Wow. One of my New Year's Resolutions was to update my blog more often. I'd been doing pretty well, but then this week kinda fell apart. Going back to school on Tuesday has been harder than I thought on crutches. I'm exhausted by the end of the day! And if having my left leg in an immobilizer brace wasn't enough for our family to deal with, my husband now has pneumonia. What a crazy week! I'm quite glad I already had the picture for this post photographed and uploaded.
I wanted to show off the cover of my Project Life album. Due to what I mentioned above, I'm officially behind in both pictures and journaling. However, I've got my plans written down for both so I'm actually not too worried. Thirty minutes and I should be able to catch up on the the few days I've missed.
I'm not being super creative with Project Life right now. This is the first year I'm doing it and I don't want it to take huge amounts of time. Becky Higgins has posted that it's not supposed to be a big fancy thing but it's about documenting your life in a simple way. (I paraphrased that wonderful woman.) If I have little bits from my stash I can add, great. If not, I'm just going with the basic core kit.
I saw the cover pages that her design team members had made. They inspired me to add just a little bit more to my cover. As you can see below, I added our last name and their year in white Thickers by American Crafts. It's nothing big and fancy, but I'm happy that I did a little something extra. I'm sorry for the blurry picture. It's harder to stand and take photos right now being wobbly like I am.
I was also happy to see this post from Becky about what Project Life is at its most basic. I want to copy the quote at the bottom down and put it up in my scrap room:
Project Life is about your life. Keep it simple, add a little flair, or get fully creative with it. The beautiful thing is – it’s your choice.
It's not about competing with the other Project Lifers about who has the "best" or "fanciest" or "most embellished" pages (and you know we do that with our other scrapbook pages!), but it's about getting our life down in something that we can look back in. That's my goal. I would love to see what my parents' lives were like when I was kid. I hope Elizabeth will enjoy looking back on this when she's and adult.
Happy Scrapping!
Friday, January 6, 2012
Monday, January 2, 2012
Challenge 1 - Inspiration from an Outfit
During this year, I'm planning on using the book 52 More Scrapbooking Challenges by Elizabeth Kartchner. I've had the book for a year and love it but haven't really done much in it. I decided that this would be my year to use it. So, today I bring you Challenge 1.
Challenge 1 is to get inspired by an outfit. I have tried this one time and time again. I mostly scrapbook my daughter so I went through her drawers and closet. I went through mine. I even went through my husband's!! But nothing inspired me. Last year for Father's Day, Elizabeth picked out a cute dress to wear with bright dots on it. She decided she had to wear her tiara as well. Two year olds...what are you going to do? I snapped a couple photos of her being the silly girl she is.
Looking at the photos I was drawn to the circles in the dress. I found some paper from Basic Grey's Oh Baby Girl! line that I love so much. I did the page in just a short time before I even realized I had drawn inspiration from an outfit!
I just love the dots! It's hard to see in the photos but there's a cluster of button flowers on the pink ribbon around her waist. I added the three white flowers that I inked with some distress ink in a cluster. To mimic the pink ribbon at her waist, I used the wide paper ric-rak from Bazzill just the edge line. It wasn't straight but I had so many straight lines I wanted a little bit of movement to go with all the movement in the photos. She was dancing and jumping like crazy when I took them! I know I got a sketch for this from somewhere but I can't recall off the top of my head. If you recognize, let me know and I'll be happy to give credit.
This week I challenge you to draw some inspiration from an outfit in your closet, your child's closet, or even from a magazine or a rack in a store. Use it to create a page. I hope you'll share your links here so I can see the great pages y'all make.
See y'all later!
Challenge 1 is to get inspired by an outfit. I have tried this one time and time again. I mostly scrapbook my daughter so I went through her drawers and closet. I went through mine. I even went through my husband's!! But nothing inspired me. Last year for Father's Day, Elizabeth picked out a cute dress to wear with bright dots on it. She decided she had to wear her tiara as well. Two year olds...what are you going to do? I snapped a couple photos of her being the silly girl she is.
Looking at the photos I was drawn to the circles in the dress. I found some paper from Basic Grey's Oh Baby Girl! line that I love so much. I did the page in just a short time before I even realized I had drawn inspiration from an outfit!
I just love the dots! It's hard to see in the photos but there's a cluster of button flowers on the pink ribbon around her waist. I added the three white flowers that I inked with some distress ink in a cluster. To mimic the pink ribbon at her waist, I used the wide paper ric-rak from Bazzill just the edge line. It wasn't straight but I had so many straight lines I wanted a little bit of movement to go with all the movement in the photos. She was dancing and jumping like crazy when I took them! I know I got a sketch for this from somewhere but I can't recall off the top of my head. If you recognize, let me know and I'll be happy to give credit.
