Project Life Weeks 2 & 3

Here a look at week two for me which was 12/5/11 - 12/11/11. My weeks are starting on Monday and ending on Sunday.

I added Design G as an insert this week. Again I had a lot of photos I wanted to include. I like that the Design G is slightly smaller than the other pocket page designs so the page behind it shows on the end. I like the idea that any inserts I include are smaller than the main pages. The title card on this page is one I made in Photoshop. I did end up buying the digital version of the Turquoise kit from Jessica Sprague.com so I could manipulate the parts of the kit to make them work for me. This does require that I spend more time than I originally thought I would to put this album together but so far I've been really thrilled with the end result. Actually I've been tickled pink and so excited after I've completed each week. I love how it's turning out! I love that I'm getting my photos off my computer and into an album that anyone can look at!

Here's the back side the insert and the second page for the week. I also made the 3 vertical journal cards in Photoshop. I re-sized the 4x3 journaling cards in the digital kit to make them 4x6. I had three cards to fill this week so I wrote out my journaling by hand. My handwriting takes up more space and I wanted to use up the space I had. You'll notice that one of my vertical 4x6 photos on the back of the insert is going the wrong direction. I figured wrong when planning my pages and ended up with an extra horizontal 4x6 so I went ahead and stuck it in even though it was going the wrong way. It doesn't bother me too much. I also included some of Becka's hair we saved from her 2nd hair cut this week.

The following is a look at Week 3 for me which was 12/12/11 to 12/18/11.

I added another 8.5x11 insert this week. The front is paperwork from Becka's 18 month Doctor's visit.

This is the back of the insert and the second page. The back of the insert has a card Ben wrote to me at school and sent in the mail. I actually used a 4x6 title card from the Core Kit this week. My journaling is handwritten again this week on a custom made 4x6 vertical journaling card and a 4x3 horizontal journaling card.

I have enjoyed mixing up the different pocket page designs each week. Week 2 I used two Design B and the insert was Design G. On Week 3, I used a Design B and Design A. I like that it's a little bit different each week. Right now my process for the week has been to open ACDsee which is what I use for viewing, some minor editing and organizing my photos and digital scrapbooking supplies. I view my photos for the week and put any I want to use into the Image basket. Then I go through the image basket and weed out any duplicates or ones I decide I don't really want to use. Then I count out my horizontal and vertical images and decide which ones I want sized 4x6 (my favorites!) and which ones I be happy with 4x3. Then I look at what I have to work with from the previous week (the backside) and pick another design that will work best for what I want to include. So far, I've used Designs A, B and D the most and that makes sense because those designs have the vertical 4x6 pockets. Sometimes it gets tricky, I usually have alot of photos I want to include and so I have to figure out how to fit them in. The easiest way is to include them in the 4x3 pockets. Or included two photos in one 4x6 pocket. When I started, I would print all of my 4x3 photos out on an 8.5x11 sheet of photo paper and have to spend time cutting them all out. Now I use Ali Edward's great tip of printing two 4x3 on one 4x6 piece of photo paper. It works great!! I created a template in Photoshop and I clip my photos to my template and them save for printing! Alot less cutting and it saves a ton of time!

I just finished up my 12 week. So I'm caught up with my album again and I'm so excited about that! I'll plan on getting some more photos posted soon!

Project Life

I don't remember the first time I heard about Project Life or what exactly finally triggered me to give it a try. I do remember following Ali Edwards blog and her journey with it last year. So in November of 2011 when new supplies became available on Amazon, I ordered a big variety pack of pocket pages, a package of design G, a package of 12x12 and a package of 6x12 page protectors, several packages of big envelopes, the dividers and a package of grid cards and got started! I didn't have a core kit at the time and put one on my Seeley Christmas exchange list. I decided not to wait for new year or a Core Kit to start and just jumped right in. My first week started on 11/28/11. My other reason for starting then was I have always wanted to do a Daily December album like Ali does and thought this might be a way to combine them both.

I decided my approach to Project Life was to take photos throughout the week of whatever struck me. At the end of the week, I'd pick my favorites and put them in the album. I was not doing a photo a day approach. I found the first week I had more photos I wanted to use than would fit into two page protectors. So the first thing I had to figure out was how to include more photos. I ended up using most of the pockets for photos. I didn't know at the time what was included in the Core Kit and what options I had for the 4x3 pockets.

Here's a look at my first week.

I did two inserts this week. The first is a 6x12 insert with journaling on the front. I print everything at home on my HP Photosmart printer that only prints 8.5x11. So to make a full 6x12 insert, I print a 6x11 and a 6x2 piece of digital paper on the same 8.5x11. Then I cut apart the pieces and attached the 2"strip of paper along the top or bottom of the 6x11 to make a 6x12. I've been very happy with the way it looks. That's what I did for this insert. I included my bidding number for the Festival of Wreaths and a Costco receipt in one pocket for some some items other than photos this week.


The above photo shows the back of the 6x12 insert which includes the rest of my journaling and the front side of my 2nd insert which is an 8.5x11. I included the flier for the Merry Middlebury Celebration.

