It’s the middle of March, and I’ve finally completed my Project Life pages for January. I’d think I was way behind, but I follow a couple of people who are still working on last fall’s pages, so I guess it’s not too bad.

The first page backs up the Title page for 2014 which I posted here. It documents our last day with Sarah, Adam, and Caleb, our arduous ride home from Chicago as well as the start of our next road trip, just two days after we got home. The cute cork calendar is from Lawn Fawn, and is part of a two piece set. I’m saving the frame for another spot. I cut down a 3X4 card from the Project Life Travel set, added some Simple Stories letter stickers and a car from an Evalicious sticker set. The map was fussy cut from another journaling card, and I added two black pearls for the starting point and ending point of our road trip.

I ended up using some different page protectors for the last four pages:  Design G by Becky Higgins. They’re about an inch narrower than the 12X12 pages, but since I’ve been combining different size pages in my albums for several years now, it doesn’t bother me at all.

 

The top two photographs would have made a great Zoom In, Zoom Out post, and may show up there some week when I don’t have anything new to share. The journaling tells the story about the two museums we visited and the other stops we made as we drove to Florida.

I love photographing the beach, and these were some of my favorites from this trip. The one of the sun set was taken out the window of the condo Tracy’s mom rents in Fort Myer’s Beach. The two fishermen at #11 of my 100 Strangers Project (more about that later.) 

We took a couple side trips to the Everglades and the Thomas Edison Museum and winter estate with Ellie while we were in Florida, and ate out at some great restaurants both on the road and while we were staying with her. I found the fork and spoon charms when I cleaned out the studio in January and added the “YUM” with die cuts from Papertrey. The pocket is from Simple Stories. The arrow on the bottom photo is a Technique Tuesday stamp designed by Ali Edwards.

And then we were home, and the warm temperatures were no more. The “Frosty” wood veneer came in a kit (not sure which one), and I included one of my favorite photographs from the Frugal Still Life class. I wanted to put a label of some kind on it, but couldn’t find anything that didn’t detract from the composition of the photo. The “Hello Home” card was from the December Cocoa Daisy Project Life kit. Tracy gave me a three month subscription to these for Christmas. The cute journaling card with the books is from the January kit, and I stamped the date with the new Slide Frame set from Papertrey Ink. The rest of the page documents my progress with my One Little Word which I intend to do each month at the end of my spread.

Now to get February done before March ends.

  

Matt and Betsy’s wedding was certainly the highlight of the month. I still haven’t seen all the photos from the professional photographer, so these are ones I took with the exception of the family photo which Betsy and Matt gave us for Christmas.

I found the piece of wedding paper in a box with all the photos from Sarah and Adam’s wedding. I made an album for them, but haven’t made ours yet! They’ll be celebrating eight years of marriage in May. I think I’d better put that at the top of projects to finish once I finish my purging project. The “Happy Day” banner was cut from vellum and stamped with a sentiment from Papertrey’s “Sentiment Signs” set.

The Project Life cards on this page come from Simple Stories as well as two digital cards from Pixels and Company. The die cut holly is from Papertrey Ink, and I used it on some earlier pages as well.

I used a glittery snowflake sticker from Michaels on the photo I took from inside while Betsy and Matt had photos taken during the snowstorm outside. I die cut the arrow from Papertrey’s “Get to the Point” dies and the little red metallic hearts strewn throughout all these pages are from Simon Says die “Holiday Shapes.”

My photos from our Christmas gift exchange with Matt, Betsy, and Skylar weren’t very good so I didn’t have a lot to choose from. I used a digital template but I have no documentation to tell me who created it. A long time ago, I filed a lot of templates into folders by the number of photos they held, but some of them didn’t carry the copyright info with them. The background paper is from a fabulous Cosmo Cricket pad called “Simple Surfaces.” 

Since I had a 12X12 layout on the previous page, I used another digital template from Keri Bradford for some of the photos from the Walker family Christmas. The title was cut on the Silhouette.

