Nihao, Cupcake!

My Trick for Keeping Up with ProjectLife {Jan 22-28}

Even though I feel like I am scrambling to keep up with Project Life, I am still keeping to my commitment behind the scenes anyway. My original plan was to post the past weeks photos on Monday and then on Tuesday post my finished album pages from two weeks previous. I am having a tough posting my photos. But that doesn't mean I'm not rating them, editing them and uploading them to Flickr for back-up. And then finally uploading them to Snapfish and getting the prints delivered to my home. The last part takes a little longer because I live here, in Beijing. 

At first that was really throwing a wrench into my plans to keep up with my album. It is hard for me to put everything else in without photos. I could rush things and use photos SOOC (Straight Out of Camera), but that is just not my style. Photography is my first LOVE so drab, dark photos just wouldn't make me happy. Therefore, I need that extra time. And I only edit photos that I am actually going to use.

Have you figured out yet, my solution for still going forward with my album? I mentioned it in my post on Sunday for the Project Life blog hop.

I am printing out my photos in B&W on ordinary paper. This saves on ink and paper. The first time I did this, I made the mistake of printing them in color. Printer ink is expensive as it is, but here in China it is so expensive that it is silly. I don't print my own photos because I am not happy with the quality, I have read that they don't hold up as well over time and as I mentioned before, the ink here is ridiculously expensive and photo paper is unavailable. 

I bring it from home, but that takes up lots of space and weight in the luggage and then when it is gone, it is GONE! And I do like to print my own photos every once in a while.

Anyway, now you know! Perhaps this trick may help other people who don't print their own photos or who like to order prints in bulk. If I order more than 100 prints at a time, I don't have to pay for delivery. That makes it worth the wait for me.  

I hope you enjoyed my Project Life album layouts for the week of Jan 22. My favorite part of the week (as far as the album goes) is that I added a couple of embellishments to the card behind the apple juice carton (that is what the little yellow-ish card is with the Chinese writing on it). I don't typically do things like that, but it is a fun surprise for anyone who pulls it out. I also added a little tab to it so it would be more noticeable. The folding journal cards in the new kits don't come with tabs. I miss that, so I am adding my own.

What is your favorite thing you did this week in your Project Life album? Tell me in the comments.

PROJECT LIFE BLOG HOP

On March 5, Jill will be hosting another Project Life Blog Hop. If you are interested in joining, send her an email at jillconyers @ gmail (dot) com and tell her MARGIE sent you! I will be sharing my photo work flow that I use for Project Life. I hope you'll stop back by then.

You may want to check out these Project Life posts:

Reason #257 Why I LOVE Project Life (tell me why YOU love Project Life)

Feb 5 Project Life Blog Hop

 

OTHER COOL SCRAPBOOK EVENTS AROUND THE WEB 

 

Ali Edwards announced today that she will be doing a Day in the Life (just like Week in the Life but for ONE DAY) on Wednesday this week. Since I can never resist this type of challenge, I will be documenting my WEDNESDAY (that is tomorrow). She has a free download to help track your day.

 

 

ANOTHER TRUE SCRAP event is coming in April!! HURRAY!

True Scrap 3 has a great line up of teachers. Some of my favorites from Spawn of True Scrap are back, like Noell Hyman and Kelli Crowe. And Becky Higgins is the keynote interview. Awesome!

Some links are affiliate links.

More Project Life Layout Catch Up...

Another spread from summer. I can't believe the time has passed so quickly. I feel like I just did all these things and collected all of these little bits of memorabilia. It was the week after A Week in the Life so I was in the habit of collecting everything & taking lots of photos! 

How easy is it to slip the ticket from the circus in with a photo from that day? It's also simple to punch a hole through the packaging of a toy...

...flip it over and write your story on the back side. I do find that I run out of room on the journaling cards, so writing right on the packaging is a great way to get additional writing space. I espcially find this is true if I use the journaling pocket pages for photos, receipts, tickets, etc. Adding journaling spots directly on to the photos also gives more space. 

Of course writing directly on your photos helps too, but I have yet to find a pen that I love. Those Sharpie fine point paint pens are great but they are so hard to find! And they run out so quickly.

I'll share more tomorrow. And since it is Tuesday, I'll be posting my photos from last week and hopefully my Project Life layout from Week 2 2012 (haven't gotten my photos printed yet, so we'll see if I can do it)!

Thanks for stopping by.

2012 Project Life :: 366 {Catching Up with the Photos}

I haven't posted any daily photos since we left Beijing on December 15, so I am catching up today! ENJOY!

 

December 10, 2011

This seemed to me like the sweetest horse. He was a bit leery of me but at the same time seemed sweet. Once I was close to him to take a few photos, I notice how tired, and mangy he looked. Then I noticed his back left foot. Do you see how he isn't putting any weight on it? Poor guy. It means his food is injured and he obviously has a long way to go to get home. This photo was taken at the very center of Beijing. It takes a long time to get out of the city from here by horse!

 

December 11, 2011

Looking over old drawings they have saved in their three ring binders especially for favorite drawings.

 

 

December 12, 2011

We decorated the gingerbread house the night before (and waited until morning for the good light, to take the photo). It is always a very fun family activity. We got the kit at Ikea. It was the first year they offered them at the store in Beijing. Christmas stuff gets more plentiful every year in the capital.

 

 

December 13, 2011

Braden has several friends who ride on his bus and who also live in our apartment complex. Therefore, we often have friends come over to play after school. If I have some extra cupcakes in the freezer, I sometimes let the boys do some DIY cupcake decorating. Braden's friend had already eaten his cupcake, and the one he is holding he made lovingly for his little sister.

 

December 14, 2011

The first grade curriculum included exploring other cultures so on this morning, they invited parents to come to the school and teach the children about their own cultures through games, songs and other activities. The morning was finished off with a huge spread of foods from all over the world. Braden asked me to bring Rice Krispy treats to represent America.

 

Photo #2

It was the night before we left for the month to visit friends at home in the States for the holidays. We HAD to eat the gingerbread house before we left. This is what was left after the three little pigs, I mean, boys huffed and puffed and ate their way through!

 

December 15, 2011

On the way to the airport after picking the boys up early from school.

 

December 16, 2011 - no photo

The kids took a ton of silly photos on the plane with their own camera, so I need to get one of those. I do think they took several photos of the very strange airplane food they served this time. It was true mystery meat!

 

December 17, 2011

Early Christmas celebration with Grandma. We were all going to Colorado to ski and most of what she got them was warmth and snow related. Here Reece is wearing his little borther's new hat and the "garish" (Grandma's words) Christmas sweater she got him for Xmas that he doesn't like at all. He says it is "geeky" or "dorky" - I can't remember which term he used. But he couldn't remove that sweater fast enough. How quickly they change. There are so many things he just refuses to wear these days. He often comes home off the bus with a short sleeved t-shirt on, his winter jacket stuffed in his backpack and it is 32 degrees F outside and WINDY! So glad I am not a teenager any more. Brrrr!

 

 

December 18, 2011

We got an early start and drove all day long (sun-up to sundown) to reach our destination of Durango, Colorado. The drive itself wasn't as bad as we were anticipating, but the mood of our children was a different story! Jetlag, 14 hour road trip two days after 12 hour trans-Pacific flight equals a lot, I mean ALLLLOOOOOOTTTTT of bickering, teasing and picking on the youngest brother.

 

 

December 19, 2011

The long drive was worth it when we woke up the next morning to find the view from our condo was this! THis photo taken by one of the kids using one of their digi cameras.

 

 

December 20, 2011

I have found myself surprised at home amazed Reece has been by the natural beauty we have seen on this visit home from Beijing. But then I realized since we live in the city 10.5 months out of the year, he doesn't get to see much of it. I was lucky growing up to visit Colorado at least every other year and as a young child we did lots of hiking and spent our summers at the beach. Although Reece's earliest years were spent mostly outdoors, hiking in some incredible national and state parks right in our own neighborhood (literally), I didn't realize how little he has seen of this in the past 4 or 5. He wanted to take photos of every gorgeous view and then when we returned to So Calif, he has taken photos of several beautiful beach sunsets already. Makes me want to move home even more so we can take this kid camping.

