Project Life - Week 2 2023

Hello, hello! Happy Tuesday to you! I hope that you are having a good week!  After having a very mild February and the first few days of March, winter has returned and I don't like it one bit! It should not have tempted us with all of those sunny - warm - days only to come back with a vengeance! Cloudy, dreary, cold days not getting out of the 30s when the average high is close to 60...not nice! Oh, well, I know the pretty days will return soon enough. At least the sun is finally shining today.

Today I am sharing Week 2 of my 2023 Project Life. Slowly but surely I am getting into a groove with it. For this week, I am using the January Freckled Fawn kits. I decided to try a subscription with them this year - at least for a while - to see how well I use their cards, papers, and embellishments. I have always loved their embellishments, so we are going to give them a try. 

Here's a look at the complete layout:

Here is the left side of the layout:

And a couple of close-ups:

For my title card, I cut down one of the 6x8 papers into a 4x6 card since the pocket card kit does not include the 4x6 size. cards. I cut the frame from one of the 3x4 cut-apart cards and added it to the 4x6. I fussy cut the flowers from one of the 6x8 papers for embellishments and a few of the adhesive-backed brads that I had included in my February bashket. The colors of those brads matched perfectly and I was able to get quite a few onto this layout.

I did pretty well using the chipboard that came in the kit. I think I only have three or four pieces left.  I am trying to use as many of the embellishments that come in the kit as I can so I am not adding much back into my stash at the end of the month. 

The photos and stories from the left page are - a photo of Shane when we actually went inside Wendy's to eat instead of taking it home. It had been so long since we ate inside and the food tasted so good! There's more to this story than what is told here, but that will be for a traveler's notebook layout!

I picked up a couple of sets of cute pens that I liked and that I thought Ada would like - they are some of her favorite things - llamas, unicorns, mermaids, narwhals, etc., and this picture just made me happy with them all laid out.

Abby sent me a photo of Ada with her first "coffee" and there's more to this story, as well. Another story for my traveler's notebook.

I shared two photos from our game cam - a squirrel with a nut in its mouth and a deer. I really thought we would see more action on it during the winter, but that has not been the case. 

We also got a little bit of snow. Heavy, wet snow that was perfect for making a snowman. Thankfully it hit after everyone was already at work and it didn't really stick to the roads.

Here is the right side of the layout:

The majority of the photos on this side was from Sunday when we had a family dinner. In fact, the only photo not from Sunday is the one of Shane playing his game. No special story there - just a typical day. 

The photo of Ada and Pops in the top pocket is them doing the Tortilla Slap Challenge. Ada had been after him to do it with her and he finally gave in. The photo of Ada below that one has another photo and some hidden journaling on it. Let's just say that the Tortilla challenge wasn't that fun for her! She started off strong winning the first few rounds and getting to "slap" Pops, but then her luck changed and it wasn't quite as fun for her! Her little cheek was red from all of the tortilla slaps that she took! I'm pretty sure she won't want to do the challenge anytime soon!

I had to dig into my Freckled Fawn chipboard stash to finish embellishing. I did get a few washi tape pieces on this layout, too. 

We were so excited when we found out that The Last Of Us was being made into a series. Scott and Matthew have both played it multiple times - and I always like watching them play it, so when it was made into a series, it was like a dream come true! This was the week of the first episode and it did not disappoint. We loved it!

This photo of Ada and Winnie is one of my favorites!

Another week in the books! My plan for this year's Project Life album is to show love to all of my pocket card subscriptions - so, one week I will use Elle's Studio goodies, one week will be Freckled Fawn, one week will be Ali Edwards, and the last week will be whatever - either finishing up one of the kits, digging into my stash, or finding a digital kit to try working with.

That's it for today! Thanks so much for stopping by my blog! Have a great day!

Project Life - Week 1 2023

 Hello, hello! Happy Wednesday to you! I hope that you are having a good week. 

Today I am finally sharing my first Project Life layout of the year! This layout has seriously been laying on my desk for weeks and I just got around to putting the finishing touches on it and getting it photographed. 

