Project Life!

So I am officially caught up with the last 6 months of 2017!!!  yes, my project life is a work in progress, what you are seeing now is the beginning of this year.  

 I have to tell you most of my pictures are taken with my iphone and I am using different editing software to write right on the pictures.  My favorites right now are WordSwag and Project Life which helps me to format my pictures to 3 x 4 size on a 4x6-then I can send them out and get them printed.  I've also noticed that I really LOVE to have my own journaling cards.  My FAVORITE artist/designer;  right now is Geralyn and can be found at In a Creative Bubble.  I follow her on Instagram on her personal and business accounts found HERE and HERE.  She is guest designing this month for The Digital Press and her designs are 30% off THIS weekend!  I've already purchased my favorites an thought I would share them with you.  I LOVE digital stamps because you can use them on your pictures or create your own journalling and embellishment cards! 

This is a real QUICK post as I have the house to myself and I want to enjoy some uninterrupted crafting time! ;) . Happy Friday to ya!!

2018-Project Life, my way

I am finally ready to share the first page of my 2018 of Project Life:

I created this myself in Photoshop Elements:

     I purchased this cactus digital stamp from Creative Bubble, you can see it HERE.  And yes, further on I use more of these stamps in a week layout.  I decided to minc foil this cactus in green.

     I want to keep things simple and clean.  For the the pictures-I took these on Christmas day but they are the most recent pictures I have each of my family.  I ALWAYS love to include pictures of my family on the first page of the year.

     For my album I decided to go with the 9" x 12"-I REALLY like this size-not so much real-estate to cover.  I chose the color Mint Hint, last year I used Purple Rain- you can see the albums HERE, I was able to purchase my albums with a coupon.

     For the rest of my spread I used my stash-yeah!  Stay tuned in the next few weeks I'll be sharing more-now I can "catch up" on last years PL, and December Daily!

     Thanks for stopping in today-hope you are having a FANTASTIC day!

Project Life my way...

I shared the other day that I was cleaning out my stash-this is what it looked like when I was done:

this picture doesn't show the magnitude of what is in the boxes but they have a home!  I'm really excited that what is in these bags and boxes will be going to a special needs adult art program.  I asked my friend for pictures of the creations that they make and when I get them I'll be sure to share them here.  Such a wonderful relief to have my front room back, know what I have!  I don't think I've done a de stashing like this for years...

Okay, onto the Project life my way.  I figure if I can do it MY way or what works for me then it will get done.  I think one thing to remember is to be patient with yourself and the time that you have.  In my case it's working on things a little at a time.  For instance this morning before I go to the gym and while waiting for my son to be ready for school I foiled these cards:

I love how they turned out!  I grabbed these from Etsy-you can find the link HERE.  I added the year in Photoshop Elements using the font Arsenal White-you can find that HERE.  I decided to go a bit digital and work on the journaling in Photoshop-it will most likely be more legible and I can fit more writing on it.  I'm not 100% sure how I am going to print my images but for right now I edited them in Photoshop (sometimes with digital stamps) and then print them on my photo printer.  I may go back to printing from Costco or Snapfish I know there are other places to print but that is what I have used in the past depending on sales, and speed.  I use Photoshop because I can create 3x4 images of those pictures that don't have a lot of detail but I want to help tell my story.

One other thing that I have finally discovered is that this Project Life things is the story of my family told in MY voice.  Not someone elses-now that may sound simple but I had a light bulb moment.  I wasn't enjoying it because I was trying to use a system and story that wasn't mine.  That isn't real-yes, it was pretty but not MY story.  That being said I have thought about color schemes-do I got with one?  I think it all depends on the week-I really want to keep it simple and uncluttered-I think that is why the planner craze hasn't really appealed to me much.  I have a planner-I have actually ALWAYS had a planner-I just don't want it cluttered with other things like stickers.  It's my list of to do's, meal planning and other items.

So, I may be rambling but I want to continue to share with you how my project is coming together.  I may or may not have time to work on it today.  I have some test taking to do for my coaching and laundry to do but at least I have my weekly cards READY!

Thanks SO much for popping in today-make your day AMAZING!

best birthday ever!

disclaimer: This post is part of a paid campaign with American Crafts, but all opinions are my own.

