Nihao, Cupcake!

Project Life: 10 Tips for Keeping It Simple

As another year comes to a close, it is time to prepare for the new year. For many of us that will include plans for a Project Life album.

If you are thinking about starting a Project Life album to document the new year or have started one in the past but didn't get past the first month, this list of tips is for you. 

Even if you never "complete" a full album from January to December, like me, you will document more memories & stories than you ever thought possible.

Before I begin, it is important to remember that the purpose of this article is to simplify your Project Life process so that you can stay caught up. It may not be the ideal way you want to do Project Life but you will stay caught up and your memories will be documented.

I am also assuming that you are doing Project Life on a weekly timeline. If you are using a different time schedule, adjust these tips accordingly.

As I always like to say DONE is better than PERFECT! So, keep that in mind as you read my tips. 

1) Upload your photos once a week, but EVERY week on the same day if at all possible.

2) Print all your photos in 4x6 format. This will cut down on time in photoshop or other photo editing software. You will not waste time resizing your photos. If you want to put photos in the 3x4 pockets, trim your 4x6 photo down to fit. This means you may not be able to use that vertical photo that fills the frame, but that is OK.

Save it for a scrapbook page, a frame or you can do as I do and let it peek up over the top of your page protector.

3) Narrow down the photos for your book to 7-10 each week. Be ruthless! Which photo tells the best or most important story?

4) Print your photos the most "brainless" way possible. If that is printing them at home, do that. For me, it is getting them printed at Costco. I use the Costco plug-in for Lightroom and after my photos for the week are selected, I click publish and my photos are automatically uploaded to Costco. I visit Costco.com, place my order and pick up the next time I am in the area. I can also have the mailed to my house-free shipping for members. BRAINLESS!

5) If you have memorabilia you want to include, put it into your album immediately - tuck it in the pocket that corresponds with that day or week. Don't throw it in a file folder or a drawer. You won't need to look for it when it is time to sit down and work on your spread for the week. It will be there waiting for you.

6) Create a basket or tool box full of just your project life supplies. Limit yourself to your core kit, 2 packages of letter stickers (one large and one small), 1 package of labels and 2 packages of stickers or embellishments. By limiting your supplies, you will cut down on the time it takes you to make supply choices.

7) Use only one page protector design. Choose between Design A & Design D and use that one through your entire book. This will reduce decision making and will save you time.

8) Use the same photo orientation (horiz or vert) throughout your entire album. If you are using Design A, always take horizontal pictures (you can still take a vertical photo, but make sure you take a horizontal photo as well so you can use that in your PL album). If you are using Design D, make sure you always take a vertical photo for the same reason.

[BONUS TIP: It is good practice in photography, to make yourself take both directions. This challenges your to think of more creative ways to get the same shot and you may end up with a beautiful shot you would not have considered without this little exercise (just a little bonus photography tip for you)!]

If you have chose Design A and you have a darling vertical photo you'd like to use, see if you can crop it to 4x4 (with your scissors or paper trimmer) and adhere it to a journaling card or filler card and use it in one of your 4x6 photo pockets.

9) Write your journaling directly on your photos. Use American Crafts Slick Writers (or other pens that will write on slick surfaces and are photo safe) in different thicknesses. Write your journaling directly on your photos. This adds interest and saves time. And saves space. Of course you don't ahve to do this every time. Mixing up the thicknesses of your pens adds interest to your journaling cards. This saves you time but doesn't sacrifice visual variety.

10) Give yourself a realistic time limit when working on your album each week. Force yourself to complete your spread within that time limit. Set a timer. Trust your creative choices and go for it. Keeping in mind our main goal is completion not perfection or beauty.

Using this strategy you will have a ton of memories from each week documented. If you then want to add more photos and/or get fancy, you can spend extra time each week or go back later and add extra inserts with extra photos and memorabilia.

But if you are already having trouble keeping up, the trick is to focus on these tips and only these tips. Don't get distracted by extra supplies, more photos, extra inserts, etc, etc, etc. Remember DONE is better and more important than PERFECT!

The better you get at this simple process, the faster you will get and over time you will find yourself with a little extra time here and there to add in some extra creativity if you want.

That said, years down the road, the only thing that will matter is the words and the photos. And I would even argue the WORDS will matter most. The photos will likely be available in boxes or on computers or hard drives or internet servers, but the words those are the most important.

Prioritize. Get the most important stuff done first and then when you have some extra time play around.

If this routine seems too restrictive for you, consider relaxing your expectations. Maybe you only want to document your life monthly. Maybe you want to document as you go and relieve yourself from any restrictions at all. Simply insert a photo and add a journaling card to explain it. Don't worry about formatting your album in a weekly or monthly way. 

What is your priority? What is your purpose in doing Project Life? Get clear and realistic.

For me, the top priority is storing my photos and memorabilia together. Second is telling the story or documenting a memory. My third priority is expressing my creativity. 

Are your priorities different than mine? Let me know in the comments!

Check back soon for a wrap up of my favorite & most popular Project Life posts. 

Don't know what Project Life is? Go to Becky's blog for more information.

PROJECT LIFE on PINTEREST

Follow my Pinterest boards for lots of inspiration:

Do you have a Project Life board on PINTEREST? If so, leave me a link to your board in the comments because I love finding more friends to share inspriation. If you'd like to check out my Project Life board, go here. 

Project Life Freebies on PINTEREST

And here's a link to my PROJECT LIFE FREEBIES board as well.

What are your plans for Project Life in 2015?

