Nihao, Cupcake!

Ella Publishing May Take 12 Challenge :: Stepping Back in Time [China-Style]

It is time for yet another Ella Publishing Take 12 Challenge!!

CONFESSION: My twelve photos are not actually from May 12th. Shhhhhhhhh! I had a very special day on May 11th. I had a very special day on May 13th (Mother's Day). On May 12th... not so much.

Don't get me wrong. We had a fun day, but it was not a day that was conducive to good photos. Nor was I in the mood to force myself to take photos, as much as I tried.

I call myself "The Moody Photographer." And when the mood isn't there, I don't take photos.

So, I decided to do my layout with the TWELVE photos that did inspire me. On the 11th I went on a special tour with a group of other moms who live in Beijing. We went to a village just outside of the city. It is the one place in the world that makes the special glazed tiles (many 3 dimensional) that adorn the buildings at The Forbidden City, the city gates (including Tian'anmen Square), the temple buildings in the parks, etc.

It is a workshop where they mine shale in the local mountains. They turn that to clay and packing molds by hand, they create these amazing decorative tiles.

After which, they dip them in glaze (made from cobalt, copper & iron) and fire them in old fashioned kilns. 

 

I love these mock old Chinese coin brads I got from Michaels. They come with two other Chinese-esque brads that are equally as cool/beautiful.  

One reason this trip was so meaningful to me was that I have taken ceramics classes at various times in my life; for two years while in Japan, one summer in college when the visiting professor told me I should be an artist and in California with my kids at our local community center. [How cool that they had Mommy & me ceramics classes,no?!]

I chose this paper from the Far East (Die Cuts With a View) paper pack because the crackling reminded me of the dried mud turning into clay in huge troughs at the front of the workshop. 

 

I wanted the attention on my photos so I chose a sketch (Template 1 in the Template packet) from the Ella Publishing Take 12 Guided Inspiration Kit. And I LOVE how it turned out. The photos are definitely the stars of this layout. They tell the stoy.

There is more journaling I would like to add, so I might add a 6x12 insert and if there is space, I might add a few smaller accent photos along with my journaling.

I just loved this day. 

I loved interacting with the artisans, being able to be right in the heart of their workshop - literally stepping over the wet clay shapes waiting to go into the drying room (essentially a giant oven).

This is the drying room. Notice how the pieces are different shades of grey? The darker pieces are the wet ones and the lighter grey ones are almost dry and ready to go to the glazing workshop.

It was like stepping back in time to simpler times before over-litigation and the chaos of the modern world got in the way.

A day like this is one of the magical treasures that seem to happen or find you when living abroad. It's a wonderful surprise to find amazing things that still seem undiscovered. Hard to find any more!

Oh! I almost forgot! The best part was that we got to take home some of these amazing tiles. The lady who organized the tour is fascinated with the mythical creatures on the tiles that adorn the roofs of the Forbidden City. 

This is my lion.

It is this fascination that inspired her to arrange the tour. She worked on our tour guide the entire time trying to convince him to let us purchase a tile or two and he finally broke down when she told him, "My life won't be complete until I get to take some of those animals home!" With that, they opened up their storehouse and we had a great time shopping in the dark, dusty (such thick dust you wouldn't believe it) store house, picking out our treasures that cleaned up very nicely. 

This is my dragon.

To see all my Flickr photos from the outing, including photos of the village with a faded painting of Mao Zedong (I'm pretty sure that is who it is) on one of the walls and a train rushing past within mere feet of us as we stood on a bridge, click here.

To see all of my past Take 12 Layouts and the corresponding posts, go here.

More inspiration from the Take Twelve Design Team:

Like the Car
Janette Carter-Kincaid
Scrap Inspired
Scrappy Wife, Happy Life
Day by Day
Right Here-Right Now
The Scrapbooking Haven Diva
Scrapworthy Lives
People of the Scrapbook
My Little Blessings
Life is Sweet
A Swoop and a Dart
Endless Possibilities
Yeah, Write

Visit Ella Publishing Co. to link up your layout or photos for a chance to win this month's prize.