 I’ve seen lots of the clear shaker cards on the internet and wanted to give one a try. I used a pretty Washi tape to seal the edges. The PL card is a cut file for the Silhouette by Paislee Press, and the photo collages are templates by Ali Edwards.

More photo templates by Ali Edwards. These are really a lifesaver when you have a lot of photos you want to include on one page.

The lovely cut file “joy” is from Paislee Press, and I found both metallic papers at Michaels. They are really beautiful in real life!

But our Christmas wasn’t over yet, as we left the next day for Chicago. I’ll be back to share those pages tomorrow. 

I’ve been plugging away at my December Project Life pages since we returned in the middle of January. I finished them about a week ago, but getting the photos taken and resized has taken me awhile as well. With two trips to Chicago, a wedding, a birthday, and three Christmas celebrations, there was a lot to document. I ended up with fourteen pages so I’ll be spreading them across a couple of blog posts. There were just too many this month to take all the photos and cards out of the pockets to photograph, but I did my best to avoid as much glare as possible.

This year I didn’t do a Christmas Journal, but decided to put those pages into the Project Life album. I die cut the gold numbers with my Silhouette as well as the Hello, December. Along with gold, I embellished many of the cards with my Wink of Stella glitter pen, but it doesn’t show up very well in the photos. I also used some Cathy Zielski “Tiny Templates” on this page. Nearly every year in my Christmas Journal, I document new ornament purchases, and some of the decorations around the house. I wanted to be sure to document Miriam’s ornament exchange as well.

Here you can catch a glimpse of the glitter pen on the elf’s hat, and the beautiful metallic paper for the title.

Every year I create a set of photo calendars with a template from Paislee Press to give to friends and family, and I always like to take photos of the Christmas decorations around town. The last two photos are of Caleb and his Polar Express train that Grandpa sent to go around his Christmas tree. It was a HUGE hit! The photo template on this page is from Ali Edwards.

I recently found these Becky Higgins pocket pages at Michaels. They are a bit smaller and just perfect for documenting Caleb’s trip to visit Santa while I was in Chicago the first week in December.

The back side of that page documents traveling during the holidays (and my extra day in Chicago thanks to a cancelled flight), as well as my love for wrapping and decorating packages. For the first time ever, I actually had the time to use my Pinterest boards for some inspiration in the packaging department. 

Although I made about 25 Christmas cards this year, most of our friends and family got a photo card. I didn’t expect us to all be together again in December so when Sarah and her family were here in August I scheduled a family portrait. It’s not the greatest, but with two toddlers the photographer did a great job of getting us in and out of the studio quickly before either one lost interest. I always save the postage from the international cards I get. I love to see the variety and this year there were several very lovely ones of the Madonna and child.

The next several pages document the wedding, so I’ll save those for the next post!

My goal is to complete the month’s pages for Project Life by the end of the following month, and I managed to get these done before the calendar turned to December. But not edited nor posted. After all these years, you’d think I’d know that all the holiday preparation takes longer than you anticipate. I’m off to visit Sarah, Adam, and Caleb tomorrow evening for a long weekend, and can’t wait to put my arms around all of them. Being away, however, means the to-do list for the holidays is a bit longer than usual right now. Today I have nothing on the calendar except a needed trip to the gym, so I’m finally able to post these pages, and perhaps get a start on November’s pages. I’m planning to do my Christmas Journal in my Project Life album this year, and I’m already working on that bit by bit.

I tried a new technique to photograph these pages, lining up the photos and cards on top of the page protectors. It definitely takes care of the glare, but I see now that not everything was lined up as perfectly as I would have liked. 

October was a full month with trips to Niagara-on-the-Lake with our friends, Karen and Mike as well as the extended road trip to Florida for Rachel and Juan’s wedding. 

It was truly a blessing this year to have a weekend with Karen and Mike. Although quite a bit thinner, Mike continues to do exceptionally well. There are a few side effects left from the multiple surgeries and attachments to life-saving machinery, but he is doing great. I used a Katie Pertiet digital quote on the photo of Karen and Mike, stained a Studio Calico wood veneer piece, and added some word stickers to some of the cards and photos.