His one request on our trip was to take him to a National Park.

 

December 21, 2011 (I think this date is Beijing time so it is really 12/20.)

Our second day of skiing. Braden took a rest day and hung out with Grandma. He took this photo for us. Not bad, huh?

 

Photo #2

This cabin belongs to my father's cousin. My brother and I stayed here with some collge friends one year when we came to town to ski. This cabin is on the way into town from the ski resort.

 

Photo #3

We had to squeeze in our visit to Santa before it was too late! We found this guy at the local Durango mall. It was a fundraiser for the local 4H. Reece didn't want to visit Santa this year - it was the first time he had no interest. He really is a teenager.

 

December 22, 2011

It snowed ALOT during our last day of skiing. So much beautiful fresh powder. It was like skiing in powdered sugar. It felt exactly like powdered sugar under my feet. But the top of the mountain was FREEZING!

 

Photo #2

We skiied until the slopes closed, stopped for a yummy Mexican dinner and then it was back on the road until after midnight.

 

December 23, 2011

Our hotel in Utah, just outside of Zion National Park, touted that their restaurant had the "best food on Route 48" (I think that is the right number.), so how could we go any where else? Not to mention, the hotel and restaurant were run by a very nice family. The hotel was nothing fancy and slightly thread-bare but it was clean and had nice acoutrements, nice soap and lotion in the bathrooms (better than our hotel in Petaluma), a microwave and good TV, a family suite with two bedrooms and one bathroom, to boot. For only needing a 7 hour sleep, it was the perfect place. The food wasn't bad either, but I wish I took a photo of the fried bread they called a scone! All of my English friends would laugh. Despite that, everything else was tasty and nicely made. THey even gave all three kids free hot cocoa with a huge dollop of whipped cream on top! If we ever pass through that way again, we will be sure to stay again.

 

Photo #2

We spent the morning exploring a bit of Zion National Park, a lot by car and a little by foot. We even managed a visit to the visitor's center.

 

December 24, 2011

Christmas Eve dinner prepared by my brother-in-law who is a studied chef! The food is always delicious in this family. There is a professional chef, a dietician and two other siblings who love to cook (my husband included) at a close to gourmet level.

 

December 25, 2011 - Merry Christmas!

Despite playing with a hammer and nails when he wasn't supposed to and incuring these horrible injuries, Nicholas was all smiles on Christmas day. Lots of playing with cousins - all five of them were in heaven. My sis-in-law wants them all to come up in the summer since she said her kids were entertained the entire time we were there.

 

December 26, 2011

We stayed the morning and then it was time to get back in the car again to go see my 85-year-old aunt & 90-year-old uncle and some cousins before heading home the next day. Here Nicholas was saying good-bye to his uncle.

December 27, 2011 - No Photo

My cousin is sending me some. I did a terrible job of taking photos even though I carried both of mine every where I went. I just never used them. What was I thinking? I probably wasn't! :(

 

Dember 29, 2011

We had dinner at one of my very favorite places. The best part of this visit is that a branch of this restaurant opened right near my mom's house. It is so close, that we can walk there. Perfect! The other perfect thing is that it is in the same strip mall as Trader Joes and Yogurtland. Ahhhhhh! Angel's are singing. And they ahve THE BEST Shrimp Tacos EVER!

 

PROJECT LIFE INSPIRATION on the WEB

I happend upon this blog today and I really liked her style. Her album or her blog posts are not up to date, but I thought her unique style warranted a look. It is simple, engaging and attractive.

http://agnes-and-family.over-blog.com/categorie-11771067.html

 

I might update this post later today with some PL album updates, but no promises.

Getting Ready for 2012 :: Photo A Day Projects from Photojojo

via content.photojojo.com

Photojojo had a great article today on some great ideas for photo a day projects to get you started in 2012. Check it out: Photojojo's List of Cool Photo A Day Projects for 2012

Project Life {Outside the Page Protector} & Our Week in Photos...

First off, I want to quickly explain the title of this blog post, specifically the "Outside the Page Protector" part. As you will see on several of my completed two page spreads, I have allowed my photos (and some embellishments) to appear outside the page protectors. Some pop out the top of the pocket, others are stuck right on top of the protectors instead of underneath. I am faithful to my photos and if fitting them inside that small pocket compromises the picture, I just have to find another solution. As for the stickers on top, I'm not sure that is a good idea long term but it sure looks cute!!

I am in a big rush tonight, so I will just be posting my photos of my layouts followed by my photos for the week. I am making progress. I don't think I will be done with 2011 by the end, but I will have a lot done. I can't take it with me on my trip so it will have to wait until I return.

One thing I do know for sure. I am going to start off keeping up this year. My goal is to post photos and the previous week's layouts each week. At the very least, I will post finished layouts and photos by the end of the month so I will never get too far behind. 

Placing memorabilia and writing things down constantly ensures you never get too far behind and the album is a lot more about the NOW that way.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THIS WEEK IN PHOTOS

Saturday, December 3

Dad showing off his pizza throwing skills. He acquired those back in his college days when he worked part time at Pizza Hut.

 

Sunday, December 4

Traveling back from dinner across the street.

Monday, December 5

Our family photo for the FAMILY x 12 Blog Hop. I wanted to post an outtake since many of you have seen this photo before - but no time!

 

Tuesday, December 6

Goodies in the kids' shoes for St. Nicholas Day.

 

Wednesday, December 7

Checking out some photos and video he took.

Thursday, December 8

Had to document hte way we listedn to Christmas music and have for the past few years. So different than when I was growing up. My mom pulled out all her favorite record albums and we would play them in our huge wood encased record player with the sliding top. It was as big as a buffet with gold mesh covering the speakers.

 

Friday, December 9

Braden was selected to MC the Kindergarten portion of the Winter Concert. I was impressed with what a spectacular job he did. He spoke so clearly and loudly and was very confident. He didn't make a mistake or forget any words.

 

PROJECT LIFE ON THE GO

I will be away from home for a month. I plan to use 8.5x 11 page protectors and envelopes to collect my memorabilia from each week. They will be labled with the date. I will also bring my date stamp so I can stamp the date on each piece of memorabilia I want to save for my album when I get home.

I will have some page protectors when I arrive home, so I may put those in a temporary three ring binder for the last two weeks of my trip since I won't be moving around as much as I am at the beginning. I'll have to see if I will have the room.

 

BIG PICTURE CLASSES ON THE GO

I have also signed up for TWELVE., 12 Days of Christmas and Reclaiming My Time, all at Big Picture Classes. I am hoping to also bring my art journal along. I am keeping a three ring binder with empty page protectors to hold my class handouts as well as to collect any items I will need for the classes (especially TWELVE.) In lieu of the muffin tin to collect memorabilia, I will use a craftmate lockable embellishment holder (more than 12 compartments but I will only use 12) while i am on the road. When I return home, it will all be transfered to my beautifully decorated muffin tin!

 

Those are my plans. Wish me luck on their execution. I'm already tired and I have a lot of organizing left to do before I get on my plane. The countdown has begun!

Oh, I almost forgot, keep a lookout at the BPC Blog this coming Thursday, there might be something cool to see... 

Did you see this?

via www.beckyhiggins.com

I don't surf the internet every day so I missed this announcement yesterday. The new Project Life designs are now available at Amazon.com. In case you are like me and sometimes live with your head in the sand, I thought I would share the news here.

I've already ordered the Amber Edition Core Kit and seriously thinking about Clementine Core Kit for variety. Hmmm...

 

Have you purchased your album design yet? I LOVE this gorgeous album?

 

 

Probably because my favorite color at the moment is orange. But I think I will hold off and buy it as a reward for myself if I keep up with Project Life this year (I plan to post my finished layouts each week here on this blog. Or at least until I go home for summer. I also love the signature albums that are not available yet.

