Project Life 2013, Week 20

Is anyone else happy it's Summer Break? I might be singing a different tune in a few weeks, but for now I'm so excited to have my kiddo home! I work part-time - 3 days a week - so during the summer Dean gets to spend lots of time with my Mom, or "Tutu". I work Monday, Tuesday and Thursday so Dean spends the night with Tutu on Monday nights during the summer and they spend lots of time at the beach. It's a tough life for a 6-yr-old! But I get him all to myself Wednesday and Friday (and then the weekends are full of family time). The great thing about Project Life is that it's really made me aware of how quickly time passes by. I'm so so glad that I'm doing this project - it's helped me to really appreciate the normal, day to day life so much more. I think before I kind of just cruised through the day to day without really paying that much attention - it was just "filler" between the big events. But ever since I started doing Project Life, I realize how that "filler" is really what life is all about. It's what really "fills" my weeks and months and years and it's the stuff I really want to remember. So yeah. Lots of "filler" this summer. Just normal, everyday life.

So anyway, Week 20. May 12-May 18, 2013. For me, this included Mother's Day, which took up much of the first half of my layout. Joel took my Mom and I to a yummy breakfast buffet at Mala, a fancy restaurant in Wailea. Also going on this week - Dean and I enjoyed a random Tuesday evening sunset at the beach when I picked him up from my Mom's after work. And Saturday afternoon Joel and I had a rare Date Night (err, late afternoon) at Maui Brewer's Festival at the Maui Arts and Cultural Center. We both agreed this was an event we don't need to ever attend again. For one thing, I am not a beer drinker (unlike my husband, who can always appreciate a good brew) and for another, neither of us is big on crowds and this place was PACKED. The food was excellent and Joel got to try a lot of rare craft beer from all over the country, but yeah. Not really our thing. We're too anti-social. ;-)

So looking at the left side of my layout, I used a few different things. I used both the Seafoam and Jade Project Life kits (the "anchor" card is from Seafoam while the yellow chevron journal card and the "these are the days" cards are from the Jade kit).

Both the "Mommy" card and the orange "Mother's Day" card are from the April Studio Calico PL kit. I added a few different things that I love to my pages this week. First the Word Art Titles to mark the week number, from September Blue. The yellow stamped {heart} this circle stamp is from a stamp set designed for Studio Calico by Hello Forever. I'm not sure if it came in a kit or how long I've had it. (sorry). The "Remember This" stamp on the bottom right photo is from Evalicious. It's one of my favorite stamps to use on photos these days. The little yellow "moments" circle on the same bottom right photo is from the Day to Day Tidbits by Elle's Studio.

And looking closer at the right side of the layout:

On the top left photo, the "here & now" strip is a Studio Calico printable. The You & Me wood veneer is from the Atlantic Burnished Circles Wood Veneer by Studio Calico.  The yellow 4x6 journal card I used in the top right pocket under our tickets from Beer Fest is from the Jade PL kit, as is the teal 3x4 card I used under the Billabong tag I kept from a new pair of boardshorts we bought Dean that week. I added a few more little bits and pieces from various Elle's Studio kits (I've kind of been hoarding them and need to start using them). On the bottom left photo I used a fun "The Good Life" stamp by Evalicious as well as a piece of Atlantic Cork Stickers. I also added a fun aqua arrow paperclip from Freckled Fawn, who has a TON of other fun colors available as well (I really want them in every single color!).

And that's it for Week 20. I think I say this almost every week, but this ended up being one of my favorite layouts so far for 2013 - I loved all the colors and used just the right amount of embellishments to highlight but not overwhelm the photos.

ETA: I am linking this post over on The Mom's Creative blog.

