Nihao, Cupcake!

Favorite Project Life Posts from Nihao, Cupcake!

What better time than the New Year to start a Project Life album!? In honor of all the new Project Lifers out there and those starting a new album for the New Year, I thought I would publish a round up of some of my most popular & favorite Project Life posts with my best tips for getting started and staying caught up.

My best tips for Staying Caught Up with Project Life.

 

When I lived in China and couldn't easily print photos, I used this trick to stay caught up.

 

In this post, I show how I documented a current event and explain in detail my Project Life Workflow.

 

I share how I prepared for Project Life after doing the project for two years.

How long have you been doing Project Life? Are you a long-time veteran or a newbie? What are your plans to document this year?

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

Thanks for stopping by!

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?

Another "Traditional" Scrapbook Page...

Here is another adorable layout from The Clean & Simple Worshop at Big Picture Classes taught by Cathy Zielske. I have printed it out and adhered my photos onto my card stock, but here I am sharing a full digi version. It is just easier that way. 

I can't wait to start working on Assignment 3 before the next assignment is given tomorrow!

Thanks for stopping by!

Traditional Scrapbooking Once Again!

I am taking Cathy Zielske's class, Clean & Simple at Big Picture Classes (registration closed yesterday). It is all about hybrid scrapbooking.

While I am pretty versed at hybrid & digi scrapbooking (early intermediate), I am taking the class because I love Cathy's classes and I love the commaraderie at Big Picture AND I was ready to crank out more traditional scrapbook pages. This is my first page since December! 

It was time to mix it up a little after doing only Project Life (which I still LOVE) for the past few months.

How about you? What kinds of memory keeping do you do on a regular basis? Are you strictly PRoject Life, mini books, traditional, hybrid, digi? Or do you mix it up?

Thanks for stopping by!

EDITED TO ADD: Winner of last Friday's Project Life Blog Hop & give away will be announced later today.

2013 Project Life 365 :: Week 14

I'm hanging on by a thread with my Project Life commitments! You can see that by the lateness of this post as well as the poor quality of my photos. I took those late last night with my easiest yet not highest quality camera!

I had every intention of posting before bed last night but then my internet went out on me. I'm assuming since it was midnite somewhere, my ISP was doing some uprade work and it was down. 

I took that as a sign that I should go to bed and worry about this tomorrow (now today). I will still link up at themomcreative.com but I will be way down on the list. Not the end of the world! There is always next week.

So this week, I was not feeling my creative mojo, as they say. I have not felt it for a few weeks, in fact. I think it is due to the disruption in my normal routine for the past three weeks - spring break, holidays, travel and guests in town. I'm not completing my weeks like I want but I am getting them done. I want to go back and finish up some inserts and include more memorabilia.

This week actually has an insert but it is so un-exciting that I did not include it in this post. And as you can see I still have not rectified how to include that vertical photo. My latest idea is to enlarge it and fill those two 3x4 pockets as well as the 4x6 pocket on the bottom. I'll find another location for that journaling card. Perhaps on the facing page instead of one of the filler cards.

Anyway, the good news is...

**I am fulfilling my committment to myself & I'm linking up at themomcreative.com

**I still have this give away going on from the Project Life celebratory blog hop on Friday! If you have not read that post, check it out for tons of inspiration & enter my fun give away! It ends Thursday night at midnite PST.

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

Thanks for stopping by!

2013 Project Life 365: Week 11

Here we are at another week of Project Life! I love completeing this project each week. I've never been able to do that before due to the logistics of living in China. It's a great feeling!

 

MY INVITATION TO YOU

In case you didn't stop by my blog last week, I wanted to make sure you didn't miss my blog hop invitation:

At the completion of Week 13 we will be 25% through the year. I want to keep myself motivated and accountable with Project Life so I want to throw myself a party for keeping up.

On Friday, April 12 (the week I complete my Project Life 13 spread), I will host a Blog Hop to celebrate.

