Project Life 2013 Cover Page

It took me awhile to figure out what I wanted to do for my Cover Page, but once I received my Studio Calico Project Life Kit, it started to come together in my brain. I knew I wanted to use the little SC Wood Veneer People, and I thought I wanted a map of Maui (where we live) somehow with a geotag over Kahului. We took a family photo New Year's Day (that may or may not have been staged specifically for my Project Life Cover Page...), and I had already created a little pocket of sequins, Wood Veneer Stars, and some random confetti bits that I thought I might include. I sat down the other night and came up with this:

I'll be honest with you. I pretty much LOVE it. So far, one month in, I'm pretty happy with the Studio Calico Project Life kit. Most of the journal and filler cards on this page are from the kit. There were only maybe 2 or 3 vertically oriented 4x6 cards that I don't think I'll use (because I don't tend to use the vertical 4x6 pockets ever). Otherwise, I'm pretty sure just about all of the kit will get used. And those sneaky SC people coordinated it just enough with the scrapbook kit that I can still use my scrapbook kit with it too. So I haven't unsubscribed from that yet. We'll see how long I can stretch the craft budget to allow me to continue subscribing to both kits. Because I sometimes like to get an add-on and that is going to definitely add up!! But as I mentioned, I'm not spending much at all on stamps or other supplies, so I think it might all come out in the wash at the end of the month. We'll just have to wait and see. What supplies are you using for PL this year? Do you stick with just one of the PL Core Kits or do you like to mix and match other stuff? I did order the Seafoam Kit yesterday and got my shipping notice today, so hoping that arrives early next week!! YAY! So anyway, back to this cover page...Don't you love that "Hello, My Name Is" card? I used some of the Darling Dear Alphabet Wood Veneer to spell out each of our names, then wrote in our ages and what we do. (and thank you in advance for no smart-ass comments about the fact that I'm 6 years older than my husband. I'm well aware of that fact). When my son Dean saw this finished page, he commented about the 3 wood people, "Are those supposed to be us, Mommy? Because that lady has on a dress and you don't ever wear dresses". Nice.

It's hard to see it in the photo, but I used white Woodgrain Cardstock (from Studio Calico) with my Silhouette Cameo to cut the image of Maui. I added a little geotag sticker over the approximate location where we live. Simple and fun way to document your current residence. Pretty much all of the states are available as cut files in the Silhouette store. I purchased the state of Hawaii and then just deleted all of the other islands and sized Maui so it would just about fill a 4x6 space. Initially I thought about placing a small heart sticker over our town, but decided to go with the geotag instead. I still think the heart would have been cute too though.

And that's it for my 2013 Cover Page. What do you think? So glad to have it done and out of the way. Last year I found the cover pages to be the hardest things to do for some reason.

Project Life 2013, Week 1

So excited to be sharing Week 1 of Project Life 2013!! I don't have all of my supplies that I plan to be using as my "go to" items this year just yet, but I didn't want to fall behind before I even started. I was never more than 2 weeks behind in all of 2012 and I plan to stay just as caught up in 2013. I feel that staying caught up, for me anyway, was the key to my success with Project Life. I think without any DT commitments this year, it should be even easier.

I haven't decided on an album yet and need to do that soon. Any advice? I am waiting to decide until after CHA - hoping something new will be released that will be perfect. I used the Becky Higgins Black Signature Binder for 2012, but honestly I was slightly disappointed with the quality of the signature binders. Not in the actual binder craftsmanship necessarily, but in the way the black color seems to already be looking really worn, like it's rubbing off. And this is the case with all 3 of my binders, which were purchased at different times of the year. So I'm a little hesitant to go with one of the Project Life brand binders again, unless it's possibly a different manufacturer (like American Crafts maybe? Anyone out there have experience with American Crafts binders?). I do like the We R Memory Keepers binders, but I think I want something other than black, but I just don't know what. I know, indecisive much?

