Just a slice, please

On the verge of summer...

The last bits of the school year are wrapping up...the high schoolers are in finals (although they have taken some of them already), we have the dance recital next week and weekend and the baby shower I am co-hosting with my sister wives (my husband's cousin's wives and my sister in law) will be wrapped up and then.. . Summer.

 I have decided that this might be the year that I am NOT going to complain about how hot it is.  I am going to enjoy the company of my family no matter the heat and we are going to LIVE.  This very well may be the last summer at home for Maddie.  Who knows if she will go off to Europe or travel next summer after High School...and for Jillian, we are probably facing her jaw surgery next summer.  So I feel compelled to make some memories. Nothing crazy or earth shattering.  The lack of funds forces me to be creative.  But somehow, getting those dreams down on paper is really exciting to me.  Many of these plans have been perkolating for a while and some are true "gimmes" meaning we have done them before and enjoyed them so much we will do them again. So thank you to Ali Edwards for giving me the gentle push this morning to create my SUMMER MANIFESTO.

1) Buy a bathing suit I actually like and will be seen in, no matter what.

2) Hit the beach every other week, more if possible!

3) Shop at the Farmer's Market.

4) Create a new meal with said Farmer's Market finds.

5) Plant and keep alive an herb garden.

6) Take the girls to Hearst Castle.

7) Visit at least 2 colleges of Maddie's choice.

8) Eat outside at least once a week.

9) Go to Sunday Concerts in the park- often.

10) Visit the Santa Monica Pier and Aquarium.

11) Visit Olevera Street.

12) Take the girls and the cameras and photograph our city.

13) Create a scrapbook project with the photos.

14) Play board games.

15) Go Camping.

16) Paint the coffee table.

17) Collect seashells and make sand candles.

18) Sew one project with each girl.

19) Go to a Dodger game with Fireworks.

20) Teach Cammy piano.

21) Take a one night trip with Eric.

22) Live in the moment.

I am excited about the possibilities of this Manifesto..this bucket list...there is a lot of goodness here.  And the best part is that I think I can do them all and that is SUPER exciting...we are going to have a great summer and we are going to live each moment!!

 

Project Life Update

I'm still plugging along with Project Life, and more importantly, I'm still LOVING this project! My sweet friend Kari got me some of Type A page protectors so in this recap of the last month you will see a switch to this style. Which I LOVE. I wasn't sure how I'd feel about them but there is so much more opportunity with all the extra pockets- its a fun new challenge for me!
Now, typepad is giving me fits this week. For some reason I am not able to upload pictures from my computer to it. I'm not sure if this is part of the Picasa/Google + switch or not but the only way I am able to blog is from my iPhone, then go back in and edit the post. And then there is a pesky 5 photo limit... So please hang in there with me while I wait for typepad to answer my claim ticket and help me out!

Okay, so here we go..this is week 10. I decided no inserts were necessary for this particularly boring week. LOL We were UBER busy and I seriously just didn't get an opportunity to take many photos.

Here we have Week 11...St Patty's week! I had fun designing this week because there was so much for me to choose from! I decided to add reciepts to the actual posts this week, instead of a pocket of them. I think I will use more of this going forward. I found some great free printable cards on Pinterest and added those and the inserts are of the cute Leprechaun mask Cammy made and Maddie's full color newspaper. I wish I could add another photo here so you could see the adorable transparency pocket I made...you'll see the backside in the next photo.

 

Edited to add**Yay!  I am able to upload..something about "compatability mode" blah blah blah...isn't the transparency cute??  I will definitely try this again!

I'm super proud of this. I printed out Lucky (from Heidi Swapp, I think) onto transparency, put clear embossing powder over it and heat set it (without melting the transparency- go ME!) and then added some lucky pennies and other fun stuff, slid the transparency in the pocket and sewed the entire thing shut. LOVE it.

 

 

You can see the backside again of a pocket with no paper in it...One side has the iTunes cards we used for a bunch of downloads during the week and the other side has the baggage check ticket from my DH's trip for the week. The insert has Cammy's major book report (she got a 4- 100%!!) and a cute little hat from the classroom.

I was able to use three pockets to display one vertical 4 x 6 and make it a little scrapbooky...lol...I really like how that turned out. My only issue with these Type A protectors is there isn't room for vertical pictures unless you do something creative like this...but I do love how it turned out!

So there you have the last 4 weeks of Project Life. I am liking the changes that the new protectors are offering me and it is keeping me inspired when I see other's projects for ideas. I'd love to have more time to spend on this project. I think one thing I didn't realize is that it really takes a couple of hours a week to keep up with the project. I tend to let one week get behind and do two weeks at a time as that cuts down on time spent. I can print all photos and organize all memorabilia at the same time which is a time saver for me. How are you keeping up with the project? Tell me your tips!! And thank you for bearing with me while I figure out this Typepad issue...hopefully it will be fixed soon and I can get back to my picture heavy posts!!

Project Life -9 Weeks in 4 Minutes

Because this Project Life is so difficult to photograph, I decided to try my hand at a little video for you.  I am always surprised at how long it takes to process a video, so I don't know that I'll do this very often, but it's way more effective than a photo for sure!    Let me know if you have any questions about my pages.  I'm not tearing it up with techniques here.  It's interesting to me how relaxed I am about this project!  Usually I would over think it and be trying to make everything so cool and interesting but it honestly this is about saving every day memories and therefore, my pages are sort of ordinary, but as a whole, the project is super inspiring to me!  Hope you enjoy my quick little video.  Let me know if you think I should do more of these!

