Project Life 2013 – Week 52 | part three

Here is the third (and final! Yay!) page for Week 52:

Project Life mini kit: Merry & Bright (digital version)

font: KG Next to Me Solid (used for the day number and "DEC" on all of these cards and photos)

seven-photo collage: Designs by Lili

font: Arial; six-photo collage: Designs by Lili

font: Arial; two-photo collage: Designs by Lili

I am now the proud owner of a Fitbit, too. More about that later.

font: Arial; three-photo collage: Tracy Larsen

font: Bebas; “goodbye”: Caylee Grey

  

Walk down Memory Lane: In the fall of 2012 I did a 12-week, online class with Becky Higgins entitled Project Real Life. At the time I was making digital scrapbook pages. They were usually rather intricate, and, therefore, time consuming. Each page told about one moment/event with only a few photos. Summary: I spent a lot of time without covering a lot of material.

True confessions: At first I thought the pocket style of scrapbooking looked rather plain. Also, it seemed too simple. Scrapbooking is my art. Aren't artists supposed to suffer? =) Sticking photos and cards into pockets and adding journaling was just too easy.

Reality moment: At some point during Becky's Project Real Life class I realized that in spite of spending tremendous amounts of time (and money) on my pages, I had been recording very little of my family's life. The important part for me is documenting family memories, not creating art. That's when I jumped on the Project Life bandwagon. 

But wait! There's more. While I was taking the class, Becky put out a call to the worldwide scrapbooking (physical and digital) community for her 2013 PL Creative Team. I applied. Then I felt like a nitwit. Her 2012 team (the first PL team) was composed of some big names in the scrapbooking industry, like Ali Edwards and Cathy Zielske. Not only was I not famous, I was also relatively new to Project Life.

Happy moment: Imagine my surprise and joy when I was selected for the 2013 team. Want to know what I think my edge was over the 100s who weren't selected? I think it's age - not that I've acquired great wisdom or something with age. It's just that I have age. =) I prove that even old grandmothers like me can record memories with Project Life.

Since PL started a few years ago, the vast number of participants have been young mothers. Now I'm seeing older mothers, even grandmothers, joining the bandwagon. I see pages done by teens, pre-teens, single gals, MEN, dogs, . . .. Just joking about that last one, but if Ellie Mae had opposable thumbs, I'll bet she could do Project Life. Her fingers are almost as long those of a human. And she's really smart, too.   

Back to the end of Week 52 . . . 

fonts: Calluna, Arial; “goodbye TWENTY THIRTEEN”: Caylee Grey

So ends my Project Life 2013 adventure! This is my last time to use the "2013 Project Life CT" label on my post. Actually, I’m not totally done with this year, because I have a few inserts to do. And I don’t think I finished the pages from Destin in August . . ..

Thank you for joining me on my Project Life journey this year by reading my blog. I sincerely hope I’ve inspired those of you who are fellow PLers in recording your memories. Perhaps I've provided a bit of entertainment for the rest of you, as I've recounted the good, the bad, and the humorous parts of my family life.

I'm very thankful for the new friends I've made through my blog (both scrapbookers and non-scrappers) and for all I've learned from other blogs. And I'm appreciate of my followers. You're THE BEST!

XO!
Donna

Next Post: Project Life 2014!

Project Life 2013 – Week 52 | part two

Here's more of my never-ending saga about Week 52 of my 2013 Project Life album. 

Here is the insert back and the right page (because they go together):

Project Life mini kit: Merry & Bright (digital version)

font: KG Next to Me Solid (used for the day number and "DEC" on all of these cards and photos)

font: Arial; six-photo collage: Designs by Lili

Food and travel – what a combo! I've always thought it would be cool to take a road trip on Route 66. I got the idea from our friend Tom. It was one of his dreams. He even had a '66 Corvette to make the trip a bit sweeter. 

Another family trip I always wanted to take was to visit Washington, DC. I've been there twice, but I don't think any of the kids have been there once. It would have been the perfect trip for our homeschooling family, but other trips took precedence and before I knew it, the kids had grown and gone. (Dang it all.)

One year when Conrad was in college, he had the bright idea for the two of us to go to DC over his spring break. Why not? The "not" part was the ridiculous price of the airline tickets. Memphis has never been known for affordable airfares. 

