Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Project Life 2013, Week 38

Week 38: September 15 - September 31, 2013


Photo heavy post today because I wanted to show how I sometimes include my son's artwork and / or larger pieces of work in extra inserts. The photo above shows the full layout including the extra insert while the photo below shows the layout with the insert removed (I show closer shots of the front and back of the insert itself later in the post).


Around here, it was a busy week with both normal everyday life thrown into the mix as well as exciting, newspaper-worthy big events going on. The left side of the layout mostly covers the "normal" and is pretty self-explanatory I think. On the right I highlighted the bigger events. At work, we moved into a new clinic (I am a Physical Therapist at Kaiser) and it is a BEAUTIFUL facility. We held the traditional Hawaiian blessing ceremony complete with hula on Monday (it was an amazing ceremony and so moving). Also this week - my Mom and I started a 6-week pottery / handbuilding in clay class at the Hui and a new Grocery Store opened just a few miles from our house (this was very exciting because now we don't have to drive all the way into "town" to go to the store!! For people in Hawaii, anywhere more than a few miles, we think it's SO FAR! lol).


As for products used, of course you'll find my usual Seafoam Core Kit as well as a 3x4 Jade Textured Card. I also used several printable cards by Emily Merritt, including cards from the following kits: My Inventory, Make Today Amazing, and Hashtags No. 1. I also included some bits and pieces from Elle's Studio as extra embellishments.


My son created this super awesome watercolor on Sunday afternoon. I saved the actual watercolor for framing, but wanted to include it in my Project Life album as well. So I simply took a photo of the work and printed it out as a 5x7 (cropping the photo in as close as possible). I slipped it into a Project Life 5x7 Horizontal Page Protector and added it right to the album. When I add extra inserts to my albums, I often attach a simple Self Adhesive Index Tab to make it easy to grab the page protector to flip it over to see the back side.


Also on Sunday afternoon, my son REALLY wanted to make pizza for dinner. He was working quietly in his room and came out and handed Joel this absolutely adorable poem. Just might be one of my favorite things to make it into Project Life so far this year! And it was the perfect thing to slip into the page protector behind his watercolor photo. I love having a place to save things like this!! 


And now some stats, because I think it's fun when Elise Cripe does this, so here ya go:

Ratio of photos taken by Jen to photos taken by Joel: 7 to 2 (and 1 taken by a coworker)
Ratio of Galaxy S4 Phone Photos to "real camera" photos: 10 to 0

I will be sharing a link to this post on The Mom Creative blog.
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. 

Sunday, October 20, 2013

Project Life 2013, Week 37

Week 37: September 8 - September 14, 2013


This week, I was super low on photos. But it worked out. It always somehow manages to. I attended a really fun Field Trip at the Alexander & Baldwin Sugar Museum with Dean's class where we learned all about what it was like for the many different immigrant children growing up on the Sugar Plantation. It was also the week the PT department at Kaiser (where I work) moved into our new clinic.  But other than those 2 events and one photo of Dean playing Sunday morning, I didn't have many photos. I filled the space with a drawing Dean did of a golf course (I have no idea what possessed him to draw a golf course??), and a card he made specifically for me to put in Project Life - with absolutely no prompting from me, I swear (adorable). I also trimmed down the brochure from an art exhibit my Mom took Dean to see over the weekend.

I'd like to make a note here and say that Dean draws A LOT - often, if his drawings look like they'll fit into a pocket of Project Life, I'll tuck them away to save for weeks like this. I don't concern myself too much that they weren't necessarily produced this exact week. I only hold onto them for a few months, then cycle through to having a new batch at the ready. I say this a lot, but 20+ years from now, I won't care if I got the exact date right on the drawing, it will still be a great representation of Dean's artwork in the fall of 2013 when he was 6 yrs old. That's good enough for me. I try to keep the "Big Picture" of these albums in mind when I'm struggling with weeks like this when I don't have many photos and I might be using a drawing he made 3 or 4 weeks ago. Does it really matter? No. Not at all.


