Project Life 2013: June 9-15

Hello!  If you're here visiting from Busy Being Happy's Saturday Project Life Blog Hop, welcome!  Thank you for visiting.  I hope you enjoy seeing how I incorporate Project Life into my memory keeping process.  If you enjoy Project Life too, I'd love to come visit, please leave me a link to where you share and I'll be sure to pop on by!  Thank you to Michelle for featuring me this week.

June 9-13, 2013

This is week's  Project Life share is rather long and photo heavy because it was a packed week!  It is spread out among three full double page spreads and there are three inserts!  I have been contemplating on how to make Project Life work better for me and since I tend to scrapbook thematically it seems to make sense for me to group pictures from one event and give them their own divided pocket page protector layout.  We'll talk about that more later, for now here's how the week starts out, looking like a typical double page Project Life spread

As you can see from the dates stamped most of the week fit on this spread, Sunday - Thursday.  I used supplies from Doodlebug Designs, their bright and cheerful Flower Box Collection was perfect.  I had picked up their Simply Put 4X6 Album Inserts Pad awhile ago and was excited to finally use it.  I really like how it gives you an layered look without any effort.

I will add a little journaling on the "so happy together" card.  That pictures to the left of that card are from the dinner we had shortly after getting out of school.  It was a request of ER's that we celebrate with some "cheese on fire" at the coney island style restaurant by my parents.

One of my favorite pages of this spread is the flower vine added on top of the picture of my daughter with the Botti Bot we reviewed.  I think it looks pretty and balances out the flowers on the pre-printed Simply Put card.

Oops, I just noticed one card is slipping out of it's pocket.  Sorry about that, let's just imagine it's in place.  For this half of the page I cut the "life is good" card and used some of the multicolored chevron pattern to decorate one of the Becky Higgins' grid cards, used on the opposite side.  I used some different bits of left over papers printed with grids to make the other journaling cards on this side.  The borders are all from various past Doodlebug Design collections.

June 14, 2013

On the Friday of that week we had dress rehearsals for my daughter's dance performance.  I love the pretty costumes and it's my only opportunity to take pictures of her on stages because flash photography isn't allowed during the show.  At first I was trying to cram all my favorites into a 6X12 insert but it wasn't making me happy.  By the time I included all my pictures I had absolutely no room for any embellishments or making it look pretty.  Anyone who's seen my craft area knows I have a  wealth of stuff.  It was begging to be used.

I've love the Vintage Bliss collection from Simple Stories!  It's so beautiful, dainty, and feminine.  I cracked my collection pack open and got busy!  I only needed to use a little but it made a big difference being able to spread things and use full size photos.

The flowered photo overlays are my favorite part of the layout.  I mean besides my sweet dancer.  I did still include a photo collage, made the old fashioned way by cutting actual pictures down to size - imagine that, not done digitally?!  It was a good way to use some not quite perfect shots I had already developed.

Turning this into an event based spread instead of doing an insert makes me feel a lot more satisfied because then if I have several pictures I can use them and not feel like I have to shrink them all down or resort to photo collages all the time.  Plus one of my favorite parts of this craft is getting to make things pretty and use all the supplies I've collected.

It also helps keep the bulk of my book down a bit, because I find that too many inserts make the middle bulge, with the end not as thick since previously my inserts tended to be shorter than the 12X12 main pages.  I know a lot of Project Lifers prefer to keep inserts smaller than 12X12 and sandwich them in between the double page week spread and for a long time, that was what I thought I had to do too.  I will probably do that again from time to time, depending on the number of pictures and where it falls in the week.  But for now, it feels freeing to break free and try something different.

July 15, 2013

Saturday was the actual dance recital and I took even more pictures, of course!  Favorites ended up on their own half spread with more Vintage Bliss.  The show tickets totally clashed with the colors so I made a little envelope to pop them in, so we can save them for later.  Journaling about the show to be added.

Here is how the recital day page looks in my Project Life binder, did you notice the glimpses of the chevron pattern?  I changed out the aqua binder for the absolutely awesome new Honey edition binders now available at Michael's.  LOVE!  Here is where my smaller inserts come into play.  The blue program from the show went into one.

Flip past the program insert and there's a smaller 5X7 with the card that LB made with the dot painters earlier in the week.  I purposely made it so that it would fit into the 5X7 for saving.  I washi taped on a little card to the top and stamped the title on it.