Anyway, I didn't use just one kit last year and I doubt that I stick with any one kit this year. But I will be ordering the Seafoam Edition when it comes out -hopefully next week. (I already have the digi version of it and used it this week, but I'd like to have the physical product as well). I also subscribed to the Studio Calico PL kit and am hoping it is worth the $$. I'm already a SC scrapbook kit subscriber and use a lot of those goodies in my PL spreads each week. I will have to decide if it's worth it to continue subscribing to both kits, which will be expensive. On the other hand, I don't really plan on doing much stamping / card-making this year, so that should cut down on my craft spending some. I'm hoping it balances out in the end. I'd really hate to have to sit down and figure out exactly how much money I spend on this hobby! So, Seafoam kit + Studio Calico kit(s) + my stash. I use a lot of printed digi goodies, so I guess technically that makes me a hybrid Project Lifer. I also like to use digital stamps and brushes. I have a Silhouette Cameo that I'm extremely unfamiliar with and definitely have not got my money's worth out of - I'm also hoping that changes this year.

So, here's a look at 2013 Week 1, which covers Jan 1-5:

Right now, my plan for my "Anchor" card (top left) is to use my Silhouette to cut out a "week" and number to identify which week we're on and then somewhere use my date stamp to show the dates. I may or may not include a 3x4 calendar card if I need the filler. So anyway, It will look similar to this, with the colors and placement varying week to week. Some weeks if I have lots of photos, I may include small instagrams on this card as well. Or I may journal on it and use it as a sort of "Week in Review". We'll see. I used a fun free end-of-the-year card from Cathy Zielske in one pocket and stamped the "awesome" from my fave Happy Days Verve stamp set. I love the Twenty13 Calendar Card by Robyn Meierotto. You'll see me using the 365 Days Photo Overlays by Ali Edwards very, very often. (these are available for the whole year, which is how I purchased them, or in individual months).

 

On the right side I used more Studio Calico digital printables and a printable from Cathy Zielske's Move More, Eat Well class that I signed up for (not because I need to lose weight, before anyone thinks I have some weird eating disorder. I know I don't need to lose weight. But I do need to eat healthier and get more exercise than I do and I have absolutely ZERO motivation to do so. Hoping a class will hold me accountable). I also used Cathy Zielske's Journal Cards 01 for my Week in Review. I use this quite a bit too. Not every week, but almost.

And that's it for Week 1! So a little different approach with blogging about it this time. I focused more on the products I used and less on the photos, which I think you can see for yourself. I'm not sure if I'll continue posting product links or not. It's a lot of work and I'm still not sure how many people are really reading these posts. This is a big change for my blog and I might be losing my readership, based on the lack of comments, LOL. I'm OK with that really. But if you are reading this and you have an opinion one way or the other about product links - let me know! :-)

Project Life 2012 Weeks 50, 51, and 52

Well, here are the final 3 Project Life spreads from my 2012 albums!! I put the finishing touches on my 2013 Week 1 layout this afternoon, so I'll be back tomorrow morning to share that - but these 3 layouts were some of my favorites of 2012, so I really wanted to share them first. So, long post ahead... Here's a look at Week 50:

On the left side of the page I used a variety of papers from both new and old Studio Calico kits, some Elle's Studios labels, and a Cathy Zielske digi file to mark the number of years Joel and I had been married (we celebrated our 7th anniversary on Dec 9th, so it seemed appropriate to include a wedding photo. It might be hard to see in the picture, but there's a little label on the wedding photo that says "12/9/05" and another little label on the 7 years card that says "12/9/12").

