Project Life Tuesday ~ 16 July

Hello and welcome to Project Life Tuesday!

If you are stopping by from The Mom Creative, welcome & thanks for clicking over! If you are not, you might want to click over there when you’re done here for some more great Project Life inspiration!

I’m using the Clementine Edition of the Project Life kitoffered by Becky Higgins, supplemented by some digital extras and using up the random bits I have from twelve-plus years of scrapbooking. Some weeks are more digital than others and some weeks are full of frills and furbelows. It just depends on my mood.

This week’s post continues to show my catching up on June’s pages. I have the last week of June to share and this past week. The only week I’m lacking at this point is the week of July 1st, which I am waiting to work on because I am trying to decide WHAT I want to do there. I have a mini-album to complete for that mini-vacation and I’m trying to decide what pictures I’ll duplicate in the Project Life album. I’m not one of those who won’t duplicate pages or layouts, but I think I want to tell the whole story in the mini-album and then just pick some highlights to put on the Project Life spread.

I was hoping to work on the mini album last weekend, but just didn’t have the creative mojo to get started. I spent a little time Monday afternoon working on some crafty things to sort of get things jump-started so that I can (hopefully) get my mini album started.

Anyway, here are the pages I have for you this week – (remember, you can click on an image to see it larger)

June 25-July 1

Left Page: (I used a Cathy Zielske’s Frankie Journal Card for my weekly recap)

Right side:

Capturing a Facebook post using a freebie journal card.

Some close ups:

And then moving on to the July pages…

July 9-15:

The left side:

I made the date card digitally, using a background paper resized to 4×6 and then added the date and a “sticker” that said “moments.” I like how it turned out.

I had so many pictures (over 20!) for last week – which is surprising since it was a pretty quiet week. So I made use of a lot of journaling on photos and a smaller weekly recap card.

The right side:

I had to take a picture of the girls’ excellent bowling scores. I couldn’t resist.

And used some digital washi tape on the Lenny’s picture. I also used digital elements on most of the other pictures on this page.

Close up:

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Project Life Tuesday ~ 10 July (thoughtsalonglifeshighway.com)
Project Life Tuesday: 22 May 12 (thoughtsalonglifeshighway.com)
Project Life Tuesday ~ 3 July (thoughtsalonglifeshighway.com)

Project Life Tuesday ~ 24 April 12

Hello and welcome to Project Life Tuesday!

I’m using the Clementine Edition of the Project Life kit offered by Becky Higgins, supplemented by some digital extras and using up the random bits I have from twelve-plus years of scrapbooking. Some weeks are more digital than others and some weeks are full of frills and furbelows. It just depends on my mood.

This week is a little more digital – with the exception of some old Creative Memories’ Black & White paper and some red ribbon for a punch of color. Since it was a rainy, gloomy week last week, I went with black & white for the major color scheme.

(remember to click on any image to see it larger)

Here are a few close ups:

This was the back of the page from last week and it had six 6×4 pockets. I realized this only after I’d cut my 3×4 pictures and rounded the corners, but I think it looks OK. It matches the other page, at least.

I thought the red ribbon tied in nicely to the red on the radar and the red tail lights from the rainy day picture.

a close-up of the journaling. Loving the Cathy Zielske journaling cards. I made the border dark grey to go with my color scheme.

Right side page: (sorry for the glare)

My favorite cookies – SuperMan brought some home for me. Love to nibble on some with some green tea at night while we watch TV.

And the cat has moved back in the house because the doggies have taken over her garage – at least until the back yard is de-flea-ed and the rain lets up.

and then there is my dismay over gas prices. I figured it was worthy of documenting –

and my current magazine loves & Big Girl’s multi-tasking…

Moving on to Saturday when the pups tried (vainly) to get into the house for a visit.

That’s it from around here. I’m not participating in the Week in the Life project (maybe one day) but I have been taking lots of pictures and it’s only Tuesday! Yay, me!

Thanks for stopping by!