On the other side of the card is a picture of Brad and the kids from the 15th, when we celebrated Father's Day with our families.  The "I'm so lucky" sentiment is punched from the Rad Dad mini collection, available digitally.

Behind the 5X7 insert with LB's card and the picture of Brad with the kids is another 8.5X11 with a fill in booklet ER made for Daddy and the card she dot painted, opened up into full size to reduce the bulk in the album.  Since half of the card was blank, the backside of the card when it was folded, I added a little pic of the kids out to lunch with Brad on Father's Day.  The "So glad" sentiment is also from a Rad Dad card.

After the three insets from another divided page protector type layout with pictures from our Father's Day celebration at the bottom and in the 4X12 opening at the top is a section about my MIL turning 70.  "Remember" and "Dad" are from Rad Dad.  These are still pictures from the same day as the recital.

Filling in the 4X12 space took a little creativity, since I only had one good picture of Norma with Brad and the kids.  I used some washi, thickers, stickers, and even some stamping to fill in area, while still leaving area for me to add some journaling.  Usually I like to stick with premade things to save on time, but I really love how this collage turned out, especially since I don't think composing collages is my strong suit.

Thanks for sticking around for my long Project Life post!  I hope you enjoyed, the next one will be fairly involved as well because it's about our first mini vacation trip of the summer.  I had a lot of fun working on it! Sharing this post at The Mom Creative.

A Surprise 7th Birthday Trip to the American Girl Store!

I mentioned this trip in this week's Very Hungry Caterpillar Party post, so I thought I should go ahead and finish it and share it.  Overall the blog has been quieter than usual, as I take time to enjoy spending time with my daughter while off of school.  This last year was first grade and the first time she's ever been away all day.  It was a tough adjustment for everyone.  Between school and activities afterward, we don't get nearly enough quality time together to do fun stuff! 

Another reason was because I've been planning and organizing her birthday party at Jo-Ann's and a surprise trip we took our daughter on for her 7th birthday!  We surprised her by waking her up and whisking her away for an overnight trip to the new American Girl store that opened in Columbus, OH!!!

She had no idea where we were going until we turned the corner and she saw the sign, talk about excitement!  She just love going to a store for the very first time and had an absolute blast.  She told me on the way home, that the trip was so awesome that even if we'd only been able to come and had not been able to buy anything, it would still be the best birthday ever.

Not that we left empty handed, on no, we sure didn't.  Grandma Norma, Grammy & Papa, and some birthday money she received as a gift helped take the ouch out of the purchases but it was we managed to drop quite a bit and we didn't even eat there or go to the doll saloon.

I had hoped she'd pick out a matching girl and doll outfit but she really wanted a couple other things and spent a long time considering her options.  It was very fun for me to see her weighing her choices versus how much she had to spend and see how she she prioritized.

She already had Saige, the girl of the year, and we brought home both her horse Picasso and her dog Rembrandt.  I couldn't resist the new picnic set with it's southwestern food and added that to the birthday gifts from us.  Saige is from New Mexico which is where our daughter was born.  Both also love art so this limited time only doll has been a very nice match for her.  Since she's only around this year, I'm afraid we've fallen hook line and sinker to the marketing ploy of hurry up and buy all her outfits and accessories while you can.

We have another July birthday at the end of the month, when LB turns two and we didn't want him to be left out of the birthday treats.  Across the American Girl store is a Build A Bear Workshop and LB had yet to go and build his own stuffed animal so that seemed like a perfect activity to make it special for him too.  He is really into puppies lately, it's one of the few words he tries to say a lot.  Not that he likes really puppies, he's actually quite scared by them, but he liked to see pictures of them or watch them from afar. 

After all that shopping, it was time for some cheesecake, errrr....um, I'm a healthy lunch.  We haven't been to a Cheesecake Factory since we lived in Santa Fe and went to one while visiting my Godbrother and his wife in Denver.  We love this place and have since our first time going, when we lived in the San Francisco Bay area.  We even went for Valentine's Day one year, sitting outside and seeing the San Francisco skyline is really a treat.

I was good and ordered a Chinese Chicken salad for lunch, even though a bunch of fried yumminess was calling my name, because I wanted to save my indulgence for cheesecake.  I ordered the lunch portion, it was huge and really tasty.  I wanted something light and still got some crunch in with the noodles.  Birthday girl and I split a slice of lemon raspberry cheesecake, divine, and worth every.last.calorie.