This week I challenge you to draw some inspiration from an outfit in your closet, your child's closet, or even from a magazine or a rack in a store. Use it to create a page. I hope you'll share your links here so I can see the great pages y'all make.
See y'all later!
Sunday, January 1, 2012
Happy New Year!
Well, today is the day! I officially started Project Life!!! Since I'm stuck in bed upstairs with an immobilizer brace on my knee, I made my husband go take the photo I wanted for the start of my album. I've decided that on the first of the month, I'm going to take a picture of my house. Then, I can see how the house changes during the course of the year. I saw another idea on Two Peas that someone took a picture of their odometer so they could see how far they drove their car in 2012. I like that idea too. I may do that tomorrow. I haven't driven yet since I dislocated my knee and I need to try to drive before I go back to work on Tuesday. I have a Micheal's gift card that I might go spend so that will give me a chance to take the photo and to drive.
I'm excited that I already have my photo printed and in the binder and my journaling card done. I'm crossing my fingers that it keeps going this well!!
I'm excited that I already have my photo printed and in the binder and my journaling card done. I'm crossing my fingers that it keeps going this well!!
Saturday, December 31, 2011
New Year's Resolution
Well, I'm trying blogging again. It's been over a year. A lot has happened. And I think I need to make sure I'm being a creative person so I can be a happy person. I've found that when I devote myself solely to the day to day things around the house and around my job that I'm not a happy person. When I'm not a happy person, my depression grows worse and I withdraw from everything. This year, I'm going to work on being different.
I've heard a lot of talking about a class at Big Picture Classes called One Little Word by Ali Edwards. I've been following her blog and just love it. I'd love to take the class too but the price is a little too much for me considering some things that have just happened. But, I have picked a word for me to think about and work with in 2012. My one little word is Focus. I want to focus on my family. I want to focus on my house. I want to focus on things that make me happy. I really want to focus on scrapbooking because that allows me to let out my creativity and really makes me happy.
Tomorrow is January 1, 2012. I want to focus on updating my blog at least twice a week. I'm going to be working on a challenge a week from the book 52 More Scrapbooking Challenges by Elizabeth Kartchner. I think I'll try doing one a week and hopefully inspire some of my readers to try the challenge too.
I'm also, at the end of the week, going to post my Project Life for that week. This is the first year I'm doing Project Life by Becky Higgins. I saw it talked about a lot last year and thought it would be too overwhelming. This year, I feel like I'm in a better place for it. I've bought the Amber Core Kit, Amber Binder, dividers, and a big pack of style A page protectors. I'm really excited about it. I purchased a photo printer a while ago in the hopes of being able to do this project and help keep up with it. I really like the quality of the photos from my iPhone 4S so I think that will be my primary camera for this project.
Matt has been supportive of Project Life. I'm hoping he'll be able to add his thoughts and feelings too as well as getting Elizabeth (age 3) to fill in some of the cards with her artwork.
2012 is a year I want to focus on my creativity. I want to turn my house into a home. We moved in three years ago and still have a ton of boxes everywhere. I'm going to try to get some of those things sorted and put away or donated to someone who can really use them. I want my focus to be on happiness - for myself and for my family. Tomorrow, look for my first Project Life post and my first 52 Week Challenge post.
Hugs!!
Amy
I've heard a lot of talking about a class at Big Picture Classes called One Little Word by Ali Edwards. I've been following her blog and just love it. I'd love to take the class too but the price is a little too much for me considering some things that have just happened. But, I have picked a word for me to think about and work with in 2012. My one little word is Focus. I want to focus on my family. I want to focus on my house. I want to focus on things that make me happy. I really want to focus on scrapbooking because that allows me to let out my creativity and really makes me happy.
Tomorrow is January 1, 2012. I want to focus on updating my blog at least twice a week. I'm going to be working on a challenge a week from the book 52 More Scrapbooking Challenges by Elizabeth Kartchner. I think I'll try doing one a week and hopefully inspire some of my readers to try the challenge too.
I'm also, at the end of the week, going to post my Project Life for that week. This is the first year I'm doing Project Life by Becky Higgins. I saw it talked about a lot last year and thought it would be too overwhelming. This year, I feel like I'm in a better place for it. I've bought the Amber Core Kit, Amber Binder, dividers, and a big pack of style A page protectors. I'm really excited about it. I purchased a photo printer a while ago in the hopes of being able to do this project and help keep up with it. I really like the quality of the photos from my iPhone 4S so I think that will be my primary camera for this project.