FAMILY x 12 Blog Hop - May 2013

Hello! And welcome to the May FAMILY x 12 Blog Hop. We are a group of bloggers who are committed to taking one photo a month of our families. For accountability & inspiration, we share them during our monthly blog hop. This project was originally inspired by Tara Whitney. If you'd like to join us, please send me an email (link on my blog sidebar).

We have a lot of family photos this month!

We started our month off with a very special occasion. Our youngest son received his First Holy Communion! We all posed in front of this pretty wall right after the ceremony - all of us in our best clothes! I don't think we've ever all looked so nice since the boys were babies & toddlers!

Then, we went camping...

French toast for lunch cooked over a camp fire. We were meant to have it for breakfast, but because we spent the previous night in a hotel (I got sick) our meal was delayed.

We balanced the camera on one of the fence posts for this one amongst the giant Sequoias.

Another meal time timer photo - this time chicken & dinner biscuits all cooked in (and on) our cast iron dutch oven (also pictured in the photo).

A crazy photo taken at the base of a Giant Sequoia tree during our hike on the last day of our trip.

We ended the day's hike with this incredible view just before we took the lovely drive back home.

Thanks for stopping by! Don't miss any of the other inspiration at the rest of the blogs. Next on the hop is Ruth.

The other Blog Hop Participants:

Margie     http://xnomads.typepad.com/blog

Ruth         http://www.chattycraftyartypig.blogspot.com

Patricia    http://patoliveira.wordpress.com/ 

Louise     http://www.scrapbook-me.blogspot.co.uk/

Diana      www.thestudio56.com

2013 Project Life 365 :: Week 15

Welcome to Week 15 of my Project Life! I am still keeping up as hoped and taking at least one photo a day. I have not missed a day yet! I can't believe it. It is the first time in three+ years. Hurray!

This week was spring break for our kids so we went camping. We had not been since before we moved to China so the kids were incredibly excited and my husband and I were a little rusty. We couldn't remember exactly what supplies were stored away in our camping bins. But we quickly found out and despite being a bit cold the first night, it was like riding a bike... that is until I got food poisoning the first morning. We traced it back to a stop on the way up - not from camping food!

It was a great week. I have lots of photos, which should mean inserts but since I am still catching up from past week's inserts, this week is just one spread of photos and journaling cards. You may see an insert in a week or so. Or you may not!

 

I did manage to complete my March Day in the Life as well as the hole in my layout last week. I've even taken photos, but because it is so late and I need my sleep, I'll post those next week!

This week is more of the same. I've used a wood veneer talk bubble for the first time. I've also used a SUnday circle which was a free download from Ali Edwards a long while ago.

I also used several of my DIY foam stamps that I made earlier in the year (the pot, camera, leaf shape on date card, orange sunburst). To see more of my stamps and a tutorial, go here or here.

I made the date card myself. I was going for a pattern but I messed up and it didn't turn out how I had planned, but I went with it and I don't think it turned out too bad. I do like the colors.

 

 

SELF-PORTRAIT CHALLENGE

**a new photography challenge coming up on Thursday (and the 25th of every month going forward)! The theme this month is 4 Self Portraits; 4 Ways. Feel like you want some photography inspiration & motivation? Join us! We will have a link where you can add your post too. The challenge is to take 4 self-portraits, 4 different ways, but even one is cause for celebration. So don't be shy! More details here & to be revealed on Thursday. We hope you'll stop by & join in.

Have you all heard of the Project Lifers Facebook group? You should check it out, it is a lovely group of other Project Lifers! 

 

 

To see all of my Project Life layouts of the past few years, go here.

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

Check it out for lots of PL inspiration!

 

Don't know what Project Life is? Go to Becky's blog for more information.

 

 

PINTEREST

Do you have a Project Life board on PINTEREST? If so, leave me a link to your board in the comments and I'll follow you. I love finding more friends to share inspriation. If you'd like to check out my Project Life board, go here. And here's a link to my PROJECT LIFE FREEBIES board as well.

Thanks for stopping by!

2013 Day in the Life: March [Pictures]

My plan this month was to document Friday, a busy ordinary weekday, but about lunchtime I realized I had forgotten to document anything. So I switched to Saturday. As Friday continued on, I sort of wished I had documented that day since it was a "good" weekday with lots of extra things like meetings and sports games and volunteer work during the day. 

I find these things the most difficult to capture on film because I get self-conscious. So, I was looking forward to the challenge & the photos as a result of overcoming my nerves.

Next month!

And I ended up I loving documenting Saturday.

I did get a late start. I didn't realize I was meant to document until I got home from my yoga class at 10:30 AM! So before that, the documentation is in words only. But that is OK because I wanted to focus more on the words this year and this month. So, that works out.

I ended up jotting down a bunch of notes in my notebook. I will be re-typing when I transfer everything into my DITL template in Photoshop. I will get times from my notebook as well as the metadata on my photos. I love including exact times.

Watch in Week 13 for my Day in the Life insert.

To see last month's Day in the Life layout, go here. To see it in my Project Life album, go here.

I'm linking up here at Ali's blog. Check it out, there are others who linked up as well offering great inspiration, as well as a nice article regarding the Day in the Life process.

Thanks for stopping by!

2013 Project Life 365: Week 8 - Balance

Project Life Week 9 is (almost) done! Hurray! I had a lot of fun this week.

Another week with inserts. This time I had four inserts and I have one more to add (I'll show you next time). Last week I mentioned that every week in Project Life I feel like there are many things that I want to add but I don't manage to. I typically run out of time.

Well, this week, I  stepped it up a bit and added a ton of stuff.

It did take me a lot longer than last week. But that is OK. Some weeks are simple and short. Other weeks are more involved and take a long time. As we Project Lifers know, this project allows that kind of flexibility. It can change from week to week or day to day, right?