 

It's Ella Publishing Take 12 Challenge Time Again!

As I mentioned in my last blog post, this month for the Take 12 Challenge I wanted to document ways in which our lives are different now that we live in China and not in Los Angeles. There are so many differences and I could only capture so many in just one day! This may become an ongoing theme. In fact, I've done a layout on this same topic before but I only used four photos and they were all from different days.

I used template #11 from the Ella Publishing Take Twelve Template Pack. It was so easy to use!

My journaling reads:

I wanted to capture the details of our lives that are different because we live in China. In this day I noticed: * friendly caricatures of police reminding me of safety rules * McD’s entrance near the freeway with DELIVERY mo-peds waiting out front * my view behind “the wheel” is very different * “my other car is a TAXI” * bilingual kids menus * distinctive highrises landmark my neighborhood * friendly comics hung around town remind me how to behave * parking my vehicle is a very different experience these days * eloquent translations give wonderful suggestions on what to do in case of an emergency * instant coffee replaces ‘real’ coffee for a variety of reasons * Titanic in 3D is big EVERY where!

And because the elevator sign is hard to read, I will share what it says here:

When eleveator breakdown please keep cool, rings the bell to pray for rescue.

I LOVE that one! My 13 year old noticed this sign for the very first time on the 12th (lucky for me, huh?). It is in the elevator that we ride up and down to our apartment multiple times a day but because it is posted so high in the elevator, none of us had ever noticed it.

 

DID YOU TAKE TWELVE??

Did you Take Twelve photos on April 12th and make a layout? Join the link party at Ella Publishing! There's a great prize. But hurry, you have to link up today (April 18).

Do you want to Take Twelve but didn't do it on the 12th? Not to worry, it isn't too late! (Link party for prizes closes today but feel free to link up next month and/or leave me a link in the comments [here and/or at Ella's blog] and I'll come see your page.) Angie Lucas even gives tips on cheating on the blog. I'm all for cheating in scrapbooking if it gets another story told and a memory documented! It all counts, right?

Don't forget to check out the Take Twelve Flickr group and post your photos & finished layouts.

To see all my Take 12 Challenge Posts including my layouts from past months, click HERE.

Check out the blogs of the other Ella Publishing Take Twelve Design Team:

Like the Car

Janette Carter-Kincaid

Scrap Inspired

Scrappy Wife, Happy Life

Day by Day

Right Here-Right Now

The Scrapbooking Haven Diva

Scrapworthy Lives

People of the Scrapbook

My Little Blessings

Life is Sweet

A Swoop and a Dart

Endless Possibilities

Yeah, Write

Ella Publishing Take Twelve Challenge {March}: Our Day in Feet

I had lots of fun this month for the Ella Publishing Take Twelve Challenge. As I mentioned before I wanted to change things up visually so I changed my perspective and I pointed my camera down the whole day capturing our day through our feet (and sometimes our shoes).

Over the past few years I have done a lot of documenting my family's everyday lives through Project Life, Week in the Life, etc. and I thought it was time to find a new way to capture one of our days.

I like the repetition of seeing the same thing, although a little different, in each photo. It's kind of a fun and easy way to see life in a new way.

The calendar circle in the top left of the layout is from the Ella Publishing Take Twelve Inspiration kit. So many cute things and ideas are included! 

Did you take the EPC Take Twelve Challenge this month?

Go to the Ella Publishing blog by March 18 to link up with your photo or layout and have a chance to win a great prize from Persnickety Prints! I can't wait to see what you did!

PS Don't forget to check out the great deals at the Ella Blog today! 

Ella Publishing #Take12 Challenge: Our Day in Feet

Did you take your TWELVE photos on the TWELFTH for the Ella Publishing Take 12 Challenge?

I did!

I wanted change things up visually this month and do something a little different so I changed my perspective and looked down the whole day. This was a fun and new way to document our every day. It was fun and I love how the pictures look all together in this mosaic. Come back in a couple of days to see my layout. 

