Happy New Year's Eve!

Can you believe today is the very LAST day of 2012??? I know I can't! 

And I am so excited - I was selected to guest for Two More Days! Kim has some Project Life products coming out later this week that are super fun! I can't wait to do a few pages. I just need to decide which weeks to do since I've got about three months that haven't been done yet. Overall, three months behind isn't too bad, considering it's my very first year attempting Project Life. I did great at keeping up until we went to visit family in September, and I couldn't take my tools along. I suppose I should have started doing it digitally at that point, but I just wasn't prepared for it. Oh well, life moves along, right?

I'm off to go work on doing some 2012 Project Life pages!

Have a very happy and safe Happy New Year's Eve!  :)

Reflecting on Project Life

Earlier today, I posted how it might be handy to have a few selected kits or a stash of items just for Project Life. (I plan to do Project Life 2013 digitally.) Lo and behold, I came across some items from Captivated Visions while searching for something else! Check these out...

My Project Vol 01 [Mega Kit]

Courtesy of Captivated Visions

These are all the staples you need to do Project Life digitally! And there's more to help you fancy up the pages a bit...

My Project Vol 02 [Kit]

Courtesy of Captivated Visions

My Project Vol 02 [Finishing Touches]

Courtesy of Captivated Visions

There are lots more of other My Project kits from Captivated Visions, but I just wanted to quickly share the few items I found.

I heard an interesting quote today that resonated with me:

"Life is in session." - Kassie from The Switch

Okay, so Kassie was talking about moving on with her life and having a baby. But the quote is true regardless. Life keeps going on, regarding of what else is happening. And this brings me to another quote that I love:

"Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while,
you could miss it."
- Ferris from Ferris Bueller's Day Off

Where am I going with all this? It's the reason I decided to participate in Project Life. I know that even a year or two from now, I won't remember some of the small things in life, especially with the pace that the munchkin changes. I look back at some of my pages from the first few months of Project Life 2012, and I am pleased that I captured some of the small moments. Many years from now, I'm sure the munchkin will be grateful I have the memories for him to read through.

So here's to another year of Project Life! 2013...here I come!

Project Life - Weeks 51 & 52

I finished my Project Life pages for Weeks 51 & 52. That, however, doesn't mean I'm caught up!  :D   And, those last two weeks were done digitally rather than via my usual hybrid that I've been doing all year.

One thing I noticed about doing the pages digitally was that it was a little bit more time consuming. I spent too much time trying to make everything look perfect or to jazz up the pages because they looked too boxy. When I was doing doing it with actual paper supplies, it was easier to arrange, and I didn't have to jump from folder to folder to find what I needed. All the items were right in front of me. 

Hmmm...maybe that's the key - limiting myself to using just a few staple digi kits... That way, I don't have to spend too much time trying to figure out what I want or looking for the right kit to match my photos. I'll consider it.

In the meantime, here's what I did for Weeks 51 and 52...

WEEK 51 - double-page spread (bigger previews below)

Week 51 (left page)

CREDITS – Week 51 (left page)
Papers: Tis the Season (Wishing Well Creations); Ribbon Candy (Gina Miller Designs)
Embellishments: Scenes From Real Life (One Little Bird); This Life: December (Penny Springmann)
Fonts: Bebas Neue (week); CK Ali’s Hand (journaling, captions)
Template: Pockets No. 3 – The Templates (Valorie Wibbens)

Week 51 (right page)

CREDITS – Week 51 (right page)
Papers: Adventual (Two More Days); Ribbon Candy (Gina Miller Designs)
Embellishments: A Very Vintage Christmas (Amy Jaz); Adventual (Two More Days)
Fonts: Bebas Neue (title); Calibri (journaling)
Template: Project 2012: April - Templates (Connie Prince)

WEEK 52

CREDITS
Papers: Ribbon Candy (Gina Miller Designs); A Very Vintage Christmas and Twinkle (Amy Jaz)
Embellishments: Filler Notecards – Set 11 (Gina Miller Designs); Scenes From Real Life (One Little Bird); Peace Kraft and Joy (Micheline Martin); Pockets No. 3 – The Basics (Valorie Wibbens)
Fonts: CK Ali’s Hand (journaling, captions); Bebas Neue (week)
Template: Pockets No. 3 – The Templates (Valorie Wibbens)

Now, on to trying to catch up from where I left off on Project Life - somewhere around late August/early September...

Me & Mike

I'm back! It's been a bit of a crazy month. I'm not even sure how the month disappeared! In less than a week it will be a new year - yikes! 

I haven't had a lot of time to scrap, although I have a few layouts completed for new releases, which I will post as soon as the products are released. I do have one fun layout to share - one with me and my friend Mike. The photo was taken a couple of years (or so) ago, during his birthday celebration. 