I participated in Ali Edwards' Day in the Life project this month. (I wrote about it in this post.) Even though, I wasn't pleased with how many pics I took or the amount of detail I recorded, I'm glad I completed the project.

For me doing that acts as a type of warm-up. I think the annoyance at myself in not doing it in a way that excites me will motivate me to do it right the next time. So, if all works out, I will do it again next month.

Have you done a Day in the Life project this year or do you plan to?

Here is the other side of my Day in the Life insert. My printer was running out of ink so I printed it in black & white but it still ran out - thus it looks as if the toaster oven is on fire and so is my son's breakfast! I just got more ink today and will be reprinting!!

The other insert is journaling from my Oh Life entries. (Oh Life is a free service that sends you an email each day, you respond with your daily entry. It is easy to download your records any time you want!) I printed them up on a 8.5x11 sheet of cardstock, folded it in half and put it in an 8.5x11 page protector that I stitched up using my sewing machine. I trimmed off the extra and will use it for a future insert.

This is the other side of the Oh Life insert. I made the Heart House stamp on the bottom. To see the other stamps I designed, go here and to see how I made them (so easy!), go here. Check out my other Project Life layouts this year if you are interested to see how I've used them each week. I think they've made it in all but one layout in 2013.

Here is yet another birthday insert. This is the third birthday celebration in my album so far this year and it is only early March! I've started a sort of theme - all include a 3x4 "Happy Birthday" card with my banner stamp & my cupcake stamp and the last two birthdays include a decorative label sticker with the birthday person's age and a heart.

I'm liking that consistencey and sub-theme throughout my album.

The other side of the birthday insert includes photos from an event at my son's elementary school.

And then the next insert is from an after school event for my other sons' middle school.

And here is the other side tha includes a ticket and photo of the son that was on the team.

And finally the right side of the layout. Here I am using the baseball stitching stamp again. Yet another sub-theme (baseball) I am finding myself using throught my album (twice so far).

Another one that I used the past two weeks was a movie camera stamp I use any time I have photos of my kids filming movies as they love to do. You'll see that one again in Week 10!

Here is a close-up of my 3x4 Birthday card with banner stamp.

A close up of the Heart House stamps.

And finally a close-up of the birthday age label.

BALANCE

The lesson for me this week, was to remember that life & Project Life is all about balance. Some weeks (sometimes many weeks), my layouts will be simple and quick and I won't have the time to put everything I want into the spread.

What is important for me to remember is that all is not lost! There will come a time when I can get a lot of stuff in my layout! And I can go back and add an insert in past weeks (I did that this week - adding in an insert full of my sons' second grade Valentine's). Who said it all has to be done NOW?!

INSPIRATION & A FREEBIE

That's all for this week, but before I sign off, I wanted to tell you about an adorable free download at Amanda Rose's blog. It's a really cute Week in Review journaling card. And while you are there, check out her Day in the Life for February - I love how she executed it. I hope to channel her dedication, energy & creativity for DAY IN THE LIFE at the end of this month! 

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you have a great week.

 

To see all of my Project Life layouts of the past few years, go here.

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

Check it out for lots of PL inspiration! Don't know what Project Life is? Go to Becky's blog for more information.

 

And this past Saturday, March 9, my Project Life Week 8 layout was featured here. Please stop by to check it out! Thanks! 

PINTEREST

Do you have a Project Life board on PINTEREST? If so, leave me a link to your board in the comments and I'll follow you. I love finding more friends to share inspriation. If you'd like to check out my Project Life board, go here. And here's a link to my PROJECT LIFE FREEBIES board as well

 

Follow me on 

Day in the Life: February 2013

I am so happy to have my February Week in the Life complete!

I was determined to do Week in the Life this month having missed January. It appealed to me for so many different reasons. My calendar alerted me, I set up my camera next to my bed the night before as a reminder. I had paper ready for documenting and Wednesday morning got off to a great start. But then my mood. My mood got in the way and I lost all motivation to take pictures or document. I'm not sure why but that does happen to me on occasion.

I gave Thursday another attempt but I wasn't as prepared and it just didn't happen and then between last week and this week what little I did have documented from the first half of Wednesday went missing! And still is!

Despite all that was against me and all the self-sabotage, I still wanted to go ahead with it.

1) It is more than I would have documented had I given up completely.

2) Good for my general creativity.

3) Feels good completing a project I set out to do even though it is more imperfect than perfect.

4) Good practice for next month.

I've got March marked on the calendar already. Do you?

Look for the final product in my Project Life post next week - typically published on Monday, though sometimes as early as Sunday. 

I've linked this post up at Ali Edwards' blog for Day in the Life February 2013.

On Saturday, March 9, one of my Project Life layouts will be featured here:

Feel free to stop by and check out the inspiration.

2013 Project Life 365: Week 8

WELCOME! 

* A special THANK YOU to everyone who stops by and leaves comments. It truly brightens my day. I also really enjoy popping over to your blog and getting inspired by your Project Life creations. It is a neat sense of Project Life-blog community. It is fun getting to know each of you as the weeks pass through your PL albums and your blogs.

Week 8 of Project Life complete! It feels so good to be keeping up and have another week wrapped up.

I'll admit that I was a little worried this week. I didn't even start until Sunday late afternoon & I was not feeling inspired at all, but once I got started, the creativity came & I got it all finished. Every week, and this week is no exception, there are photos and memorabilia that I hope to include and don't get to, but I made the decision this week that it is OK! 

