Project Life 2016

Project Life 2016 Week 26 | Dear Lizzy Saturday!!!!

August 30, 2016

Hi guys! I am working on Week 26 in my 2016 Project Life album, so have a look at my process today:

Here is the layout as I created it in the Project Life App, and then printed through Persnickety Prints. The cards I used in the App are from the Good Vibes kit with the exception of the date card, which is from the Project 52 kit.

Here is the completed layout, with journaling added by hand and embellishments are all from Dear Lizzy Saturday collection!

You have probably figured out by now that I really love Dear Lizzy’s products and I use them often. The Saturday collection does not disappoint! I ended up using the Saturday embellishments on the entire card here, and a small bit of journaling.

This week two of our kids were in Florida, and the other two are here fifty percent of the time, so that left us with a few days just the two of us. I made that the focus of my journaling and photos on this page.

I will let you guys in on a really awesome secret about my husband: he is a very successful computer expert and well-respected in his field, but he is also an amazing cook! One of my favorite things is when he makes chocolate chip cookies. This is one of those things Project Life is perfect for – to document our favorite things.

One of the reasons I chose the Saturday collection to embellish this layout with is because the collection has lots of black and white touches. When I created the layout in the App, I chose the Good Vibes collection and included the date card from the Project 52 kit, which is black and white. So I needed the black and white to tie this all together.

My thought process as I worked around the page was really quite simple: add just one or two small things to each card or photo. I took the time to trim the cut-apart sheets and some of those I used as embellishments as well.

I did not add anything to this photo collage. I created the photo collage right in the Project Life App and brought it into the layout just like any other photo. I love capturing our laughter and silliness, even right in the driveway.

One more look at this side of the layout:

On the opposite side I began with a photo of Nick and Natalie playing video games in the living room. This doesn’t happen often! But when the other two kiddos are gone, they find each other and play video games together and that makes me so happy to see. They do actually love each other!

Some of the decorative elements on the cards I ended up covering up. I love this flexibility and this chance to make these layouts my own. And of course, the chance to get to use up my stash in fun ways!

I wasn’t sure about placing this plain wood grain filler card, but I also knew by the time I embellished the layout I would know exactly what to do. Sure enough, I was happy to layer paper strips with floral stickers, washi tape, and rubber shapes. Sweet!

This little friend visited our yard during the week. I was happy to photograph him quietly and then leave him to find his own path, but it sure was fun seeing him! I think it is good luck when box turtles visit!

The turquoise circle on this filler card became the jumping off point for how to embellish this card. I decided to cut out the Dream circle and I added the round rubber embellishment, along with another flower sticker. The second filler card I realized I was completely not thrilled with, so I covered it up with the pattern and the words.

The final card on the layout just makes me so happy. The cascading hearts are adorable, but they did give me a tiny challenge how to layer on top without completely obscuring them? So I kept it simple with the camera, the word strip, and the rubber heart. Just a few stamps around the page as well, and this layout is complete!

One last look at the right hand side of the layout:

Oh, this layout was so much fun to create! There weren’t many photos from this week, so that meant a lot of filler cards and lots of opportunities to embellish. That makes me incredibly happy! See you tomorrow for Disney!!!

~Theresa

Project Life 2016

Project Life 2016 Week 25 | Amy Tangerine Oh Happy Life!!!!

August 23, 2016

Hi guys!!!! I am so excited about today’s layout and cannot wait to show you!!!! Have a look at my process video:

Alright, so I began my layout in the Project Life App, printed through Persnickety Prints, using the Project 52 cards available in the App itself.

I was so excited to start getting some of Amy Tangerine’s newest collection in my mail! This one is called Oh Happy Life! and I felt like it matched perfectly with the Project 52 colors!

In my process video I began with these watercolor resist cards. I simply added Tim Holtz Distress paints in random ways to the cards and let the resist do its magic! The colors I used are Wild Honey, Abandoned Coral, Twisted Citron, and Mermaid Lagoon.

I added the floral clear sticker from the Oh Happy Life! collection, cut in half, around the card for layering. Oh my goodness, I just love it.

We had the cutest visitor in our back yard, so I very gingerly snapped a few unobtrusive photos and we watched him wander away into the ravine behind our house. I combined journaling here with the turtle story on the top half and the photos below are journaled on the lower half. The sunglasses are adorable here to signify the separation!

Two of ours were away in Florida with their grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins this week, and these photos were sent back to us. They look like they are doing excellent! (Photo courtesy of Uncle Jeff Brown!)

My flower pots are growing and filling beautifully this week. Next to that photo I used another of the watercolor resist cards layered on top of the Project 52 filler card. And then I also layered a clear sticker and the -week portion of the foam sticker that also comes from Oh Happy Life!