Project Life 2013, Week 19

Well hello there and Happy Memorial Day Weekend! What a week. First of all, if you are one of the 14,000 people who shared my plea earlier in the week on Facebook asking for help locating my Grandfather after the terrible tornado in Oklahoma on Monday - THANK YOU. I was absolutely blown away by the overwhelming kindness shown by so many (seriously. 14,000!! people shared my post). Most of you have probably heard about the Moore tornado. It was awful. So many people were less fortunate than my family. I live in Hawaii now, but I am originally from Oklahoma and my Grandpa and his wife live in Moore. They live just 2 blocks from the school where all those sweet children lost their lives on Monday. Their house only suffered minor damage. They rode out the storm in their closet and are very VERY lucky. Just a few houses down from them there is complete destruction for miles and miles. Monday afternoon for us was a very stressful time being 3500 miles away, watching news reports broadcast from my grandpa's street, saying it was "the hardest hit street" and seeing that there was literally nothing left but rubble. We were expecting the worst.  After getting nowhere for several hours and unsure of anything else to do, I posted a plea for help on Facebook - I simply gave my grandpa's name, age, address and asked that if there was anyone in the area if they could please check to see if he was OK. I have about 200 Facebook friends. Many of my friends shared my post, and their friends shared it and it spread. Over 14,000 times. By Monday evening, I started getting messages from complete strangers who had walked more than 2 miles across rubble in dangerous conditions to see if my Grandpa was OK, if he needed help, if he was even alive. And the news was better than I ever expected - he was just fine! And his house was still standing!! It was surrounded on nearly all sides by devastation, but he was OK. And over the next several days, several more people - some of them friends, some of them strangers, continued to walk into the restricted area where my grandpa lived (he refuses to leave his home even though he still doesn't have water or electricity) to check on him and take him food and water, even toilet paper! I am so very thankful not just that he is OK, but that there really are so many good people in this world. So, there was my rambling post about the tornado. Please keep this tight-knit community in your thoughts.

Moving on...Week 19. If you remember from my Week 18 post, we had lost our sweet kitty Hoku during Week 18. During Week 19, Dean decided his heart would only be mended if he got a new kitten. I did some research to see if this was a good idea or not, and it turns out that at that age (6), it's fine to replace a lost pet with a new one pretty quickly if the child wants one. So, off to the humane society we went.

Here's a look at the entire 2-page Layout for Week 19:

As you can see, we ended up getting not one - but TWO kittens from the Humane Society!! That makes us a FOUR cat household!! But they had a "Buy one, Get one FREE" special and these two were litter mates that had never been separated, so...how could we resist!? Dean got naming duties. So, meet Cookie and Tulip....

As for the products used this week. More of my usuals. Seafoam. Studio Calico Project Life kit. Studio Calico printables. And a few lovely things from Emily Merritt. Specifically, on the left side of the page I used Tiny Quotes (on the "Hi" 3x4 card) and Dotted: Love Edition (the red "love" circle on the 4x6 card with the photo of Cookie and Tulip.

Staff Appreciation Week at Dean's school was during Week 19. I am on the Staff Appreciation Committee and was in charge of designing the invitations to the staff luncheon. I used an old Cindy Schneider template (Sweet Shoppe) and a couple of different school-themed kits by Jady Day Studio (Sweet Shoppe) to design the invite, then we just ordered 100 of them (enough for all of the teachers and staff) printed as photos. We attached them to a reusable shopping bag with a little gift inside and put them in the staff mailboxes before school on Monday. The luncheon was Wednesday and was a huge success!! Much of the right side of the layout is devoted to Staff Appreciation goings-on.

On the right side of the page, I included one of the luncheon invites and used a few different 3x4 cards from the Studio Calico Project Life kit. I also used a journal card from the Wow Mom kit by Emily Merritt as well as her Thumbs Way Up kit and more of the Dotted: Love Edition and Tiny Quotes on this side of the layout as well.

And that wraps up Week 19!!

Dean had his last day of school last Friday and is officially on Summer Break. I'm hoping we have a nice, lazy summer around here with 2 months of trips to the beach, family hikes, and lots of relaxing around the house. I'm hoping to get into a more regular blog posting schedule as well. We'll see how that goes...

