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.

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!

Project Life 2013, Week 9

Have I mentioned how much I love this project? I have? Well I do!

This was one of those weeks that is a perfect example of how I don't take a photo-a-day, but I feel like I have the perfect number of photos in my layout. I have 4 "everyday" photos and then 3 photos from the same beach trip on Sunday and then 4 photos from our adventure to the U-Pick Strawberry Patch on Saturday. So 2 days fill up the majority of the spread, but if I think back on our week, those 2 days were definitely the most memorable - so should get a little more layout real estate if you ask me. And I really like how this spread came together. Another bright and colorful week, but with no particular color scheme, just how I like 'em!

I also thought I would take a minute to talk cameras. While I do have a fairly nice dSLR camera, I haven't used it in MONTHS. For real. I don't have an iPhone either. I have a Samsung Galaxy SIII that I use to take 99.999% of my photos these days. No, not all of them are perfect, but they're good enough for me. I'm not a good enough photographer to want to lug around my dSLR all the time and honestly, I'm a bad enough photographer that I never take my good camera out of auto mode anyway, so I seriously can't tell much difference between the photos I take with it and the photos I take with my phone. The only difference is that I do notice that when I try to zoom in a lot on my phone, I lose more quality than I would if I zoomed in with my good camera. If we go on a trip or something, I'll take my good camera. But otherwise, I just don't mess with it. I'm sure Joel thinks this is a huge waste of money, but whatever. I'm still glad I have the dSLR, but I'm way more glad for the convenience of my phone's pretty great camera. Yes, I wish I had the time to learn more about my dSLR and become a better photographer, but I just don't. It's been on my "To-Do" list for years. It was on the list with my last 2 good dSLR cameras. Somehow I just don't think it's going to happen. And that's OK. 20 years from now I'm not going to care that all of my photos don't look like they were taken by a professional. The photos from my childhood for sure don't look professional! And I don't care about that at all. The memories captured in those photos are what's important. And that's why I'm doing this project. Every now and then when I see others' PL spreads with these amazing photos that look very professional, I feel a little twinge of envy. But then I see my son looking through my albums and I remember why I'm doing this. Just thought I'd share in case any of you sometimes feel the same. :-).

Looking at the left side of the layout, I used a 4x6 card from the Seafoam kit along with another printed circle from the Word Art Titles from September Blue on my "anchor card" again this week. (you'll be seeing something totally different on my anchor card from Week 10, so stay tuned). In the top right pocket, I used a Day to Day Tiny Tag from Elle's Studio, adhered directly onto the left edge of my 4x6 photo for journaling. I added a day of the week stamp (retired from Studio Calico) as well as a bicycle from the Abroad Transportation Wood Veneer from Studio Calico for embellishment. The "Love This" 3x4 filler card is from the February Studio Calico Project Life kit.

 Taking a look at the right side of the layout, where there are lots of photos from our trip to the Kula Country Farms U-Pick Strawberry Patch (if you're ever visiting Maui and driving along Kula Highway upcountry, do make a stop at Kula Country Farms farm stand - they have fabulous locally grown produce at great prices and a DELICIOUS food truck - I'm partial to the Keiki Slider made with Maui grown grass fed beef and waffle fries - only $6 - a steal on Maui!). I used a few different printables by Geralyn Sy - available in her In a Creative Bubble store - on this side.

And that's it for Week 9. So what do you think?

Also, I just found out that Google Reader is going away on July 1. So annoyed. I use Google Reader to get my blog fix every single day. I'd love suggestions for another reader. Do you use Google Reader? What will you use now? I don't even know what other options are out there!

Project Life 2013, Week 8

Moving right along to Week 8. It was a fun week with lots of Everyday Life photos - nothing special at all.

As is becoming my standard each week, I used a few things from my Seafoam kit, a few things from my Studio Calico PL kit, and a few printables. I'm finding that these more bright & colorful weeks tend to be my faves.