Care to join me? It will be a great time to celebrate, pause for a moment and reflect on what we've accomplished, what we've learned and how the project is going so far.

**Whatever you have complete in your album is totally fine! No need to have the same criteria for goals as I do. You are more than welcome to participate regardless of your progress. The more the merrier!**

If you are interested in joining me or have any questions, please email me (link in my side bar under my photo). Put "2013 Project Life April Blog Hop" in the subject line and include your name & blog address in the message. I will compile a list of participants and email everyone in a week or so with more details.   

If you have no idea what a blog hop is or which kind of blog hop I am talking about (I've seen a few different types of virtual events out there called "blog hops"), click this link or this link to see past blog hops I've hosted on my blog.

I hope you'll join us. We have a nice group so far. It should be a lot of fun and who knows you may win a little prize (I'll have a small give away)!

And now, on with the show...

This week is very simple without much embellishing. I only used a couple of my DIY foam stamps. Early in the week I made that "DINNER this week" card and filled it in with all of our dinners for the week.

The little note is an imaginary basketball game our 8-year-old wrote out to give to his Dad. So cute!

It was another busy week with lots of spring activities.

Sometimes I like to use vertical photos in my layouts but I don't want to use a different style page protector, so I will trim around the photos' subject. The one on the title page works well. This one here, not so much, but it works for telling the story. It covers the journaling card underneath but readers can just peek behind.

For this insert, I used Photo Pocket Page - Design F and folded it in half. It is all photos (and a little memorabilia). I don't typically like to do all photos on one page - I like journaling cards or filler cards add some visual interest, but this week I needed the space, so I did my best with the design despite this challenge.

Here is the other side.

I realized after I took the photo that I forgot to write the story on that slice of journaling card attached to the photo - my son's baseball team has 8 adults, 1 "mascot" and 10 players. It's a wonderful team - so friendly and devoted to the kids. He's lucky this season.

The inside of my insert - more photos and a little memorabilia.

And that's it! The week I am working on now (week 12) has far less photos. I think I experienced photo overload during Week 10 & 11 and I'm resting up in preparation for all the photos I will take over Easter weekend.

Speaking of next weekend, do you plan to join along with Day in the Life this month? Which day will you document? I'm strongly considering it. And if I do, I plan to document Saturday, March 30.

If you are interested, here is the link to my February Day in the Life.

Thanks for stopping by!

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.

 

PROJECT LIFE on PINTEREST

And in case you missed my Pinterest boards last week, here they are again...

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 back. 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.

My Project Life layout featured here today...

Click on the graphic above to bring you to lots of Project Life inspiration on this Saturday.

Thanks Michelle for featuring me today!

2013 Project Life 365: Week 7 - More Brand New Stamp Designs

Hello again! I present to you a complete Week 7 of my Project Life 2013. I'm back to including a bunch of my original stamps this week. The look is a bit more graphic and bold than I was imagining but I'm pleased with it anyway.

This first photo is the two page spread with an insert in the middle. It is a Design A page protector folded in half.

Here is the left side of the main spread.

The right side of the spread with the left half the insert.

Here is the left side again wiht the other side of the insert. That bright red decorative tag is Martha Stewart. I wrote the details of Grandpa's birthday cake on the backside. I loved the pop of red and a place for the eyes to rest in this busy layout.

The insert opened. All photos from our weekend away with my husband's family to celebrate his father's birthday.

The far right page of the main layout. The XOXO pattern is from a stamp that I made. On Valentine's Day I walked past a car with gift bags in the back seat. They had XOs on the bag with hearts inside the "O"s. I went home and made this stamp. FUN! The heart journaling card was made using a border rub-on I've had for probably 2 years.

This journaling card was made with more new stamps. The honeycomb stamp and the stars. I'll share here soon (this week?) all of my new stamp designs and how I came up with the ideas for the designs.

For my tutorial on how to make your own fun stamps out of craft foam, go here.