On the right side of the page I included a scaled-down (shrunk from 5x7 to 4x6) version of the front of our Christmas Card in the top left pocket. Also, just a quick note that this was the week of the Sandy Hook school shooting. I didn't want to dwell too much on it in my Project Life album, even though it weighed heavily on my mind and in my heart. The thing is, Dean had just turned 6 yrs old, is in 1st grade - the same age as those young children who were killed. It hit so close to home for me, as I'm sure it did for many of you. I can't even begin to imagine what the families of those children are going through. Joel and I decided not to discuss the event with Dean at this time. Every family had to make the best decision for themselves about this issue and this was the decision we made. The day of the shooting was the last day of school before Winter Break here in Hawaii. Dean is a very sensitive little boy and we felt that at this tender age, there was just no sense in trying to explain the unexplainable to him. We didn't feel it was something that he could fully understand and we didn't want him to be afraid to go to school. We kept the TV off for most of the following weekend and heavily filtered the radio and just stuck close to home. We knew there was a chance he'd overhear something and we were prepared to address the issue if it came up, but were hoping it wouldn't. And so far it hasn't. We did ask him about various drills they have at school and if he knows what to do in case of various emergencies (fire, earthquake, tsunami, and yes - lockdown). We were relieved to hear him tell us exactly what to do in each of those situations and he seemed very well prepared. He already knew what each of those emergencies were and what his school's protocol is (and he didn't seem to think it was weird that we wanted to talk about this either). So anyway...this is why I didn't dwell on the topic in Project Life. I included a poignant quote from Mr. Rogers courtesy of Cathy Zielske (freebie on her blog) in the bottom left pocket, and did a little journaling on the back of that card to serve as a future reminder of my feelings about the day - but hidden from sensitive young eyes for now.

And now moving on to Week 51. The whole week, including an extra insert that holds Dean's Letter to Santa, which was pretty funny (I had to tell him that I made a copy to send to Santa and kept the original just in case it got lost in the mail).

On the left side of Week 51, I included the back side of our Christmas Card in the top right pocket. Joel's Mom and Stepdad (Grandma Jo and Grandpa CR) got here this week, and I also included a Christmas drawing Dean did (one of my very favorite things to add to Project Life).

And the right side of Week 51. A trip to the Garden of Eden on the East side of Maui, dipping pretzels (my personal favorite holiday treat), new house shoes for me, and Book Club, as well as a  "Currently" journal card to just capture what life looks like during the holiday season.

And finally...Week 52 - the LAST WEEK OF 2012!!! I did include an insert this week, but here's a look at the spread with the insert removed (the front and back of the insert can be seen at the end of the post)

 

This was the week of Christmas. Lots going on. Kiwi Crate non-gingerbread-house decorating, Cookies for Santa, and our traditional Christmas Eve at the beach.

The front of the insert covered Christmas Eve at my Mom's (Tutu's) house in the evening. Family friend Jayci was there too and we walked down to the beach for sunset before opening gifts. Lots of journaling this week. Some typed directly onto digi journaling cards before printing, some handwritten. I really don't like my handwriting AT ALL, but I try to make a point to include it every week. You know you can always recognize your Mom's handwriting instantly, and I feel very strongly that having my handwriting in these albums - no matter how much I may dislike the way it looks - will make them that much more special in the future for Dean and future generations.

The back of the extra insert with a favorite picture of Dean and my Mom in front of her "fire" DVD - so funny! She insists on playing this DVD every Christmas Eve the whole evening for "ambiance", even though it's 80 degrees outside! And everyone swears that "fire" makes it unbearably hot in there, but she refuses to turn the TV off! Says it wouldn't be Christmas without a "fire" on the TV!!! ha!

And the right side of the layout with our hilarious Christmas PJ photo that is intended to poke fun of those perfect Hanna Anderson catalog families that are so super annoying...Joel loved it (ha!). Some journaling about Christmas morning and a photo of our Christmas afternoon walk on the beach. Then a couple of photos from later in the week and it was DONE!