Done is better than perfect after all. And I can always go back and slide things in the pockets (as I often do). The big delay this week was my missing box of 8.5x11 page protectors! As soon as it is located, a lot more memorabilia will be added in full size and altered sizes. But for now, week 8 is complete!

There isn't anything too special this week. I used a 4x3 inch card as the date card and used an extra photo from Monday. It is a little hard to see in this photo, but I added monogram "R" in the center of the design on that first 3x4 card from the Amber Edition.

The movie camera is the same stamp I made that I used in my Project Life last week.

On this page is another stamp I recently made - the baseball stitching. And the list of nominees for the Academy Awards that we watched on Sunday night with a little party.

How are you staying inspired week after week with your Project Life album? Any tricks or tips you'd like to share? Let us know in the comments.

 

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

To see all of my Project Life layouts of the past few years, go here.

Check it out for lots of PL inspiration! Don't know what Project Life is? Go to Becky's blog for more information.

 

And this Saturday, March 9, my PRoject Life layout will be featured here. Please stop by to check it out! Thanks! 

Do you have a Project Life board on PINTEREST? If so, leave me a link to your board in the comments and I'll follow you. I love finding more friends to share inspriation. If you'd like to check out my Project Life board, go here. And here's a link to my PROJECT LIFE FREEBIES board as well

 

#ME: Now [February 2013] & 52 Lists 2013 Project

The 52 Lists Project article has moved to my new site, Nihao, Cupcake! Click here to be redirected to this article on my new site.

 

2013 Project Life 365: Week 3 {Why do I love this project?}

Another week and I still love this project! I have read quite a few blogs recently that declare their love for this project each and every week.

But why do we love this project?

I think it is because it gives us an excuse for playing with and spending time with our photos & memories each & every week! It breaks it up into small digestible bites and pieces that can be finished in a short period of time which allows us to feel a sense of accomplishment with a small amount of effort & time.

I'd love to hear why you love this project. Tell me in the comments.

This week I used a lot of the homemade stamps I talked about in last week's Project Life post.

After I finished it, I still needed to add an insert to include the invitation I made for my son's 8th Birthday Party (a post coming soon with more details - it is one of my 24 Projects in 12).

It made more sense then to change out the photo of the invitation in process (bottom right photo of left side of layout) for a different photo. I chose to add the one of my son below since I love how he is so intently concentating on getting his homework done.

This is actually two photos one atop the other.

I had been having difficulty fitting all the photos I wanted into my layout, so I ended up cutting my son out of one photo and placing it on top of a photo of his homework assignment (the colorful map).

I think it turned out kind of cool. He looks almost super-imposed over the map. It helps that the photo of him was blurry to begin with. That makes it kind of pop off the page.

I thought the photo of the invitations in process made more sense above the actual finished invitation. That background paper is made from a pattern of one of the stamps I made. Go to this post to read more about the ten craft foam stamps I made (Super Fun & Super Easy) and to see the lotus root stamp that I used. I'm not sure I love how the paper turned out. But I'm glad I've started to experiment. I envision making a lovely pattern with the lotus root stamps. I'm sure I'll find something I like eventually. 

Here is the other side of the insert with the invitation. I printed out entries from my Oh Life account. (Oh Life is a free service you sign up for. They send you an automated email once a day and you email back anything you'd like to remember about the day. SIMPLE!) This is the first time I have used any of my entries and I've been keeping an Oh Life journal (of sorts) since May 2011. I plan to do it more often since it was so easy to do.

The row of cameras are also another stamp that I made. Surprised?! Ha! Again, I don't love how they turned out. A little too messy. And I think I would have liked them in black or grey. 
Here is a journaling card I made from a photo I took of footprints in the sand. It didn't turn out as good as I thought it would. You can't tell from this photo, but the writing is actually very difficult to read atop the footprints. (Much like the writing over the Peanut Butter & Jelly sandwiches.) I may try it again and lighten the details of the photo. I also want to re-write the journaling since I think it looks too messy - but that is another story!! I rarely re-do things so I may not get around to it, but I sure am tempted because I was so excited about this idea.

Here is a Project Life Core Kit - Clementine Edition journaling card. I added a "coffee cup to-go" image from another one of those stamps I made that I keep mentioning. Again I wish I could position the writing differently than I did, but I don't want to waste my journaling cards, and the sentiment is exactly right, so I will leave this one.

Another card that uses another one of my new homemade stamps. This is a starburst stamp the same size as a 3" x 4" Journaling Card with Grid Design. I was inspired by an image in the Seafoam Core Kit.  I hope to try it again in a different color. I'm not sure I love it in black. I had fun with this card by messing around with my son's water colors and adding a little circle sticker in the center.

EDITED TO ADD: This journaling card. I don't know how I missed including this one when I originally published this post. I love creating stuff like this with my kids. So fun!

And the last card I will highlight uses yet another stamp that I made. Notice the city skyline at the bottom of the card. I drew the moon on after the fact and colored in the windows and moon using more of my son's water colors. 

I had a more difficult time this week finishing up my layout. I am going to try and finish it a little earlier in the week this time. We have a busy weekend ahead and I'm afraid if I don't do it by Friday, it isn't going to get done. I'm still finding my rhythm this year.

I also want to post about my Project Life photo workflow, but again that will have to wait for another week.

I have a Ninjago mini-fig cake to make, Ninjago cupcakes and a party to finalize. So lots more fun stuff to share on the blog coming up soon but also many busy days ahead!

EDITED TO ADD: If you would like to see how I made the stamps in my Project Life layout this week, please visit this post here.

I'm linking up at The Mom Creative for Project Life Tuesday. Don't know what Project Life is? Go to Becky's blog for more information.