Products used this week: Seafoam kit, as usual, along with a few cards from the Midnight and Jade kits.  The "Let's Do This" and "Right Here" cards as well as the wood veneer calendar card are from Studio Calico. I also used a few Studio Calico digital printable labels. Kept things pretty simple. Photos and words.


And now some stats, because I think it's fun when Elise Cripe does this, so here ya go:

Ratio of photos taken by Jen to photos taken by Joel: 8 to 0 (and 1 taken by a coworker)
Ratio of Galaxy S4 Phone Photos to "real camera" photos: 9 to 0

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

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Project Life 2013, Week 36

Week 36: September 1 - September 7, 2013


Around here, life was just good. We bought a new coffee table from West Elm, which I love. Our Living Room makeover is almost complete - It started in January with new flooring (replaced old carpet with bamboo). We painted in February. We installed board & batten in the entryway around the same time. This summer my MIL reupholstered our large sectional sofa and chair (LOVE it - it looks like brand new furniture - totally changed the whole look of our room!), we bought a new rug (I don't LOVE the rug, but we have very limited shopping options on Maui, so it will do for now), and now a new coffee table. I've gradually been purchasing artwork for the walls and just have to get up the nerve to install it all - we've been in this house for about 6 years now and my living room walls are still mostly blank because I can't commit to anything and I don't have the nerve to arrange my artwork in a gallery wall. November is the month I will GET. IT. DONE!!! I also have some new light fixtures that need to be installed, but I'm waiting for my electrician neighbor to have time to install them for me. It's all slowly coming together.

Anyway, around Week 36, some "home work issues" also came to a head. We dealt with it and I'm happy to say it hasn't been an issue since (even though I'm apparently the "meanest Mommy EVER" - ha! Dean and I both had colds this week, we started wearing scrubs at work which meant buying a bunch of new clothes, and I started a fun new crochet project with the help of my good friend Sarah's Mom (Thanks Aunty Les!!). It was a good week!


Products used included lots of Seafoam cards as well as a few Honey 3x4 cards mixed in. I kept things very simple and added just a few embellishments in the form of alpha stickers (old old ones from my stash), an arrow and heart stamp from Reverse Confetti's Arrows & Elements set, and literally that's about it. SO EASY.


And now some stats, because I think it's fun when Elise Cripe does this, so here ya go:

Ratio of photos taken by Jen to photos taken by Joel: 7 to 2
Ratio of Galaxy S4 Phone Photos to "real camera" photos: 9 to 0 (and 4 with the iMac desktop camera thing)

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

Thursday, October 10, 2013

Project Life 2013, Week 34

Week 34: August 18 - August 24, 2013


Around here, life was pretty mellow. My MIL was wrapping up her month-long visit and finished reupholstering our couch (YAY!). Dean was getting into the routine of 2nd Grade.  Life was just NORMAL, which is good.


I used lots of Seafoam on this layout along with a few cards from Midnight and a 4x6 from Jade. A couple cards from my Studio Calico Project Life kit made it into the mix as well. I have 2 favorite cards this week - the scrap of fabric I saved from the rubbish bin and added to a 4x6 grid card (yes, I realize I'll likely be looking at that fabric on the actual couch every day for years - but in 20 years, I might want to pull that card out and actually feel it!) and the card with the Photobooth photos I stumbled upon in my photo library that week. I have no idea when Dean took those pics, but it was so adorable and hilarious and just DEAN - he posed with one of the cats, his teddy bears, he hid behind the chair while setting up the cat and bears, there was a series of about 30 photos on there and I was cracking up when I found them! Love that kid. Oh, and of course, I always love including Dean's artwork. He's been drawing a lot of comic strips lately, so I handed him a 3x4 card and asked him to draw a comic for Project Life. The "kitty furball" is the best he would give me! ha!