On the left side of the layout, I used a 4x6 Seafoam card for my "Anchor Card" along with a printed circle from the Word Art Titles from September Blue (they coordinate with the Seafoam Kit).  I also used a few printables (the calendar and the "instagrammed" card) from Geralyn Sy's In A Creative Bubble shop (I just snagged her newest release today too - LOVE it!). On the bottom right 4x6 photo, I used a few different things to create an embellishment cluster. I love those Weekday Badges and have been hoarding them for awhile (finally starting to use them! - and they are currently 30% off at 2Peas). That "Wednesday" stamp is an old retired SC stamp set that I love. There's also a printable SC label with the date stamped on it using a roller date stamp from the office supply store. Finally, I added a strip of Green Stars washi (currently 25% off!). And finally the alpha stickers I used for "Game Night" are from the Letters Sn@p Stickers by Simple Stories.

On the right side of the page, I used a lot less embellishments. I love the Hello Labels No 2 by Katie Pertiet that I used with the instagram of my cat climbing through the screen that he broke (the 3rd one actually!). And I used Ali Edwards' 365 Days Photo and Journal Overlays again on the picture of Dean and his friend painting. And finally, another week in review card from Cathy Zielske's Layered Journal Cards No. 1. And that's it! Another week is in the album.

Project Life 2013, Week 7

Love the way Week 7 turned out! (Do I say that every week?). There was a definite "red" theme going on, with Valentine's Day happenings and general feeling of family love. Here's a look at the whole week:

The week started off with a hike in the Makawao Forest Reserve Upcountry and I used one of Ali Edwards' 365 Days Photo and Journal Overlays on my favorite photo of Dean on a log. (you can also purchase those overlays in individual monthly packs, but I use them so much that I bought the whole year). I couldn't wait to watch the last few episodes of Downton Abbey, so I cheated and bought the Season 3 DVD at Barnes and Noble and watched them a few weeks before it aired on TV here in the US. Love that show!

Still on the left side of the page, in that far right 3x4 pocket, I used a few different fun new items to embellish an instagram photo of the sign at the trailhead of our hike. That fun geotag wood veneer is from the Punctuation Snippets Wood Veneer set by Studio Calico. I recently bought several new stamp sets from Evalicious and that Remember This Label stamp is getting lots of use in my project life! I'm also finding myself reaching for the Oh Happy Day stamp. And I used my Pink Micro Monogram alpha stickers from Basic Grey again this week- on both sides of the layout. And the Twenty13 Calendar card is printed from a digi file by Robyn Meierotto.

 On the right side of the age, I used a few different Cathy Zielske items - the 3x4 Tiny Template, the Week in Review card that I use quite often, and then the "Always love You" filler card from J-Cards No. 7. I also used some Black / White Label Maker Phrases sticker from Pebbles on both sides of this layout (I've had those in my stash forever and am finally putting them to good use!).

Overall super super happy with this one! Still loving this project!

YNS - Tasty Tuesday

Well, as the month of February is quickly winding down, my Guest DT gig with Your Next Stamp will soon be coming to an end. Once again, today I'm joining the Your Next Stamp Design Team for a fun new Challenge they're doing this year - Tasty Tuesday Challenge! If you're new to YNS, you can find all the Tasty Tuesday Challenge details HERE.  Basically, it's an inspiration challenge using a photo from Pinterest. There's a new inspiration photo each month, and every Tuesday different YNS DT members share their own creations over on the YNS blog to get your creative juices flowing.

Here's a look at the February inspiration photo:

Drawing inspiration from the colors in the photos, I grabbed some older October Afternoon papers from my stash and a new YNS stamp set and whipped up this fun birthday card:

I used the Fancy Frame Set, which has a fabulous Matching Die (unfortunately, my ancient Big Shot decided to bite the dust just a few days ago and my new one hasn't come in yet, so I had to go through the tedious task of fussy cutting my fancy frame. But I can't wait to use that matching die!). This set would make it so easy to create a gift set of all-occasion cards!