So that's it. Project Life 2012 is complete. I have to say that this has by far been the most rewarding project I have EVER done. I started out the year planning to fill an album and ended up needing 3 albums by the time it was all said and done. (yes, THREE). I was a little disappointed about that - I'm planning to do Project Life forever and the thought of 30+ years of 3 albums per year makes me a little nauseous. Where in the world will I put all of those albums?? But I'm sure as Dean gets older, I'll eventually have less extra "stuff" to add to them. I definitely could have made my albums less bulky this year by not using any thickers, but I really liked the way they look and so will probably continue that, although I do have a different plan for my "Week of" card each week that will be less roomy. I also added lots of inserts in the form of Dean's artwork and various pieces of schoolwork that I wanted to keep. I feel like I was pretty selective about what I kept. On average, there's probably an extra insert about every 2-3 weeks. And at some point I may figure out a different system for storing these items, but for now I really like having them chronologically in these albums in the same place as the photos of him at the time in his life when he created those pieces of memorabilia. So for now, it looks like 3 albums per year is what it will be. We'll see if I can trim it down to 2 next year, but I seriously doubt it. I'm OK with that. Project Life is what you make it, whatever works for YOU and this is what works for ME and I LOVE it. So who else is doing Project Life in 2013? Are you blogging it? If so, please let me know and leave me a link to your blog. I'd love to check it out and add you to my reader!!

Project Life 2012 Weeks 48 & 49

Well hi there and Happy (belated) New Year! I'm happy to say that I've already got a good start on my 2013 Project Life Album and am hoping to share my first week with you in the next few days. But in the meantime, I thought I'd first share a few of the final weeks of my 2012 Album, starting with Weeks 48 & 49.

First up, Week 48, which covered November 25 to December 1. This was the week we went on a little mini vacation to Oahu over a long weekend to celebrate Dean's 6th birthday (which was the following week) and my Mom's birthday. I already mentioned that I don't do a Photo-a-Day approach with Project Life and my Week 48 spread only covered our 4-day trip to Oahu. I didn't take very many photos before our trip and the trip was such a major part of our week and I had too many great photos not to use them all! That's the great thing about Project Life, I just make it work for me each week. So anyway, here's the whole week:

 

On the left side of the page I included a piece of a small paper bag from the gift shop at the resort. We stayed at Disney's new Aulani Resort & Spa on Oahu and it was AWESOME. We arrived Thursday morning and stayed through Sunday afternoon and had a great time. We didn't even rent a car and just stayed at the resort the entire time (when you already live in Hawaii, you don't feel the need to do all the "tourist" things and staycations are more about the resort and relaxing and playing in the pools anyway!).  We had an amazing ocean-view 1-bedroom villa that was directly above all the pools (see 2nd 3x4 photo from the left for a photo of the view from our lanai). We had fun playing in the pools, going down the slides, Dean snorkled in Rainbow Reef, and even Tutu couldn't resist all the slide fun!! I used lots of Studio Calico goodies from a couple of recent kits on this layout as well as some of their digi printables.

On the right side, I couldn't resist adding a Koa Wood postcard I picked up in the giftshop that was too cute! And more fun pictures from the weekend. A couple of the highlights from the trip were Dean losing his first tooth while we were there. Also, be sure to notice the picture of Dean with Minnie Mouse...Dean is NOT a fan of costumes or people dressed up as characters. When we went to Disneyland in May, he wanted absolutely NOTHING to do with the characters (honestly, I was kind of OK with this, I've never understand waiting in *that* particular line and was happy to avoid that). Aulani is much less over-the-top "Disney-ish" - very tastefully Hawaiiana, but you do see some of the main Disney characters walking around in Aloha wear every now and then. Dean once again was not impressed. However, at breakfast Minnie kept flirting with him and he finally caved and let her give him a hug! He was SO HESITANT, but overcame his fear / anxiety / whatever it is that creeps him out about those characters and even let me snap this photo! Proud Mom Moment right there!

So that was it for Week 48. Moving on to Week 49...December 2nd to 8th. This was the week of Dean's birthday and most of the layout covers various celebrating.

On the left side of the page there's a group photo of us as we get ready to leave Aulani on Sunday afternoon (My PL weeks cover Sunday through Saturday. I'm OK with splitting up my weekend. If an event covers the whole weekend, I just decide which week I want to cover it in and then go with it. And sometimes, like this week, I'll let it spill over into the following week. I'm OK with that. But I like my weeks to start on Sunday - Sunday is the day we prepare for the work / school week, and it just feels like where things should start). I also photographed my first Peppermint Hot Chocolate from Starbucks of the season. And there's a little bit about the small celebration we had at school for Dean by way of 2 instagrams, including a shot of the goodie bags I made for all of his classmates.