Here is the layout:

For this first layout for the year, I have used Elle's Studio January kit and a few of their older cards and embellishments. I also managed to use most of the puffy stickers that I included in my bashket for Lisa & Lori's Great Stash Bash. 

Here is a closer look at the left side:

This week we got to spend the day with Ada on Monday - Abby had to go back to work for a teacher work day. Scott was still on Christmas day and she was happy as could be to spend the day with Pops! It was a dreary day but that didn't stop us from going on an adventure! I turned around to snap a photo of the two of them and I caught them doing a goofy walk. There is never a dull minute with these two!

The Damar Hamlin incident also happened on Monday. I was watching a movie and Scott came in and said, "I think someone may have just died on the football game." I thought he was kidding - thinking it was a really hard hit - but then when I went in and watched the replay. It was such a scary thing to watch and to not know (at the time) if he was going to be alright. 

On Tuesday Matthew surprised me with a visit. It was so unexpected and made my day! He'd come to Lebanon to get a haircut and stopped by on his way back to Springfield. He didn't stay long but we were able to visit over lunch. Anytime I can have lunch with any of my kiddos - it just makes me happy! 

I also got sticker shock when I bought a dozen of eggs at the store! $3.96 for eggs?! I knew prices were going up but that is just crazy!

This week I also got some scrappy goodies in the mail, Scott got an over-the-door organizer to help keep his Johnny West figures organized, I started stitching a new cross-stitch piece, our big flock of turkeys decided to come for a visit to the backyard, we watched The Black Phone - and really enjoyed it - and we made an unusual trip to Springfield on Sunday for some furniture shopping.

Here are a few close-ups:

I wanted to be sure to use that 2023 card this first week, otherwise, I don't know when I would use it. It became my title card for the week. I also pulled out my Stanley alphabet stamps from Elle's Studio to stamp on the card about Matt's visit. I really hope to do a lot of stamping on my layouts this year.

I scattered the puffy stickers that I had included in my bashket around my layout. I tried really hard to use all of them, but some of the colors just did not match or I just couldn't make them work. There are not many left so that is a good thing!

I am so happy to have this first week in the album! Week 2 is all ready to go and hopefully, I will get it completed a lot faster! I'd better get crackin' on getting more photos edited and ordered! I want to keep the momentum going!

Thanks so much for stopping by my blog today! Have a great day!

LM #633 - Title Page

Hello, everyone! Happy Sunday to you! I hope that you are having a good weekend. 

Today I am sharing my layout for this week's challenge at Lasting Memories. Our theme for January is "New Year Challenges" and this week is all about those title pages. I thought this would be the perfect time to get my title page done from my 2023 Project Life album. 

For my title page, I have used Simple Stories' So Happy Together collection. I have loved this collection since it came out and I have been holding onto the cut-apart papers just for this layout. I knew I would get around to it eventually!

Along with the cut-apart papers, I have used phrase stickers and die cuts from the same collection. For the date, I have used stickers from Bella Blvd and I used a stamp from Everyday Explorers, as well. The puffy hearts are from Sticko and have been in my stash for years! I am so glad that I was able to get a few on this page.

Here are a few close-ups:

I added each of our names and ages (as of January 1st) to labels on each of the photos.

I stamped a (half) circle label to the top of this card and added the 'just us being us' stamp to it. That stamp is from the Our World Prompts set from Everyday Explorers.

The title pages for my Project Life albums are some of my favorites to make and I am so glad to have this year's title page in the book! My photos for week one are all printed and ready to be added to the pages. I can't wait to get this album started!

How about you? Do you have any title pages that need to be made? Maybe a title page for a travel album, a school album, a baby album... Now is the time to get it done! Head on over to Lasting Memories to see the lovely layouts from the rest of the design team. I hope you have a chance to play along with us!

Thanks so much for stopping by my blog today! I hope you have a great day!

 

The ScrapRoom September Shots of Life Kit - Week 32/2021

 Hello, everyone! Happy Monday to you! I hope that your week is off to a great start. We had a nice quiet weekend at home - which meant lots of scrappy and stitchy time for me!