These two stamps - cupcake stamp & banner stamp - have shown up in my Project Life album before. They are perfect to acknowledge birthdays of course. The banner can be used for any occasion of celebration. And it was so SIMPLE & quick to make. Look how simple the shapes are. 

I almost forgot to mention the movie camera stamp in the very first photo. I have been visualizing that one for a few weeks. I plan to use it every time I feature a photo where my kids are filming or working on one of their movies. I will likely also use it on journaling cards when that is the subject.

Well that's pretty much it for Project Life Week 7. Thanks for stopping by!

WEEK EIGHT - A Little Preview

I thought you might enjoy this journaling card I made for Little League opening day. It will show up in my Project Life Album for Week 8.

 

Did you watch the Oscars on Sunday?

Will you mention the 2013 Oscars in your Project Life album? If so, you might enjoy this link to a printable page of all the nominees. I reduced the size and will fold it accordian style and slip it into one of my journaling pockets (3x4). I will circle the winners as well as my predictions. FUN!

QUESTIONS FOR YOU

1) I hope to include something about Girl Scout cookies in next week's album. I'm saving all of our boxes (I was a Girl Scout myself for many years) - any good ideas for adding them in? Links to inspiration?

2)What are your favorite screen shots to take and include in your Project Life album? I love all of the iPhone text conversations I've been seeing. The formatting is great and the conversations so meaningful. Almost worth getting an iPhone for that alone!

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.

 

 

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

2013 Project Life 365: Week 5 [Journaling]

Welcome to Week 5 of our Project Life! I always feel so satisfied when I finish up my layout for the week. How about you? Are you managing to keep up or are you finding it more of a challenge as the weeks move on?

This was a huge week of activities for our family. I don't think I even realized that until I sat down to put my Project Life spread together.

Although, I would prefer not to have inserts every week, I have yet to complete a week without one (except perhaps week 1?). And this week I have TWO pages of inserts. The first one is a Design A page that I am folding in half.

Here is the front fully open. Both events covered on this side are about my oldest son. The other side (not shown) are all photos taken by my oldest son on his weekend away.

This insert is Design D. It will remain as a full 12x12 page. Both sides are events that involve my youngest son. This side is the process of making his birthday cake as well as photos taken after a ceremony for him at our church.

This side is all photos of his birthday party. The clear acrylic banner on the bottom middle photo was not adhered when I took this photo so it is a bit wonky - sorry about that.

Trying out a little font fun with my letter stickers and numbers.

I was going to do a little more journaling but in the end just decided to leave both of these cards as sort of decoration. I sketched the pin and bowling ball for the fun of it. You can see residue from other things I was considering adding to the card.

Here is the final page of the week's spread. It covers a field trip I chaperoned for my middle son, journaling from my two youngest kids (my oldest son did some journaling about his weekend away on the other page) and more pictures from the weekend's big events.

I often wonder if I should include so many photos from one event or if I should just do a separate scrapbook page. I think of this as a photo album combined with a journal of sorts. When the kids were all little I kept journals for each of them where I wrote about current milestones and other things they were doing. As they got older and busier, I stopped keeping these up. I think of Project Life as our family journal with photos. A Commonplace Book, of sorts, like my oldest has to write for English class. Click on the link and check out the history. Very cool!

Here is a little detail I added. The acrylic tag is Basic Grey and the heart is from  a pack of stickers I picked up a couple of weeks ago and I don't remember the brand.

I added the Martha Stewart BON VOYAGE sticker to cover up the trash can eyesore. The trash can is still visible but kind of blends into the photo instead of sticking out like a sore thumb like it did before I added that sticker.

I bet you were wondering if I was going to use any of my own stamps in this week's layout. Well, I didn't want to disappoint anyone, so here is the laptop - designed by my 8-year-old. To see all 15+ stamps I made go here, to see my "HOW-TO" post, go here.