And on the right side, more birthday fun - we didn't have a real party for Dean. The last few years we've given him the choice between a party with a bunch of friends or a weekend staycation at a fancy resort and he chose the resort (bonus for him that we, along with Tutu, decided to splurge and go to Oahu this year). It probably ends up being only slightly more expensive than a party once things are all said and done, but this way there's no stress of planning a party in between Thanksgiving and Christmas - and Joel & I actually get to relax and enjoy ourselves too! So on his actual birthday (Dec 6th), he wanted to go to dinner at Genki Sushi, then we just had cake at home with the 3 of us. There are also photos from his school's Winterfest event (SO FUN!) and our trip to see our local Maui Academy of Performing Art's production of the Nutcracker.

And that wraps up Weeks 48 and 49. I'll probably go ahead and share the last week or 2 of 2012 before I share Week 1 of 2013. I'm so excited to be starting this project again!!

Project Life 2012 Week 36

Well, I wasn't really planning on blogging again until I was ready to share my first Project Life post of 2013, but I've been so proud of myself for staying all caught up in 2012 and I'm *almost* done with my album (I just put the finishing touches on Week 51, so only one more week to go and my 2012 Albums are ALL DONE!!). I doubt I'll ever get around to sharing all of my 2012 layouts, but I thought I'd go ahead and share a few more while I'm waiting on the goodies I've ordered - and plan on ordering - for 2013 to arrive. So since my last share was Week 35, how about a look at my Week 36?

This was the week of Sept 2 to Sept 8 and it was a fun and busy week around here. Here's what the entire 2-page spread looks like, minus a couple of inserts - I added two 8.5x11 inserts to this week - they contain some drawings of Space stuff that Dean did (specifically Stingray Nebula and a few different galaxies...I know....weird) as well as a photo I took of some artwork that was hanging up on the wall of his classroom when we attended Open House this week. I'm hoping I'll eventually replace the photo with the actual physical artwork at the end of the school year when we receive his Art Portfolio (last year when he brought home his Kindergarten Art Portfolio I think I added about 20-25 more inserts of artwork into my album - I just took the ones I wanted to keep out of his Portfolio and put them straight into the appropriate week of Project Life and then tossed the Portfolio, no need for extra folders laying around).

And a closer look at the left side of the page. I think I've mentioned before that I do NOT do a Photo-a-Day approach to Project Life. I just takes photos of the things that matter to me, some weeks I have only photos from the weekend because nothing really happened but school and work during the week (and then I'll journal about that fact) and I find myself scrambling to fill in a lot of empty pockets OR I have like 7 pictures from the same trip to the beach or park. Those weeks are usually the weeks that I tend to fill in holes with other things about our current life - like what are we watching on TV, reading, eating a lot of, etc. I'll sometimes try to find stock images of these things online and fill in space with them. It still gives a nice overview of our life. (You'll see an example of this with the Boardwalk Empire photo on the right side of this week's spread). Anyway...this week didn't need much "filler". It was pretty busy. We had a fun sunset BBQ at a friend's beachside condo's pool, there was lots of playtime going on, and lots of time was spent watching the Democratic National Convention.

And the right side. Photos from a fun day at the park and a Family Game Night as well as one of those stock images found online of a new TV show we started watching that week (on DVD). Photos from First Grade Open House and a Beach Adventure. I journaled about Open House as well as my favorite moments from the DNC.

And that's it for Week 36. I'm not really sure how many people read these Project Life posts, so for now I'm not going to include product links. But if there's a product you see me use that you have questions about, please ask and I'll post a link. If I start getting a lot of questions, I'll start adding product links.