Today I am sharing the layout that I created using the September portion of the Shot of Life Kit from The ScrapRoom. Here is a look at the kit:

This is what I came up with:

For my layout, I used the Bella Blvd - You Are My Sunshine - cut apart cards and epoxy stickers that were included in the kit. The fun - bright colors in those cards were perfect to document another week of summer fun. I dove into my Bella Blvd scraps bin to add a bit more color to my layout. 

Here's a closer look at each side of the layout:

I kept my title card pretty simple for this week. I used one of the 4x6 cut apart cards and fussy cut the sun from one of the 2x2 cards. I cut a ticket shape out of the backside of the Lemon Twist cut apart paper and added my week title to it. I then just stamped my dates directly on the card.

This was a pretty busy week for us. Ada stayed with us Monday-Wednesday since Abby had some training out of town those days. On Monday, we passed the time until Pops got home from work playing Uno and video games. She is very good at both! She beat me the best out of five games of Uno and was deemed the champ! She also beat her best time on one of the speed runs in Astro's Playroom on the PS5. She was pretty excited to do that, too.

 

We went for a walk on Monday evening and had the most beautiful view. The journaling on that photo says  - Today (8/9) would have been Kim's 59th birthday and Mom would've been 80 on Thursday (8/12) I should've known they would give me a beautiful sunset to enjoy! I added a couple of stamped word phrases and enamel hearts to finish off that photo. 

The bottom photo is showing just how tall our sunflowers grew this year. Ada was standing on top of  Scott's shoulders - and they were on a little bit higher ground than the sunflower - and it was still taller than both of them together! I think we tried to measure it and it was close to 10 feet tall! The "Have a sunny day" was punched from one of the 2x2 cards.

Ada had her first stargazing experience while she stayed with us - thanks to the Perseid meteor shower. She was lucky enough to see one pretty soon after we went out. I discovered it is almost impossible to take a selfie in the dark! It took a couple of tries but I did manage to get us all in the photo!

Here is a look at the right side of the spread:

The top photo is of Ada with her Wendy's kids meal toys. This girl can have fun with just about anything! We'd told her before she came over that Pops would bring home supper one night after work. She chose Wendys and she brought two of the cars she's gotten in previous kid's meals to play with - and she was hoping she would add a new one to her collection. She got the unicorn car - which made her happy as can be. For the embellishment on that photo, I used a stamp that said - the simple joys of life - and added one of the epoxy flowers to it. 

 I really liked the multi-colored hearts card from the cut apart sheet. I added one of the 2x2 squares to it with a polaroid style frame around it and added a few more enamel hearts to finish it off. 

The next photo is of Ada and Aunt Amy - her birthday buddy. Aunt Amy came over for a visit one of the days she was over and she brought her a few fun goodies, too. Ada played with them the rest of the afternoon. 

Ada and I always try to take a "sleepover selfie" when she spends the night and she was a good sport - posing for a photo by our flowers.

Ada could not wait until Pops would get home so they could go out to the pool. It's crazy the things these two think up to do in the pool! The crazier the idea is - the better it is! I added a chipboard sticker from my stash and a couple of stamped phrases to this photo. 

Once again I added a sort of - week in review - journaling card. I used a 4x6 index card - just cutting it down a bit so it could be matted on a piece of patterned paper. I stamped the words 'This week' and added a few more epoxy flowers to it. I had one little green epoxy heart left and turned it sideways so it looked like a flower leaf. 

I have just a couple more photos from this week that I would like to have added...I may add an insert - like maybe a 6x8 page protector size for those last few photos and stories.

The only things I used on this layout from my stash are - white cardstock, stamps, chipboard stickers, small enamel hearts, and some patterned paper scraps.

It feels great to get another week documented!

Be sure to check out The ScrapRoom blog for more inspiration using the September kits!

Thanks so much for stopping by my blog today! Have a great day!