EDITED TO ADD: And a fun Proeject Life freebie card I found here. It's a 5 Faves Right Now card. A great addition to any Project Life layout.

Inspired by

Look what I just discovered: a photography project called You Are My Wild found here. It is a group of 15 or so photographers and they are comitted to posting one portrait of one or more of their children each week for one year. They will post it to this blog every Tuesday, set up specifically for their weekly photos.

I'm inspired!

Perhaps I will join along on my own and post here on my blog once a week. Maybe even on a Tuesday. Wonderful idea! Very cool!  

For today I will post a favorite portrait I took of my oldest son late last month (December 2012).

It's a great idea, don't you think?

I've also decided to link up at SIMPLE AS THAT this week for Simple things Sunday and Nihao, Y'all for Sunday Snapshot. It is no simple thing getting a smiling photo of a 14 year old boy - they are not always game for having their photo taken. Though, thankfully, this one doesn't mind!

Pinterest, Pinterest, Pinterest

I took this screen shot of my latest Pinterest pins. It's a cool way to get a glimpse of life and freeze it. I may have to print this out and add it to my Project Life album or other scrapbook page. Hmmm...

If you love Pinterest, you will LOVE this article. So many great ways to integrate Pinterest into your online life.

Also, this article on adding a Pinterest button directly to your images if you have Wordpress. Alas, I do not and so far I couldn't find anything for Typepad. Please share if you know anything similar for Typepad.

I'm slowly but surely warming up to Pinterest. Not that I was ever against it but it eats up a lot of time. Figuring out the best way to use it as a tool and not a diversion from accomplishing things! 

How do you use Pinterest to your benefit?

First Day of School 2011 in Beijing {Day 5 of 31 Days of Blogging}

I thought this picture turned out pretty cool. I loved the silhouette of my son walking down the dimly lit hallway with the school's sign & building out the window. This was orientation day 2011.

Sunrise at a Train Station in Rajasthan, India {Day 3 of 31 Days of Blogging}

I took this photo from inside a train as we were pulling away from the station. I was trying to capture the sunrise. I wish I knew enough about editing photos to bring out the colors in the sky without it looking overly processed. But otherwise, I like this photo. I like the different stories it tells. I love the silhouettes and how they fit nicely in rectangles and I like the almost bright colors. It is India to me and holds a lot of good memories from our trip there last year.

Thanks again for stopping by... 3 down, 28 more to go! Photos, that is. 31 posts in 31 days.

October 5 FAMILY x 12 Blog Hop

Welcome to the Sept 10th (usually on the 5th of the month) FAMILY x 12 Blog Hop when we all share a photo of our families each month.

We are a small group of bloggers who share the same goal - to get more photos of our families (all together) throughout the year. So, we all join forces on the fifth of every month (except this month) and share our one (or more) family photo for the month!

My two photos this month are from early in September when our dear friends from Japan were visiting. These two "girls" now young women, were the flower girls in our wedding 15 years ago! Here we are at the County Fair.

 

This is the first time they have come to visit without their parents. We had a great time doing all the touristy things. And here we are at one of the kids' favorite froyo places- Yogurtland. Nothing beats serving yourself! 

It's a small group for the blog hop this month. But that's OK! Next on the blog hop is RUTH! 

Oh! Before you go, I should let you know that for the next 30 days, I will be posting daily. I know amazing, huh, after so little posting from me over the past six months or so! I meant to start on October 1, but it came and went without a dedicated blog post, so I started yesterday. Better late than never! My theme will be FAVORITE PHOTOS from my ARCHIVES. Some will be from several years ago and others will be more recent. I'm totally indulging myself, but please stop by if you'd like to see!

Now, off you go for more FAMILY PHOTO inspiration!

OCTOBER 5 Family x 12 Blog Hop Participant List

Margie http://xnomads.typepad.com/blog

Ruth http://www.chattycraftyartypig.blogspot.com

Jo http://www.mrsbeee.blogspot.com

 

Dear Photograph,

Dear Photograph,

It is hard to believe that it has been fifteen years since we visited Tian'anmen Square for the very first time in 1997. It is the one place in Beijing that is still recognizeable to me. The rest of the city is still changing at a break neck pace. I was hard pressed to find anything different between the two photographs.

The walls appear to be a different color red but is that only the angle of light? The old photo has red flags on the flag poles, but other than that the only difference I could find was the white street lamps in the older photo just under the sign on the left side. Even the color of the sky is the same! This is pretty unusual these days since the pollution has gotten so bad in the past four years. Beijing is a much different city when the skies are blue!

The Forbidden City is a much different place now than it was then. There are so many more tourists these days. I remember back then most of the visitors were dressed in drab colored Mao suits comlete with matching hats. So many babies and toddlers were balanced on the marble bridges below Mao's portrait for a photo of their own with Tian'anmen gate and Mao's portrait proudly showing in the background - proof of their pilgramage from the village to the capital city. Oh, how I wish I had captured a photo of that scene! How times changes and in such a short time. Now thousands of domestic tourists pour over the marble bridges each day and the crowds are kept moving. No chance to balance a baby and pose for what used to be an obligatory photograph and keepsake of a citizen's journey to their beloved captial.

 

I was finally motivated to get this photo taken by the DEAR PHOTOGRAPH Challenge at Ella Publishing's blog. If you hurry, you can link up too, it ends today, May 31st.

Come back tomorrow, Friday, June 1st for the ONE LITTLE WORD monthly blog hop AND for a fantastic give away compliments of Ella Publishing. I will be giving away Ella Publishing's PHOTOGRAPHY BUNDLE (if sold separately it's over a $21 value!)