Project Life 2013, Week 18

Hi there Project Lifers! I can't seem to blog as often as I intend, but today I'm going to share my Week 18. This was a really rough week for us and I kept things pretty simple. Actually, when I go back through my albums, I tend to prefer my simpler layouts more anyway. Here's a look at the full layout:

I used a few items from the Becky Higgins Seafoam kit mixed with more Emily Merritt goodies. I love the way the whole spread looks together. This week ended up having a really cohesive feel as far as color and product. Here's a closer look at the left side of the layout:

The beginning of the week (Sunday mostly) had us finishing up a small home improvement project - basically just repainting our old hand-me-down front lanai furniture that was getting pretty flaked and starting to rust in spots. So there are photos of that project as well as Dean watching some Phineas and Ferb on the computer. I really like including photos like that for a few reasons - not only did I capture a little pop culture by way of the TV show my kid likes right now, but you get to see a glimpse of things like current technology (my iMac computer monitor) and my crafting area where I spend a lot of time. The other photo on this page is of Dean inhaling some fresh mango, which are in season here. So moving on to the products I used... Seafoam 4x6 card for my "anchor card" along with the Word Art Titles from September Blue to mark the week. A couple of 3x4 filler cards from the Seafoam kit, the "yeah" speech bubble is from Thumbs Way Up by Emily Merritt and the "Love" 3x4 filler card is from the Wow Mom collab by Emily Merritt and Splendid Fiins. I used some Studio Calico printable labels and added an Atlantic Glittered Star Sticker to one of the photos (love that little extra embellishment).

And the right side of the page, where things get a little difficult...

Dean's cat Hoku tragically died that Thursday morning (he was hit by a car right in front of our house). Luckily, our sweet neighbor recognized Hoku and called me early enough that Joel was able to move the cat out of the street (shame on whoever hit him and didn't even stop!) so Dean didn't find him as we left for school. We were able to get Dean off to school without him knowing, but I wasn't able to work that day - I was too upset. Hoku was the sweetest kitty I've ever had (and I've had A LOT of cats in my life - growing up, my Mom was known as the local "cat lady"! ha!). Hoku was a "bribe" for Dean when he was seriously 4 years old and still using a binky at night and naptime. We had tried everything to get rid of it and one day he flat out told us "I'll stop using my binky if you get me a baby kitten". Little stinker. But it was a deal (that actually totally backfired on us as far as getting rid of the binky goes, but that's another story). Off to the Humane Society we went and Dean got to pick out the kitty himself. He immediately picked Hoku and they were best buds from then on. It was heartbreaking having to tell Dean what had happened after school Thursday (I journaled about the experience on the 3x4 "If I had Superpowers" card from the My Inventory pack by Emily Merritt). He took it really hard and we had a pretty rough weekend around here. Dean journaled about his own feelings (he was brief and to the point) on the 3x4 "Today I Feel..." card from the Check The Box Cards No. 1 pack. On other photos on this half of the layout I used the pink Sunrise Printed Chipboard Thickers by Studio Calico and one of my new faves - a piece of the Atlantic Burnished Circles Wood Veneer. More sticker labels and date stamps and it was done.

So that's it for Week 18! Week 19 is also done and in the album and I've actually even started on the first part of Week 20 (I have my pictures and journaling from Mother's Day done). It feels SO GOOD to be caught up! How are you doing on your own album this year? Caught up or behind?

Project Life 2013, Week 16

Moving backwards a bit, but playing catch-up and sharing Week 16, which includes photos from the last part of our vacation to San Diego...

The first half of our week we were still on vacation in San Diego. There is an adorable photo in the top right corner of the left side of Dean and his former babysitter, Sarah - longtime blog readers have probably heard me talk about Sarah before. Sarah used to live down the street from us on Maui and started babysitting Dean periodically (date nights, a few mornings a week in the summer, etc) when Dean was about 16 months old and Sarah had just turned 13. She is the sweetest teenager I have ever met. Sadly, Sarah moved off-island (to San Diego!) about 2.5 years ago just before Dean turned 4. Dean was SO UPSET, but Sarah comes back once or twice a year to visit family and their bond is as strong as ever. It is so sweet! And the first thing Dean asked to do when he found out we were going to San Diego was "See my Sarah!". So he got to spend an entire day with Sarah while the rest of us shopped! Of course, he cried for an hour after it was time to say good-bye. Sarah is 18 yrs old now and about to head off to college in the fall. We are so proud of her and so lucky to have her in Dean's life! Anyway, moving on...