The ScrapRoom July Shots of Life Kit - Week 20/2021

 Hello, everyone! Happy Tuesday to you! I hope that you are having a good week so far. I am behind on my blog posts this month and thought I'd better get posting before the calendar rolls over to August. You should see a new blog post from me the rest of the week! July has been super busy with vacation, sleepovers with Ada, and trying to keep up with the garden. I would like to say that August will be slower but I know I will have Ada quite a few days out of the month before school starts back up so it might not slow down for me until September! 

Today I am sharing the layout that I created using my Shots of Life Kit from The ScrapRoom. Here's a look at the kit:

I used the cut apart cards from Paige Evans and Pink Fresh and a piece of the "b" side of the Jen Hadfield paper on my layout documenting Week 20/2021. Here's a look at my spread:

Week 20 was the end of the school year for Abby and Ada, planting was starting in the garden, and Scott got a new vehicle. Here's a look at the left side of the layout:

For my title card, I cut a 4x6 piece out of the middle of the Jen Hadfield cut apart paper. I knew I wanted to use the rest of the paper for my "Mixing up the Kits" layout so I made sure to cut from the center. The journal bits from Pink Fresh that came in the kit are printed on one side and a solid color on the other, I used the "happy memories" piece and layered the purple banner piece on top. I fussy cut some flowers from the Pink Fresh paper for an embellishment. I pulled some puffy alphas from my stash and added one of the puffy hearts from the kit to finish it off. 

The top photo here is of Ada on her last day of 1st grade. The "smiles all around" card was perfect to go along with this photo. Ada had a check-up the very next day and Abby snapped a photo of them together, waiting to see the doctor. 

I used a piece of vellum over the top photo since it was a photo of Ada's 1st-grade class. Her teacher was chosen for teacher of the year and the school posted this photo of her with her class on Facebook announcing that she was the teacher of the year. Any time I see a photo of Ada and her class, I snag it!

The bottom photo is a picture of the tv with Monster's Inc. on. Scott and I were flipping through channels and got sucked into watching it. When the kids were little this was a movie we watched almost weekly. It had been ages since we had seen it and it was fun watching it again.  

I took this photo of Scott when he got home with his new van. With there being a used vehicle shortage we were lucky to find something that he was happy with so quickly. He was trying to decide what to name it and since the color of it is something like desert sand pearl, he tossed around Pearl and Sandy but didn't like either one of those. When I threw out Sahara - going with the sand/desert theme - or Jasmine (a nod to Aladdin) he immediately said, Jasmine. And it has stuck! Shawn has Jackie the Journey, Abby has Patty the Prius, and now Scott has Jasmine...looks like I need to name my car so it doesn't feel left out!

Now on to the right side of the spread:

We had to go back to Marshfield to pick up my car from the dealership. Before we picked it up, we headed over to Abby's to show them, Jasmine. It has been so long since Scott, Shane, and I all have been at their house together. I've been there several times, but it has been a couple of years since Scott and Shane visited them (#BecauseAutism). Ada was beyond thrilled! She took Pops on a tour of their whole house and was so happy to show off her playrooms. The visit went well - Shane was actually happy to visit a while - so hopefully this means we will be visiting more often!

We had such a cool and wet spring that we didn't get a chance to get started on planting the garden until May. Our green beans are already up and growing and Scott was working on the cucumbers in the above photo. I cut the "homegrown" piece out of one of the Pink Fresh cut part cards and added some tiny alphas from my stash to finish out the title.

We finally had a rain-free weekend to get the pool up and going for summertime. Gotta document that! It is a happy day in our house when the pool is all ready for the summer. 

For the last photo on this spread, I made a collage of three photos I snapped of Shane when we went for a drive in the new van. He was sitting in the front seat and I was in the seat behind him. I could see his face in the side mirror and he was smiling the whole time. For the journaling card, I added the half-circle puffy stickers that were included in the kit to make a little banner across the top. The journaling says - After Scott's old faithful van quit him last week - he spent this week looking for a new one. He found a couple online that he liked the looks of & headed out early on Friday to do some car shopping. He came home with this little gem - definitely an upgrade from his old faithful! It's nice to have a van with working air conditioning & one that all of the windows roll down again! And Shane is in love with it, too. When we took it for a drive he had a smile on his face the whole time. He loved to change the radio stations on the touch screen - a new little gadget for him to play with!