Project Life :: Tips for Staying Caught Up

Most of you know that Project Life is a system of preserving photos and memories created by Becky Higgins, right? The idea behind it is to make it as easy and simple as possible to document and record those memories.

The original concept was designed for a photo a day project, using that everyday concept to document life. But it has evolved beyond that. It is much more flexible. It can be used to pair any photos with any story or word. The idea is to make it easy so that there is NO guilt and NO "caught up".

But, let's face it, some of us have an idea in our head about the way we want to do this project and gosh darn, that is the way we are going to do it! Even if that means putting off working on it until we have the time. We start the year off enthusiastic. We collect everything. We make our layouts extra cute.

But then life starts getting in the way. We go a few days without taking a photo. We forget to write down things the kids say. We stop collecting things. We get behind. And we never seem to get back to the project because

the longer we wait, the further behind we get. And then the task of "catching up" seems overwhelming and unattainable. And some where along the way, we give up and it becomes another unfinished album.

This time of year seems to be the crucial time of year when projects like these start getting lost. Then summer will seal its fate with kids home from school and especially with summer travel and other activities.

Don't let this happen to you! Make a little time to "catch up" and get at least get the skeleton of your album done. You won't regret it. If you find some time in the future, you can go back and "cuten" things up. But if you never end up having the time, at least the "meat" has been documented.

I've learned that I like to work on my projects slowly. It works best for me to get the "skeleton" finished. By skeleton, in this case, I mean the photos and the journaling cards and in my case, the ephemera slipped into pockets.

I typically like to have my journaling written, but as you can see in these last few pages, I have blank journaling cards. Let go of hte pressure that every Project Life spread has to be super adorable or even coordinating.

If you are too embarrased to show it on your blog, do it just for yourself. Something imperfectly documented is better than nothing perfectly documented. Don't you think?

I decided I needed to to that this month. I only did two spreads last month so I had to catch up this month. I ended up being a couple of days late, but it was worth it.

One thing I still need to do is finish dating all of my weekly title cards. I can't tell you how having these prepared ahead of time helps me, especially when I like to throw in ephemera along the way.

I was hoping to do weekly summaries, but that hasn't happened. I did it once and never printed it out. I find doing things by hand, is the most efficient way for me. I've also wanted to print out lots of emails, electronic fliers from the kids' school, Ali Edwards' logo for Week in the Life, but so far, they haven't happened.

But what I do have, is lots of memories saved. And that is priceless.

Do you see that sushi grass stuck in the journaling pocket? My son saved that for our book. It is from his new favorite restaurant, Sushi Express (it's a conveyor belt sushi place). He is borderline obsessed with this place. It is on our same block and is cheaper than eating at home, so in the last week, I have taken him three times! Oh, and since it is sushi, it is healthy too. Anyway, I told him if we put that grass along with the menu he grabbed in the PL book, he had to write a journaling card about the restaurant. He agreed. Now that is worth finding just enough time to fill in a few journaling cards and setting up some date cards, don't you think?

[EDITED: May 9, 2012]

Decided to take the plunge and buy this because it is such a great deal. $3.99 per pack AND you get entered in a give away on Becky's blog if you purchase by Wednesday (US time).

Project Life Cardstock - Clementine Collection

You could also buy this, also on sale at 50% off.

Project Life Cardstock - Cobalt Collection

 

 

TIPS FOR KEEPING UP WITH PROJECT LIFE

I'll reprint my tips for making Project Life easier to keep up with, originally published in this post.

Participating in this project for the past two & a half years has taught me a lot and this is what I have been doing to stay caught up most of the time:

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. [EDITED 4/7/2012: I print my photos as soon as I have 100+ to print as delivery is free.]

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 [upload them directly through LIghtroom to Snap fish] 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.

PROJECT LIFE BLOG HOP PARTICIPANTS

 

Margie You are HERE.

Devon http://www.youhadmeatneurotic.com <--- Go here NEXT.   Nikki www.inkyart.com.au

Laew www.crafty-creativity.blogspot.com

Lois http://loishouston.typepad.com/thoughts-along-lifes-highway/

Helen www.helen-mills.blogspot.com

Jennifer http://vogtstories.blogspot.com

Brighton www.dearbrighton.wordpress.com

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

March Blog Hop x 2 {FAMILY x 12 Blog Hop } and {#ProjectLife Blog Hop}

Another double blog hop day! Welcome!

Every month on the fifth, I host a blog hop for people who want to take at least one photo of their family each month. It's amazing to realize how few family photos we take, unless we take a moment to notice. Thanks to this blog hop, I have gotten much, much better about making an effort to take family photos on special occasions and not so special occasions. Like this month!

Here is our photo for the month. Truth is, we cheated! I didn't manage to get a photo in the short month of February (even though we had the extra day), so this was taken last night before everyone headed off to bed. When I knew I was going to be cheating, my idea was to get a pajama photo. Not everyone is in their PJs, but we are all in our lounge or comfy clothes, so I suppose that is close enough. I'll do better this month! A late photo is better than no photo and by the end of the month, we will have at least twelve family photos.

If you are interested in joining us next month for the FAMILY x 12 Blog Hop, send me an email (in the subject line of your email put April 5 FAMILY x 12 Blog Hop) and I'll send you all the details.

If you are here for the Project Life blog hop, keep scrolling down, otherwise it is time to continue on the FAMILY x 12 Blog Hop...

Next on the hop is Monica.