Any ideas for a good title??

Tomorrow (US time) its time for another Ella Take Twelve Challenge

via www.ellapublishing.com

Do you have your camera battery charged? Your memory cards cleared? It's 1 PM here on February 12 so I've started filling my memory card already.

What's your theme going to be? Or are you going to go with the flow and capture details of your everyday as you move throughout your day?

It's so much fun! Why not give it a try? And don't forget to link up on the Ella blog when you've completed your Take 12 Layout or have your twelve photos? I can't wait to see what you do!

Ella Publishing Take 12 Challenge :: The Best Part Layout & Another Story from the 12th

I had so much fun with this layout. We had a party for my youngest son on the 12th of this month so it was easy to get 12 photos. There was more to my story than a birthday party. It was all about how the party came together. It was truly a family event. I could not have pulled it off without the help of my entire family especially my two oldest sons. 

I wanted a layout that allowed me to tell the story I wanted to tell and I found it in the Ella Inspiration Kit. The design you see was perfect! I could show the highlights of the party on the left and BEHIND the SCENES on the right. BEHIND the SCENES is also one of the themes suggested in the Inspiration Kit and I love how it inspired me to tell this deeper story of my son's party.

JOURNALING READs:

The best part of this party was behind the scenes. Even Dad remarked after it was over that this was one of his favorite birthday parties because we all worked together to make it happen. And now that it is all over, I wish I had more of those photos. If I could do it all over again I would take some photos of Reece drawing each treasure hunt clue in amazingly accurate detail (I did save the clues), Reece & Nicholas planning out the treasure hunt and planting each clue, Nicholas planning secretly to be the Birthday Santa, hiding in the ayi closet ready to give out the goodie bags at the end of the treasure hunt, Mom searching the internet for the perfect Superman “B” image to print out and trace for the birthday cake, Mom printing out Superman & B logos to wear for the “photobooth”, Reece helping mom set up the backdrop for the photobooth, our neighbor Kristin stopping into the store to look for balloons after mom texted all of her friends to be on the lookout, Dad cutting up the yellow paper for the scrapbooking we ran out of time for, Mom planning out the cake with Braden and making the design happen with chopsticks and frosting.

 

The journaling spot is also from the Ella Inspiration kit. Isn't it cute?

Visit Ella Publishing for more information! And don't forget to go to this Ella Blog Post to add your layout or 12 photos to the linky party and your chance to win (linky closes on the 18th - see end of post for exact time it closes).

Visit the rest of the Take 12 Design Team:

Alizia

Amy

Angela

Jennie

Stephanie

Van

Valerie

Monika

Lisa D

Janette

Lisa O

 

ANOTHER STORY FROM the TWELFTH

There was also another amazing story to be told on the 12th of this month but for privacy reasons I cannot share the photos. I had the amazing privelege of meeting the new family of one of the children I care for at the orphanage I volunteer at every week. The family who had just adopted her, was in town an extra week or so waiting for their new daughter's passport and they asked to meet with some of us volunteers. I was so excited. She had been away from the orphanage for only one week and the first thing I noticed when I walked through the door was how she was a completely different child. She was animated, instead of sullen, she was smiling instead of somber, she was affectionate, instead of crying, she smiled and laughed and giggled more in that hour than I had ever seen her do in the year+ I had known her at the orphanage. She looked at her new parents and big sister with such love and adoration, it was astounding. I couldn't believe a child could bond with their new family so quickly and that she could so quickly become the child she was always meant to be. I had always felt so strongly, if this little girl could just have her own family, she would blossom. But I had no idea she would blossom so quickly and that she had so much potential to ever be that child I met just a week later. 

Many of the children at the orphanage have special needs. We don't always know all of their details so we often wonder. We had said that she was so somber and rarely interactive in a distinct way that we wouldn't be surprised if someone said she had special needs and yet we wouldn't be surprised if they told us she was perfectly normal. After that meeting, it became clear to me that she is perfectly normal and she is now exactly where she should have been since birth! What an amazingly lucky little girl to be with a family so full of love! It warms my heart to think about her sleeping safely in the loving arms of her new family in her fresh PJs, squeaky clean hair and adorable rosy red cheeks.