If you are doing Project Life, which design are you going with? Or will you just get the packet of Journaling cards and design your own?

Preparing for ProjectLife 2012 & the Week in Photos {November 12 - 18}

Saturday, November 12

We went out for breakfast to Jamaica Blue at Central Park (not NYC, Beijing - it is the name of the apartment complex across the street).

 

Photo #2 - walking through Beijing's Central Park

 

Sunday, November 13

Mandarin oranges are in season! YUM! Delicious and so easy to peel. What could be better?

 

Photo #2 - while Paul and I were finishing up our coffees outside at Crepennini, the boys created a game called "Hostage." They used the Turtle Fur: easy scarf/turtle neck without the shirt, to cover one person's face, lead them around and see if said person could guess where they ended up before looking. They love this game so much, Reece asks almost everyday if they can go downstairs and play again.

 

Monday, November 14

I made these for a party at the orphanage preschool. We were saying good-bye to two volunteers and one teacher and celebrating one year of operation for the preschool. My 13-year-old son created a slideshow using iMovie and the photos as I have been taking as well as photos from two other volunteers who run the program. It was so fun to see the changes in the space and the children. They have come so far! I know I keep saying that, but it is true. They loved the cupcakes. Our theme this month is farm animals, so they were perfect!

 

Thursday, November 16

I found this English version of National Geographic at a market in The Place. I was so excited and the cover story was the perfect topic for me considering we now have a teen! He was even interested in reading the article.

 

Photo #2

Braden set himself up on two fabric covered storages boxes behind the brown chair and worked on this drawing for a few days. I love the characters!

 

Friday, November 16

Nicholas' birthday sleepover for his friends from his school last year. It is such a pleasant group of boys, all so polite. So nice for them to see each other again. We should do it again - just for fun!

 

Photo #2 - Birthday cupcakes: the boys watched the Planet of the Apes movie so Nicholas picked these for his cupcakes. They are supposed to be baby apes. We used thin apple slices for the bottom of the mouth, but I wouldn't do that again. The moisture from the apple caused the icing dye from the mouth bleed. THough it made them look more vicious, which pleases eleven-year-old boys! The ears are chocolate coins cut in half, the eyes are brown M&Ms, the mouth is made from Duncan Hines canned frosting I tinted with Wilton icing color and the nostrils are Duncan Hines dark chocolate icing in a can.

I was hoping to have some finished album pages to share with you today since I am determined to complete the album up to the day that we leave to go home for the holidays on December 15, but my photos haven't arrived yet! I received the phonecall today that they will be delivered this afternoon. So, keep your fingers crossed for next week.

In the meantime, I have jotted down some things I plan to do to help me keep up with Project Life next year!

 

PREPARING for PROJECT LIFE 2012

One of the things I have learned after doing Project Life for 2010 & 2011 is that preparation and having a plan are HUGELY important. Of course, logically this made sense to me when I started, but I am naturally resistant to plans and sometimes even preparing ahead of time. I have to experience the failure first hand from not being prepared and having a plan before I am motivated enough to put one in place.

As I have been looking around the internet for Project Life inspiration, I have noticed many peoples' last blog posts with finished album pages are from summer. What this tells me (and I am no different) is that the hardest times to keep up with a long term project such as Project Life are during times of transition as well as times of increased busyness. I don't think that is rocket science, but if one doesn't step back and recognize it and put a plan in place to prepare for the predicted stumbling blocks, the project, more often than not, will get abandoned. 

I will wholeheartedly admit that most of this year and much of last, I have been scrambling to keep up with Project Life and never quite hit my stride for more than a few months at a time. Now, I do have a very good excuse in that I live in China so doing many of the things at home that are a no-brainer are far more time consuming , expensive and often impossible here, but I keep hanging on by a thread optimistic that one of these days I will complete my albums.

Participating in this project for the past two years, though not complete, has still taught me a lot and this is what I PLAN to do (and am starting to set up NOW) for next year.

1) Create a space where my Project Life album can lay open at all times so I can slide in bits and pieces from the week. This took me several attempts and some rearranging to find a place where it wasn't in the way. 

2) Keep all my Project Life supplies together. I keep mine on a wooden tray with two inch sides. It contains several baskets that hold the cards and one that holds pens and stamps. Currently I am looking for a place in my home where I can keep the tray so it isn't taking up so much of my desk space. I would like to put my sewing machine on top of my desk.

3) Label each week well ahead of time so that it is clear where items from the week go. This way if I do fall behind, and a week doesn't get completed, I can still slide in things from the current week. (I lost my place this year and didn't have new cards labeled to mark the weeks and the weeks started getting away from me so I have a bunch of ephemera and it is not organized, so that will take some work to get that sorted.)

4) Get photos printed regularly. I am not sure yet how often I will get my photos printed. Ideally, I will do this once a week, but at the least, it will be monthly. At first I was printing at home using my own photo printer, but printing ink here in China is outrageously expensive, not to mention, I cannot get any photo paper so it must come from home (Calif). That means if I run out between visits, I'm out of luck.

5) I've purchased the Snapfish add on for Lightroom, that way I can set up a smart folder for my weekly Project Life uploads and it will make printing photos that much easier, more automatic and less time consuming.

6) This year I am going to WRITE THE DATE (or stamp it) on my memorabilia before I save it. This way if something happens to Plan #3, it will be easy to figure out which week the memorabilia belongs to. (This is a good back up plan for those unforeseen busy times when all the best laid plans go awry, i.e., kids are home for summer, winter holidays when we are busy, busy, busy, family vacation, extended trip home to the States for my family, beginning of the school year, etc.)

7) Saving stories on 100 Journaling Cards - 3" x 4" with Grid Design - I started doing this a few months ago when I started getting behind on my album. The kids would say funny things or I would notice something and I would grab a Journaling Card - 3" x 4" with Grid Design from my Project Life tray and a pen from the journaling basket that sits inside and jot down the antecdote, stamp the date and put it in my tray for the next time I work on my album. 

Do you have any great tried & true Project Life tips to share? Post them in the comments. I'd love to hear.

 

EDITED 11/28 TO ADD: 

BLACK FRIDAY PURCHASES

I was so excited to see that Becky decided to offer some discounts on PL products on Black Friday. Even I, living in China, could partake. Very exciting! Here is what I bought:

 

Project Life Core Kit - Amber Edition (I plan to buy the Clementine core kit when it is available. With both kits and some of my own patterened paper, I will be able to complete all 3 albums - 2009, 2010 & 2011)

Photo Pocket Pages - Big Pack of Design A (60 Pages)

Big Envelope Pages

 

6 x 12 Page Protectors

Not a Project Life/Becky Higgins brand product, but a totally great addition to a PL album. I can't wait to use these:

Photo Protector - 6 x 12 for 4x6 Photos - Horizontal 10 pk

Before black Friday, I had two boxes of these:

100 Journaling Cards - 3" x 4" with Grid Design

in my cart. But by the time, I went to purchase, they were sold out! Luckily, I still have lots but I don't want to run out because I love them so much. Becky's blog says they should be back in stock in January so hopefully that will be before I return to China in mid-Jan. Fingers Crossed. 

If not, though, my plan is to use the backs of journaling cards from the original Project Life kit that I don't like so much. I love having the mini blank canvas to play around with and make it my own. So much less intimidating than a huge 12x12 page.

 

Project LIfe Inspiration

Now that Becky is highlighting all of the Project Life albums around the web, I almost feel posting these links is redundant, partly because many of them I have found through her. But why not continue? There is a lot of inspiration to be found out there. It was hard to find just a month ago! So glad it is all being unearthed. I want to save these links as much for myself so that when the frenzy dies down, I'll still know where to find more inspiration. Complete pages are the most interesting to me.

Wild Blueberry Ink

The Jaquets

Nick Estes

Wendolonia (40th Year project) - love this!

40th Year, Part 3

Leanne Butler

Do you post your finished Project Life layouts on your blog? If you have any recent posts (the last month or so), post in the comments or send me an email and I'll link to you next week. 