I used a few things from Seafoam again (The top left "anchor card" as well as the quotation marks card). The left side of the layout covers Sarah and Dean's day together, my fun shopping trip, and an afternoon bowling! (We don't have bowling on Maui, so this was another thing on Dean's list of "must-do's" while on our trip). I also journaled about all the yummy places we ate on the "On the Menu" card, which is from the My Inventory pack by Emily Merritt.  The cute "Happy" card as well as the orange "This is our Adventure" on the right side of the layout are from Emily's Spring Break Cards. The flair on the card with the photo of Sarah and Dean is from the Montage Flair Series 2 pack by Ormolu.

On the right side of the layout, I used more of Emily Merritt's Spring Break Cards and that airplane card is from her Headed That Way kit. The "There's No Place Like Home" card is from Geralyn Sy's Family Journaling Cards pack. I think the sequins came in a recent Studio Calico kit and I added them to a 4x6 card from Emily Merritt's Wow Mom collab with Splendid Finns.

And I think that's it.

I realize I'm sharing things out of order, but I'll try to get back here tomorrow and post photos of Week 15, which covers the bulk of our vacation to San Diego!

Thanks for stopping by and Happy National Scrapbooking Day!!

Project Life 2013, Week 17

Hello? Is this thing on? It's been awhile...sorry for the long absence. I wonder if anyone is still out there reading this? Things have been busy around here and my regular blog posting was the thing that got put on the back burner. We enjoyed a nice family vacation to San Diego with Joel's Mom and Stepdad a few weeks ago and I've been busy getting things ready for our school's Staff Appreciation Week next week (I'm on the small Staff Appreciation Committee). I have managed to keep up with Project Life, just not the blogging about it. So anyway, I'm just going to pick up with the week I'm on and I'll try to go back and share the several weeks I've missed as I have time in the next few weeks.

So, Week 17...

I used a mixture of products from the Seafoam kit, from Studio Calico, from my stash, and lots of printed digital goodies from Emily Merritt at The Lilypad this week! Here's a closer look at the left side of the spread:

 On the left side, as usual, I used a Seafoam card for my "anchor" card, but added some numbers from the Circle Alpha Sticker set by Emily Merritt. I used my Silhouette Cameo to cut out the "week" word as well as all of the printed digi embellishments from the Thumbs Way Up kit, also by Emily Merritt. The "Live, Laugh, Love" card is from a Studio Calico grab bag. The yellow alpha stickers are from the Letters Snap Stickers by Simple Stories. The "Life is in Session" card is from the True Statements Cards No. 1 pack by Emily Merritt.

On the right side, I used several more of the printed digi embellishments from the Thumbs Way Up kit and that cool "Fun" card is from the Spring Break Cards by Emily Merritt. I'm not sure if I'm supposed to be posting this now or not, but you guys are also getting a sneak peek at that fun "This Rocks" card, which is from the new Ahoy kit that will be releasing Saturday, May 4 from Emily Merritt at The Lilypad! The multi-colored triangle card is from the April Studio Calico Project Life kit and the little alpha stickers are hoarded from various Studio Calico kits. At the bottom left of the right side of the layout, I used a Flip Pocket to add a few extra photos of a Saturday morning tidepool exploration on the North Shore at Ho'okipa. There's a little tab to make it easy to flip the pocket up where you can see the 2 extra photos underneath. Here's a closer look:

And a closer look at some of my other favorite details of this week's spread...

And that's it for Week 17! Feels so good to be caught up! I'll try to pop back in this weekend and share a few other weeks that I've missed since my last post. Let me know if anyone is still out there reading this - hopefully I haven't lost all of my readers with my long silence!!

Aloha!