The conversation bubble is from a Basic Grey embellishment pack. I used the backside because I much prefered it plain white. Ignore that third "l" on the end of "calll!" Just a little oops I decided to ignore. Or perhaps that is how aliens spell "call"???
Ahh! And yet another stamp of mine! I used this one to make a pattern for my date/title card that I have turned into a "week in review" card.

 

 

JOURNALING for PROJECT LIFE

Thanks for stopping by! But before you go, I was wondering how others keep track of their journaling. Do you write it on journaling cards as the week goes on or do you have an app for your iPhone or do you use some other method? I've been using OhLife.com's emails for the past two years or so, but have only recently downloaded the info and printed it out to include it in my album. I've heard a lot of buzz about DAY ONE, so I am considering that option. I do not have an iPhone yet and only have an old iTouch without a camera so I wonder if it would be worthwhile for me. I do use a MacBook and I've heard it can be used on a laptop just fine. Let me know if you have any thoughts on DAY ONE or any other journaling system. I'd especially love to hear if you have any good journaling tips.

 

PROJECT LIFE on 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 back. 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.

PHOTOSHOP TRICK

I'm sure many of you Photoshop users out there already know this trick but since I only just discovered it myself (FINALLY!) yesterday, I thought I would share. In order to blur out peoples' faces or other private information, you just need to use the SMUDGE tool which can be found in the BLUR Tool (drop down menu on the side bar. 

It is far easier than all the other attempts I had made in Lightroom or in Photoshop up until now. And while we are on the topic, if anyone out there uses LIGHTROOM and knows a quick fix for the same thing there, please share!

 

Can't wait to see your lovely pages. I always feel so inspired after Project Life Tuesday.

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.

 

2013 Project Life 365: Week 4 [My Workflow]

Week 4 and I'm keeping up! Hurray! It was a little touch and go this week with a birthday party and a religious milestone this weekend but I've pulled it off. Yay, me! 

In order to make my goal (posting by Monday night), I had to save my WEEK in REVIEW card for later. All the journaling is done, I just have to transfer it.

Again, I used a lot of my stamps that I made a couple of weeks ago. To see most of the stamps I've made (15+), go here. For a How To tutorial on how I made them (so EASY & cheap!) go here.

I seem to be adding inserts every week even though, as a rule, I've been trying not to. We had a birthday on Wednesday & I wanted to include a current event, so I suppose it is to be expected.

I bought some American Crafts Slick Writer pens and I am loving them.

First of all, I like my writing so much more. Weird, I know, but it is true. The only other pen I find that does that is a Sharpie but an ordinary Sharpie is too thick for typical use.

Secondly, it works on those Martha Stewart kitchen and office labels that are moisture resistant and don't smudge. I haven't used the pens on my photos yet. But that will come very soon!

A few things to note on the right hand page: I used another couple of my stamps here - the camera that you also saw in my layout last week.

Here is the left side of my insert. To make the insert I took Design D Page Protector and cut-off the right two vertical photo pockets. I save all of the pockets that I cut off and save them to use in other layouts.

On the right side of the insert things worth noting not mentioned elsewhere are a very old circle sticker from a Creating Keepsakes Kit of the Month designed by Ali Edwards on the lighthouse photo at the bottom. And another one of my homemade stamps shows up again - the starburst stamp that I also used in last week's layout posted about here.

Here I used a Project Life Grid Cards to make my own filler card. I used a cat eye stamp pad to make this pattern that I originally saw on a throw pillow a friend of mine in Beijing (who has started her own textiles company) designed and created. 

This journaling card again uses two of my homemade stamps (that can be seen here): the zig zag/chevron stamp & the pot stamp that I created to add to my New Recipes 2013 mini album I talk about in these posts.

I'm not very good about including current events, but I've fixed that here. I googled Presidential Inauguration and clicked on IMAGES in the top menu bar. I selected a couple of my favorite photos & graphics and printed them out a bit smaller than 4x3, trimmed them down and adhered it to one of the Journaling Cards from my Clementine Core Kit.