On our way to Florida we spent one night in Savannah, GA, visited Tybee Island (not much there to recommend other than the beach and a lovely lighthouse), and had dinner at a fabulous restaurant on the saltwater flats. Our destination was the Boca Raton Resort where Rachel and Juan had arranged a wonderful package for the wedding guests. I put one of my favorite Instagram photos on a 4X6 template, added a banner with a tiny staple, and some more wood veneer. Taking a cue from Melissa who does such a great job of incorporating memorabilia into her layouts, I made a pocket card to hold business cards from some of the restaurants we ate in while traveling.

I cut apart a map we picked up to make the title card for this page, and used some A Muse pearls to mark the places we visited in Florida.

The wedding, of course, was the highlight of the trip. I only had my iPhone with me for the reception, but captured a good photo of the bride and groom, the maid of honor (Rachel’s sister, Sarah), and our friend, Lindsey and her family. Lindsey is a Presbyterian minister and a church friend of both Rachel and Sarah. She delivered a wonderful homily at the wedding.  I kept the elegant door key from the resort and included a few photos from it as well. Instead of doing a journaling card, I cut the cover from the wedding program, and tied a thin silver thread around it. (The photos, fortunately, are much sharper IRL than they appear here.)

On Monday after the wedding, we spent the morning taking an architectural tour of the Art Deco buildings in Miami Beach. I combined the journaling with a photo of the Versace mansion, the only stop on the tour that was not in Art Deco style. We were surprised to hear that it is the third most photographed home in the United States, probably because Versace was gunned down on the steps of his mansion by an assassin.

Next stop, Key West. It was HOT and humid, but way more fun than we expected since Fantasy Fest was beginning. 

On our way to visit friends in Charlotte, we drove across the Everglades to the west coast of Florida. We stopped for a ranger’s walking tour, and at the smallest post office in the United States. We didn’t have time for an air boat ride in the Everglades, but hope to cross that off our list in January when we’re visiting with Tracy’s mom. I loved the official Everglades sticker, and knew it would make a good title card for this page.

Recently, I watched part of a three day live video conference with Becky Higgins, and learned about the smaller Project Life page protectors. They were easy to pick up at Michael’s with the weekly coupon, and proved to be perfect for the last two pages where I had fewer photos. Our friends in Charlotte proposed a trip to Asheville to visit the Biltmore Estate. I’d had an opportunity to do that many years ago, but passed since tickets are quite expensive. But I can tell you now, it’s worth the money. We spent the whole day there, and didn’t see all we’d like to have seen. Sadly, no photographs are allowed inside the house. On both of the last pages I used a Cathy Zielske “Labeled Photo Sets” to add two photos in one 6X4 slot.

Finally, I couldn’t leave October without some Halloween photos of my grandchildren as well as two faves their parents sent me during October.

November will surely be quicker to scrap as we’ve been home all month!

 

 

It’s hard to believe that we’re nearly half-way into October. I wanted to be sure I finished my Project Life pages for September before we got too much further into October. I really think this project is going to work for me. I like that I can do it in stages, and do little bits and pieces when I have a few minutes. This month I started a sketch notebook to help me plan the pages ahead of time, based on the page protectors I wanted to use. It saved a lot of time. 

I knew there’d be lots to document in September.

I had the cute Jolee’s sticker of bread in a sack in my stash which worked perfectly for the journaling card.

The reason for our September trip to Chicago was the Installation Service for Adam as Associate Pastor for the Winnetka Presbyterian Church. It was a beautiful service. Although we had attended church there in August, the full choir wasn’t present, and the music was simply gorgeous. It is a wonderful, friendly congration, and it’s clear to me that Sarah and Adam have ended up in a very special place. I didn’t get any really sharp photos of this page. Rest assured the photos themselves (taken by a member of the congregation) are sharper than they appear here. The little title photo was taken with my iPhone as we drove around Chicago and popped into a Cathy Z. template.