Project Life Tuesday ~ 10 April 12 (thoughtsalonglifeshighway.com)
Project Life Tuesday: 1.24.12 (thoughtsalonglifeshighway.com)
Project Life Tuesday 3.27.12 (thoughtsalonglifeshighway.com)

Project Life Tuesday: 1.10.12

Well, I’m off to a great start this year. I spent a good part of Saturday finishing the unfinished journaling in my 2011 Project Life album and ordered the Oct/Nov/Dec prints to finish up the album. That’ll be next weekend’s project – to put those in and get the project wrapped up.

I also began my 2012 Project Life album. I have been so inspired by all the PL posts I’ve read and photos of other people’s albums. As I mentioned last week, I was a little undecided as to how I was going to approach this year’s scrapbooking. After reading the posts and looking at my past PL albums, I decided that was the way to go. So, I ordered the Clementine core kit and will use the leftover page protectors I have from the last two years until I run out of those. I also found a 12×12 three-ring album in my stash, so things are pretty well set at this point.

^^ My album and all my new PL supplies in one place, ready to go. ^^

I decided that I’m going to approach this PL album as any other “regular” scrapbook. One of the blogs I read mentioned that she approaches each pocket on a pocket page as an individual mini scrapbook page – and that she works to coordinate the pockets on a page, but tries to be creative with each pocket. That had sparks going off in my brain. THAT is what I’ve been missing so far – I have felt like my albums were very basic – functional and served a purpose, but I’ve missed the creativity of “traditional” scrapbooking.

So, I made a trip to Archiver’s on Friday with a friend and picked up a few extras to use to embellish and step outside the core PL kit. I’m also planning to use some of the overlays and templates that Ali Edwards & Cathy Zielske have on Designer Digitals to add a little more flair to my pages.

^^ Some of the new goodies I got from Archiver’s ^^

I’m pleased with the results so far.

My cover pages are inspired by Cathy’s – (her post is here)

And this first week of January warranted two two-page spreads because I wanted to tell the story of the hike. I may yet change it and put a 6×12 page in there so I have more room for journaling and photos as I felt like I was having to truncate my story to fit it into the 4×6 slot.

But, overall, I am very pleased with what I’ve done so far. And very excited to get going. My plan is to print my photos at home (unless there is a great sale somewhere) and maybe use a little of the Project Life digital supplies, too.

I’ll be sharing pages here (I hope) weekly – my plan is to work on the previous week’s pages each Saturday night.

Scrapbooking in 2012 (thoughtsalonglifeshighway.com)
Scrapbook Tuesday (thoughtsalonglifeshighway.com)
Project Life, Take Two + a free download for you (cathyzielske.typepad.com)

Finally Scrapbooking Again!

The girls had a Girl Scout event on Saturday and SuperMan was busy with yard work. What’s a girl to do when she has a few hours on her hands and no pressing chores?

Scrapbook!

Exactly!

I had purchased the Jessica Sprague intro to Photoshop class a long time ago and had never sat down to actually take the class. So, Saturday was the day. I had peace and quiet, no interruptions, and some recent pictures to use. I was ready.

Before I share the layouts I made, I have to tell you – if you are considering doing any digi-scrapping and have been intimidated by the sheer power of Photoshop, you are not alone. I have resisted using it for a long time because it just seemed overwhelming to learn. As a matter of fact, I owned it but never used it.

Which, I decided, was really silly.

So, that’s why I purchased Jessica’s class. And it is a great class. I would highly recommend it to anyone. I love the clear and easy descriptions of what to do, how to do it, and the great supplies she includes in her course materials. So, even if you don’t have any digital supplies yet, you can still complete your first pages as part of the class.

Here are some of the pages I’ve made so far. I’m about halfway through the class.

This was my very first layout:

Then, I got all crazy and used a Cathy Zielske template I had from the Design Your Life class I took this winter. I think it turned out well and it was good practice using the things I’d just learned.

This was a “challenge” layout made with a quick page kit. I still need to go back and add some journaling. And this was my Lesson 2 layout. I still haven’t figured out how I am going to do 2-page layouts, but I am sure I can do it. I just don’t know how yet! But that is important to me because I do most of my scrapbooking in 2-page layouts. Like this “Fish” page is just begging for a sister page with the rest of the photos and story.