It's been a while since I've posted about Project Life, I'm still participating and I'm enjoying it SO much more now than when I started.  This is my third year with Project Life and I LOVE it!!  HERE is an example of one of my posts regarding Project Life. (to view some of my other posts just click on the link on the bottom of this post!)
I feel like I have found my groove in how I want to document my family's life and the stories that happen daily or weekly.  My kids and husband are much more involved with the process as well, taking pictures and wanting to save certain memorabilia.  They have caught the vision that project life is a super simple approach to scrapbooking, my boys have even helped me "assemble" a week as you don't need scissors or glue or any other tool!  I think my favorite part of Project life is that it is a back to basics way of memory keeping for my family.  I don't have to sew or add any extras if I don't want to (like I would normally do on a scrapbook page), I can keep it simple and it is STILL very meaningful.  I have shared my enthusiasm with a lot of my friends some of which have never ever scrapbooked, they LOVE the idea of preserving their own memories easily!
I am really excited for all of the new released core kits AND that I can go to Michael's to purchase them!  I really like that, because now I can really see with my own eyes what the colors are.  Michael's happens to carry one of the largest selections including two EXCLUSIVE core kits.  I was lucky enough to get my hands on the Dear Lizzy 5th and Frolic Core Kit.  It has a distressed feel to it, it also has a mix of light blues, pinks, greens, yellows and airy neutrals. AND has very CUTE icons that include birds, trees, foxes, houses, keys and clipboards.  I wanted to see how I could use my kit on a two page layout.

  Here is a closeup of the left side:

 Here is a closer up of the right side:

 Can you see where I used the cards?  There are three that are obvious (the journaling part has two then underneath the picture is one.)  I fell in LOVE with the yellow polka dot and wanted to work that onto the layout somehow--what better way to do that than by mimicking the butterfly on my niece's shirt?
 Here is a closeup:

 

I had a previous cut out mask of butterflies that I traced on the back of my card then hand cut the butterfly out and popped it up with pop dots.

I then punched with my circle punch out of four other cards to get this affect along top border:

As you can tell I feel very passionate about Project Life--it's FUN, EASY, and SO worth the effort.  I love when my kids pull out the books and remember the things that we have done.

Thanks SO much for stopping by and letting me share with you today, make it a good one!

Project Life July29 - August 4

Yes, I'm still participating in Project Life, I'm just a "little" behind in the sharing department...such is life right?  this week was full of the last days of summer, and enjoying the olympics--LOTS of journaling.  I really am GLAD that I do Project Life--the memories are more vivid from those days that I journal and preserve.

Life is in full swing here, SO glad this week we are currently in is LESS busy than last week--that was a HARD week!  but we survived and our on our way to finishing this week up with a birthday party and a game in Tucson (2 hours from our house), it's also the start of fall break and my kids are excited!  We have adventures planned and the weather is starting to get to the point where we can enjoy the great out doors without feeling like we are going to DIE of heat stroke. ;)

Anyway, I'm off to hopefully create some FUN stuff--I have some time!  Thanks for the visit!
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products I used:

InLinkz.com

Project Life July 22-28

here we are with another fun week of Project Life--this week was a quick lets get her done!  Meaning I didn't have much time to be creative so I just focused on finishing the week.

One of my favorite memories of this week was the dinner date with my hubby at Texas Roadhouse--a real treat (we dont' do that very often) we had a WONDERFUL visit AND it also happened to be the evening of the opening ceremonies of the Olympics.  We hurried home to watch it with our kids.

another fun memory watching a soccer game with my girl (one of the last free days before school),

there was a massive rain storm that the kids went out and played in while Ella and I watched.

I cleaned out/up my scrappy space.

And probably the most exciting was the fact that the power went out!  It was a GREAt opportunity to visit with the neighbors that we don't normally visit with.  NO one had power so we were outside hanging out-FUN!

hope this inspires you that not every week has to be a master piece!  It's getting it done!
Thanks for the visit today!

Project Life July 15-21

Quick drive by post to share a July week:

I loved this week!  GREAT pictures SUPER fun playing with cousins, enjoying icees, and riding horses!  yep that would be a lot of 9 to 5 from October Afternoon--it was on my desk and I LOVE it! :)

Today is a half day which means the boys will come home HUNGRY--thank you little Caesar's for having a meal for $5! :)  Should be a GREAT day!
Thanks for the visit!!
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Products I used:

InLinkz.com

project life 8-14

this week again was filled with pictures and journaling so I have a page and a half:

This is the week that my niece got married and she asked me to take pictures at her reception.  That was   a challenge because I was running in and outside and it was storming (NOT the best for lighting) but I did get some FANTASTIC pictures!

this one was taken by my SIL and cracks me up!  My middle son's face is classic, while my youngest...who knows what he's looking at! :)

6th grade shots...I am REALLY loving hexagons!

 picture of the reflection of the clouds in the standing water at the park (I shared this already but it STILL is cool!)  oh, and that heart cloud stuff is Washi tape!  One of my favorites!

 I just added this one cause I like it! :)

 

Today has been a full day and FUN!  my girl is home from high school and we are debriefing on her day.  she is telling me ALL about meal worms....just glad I wasn't there to see those.... :)

thanks for the visit today!

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products I used:

InLinkz.com