If only her little friends still at the orphanage will be so lucky.

 

#Take12 | Ella Publishing Co.

via www.ellapublishing.com

Sunday, February 12 - Another TAKE TWELVE Challenge! Will you join us? We have a birthday party, so this will be an easy one for me. Church in the morning, party in the afternoon. I even think there are 12 friends coming over. It should be a fun day. 12 Friends, 12 Photos, February 12th. I can't wait to see your photos!

Layout A Day Feb '12 Day 7: Learning to Swim

So yesterday I mentioned that Ali Edwards had announced on her blog she would be documenting a day in the life on Wednesday. I was all for it and had every intention of waking up today and documenting my day. And then I woke up and I had zero desire to do that! So, I didn't! I have done so much every day documenting that I think I need a little break!

I will be doing the Take Twelve challenge this Sunday as part of their TAKE TWELVE team (see button on sidebar to link to the Ella Take Twelve page), so I will save up my mindfulness until then! I'll be sharing my photos on Sunday or Monday (since I am a day ahead) and then my layout a few days later. Please come back to see! Will you be doing the Take Twelve challenge this time? Go to the Ellapublishing.com for more information!

Ella Publishing Take 12 Challenge :: Layout & Jetlag

 

I can't tell you how much I love a project like this. Take twelve photos on the twelfth of every month of the year and then make 12 layouts, of course! Give me a photography challenge and I am there. And taking everyday photos is my favorite.

On the 12th of January this year the boys and I had a 13+ hour flight across the Pacific to be reunited with their Dad who was back in Beijing, China. Not the most exciting activity to take photos of. But there in lies the challenge, no?

We take this flight four times a year - twice there and twice back. It has been a big part of our lives for the last three and a half years. This should be documented. I try to take one or maybe two photos every time we fly but I have never tried to "tell the story" of the flight. I am so glad that I did! I love how so many of the photos turned out.

I used template #12 from the Ella Publishing Take Twelve Template Pack. It was so easy to use! I am still suffering from jetlag - there is a 16 hour difference between California and Beijing - so I didn't want to spend a lot of time on my layout. (I need more sleep!) This template was perfect and it's so cute! I used digital papers and ribbon from Tracie Stroud Designs to add some color. The simple text is Arial.

 

DID YOU TAKE TWELVE??

Did you Take Twelve and make a layout? Join the link party at Ella Publishing! There are prizes. But hurry, you have to link up today (Jan 18).

Do you want to Take Twelve but didn't do it on the 12th? Not to worry, it isn't too late! (Link party for prizes closes today but feel free to link up next month and/or leave me a link in the comments [here and/or at Ella's blog] and I'll come see your page.) In fact, Ella Publishing has a discount on their TAKE TWELVE Inspiration Kit just for procrastinators. Angie Lucas even gives tips on cheating on the blog. I'm all for cheating in scrapbooking if it gets another story told and a memory documented! It all counts, right?

Don't forget to check out the Take Twelve Flickr group and post your photos & finished layouts.

Check out the blogs of the other Ella Publishing Take Twelve Design Team:

 

Like the Car

Nihao, Cupcake!

Janette Carter-Kincaid

Scrap Inspired

Scrappy Wife, Happy Life

Day by Day

Right Here-Right Now

The Scrapbooking Haven Diva

Scrapworthy Lives

People of the Scrapbook

My Little Blessings

Life is Sweet

A Swoop and a Dart

Endless Possibilities

Yeah, Write

 

PROJECT LIFE

I loved the photos my boys and I took on the 12th so much that I came up with a way to integrate more of them into my Project Life album. I'll post that tomorrow (Beijing time) along with my finished Project Life layout from week one that was meant to be posted on Tuesday. (Jetlag is a killer!)

 

This time I really am going on a blog break...