 

To see everything PROJECT LIFE on my blog, click here.

#Project Life :: Project 365 - Another Week in Photos {November 5 - November 11}

Saturday, November 5

Another birthday cupcake, this time a cupcake cake, for Nicholas' archery birthday.

 

Photo #2 - the birthday boy trying his hand at the bow and arrow.

 

 

Sunday, November 6

We had some leftover cupcakes, so I let Braden decorate his own.

 

Photo #2 - Playing don't let the balloon hit the ground and it never came down! Gotta love static.

 

Monday, November 7

My friend and I took our cameras out this afternoon just for fun and we found this character taking a little break outside from selling shoes. That's a bird cage above him. They are very popular in Beijing. Hanging up behind me were several more birds in cages though without covers.

 

Tuesday, November 8

Nicholas reading at his desk. The desk says so much about the boy.

 

 

Wednesday, November 9

My first Art Journal page from 30 Days in Your Journal class by Julie Balzer.

 

Thursday, November 10

Here are some of the projects the kids at the orhpanage preschool made. Doesn't it look like a wonderful classroom and a happy place? I can't tell you how much progress these kids have made since the classroom opened a year ago! It truly is a happy place for all of them. We celebrated with a party this past Monday with farm animal cupcakes (I'll share those soon) and a slideshow of all the photos I have been taking each week.

 

Friday, November 11

Heading out for photo taking project on 11/11/11. The bad news is I just didn't have the inspiration to take any photos, so I only took a couple and they were all boring. This is the most exciting photo below:

 

I have more photos to post for the week but they did not get uploaded to Flickr while I slept last night, so I am doing that now and will update this post a little later today. Thanks for your patience. Enjoy the added inspiration below in the meantime!

 

RECENT Project Life ALBUM Online Inspiration

Lynn is integrating her December Daily album into her Project Life album this year. Visit her blog to find out her plans and see what she has done so far.

I've been collecting online inspiration of recent posts for the past two weeks and since Becky Higgins has announced her PL Design Team for next year and several of the people I found happened to end up on her team, so check out these links:

Blue Jean Momma

Marcy Penner

Paislee Press

 

Simply Autumn

 

List Girl's most recent Project Life post was in Sept 2011

Becky's Post announcing the PL design team.

 

It is my intention to continue linking to updated Project Life album inspiration in my Tuesday post. If you know of any blogs that post completed album pages (especially if it is your own), please leave me a comment or email me and I will include it in my next post.

Thanks for stopping by and come visit again!

I'm linking up at the Mom Creative for Project Life Tuesday.

 

To see everything PROJECT 365/PROJECT LIFE related on my blog, click here.

Project Life :: Project 365 - Another Week in Photos {October 29 - November 4}

 

Saturday, October 29

In China, Halloween is not celebrated, however, there is a growing group of expats who host kids for trick or treating. They typically do it on a weekend, though, so it doesn't interfere with school or work.

 

Saturday photo #2

 

Saturday photo #3

 

Sunday, October 30

No photo for Sunday because it includes our neighbor's kids and I won't post to respect their privacy.

Monday, October 31

No photo taken!

 

Tuesday, November 1

I had leftover cupcakes from International Day, so Nicholas made this one from memory. Can you tell what it is? Mashed potatoes. The pat of butter is a Starburst and the chives are slices of green Twizzlers. Pretty cute, no?

To see anything about FUN CAKES & CUPCAKES on my blog, click here.

 

Wednesday, November 2

Getting ready to start on my very first art journal for Balzer Designs 30 Days in Your Journal Class. (See button on right hand side of my blog.)

 To see my Art Journal progress, go here.

 

Thursday, November 3

Doesn't she have a beautiful smile?

 

Friday, November 4

We always decorate the house so the birthday boy wakes to streamers, balloons, a decorated chair and a sign!

 

PROJECT LIFE INSPIRATION

I've done a little investigating on the web to find you more great Project Life inspiration for your album. I have not been posting many pictures of my own album, so I thought I would direct you to people who have. All these blogs have recent posts sharing photos of their Project Life albums.

For a great article on Gluestick Girl's Project Life process in amazing detail, visit her blog.

 

For Gluestick Girl's Project Life archives, go here.

 

Michelle Wooderson shares her Project Life album on her blog.

 

Visit Simply Inspired for more great Project Life inspiration.

 

One more cheerful blog with plenty of Project Life eye candy. 

 

If you post your Project Life album pages on your blog, let me know and I'll link to you in next week's Project Life post.

 

To see all of my Project Life posts, including some glimpses into my album, go here.

Project 365/Project Life: Another Week in Photos (Oct 22 - 28) with Links of Inspiration

This week I didn't do such a good job taking a photo every day. The horrible pollution put me in a bad mood, didn't supply very good like, so some days passed with no photo, light Saturday, Oct 22. But that is OK. This first photo is from Sunday, October 23.

 

Monday, October 24 We had a parent teacher conference Monday after school. Once it was over, we stopped by the pool to see Braden during his after school swim class.

 

Tuesday, October 25 Braden's homework this week was estimating the mass of some kitchen items. He had to put them in order of lightest to heaviest. By this photo, you'd never guess we live in China!

 

Wednesday, October 26 - PE today

 

Thursday, October 27 - Passing by a mirror, a quick glimpse to make sure the hair is OK.

 

Friday, October 28 - International Day: this activity was England. They pretended they were spending the day at the seaside. They made these adorable pinwheels (easy paper folding activity - small ones could be put on a scrapbook page or card), built a sand castle in the sand and put the pinwheel on top. They followed it up with some ice cream.

 

PROJECT LIFE INSPIRATION

Check out the article at Write.Click.Scrapbook. yesterday. It's all about Project Life. Plenty of inspiration!

via www.writeclickscrapbook.com

 

SCRAPBOOK CLASSES

I'm seriously thinking about signing up for Lain Ehmann's Your Story Matters Class that starts Nov 13. I feel like I should be scrapbooking more about myself than I do. I have done a couple layouts here and there about myself in the present, but hardly anything about my past. Perhaps this is the time to do it - right before the holidays. Hmmm... Anyone else going to take it? It's only $9 so you can't beat the price!

I've signed up for the Christmas class at Big Picture and Karen Grunberg's class about making the most use of your time - the name is escaping me now.

What classes are you thinking about for the next few months? December Daily maybe? I've never been brave enough to attempt that especially with our international travel every holiday season. Even with careful planning I wouldn't be able to pull it off!

31 DAYS OF CREATIVE INSPIRATION: Day 4 {Everyday Photojournalism}

This is the 4th post in a 31 Day series Creative Inspiration. Check out all the posts here.

Every week on Tuesday, I link up at Themomcreative.com for Project Life Tuesday. I find linking up there every week keeps me on top of my photos. Once a week I go through all of my photos and select one photo per day (or seven per week).

Saturday, September 25

When the weather is nice and we have no other pressing engagements on the weekends, Paul takes the boys downstairs for a little football.

PHOTO #2

A fun time at family game night playing Hoopla.

Sunday, September 25

The boys printed out templates of characters from Minecraft and cut them out and put them together with tape.

Monday, September 26

Braden reading his daily reader.

 

Tuesday, September 27

I came in to wake the boys in the morning and I found Braden on the floor sleeping on his beanbag with all his stuffed animal friends.

Wednesday, September 28

No photo.

 

Thursday, September 29

I wish I could show you the awesome photos I took at the orphanage today. The kids are doing so well. They love the school that was set-up. They are thriving and have made so much progress. It is making a huge difference in their daily lives and will make an even bigger difference when they are adopted and need to integrate into a more traditional lifestyle. This week the theme is friends and we were taking turns having three legged races. The joy on the kids' faces was amazing. I can't tell you how much individual progress each child has made since I first started visiting it over a year ago. It really warms my heart. I'm so glad I am getting to capture these times for them. Every child deserves to have their lives documented.

Friday, September 30

Home after our weekly date. Ready for a little shut eye.