 

Margie     http://xnomads.typepad.com/blog

Moncia    http://questtoperfectimperfection.blogspot.com

Ruth       http://www.chattycraftyartypig.blogspot.com

Jo         http://www.mrsbeee.blogspot.com

Jill      http://jillconyers.com

Patricia   http://patoliveira.wordpress.com/

PROJECT LIFE BLOG HOP

Thanks to Jill for hosting the Project Life Blog Hop every month. This is lots of fun.

This month I have quite a few weekly spreads to share. I had hoped to share my Project Life photo work flow, but I've run out of time again! I have all the screen shots ready, but I need to upload my photos and compose my explanations. I will post it soon, I promise!

The black and white pictures are not actually photos. They are place holders until I order my prints. I wait until I need 100+ photos and then I place my order.

The pictures are just fast quality printed out in grayscale on my printer. Nothing special at all - quite the contrary. But it allows me to keep moving forward on my Project Life layouts.

 

To save time I have used coins to cover up the faces of people who are not in our family to preserve their privacy. Isn't that tricky?!

 

Sorry about the bad quality of the photos. I didn't take my photos until the sun went down. There is so little time in the winter for decent natural light, isn't there?

In this layout, I took a photo of the book I read for book club. And we kept a wrapper of a treat that my son picked out from the store in our apt complex.

I saved tickets and advertising materials from a literary festival.

 

More wrappers and photos of things my kids are into and up to these days. My youngest LOVES jumping rope every day after school and my oldest competed in his first swim meet on Saturday.

I'm also linking up here:

Thanks for stopping by!

Next on the hop is DONNA.

Here is the list of all the participants in case you should get lost along the way:

 

Jill http://jillconyers.com/

Margie http://xnomads.typepad.com

Donna www.joyfullydonna.blogspot.com

Tamara http://tamarasscrapping.blogspot.com.au/

Natalie http://dalys2012.wordpress.com

Devon http://www.youhadmeatneurotic.com

Alissa http://lifeonlakeland.wordpress.com/
April http://capturethememories.blogspot.com

Noelia  www.noeliaevangelista.typepad.com

Sharon  http://projectsofmylife.wordpress.com/

Jennifer http://vogtstories.blogspot.com

Sarah http://documentingchaos.wordpress.com/

Arlene http://craftymomma-ph.blogspot.com/2012/02/project-life-2012.html

 

 

Reason #257 Why I Love Project Life:

 

 

Because even with a desk overflowing with unfinished layouts and craft projects, I can always find enough space to fill out a journaling card!

To see everything Project Life on my blog, click here.

Welcome to the Pre-LOAD {Layout A Day} Blog Hop!

Welcome to my blog and the Pre-LOAD {Layout A Day} Blog Hop! LOAD is a challenge hosted by Lain Ehmann for scrapbookers. It is just like it sounds. A bunch of us scrapbookers commit to producing a LAYOUT A DAY for one whole month. We post our layouts every day (by midnight PST) in our Flickr group gallery, cheer each other on and offer encouragement. Lain sends us daily emails with prompts, and this month she's got 29 videos to inspire our creativity! There are even prizes.

This blog hop is meant to offer ideas and encouragement for newbies and alumni alike on how to prepare for the month ahead. Some of us are seasoned alums with lots of wisdom to share, others of us are brand new and sharing our goals and plans and some possible fears for the month ahead.

Before I tell you about my LOAD experience, I have to begin by telling you about the layout at the top of this blog post. I made that layout in 2002. Guess how long it took me to make it?

GUESS?

It sat on my dining room table for ONE WHOLE MONTH before I finally finished it. I wanted so badly to design a layout like the ones I saw in the magazines. I had Becky Higgins'   Creative Companion at my side and I studied all the different self-made backgrounds she had so neatly indexed. They looked so finished, impressive and even easy but for some reason, I couldn't pull them off.

See the border of blue rectangles at the bottom of the page? I had originally made an entire background using those rectangles, but it didn't look right to me, so after a MONTH of arranging and rearranging the parts and pieces, I finally came up with that finished layout. 

Now it is a nice layout and in all honesty, it doesn't look too dated. It is a pretty classic design and tells a nice story and does a good job of highlighting the photos. BUT IT TOOK ME A MONTH! That is just way too long.

I would hear about people with shelves bursting with albums filled to overflowing with scrapbook pages and all I had was a handful of painstakingly made layouts. At this rate, by the time I died, each of my 3 kids would be lucky to have two layouts each! I needed a different strategy.

Fast forward a few years...

Along came LOAD. 

I signed up for the very first one. It was January of 2007, lead by Lain. January wasn't a good month for me (too close to the holidays with a birthday towards the end). I only finished one page that first time!

The following year it was going to happen in February. I was so excited because I was committed and raring to go. I loved the idea of a challenge and I knew if I had the right mindset, I could do it. And guess what? Much to my amazement, I did it! I completed one page every single day in February of 2008. It was so much fun!

We did it again in May and October. And I am proud to say I completed 31 days in May and again in October.

Now it is 2012, and I have participated in two or three LOADS every year and have completed countless layouts. I now have shelves bursting with albums overflowing with pages. I've been published, I'm a BPC Library of Memories coach and I was asked to join the Ella Publishing Take Twelve Design team. I even have some wonderful new "internet friends" since joining LOAD back 2007.

I credit my regular participation in LOAD (among a few other habits, like following Stacy Julian's Library of Memories system) to be a large reason I was able to make all of these scrapbooking goals come true.

You could say I am a seasoned LOAD veteran. 

So how can you be successful at LOAD?

*Besides having some basic supplies at your disposal (i.e., for paper & hybrid scrappers: lots of your favorite adhesive, plenty of cardstock & patterned paper, printed photos, etc), most of the preparation for me is the mindset of being comitted to a layout a day. 

