Project Life: June and July

I'm in a quandry: I need (and want!) to share all about Claire's birthday party from going-on two weeks ago, especially since a dear friend took tons of photos of the party FOR me, which was such a gift. But, I only have five minutes, and since said friend also mentioned how much she loves my scrapbooking posts, I won't feel too bad about sharing some scrapbook pages instead. (Especially since I only catch every other monthly Project Life linkup with The Mom Creative, and she missed last month herself, I better take advantage of the linky motivation :0)

Soooo . . . here's my June and July!

The week of Memorial Day, we had our little vacation-staycation, including some fun at-home things like swimming, the zoo, and a baseball game, plus three days at Wilderness at the Smokies.

In June, I finally got to use some fun boyish papers I'd had in my stash for a while for a traditional 12 x 12 page. Our brother- and sister-in-law came to visit, and we got some sweet pics with our nephews and of the girls with their cousins. They are more private about social media stuff than we are, so I'll just share a little snip of the page. It was too cute.

And Matt's parents took the kids to a Frozen-themed event, which made for a fun "Let It Go" page, another 12 x 12. Sometimes, if I don't have the embellishments or fancy paper the page seems to need, I'll just paint the paper. They're not the best swirls ever, but they fit the bill to round out the page.

 Some more summer fun made for a mashup page with just a pic or two for each event.

 I love embellishing my month divider cards with extra papers and photos. I used packing tape to "laminate" this whole card-photo combo to keep it all together.

 Gotta get those extra words and pics in wherever you can!

I really love the Becky Higgins Design F pages, with just one 4 x 6 and a bunch of 3 x 4 slots. You can make such a montage of photos from one event, and all these red, white, and blue pics from our Fourth of July were perfect.

Also in July were a few things about Kate making the transition from preschool to kindergarten, but maybe I'll share all that in a school-themed post soon. Have a great day!

Project Life Monthly: April-May

We took a "vacation/staycation" last week, so in addition to a few days away, we enjoyed lots of fun downtime at home—which meant I got to do a lot of scrapbooking, which was so nice. I did my April and May layouts, though our adventures from last week are still forthcoming, of course. (I just uploaded the pics and will share those soon!)

 

 I did several "traditional" layouts in addition to the Project Life divided pages, including the one above I titled "Springtime Sweeties," with those cute coordinating polka-dot and umbrella papers I've had in my stash for a while.

Below, a few pictures of our kitchen remodel, as we went from peeling white thermofoil and blistering formica to wood and granite. My mom (who really needs to get a job at Home Depot, or as a quality-control inspector for a home builder) project-managed the thing for me, so I included a couple pics of the fun we had while she was in town helping out—Chuck-e-Cheese and the Muppet movie!

 For Easter, I used a 3-3x3 page between two bigger pages to accommodate all the pictures

After Easter, I had a couple pages of other fun stuff we did in April. (I tilted the camera to crop BGC's face out, but both those pics are so cute, I wish I could share. She's getting more of a personality all the time!)

 And the girls loved getting their faces painted at the Main Street Festival in Franklin.

 Then there was May—the first Saturday in May, to be specific! That is, Derby Day. One divided page for a few pics and other little scraps—a brunch ticket, the card of the restaurant Matt and I ate at on our Oaks night date, and a page from the racing guide. I embellished the month card with a Derby ticket on one side and a bit about what the girls did that day on the other.

Two of the traditional pages I did were for Derby (above) and Kate's pre-k graduation (below). Like Easter, I added a 3-3x3 page to the graduation stuff, to include more pictures and the text of the little poem the kids read during the ceremony.

One of the page protectors I used has a long vertical strip, so I gave Kate a strip of paper and asked her to write whatever she wanted, so I could have a good sample of what her handwriting was like as she finished pre-K. She chose to write her own name and the names of the other girls in her class.

I hope you have a hobby that gives you a stress release and creative fulfillment. I love how scrapbooking gives me a creative outlet and creates something special for our family to treasure for years to come.
For more Project Life posts, check out the link-up on The Mom Creative.

Project Life Monthly (Jan-Feb-Mar)

The last time I blogged about scrapbooking, I mentioned how I've missed doing traditional 12 x 12 pages with all the papers and embellishments, but using the divided page protectors made popular by Project Life and other scrapbooking designers is just such an easy and efficient way to get precious pictures into an album with some journaling and a little flair. So, I try to work in "traditional" crafty elements when I can, alongside and even in the Project Life divided pages. I'm taking the "hybrid scrapbooking" thing up a notch this year with more inserts and  embellishments, getting more creative when I can while keeping it super-simple when I need to.