After I took the original photos of my layout this week, I realized I had a screen shot from Jan 24 saved on my desktop. I printed it out on to white cardstock, trimmed it down and slipped it on top of this Clementine Core Kit filler card. I love how it worked out. It often annoys me to "waste" a pocket on a filler card - I have this urge to personalize it or add a cherished photo. "Just" a filler card feels like wasted high value real estate.

Anyone else feel the same way?

This might be my favorite journaling card of the week. Again I used my zig zag/chevron homemade stamp by stamping the image on the top and the bottom of a Project Life Grid Card and by masking the center to save space for my words. To mask the middle, I simply took a scrap of 4x6 photo, laid it across the Grid Card and stamped on top of the card and the photo leaving a crisp straight line. I then used black ink to stamp those words on top of the orange zig zag/chevron pattern. Those alpha stamps were only $1.

Here is another favorite filler card. Again I used a Project Life grid Card. I used some very old rub ons for the word and added with staples some Tim Holtz Filmstrip Ribbon. I LOVE this stuff. Every time I have a good coupon or I find it deeply on sale, I buy some. I think I have 3 or 4 packages of it and I will keep buying it. I don't ever want to run out! It is awesome. I may add more to this card like a simple black outline, but there is something I do like about it so far.

I wanted to highlight the amazing creativity of my oldest son pictured below that card (on the sewing machine). His determination and his creativity and his endless supply of grand ideas amaze and (sometimes) exhaust me. I have to find the right place in this layout to include all of my thoughts. Again to get this post out by my deadline, I had to wait on that.

Here is an extra photo I added on the left hand side of the main layout for this week. I taped on an extra photo pocket with some washi tape I bought in Japan. I didn't get it on totally straight. I may have to re-do or figure out a better technique. Like maybe adhering two smaller pieces like hinges.

And here is the underside. 

What I will do differently or more of next week: COMPUTER TEXT on photos. I wanted to do that this week, but I printed my photos out before I realized I forgot! 

Continue to add more stories and journaling.

Write down what kids say on a journaling card in that moment, add a date stamp and slide into the day's pocket in the next week of my Project Life Album.

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.

PROJECT LIFE on PINTEREST

Follow my Project Life board on PINTEREST. Leave me a link to your board in the comments and I'll follow you back. I love finding more friends to share inspriation.

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

 

PROJECT LIFE WORKFLOW

And for those that are interested, here is a quick summary of my Project Life workflow using Lightroom. Though it would be applicable for lots of other photo organizing software.

My Project Life weeks go from Monday to Sunday

1)   Typically throughout the week, I upload my photos into Adobe Lightroom.  Before I upload any new photos, I make sure I KEYWORD and RATE (1-3 stars) all of my photos. Lightroom automatically leaves your last group of uploaded photos together until you upload more photos, so it is easy to see if you have finished rating and tagging your photos before you upload more photos.

2)   SUNDAY night I make sure all of my photos from the week are uploaded into LIGHTROOM. I make sure all photos from the past week have been tagged with KEYWORDS and RATED with stars.

a)    My very favorite photos get rated with 2 or 3 STARS. Photos that I like but aren’t my favorite get a 1 STAR. I use a rating system similar to that taught in  Stacy Julian’s FINDING PHOTO FREEDOM class at Big Picture Classes.

b)   I tag all photos that are RATED with 2 or 3 STARS. LIGHTROOM makes tagging photos with KEYWORDs (as well as RATING with STARS) super easy. You can KEYWORD and RATE photos in bulk by highlighting a large group and simply typing in your KEYWORD once or simply choosing the number of STARS you want to rate your photos and tapping that key. For RATING photos you do not even have to have your cursor flashing in a cell. Your photo(s) just has to be highlighted and it will automatically be rated with the number you tap.

