Project Life 2013, Week 22

Week 22: May 26 - Jun 1, 2013

This has ended up being one of my favorite weeks so far this year. I know I saw this a lot, but I really do like how this week turned out. I used lots of Elle's Studio goodies this week, including their May 2013 kit. (I am super excited to have won their June kit in their Instagram Giveaway and can't wait to play with it!).

I used a 4x6 card from the Jade kit for my Title Card this week, adding some Silhouette cuts by Kerri Bradford to mark the week. The rest of the layout was a mix of Seafoam, Elle's Studio goodies, and a few items from Studio Calico.

It was a really fun week around here. We spent the morning Sunday hiking across the lava flows out past Makena and exploring tidepools. I documented the Who, What, Where, When and Why of that on a 3x4 card from the Seafoam kit. I used a few different little Elle's Studio tags on my photos. That vellum 3x4 card and the vellum date / place strip on the top right 4x6 photo are both from the Elle's Studio May kit. (I'm totally in love with those 6-inch vellum strips!). Other news documented on the left side of my layout was the loss of Dean's 2nd front tooth! That kid has lost both of his top front teeth, both traumatically knocked out! He is now officially TERRIFIED of losing teeth and is convinced that losing a tooth hurts. Well, this time, the tooth (which was already pretty loose), got knocked out at gymnastics Monday night! Of course, being the good Project Life Mom that I am, I had to pause in my comforting to take a photo of him crying while holding his tooth with his gymnastics coach! ha! Here's a closer look (because I'm sorry, but I think it's kind of funny. I know, I'm terrible):

Anyway, moving on to the right side of the layout...

The "Book Report" card and the "My Favorites" card (more on that in a minute) are both from Elle's Studio. Super cute, right? I added some misted wood veneer letters to the "hello" card. And I have to say, we had some pretty adorable pics that weekend. I love the picture Joel got of Dean playing the ukulele at the park. Such a typical Maui day. And the pictures of Dean and Baby Brooklyn (we were babysitting for a friend) are priceless. On the top left 4x6 photo of Dean at the park, I added some Elle's Studio tags, some pink alpha stickers from a recent Studio Calico kit, and some cork chevron stickers as extra embellishments. And now...that "My Favorites" card. That has to be my favorite thing about the whole week I think. I asked Dean to sit down and fill it out and he did the whole thing without any help . I absolutely LOVE it:

And another week is done. And I'm so happy.

Some stats, because I think it's fun when Elise Cripe does this, so I thought I'd start as well:

Ratio of photos taken by Jen to photos taken by Joel: 9 to 5
Ratio of Galaxy S3 Phone Photos to "real camera" photos: 14 to 0

I will be sharing a link to this post on The Mom Creative blog.

Project Life 2013, Album First and Last Pages

I was trying REALLY REALLY hard to get my 2013 Project Life into just 2 albums this year - I was disappointed last year when I had to use 3 albums and really wanted to get them into 2 this year, but it's just not going to happen. Right now I've been including any of Dean's artwork or schoolwork that I want to save (and there's a lot of it - he attends an Arts-Integrated Based Curriculum Public School - the only one of it's kind in Hawaii) in 8.5x11 inserts - slipping them into the week when it was created. I did read on Becky Higgins' blog that there's a possibility that in the future they'll be releasing 8.5x11 Project Life products, so I may come up with a different "system" for his school work at that time, but for now - this system works and I like having everything in chronological order. But it makes my Project Life albums bulky and I'm stuck with 3 albums per year. And that means I have to come up with 3 of the dreaded First and Final pages for the albums each year!! Are you guys with me in your loathing of these pages!? They are by far the thing I dread most about Project Life. I can't really explain why, but I find the first and last pages of my albums to be the hardest ones to complete.

I actually really really love the first page of Album #1 for 2013. I shared this early in the year, but I love it so much I thought I'd share it again:

And guess what? last week I quickly put together the last page for Album #1 and I actually love it too!! Take a look:

It came together pretty easily, thanks to Emily Merritt's new Shine kit and Bright Paper Pack, available at The Lilypad.

After that was done, I went for the trifecta...I was on a roll, so I decided to go for the First Page of 2013 Album #2:

Not bad, huh? I used cards from the Jade and Seafoams kits and some sequins and wood veneer hearts from Studio Calico. I added the names of the months included in the album cut with my Silhouette (files from Kerri Bradford) and was done.