Be sure to stop by the YNS Blog today to see what the regular DT members have created using the inspiration photo!

I hope you'll play along with us this month! Simply create your own card (or cards - you can enter as many times as you'd like) based on the inspiration photo and link them up using the linky thing on THIS POST for a chance to win some YNS goodies!

YNS Fun Friday - VACATION!

I'm back again this final Aloha Friday of February, playing along with the Your Next Stamp team in their Fun Friday Vacation themed post today. Once again, I stuck close to home with my creation - using the super cute Kai from Hawaii stamp:

Isn't he adorable? I've played with him before and colored him almost exactly the same. But he reminds me so much of my own little surfer dude, Dean, that I just can't help it! I paired him with patterned papers from the new Here & There collection by Studio Calico and added a wood veneer speech bubble as embellishment and that's it. Super simple.

You can check out all of today's Fun Friday posts over on the Your Next Stamp blog. Thanks for stopping by!

Project Life 2013, Week 6

I was really happy with the way this week turned out. I had very few photos from Week 6 and really struggled at first with filling all those pockets. But once I was done, it ended up being one of my favorite weeks so far. Funny how that works, huh? This was the week we {mostly} finished up the floors, so Dean and I were still at my Mom's the first part of the week, then the house was such a mess the rest of the week and our normal routine was just so out of whack. I included a couple of Dean's drawings this week - one of them you can see I added to an 8.5x11 page protector as an extra insert. I absolutely LOVE this drawing because it is just SO DEAN right now. It's very analytical, it's some kind of "Tree Chart" where he drew pictures of different types of trees (I'm pretty sure most of them are just made up as I've never heard of them), and then labeled them with colored dots as to their different characteristics. He put them into different categories such as "fruiting", "pine", "rare", and (my favorite) "wormy". So cute!

On the left side of the page I once again changed up my "Anchor Card" a bit. I used a chipboard number that came in (I think) my January Studio Calico scrapbook kit. I also printed a filler card that's basically just a quote card I found on pinterest.  The February calendar is from the Photo Freedom Vol. 1 Calendars 12x12 by Echo Park. The background paper for my Anchor Card is from the Seafoam Project Life Kit. And that cute "Daily Details" stamp in the bottom right pocket? That's from the Daily Details 4x6 Stamp set by Elle's Studio. I also used a few other random things from my Studio Calico Project Life and Scrapbook kits from January.

On the right side of the page, because I needed filler, I talked a bit about the latest book I read for Book Club (interesting read if you're looking for something. Very different). Used lots of alpha stickers from Studio Calico. A filler card (It's been a Long Week) from Phrase Cards 2 by Cathy Zielske. I also used these Black 6x12 Micro Monogram sticker alphas from Basic Grey. I've been using these stickers more and more lately and have them in several colors - Pink, White, Grey, etc. They're a great deal at just $1.50 a sheet because they come with SO many of each letter, and that smaller size is perfect for Project Life (I like using them on my 3x4 cards). You can also see that I added a clothing tag from one of Dean's new shirts to one of my 3x4 pockets this week for additional filler as well as a selfie I normally would never include of my teeth. But I've been dealing with taking care of some long overdue dental work the past month (to upgrade a cosmetic procedure to deal with a badly chipped front tooth that I got by falling off my bike and landing on my face on concrete when I was 9 years old - very traumatic! It was way past time to have this tooth re-done as the last bond or whatever it was they did back then hadn't been redone since I was a teenager - like 20 years ago - and it was badly stained. So yeah, as much as I have dreaded it and put it off for years, it's good to get it done and taken care of. Even though my bank account isn't too happy about it!! Cosmetic dental work is EXPENSIVE!).

 And that's it for Week 6. Initially a struggle because of a shortage of photos, but ended up being a favorite!