Matt has been supportive of Project Life. I'm hoping he'll be able to add his thoughts and feelings too as well as getting Elizabeth (age 3) to fill in some of the cards with her artwork.
2012 is a year I want to focus on my creativity. I want to turn my house into a home. We moved in three years ago and still have a ton of boxes everywhere. I'm going to try to get some of those things sorted and put away or donated to someone who can really use them. I want my focus to be on happiness - for myself and for my family. Tomorrow, look for my first Project Life post and my first 52 Week Challenge post.
Hugs!!
Amy
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Pumpkin Time
In October, the family went out to Patterson Farms to their pumpkin patch. We had so much fun. We didn't just pick pumpkins, we got to visit the barn and see the animals, and we even got to see the piglets race! I came up with some ideas to use some embellishments that I already have. I just love when that works out.
Today, I wanted to share a page I did about picking the pumpkins. This page was full of firsts for me. I've used Tim Holtz Distress Inks before but never with grungeboard. I'd never even opened the packages I had. Wow! I've been missing out on a lot with that stuff! I love it. The combination of the ink with the grungeboard was an awesome effect. This is also the first time I used any paper by Echo Park. I love all their lines and have most of them, but haven't ever used a sheet. I need to get out of that "save it for a perfect layout" mindset that so many scrappers seem to have.
I also used Ranger Ink Glossy Accents for the first time on the grungeboard pumpkins. I snipped some of the extra grungeboard to use as stems and connected with the Glossy Accents. This is a close up of the pumpkins.
The orange, felt pumpkin border along the bottom was made by Queen & Co. I bought it at CKU Charlotte in Aug. It was a bit bright for the layout so I used a variety of distress inks to darken the edges a bit and then put on Sugar Maple Glimmer Mist to darken it overall. I like how it turned out.
Today, I wanted to share a page I did about picking the pumpkins. This page was full of firsts for me. I've used Tim Holtz Distress Inks before but never with grungeboard. I'd never even opened the packages I had. Wow! I've been missing out on a lot with that stuff! I love it. The combination of the ink with the grungeboard was an awesome effect. This is also the first time I used any paper by Echo Park. I love all their lines and have most of them, but haven't ever used a sheet. I need to get out of that "save it for a perfect layout" mindset that so many scrappers seem to have.
I also used Ranger Ink Glossy Accents for the first time on the grungeboard pumpkins. I snipped some of the extra grungeboard to use as stems and connected with the Glossy Accents. This is a close up of the pumpkins.
The orange, felt pumpkin border along the bottom was made by Queen & Co. I bought it at CKU Charlotte in Aug. It was a bit bright for the layout so I used a variety of distress inks to darken the edges a bit and then put on Sugar Maple Glimmer Mist to darken it overall. I like how it turned out.
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Star, really far away.
Elizabeth has recently become excited about finding the moon at night. Tonight, she took my hand to go look for the moon. I took her on the deck and we sat down and looked at the moon.
I remembered going outside and looking at the stars on chilly night with my Dad. He taught me to find my first constellations. Orion is still my favorite because I could always identify it.
It was a cloudy tonight but, through the breaks in the clouds, we could see one star peeking through. I pointed it out to Elizabeth and told her what it was and that it was really far away. I gave her a big hug and told her too that one day I'd tell her all about the pictures in the sky just like Grandad taught Mommy. When we got too chilly we came in. As I locked the door to the deck, she ran over to Daddy to tell him about the moon and star and how the star was really far away.
My heart smiled tonight. :)
I remembered going outside and looking at the stars on chilly night with my Dad. He taught me to find my first constellations. Orion is still my favorite because I could always identify it.
It was a cloudy tonight but, through the breaks in the clouds, we could see one star peeking through. I pointed it out to Elizabeth and told her what it was and that it was really far away. I gave her a big hug and told her too that one day I'd tell her all about the pictures in the sky just like Grandad taught Mommy. When we got too chilly we came in. As I locked the door to the deck, she ran over to Daddy to tell him about the moon and star and how the star was really far away.
My heart smiled tonight. :)
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Santa!
Today, we took Elizabeth to see Santa. She didn't want to sit in his lap, but she didn't cry! That's a step in the right direction. All week, Matt has been showing her pictures of her visiting Santa and bunches of Santa movies. I can't wait to scrapbook these new pictures. Since she wouldn't sit in his lap, Santa read her a story! Then, we got to have cookies and milk and make a reindeer ornament with her hand as the antlers. Pictures are up on her website already.
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