CREDITS

Papers: Talk2Me (Allison Pennington); Winter Washed (Amy Wolff)

Embellishments: Talk2Me (Allison Pennington); Blueberry Blush (Captivated Visions); Booked for Life, Love Me Tender, and I Kissed A Frog (Pink Reptile Designs); Touch of Mess – Vol1 (Micheline Martin)

Fonts: Miserably Lose (title); Shelter Me (journaling)

Template: Blends Vol. 4 (JenC Designs)

That's it for now. I'll be back to post again tomorrow - I hope, LOL!  :D

A Perfect Gift

With the spirit of the holiday season in mind, have you ever received a gift that meant the world to you?

I received this gift in 1991. There is a lot of sentimentality attached to this gift, and I finally decided to document it. (It's also one more Lilypad challenge completed!)

The journaling reads:

"December 1991. It was our first Christmas together. Unfortunately, you were also deploying on Christmas Day for at least a year - 6,000 miles away.

I know we both went to great lengths to make our Christmas celebration special. We arranged to spend Christmas Eve alone - just the two of us.

After making dinner together and starting a fire, we sat down to exchange gifts. You gave me several wonderful things. But one gift in particular will always stand out - a gold, heart-shaped key charm. It was perfect! At that moment, I knew I wouldn’t have the key to your heart just while we were separated, but forever."

CREDITS

Papers: Reflecting (HGD by Laurie Ann)

Embellishments: Reflecting (HGD by Laurie Ann); I Kissed A Frog (Pink Reptile Designs); Kitschy Christmas (Jenn Barrette and Sahlin Studio)

Fonts: CK Maternal (title); Traveling Typewriter (journaling); CK Ali’s Hand (date)

Template: Lilypad Template Challenge Freebie – Dec. 2012 (Amy Martin)

Holiday

One more layout completed for The Lilypad challenges! This one is for the One Word Challenge. And the word for this month is: HOLIDAY. I took a little liberty with my interpretation, lol!

CREDITS

Papers: Peace Kraft and Joy (Micheline Martin and Studio Basic)

Embellishments: Blueberry Blush (Captivated Visions); After the Rain (Micheline Martin); The Things You Say (Pink Reptile Designs); Peace Kraft and Joy (Micheline Martin and Studio Basic)

Font: Ali’s Hand (Creating Keepsakes)

Template: iDSD 2012 Grab Bag (Sara Gleason)

Mary, Mary

I don't have a lot of old family photos - I mean ones of my mom and her siblings growing up. In fact, I have exactly one photo of my maternal grandfather, who died years before I was even born.

Of the photos I do have, I don't have a lot of background stories behind them. The memories are fuzzy, so I can only guess why/when/where the photos were taken. For example, I have an old photo of my Aunt Mary. I have no idea when it was taken or why. All my mom could tell me was that it was my aunt. Nevertheless, I scrapped it.

CREDITS

Papers & Embellishments: Memories (Blue Flower Art)

Font: Vladimir Script

Don't get me wrong. I like having the stories behind the photos. But I also want all those old photos out on display instead of buried in boxes. The great part about scrapping them digitally is that I can always add the details later, if someone provides them.  :)

My Prince Charming

I am loving the collection of BYOC (Build Your Own Collaboration) items over at The Lilypad this month! In fact, I finished my BYOC challenge last night. Here's the result!

CREDITS
Papers: Jolly Ole’ (Sahlin Studio); Winter Washed (Amy Wolff); Call Me Baby (Micheline Martin)
Embellishments: I Kissed A Frog (Pink Reptile Designs); A New Start (Little Butterfly Wings) 
Font: Ali’s Hand (Creating Keepsakes) 
Template: Lilypad Template Challenge Freebie – Dec. 2012 (Amy Martin) 

Candy Lane Released!

Candy Lane from Blue Flower Art is now released! All pieces are $1 through the weekend, so don't miss the sale!

I LOVE the word art so much, I made 2 layouts with one of them:

Both pictures were taken back in 2002. I love these photos of my great-nieces and nieces, respectively. I'm so glad these pics were perfect for Candy Lane!

Dream Today

Over the weekend, I was invited to work on the Blue Flower Art CT - so exciting! There is a fun new kit that is perfect for Christmas (although it can be used throughout the year too) coming out THIS Friday. I won't be able to post my layouts until the kit is released, but I absolutely love the word art!

However, I also got to work with a new kit from Blue Flower Art called Sunny Laura. Since that kit IS released, here is my layout:

CREDITS

Papers and Embellishments: Sunny Laura (Blue Flower Art)

Font: Traveling Typewriter

Template: Rainy Day Guides – Fall (Rainy Dayz Designs)

The photo is of one of my nieces when she was a newborn. She is now all grown up and has three daughters of her own. 

Off to do more creations - oh, and hopefully get some sleep, LOL!  :)