The above photo shows the final look at the first week with back side of the 8.5x11 insert containing Ben's read-a-thon certificate and the final page of photos. When I started I didn't know what was included in the core kit or the direction of the title cards. I did get the Turquoise Core Kit from Trudy for Christmas (thanks Trudy!) The only problem I found was everything in the Core Kit was designed for 4x6 horizontal title cards and vertical 4x3 journaling cards and I was not doing things the traditional way. I did add a kit title card after I got the kit for Christmas. It is going the wrong direction but that hasn't bothered me too much. I didn't do any corner rounding or adding any embellishments this week. Although when I got the kit, I did add a sticker and arrow to the picture of Ben and Becka holding hands on the first page.

I'll be back with more looks at my other weeks and my project life album in later posts!

Favorite Photo for a Chance to Win a Free Class

Read this post for all the details.

So the question is "What is one of your very FAVORITE photos of a person that you’ve ever taken? Describe it, or better yet, post it and add the link here, and then tell me what it is about the pic that makes your heart sing."

So here is one of my very favorite photos of Ben that I've taken.



It was taken in 9/29/07. And I just love this photo! It does make my heart sing! I love the angle. I love the reflection of his hand in the puddle. I love the colors. I love that I got right down laying on the ground on my belly to get the shot. I love the lighting and the way his hair is blowing in the breeze! So thanks Jessica for giving me the excuse to share it!

Getting some Digital Scrapbooking Done

I've finally taken some time the last few days to get back into the digital scrapbooking again. Here is the first one I did. It uses a free template from Jessica Sprague. If you are interested you can find if here.



I used Jessica Sprague's free Template+, Title is from Michelle Coleman's Winter Wonderland Kit and all the papers are from Jen Wilson's New Attitude Kit.

The second one I did is from the Type+Writer Class I signed up for last year at Jessica Sprague.com and then didn't have time to do. This is the first layout. It is also a template and then I used the paper from the kit that came with the class. You can read the details about this class or sign up here.



I'm pretty happy with the way both of them turned out. I'm also really loving digital scrapbooking with templates. They make it so easy and I don't have to fret about the design which is a weak area for me. I always spend way too much time worrying about it and second guessing myself. I'll have to start collecting templates now too!

I also figured out today with the help of this blog post how to get larger pictures on blogger. Pretty cool huh?

Photos and Textures

Rather than work today, I've spent some time time playing with my photos and textures. Shame! I know, I know I really need to get the accountant all of our tax information! Anyway it was fun and I've learned alot. Check these out!

Original Photo (no adjustments at all)



Altered Photo with Textures



Interesting stuff to play with! Not sure what I think yet. I think the technique might work better with landscapes rather than portraits but it was fun to play with anyway!

FREE Stampin! Up Catalog & Sale-a-bration

Starting Feb. 1st, if you place your first online order with Stampin' Up, they will send you a FREE Stampin' Up 2009 Spring/Summer Catalog with your order! (So those of you who aren't local but are interesting in Stampin' Up products or supporting my business, you can take advantage of this great offer too!) In additon, it's Sale-a-bration time at Stampin' Up! For every $50 in product you order, you earn a free item from the Sale-a-bration catalog! It's a great time to place your first online order!

Also, if you are interested, if you host a workshop you can also earn more free product for workshop sales over $300!! If you want to host a workshop but don't have the space, contact me, my house might be an option for you! There's even some great deals right now if you are interesting in becoming a demostrator. (If you are interested, let me know and I'll tell you more!)

Here are some helpful links.

To start shopping right now go here and click on the shop now button under my name and contact information in the upper right hand corner of your screen:

If you would like to download a copy of the current catalog (DON'T TRY THIS WITH DIALUP!) Go here and click on the link on the right hand side of the screen.

All of these links are also located on right hand side of my blog page.

If you have any questions for help, please let me know. Also, please feel free to share this information with anyone you think might be interested!

And don't delay if you are really interested! There are a limited number of free catalogs available!

Happy Crafting!

Ben pooped on the BIG potty tonight (twice) for the 1st time

I'm so proud and happy and excited! I can't believe he did it and it was all his own idea and everything. Here's how it went..
I was busy preparing dinner and so he told John he wanted to take off his pants and use the potty. So John help him get undressed and helped he set up the big potty with the insert/adapter/trainer thing and set him up on there. John came out and left him alone and a few minutes later, we hear "Mommy! Daddy! come see what I made in the big potty!" It was so cute! He was so proud of himself! Anyway, I got him cleaned up and we washed hands and the whole time he keeps saying "That was nice of me to poop on the potty" So then I called Gramme of course to share the great news and she said he deserved a cookie. All I had in the house was a box of the 100 calorie packs so I gave him one and when he was done he wanted another package. So Daddy said tomorrow if you go poop on the potty again you can have some more. So he comes out to me and says "I want to take my pants off and go poopie on the potty". So I say ok thinking he already went so he won't actually go more. Silly me! He went back in there and did it again!! Not quite so much as the first but still! So he had to have another package of cookies! We are finally I think officially on the way to getting potty trained! (He has also gone pee on the little potty chair three times in the last week) Whoohoo! But in a way it is bittersweet! My little baby is truly turning into a big boy! I'm so proud of him! Unfortunately he has also started a cold today and went to bed early but has been up crying once already. It will be a long night but I'm still so excited about his potty training progress that it's all good!

I've got to run for now. I just had to record this momentous occasion before I forgot! I just wanted to remember the moment and date so I had to write it down! Hopefully I'll get back into posting again real soon. I've also got lots of photos to share.