After checking prices and checking prices, Conrad said it would be cheaper to fly to a foreign country than to fly to DC. And that's how we ended up in Greece. Moral of the story: Foreign travel might be more of a possibility than you think.

 

two-photo collage: Tracy Larsen

graphic: Rhonna Designs

(It's no secret I'm a big fan of Rhonna Farrer. I use her app on the photos I take with my iPhone, and I use her "fonts" to add graphics to my digital pages. These fonts are available on her website. Each includes a dingbat font plus brushes/stamps in abr and png format. I use the png's on my pages. They work on cards or anything you're designing on your computer.)

 

graphic: Rhonna Designs

four-photo collage: Designs by Lili

five-photo collage: Designs by Lili

font: Arial; six-photo collage: Designs by Lili 

eight-photo collage: Designs by Lili  

So, there's some more about Week 52. And there's even more to come. 

Next post: The end (I hope!) of Week 52, December 30 and 31. Thanks for stopping by!  

The Land of California really is beautiful! 

Project Life 2013 – Week 52 | part one

Here is the left side and insert front (because they go together):

Project Life mini kit: Merry & Bright (digital version)

Usually I write about my Project Life pages, going across each row on each page. This week I’m going to put the journaling cards (when there is a journal card) before the corresponding photos. This post will be all over the place. Here goes.

fonts: Pharmacy, 39 Smooth; “HELLO” stamp: Ali Edwards; chevron/arrow thing (modified): Rhonna Designs

You know what? I sort of like this Week Card. Wouldn’t you know it? For the very last week I had a decent PWC [Pesky Week Card] come together without killing me.  . . . . . . . While admiring it, I changed it. I can’t stop. (What you see here is not what you see at the top of the post.)

Wouldn’t you also know it? Because of my weekly battle with the PWC, I thought of a different way to include the week number each week for Project Life 2014. I’m going to go with the new way, even though the ease of this last PWC of 2013 is mocking me.  

three-photo collage: Tracy Larsen

The photo of Peter painting ornaments was made earlier, but I used it here with the finished ornament that is now hanging in our kitchen. He's such an artist!!

font: KG Next to Me Solid (used for the day number and "DEC" on all of these cards and photos)

seven-photo collage: Designs by Lili

three-photo collage: Tracy Larsen 

I wish I could have seen Peter when he opened these books and heard his grandfather talking. I hope it didn't scare him.

The kids have always acted out The Night Before Christmas when Peter read it to them each year on Christmas Eve. Their favorite part was to throw up their hash. You don't remember that part of the poem? You know the part where the narrator goes to the window and throws up the sash? What does "sash" mean to a kid? Hash they've heard of. So they threw it up.

eight-photo collage: Designs by Lili

two-photo collage: Tracy Larsen

That's Patricia at the soup kitchen (she's one of our regulars) with her surprise gift. On mine and Peter's plate of treats at home, you'll see some of our fruitcake. I can't wait until next year when we get another one!

Next post: Details about and close-ups from Week 52, part two. 

Project Life 2013 – Week 52

Here’s something you don’t normally see right before Valentine’s Day – someone’s Christmas pages!

I used to snicker about people who sent out New Year’s cards because they couldn’t get their act together in time to send Christmas cards. Now I eat crow.

Oh. My. Goodness. I didn’t think I’d EVER finish Week 52!! And you know what? I still haven’t!!! I would be finished, but I decided to stretch the week to include December 30 and 31.

Decision: From now on I’m doing each year with Week One covering January 1 - 7. That way I’ll only have one odd day at the end of the year.

So, how in the world did I take so long to do this week? As usual I tweaked the photos and the pages ’til the cows came home. And that’s why I haven’t officially finished the week – the cows have yet to come home! That was lame.

The real problem was that Graham spent part of her Christmas break from nursing school with her siblings in California. I ended up with 2,290 photos (give or take a few) from the family for this extended week. 

You'll notice I used lots of photo collages for this week and got 54 photos, several filler cards, and a good amount of journaling on these pages. Of course, even after they're printed at 12"x12" they probably won't be readable, but I covered the heck out of this week!

Here is Week 52 of my 2013 Project Life album, spread over two pages and a two-sided 6”x12” insert. See:

The insert thing makes better sense if you see it in real life. Since I haven't had these pages printed by Persnickety Prints yet (because they're not finished yet), I can't show you a photo of them in my album. 