*Plan the page into your day. Decide the night before or first thing in the morning the photos you will work on, the story you want to tell. Think about it throughout the day so you have a basic idea of what you want to do when you sit down to work.

*Refer to your favorite inspiration: sketches, magazines, your photos

*Mine your blog for stories. I have a category on mine for Future Scrapbook Pages - couldn't be easier to find something to scrap about.

*Finish up any online classes that aren't complete - LOAD is the prefect time to do it.

*Finish up any incomplete albums (vacation albums, mini albums, Xmas gifts undelivered).

*Catch up with Project Life - this year or even last year! I always do a few spreads each time.

*Make quick decisions while making a page. Trust your gut. Glue it down and move on. 

*Get the story told.

*Leave perfectionism behind. LOAD helped me get over that and learn to trust my gut.

 

DONE IS BETTER THAN PERFECT!!!

 In Layout A Day DONE is the most important thing. 

If you messed up one day, you can do better tomorrow.

KEEP CALM and SCRAPBOOK ON!

LOAD starts on February 1st. If you are not already signed up, it's not too late to join us! It's the nicest group of scrapbookers on the internet!

Now on to the other inspiring blogs... But before you go... Leave me a comment - SEASONED VETRANS: your best word of LOAD advice; NEWBIES: your biggest LOAD fear.

Then on with the blog hop to KELLI. (Please return here if you get lost along the way, to make sure you visit all of the blogs on the hop today.)

 To see everything LOAD on my blog, including all my posted layouts and the last blog hop, click here. To see everything scrapbook related on my blog, go here.

Pre-LOAD Blog Hop Partcipants.

Margie                          http://xnomads.typepad.com   <--- You are HERE.

Kelli                                    www.scrapbookgirl71.blogspot.com   <--- Go HERE next.

Jennifer                         http://atthebluebarn.blogspot.com/

Lisa                                    http://lisahausmann.blogspot.com/

Monica                        http://scrapinspired.com

Kimberly                        www.kimberlykalil.com 

Eileen                                    http://thinkinkpaperscissors.weebly.com/blog.html

Danielle                         http://acoffeeaddict.com

Pam                                    dailypamage.blogspot.com

Katrina                        http://k84mansramblings.blogspot.com

Cate                                     www.lifebehindthepurpledoor.com

Gayle                                    http://www.lifeonlilypadlane.blogspot.com

Heather                        http://heathersdragonsden.blogspot.com

Gina                                    http://randomthoughtsmindlessmusings.blogspot.com 

Kristie                                    http://kristiesloan.com

Janet                                    http://khashabfamilymusings.blogspot.com

Lydia                                    http://lydiaink.wordpress.com

 

The Brady Bunch was my all-time favorite TV show!

On our recent trip to the States for the holidays we took a road trip from California to Durango, Colorado. I did this many times during the summer with my father and my brother. My father was born and raised in Durango and loved to go back in the summers. We would drive through the hot desert sun in the blue VW bus.

My dad made some of his own alterations to that van to make it somewhat of a camper. He used bungee cords to strap a Coleman cooler, that sat upright and was designed like a refrigerator, to the back of the passengers seat. Then on top of that sat a heavy plastic gallon water tank that when laid flat worked as a sink. It was a pretty ingenious invention. The sink was molded into the side of the water tank. I hope you can imagine what I am describing. The faucet was a pump and it even had a little soap dish molded into it as well. It also had a drain with a plastic plug. My dad took a clear PVC pipe, hooked it up to the drain and threaded that through the back of the seat (but not through) and down through a hole that he made in the bottom of the van. When we pulled the plug, the water would drain out into the street below. He never allowed us to use it while he was driving, though. We were only allowed to use this when we were safely parked at a campground.

That was back in the day before it was law to wear seatbelts, so we never did. If one of us kids were sitting in the front seat and he had to slam on the breaks, out would shoot his arm to prevent us from lurching forward. Of course, if it were a real accident or emergency, his arm really wouldn't have done much. But out it went anyway.

I also remember curling up in the shade and falling asleep because the desert sun was so hot. It was the only relief I could get from the smoothering heat. The van had no air conditioning.

My dad was a huge napper. One day when we were in Durango and it was pouring down rain. My dad decided he needed a nap. So there we were parked on Main Street, Durango with my dad asleep in the back of the van and the rain pouring so hard against the van windows that we couldn't see out. 

At this time I was a huge fan of the Brady Bunch and had taken my trusty tape recorder and taped one of my all-time favorite Brady Bunch episodes. The one when the Brady kids (Greg, Marcia, Peter, Jan, Bobby & Cindy) became a music group and sang in a contest to buy their parents a silver platter for their anniversary. Anyone remember that episode?

Anyway, I brought my tape recorder and that tape on this trip, so the way my brother and I passed the time while my dad was sleeping was to write down all of the words to those songs and memorize them. I can still sing almost every word to those songs to this day. SUNSHINE DAY.... everybody's laughing! SUNSHINE DAY... everybody's singing! SUNSHINE DAY.... everybody seems so happy & gay! It's a Sunshine Day!

How did you pass the time when you were a kid before the age of endless gadgets we are in today? Though, I guess that portable tape recorder was the very beginning of the gadgets we have at our disposal today, huh?

I wanted to link up to storytelling Sunday (the first Sunday of every month at Sian's blog), but I keep forgetting to have my post ready by then so I decided I would publish this to my blog any way and if I forget on the first Sunday of February, I can link this story up anyway since I love the idea so much!

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!)

 

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.

PHOTO TEMPORARILY REMOVED - will return shortly 

 

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.

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