And now some stats, because I think it's fun when Elise Cripe does this, so here ya go:

Ratio of photos taken by Jen to photos taken by Joel: 6 to 0 (with 2 by my MIL and 4 by Dean)
Ratio of Galaxy S4 Phone Photos to "real camera" photos: 8 to 0 (and 4 with the iMac desktop camera thing)

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

Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Project Life 2013, Week 40 - Reverse Confetti Blog Hop

Week 40: September 29 - October 5, 2013


Hello October and Hello REVERSE CONFETTI Fans!  I'm so excited to be hopping along again with the Reverse Confetti Design Team and Special Guests in this month's Blog Hop! Last month’s release was all about fall and spooks and today we are inspiring you with projects and cards using those stamps and any other previously released stamps from Reverse Confetti. As has been my standard when I play along with the Confetti Crew, I created another Project Life layout this month - incorporating my favorite new and past stamp sets into my spread, both on journaling cards and directly on my photos to help tell the story of our daily lives. I used my new Forever Fall and Lighthearted Letters along with several of my older Reverse Confetti stamp sets in this week's layout. 

 
The hop started over on the Reverse Confetti Blog and you should have made it here from the amazing Heather Pulvirenti's Blog. It would be worth your while to start at the beginning of the hop so you don't miss a thing. We have tons of inspiration for you to see using all of Reverse Confetti's amazing stamp sets!


Around here this week, we had lots of excitement with Dean losing his 3rd tooth, and participating in his school's annual Fun Run fundraiser. You can see on the left side of the layout how I combined the Lighthearted Letters set (the "tooth inside" on the envelope, "hero" on the movie journal card, and "pomaikai" on the 4x6 card about the fundraiser) with various images from my favorite Arrows & Elements set (the "take note" and "awesome" sentiments). I also added the cute woodgrain heart image from Forever Fall to the top right photo of Cookie the cat and that fun polka dot flag is actually the ice cream cone image from Celebrate Cake.


On the right side of the layout, more Lighthearted Letters ("oct 5" in the top right pocket and "clay class" in the far left 3x4 pocket), which I can tell is going to be one of my go-to stamp sets for Project Life!! The "Just Sayin'" sentiment and the blue arrows in the bottom left are from the Arrows n' Elements set. I also more of the Forever Fall set for the strip of woodgrain and "happy fall" sentiment on the 4x6 card about my fall decor. The "for the record, you rock" sentiment is from the Inner Rock Star set and seemed like a perfect fit for documenting a hard day of volunteering at the Bone Marrow Donor Registration booth at the Maui County Fair! Of course, as usual, I used lots of Becky Higgins Project Life products for my card bases this week - Seafoam, Midnight, Honey, and the Sunshine kits all made an appearance!

I hope you've enjoyed hopping with us today. Be sure and hop with the Confetti Crew on the 8th of EVERY MONTH for more Reverse Confetti inspiration! Now it's time to hop on over to Kimberly Crawford's blog. If you get lost along the way, you can find the hop order and list of all the participating designers over on the Reverse Confetti blog.

How would you like to win some Reverse Confetti goodies of your very own? Leave a comment on each stop along the hop for a chance to win a $15 Gift Certificate to Reverse Confetti! Comments are open until Thursday, October 10th at 2pm CST and the winner will be announced on the Week in Reverse post on the 11th over on the Reverse Confetti Blog!

And now 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: 12 to 3 (and 1 by a co-worker and 1 online stock movie promo photo)
Ratio of Galaxy S4 Phone Photos to "real camera" photos: 11 to 4

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

Sunday, October 6, 2013

Project Life 2013, Week 32

Week 32: August 4 - August 10, 2013


Around Here: Sunday we were wrapping up a mini vacation to Oahu, so there are pics of us at Waikiki and the Honolulu Zoo (such a fun little trip - you can see the rest of the photos from that trip in my Week 31 layout, which I shared awhile back).  Monday was the first day of school (2nd Grade) for Dean, so that was pretty exciting - lots of documentation of getting back into the school and homework routine! Joel and I upgraded our phones. And my Mother-in-Law, who was visiting for about a month, got started on a big project of reupholstering our large sectional sofa and matching chair.


Products Used: Seafoam and Honey Project Life kits. Old cards from my Studio Calico PL Subscription. Elle's Studio goodies.  Chevron Cork Stickers by Studio Calico. Arrow paperclip by Freckled Fawn. Lots of printed digi labels from Studio Calico.