I absolutely love these completely ordinary moments, and I promise you our life is exactly this uneventful. My sweet husband is here changing the sheets on the bed, and you can see that Zoe is clearly helping him by making sure the heated blanket is nearby and occupied. I also absolutely love that Project Life gives me this awesome place to not only take this photo, but to give it a little context. I didn’t need to write any journaling about this photo, but I still included it because this album is just the right place to include ordinary, every day moments just like this.

On the left hand side of this layout the date card takes the first spot. Clear stickers and washi tape from Oh Happy Life! make fun embellishments to this card.

Underneath is another of the watercolor resist cards, again layered on top of a Project 52 filler card. I love this simple layering of watercolor on top of graphic.

We took Natalie in this week for a check-up on her arm and she was at this point healing up great. I added the foam stickers and added just a tiny stamp to each one.

I even used the marketing strip from one of the patterned paper, along with some of the clear heart stickers. This photo is Zoe yet again, this time she caught me napping and climbed up into my neck to get comfy.

I am absolutely digging the clear stickers in this collection. Here I cut the word strips just to add a little something to this card. I also used another of the foam stickers to accent here. Note the repetition around the page: foam stickers, watercolor cards, and clear stickers appear in several places to create a unified look.

Our house in the dark. We water our yard almost every night unless it rains, and sometimes that happens after everyone has gone to bed. It’s comforting to me, to see the house lit up and inviting us inside.

Another look at this side here:

Well, I hope you have been inspired to use this new collection! I have been able to find pieces of it at A Cherry on Top, Scrapbook.com, and Paper Issues recently. I will see you back here tomorrow with my Disney series!

~Theresa

Project Life 2016

Project Life 2016 Week 23 | Dear Lizzy Saturday!!!!

August 9, 2016

Oh I am so excited about today’s layout! Last week American Crafts released like seven whole lines of beautiful products and I could not wait to start using them!!!! I absolutely have a philosophy that means when new products come through the door, I start using them right away while I am still excited and pumped about them. So have a look at my process video and at some of these pretty things in this collection!

This week’s Project Life layout was created in the App using the Memories in the Making kit available on the App. This is the layout as it was printed:

This is the layout completed, with journaling and embellishments added on top:

This week was the last week of school, so I had end of year parties and field day and graduation to document. The chipboard words in the Saturday collection made it so easy to embellish this date card.

I love the simplicity of hand-writing my journaling onto these layouts. I know the App has some awesome fonts and it’s tempting to just add it that way and be done, but whenever I write it myself I always feel happier about what I have done.

I did not do much to the photos on the bottom of the layout, just a bit of washi and a fun camera puffy sticker!

More journaling here and a little stamping on the heart. Yes, I totally changed up the ink color and I have found that those Dew Drop tiny ink pads from Tsukeniko stamp really easily on this photo paper, so I am trying to remind myself to reach for those instead of my Staz-on. If you have been following me with my stamping issues on this photo paper, throw some confetti because I feel like this issue has been resolved for me!

No embellishments on this photo of my son, just keeping it simple and easy to complete.

The right hand side of the layout is all about our daughter Emberlynn. Yes, these photos look familiar because several weeks ago I created another layout about her graduation using my Ali Edwards Believe Story kit. This story fits in here again, chronologically, so I made sure to include it again.

I added this fun banner so I could easily identify what this photo is about. These are the fifth graders, who are playing tug-o-war. Such a fun picture!

I adore this banner from the Saturday collection, and I popped it up using pop dots, and then added a chipboard heart.

I used another chipboard word on this photo below, because I am absolutely in love with them. I may need more of them……

I absolutely embellished each of the photos on this layout. On this one, I added a tiny bit of washi and some of the chipboard arrows.

I linked these two, the journaling card and the photo, together using the puffy stickers. One thing I really love about doing Project Life this way is being able to cross the boundaries between each card. Sometimes I completely ignore those boundaries.

For the photo of her receiving her diploma, I only added a few of these chipboard plus signs.

Are you loving these new collections? Did you pick any favorites? I will be using some of the others as well, so stay tuned! See you tomorrow for Disney!

~Theresa

Project Life 2016

Project Life 2016 Week 22 | Amy Tangerine Better Together!!

August 2, 2016

Hi guys! Welcome back to my 2016 Project Life album where I am continuing with Week 22. The layout is printed from the Project Life App and then embellished on top using Amy Tangerine Better Together! Here is my process:

There were three pages to this layout, and I did not get photos of them together before I embellished. However, here are the layouts as they were completed!

When I created the layout in the App, I chose the Memories in the Making kit within the App. The colors in that collection blend perfectly well with Amy Tangerine’s Better Together collection. The date card is located in the Project 52 2016 collection, and I added the floral transparency piece.

This side of the layout is about my daughter fracturing her arm. On Sunday of that week we had just mopped the kitchen floor and she ran across it. She fell and landed hard on her elbow, which caused her femur to fracture right beneath her shoulder. So we carried her to the ER to get her bandaged up.