Rather than using a photo slot for my month label card, like I have the past two years that I've been doing things month-by-month, this year I used 4 x 6 cards (from the Kraft core kit), stamped them for each month, and punched holes so they could go directly in the album as dividers. I think they have kind of a funky, vintage-library feel.

 

 As usual, my album for the year begins with Kate's birthday. I used some of the silver doilies from the party decor ("Winter Wonderland") to embellish the pages, especially since this is the first thing you see when opening the album.

I did a tall 6 x 12 page to feature the invitation, pictures, and some journaling at the beginning of the birthday spreads.

Since this party was more "scheduled" with activities and such than previous kids' parties I've thrown, I included a card with the timeline I had planned for everything (which actually was about how long everything took!)

Our other January activities included outings to the Nashville Children's Theatre and the circus, both with our friends the Pauls. Kate and Natalie had such a fun time at both events!

And, the day after Kate's party, Matt and I took off for a ministry conference in Phoenix, so I have a nice page of pics from our little midwinter time in the sunny desert! I saved the light rail pass and our hotel key card, since they were unique and fun, adding some neat tokens to the page. I wish I'd done the writing on the photo a little nicer, but I do think it's a fun way to get the journaling in with a photo. In fact, I took that pic of the palm trees with plenty of sky space specifically for that purpose! (PS: if you're going to Phoenix, the Clarendon Hotel was very cool, as you can see! The pool courtyard looked like a place Don Draper would have stayed on his Season 2 excursion to California!)

These 8 x 6 cards came with a smaller album I bought, and they are nice for a little mini insert. This one has Kate's writing and sticker-placement, along with a photo and story about a visit to the pulmonologist to investigate Kate's chronic cough (no real answer--it's "asthma-like" but not asthma).

And on the other side, a little page to talk about the girls' love of matching--one another and even me, when they can. I loved finding those leopard-print shoes for Kate since they matches ones I already had!

For February, I had so many Valentine cards and whatnot I wanted to work in, I started adding on to the month-divider card, making it an eclectic insert in its own right!

I always include pics of our decorations and the Valentines the girls make and give out, but I love saving some of the store-bought ones they get, too, as a sort of time capsule as to what kids were into in a given year. Obviously, Hello Kitty, Monsters University, and Tangled were big this year. (I guess Disney didn't make a licensing deal for Frozen valentines fast enough for this year!)

I got a small start on March's pages over the weekend, so here's a quick glance (hasty cell phone pic!) at my St. Patrick's Day pics, alongside some fingerprint clover art the girls did and again an embellished month-card to share some clover Claire colored in school and Kate's memorable quote of the night.

I haven't had much time for getting crafty lately, but it always feels good to throw even a little page together!

Project Life: February

February was a great month, especially the middle of it, which included Mardi Gras, Valentine's Day, and our first foster child's stay with us. (Ash Wednesday was in there too, which I love, but took no pictures of :0)

We had a decent snow on the first of the month ("decent" by Nashville standards—an inch or two and it was gone by noon) and I did a little half-page about that, opposite a main page showing some Valentine fun, including the girls' valentines, which had heart lollipops stuck through them. I thought they turned out pretty cute!

I like the card of 10 fun things about our February—though I notice now I never added item 10! (I filled it out before the month was quite over.)

I did a whole page about February 9, which was the day of Claire's first haircut and Kate and Matt's time at the Daddy-Daughter Valentine Dance. Opposite that was Faith's first couple days with us, which included Mardi Gras and Valentine's. (I can't show her face or real name online, so that's the reason for the extra hearts on these pics, but I'm glad to have a page about her in the scrapbook. I still miss her :0)

A final page shows our family outing to the Opryland Hotel. Matt and I were so proud of ourselves for handling three kids! (I know to any of you with three or four kids yourself, it's no biggie, but this was a totally new experience for us!)

I saw that Shutterfly is having a big print sale through today (promo code 101PRINTS) so I better order my March photos today. And FYI, I'm linking this post up with The Mom Creative's Project Life Tuesday, so click on over for more inspiration! Have a good one!

Project Life: January

I'm continuing my monthly approach to memory keeping this year, creating a spread or two featuring our big events and little moments of each month. I just finished February, so let me share January this week and I'll save February for next week. (Feb needs a few more photo edits since I can't show our foster child's face or real name online.)

January in our family is generally a re-settling time, getting back into a routine after Christmas and that "clean" feeling of taking all the Christmas decorations down. (I love holiday decorating, but that uncluttered feeling after the tree and other stuff go away is so refreshing.) Plus, January leads up to Kate's birthday on the 28th, so I usually decorate for her party a week or so early, so we can enjoy it and celebrate the birthday child all week long!