Also, sorry for the fuzzy photos. Something happened during resizing / saving, but I'm too lazy to retake the photos!! :-)

December SFYTT

Hi There! It's been awhile, huh? Today's post is one with a couple of important announcements, so stay tuned for those. I haven't posted in a few weeks and I missed the first Team Post for the December SFYTT because we were on a little mini vacation on Oahu. But I'm back, which brings me to the first announcement...I'm sure most of you stampers have heard by now that this is the Final SFYTT - yes final as in EVER! After years of fabulous inspiration, Jen has decided to take a break from the sketches. So how about a look at that final sketch?

For my card, I decided to pull out my all-time favorite Verve set, Happy Days, as well as some patterned paper from the Seen and Noted collection from Pebbles. I added some splattered ink and a few wood veneer stars and called it good.

So this brings me to my second announcement, which is really hard for me to make, but I've been putting it off for several weeks now and it's time. After several amazing years as a DT member for Verve, I recently stepped down, which was a super hard decision to make. Right now I'm just wanting to spend more time with my family and less time blogging. I still love Julee and Verve and all of the wonderfully talented Divas, but I'll just be going back to being a really good customer.

I'll also probably be posting a lot less frequently in 2013 than I have in the past. Well, actually, probably about the same as I have the last couple of months as I've already pretty much cut back on that. Most of what you'll see from me will be Project Life posts (I'll just start fresh with that in 2013) and the occasional card here and there, but I'm no longer on any DTs, so no more deadlines or blog hops. I do have one Guest DT gig lined up in a few months, but other than that things will be pretty mellow around here.

OK, back to the December SFYTT... Each month this year, as in years past, we've had some amazing sponsors. This month, Splitcoast Stampers is offering up a full one year fan club membership to the winner of the SFYTT 2012 Christmas Day Giveaway! Have you participated in all 12 months of SFYTT this year? If so, you're eligible to win the Grand Prize! The winner will receive $20 gift certificates from EACH of this year’s sponsors, as well as a one year membership to SCS. TWELVE prizes total! All of the details can be found HERE on Jen's Blog. Here's a list of all of this year's sponsors:

The Cat’s Pajamas
Your Next Stamp
The Craft’s Meow
There She Goes
Skipping Stones
Lil’ Inker Designs
My Favorite Things
Verve Stamps
Kraftin’ Kimmie
Market Street Stamps

Whew! That's a lot of stuff in one blog post!!  Be sure to stop by these other SFYTT Sisters' blogs to see what they're sharing today with this month's sketch!

Jen del Muro
Carole Burrage 
Jodi Collins
Susan Liles
Tracy Schultz

OK, that's it from me. Enjoy your weekend everyone!

November SFYTT Reminder

Just a reminder that there are only a few days left to play along with the November Sketch For You To Try! And don't forget about our fabulous sponsor this month, Sweet Stamp Shop!  Here's a final look at this month's sketch:

And a look back at my November SFYTT creations with links to my original blog posts for product details. First up is this Thanksgiving card that amazingly actually got mailed!!

And next is this Joy to the World card using a beautiful Verve Plain Jane stamp:

All details and upload information can be found on Jen's blog. I hope you find time to play along this month!

November SFYTT Post #2

It's the 3rd Saturday of November and that means it's time for some more Sketch For You To Try Inspiration from a few of the SFYTT Sisters! Have you had a chance to play along with this month's sketch yet? You've got until November 30th at midnight, so there's still plenty of time to create something and it's a SUPER fun sketch this month! And don't forget we have another amazing sponsor this month - Sweet Stamp Shop!

First, let's take another look at this month's sketch:

I decided to pull out one of my favorite Verve holiday stamps and create a simple Christmas Card:

I used papers from Lawn Fawn's Fa La La Collection and some pom pom trim,but I forgot to put my half circle thing down before I glued on the trim, so unfortunately you can see a little gap in there where I couldn't smoosh the circle in under the trim. Oh well! The card's most likely just going to family, and I know they won't mind, so I decided to just leave it. Sometimes little mistakes like that are just OK and this one was definitely not worth redoing the whole card over! So anyway, how about that awesome stamp, huh? That is the super cute Joy Plain Jane from Verve. I love it and do not use it nearly enough.