Some blog happenings to check out while I am gone:

Ella Publishing's TAKE TWELVE 2012 Photography & Scrapbooking Challenge Inspiration Kit GIVEAWAY. Click here for more details. Contest closes on Sunday evening.

ONE LITTLE WORD Blog Hop & sign-ups (for students in Ali Edwards' Big Picture Classes' class. Our next Blog Hop is on February 1st. Please stop by to see the amazing inspiration! If you are a student in Ali's ONE LITTLE WORD class and would like to join us, go here for more information. That's a link to all past blog hops and includes information in several recent posts on how to sign up. We'd love to have you! I think February's is going to be a big one!

FAMILY x 12 BLOG HOP on the 5th of every month. Go here for more details. We'd love to have you join us!

And if you are here for PROJECT LIFE inspiration, go HERE for everything PROJECT LIFE on my blog, including links to other inspiration on the web, all of my photos from last year posted weekly as well as a growing number of completed layouts. 

Enjoy! I'll be back in a few days!

Let's Put the "Scrap" Back in Scrapbooking, Project Life Update & A Giveaway

Another big day at the blog! I wanted to take a blog break (I have so much to do to get ready for my trip home), but there is just too much going on to stay away.

It is the first Project Life Tuesday of 2011. With my committment to keeping up with PL this year, I couldn't miss the first one. So, I am posting my photos from the first week and some layout updates from 2011. I'll post my first layout of 2012 next week with this week's photos. That is my plan for 2012.

I also just realized it is TEN on TEN over at Shimelle.com. I missed December, so I can't miss January, too! My original plan was to list my top ten favorite online scrapbook classes, but I totally forgot about it until a few minutes ago, so instead, I thought I would feature my TOP TEN pages in the photo album of my six months in ENGLAND in 1990-91.

While I am visiting from China, I am staying with my mom. She is kind enough to store all of my beloved photos so my only opportunity to revisit these wonderful treasures is during these trips home. This album was the last album I made before I 'discovered' archivally safe scrapbooking. I was excited about my new hobby, but wasn't about to take apart the album that took me so long to finally complete (five years). I'm still not ready. Yes, the photos are probably disintegrating, but I don't want to disemble it until I know how I will preserve it in its next home.

The FIRST photo above is from the top of the World Trade Center in 1990.

2 This was our visit to New York City in 1990 on our way to London. It was the second visit of my life. This day we were meeting up with my friend who was visiting her friend who worked at the World Trade Center. Little did we know what would happen at this location 11 years later. I did not stay in touch with him, so I have always prayed that he was not working there (or escaped) by the time 9/11 happened.

 

3 I love all of this memorabilia that I collected from my trip there. LOVE IT! I was able to work in Britain for six months as part of an agreement our governments had (and may still have). Any student can automatically get a six month work visa.

 

4 Did you notice what is missing from this album? Yep! Journaling. Not one ounce of it. I need to fix that, don't I? This is my friend from college who grew up in England. He happened to be visiting for the first time in ten years and was nice enough to meet us first-time international travelers at the airport to help us navigate this new big city. I was beyond nervous. My friend had HUGE suitcases. I had suitcasees too but not as many and not as big. Anyway, I was so nervous we wouldn't get them on the Tube in time for the doors to close.

Here is lots more memorabilia. I love including maps! LOVE IT! You can also see the business card and receipt for our hotel in the Merlyn Court area. It was known for being slightly dodgy and for having a lot of Aussies. They are a dodgy sort, you know! (Of course I am only teasing!)

 

5 More amazing memories come flooding back. It was my birthday and we were doing whatever we did in London (looking for a job or maybe exploring the city) and I just happened to run into two friends from college! This is the only time this has ever happened to me while traveling or living abroad. My husband, who went to a significantly smaller school, is always running into people from his university. He may not know them, but he meets them. I NEVER do. But that is another story. It was a great surprise running into these friends on my birthday so far from home! WHat are the chances? Do you see the note tucked under the photo? That is the note they left for me arranging a meet up later that day. I love that I still have it.

This page isn't beautiful but if that is not scrapbooking, what is??