 

MY THINKING ON 'EVERYDAY PHOTOJOURNALISM'

Capturing my family stories through a photo everyday, is the ultimate in "Everyday Photojournalism". To me photojournalism is showing "real" life through photos. It is not manipulating a situation as in the case of a formal portrait (although learning formal portraiture can be an excellent way to learn how to understand your camera which in turn makes you a much better 'photojournalist'), but documenting life as it is. As the photographer you can certainly influence many variables to change the feel or mood of your photo, but ultimately what is on the camera is more or less the way the moment happens.

What I love to do is manipulate the situation as much as I can without interfering to get a beautiful image. This may mean:

**moving my body to a different position in relation to my subject (left right, up down, over, back, front, closer, further away),

**changing lenses for a different effect,

**changing settings on my camera,

**framing my subjects with more or less of the surroundings depending upon the story I want to tell,

**waiting for a moment to happen whether it be an interaction between two subjects, the subject and part of the surroundings or waiting for my subject or part of the surroundings to move into a position that may make the composition of the frame more appealing.

I think of it like making beauty & order out of the chaos that is life. It takes lots of patience and practice and I've found it the most frustrating part of learning photography. Learning a new setting on your camera or suddenly understanding lowlight photography won't make your photojournalistic attempts instantly better. It will give you more chances at being successful because more of your images will be correct technically but patience, practice & study can't be rushed or improved with a new technical skill.

I find that deliberate practice and seeking out feedback have helped me improve the most. I also find that when I am 'trying hard' by practicing a lot and being conscious with my picture taking I improve. I also find if I study the master photographers I admire and then try to model the things I like about their style, I can also improve even if just a very little bit at a time.

Great photography is a long road! Or at least it is for me.

 

The master I have been studying lately is Steve Mc Curry, the infamous National Geographic photographer who took the photo of the Afghan girl. I subscribe to his blog feed and I get a dozen or so of his images sent to my inbox every week or so. I enjoy pouring over the images and asking myself what makes them intriguing. What draws me in? Then when I am taking photos the next time, I see if I can't attempt to bring the same elements to mine.

Do you have a favorite photojournalist? Tell me in the comments. I'm always looking for new inspiration.

To see everything PROJECT 365/PROJECT LIFE related on my blog, click here. 

 

Tomorrow will be all about Family Photo Inspiration.

31 Days of Creative INSPIRATION Series (Links to all posts in the series up until today.)

Introduction

Day 1: Design Your Own Cupcake

Day 2: Storytelling Sunday

Day 3: Scrapbooking (Week in the Life Album)

Day 4: Everyday Photojournalism (Project 365/Project Life)

Day 5: Family Photo Fun - FAMILY x 12 BLOG HOP

Other topics in the works for my 31 Days of Creative Inspiration Series: 

Photography - I answer the question, 'How do I know if I should buy a DSLR camera?', Find out who INSPIRES me; Photography Pet Peeves

Recipes - my husband's delicious salsa, HealthIER (Yet Still Delicious) Recipes

Scrapbooking - My favorite mini album, 30 minute scrapbook challenge

more Cupcake Ideas, craft ideas...

AND LOTS, LOTS MORE (I'm posting for 31 Days straight, remember?!)

Project 365/Project Life: Another Week in Photos (Sept 17 - 23)

Saturday, September 17

 

Sunday, September 18

Reece's set up for his stop motion animation production.

 

Monday, September 19

Silly hair day - we totally forgot, but luckily another mom had a hair band that she gave me and we put Braden's hair in a ponytail atop his head. Nicholas tangled his hair at school and it lasted all day. I meant to take a photo when he came home but I forgot!

 

Tuesday, September 20

Silly shoe day.

 

Wednesday, September 21

Back to front day at school. Braden didn't go because he was sick.

 

Thursday, September 22

Pajama day at school.

 

Friday, September 23

My birthday. My husband arranged for friends to meet us out for cocktails and a nice cake.

 

Project 365/Project Life: Another Week in Photos (Sept 10 - 16)

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 10

There were leftover cupcakes from the ones I made for my husband's office staff. I promised Braden he could decorate one himself.

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 11

The craziness that is the streets of Beijing!

Photo #2

Picking up our contemporary mooncakes from this Chinese ice cream company.

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 12

Nicholas made a list of things he wanted to do on the weekends since at the end of each weekend he was feeling like they were all being wasted. One of the things on his list was a visit to Chaoyang park to ride on the roller coasters. I promised him on this weekend I would take him. Lucky for me it was a 3 day weekend. We rode our bikes south to one of the markets in the morning to buy mooncake moulds and then we rode north to the HUGE park that is Chaoyang Park

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 12

One of Paul's staff brought homemade Beijing-style mooncakes for us from her home town.

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 13

Hanging out on the couch with two of my boys.

I'm linking up here.

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 15

Faces from the unit "All About Me" at the orphanage preschool. I would love to share photos of the kids but due to privacy reasons, I won't.

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 16

The first grade class hosted September's assembly. "Well done, Mr. Monkey!" Braden did an excellent job remembering his line.
 
How is your Project Life Album coming?

I almost forgot! Watch for me at Rebecca Cooper's blog, Simple As That, this Friday when I will be featured on her Friday Craft Day. I'll be sharing a fun 'craft' inspired by traditional Chinese folk art.

Project 365/Project Life: Another Week in Photos (Sept 3 - 9)

Saturday, September 3

Playing on a Saturday morning. Wearing his brother's souvenir from The Great Wall. It sort of takes away from the original meaning of this hat. Not so scary any more.

 

Sunday, September 4

Getting ready for a family bike ride. This Sunday we rode to a restaurant that ended up not being very good. But it was fun to get out and about.

 

Monday, September 5

Getting his weekly homework done. I love how independent he is and how hard he works to get it done.

 

Tuesday, September 6

I've been so happy these days because for the first time since I moved to Beijing 3 years ago, we can buy fresh and delicious blueberries and raspberries. YUM! The big bonus was some favorite Greek yogurt was also on sale - 2 for 1. It is usually prohibitively expensive. The great sale is likely an indication that I was not the only one who thought it was too expensive for their budget.

This so often happens. The store owner prices an item. Nobody buys it. So instead of finding a healthier price point, it just sits on the shelf, unpurchased. Finally gets drastically reduced a few days before the expiration date and then we never see the product again!

 

Wednesday, September 7

My son and I took a mooncake making class. We forgot to bring the camera! So we had to settle for a photo with said mooncakes when we finally got home.

 

Thursday, September 8

The morning bus arrives just as we make it downstairs.

 

Friday, September 9

A special day at school during Chinese class. Making more mooncakes! The kids also wrote holiday greetings on lanterns in Mandarin and put special wishes on paper cut shapes and hung them on a special tree to wait for them to come true.

It was a fun day and I'm so glad I was able to be there. I love that part of being a mom - just hanging around watching my kids do their normal thing at school. A fun way to spend part of my day every so often.

I've been trying to upload all of my favorite photos from Project Life/Project 365 to Flickr. Even though it is only mid-September, I've already got close to 365 photos in my set which means I am often selecting more than one photo a day, but that's OK. It is so fun to look at the photos in the set as thumbnails and get a fun overview of our year so far.

Here's a sampling:

If you are interested in checking it out on Flickr go here.

Project 365 / Project Life: August 20 - September 2, 2011

I have only posted one week in photos since the end of May, but that doesn't mean I have not been taking photos or working on my album. I'm hoping to share my album one of these weeks, but first I'd like to finish my Week in the Life album which is getting so close to being done, I can almost taste it!

Anyway, this week I will post my last two weeks worth of photos in an attempt to do a little catch up.

This past week first and then the week previous will follow:

Saturday, August 27

NO PHOTO - We rode our bikes to Peter's Tex Mex to meet friends for breakfast. One thing that is so fun about living in Beijing is the multi-national friends we've made. This day we met our friends from Italy and our friends from Malaysia. Such a great experience for the kids. In the afternoon I rode my bike to pick up B from his friend's apartment. We grabbed a quick burger at Fat Burger (yes, there are several now in Beijing) and did some shopping at City Shop before riding home.