Be sure to stop by these other SFYTT Sisters' blogs to see what they're sharing today with this month's sketch!

Jen del Muro
Carole Burrage 
Jodi Collins
Susan Liles
Tracy Schultz

OK, that's it from me. Enjoy your weekend everyone!

Project Life 2012 Week 35

How about another Project Life share? This week's layout just happens to be one of a handful of my favorites so far this year. I'm not sure why. Maybe it's the simplicity of it, or the neutral colors. But I love the way it looks in my album.

This was the week of Aug 26 to Sept 1. An exciting week around here - The True Blood Season Finale, Dean's lady friend was here visiting from Canada, I was working hard on a volunteer project at Dean's school, and it was the football season opener for mine and Joel's alma mater - the University of Oklahoma (Boomer Sooner!). Here's a better look at the left side of the layout:

I hate photos of myself. I think I might be the most unphotogenic person who ever lived and I'd like to think I actually look better than this in real life. But someday Dean (and possibly even me) will be glad I'm in these photos. So there I am. I absolutely LOVE the series of four 3x4 cards on this side of the page...

On the right side of the page are a few more photos and a bit more journaling:

I specifically journaled about Dean's love of making up gymnastics floor routines and performing them for us while my Mom provides commentary. It's HILARIOUS.

And that's it for Week 35. I'll try to share a few more weeks with you this weekend if I can. I'm currently finishing up Weeks 44 and getting started on Week 45 - I told you I've stayed caught up! I still haven't figured out how I'm going to tackle both PL AND December Daily, but I'm determined to do both. My December Daily album from last year has remained put away with the Holiday decorations and I plan to only pull out DD albums around the holidays, but I want to have December represented in my Project Life albums as well - maybe more of the everyday, but less of the Holiday theme?? Still not sure...

Verve Diva Inspirations November 2012 Blog Hop

It's November 5th and that means it's time for another Verve Divas Inspirations Blog Hop! On the 5th of each month, the Verve Divas Inspirations Team along with some of the Release Team will be sharing creations using some of our favorite Verve sets from both past and present, and as always, there are PRIZES!!

You can start the hop at the beginning on the Verve Blog and continue on through each fabulous blog - be sure to leave a little comment love along the way and you just might win some Verve goodies of your own! If you arrived here from the talented Jen d's blog, then you're on the right track! Just in case, here's a look at the Master Hop List:

	1. Betty	7. Susan
	2. Jen d.	8. Andrea
	3. Jen T.	9. Charmaine
	4. Julee	10. Janelle
	5. Sankari	11. Maureen
	6. Sony	12. Teresa

My Grandmother's birthday is next week and I need to get her gift in the mail, so I whipped up a fun birthday card that I know she'll love (She's my grandma. Honestly, I could have probably smeared mud on a piece of cardstock and she'd tell me it was beautiful, but still...I decided to go ahead and try to make it cute anyway! LOL). 

I used pulled out some of my favorite neglected Verve sets to play with this time around. That fun birthday sentiment is from the Making a Statement set, which has sentiments for so many different occasions! I also used my Loopy Blooms die to cut out a cute little felt flower because it felt like it needed a little something on the left side of that circle when I was finished. Isn't that a fun sketch? I played along with this week's Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge and just LOVE this one! All of the patterned papers are from the Seen & Noted Collection by Pebbles (one of my new faves - can't wait to use these in Project Life!).

That's it from me today. Julee is next up on the hop, so head on over to see what kind of fabulousness she's created and then keep on hopping along! Thanks for stopping by! Don't forget to stop by the Verve Blog as well to check out the new specials going on this month as well as the amazing New Release stamps that were added last week!! Believe me, you won't want to miss them!!

November 2012 SFYTT

Well, here we are again already - first Saturday of the month and time for another fabulous Sketch For You to Try!! I hope you all had a chance to play along with us last month - Lots of exciting things in store for participants of the monthly SFYTT this year, including a chance to win another fabulous huge prize package at the end of the year!! All of the details can be found on today's post over on Jen's blog, with some of the details outlined in the "In a Nutshell" graphic at the end of this post. We have another amazing sponsor this month - Sweet Stamp Shop!