 

6 My rental agreement, my rent book, my checkbook (from a foreign country, no less - such excitement for a 21 year old who had only ever been to Mexico, which to a So Californian feels like an extension of California), my bank card, etc, etc. I only had the cash that I earned and a few hundred dollars I brought with me. It was quite a lesson about living within my means!

 

7 My best friend from college came to visit me (She is the only friend or family member that has come to see me every place in the world I have lived. And she just called me today to tell me she has purchased her ticket to visit me in China!! HURRAY! Her record will be 4 for 4! I feel a mini book coming on...) Another map!

 

8 Don't you love my text on this page? I used to do this all the time - collect letters and phrases from magazines, save them in envelopes and add them to my photo albums.

 

9 Our work Christmas party. Don't you love my Eddie Bauer sweater? I worked there part-time in college. This was my first introduction to the English Christmas cracker. I love then and think they are so fun. Now we can buy them in the States and my kids got to pop some on New Year's Eve (only because I forgot to bring them to our Xmas celebration).

 

10 And here I am with the other employees in the home department at Debenham's in Cambridge. I went back in 2008 but didn't find any recognizeable faces. It was fun to have my photo take in the home dept with a pan and in front of The Grafton Center, the mall where this store is located. So many memories there...

I love adding memorabilia to my beloved photos. It tells a richer story even without journaling. That is why I am loving Project Life! Not sure I would have continued the project for the third year if I didn't start adding all the goodies. It is so easy to do. Much like the magnetic albums I used before my discovery of the scrapbooking we know today.

 

PROJECT LIFE

 

I only managed to complete three total pages. I was so poud of myself and thought I was so creative, but when I woke up the next morning to see what I had gotten done, it all looked so plain! (I'm saving my Amber kit to use on my 2012 album so I only brought the grid journaling cards to the States with me. I'll be reunited with the rest of my supplies on Friday.) But nevermind, plain means done and lots of stories told, right!?

 

 

I am using the date cards as a filler because I have premade date cards waiting for me at home.

 

Here's a glimpse into what I have started for my 2012 album. I've stuck it into a broken three ring binder temporarily until I am home so that I can keep it organized while I work on it. As you can see, I am slipping memorabilia into the pocket that corresponds with the day. At this rate, I won't have any room for journaling cards! I may take some of these things out, but right now, they stay. See the brown tag? I put the plastic string around the middle ring. I kept that because it goes to a fun water bottle and it is significant since I haven ot been drinking enough water lately and the fun bottle is meant to encourage me to improve on that.

The Sound Bites card was also put on the middle ring. My son bought that toy with his own money and he has been annoying us all wiht it ever since. It makes fake sound effects and each sound effect is listed on the back of the card. ON the front of the card, I plan to glue a photo of my son where he is holding the toy.

 

 

I cut up the Trader Joe's CC Joe-Joe's box because my son kept sing a little ditty about the cookies and for about a day we assumed he had made up the words until we noticed them on the side of the box! So typical of him. Such a jokester! And his favorite gum is Big League Chew.

 

See? I saved a Christmas cracker crown from our New Year's Even crackers this year. See a connection with my photo from the album I shared above? I feel a scrapbook page...

 

Of course I saved that adorable picture my six-year-old drew. I need to ask him who and where it is. I am including the page I ripped from Family Fun magazine because I might want to make the project next Xmas. I am more apt to see it and remember it for next year, if I stick it in my PL binder! And it shows the craft trends of the times.

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

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

Oh, and here are my photos for the week:

 

No dates today. I need to get to bed!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for stopping by and helping keep me accountable with my PL album. I still ahve to post the last three photos from 2011 and my seventh photo from the first week of 2012 and my title page for my 2012 album. That will all come next week! Along with more PL inspiration around the web.

 

I have a great giveaway today (Tues). I was going to include it in this post but this one ended up so long, I decided to put it in a separate post. For details on my TAKE TWELVE Inspiration Kit giveaway, go here.