1. I KEYWORD at least one photo a day  as “POTD” which stands for Photo Of The Day.
2. The other KEYWORDS I use are peoples’ names, locations, “Photos I love,” etc.

3)   I have set-up my LIGHTROOM to create SMART FOLDERS. This means it takes my search criteria (i.e., KEYWORDS & RATINGS & CAPTURE DATE RANGES) and makes folders for me automatically.

1. I make a COSTCO (or SHUTTERFLY) Photo Center SMART FOLDER each week. Each folder is named 2013 PL365 Week X. The criteria for its photos are: 2 or more STARS, Capture time of one particular week’s date range, KEYWORD: POTD (NOTE: I downloaded free Plug-Ins that allow me to upload photo files from my LIGHTROOM catalog directly to my COSTCO (or SHUTTERFLY) account.

This means that the photos I want are automatically added to these folders, so all I have to do when I’m ready to print, is click on my SMART FOLDER, double check that I have KEYWORDED & RATED all my photos from the week and then click PUBLISH.

4)   On Monday, I visit my COSTCO account or SHUTTERFLY account and order the prints for the week. I typically pick up my photos from COSTCO on Monday afternoon. (Though last week they printed them too dark so I’m looking into a local photo developer that should do a great job! Not to mention I have gift bucks for that store from Xmas! Yay!)

5)   Then I place my photos into the seven pockets, and keep the others in case I decided to fill the smaller pockets or create an insert.

6)   Throughout the week I place memorabilia in the current week’s pockets (the week following the week with printed photos). I put Wednesday’s stuff in Wednesday’s pocket, etc.

 

This week I felt like working on the floor!

7)   I finish my layout by Friday night or Saturday morning and so I can photograph my layout in natural light the next day. My personal deadline is to have my photos ready to post by Monday night to link up at Project Life Tuesday every Tuesday morning. This gives me a day or two extra in case I need it (like this week with a birthday party and special religious milestone).

 

NOTES: I do not plan out my week ahead of time. I like to put all of my photos in at the same time and move them around as I add journaling cards and other “stuff” so that the album is mostly chronological yet still makes sense and looks pleasing.

Please let me know if you have any questions. How does your workflow differ from mine? Any good tips or tricks you’d care to share??

 

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.

Take 12 Challenge :: DECEMBER {This is it for 2012!}

Here is it is my final layout for the Ella Publishing TAKE TWELVE team. It was so much fun and I love all of my layouts through the year. One year documented! Great feeling!

I'm so excited I got to use some of the washi tape I bought on my recent trip to Japan!

Check out the other great layouts at ellapublishing.com/blog.

Related articles

Take 12 Challenge :: NOVEMBER

Helping spread some big news + 3 fun giveaways!

October Take 12 Layout

Take 12 Challenge :: NOVEMBER

Here it is! My November TAKE 12 layout. I went with a digi layout this month. Since it was Veteran's Day, a holiday from school, we spent the day at Universal Studios. I really wanted to use a map of the park as part of my layout since my kids really love all maps of amusement parks! I also think it is a great capture of the times for years down the road. Especially, now since amusement parks change so much and so quickly. The rides I loved at Universal when I was a kid aren't even there any more. No more E.T., The Extraterrestrial! No more Back to the Future! A map from back then would be so cool to see now, don't you think??

I found a PDF file of the map online (using google), so it made sense to continue with the layout using Photoshop & go digi. I added my twelve photos, some journaling in text boxes and a title using letters from cs schneider. I had an important story to tell so this simple layout gave me plenty of space for all that I wanted to add - journaling, photos & map!

The journaling reads:

EARLY in September Ayane & Kotono came to visit us from Kyoto, Japan for a week. We took them to Universal Studios. 

They had a great promotion for Southern California residents - buy an annual pass for the price of a one-day ticket. 

How could we pass this up? 