First, here's a look at this month's fun sketch:

I actually stuck to the sketch pretty closely this month. I needed a couple more fall-ish cards, so decided to use the sketch to create one more...

I kept things super simple and this card came together really quickly. I used the new (to me) Harvest Lane collection from Simple Stories for all of the patterned paper on this card - love the soft fall colors of this collection! I also pulled out some neglected PTI stamps and dies (I think it's called Gobble Gobble?). Seriously, done in like 20 minutes - my kind of card!

Be sure to stop by the rest of the SFYTT Sisters' blogs to see what they've done with this month's sketch! And a very warm welcome to our Designer of the Month, Nicole Sison. Don't forget to stop by her blog to see what she's created as well.

Jen del Muro
Amber Hight
Amy Sheffer
Becky Carafa
Carole Burrage
Jodi Collins
Kerry Johnson
Megan Lock
Susan Liles
Tracy Schultz

 

Project Life 2012 Week 34

It's been awhile since I posted a Project Life update, so I thought I'd try to post a few layouts the next few weeks. I'm still staying caught up and hoping to stay caught up at least through the end of November as we head into the Holiday Season. I'm planning to do another December Daily this year, so I'm trying to figure out how to tackle both DD and Project Life. I do want to do both, but I imagine Project Life wil be much more simple - I don't do a Photo-a-Day with PL now, so I may just continue to hit the weekly highlights in PL and focus more on the daily things in DD. I don't know. Any tips for tackling both projects? This is my 2nd year doing December Daily and my first year doing Project Life, so we'll just have to see how it goes.

Anyway, here's a look at Week 34, which covered August 19-August 25.

 A lot of fun stuff going on around here that week. Here's a closer look at the left side of the page. Dean got a new Kiwi Crate in the mail - we LOVE these things by the way. Dean gets SO EXCITED when he sees that green box each month! I included a few photos of him working on his robot project from the August Kiwi Crate. I also started reading my Book Club pick for August that week and snapped a photo of my Kindle and favorite salad at lunch one day - a very "everyday" picture that I like to include every now and then.

I took a few close-up shots of some of my favorite things from this week. I think this quote from Dean is so funny! As far as I know he has no idea what Facebook is, but he obviously has overheard me use the words "Facebook friends" in conversation, and I must have been doing a lot of talking about True Blood that week! ha!

One of the things I love most about Project Life is that it's helping me save little snippets of Dean's writing and drawings. I cut out this little poem he wrote on a random piece of paper and attached it to a 4x6 card and slipped it into a pocket! LOVE THAT.

 
And here's a closer look at the right side of the page. I think the big highlight of the week was Thursday night when Joel surprised me with (FREE) entrance into a benefit concert at the opening of Mick Fleetwood's new restaurant on Front Street in Lahaina. I am a HUGE Aerosmith fan and Steven Tyler was teaming up with Mick Fleetwood, Johnny Lang, local favorite Willie K., and others to perform for a very very small crowd. But tickets were $500 per person, which was a little out of our price range(!). But on a small island like Maui, sometimes it pays to know the right people and Joel just happened to know someone who was able to hook us up! It was AMAZING. The tickets included dinner and drinks and an amazing concert - we were SO CLOSE to the stage (even closer than the time a few years ago when I had front row seats to Aerosmith when Kiss opened for them!). Steven Tyler even touched me when he walked through the crowd at one point, squeezing between me and another person (it was a tight squeeze, so it was a full-body brush-up - I was LOVING it!!). Joel was behind me just pushing me further into him, giving me a big thumbs up! He's such a supportive husband - gotta love him! ;-) Anyway, so that experience takes up a big part of Project Life Week 34 as you can imagine!

But I did save some room for more Dean cuteness. Here's a close-up of Dean and his lady friend Shalin after school one day and Dean being super giggly on the couch. Love that kid.

Any other Project Lifers out there?