I'm pretty excited to have these pages out of the way - Last year I waited until the very end of the year to do any of them except the very first page of the first album and honestly, I still think I have one last page to do! ugh. Do you dread these as much as I do? Anyone have any first / last page tips or secrets??

New Project Life Products Available

Just a quick post this morning to let you know that I just noticed that all of the new Becky Higgins Project Life products are in the Two Peas store! I just snagged the Honey Edition Core Kit as well as the Midnight Edition Core Kit for myself. I also decided to get the matching Midnight Edition 3x4 Textured Cardstock and 4x6 Textured Cardstock as well as the Honey Edition 3x4 Textured Cardstock and 4x6 Textured Cardstock. I like using this cardstock in my Silhouette Cameo to create cuts to use on my PL layouts that are all matchy-match with the kit cards that I am using for the week!

If you think you might do some Project Life shopping at Two Peas, be sure to use the June Free Shipping code at checkout (it's actually worth up to $10 off your shipping total, which for most people ends up being free, unless you live in Hawaii! ha!). The June code is: ROMRXF. 

Happy Shopping!! 

Project Life 2013, Week 21

Aloha! Have I mentioned how much I absolutely LOVE being caught up on this project?

Week 21 - May 19 - May 25, 2013:

This was the last week of school here on Maui. Sunday we headed to the beach (I feel like so many of my weeks look the same with beach pictures from Sunday morning!). Then lots of pictures from the end of school and celebrating the beginning of Summer Break. Most schools in Hawaii celebrate May Day as Lei Day, but Dean's school waits until the last week of school and has a Ho'ike (which is like a Hawaiian celebration of hula and aloha). It's such a fun way to celebrate the end of the school year! Each grade level performs a special hula and they do a really great job! 

On the left side of the page, I used a 4x6 card from the Seafoam kit for my Title Card as well as some cutouts from my Silhouette. I've been using my Cameo more and more lately and I've noticed a lot of people have been using the cheaper Portrait, which now I'm kind of wishing I'd held out for (the price tag is a little more attractive and since I only do Project Life, I would never have need for the ability to cut a full 12x12 piece of paper, plus I think I would appreciate that smaller footprint more on my workstation).  I also used some numbers from the Rockabye Cork Letter Thickers on that Title Card. The "You are so Very Loved" 3x4 card and the journal card with the red chevron thingies are both from Studio Calico PL kits. The "Photo Notes" journal strip on the bottom left photo is from the Cameron Labels Lil' Snippets by Elle's Studio and the Too Cool! and Rad! circles are from the Cameron Tidbits by Elle's Studio. This week, Dean brought home his Art Portfolio and writing journals from school. I went through the Art Portfolio and took out all of my favorite pieces and slid them into 8.5x11 page protectors and added them as extra inserts into the appropriate weeks in my PL albums depending on when the artwork was created. I also added some of his writing in the same way. At the very end of his Writing Journal, I found this gem, which was just begging to be cut out and slipped into a 4x6 pocket:



That is so Dean! The right side of the layout mostly focused on Dean's Ho'ike and the last day of school. He looked adorable in his Aloha Shirt and did so well in his hula performance! I was so proud! I also loved that I thought to take a photo of him on the last day of First Grade holding the same chalkboard we used to mark the first day of First Grade to create a fun comparison photo - and I was floored at how much he's grown this year! (just a little something I probably never would have done had I not been doing Project Life).

I used more Elle's Studio goodies on this half of the layout as well, including the Cameron Frames, which are a new fave.  The "Right Now" card and the "Kinda Amazing" card are from the Studio Calico PL kit. And I have to mention that I absolutely love that Joel was able to capture that photo of Dean's "auditorium" at school during the Ho'ike performance! Such lucky kids. The "Summer is Here Again" card is from Echo Park (sorry I don't remember the name, but it was a 12x12 sheet with 12 different 3x4 cards to cut out). And finally, that Yellow Arrow Paperclip on the top right photo - my new obsession that I think I've already mentioned. I can't stop using those things - in every color under the sun by Freckled Fawn! Love them.

And that's it for Week 21. Would love to hear what you think.

I think it's fun when Elise Cripe does this, so I thought I'd start as well:

Ratio of photos taken by Jen to photos taken by Joel: 9 to 1
Ratio of Galaxy S3 Phone Photos to "real camera" photos: 7 to 3

I will be sharing a link to this post on The Mom Creative blog.