SUNDAY, August 28

Another lost tooth!

Monday, August 29

NO PHOTO

Tuesday, August 30

The bedside stand of a thirteen year old. The model was a birthday gift and the watch a Christmas gift which he wears without fail everyday.

 

Wednesday, August 31

Braden was reading this book all on his own. He was working so hard to figure out each word.

 

Thursday, September 1

I came into the boys' room on Thursday morning to find Nicholas in this little nest he made out of the bean bags. He was right under the window illuminated perfectly with the early morning light.

 

Photo #2

Learning how to ride his scooter. We try to take at least one lap around the scooter each day. There is a noticeable improvement every day.

 

Friday, September 2

Paul captured this moment. I was helping with homework. Each week in the Home/School communication notebook, the kids in elementary school have to write a few sentences about how things went at school that week. There is a list of sentence starters in the front of the notebook for the 1st graders. 

 

LAST WEEK

Saturday, August 20

This was taken upon request after the kids decorated our water cooler with these lovely stickers. Braden collects pandas.

 

Sunday, August 21

NO PHOTO

 

Monday, August 22

A little self-timer action: preparing for dinner. Reece finishing off his leftover snack from school. Nicholas just returned from our store downstairs with pasta sauce. It's going to be a quick and easy dinner tonight!

 

Tuesday, August 23

Without the long busride there is time for a little playtime after school.

 

Wednesday, August 24

My favorite souvenirs from India. Wood block prints. I chose animals that we saw a lot of on our trip. We even got to ride on a camel and an elephant! Peacocks are native to India and are all over Rajasthan.

 

Thursday, August 25

A Beijing summer rainstorm - we had so much rain this summer, it felt like Singapore!

 

Friday, August 26

We took a walk in the rain Friday after dinner. Luckily there is a dairy queen a couple of blocks up our street. I was happy to get my older kids with umbrellas in the rain. I haven't gotten photos of that since they were much smaller. My youngest covered his face on purpose - he was pretending that he was a smiling bug.

 

PHOTO #2

 

There is something I like about this photo. That tall building in the background has been 'almost finished' since we moved to Beijing in August 2008. It still hasn't opened yet. But we hear one of our favorite restaurants will be opening in the building around the new year. Our fingers are crossed.

If you made it through all of those photos! You are a trooper. Thanks for stopping by. I hope to be back next week with another week in photos and maybe a make up week as well!

How are you doing on your Photo A Day or Project Life album?

 

Our Week in Photos (Project 365/Project Life) - August 13 -19

Saturday, August 13 - Orientation Day at school

Sunday, August 14 - the new sock 'em bop 'em guy (what are their names) gets a little nap. Braden earned this guy on our way to Walmart. Everyone else was complaining about our choices for lunch while he was sitting quietly on the back of the bike waiting patiently.

Monday, August 15 - first day of school at a new school for all three boys. So nice that they will all be at the same school! We are very excited about the curriculum and that the location is so close to home (compared to the last two years). Only a ten minute bus ride - hurray! 

NOT GOING TO SHOW PHOTO FOR PRIVACY REASONS. SORRY!

 

Photo #2 - a treat to celebrate the first day of school. Everyone had a great day. Though Braden did say that the worst part of the day was leaving his dad and I and the best part was coming home! A little separation anxiety at the start of first grade. Treats were purchased at the store in our apartment complex.

 

Tuesday, August 16 - reading the first book brought home from the classroom library. We saw this author at the UCLA Book Fair in 2008.

 

Wednesday, August 17 - Reece's bachelor pad! He loves to snuggle under the covers and read regardless of time of day.

 

Friday, August 19 - my photos all printed up for my Week in the Life Album

 

Hello, blog readers! I know I am down to only a few since I have been so inconsistent over the summer about blogging. I'm doing my best to get back into it since my kids have been back in school for almost two weeks. 

Coming up is the OLW September 1 Blog Hop and the Family x 12 Blog Hop on September 5th.

I hope to be back with more soon. Including my Week in the Life completed album. I haven't given up on it yet!!! It's getting closer everyday.

 

Playing Catch Up - Layout A Day (#LOAD511) & 365: Project Life

I'm a little late on my 365: Project Life update this week, but not by much. I'm also catching up with posting my layouts from LOAD. Not to mention I did not post my meal plan for this week.

My husband is so busy at work this week that he is not home at all for dinner, so I am throwing together dinners on the fly. Leftovers and tonight we had pancakes. It feels good to take one week off from cooking serious meals and planning. By the way, the slow cooker tortilla soup I threw together last Monday was OK, but the taco sauce probably wasn't the best choice. I think next time I would use tomato soup or fresh tomatoes instead. Otherwise it was good and it did get eaten.

Weekly photos:

Sunday, May 15

Reece wasn't feeling well and Paul had unexpected business come up so once we realized we couldn't make it to church this morning, Reece went back to bed.

Monday, May 16

I'm making no-photo Mondays a habit, but not on purpose. I think I might be so over taking photos by the time the weekend is over, I forget to pick up my camera. That and the fact that it is usually a busy day for me. Oh well - I did take this photo since I finished this layout from 365: Project Life 2010 for Layout A Day.

Tuesday, May 17

He pours everything into just about anything he does, especially if it is an essay for school, a story for school or a power point presentation for school. I encourange him as best as I can to get the 'meat' done and then add all of the extras (like the narrator with a skin disease that looks like a ghord and all the animation), but he can't seem to help himself. His teacher doesn't mind waiting for his work because she says he turns in excellent work. In fact, he gave his power point presentation to the class even though it wasn't totally finished. She told him ti was so good she was going to show the younger class because not only was it interesting with all the animation and extras but it was full of good facts and information. I think he has his heart and mind in the right place. I think he is a perfectionist - maybe?

 

Wednesday, May 18

Reece still working on his power point presentation while dad gets some work done.

 

Thursday, May 18

Braden has been in love with making his own peanut butter and jelly sandwiches lately. I hate that the only PB available here has so much sugar in it, it might as well be frosting, but you work with what you have when you jsut need a quick snack. He loves to put jelly first, peanut butter and if he can manipulate me, honey on top of that!

 

Friday, May 19

Not a very good angle of me. A quick self portrait just before my husband and I go out for our weekly Friday night dinner.

 
Saturday, May 20

Braden had his first friend sleepover Saturday night. I made them smoothies for dessert after dinner. I cut Braden's friend out of the picture for his privacy. Sorry for the lack of editing on this photo it is SOOC. Normally I would fix the white balance and brighten and sharpen this.

 

 

LOAD Layouts 20, 21, 22 & 23 & 24 (Didn't realize I was that far behind from posting them.)

 

 

 

DAY 21

 

 

DAY 22

 

 

DAY 23

 

DAY 24

 

And don't forget to send me an email if you are a OLW student at Big Picture Classes and want to participate in the monthly blog hop. The next one is coming up on June 1st.

LOAD511 Day 10: Catching up with Project Life & Day 11: Always on the go!

I did not post my layout from yesterday, so today you get to see my layout from today and yesterday! Aren't you lucky?

LOAD DAY 10 - Catching up with Project Life 2010

 

Click here to see everything Project Life/ Project 365 on my blog.

LOAD DAY 11

 

 To see everything related to LOAD on my blog (includes how to prepare for LOAD Blog Hop) click here!

 

EXCITING BLOG STUFF COMING UP...

Don't forget I have a guest poster coming up soon. I will be announcing more details soon! And plan to come back on Saturday for a very fun blog hop. More details on that soon as well.

Another Week in Photos (Project Life/Project 365)

Sunday, May 1

We went for a late lunch at Moss, our favorite Japanese-owned bagel restaurant in Beijing. They had available some origami papers and laminated instructions. They asked for a 10 kuai donation, you took some paper, the directions and made some origami figures to be given to survivors of the earthquake and tsunami. Being a lover of Japan and a childhood lover of origami, (I spent many hours folding paper. ) I couldn't resist. Reece, Braden and I all made a few items to place in the basket to be sent back to Japan.