Ok, more to come. I am on a roll.

How was your weekend?

Oh my goodness! I am so glad this weekend is over! It was another whirlwind weekend. It was so fun, but so exhausting!

We had BigGirl’s birthday sleepover party on Friday night. Five pre-teen girls running around the house. Oh.my.goodness. Remind me next year that is not a good idea. BigGirl even decided that was too much and that next time she wanted a smaller crowd. Too many people to please – and if you have a pre-teen girl, you know they are impossible to please. Poor thing was in a tizzy trying to keep everyone happy.

Saturday (after the party-goers went home) I managed to sneak in a little scrapbooking at a crop that was raising money for children’s charities. It was a large event (100+ scrapbookers) and I enjoyed having a little “me” time after the craziness of the party.

Here are some pages I did while I was there. I tried to use some of the concepts I am learning in the Design Your Life class I’m taking over at Big Picture Scrapbooking.

I’m still not sure if I’m done with those two. I like the green and the blue, but not sure about the swirles and I need to put some journaling in there somewhere. Maybe in that big box on the left-hand page and take out that clear swirlie.

What do you think about the overlays on top of the big pictures? Too much? Distracting? Or just right?

I didn’t get too much done, I was distracted organizing all my digital content on my PC, but I did manage to get a little bit done. And, more importantly, it got me back in the mood to scrap. I have been very distracted lately with a few other major projects in my life and had lost my scrappitude. Now, I’m geared back up and looking forward to doing some more scrapping. I have even decided I want to try some hybrid scrapbooking layouts. Mix up the digital and traditional a little.

Yesterday we went to see the circus. It was the last big part of BigGirl’s birthday celebrations. We hadn’t been since she was 2 and Little Princess had never been. Needless to say we were all so excited to go. I am not sure if the girls were more excited than me or not. I LOVE the circus – and LOVED the fact that I was taking my babies to see something that was such a big part of my happy childhood memories. I couldn’t wait to add those to their own childhood memory banks.

Of course, it was awesome. I don’t think Ringling Brothers ever puts on a bad show. We had a blast. I think I probably took over 100 pictures. Loving my big zoom lens on the camera, too. I was able to get thisclose to the performers without leaving my seat. I’m sure it helped that we had awesome seats, though… 4 rows from the floor! So cool!

I’ll post some circus pictures tomorrow – they’re still in the camera.

Anyway, that is why I haven’t posted all weekend. It was crazy. It was fun. And I’m tired!

Friday Five

Okay, I am jumping on the blog/net bandwagon and will be offering my Friday Five each week, starting with this week… It may be five favorite products, five favorite websites, whatever strikes my fancy for the week. The only thing I know for sure is that there will be five of them and it will post every Friday!

This week’s Friday Five are five of my favorite blogs. I recently finished a Blogging for Scrapbookers class and discovered a ton of new, interesting blogs. I thought I would share some of those with you.

1. Elinjanne’s blog: I love her writing style and really love her scrapbooking style. I have been watching her Journal Your Christmas album as she has shared it on her blog. Her photos are spectacular and envious of all the snow that she gets in Norway. (although I am sure this southern gal would die in temps that cold)

2. Dolly’s blog: Dolly also did the Blogging for Scrapbookers class and I was first introduced to her then. I have really enjoyed reading her daily entries and learning more about her life through her scrapbook pages and blog entries. She has beautiful scrapbook pages and the most adorable kitties.

3. Ann’s blog: Ann is doing the JYC class and has created the most interesting 6×12 vertical album. I was so intrigued by her photos of her pages, I just kept going back to see more. Now, I am so inspired by her pages and really enjoy reading about her adventures. And the fact that she considers herself a “mad scientist” cracks me up. I have often felt that way myself!

The last two are not from a class, but they are two that I check faithfully every day:

4. Cathy’s blog: Cathy Zielske’s blog is awesome in so many ways. I love her dry sense of humor, her photographs are always awesome and her scrapbook page designs are ones I almost ALWAYS scraplift. If you haven’t checked out her blog, click on over there and enjoy yourself!