 

Project Life

So I did it. I caved to the project envy... All the "cool kids" were doing it and now I am, too. Project Life.

It's a big commitment, one I hope I'm up to sticking with (other than with people I tend to be rather fickle!) and one I am actually SUPER excited about!! I couldn't wait for the Type A page protectors to be in stock- I figured if I waited for that it would never get done so I used the page protectors I had on hand and you know what? I love it. I still need to add my computer journaling on the top card but here is my first week-love how it turned out!!

 

Show of hands.. Who's with me on Project Life?? What have you found to help you with the process??

Bits of the Season...

We have been totally enjoying family time this week. Many years Hanukkah is early and the kids are still in school...this year we have been off and really enjoying family dinners and candles and time together...

Because I still don't have a camera (which I'm really, really hoping changes on Sunday) I have been playing with all the photo apps on my phone and getting artsy photos this year..lol...here's a few of my favorites from this week...

Lighting the candles last night at Grandma and Grandpa's house...

Tonight's candles....everyone is lighting their own Hanukkiah this year...this one happens to be Jillian's...

and mine...I love this Hanukkiah..it's spectacular on the last night!

and a little bit of our mantle...

and a little bit of what we were doing while we were waiting for dinner to bake...

The real fun will be had tomorrow afternoon when we decorate them...it's so hard to be patient and wait for them to dry!  LOL Then, tomorrow night we are headed to Candy Cane Lane on the double decker bus....it's so much fun!!! Saturday is the big family party (I will be helping cook tomorrow!) and Sunday is Christmas and our smaller Grandparent's party here...that will be a VERY exciting day!!

I hope all of you have been enjoying the holiday season and are either enjoying time with family already or ready to celebrate!!

xoxo

 

I can finally share...

That I was selected to be on the 2012 Log your Memory Design Team!!!

 

We've been working hard the last two months to get everything ready for the big reveal!!  

Here's the announcement:

Design Team Announcement

 

It is SUCH a cool product, and something that I will totally be using and following along with this year...hope you'll consider joining me!!  This is going to be my new planner, it is totally geared for memory keepers to have ONE place to record memories and save things.  I am going to be using the 8 1/2 x 11 unbound format so that I can decorate a binder for it and add more pockets.  I just LOVE this idea...and the challenges are AWESOME...the theme for 2012 is just so so perfect..you are going to love it!!  This is the first year this project has been expanded to meet the needs of paper scrappers...it is SO cool.

I even have a coupon code for those of you who are interested..

 

Please take a look at the product and be sure to ask me if you have any questions...this is going to be SO much fun!!

 

Crazy busy or just gone crazy?

Sometimes it's hard to tell the difference.  LOL  With all three girls back in school you'd think I'd have more time on my hands but somehow that hasn't worked out for me.  That's okay, busy is better than bored.  I have been working on a scrappy project that I can't share yet (or share the news of yet) so that has been part of why you aren't seeing much scrappy inspiration from me...it's all very hush hush!!  (and fun!)  And the day after tomorrow, Thursday, I leave for Inspiration Unlimited!!  Yay yay yay!!  This will be my 4th year in attendance...so excited to get away.  I'm sure my kids are actually looking forward to me *being* away, too, since I'm sort of on the cranky side with them.  Taking this little weekend is part of what keeps me sane in my real life.  Lucky me, I have another one the following weekend, too..this time to just scrap for myself...so even though we have a Jewish High Holiday in the middle there, and all the normal work/shelpping/etc. two weekends in a row, my friends!!  Woohoooo!!  So, you'll pardon me if I don't post again until October...I'm going to be taking a little bloggy break until I get back from the second weekend, and then I'll have lots and lots to share!!  Have a great couple of weeks everyone!!

I'll leave you with a layout I did a couple weeks ago for Scrapbook Express...

Make every moment count!! 

xoxo

A Week in the Life

project is underway...I sort of feel like my life is overall pretty boring..but I guess even the monotony of everyday should be documented every now and then.  Next summer will be very different with Maddie driving herself everywhere...so this will definitely be the last summer as we have known it.

Some of my favorite pictures from the last couple of days..as you will see, I am using my iPhone camera apps for most of my pictures.  The cool thing is that with a cool processing, even boring pictures look better. ;)

My washer on it's daily trip across the laundry room. :(

My high score so far this week on Bejeweled...pretty good..but not my best.

Self portrait of me on the phone...

My freshly painted toes...glimpse of a new dress..and of course, Angel..under my feet. :)

The stack of layouts I need to file...it's on my to do list and I keep ignoring it!

That's all for now...I'm headed up to the scraploft to work on some DT work while it's quiet. :)  

Have a great day everyone!

14!!

Well, we survived the first year of her teens...and now she's 14!   

She got Navy Toms...a shopping spree and lots of fun little presents...plus THIS-

We redid her room....aqua paint...reorganized her closet and stuff..rehung everything... redid pictures and new frames...new stuff on her shelves...she LOVED it...

And we celebrated at night by going to the concert in the park..

Jillie's friends were there...to surprise her with a huge card...and to dance to Abba with her!!

We had a great day celebrating her 14th!!

So proud of her...she's got a big year as she heads into high school!  JV Cheer, her dance classes and the Humanitas program at our High School...I know she'll do great!  Things don't come easy to her but she's a hard worker.  :) Happy Birthday JillieBean!!  I love you!!