Everything on this layout is from the July portion of the Shots of Life Kit. I did use some white cardstock, purple and yellow scraps for matting, puffy alphas, small tile alphas, labels, die cuts, and a 6x4 lined journaling card. 

 

Be sure to check out The ScrapRoom blog for more inspiration using the July kits. 

Thanks so much for stopping by my blog today! Have a great day!

Week 33/2018 - The ScrapRoom May Shots of Life Kit

Hello, hello! Happy Tuesday to you! I hope your week is off to a good start!

 Today I am sharing the layout that I created using the May portion of the Shots of Life Kit from The ScrapRoom. I just checked and it looks like there are still a few of the May/June Shots of Life kits still available. Here's a look at the kit:

For my layout today, I have used the cut apart cards from Amy Tangerine's Brave & 
Bold collection, a couple of cards from PhotoPlay's Crafting With My Gnomies, and bits and pieces of the Maggie Holmes Garden Party paper to document Week 33 of 2018. That's right, we are going back a few years for this one!

Here's a look at the layout:

Here is the left side of the layout:

This week Abby headed back to work for the new school year and that meant Ada was back with me during the day. Ada wasn't quite sure she was ready to be back into the old routine of getting up so early to come to Nana's house, but it didn't take her long to get back into the swing of things! Here are a few close-ups: 

For my title card, I used the 'B' side of the cut apart paper to bring a little more of the blue into my spread. I added a 'hello' sticker from the sticker sheet and one of those pretty resin glitter hearts that was included in the kit. 

Since all of the cut apart cards on the Amy Tangerine sheet are 3x3's, I had to get creative in making them work for me on my spread. On the above light pink card, I added it to the top of a 3x4 card that I cut out of white cardstock. I then added another one of the gold glitter resin hearts to it. 

The photo to the left of this card is Ada on one of the little rides at Wal-Mart - her reward for being so good while we shopped for groceries. 

The two cards that I used from PhotoPlay's cut apart paper are shown above. The bright colors in this collection work so well with the colors in the Amy Tangerine collection. I also punched a circle out of the Maggie Holmes paper for my cluster base above.

The last card on this page is of Matthew hanging out before he headed back to MSU for his junior year of college. I carefully planned out which 3x3 cut aparts I wanted to use for cards or embellishments and the rest I was able to cut into 3x4's and use the 'B' side for more pops of blue. 

Here is the right side of the layout:

These photos are all about Matthew's move-in day at MSU. He's a minimalist when it comes to moving, that is for sure! As long as he had his tv, Playstation 4, and some clothes and food, he was good! His reasoning is that we're not even an hour away and he'll be coming home every other weekend so he can get whatever he needs then! Scott got Matthew up there and moved in early and he said it was the easiest move-in yet! Then he had to drive the hour-plus home and on into Lebanon to pick up his new glasses. He had quite a busy day!

Ada was a little sad to see Pops taking Uncle Matt back to college, so we played some My Little Pony to get her mind off it! She is so cute in her mask! 

It's hard to see but I added another one of the gold glitter resin hearts to the 'smile' card. 

For this photo, I cut down one of the Maggie Holmes cut apart cards for my journaling and added a few stickers to it. Scott and I found a bunch of broken eggs in our field right along our walking path. We weren't sure what kind they were, we thought maybe some turtle eggs, but after a little investigating we found out they were snake eggs! Yuck, yuck, yuck! If we'd known that we sure wouldn't have been poking around them so much! They still gross me out just thinking about it!

 

For this last card, I fussy cut one of the 3x3 cards for an embellishment and added a couple of stickers to finish off the little cluster.

I am so happy to have another spread in my 2018 album done! This album is slowly getting filled up!

Be sure to stop by The ScrapRoom blog for more May kit inspiration.

Thanks so much for stopping by my blog today! I hope you have a great day!