Veteran’s Day was coming so the kids would have a Monday with no school. It would be the perfect day to use our 

annual pass. The problem was the kids had a hard time behaving the entire weekend. They were given chance 

after chance to improve their behavior until it became clear, there was no way we could justify a trip to 

Universal Studios. Nicholas was devastated.

Sunday night he left an apology letter on my pillow. In the morning when we told him there was no way we could 

justify going, he was in tears. 

Then I remembered his report card! I realized he had accomplished his goal of making the HONOR ROLL! It was a 

huge accomplishment for him and we hadn’t yet thought of a reward and celebration. A mom/son day at 

Universal Studios would be perfect. And honestly the other two boys had decided they really didn’t want to go after all, 

so it was perfect.

Nicholas & I ate a good breakfast and headed off to Universal.

NICHOLAS was very disappointed when we saw that Jurassic Park, The Ride was closed for renovations! That is his 

favorite ride. The best part of the day was The Mummy Ride. Why? Because that is his second favorite ride, of course! 

I, on the other hand, am not a big fan of The Mummy Ride because it moves so fast, it gives me motion sickness! 

I think it is one of the unfortunate effects of aging. Next time I’ll have to remember to take Dramamine. 

I hate being an old fuddy duddy! To survive that ride I have to keep my eyes shut.

Nicholas and I came up with a great idea to avoid long lines, we joined the “single rider” line so we could go 
straight to the front. The sacrafice was not riding together and waiting for each other at the other end, 
but since we always got to go right away, waiting at the end was never an issue.

We spent so much time running around going on rides, we never had time to eat, as usual! 
We managed to time our day so we could see the Terminator 3-D show which we had missed the last two 
times at Universal. Nicholas was very impressed and told his brothers they HAD to see it next time.

On the way out, we made a quick stop at Yogurtland. YUM!

Thanks for stopping by and be sure to visit the Ella Publishing Blog to link up your own Take 12 Layout for November and possibly win this month's great prize. Hurry it will close in only a few hours from the time this post was published!

Please visit the rest of the Design Team members to see their amazing layouts:

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

October Take 12 Layout

May layout for Ella's Take 12 Challenge in October.

This month I had my fun experimenting with shimmer mists and masks. A local scrapbook store in our area was going out of business and I found some old Heidi Swapp masks (the stars) and my son begged me to buy him a bottle of glimmer mist (which he has since never given a second thought to), so I thought I would have some fun.

This is only my second attempt at glimmer mists. I'm still a total novice. My paper curled and it still is curling. I had to tape these down to take photos of them. I suppose I will have to do some research on better ways. I also had some fun with glitter. Again I'm a total novice and my glitter has already started to come off of my lovely stars. But still I love how well fitting the blue glitter and the stars are for the COWBOYS first flag football game.

Did you take 12 in October? If so, link up on Ella's blog for a chance to win a great prize! But hurry, contest closes at midnight on October 18 EST.

 

It's that time again...September Take 12

I am so grateful for this challenge each month. At the beginning of the year I thought it would be another page to add to my pile of scrapbook pages, but there was a huge change and our family is still in limbo and so is all my scrapbook supplies. If it weren't for this challenge and a few other casual scrapbook goals, I have hardly done any scrapbooking in the past several months. 

The committment to take these 12 photos every month and produce a page, has forced some creativity and productivity into my life that wouldn't otherwise be there. I always feel so much happier after my page is complete. Of course they can always be better and I always find at least one glaring mistake after my photo is taken, but the most important part of the page is there! Another important day in our family's life recorded!

If you made a layout of your September 12th or took 12 photos, link up at Ella's blog for a chance to win a spot in the upcoming Boot Camp taught by Cathy Zielske, Ali Edwards and two other popular BPC teachers. It looks like a good one!

If you have never visited Big Picture Classes before, please go check it out and sign up for a free class! If you enter this code 

A6BF056C     in the "refer a friend" box when signing up for your free membership (free classes available too), both you and I will receive a coupon for 10% off a future purchase when you purchase your first class. WIN-WIN! Thanks for stopping by!