I have you tell you that being in the ER twice this year with two children has been the most challenging and heart-breaking things in my life. I am incredibly thankful that they are ok and they absolutely handled their traumas with incredible strength.

This girl went into the ER and waited patiently the whole four hours. She refused any and all pain medications, both that night and the days after. She was a little bit worked up, poor thing, so eating was hard for her. We tried to give her all her favorite things, just to keep her hydrated and healthy.

This photo is from the following day, when we had her fitted for her cast. The ortho decided she only needed a temporary cast that was removable, and it was mainly to prevent re-injury. She was allowed to remove it to sleep, but she felt more comfortable leaving it on so she did.

I love Project Life for this reason alone, because if I did not do Project Life I might not have thought to take a picture of her cast and sling. I placed my wooden ruler next to it so we could remember how small it was.

On Monday of that week we celebrated Memorial Day, quietly at home in our own backyard. I used the remote for the camera and took a few snaps.

I created a title card for this page and used the Amy Tangerine alphabet, and then I added a few paper strips and the rubber flower as embellishment.

I love this die cut circle from the collection and I especially love just adding a tiny circle embellishment at the top of a photo. You have probably seen me do this in the 2014 album too!

These journaling cards make me so happy. They are so simple, and I left the embellishing simple as well.

Interestingly enough, this photo was not taken on this day, and I’m not sure why I included it here. But nevertheless, I really love this photo and am laughing at my scattered self for misplacing it. This was a few days prior, when we came home from the pool! I was trying to set up my phone camera for some self-timed photos and it accidentally took that one. I love that my hair is hanging over the top edge and I love the look on my husband’s face as he tries to help me.

Sometimes when I have the camera set up outside with the tripod, I ask my husband to grab a few shots with me too. I love that he is willing to step into the frame and I love that our relationship is captured in these frames too. These moments are so important to me.

Simple journaling about the photo, and an added embellishment directly on top of the polka dot card. Love.

For the third page of this layout, I am documenting Nick’s birthday. He just wanted to do laser tag and have cake this year. Simple request!

I have another title card here embellished with just washi tape and the xo puffy stickers. I also used some of the puffy stickers to addjust a little something to the photos. So fun!

I always love using washi tape to create lines for journaling, and the two printed tapes are perfect here. I alternated them just for fun, and then added my journaling.

For this photo I only added a rubber banner. Note Natalie’s sling here – she really did not want her picture taken where the sling could be seen, but I did sneak this one photo of her back.

And yes, there are absolutely two photos of us kissing in this layout! I hope you will humor us – we each have some difficult stories and have each been through some hardships in our life. In each other we have found so much joy and affection – joy and affection we did not receive from others who were in our life previously. For this I am so incredibly thankful, and I would not trade it for the world.

I hope you are able to capture some of the special moments in your family’s life today and every day! See you back here tomorrow for Disney!

~Theresa

Project Life 2016

Project Life 2016 Album 2 Introduction Layout | Freckled Fawn Embellishment Kit!

July 26, 2016

Hi guys! Today I am beginning to work in my Project Life 2016 album and will show you my process for creating the introduction layout. Have a peek here:

So this is my first year that I am having to split my Project Life album into two parts, and I am very excited about that! I don’t know that I would want to do this every year, but I am enjoying creating and sharing these layouts and love the ease of the App to help me stay somewhat current. Here is the layout as I completed it in the Project Life App. It is then printed at 12×12 and delivered to my door via Persnickety Prints.

I chose to work with my Freckled Fawn kit for July 2016, the embellishment kit. This is the completed layout here:

The photos I chose for this layout are a few candid selfies I took when we went on a date night several weeks ago. I love that it focuses on me and my husband. Although we have four kids, several of them tweens who aren’t so keen on being photographed any more, and I do include them and their stories (a lot!!), I still feel that the emphasis for me, for these albums, is actually us.

Yes, I am documenting our kids’ stories and many of them are also found within these albums. But these albums are the ones I will keep forever. They are for me, to help me remember my life and my perspective.

My strategy for the kids is to keep working on their albums separately that they will take with them when they graduate. Don’t worry. They will also probably want to take a few of their layouts from these albums too, and I am ok with that!

I absolutely love this project, and love the stories it encourages me to tell. My story, and your story, are all so very important to us and to our families. Yes, we should absolutely scrapbook for our children, but we also need to scrapbook for ourselves!

So here is to creating for ourselves today! Get in front of that camera today and tell just one of your stories. What is on your mind today? What are you thinking about today? I promise you, it wants to be told! I promise you the two people you see above are some of the most boring and imperfect people on this planet (ok, I am imperfect, my husband practically walks on water), so perfection and excitement are not requirements for this project at all. Have fun, kids. See you back here tomorrow!

~Theresa