5. Ree’s blog: Oh, my. When I stumbled across this blog, I thought I had found my long lost twin. Ree is so funny and her entries have me alternately laughing out loud at her life observations and keen wit or sighing at her gorgeous photographs. Ree is the Pioneer Woman. She cooks, she bakes, she homeschools, she’s married to the Marlboro Man and lives on a working cattle ranch. The pictures and stories of her life are one of the highlights of my day.

Well, that is all for now. I hope to get some scrapbooking done this weekend and will share some in my next post (if I can get the sickies in my house well, that is).

I think I’m getting this down (somewhat)

I have been working more in Photoshop Elements this weekend. Not much, just a little, but I have completed a few more calendar pages.

I haven’t yet tried it in Creative Memories’ StoryBook Creator software. Just Photoshop. In PSE it is a breeze to edit.

Here are some samples:

Note: the calendar template is from ScrapGirls if you are interested in making your own. There is a separate file for each month. All I did was drop in my photos and papers.

Also, If you haven’t viewed these tutorials by Cathy Zielske (and you are learning about Photoshop like me) I would strongly suggest you take a few minutes to watch them. They are very well done.

She has one on using templates and one for creating rounded corners (or just one or two rounded corners) which I think is a really cool effect.

I’m ready, I think, to start doing more things in PSE. I have signed up for Jessica Sprague’s beginner’s PSE class. That’s my next project. 🙂 (’cause I don’t have anything else going on right now! ha!)

I think I’m getting this down (somewhat)

I have been working more in Photoshop Elements this weekend. Not much, just a little, but I have completed a few more calendar pages.

I haven’t yet tried it in Creative Memories’ StoryBook Creator software. Just Photoshop. In PSE it is a breeze to edit.

Here are some samples:

Note: the calendar template is from ScrapGirls if you are interested in making your own. There is a separate file for each month. All I did was drop in my photos and papers.

Also, If you haven’t viewed these tutorials by Cathy Zielske (and you are learning about Photoshop like me) I would strongly suggest you take a few minutes to watch them. They are very well done.

She has one on using templates and one for creating rounded corners (or just one or two rounded corners) which I think is a really cool effect.

Creative Memories Tip: Saving Page Template in StoryBook Creator Plus

I am so excited. Creative Memories posted on their blog today about how to save individual .page files as templates so that you can share page templates with people. If you have downloaded any of my recent template posts, you know it was not just a single file to download.

With this new information, it should mean easier creation of template files. Which is good for me, but even better for you! That means I'll be posting more templates here in the future for you to use with StoryBook Creator Plus! (yay!)

Here's a template for you – just because I'm so happy about the new process! (just click on the link to download)

And, here is a page I made with the template:

Note: The text boxes are in the template, they just don't show up on the JPG of the template for some reason.

Also, if you want the top right photo to have a rounded corner like mine does, you will need to flatten the image once you drop your photo in the frame. Then you can round the corners.

I must give credit for the inspiration, though, to Cathy Zielske's template on Designer Digitals. I love the clean lines she has in her designs! So, if you are not a StoryBook Creator Plus user, but you like this design, go get her template!

Oh, and if you like the paper and embellishments, it's all from DigiChick – Brown Eyed Girl.

More of Me: The Abridged Version (part 2?)

I finally had a few minutes to sit down the other day and do some more work on my Me: The Abridged Version book. I thought I'd share the pages with you.

I'm still really enjoying this project. I just wish I had more uninterrupted time to work on it. The writing requires a level of concentration that is not possible when your family is running around behind you. I guess I'll have to pull some more late nights (like I did when I finished these pages) to get the book finished.

You can see, if you compare to my last post, that I haven't made to much progress. Fortunately, I have no deadline. I am more interested in writing something that is meaningful and will capture the real "Me" than I am in getting finished. So, I will take my time and write when I can and not worry about it when I can't.

Anyway, without further ado:

I just added some more to this page. Thought it was vital to include documentation about my disregard for the avocado (ha!)