Monday, May 2

The biggest news in a long time. US Navy Seals go into Bin Laden's compound in Pakistan and kills him. A huge long weekend for news with Friday being the royal wedding and Monday being this.

#2

Since the weather has turned spring-like we have been getting on our bikes and riding somewhere in Beijing for the day. This day we went to Houhai, a nice lake in the middle of the city surrounded by hutongs (old-style courtyard homes on narrow streets) to have lunch at Hutong Pizza. The pizza is rated one of the top ten pizza places in Beijing. It was pretty good. Afterwards we had an ice cream while sitting on a bench next to the lake and then we rode home.

Tuesday, May 3

It was a holiday weekend. Originally, the government wanted everyone to work and have school on Saturday and then have Sunday, Monday & Tuesday off of work and school. A week or two before the weekend they changed their mind and let people have Saturday & Sunday off as usual, have Monday off but go back to work and school on Tuesday. Therefore, Reece & Nicholas went back to school on Tuesday, but Braden still had the day off.

Braden's school plans their calendar well in advance so they did not change the holidays on such short notice, not to mention, they never have the kids come to school on the weekends - something I really appreciate. Six consecutive days is too long to attend school or go to work - so much less productivity all around!

Anyway, we spent the morning catching up on weekend homework. This is some of the primary class Chinese characters he is learning. After homework was done, we walked to Ritan park to climb on the rocks and go in the jump house - his request. It was a wonderful day together that reminded me of last year when he only went to school 3 times a week. Watching my boys grow up is bitter sweet.

 

Wednesday, May 4

Paul called just before I had to go pick Braden up from school. He needed our passports to get our new work and residence visas, so right after school Braden and I had to ride to his office. He met us in the parking garage (all bikes) and we went upstairs for a quick frozen yogurt at FM Cafe (fro yo and french fires).

 

Thursday, May 5

This summer Reece & friend, Elliot, worked on a script for a movie. Reece was so excited when Elliot finally emailed him a copy so that he could get to work revising and editing it. I am sure they will work on it more this summer when we are in California.

Friday, May 6

#2

We were behind this cart on our morning commute on bicycle. I always get a kick out of these mobile pet stores. You can't see the aquarium full of gold fish sloshing around while we were turning left across Chang'An Street. He had a special cover taped on it so no fish sloshed out. I wish my picture turned out better.

 

Saturday, May 7

Reece woke up early as usual. He found his Lego Bionicle encyclopedia and was studying different Bionicles trying to make his own creations. 

 

For everything Project Life/Project 365 on my blog, look for the links on my right-hand side bar.

Have a great day!

LOAD Day 6: Catching up with Project Life 2010

 

 

Doing a Layout A Day (LOAD) can get a little intense, so I like to break it up with some easy projects like catching up with Project Life. I finally got my mid-April through June photos from 2010 printed. Today I trimmed some of them down, put them in the page protectors and finished up my journaling cards and I was complete with my layout for today. And it feels good to be one page closer to 'catching up' with my 2010 album. 

Click here to see everything Project Life/ Project 365 on my blog.

To see everything related to LOAD on my blog click here!

 

Project Life/Project 365: Our Beijing Week in Photos

 Sunday, April 24 (EASTER)

Checking out their loot from their baskets. 

#2

Banners out in front of our friends' residence compound. Very strange - the signs totally contradict each other. We don't know the story behind these banners. Hmmm...

Monday: No photo

Tuesday, April 26

Braden sharing his breakfast with his new little dinosaur.

#2

This is my daily commute. I ride my son to school everyday on a bike. After I dropped him off, I actually tried taking photos AS I WAS RIDING!! I did it one-handed, shooting AND riding. Ha! (I did A Day in Photos project this day, so there are more where they came from.)

Wednesday, April 27: No photos because I was sick!

Thursday, April 28

I spent all day baking and decorating more cupcakes for the older boys' FUNraiser at school. Nicholas chose the designs. To see the CUPCAKES I made click!

To see everything CUPCAKE related

on my blog, click here.

 

Friday, April 29

Nicholas working his booth at the FUNraiser. Braden showing off the new toy Nicholas bought him at the rummage sale (another booth). The students organize all aspects of this FUNraiser. 

#2

No explanation necessary! Coverage started at 4PM local time.

 

Saturday, April 30

We took a family bike ride. The kids were all ready to go pouring over their new books from our Scholastic book order while they waited for Dad & I to get ready too!

 LAYOUT TO SHARE

The challenge today at Ella Publishing is to share a layout featuring your own custom-designed background. I love this background! I made it by cutting strips of cardstock and then gluing them to a second piece of cardstock. I placed the pieces close together but not quite touching to give the background a subtle bit of dimension.

MAKING THE BACKGROUND

You'll notice four patterns across the back of the background. Two of the patterns are from using decorative scissors. Two are hand drawn & cut with regular extra-sharp straight edge scissors.

For the decorative edged scissor lines, I drew a straight line lightly with a pencil on the back of the cardstock. I cut along that line as straight as I could.  For the hand drawn patterns, I also drew a straight line on the back of the cardstock and then drew my decorative line over that using that line as a guide.

TIP: Before applying your adhesive, first have all your pieces facing down, piece them together and then apply your adhesive. This will ensure you don't put adhesive on the wrong side of only one or two pieces of your background like I did!

See that piece of twill on the bottom with the colorful balls on it? That was there to cover the adhesive I put on the wrong side of that bottom strip of cardstock! Of course it was my last piece! The other two pieces of twill were added so my layout would have good design elements - the rule of 3's placed in a triangle! Good save by me! Phew!

When you make a mistake like that, do you start over from scratch? Try to hide it? Or just leave it as it is and move on?

PHOTOGRAPHY GUEST POST

Coming up on Saturday (UK time), I will be the guest blogger over at Lorraine's blog, The Vue from Here. Lorraine is in the market for a new camera. She is frustrated with the limitations of her point & shoot camera and wants to upgrade to a DSLR. She has enlisted the help of five DSLR users to share their experiences and knowledge to assist her in making her decision.

Today is the second day of the series, when guest poster, Jules, explains her process for selecting her DSLR. The week proves to be full of great information. Head over to The Vue from Here all this week for some fantastic information on DSLRs and great photography conversation. We are all taking questions, so head on over and ask away. And feel free to contribute your own expertise to the conversation!

 

Beijing: Our Week in Photos (Project 365/Project Life)

Sunday, April 17

Playing the Lego game - Harry Potter - while everyone else was at church, B & I are stuck inside because he is still not healthy enough to go out.

Monday, April 18

PHOTO REMOVED - Sorry!
Texts and email come at all hours of the day and night. That is what happens when your office is in Beijing, your mother company is in London and clients are in India, China, Australia, etc.

Tuesday, April 19

I was lucky to spend the entire day at my youngest's school. I love seeing what goes on and meeting all his friends. In this photo he was helping prepare apples for morning snack.

#2

 

Wednesday, April 20

B had a piano recital at school. You can't tell but he is playing his song one-handed. He gets a daily private lesson at school. He started at the beginning of the year when he started at this school.

Thursday, April 21

N & R sneak off into their room every chance they get to work on their school notebooks. They have blocks againste all websites that aren't educational and can't access the internet at our house, but that doesn't prevent them from being totally addicted. Right now they are making a game in Powerpoint. They also make silly presentations in Powerpoint. I suppose that will be a skill they can use when they are older. It is a tough call on how much computer is too much! We've reinstated the rule no computer in the bedroom just so we can have better control over how much time they spend with their faces glued to the screen. It was actually never abandoned, they just got better at ignoring it and Mom & Dad have to be more proactive at making sure it is followed.

Friday, April 22

These are the cupcakes I made for the Earth Day bakesale for Braden's school on Saturday. We were unable to attend so I had to drop them off at school on Friday. It started raining just as I needed to leave for school. Usualy I ride my bike but I can't carry 24+ cupcakes on the bike without some casualties, so I was walking. Luckily, I have plastic cupcake carrying cases that protected them from the rain. But not me - my hood kept blowing off and right as I walked under the underpass, a big gust of wind came up and dumped a bunch of muddy water right on my head!