I got the Project Life Mayfield Childhood Mini Kit, which has some cute "prompt" cards and filler cards with fun patters and sayings. Since I do my spreads monthly, I don't need as many supplies, but it's fun to try the new designs for 2013, so this mini kit is perfect. I wish it had two more header cards so I'd have one for each month, but I'll survive.

This first page is both the first of the year and first in a new album, so I wanted it to be simple and pretty, with some good "life right now" photos. I've got Claire with her piggy tails and toothbrush, and sitting in the fridge, as she loves to do. I've got Kate with her birthday sticker and star sunglasses, and looking cool in Claire's bunny hat. Also, the girls together in matching jammies, a "daily routine" prompt card (perfect to set the stage for the new year), and a pic and key card from Matt and my little getaway to the Opryland Hotel. The banner on the mantle was for Kate's birthday. Since we were having her party away from home, I put up the banners I made for her first birthday three years ago to decorate the house.

The first full spread of the year is about Kate's party at Monkey Joe's. I love the pics of the kids in their star sunglasses party favor, and of Kate looking so happy bouncing on the inflatables and when Monkey Jane came in. 

The second spread isn't so pretty, but the left side tells the story of Kate's girly loves right now: Dora (including friend Emery's Dora party), princesses, and Fancy Nancy, plus our favorite board games and a shot of Kate's writing of the whole alphabet. The right side is a short page of Claire's cheesy faces!

After flipping through my 2009-2011 scrapbooks, I realize how much I miss doing full, 12x12 pages highlighting just a few pictures or a single memory. They take a little more time, so I tend to put them off (I have a barely-started page for my friend's baby shower last summer and the baby is now seven months old!) I really want to do more of those this year, so that's my goal, but in the meantime, monthly spreads work for me! 

[I'm linking up today with The Mom Creative's Project Life Tuesday, so if you want more memory-keeping inspiration, click on over!]

12 on 12-12-12

Last year we had 11-11-11, and I linked up with Dear Lizzy to share what I was doing at 11:11 on that day. This year, Elizabeth has been doing a "12 on 12" series, sharing twelve pictures from her day on the twelfth of every month, and though it seems she wasn't even thinking about the triple fun of 12-12-12, I decided to snap twelve pics on 12-12-12 for a little "day in the life" post.

I didn't take any during our crazy-rushed morning time, or after returning home at night (finally! we have something going on every night this week) so my day was pretty much divided into two parts: work and church.

Part One: Work

1. My colleagues and I broke out the Christmas decorations a few days ago, which mainly consist of a bunch of wreaths and a skinny little tree (see item 4). I love having some festivity in the office.

2.  I spent part of my morning reviewing the designer's proofs for the next issue of Circuit Rider. Gotta get to pre-press before everybody takes off for their Christmas holidays!

3. I joined the "stand up desk" revolution that is popular now in our company. So, lots of us have these desktop platforms to raise our computers up so we stand while working. Better for circulation, energy, etc.

4. Our little Charlie Brown Christmas tree in the coffee cube. It's decorated with a string of paper clips and a paper star made of yellow Post-It notes.

5. My new obsession is Yast.com, an online time tracker. I can start and stop the timers on my main projects and see how much time I'm spending on various tasks. It also keeps me from flitting around between tasks, because I know the clock is running on a certain project.

6. Ministry Matters editorial meeting. We all have the same ceramic and silicon coffee mug.

 

Part Two: Church

7. Wednesday night dinner this week was spaghetti. Kate ate two helpings. I put the non-messy elements in front of Claire to eat herself, but she screamed because she only wanted the meat sauce, which I fed her myself off my plate!

8. and 9. Cutie Claire eating an eclair.

10. Claire kept busy during Bible study by playing with both Matt's and my phones and the TV remote, juggling between all of them, tapping the screens and putting them to her ear in turn. "Ala?" She looked like a silly character in a movie, answering a bunch of phones at once.

11. Our study right now is A Different Kind of Christmas, based on Mike Slaughter's book, Christmas Is Not Your Birthday, which I edited. I love Mike's stuff!

12. Choir practice. Wednesdays are a long night, with choir starting at the time we're usually getting the girls in their jammies! Our Christmas cantata is this Sunday morning, so this was a can't-miss rehearsal!

Speaking of which, if you're in the Nashville area, join us for worship at 10:00 Sunday morning at Arlington UMC, or at 5:00 that evening for The Road, our casual evening worship (with free dinner!)

Project Life Monthly (June and July)

Now that I have Claire's rainbow party (and all the decorating and baking to prepare for it!) behind me, I finally started my September spreads last night! So, I'm a little behind with my monthly version of Project Life, but (fortunately?) I'm even further behind in sharing those spreads with you! Today, let me show you my June and July spreads.

