ali Edwards found here.


Spent our mornings poolside and this is what my view was like. Not to bad huh !!

Brush from Ali Edwards found here.


THE JOURNALING CARDS :

LEFT SIDE : Used this cute journaling card freebie from Persnickety Prints. Found here. Changed the colors of the card to match. Added the butterfly from Studio Calico.

RIGHT SIDE : This is what Noah did most of the time while he was in the pool. Just hung out on the step and splashed.


LEFT SIDE : Quote from Katelyn while at Disneyland.  Arrow from October Afternoon 9 -5.

RIGHT SIDE : The sun is from Studio Calico. It is a mistable which means you can mist it or ink it to change its color. So fun to play with. Added the chipboard peice on top from MME. And under it all is some travel transparency.


THE LAST PAGE : Aquarium/Beach.


THE PICTURES : I guess I didn't save the other two pictures. Oh well.

This beauty was in one of the many tanks at the little aquarium in the town of San Pedro. 


Took some inspiration from Ali Edwards on this one. Sticker over the text is from My Minds Eye.


I also did a layout for a design team assignment that I will put in the middle of this week when I get it back from the store. It has some more pictures and journaling about our trip.

THE JOURNALING CARDS:

LEFT SIDE :  All these little swim/beach stickers that I used throughout this week are from Echo Park.

RIGHT SIDE: Noah was so funny when he got into the sharks head. He had watched the girls go first and act like they were being eaten by the shark so when it was his turn he was ready. He looks scared right ?!! 


LEFT SIDE :

Cut a strip of paper for the top of the card and then added a thin layer of washi tape. Added the stickers and the cute little starfish from Michaels.

RIGHT SIDE : Journaling about the beach.


And that is it for week 24. I've got 25 half way done and will continue to work on some more so that I can share it with you soon.

If you haven't checked out Becky Higgins site lately you should. Last week was their birthday celebration and she has some WAY cute journaling freebies for all us. Yeah !! They are all so cute and are going to make an appearance in my album very soon.

Here is the link LIFE QUOTE CARDS.

Also is anyone taking Becky's Class over at Big Picture Classes. I really, really, really wanted to but just couldn't do it at this time. I hope she does it again so I can participate next time if the finances are available.  Let me know what you think if you are !!

Now I am off to catch up on some of my t.v. shows. I just love fall. Fall brings all my favorite shows back on t.v. And some new ones to check out as well.  I have also been watching reruns of Supernatural on Netflix. I started from the beginning and am now on the beginning of season 3, the beginning of the "War". Wow !! Crazy stuff. Anyways, take care everyone.


Sunday, October 7, 2012

Our Disneyland Adventure

We are now back from our vacation and I'm kind of sad about it. I really love being on vacation, who doesn't right ! No laundry, no cooking, no cleaning, ect. We had a great time while we were down there, as we always do.

I wanted to share a few photos and write down some tidbits for future use.

The first thing we did was head straight over to Cars Land.


Typically the weather in Anaheim is rather pleasant. Last year at this time we went down for a visit and we had rain and 60 degree weather. We were not so fortunate this year. The first two days hit the 100's !!! Not ideal for running around, standing in line, outdoors. But we made the most of it, sweating as we went. The first purchase we made was this fun "Toy" as Noah kept calling it.

A fan and spray bottle in one. It won the "most valuable purchase" award. It was a lifesaver.


Here are a few pictures of the sights of Cars Land, based on the movie "Cars".

Red the Fire Truck from the movie


Ornament Valley


McQueen - He even drove down the street, talks, and moves his eyes. Noah was so impressed he was star struck !! He didn't know what to think.


Night lighting


More Neon


The racers sign all light up. I thought it was neat that you could see what time it was at night and what the wait time was.


Flo's sign in the daytime.


There is part of the outskirts of Radiator Springs in the background.


Mater - The crowd favorite.  I have to say that he was soooo cute. !! Katelyn even thought so, trying to give him a hug !!


Radiator Springs sign. Note the population number. They had to add the number 2 to the 11 to make it 12 for the addition of McQueen. The kids even picked up on that.


There were 3 new rides in Cars Land. Luigi's flying tires, Tow Maters junkyard Jamboree, (Which was the absolute favorite)and then Radiator Springs Racers.(Which was a very close second) Personally I thought it was awesome !!

Here is Noah and Patrick on the Tractors.


The girls and I in the red racer car.  They go really fast.


Top of the hill.


These two were almost always together.  Most of the time he seemed to need 1 on 1 attention to make it through the day. Cause Disneyland can sometimes be an overwhelming place for a 3 year old.



The last day of our trip, Noah was having so much fun that he ran out of juice !! A nap was definitely in order. He slept through the whole park noise, on the move, and slept for 3 hours.


This trip was really nice. There was no rush to get it all in, since we have been on everything already. We took it easy, just going where we wanted. Letting the kids decide a lot of the time. 

We also bought the kids autograph books. They have been begging for them each time we went. So we went around to all the characters and got lots of autographs.


Here is all of us and Minnie enjoying some make believe tea.  By the third day of sweating and eveyones hair being a mess (stressing about it too much) I decided to just give up and put my hair in a ponytail. No regrets people. I really didn't care at that point what I looked like.


Here is one of the kids favorite rides. Kind of a surprise because it is a little baby roller coaster, but still a roller coaster. I was so shocked when I was taking their picture to find Katelyn right up front and Noah behind her. It was perfect for the photo. Although I desperately need to take a photography class. I can't take half way decent pictures with moving targets, although come to think of it, I sometimes I can't take half way decent pictures of targets when they are sitting still !! Some day, some day I tell myself !!


Sorry for such a long post today. I hope you didn't get to bored of my Disney post and didn't give up before you got here !! But I guess if you did, you wouldn't be reading this ! Oh dear, it is late and I need to get some rest. To much fun in the sun for me.

P.S. I have my next week of PL done. I just need to photograph it and post it. So look for that in the next day or two !! Yeah ! Hope you all had a great weekend and are ready to face Monday. Because it is upon us and will be here before we know it. I am not a fan of Mondays, at all.