[Click here to see anything CUPCAKE on this blog.]

Saturday, April 23

The new tradition in our house is that the boys wake up early on Saturdays (or earlier than mom and dad, at least) and make something for breakfast. This morning it was chocolate chip muffins from William Sonoma Kids cookbook. The muffins were light and fluffy. I am so surprised they have been as enthusiastic about the idea as they have been. It all started when I suggested last weekend they make breakfast. They decided to make it again this weekend and behaved as if it was going to be the norm. I was especially surprised that our oldest was into it. He hasn't shown much interest in cooking. I do think what appeals to him is the complete and total independence and freedom to do what he wants in the kitchen (or any where for that matter). I can't say I blame him. I think it is a great way for them to learn their way around a kitchen.

Click here to see everything Project Life/ Project 365 on my blog.

Monday at the Blog (Menu Plan & Week in Photos)

MENU PLANNING MONDAY

This is my first attempt to plan my dinner menus for the week. It had been on my mind a lot over the past couple of weeks, but I hadn't done anything about it. I figured it would probably make my life a lot easier since food shopping here in Beijing makes menu planning on the fly very difficult.

So often I open up my cookbooks or food magazines and decide to cook a healthy, easy and quick recipe only to find:

*I can't get one or more key ingredient,

*I have to comb the 4 or 5 import stores to find a desired ingredient (and cross my fingers its in stock),

* or worse yet, one of the ingredients is a premade convenience items that doesn't exist here in China (i.e., spice mix packets, dip mix, pre-cooked chicken strips, sauces & salad dressings, etc, etc.).

More than once I've decided what to make for dinner only to put it off more than a day or two until I can gather all of the needed ingredients.

Anyway, you can see why weekly menu planning might just be a life saver for me! So when I saw the link up at orgjunkie.com, that was the push I needed to give it a try. So here it goes:

Mon: Ginger Pork (from WW Pantry to Plate cookbook)
Tues: Slow Cooker Japanese Curry (recipe from box - I just throw it in the slow cooker)
Wed: Diner Meatloaf Muffins Topped with Potatoes (Thanks to orgjunkie.com for this idea.)
Thurs: Waffles (recipe from The Best Recipe Cookbook & altered by me to be HealthIER - but still delicious) or Leftovers
Fri: Order Pizza or Leftovers (boys choose)
Sat: Leftovers
Sun: Homemade Pizza (recipe for dough from Allrecipes.com)

I was thinking I might even try to menu plan two weeks in advance so that I have one week to gather all needed ingredients. But, I'll see how this first week goes and adjust if I need to.

If you want to give menu planning a try, go here and link up too!

And as a thank you for stopping by my blog, I thought I would share with you a healthIER carrot cake recipe I concocted Sunday afternoon:
 

 Healthier (yet still delicious) Carrot Cake  

(I altered this recipe quite a bit, making it healthier, using a recipe passed on from a friend supposedly from the J. Paul Getty museum - not sure that is true, but that is what the unprofessional looking paper says. I hope to make this recipe even healthier, but still delicious, in the future. This was my first go with it.)

1 Cup (8 oz.) canola oil

1/2 cup unsweetened apple sauce

 1 1/2 Cups light brown sugar

3 eggs

2/3 cup unbleached all-purpose flour

2/3 cup oat bran

2/3 cup whole wheat flour

2 tsp cinnamon

2 tsp baking soda

4 tsp pure vanilla extract

3/4 tsp salt

3 cups shredded carrots

1 cup finely chopped walnuts (optional)

1/2 cup crushed pineapple (drained)

Cream Cheese Icing (see below for recipe)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees (approx 180 degrees Celsius - google it for exact conversion). Combine all wet ingredients in a bowl and whisk. In a separate bowl combine all dry ingredients and whisk together well. Combine dry & wet ingredients and fold together until well blended and smooth. Never over mix or whisk or cake will become tough. Pour into greased 9x13 inch baking pan.

Bake 50-55 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. If you want to make cupcakes, reduce baking time to 30-35 minutes. Cool completely, then frost with Cream Cheese Icing.

(Not healthier) Cream Cheese Icing

1- 8 ounce packages (250g) cream cheese, softened

3 tablespoons (1.5 oz) unsalted butter, softened

1 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

2 1/2 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar (icing sugar)

Beat cream cheese and butter together until creamy, add vanilla & icing sugar a little at a time until fully blended. The longer you mix, the creamier the icing will be. Mix until desired consistency.

 

OUR WEEK IN PHOTOS

Sunday, April 3

We took a cooking class this day that taught us how to make traditional bread for the Qing Ming Festival. We are posing here with our works of art and the family who joined us.

#2At work. My husband, usually a very good cook, was having so much trouble with this dough. Somehow, despite carefully weighing all of the ingredients, he ended up with a very dry mixture. The rest of us were starting to shape our breads and he still had a powdery mess. I had to laugh! But eventually, (with some help from me!) it came together (literally & figureatively) and he made a lovely turtle!

Monday, April 4I see this electrical mess right outside our apartment complex driveway everyday. If you can put the potential danger of an electrical fire out of your mind, it is really quite hysterical that this capital city hasn't figured out how to 'straighten' this problem out. And it is right next to a busy bus stop. Luckily there is a small suface street between our sidewalk and this parkway. My husband and I joked that this might be how they are blocking the internet. We think it is some sophisticated technology, but really they are going around tangling up all of the wires.

Tuesday, April 5 On the way home from dinner in Ritan park to enjoy the blossoms, Paul found this lady on the street selling phone cards and convinced her to exchange the international phone card, our oldest son bought on accident, for a domestic phone card so we could go home and pay our internet bill!

Wednesday, April 6Nicholas loves to make funny Power Point presentations to amuse his friends. This night he came up with the idea to use his Ed Emberly drawing book to create more characters for his presentations because they are all made from simple shapes using simple instructions. (If you have children that like drawing or want to learn, I highly recommend Ed Emberly's books - so simple & so creative.)

#2

The first picture he made using the instructions from the drawing book.

Thursday, April 7 I got to observe Nicholas' class all day on Thursday. This was during the afternoon free work time. He and his friend were doing research for an upcoming paper.

Friday, April 7 Recent finger-print artwork Braden brought home from school. Last month they were studying Africa and these are the animals he made. I hung these up on my wall behind my desk.

Saturday, April 8 Braden & Reece took a seat on the wall while they were waiting for Dad & I to lock up the bikes. Then we crossed the street to check out the new bookstore from Singapore (Page One) in the new China World mall. We are so excited to have this bookstore! It has the largest selection of 'normal' books I have seen any where in Beijing! It is a wonderful new addition to our lives here in Beijing. I will go back soon without the kids so I can get lost amongst the shelves. They even have a hobby section and a HUGE cookbook section. And so many books in English!

 

COMING UP ON THE BLOG

*Sunday, April 17 - Alphanumeric Blog Hop for fun! This one is hosted by blog friend, Mel from her blog, I Speak Melsh. Stay tuned for more details. This one sounds very, very interesting...

ONE LITTLE WORD Blog Hop

*May 1 - OLW Monthly Blog Hop (One on 1) - I host this blog hop every month on the 1st. It is a blog hop for students of Ali Edwards' One Little Word class at Big Picure Classes. You can still sign up for the class as well as the blog hop (if you are a student). For the class, go to BigPictureClasses.com and for the blog hop, go to the OLW classroom message boards and there is information on how to sign-up in the Chit Chat section.

FAMILY x 12 Mini Blog Hop

* May 5 I will have a mini blog-hop to showcase my monthly personal project FAMILY x 12. If you are taking a monthly family photo (or would like to start) and would like to join us for a little support, motivation and light accountability, leave me a comment or send me an email and I'll be in touch with the details. (A family photo can be whatever you define as family, even if that is just you and your spouse/partner or you and your cat [dogs count too]!)