June
In June, I took the girls to Louisville for a weekend and Kate stayed the whole week. Mom and Dad brought her back the following week when they came to town for (drumroll, please) Matt's ordination. As you see on the pic with his mentors, the text I gave it was "FINALLY!" If you know anything about the United Methodist system, this will make sense to you.

I split several photos across photo pockets. It's a practical solution to fitting all the photos you want, but also gives a cool look, I think. (I didn't make much room for my "June" header, though, obviously!)

The opposite page is pretty basic, except for the little "Mercurial" faces of Kate thing. Several pics from the same day showed her crazy moods, illustrating well why our word for her personality these days is "mercurial."

The back of that page highlights some of Kate's fun activities with her friends: a going-away playdate for a sweet friend who moved away, a birthday party for another friend, and then VBS at church/school.

 

July
July had to be red, white, and blue, of course, and starts with my birthday: July 4! It's such a fun birthday to have, since everybody's off work and school and we can always have big cookouts and such. We did a family brunch that morning to celebrate. My mother-in-law's birthday is the 5th, so it was a joint celebration.

This page has some pics form the brunch at the bottom, but then a special thing at the top (that, actually, I never blogged about, though I should have!) With my birthday being July 4th, I've always loved fireworks, and have said for a while that I thought it would be really neat to see fireworks from above, from an airplane. Last year, for my 30th, Matt and I looked at going on a little weekend trip to New York or somewhere, and flying home on the evening of the Fourth, so we could see the fireworks on our return flight. With new house and pregnancy and all, it just didn't make sense, but Matt arranged this year for us to take a ride in a biplane that night to see the fireworks! (If you're in Nashville, check out Music City Biplane Tours!)

It was very hot up there in July, sitting so close to the engine, so it wasn't the most comfortable way to travel, but was a really cool experience. We flew around the outskirts of Nashville, and then circled downtown a gazillion times during the big riverfront fireworks show! I called it a "bucket list" kind of experience.

My messy face girls, the clouded leopard cubs at the zoo, and riding the zoo carousel with Nala on the left. On the right, a clipping from Parents magazine, where one of Kate's zingers made it into the Baby Bloopers, and at the bottom, the heart-and-bandage logo of our foster care training class, PATH (Parents as Tender Healers).

Finally, a spread about all the fun we had watching the Olympics. We had an opening ceremonies party, and enjoyed watching gymnastics and swimming throughout the summer games. The righthand page there is just an 8.5 x 11 page protector filled with some of our crafts and coloring sheets from those fun two weeks.

Check out other folks' memory-keeping at The Mom Creative's Project Life Tuesday!

Project Life Monthly (belated Spring)

Much of my scrapbooking this year has been in the form of monthly recap spreads. I've been good about keeping up with my photos and scrapping, but lax in sharing them on the blog. (Here was January-March.) I'm caught up through August, but haven't done September yet since I've been busy making Claire's first "birthday book"—the recap-of-the-year photobook I make for the girls for each birthday. (Her first birthday is less than two weeks away!)

Today, I'm sharing April and May. My albums go chronologically, so if I do any "traditional" 12x12 pages, they go in the book at the proper spot between the monthly collage-style Project Life pages. You'll see a couple of those below, and it's not really just either/or, since I sometimes use the Project Life divided pages for "regular" scrapbooking too!

April
April featured two Easter egg hunts and other springtime fun. Claire turned five months, so I included her belly sticker and some milestone updates, like I do every month. Kate was just learning to write her name, so I included a 6x12 showing her letter-writing and a "footprint butterfly" she watercolored.

 Extra happenings that month included Kate's swingset acrobatics, Claire learning to creep, and meeting up with "blog friends" Kim and Kristen.

 I also included pages highlighting Kate's love of her Memory game and her weekly gymnastics class.

May
May's highlight was our beach vacation, so that got a few pages of its own (not to mention a whole Shutterfly photobook!). May's main collage page explained how the month was pretty much divided into "preparing for the beach," "the beach," and "wishing we were still at the beach." Matt and I went to a Derby party, and I included a shot of a typical morning in our house, the girls playing on the floor of our room while we get ready.

Lastly, our friends Lisa and Jim visited from California for Memorial Day weekend. I regret that the brackets make Lisa appear to have horns, but the whole sheet captures their fun visit, including the mini-reunion for late-90s grads of Brentwood High, where Matt and Lisa became friends.

What a blast from the past to share these now! Late as it may be, though, I like to share my scrapbooking when I can, and I'm linking up today with The Mom Creative's Project Life Tuesday. If I share a month each Tuesday, I'll catch up to myself by Thanksgiving!