The American Girl store is located in this huge high end outdoor shopping area.  I've already decided we have to go back once the Paper Source comes this fall.  It has nearly everything you could ever want in the area, including an Archiver's.   Even though I'd been to one the previous week, they recently filed for bankruptcy for restructuring so as a good little scrapbooker I had to do my part to support them and at least take a look around this location, right?

They were even having a $1.99 Make and Take project and ER made herself the colorful bottle cap necklace above.  I thought that was a great deal since it included everything from the chain to the paper, charm, and cap.  We ended up going back the next day too, because they had a 40% off sale on all their stickers, washi tape, and embellishments.  I'm mean it would be such a waste to be so close and not take advantage of that.

Even though the Make & Take period was officially over the second day, they still had supplies leftover.  ER made another one, so she was very happy about that.  I let her pick out some stickers and washi tape on sale for the Summer Fun book we are working together.  I have to say it's so much fun to shop for scrappy stuff with my daughter.  I got mainly little letter stickers because I can never have enough of those.

Dinner our first night was kind of a disappointment.  I was so excited to find out a Mimi's Cafe in the area.  I used to love going there, when we lived in CA, and I even blogged about the last time we were at a Mimi's.  My favorites were the Spinach Dip, the Chicken Tender's Appetizer with Buffalo Sauce, and their Chicken Cordon Bleu.  I also love the carrot raisin muffins.

But when we went they had completely changed their menu.  I was so let down, I could already "taste" that dip and to be looking forward to something and not getting it...totally put me in a bad mood.  They also used to serve a lot of their dishes with lovely big chunks of fruit and it was all bright and airy inside.  This location was very dark and it was just not the experience I had hoped to have.

The next day I woke up with a better frame of mind.  We went to COSI, a stop I'd picked with Brad in mind, and it was fantastic.  It had a lot of hands-on activities, really interesting exhibits, and a Little Kidspace that LB just loved.  He spent an hour there while ER went to a workshop, where she got to take apart a computer, and we had to drag him out.  ER really like the Progress exhibit, where you walk through a city street in 1898 and 1962 and see how things might have changed over time.  She also thought the Big Science Park, where you get to lift a car, was neat.  I'm glad it stopped raining long enough for us to see it!  There was so much to see, it's a really well done center and Columbus is lucky to have such a great resource for families.  We'd totally join it as members if we lived closer.

The last thing we did before heading home after a long day at COSI was head to the Olive Garden for ER's belated birthday dinner.  It's her favorite restaurant and she got her favorite meal, shells with Alfredo sauce, yum!

It was a lovely overnight trip and a birthday I'm sure ER will never forget!  With that kind of kick off for year seven, I know E's year is going to be wonderful.  We're so lucky to have such a sweetheart.

WholePort Giveaway: Masking Sticker Sets

Disclosure: WholePort is one of my blog sponsors; I receive a complimentary selection of products from them to create with each month. The experiences and opinions related within this post are personal and may differ from another individuals.

Last month I introduced my newest blog sponsor, WholePort an online craft supply resource with a wide range of materials to help you create beautiful projects.  I received some really fun Masking Sticker Sets to play around with and enjoyed them so much, I decided to give away some sets to one of you!  Check out what the you could get, below.

RED Masking Sticker Set 

BLUE Masking Sticker Set 

Each one comes with several designs to play with and each set is only $2.79!  Great deal, right?  Here are just some of the quick and easy ways you can use the strips that come with the sets.

The stickers are great for adding just a little bit of embellishment to paper crafting projects.  I love to use it for layering, as I did in this mini book I am working on.

They also can be turned into cute little tags, perfect for highlighting a special feature, like this flip up I added to another mini book.  The masking tape flag draws attention to the fact this part can be lifted up and there's more to see underneath.

Here's another great way I've been using the masking sticker sets, on my Project Life pages!  We recently went to an indoor water park and I had the perfect little card to use with the picture above.  But when I combined the two, there was just something missing...a little masking tape popped on top and now it's perfect!

Giveaway!

I love for YOU to win some the same Masking Sticker Sets I've been using!  I'll make it super easy to enter, just leave a comment on this post.  I'll pick a winner in a week, that's August 7th.  Good Luck!

Thank you to Wholeport for providing the giveaway!  Go check out their awesome selection of crafting supplies!