And now 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: 7 to 1 (and 1 by my MIL)
Ratio of Galaxy S4 Phone Photos to "real camera" photos: 8 to 1

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

Friday, October 4, 2013

Project Life 2013, Week 30

Week 30: July 21 - July 27, 2013


Around here, it was a busy week. I cleaned out and organized my pantry (yuck! I hate that chore and so only get around to it every few years and end up with things that expired an embarrassingly long time ago!!). We did a little back to school shopping (some new Vans for Dean). Legos and a trip to the Library are pretty standard. Excitement came in the form of Drama Camp for Dean (my mom signed him up for that - he was less than thrilled - he's more of a brainy introverted nerd than an outgoing drama kind of kid. But it was probably good for him to stretch himself a bit). We celebrated my birthday (sigh. I was less than thrilled about getting another year older - they go by so fast anymore). And all of Hawaii freaked out about Tropical Storm Flossie, which turned out to be a bit of a let-down, to be honest.


As for products used, there's my usual Seafoam Project Life kit as well as a little bit of Midnight mixed in. My Tiny Attacher mini stapler comes in handy almost every week for attaching things like that Vans tag. I also used several Emily Merritt kits - SelfieSummer Days Summer Nights, and True  Statement Cards No. 1.


And that's about it. Week 30 was done - pretty simple!

And now 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: 7 to 2
Ratio of Galaxy S4 Phone Photos to "real camera" photos: 9 to 0

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

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Project Life, 2013, Week 29

Week 29: July 14 - July 20, 2013

Trying to get my posts back in order, but I think it's hopeless for this year. Sorry I've been sharing these layouts so randomly! I am now officially caught up in my album - I finished up my Week 39 layout Sunday afternoon (it feels SO GOOD to have stayed mostly caught up this entire year!). Now my goal is to get caught up with my blog posts this month, then maybe finally get around to sharing my 2012 December Daily album, and then sometime in November share my prep work for this year's December Daily so I can possibly share those pages as I work on the album. We'll see how it goes - all of that sounds a bit ambitious for me as far as sharing goes. Ha!

So anyway, on to Week 29...


It was a pretty mellow week around here. We were in the last few weeks of Summer Break for Dean (School started here in Hawaii the first of August). We tried (again) to ride his bike - still a no-go to this day. The kid is just not interested in learning to ride a bike, no matter how bad his parents want him to learn! Oh well. This is proving to be a good lesson for Joel and I in parenting and letting go of our own ideas of what and when things are "supposed to" happen and just letting Dean be Dean. It's a hard lesson.  We all did a lot of nothing around here this week too - TV watching, I started a new crochet project (at the time I really didn't know how to crochet either, so that was interesting! LOL), and we did a lot of reading. I didn't have many pictures by the end of the week, so I had some space to fill. I accomplished this by using an online stock photo from a documentary we watched on TV that week, taking a photo of the yarn I was using for my new crochet project, taking a photo of my craft space (where I spent quite a bit of time that week), and using another online stock photo - this time of the cover of a book I finished reading. It ended up all working out just fine.


As for products, you'll of course notice my go-to Seafoam Kit cards by Becky Higgins. I also used several printables from Emily Merritt - always some of my faves! along with bits and pieces of Elle's Studio goodies. I think overall, despite the lack of actual photos of us, the layout captures the feel of our week pretty well. I'm happy with it.


And speaking of December Daily, have you all seen all the crazy amounts of Holiday / Christmas products in stock over at Two Peas!? How in the world will I ever decide what to buy? Are you doing DD this year? What products are you using? Are you using a kit or items from your stash or buying individual new stuff or what? I think I'm going to use a mix of items from my stash (which is way bigger than it should be, I need to thin it out - maybe I should do some blog candy to get rid of some stuff??), Studio Calico's Magical Collection, and Elle's Studio Noel Collection.

And now 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: 7 to 1
Ratio of Galaxy S4 Phone Photos to "real camera" photos: 8 to 0

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