Have You Heard of the TAKE TWELVE Challenge at EllaPublishing? And OLW Giveaway Winner

I've been invited to be a part of the Take Twelve Team for Ella Publishing Co.'s new Take Twelve photography and scrapbooking challenge.

I couldn't be more excited! It's my very first design team! Yay! And I'm even more excited about the challenge itself.

The idea is to take TWELVE photos on the TWELFTH of every month in 2012. (So cool!) I think it is a really great way to get a snapshot of your everyday life throughout the year.

As many of you know, I already do Project Life. I do the PHOTO A DAY approach for the most part, but what my album lacks is a deeper view of my everyday. I did a Week in the Life this year too, but we only got an indepth view of our lives for one week and only in the summer. So the reason I am excited about this project is because I will get an indepth view of our everyday lives TWELVE times a year, one time a month, through every season, through various changing routines and there couldn't be an easier way to do it with the...

Take Twelve Guided Inspiration Kit.

This kit includes five complete products in one!

You'll get:
12 monthly photo checklists
12 bonus project ideas
12-month mini-album idea
12 layout sketches by Donna Jannuzzi
54 printable journaling lists + .png files
24 printable titles + .png files
24 printable calendar accents + .png files

So much flexibility with this kit. So much inspiration. There are even easy to use digital templates! It doesn't get easier than that. I'm itching to make something already!

In fact, we have a trans-Pacific flight on January 12th so I am excited to see if I can come up with 12 photos during a strangely short day as we lose most of our day when we cross the international dateline. But then I'm always up for a challenge!

And another huge bonus is that our year-long tour guide is Elizabeth Dillow. I love her approach to scrapbooking. She inspired me with her project, Your Life Hour by Hour with this article at Ella Publishing.

Here is the layout (template by Kim Byrns) I came up with for that challenge:

And the post that includes the rest of the photos I took on that day.

These are my kind of challenges!

Are you interested?

There are lots of ways to participate!

• Get a free email reminder sent to you on the 11th of each month, so you'll never forget to take your photos. Click here to sign up for our email list.
• Take 12 photos of your everyday life on or around the 12th of each month. Need ideas for what things to photograph? Get our Take Twelve Guided Inspiration Kit!
• Turn those 12 photos into a scrapbook page, using your own supplies and ideas—or get help from the sketches, journaling lists, printable titles, and mini calendar accents in our Take Twelve kit.
• Visit our blog on the 12th and the 19th of each month to see Take Twelve layouts from our team and from other readers too.
• Enter your layout into our linky party on the 19th of each month for a chance to win great prizes from our sponsors.
• Feel proud of yourself for making a commitment to preserving precious memories this year.

I look forward to seeing what you will create. It should be a really fun year.

 

GIVEAWAY WINNER

The winner of the spot in Ali Edwards' ONE LITTLE WORD class at Big Picture Classes is:

Congratulations, Vicki J!

Please email me (link in the side bar to the right of my blog) and I will send you everything you need as soon as possible so you can get started on the class right away! I hope you will join us for our ONE LITTLE WORD Blog Hop on February 1, Vicki J! We'd love to have you.

 

PROJECT LIFE

I promised an update of my Project Life photos and my album today but I am exhausted, so I'll have to put it off until tomorrow. So sorry!

And sorry for the late publishing of the giveaway winner. A big thanks to everyone who stopped by and left a comment! And thanks to Big Picture Classes for the giveaway!

EDITED on Jan 9, 2012: I have a giveaway coming up that you might be inerested in! It should be posted in the next 24 hours or so.

Some exciting news to share...

It has been a big week for me here at the blog! I have an exciting personal annoucement to share tomorrow (I've left a hint on my blog) along with some of my Project Life photos (haven't posted since I left China) and hopefully an update on the progress of my 2011 album and a glimpse at 2012! WHEW! I hope you will come back.

Oh, don't forget! I will be posting the winner of the spot in the Ali Edwards' ONE LITTLE WORD class giveaway tomorrow too so if you left me a comment, you'll definitely want to check back to see if you won! Comments close at 9 PM PST tonight - so hurry!