A huge contingent of Adam’s relatives live in the midwest and were able to attend the service. His sister, brother-in-law, and nephew were here from England as well as his parents from the west coast. After the church reception, Adam’s parents hosted a luncheon at the church for the relatives. Caleb and Samuel had a great time playing together all weekend. They will both be two this winter.

We woke Caleb up early from his nap our last day there to take him to the Model Railroad Garden at the Chicago Botanic Gardens. When we were there in August we didn’t arrive in time to get to the trains. He absolutely loved it, and never lost his interest the whole time we were there.

I had fun this month creating some journaling cards. On this one I used Papertrey Ink’s “Little Hot Rod” stamps to create the train, and some Studio Calico paper for the “track.”

This journaling card is from Banana Fish. I love the way Caleb is leaning over the fence on his tiptoes to get a better look at the trains.

I had photos from two events–dinner out and a haircut–I wanted to include so I used a piece of Washi tape to divide one of the journaling cards from the PL Midnight Edition and used some very old arrow stickers.

And a page for our birthday girl, Skylar, from her visits this month. I used a Simple Stories 4X3 card, and an old cupcake sticker as well as some alphas I’ve had for a long time the filler card. Another good thing about Project Life:  using up the stash.

And finally, our weekend in the Adirondacks. While we were in Chicago, I discovered a great little independent stamp store and picked up a Lawn Fawn “Into the Woods” 6X6 paper pad. It had the perfect papers to create the journaling card for this page.

It feels so good to have all these events documented and saved! I hope I manage to maintain my enthusiasm. 

Project Life has always intrigued me, but I never thought it would be something that would prove useful to me now that my kids are grown and out of the house. After all, some of my weeks are pretty dry—paper crafting, volunteer work, a couple of social engagements. On the other hand, the last scrapbook layouts I made were in February when I finished 29 layouts in one month for LOAD. There’s been a layout on my desk waiting to be finished for over six weeks now. 

Then in August I read a blog post on Write, Click, Scrapbook that suggested a monthly Project Life might work better for some people. Aha, I thought! That would work for me. I already had divided page protectors, and lots of small journaling cards from Simple Stories. Some months, we really do have a full and exciting life. August was one. So I decided to dive in. I enrolled in BPS’s class “Project Life Lessons,” and got started. By the end of the second week of class, I had seven pages of photos and memories in a book!

Toward the end of the course I was in Michaels looking for a circle punch, and discovered the Project Life kits. Since I had a generous coupon I picked up the Midnight Edition which, combined with the rest of my stash, should keep me going for months. I decided I’d be happy with a mix of handwritten and typed journaling depending on the page, and after purchasing the Midnight Edition decided to go with rounded corners. I’ve seen some spread recently that combine both rounded and non-rounded corners, and despite my compulsive nature, I think I could go with that as well.

Most of the journaling cards I used for August were created from my stash or a digital kit, but you’ll see more of the Midnight Edition as I move forward. 

A digital card from Sahlin Studios

On a scale of 1-10, I’d give the “Project Life Lessons” at BPC an 8. There were great handouts, a couple of downloads and nine videos. The only reason I don’t give it a 10 is that the content was very uneven among the three instructors. My favorite was Annette Haring. Her videos were jam-packed with information and examples, and her handouts were equally meaty. Her last lesson on organizing for Project Life was especially helpful.

All in all, I think this will work for me. I can work on it little by little, and I’m thrilled to have all these family photos scrapped. Some months there’ll be lots to scrap. We’ve had a pretty interesting September, and October will be loaded. In November there may just be a one page spread for Thanksgiving. I’m going to include my Christmas Journal here this year as well. I did a smaller sized Simple Stories album last year. The only thing I’m not sure about is including it in a big album. I do love having my basket of Christmas Journals out every holiday. But for now, this is feeling like just the right thing!

Thanks to all of you who “do” Project Life. It’s the inspiration I’ve gotten from you that prompted me to even consider it.