project life: weeks 6 & 7

I'm playing catch-up on blogging about completed layouts and completing the last couple of weeks. So here goes- week six started with my birthday and the birth of our newest niece Leyla. And of course a random work schedule and silly dog pictures to round things out :o)

Week seven was the week of Valentine's Day. We had a couple of yummy dinners out- tried a new pizza place and then a classic sushi dinner later in the week. Yummy cupcakes from Belle, chocolate truffles, and flowers were special surprises during the week.

Uses some new Dear Lizzy paper, October Afternoon, and my new tag punch. And of course some washi tape for good measure.

a to z list love

I don't know where the last two hours have gone, but I ended up doing some blog hopping which led to reading archives from this super cool scrapper. Here's a fun little list I found on Ann-Marie's blog. I thought it would be fun to play along.

A. Age: 28
B. Bed size: Queen
C. Chore that you hate: Putting things away- dishes, laundry, you name it. I'll clean it, but I don't want to put anything away.
D. Dogs: One spunky pekingese and one lovely poodle mix.
E. Essential start to your day: laying in bed for 5 more minutes.
F. Favorite color: PINK.
G. Game: I hate games.
H. Height: 5’3″ on a good day.
I. Ideal Day: One that doesn't require me to be on time for anything :o)
J. Job title: diet clerk
K. Kids: 2 fur-babies
L. Lives: In California.
M. Movie: Currently re-living my Twilight obsession. Any movie, anytime. So what, I'm not ashamed!
N. Nicknames: Pat, PJ, Peej, Patty, Babe, etc.
O. Overnight hospital stays: None!
P. Pet peeve: People who don't turn on their headlights when it's dark- HOW CAN YOU SEE???
Q. Quote from a movie:  "If you're a bird, I'm a bird."
R. Right or left handed: Right
S. Siblings: Two younger sisters. It's more of a two-headed monster kind of situation.
U. University: UC Davis.
V. Vegetable you hate: Perish the thought! Vegetables are our friends!
W. What makes you run late: Finding parking.
X. X-Rays you’ve had: Teeth.
Y. Yummy food that you make: My faves are usually something I make up on the fly, and then I can never re-create because I forget what I put in it.
Z. Zoo animal: Big cats. Love 'em.

week in the life

 

I'm doing it! I've followed Ali Edwards' posts about this project for years and I always think, "I want to do that." Of course I never did. This changes today! I've already been snapping pictures and jotting notes on my iPhone. Devin has been warned notified that there will be even more camera action going on, and he's on board. The pups are too :o) So here's to a great week of memory keeping fun!

blurb: wedding day book

A few weeks ago Elise posted  a photo book she created on Blurb of her Instagram photos during her husband's deployment. I LOVE the way her book turned out and started thinking I should give online photo books another try (I've only ever made one). Of course I immediately started over-thinking it and played with the idea for about a week before I finally decided to JUST DO IT (felt a little like a Nike commercial).

I have been thinking about what I want to do with the professional photos from our wedding this past September. Our amazing photographer Karl Ko captured so many wonderful images (as in over 800!) that frankly I've been overwhelmed when I thought about what I wanted to do with them. For the sake of just "getting it done," I decided on a simple, full-page photo format highlighting my favorite pictures and basically following the timeline of the day. Clean and simple. About 100 pages total. Eventually I'll work on another project the includes words about the day, but for now I just want to have something I can hold in my hands and show to people.

10x8 hardcover book with upgraded premium matte paper

I completely love the way this book turned out! I smiled when I opened the box it came in and kept grinning as I flipped through the pages. The website is totally easy to use, and the quality of the finished product is more than I even hoped for.

I can't wait to share this with people who haven't seen seen our photos yet. I also imagine our future kids thumbing through this book to see pictures of "mommy and daddy's wedding day." This is what memory keeping is all about for me. At the end of the day, it's always better to have something preserved, out in the open, rather that sitting on a hard drive somewhere.

project life: week five

This week's spread covered the end of January and the beginning of February. Last year I wasn't to concerned about how months would be designated in the album because the kit contained monthly dividers. I just placed the divider wherever the new month started and left it at that.

Since this year all of the project life products are sold a la carte, I didn't buy the dividers. Instead I've been including tiny calendars from Bananafish Studio (no longer available) on my "title card" for the week when a new month starts. Luckily this week was evenly divided between the two months, so I treated each side as a one page spread. Used a page from a new 6x6 pad for the title card. Simple.

For the February title page I used a banner paper from a My Mind's Eye 6x6 paper pad from the Love Me collection. So cute! Love Valentine's Day products because they can be used all year when you need a "love" theme. There were only a couple of patterns in this pad that explicitly show the 2/14 date. Used some old letter stickers to spell "dragon" for the Chinese New Year pic. Those stickers were actually from a Christmas line a while back. Don't be afraid to use themed products for other uses, get creative and use your stash!

happy easter!

This has been a wonderfully relaxing Easter. We went to church this morning, followed by pastries at Panera, and lunch at my in-laws with the whole family. The kids had an Easter egg hunt and then colored their own eggs. And I took a bunch of photos that I am now in the process of editing :o) The scrappy ideas are flowing! But for now I'm going to enjoy time with these loves!

project life: week four

Hello inserts. This week included Brady's first birthday party so of course there were lots of extra photos.

Here's the left side of the layout:

The first insert is a 6x12 enlarged photo of the birthday boy. The banner is the one from his birthday cake that my sister made. I'm not sure which paper line she used, but it is so cute. I added the "happy birthday little man" to the photo in Photoshop before printing.

On the other side of the insert is a 6x12 collage of Instagram photos from the party. I really love how the small size of the photos allows me to include all of the details from the party without taking up a lot of room. The second insert is another 6x12 insert that holds six 4x6 photos. I added tab I made using my new Jenni Bowlin punch (love it!).

The final insert is a 5x7 page protector that holds the party invitation. It was custom made by my super talented sister Christy.

The right page of the layout is a mix of the week and some journaling about the party. Love the size of the October Afternoon letter stickers for this project. Also added some Amy Tangerine washi tape and Studio Calico wood veneer pieces.

This is one of my favorite spreads of all time. I'm really happy with how it came together and the overall look.

project life: week three

Week three came together really fast. I used very few embellishments, but I'm really happy with the overall look of the layout. I included a screenshot of the weather for the week which is something I've been doing in my albums for a while. I like the idea of tracking things like this over time.

On the right side I included a photo of the kitchen at the hospital. The diet office is in the middle of the kitchen so this is where I walk through everyday I'm at work. I waited until most of the staff was out on break so I could snap a pic without questioning eyes :o)

The right side of the layout is mostly photos and words, but I did include a little map from my phone from meeting up with my sister to drop off the sewing machine I had borrowed. I also paired a movie stub from date night with a little instagram shot of the popcorn. I've always saved my movie stubs, I have a box of high school stuff full of them. I like giving this stuff a home now in a little pocket.

I love the way this project celebrates the little moments that make up our lives. Very cool.