 

August Take Twelve

It is time for another TAKE TWELVE Layout for Ella's Take 12 monthly challenge. I'm so happy to be a part of the Take Twelve team because I love this project. We are still not settled in a new home, so if it weren't for this monthly commitment, I would not have any layouts this summer at all!

All of my supplies are still en route, so I was lucky to have a pack of cardstock in my mom's closet for just such an occasion and a few supplies with my Project Life stuff - the only scrapbooking I plan to do until we are settled again in our own home.

Luckily, we have family to visit. The kids had a great time this month on the TWELFTH at my husband's parents house. It was around 109 degrees F, but they had fun cooling off in the pool.

As I typically like to do, I kept my layout streamlined and simple, keeping the focus on my photos. The yellow Basic Grey clip is attached to hidden journaling that can be read when the reader gives it a gentle tug. 

If you are short on ideas, the Ella Publishing Template pack which is a companion to the Take Twelve Guided Inspiration Kit, is a great place to look. There are so many great layouts and sketches included. It is so easy to find a good design to fit your photos and the story you want to tell, especially when I am in a hurry.

Head on over to this post on the Ella Publishing blog to check out all the other great Take Twelve inspiration. And if you hurry, you can link up your TAKE TWELVE photos or layout to win a wonderful prize!!

 

Don´t forget to check out the rest of pages from the other TAKE TWELVE team members:

Aliza Deutsch
Amy Prior
Angela Gutshall 
Jennie McGarvey
Stephanie Medley-Rath
Van Nguyen
Lisa
Valerie Bishop
Monica Bradford
Lisa Day
Janette Kincaid

 

 

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! 

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!

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

 

 

A Family Story for Storytelling Sunday

Thanks for stopping by my blog today! I'm linking up at Sian's blog for Storytelling Sunday (first Sunday of every month). Sian shares a story and invites others to tell a story on their blog and join her linky party. If you have a story to tell, why not think about joining in?!

I'm excited to get this story documented today. I can't believe I managed to get a scrapbook page made as well!

Here is the journaling:

Guilou: This is likely a word we heard while we were sitting at a table in public in Golmud, China in 1997. We were traveling with our friend Bob (from London), who we met on the road. Bob studied Mandarin in Beijing so he was our translator. On this day, we were sriting postcards and since foreigners were a rare sight, we attracted quite a crowd. Bob made a sign (in Mandarin) asking for a few kuai (about 5 cents) to watch the show. Unfortunately, we didn't get any takers so our only take away was a good story!

It is a short but sweet one today. I hope you enjoyed it.

American Artifact?!

I haven't been sharing much on the blog lately. I suddenly had a change of heart and needed to be away from the computer as much as possible. I had felt like I was doing far too much documenting my life and then sharing it online and not enough living my life. That was easily remedied.

I have even been enjoying ordinary household chores now that we let our housekeeper go. That is an entire story in and of itself, but for another time! I am still taking photos nearly every day and working on Project Life, I'm just letting go of some of my self-imposed deadlines. I had taken some of the fun out of the whole process and with this small change, the joy is back!

Don't get me wrong, I'm still going to document and share on the blog, I'm just cutting back for the time being.

Here is a recent layout I made. I love the photo that my son's teacher took! Too funny!

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.

 

#LOAD212 - Day 8 {Jodhpur Fort}

Even though I have been keeping up with the LOAD (Layout A Day) Challenge, I haven't been posting my layouts here every day for a couple of reasons. Sometimes I have something else to post and other times, I have other people in my layouts that aren't in my family so I keep those layouts only in private galleries.

The papers for this one as well as the sequin-type things at the top were purchased on my trip to India at a neat paper store in Delhi.

What's the most exotic scrapbook supply that you have ever purchased? Where did you buy it?

To see everything LOAD related on my blog, click here.

To see everything SCRAPBOOK realted on my blog, click here.