Here's an improvised, digital view of how the insert looks in Week 52 (click for a larger view):

Project Life mini kit used – Merry & Bright (digital version):

Next post: Details about the left side of Week 52. Thanks for visiting, and happy weekend! (I’ll be spending mine on *^%#$> Week 52, the longest week of my life.)

Project Life 2013 – Week 51 | right side

Here is the right side of my two-page spread for Week 51:

Project Life core kit: Seafoam (digital version) by Elise Blaha Cripe; Project Life digital template: Template A

Top row – left spot:

“ROAD TRIP” stamp with arrows: Rhonna Designs; photo collage: made with an iPhone app

These two make great traveling companions. They’ve always been very close, and that warms my mama heart.

Top row – right spot:

fonts: Garamond, District Pro;

As if there weren’t enough sites and scenes to photograph while Conrad and Graham drove up and down the state of California, they invented a few scenes. I’ve taught them well. Keep those cameras going! You can’t have too many photos or too many shoes.

Middle row – first spot:

Middle row – second spot:

font: Anivers; stuff on photos: added on my iPhone with Rhonna Designs

I love Ellie Mae! I love Project Life! I would never have made a traditional scrapbook page with these two photos. For one thing, the quality of the photos isn’t great. But because of the Project Life method of memory keeping, I can record seemingly unimportant memories that are important to me. And I don’t waste hours making a whole page to do it.

Middle row – third spot:

wordart: Rhonna Designs

Middle row – fourth spot:

wordart: Ali Edwards

I’ve been married to this guy for decades, but he’s still a source of surprise. Unless a gift is for me, he expects me to wrap it. To wrap this present he had to go up to the attic and pull out the Christmas wrapping stuff. Look at that smile! Wrapping gifts for his grandson makes him happy.

Bottom row – left spot:

font on banner: Garamond; banner across bottom photos: Rhonna Designs

Although I’m still greatly annoyed that two of my sons packed up and moved to the Land of California, I have to admit they sure do have lots of pretty scenery there.

Bottom row – right spot:

font: Anivers; “SCENIC” brush script: Ali Edwards

So ends Week 51. I’m almost finished with 2013!!! Thanks for visiting!

Project Life 2013 – Week 51 | left side

Here is the left side of my two-page spread for Week 51:

Project Life core kit: Seafoam (digital version) by Elise Blaha Cripe; Project Life digital template: Template A

Top row – left spot:

fonts: ChunkFive, Veteran Typewriter, Anivers; dotted line stamp: Rhonna Designs; two-photo collage template: Tracy Larsen

Top row – right spot:

font: Anivers; wordart: Ali Edwards

I love Peter’s expression in the second photo. We were delighted to learn drinking a small amount of vanilla extract is not lethal.

Middle row – first spot:

font: Anivers

I had to take this photo secretly over my shoulder while Woochee was on the top of the back of my chair. Why is she so skittish about having her photo taken?

Middle row – second spot:

currently card: Jen Hignite

My grandmother used to make fruitcakes every year. People said they were excellent, but I never ate any. As a kid I didn’t like one food to touch another food. All the different stuff in fruitcake certainly touches.

Somewhere along the way I realized I really like food. All foods. I no longer cared whether they touched. One Christmas I got brave and tried Grandmother’s fruitcake. I loved it! She made them until she was well into her 90s in the 1990s. 

I can’t think of the last time I’ve had fruitcake until this year. It took a while for us to find one. Who knew they’re so scarce? We were also surprised at how expensive they are. 

Middle row – third spot:

Middle row – fourth spot:

font: Anivers

This is Peter after a nap. He inherited his bed head from his grandfather 1^st Peter. 1^st Peter’s hair looks just like this when he wakes up from a nap. Except it’s a different color.

Bottom row – left spot:

fonts: Anivers, District Pro; two-photo collage template: Tracy Larsen

The first photo shows a very vibrant sky over brown, dormant trees. I like that. The second photo shows our back yard after a big storm. Once or twice a year we have a big enough rain to make a winding river through the yard. I do not like that. What a mess!

Bottom row – right spot:

fonts: Anivers, District Pro; three-photo collage template: Tracy Larsen

Every single time Graham travels she stays up most of the night before she leaves, doing last-minute packing. I can’t say much because I do the exact same thing.

Next post: Details about and close-ups from the right side of Week 51.

If you have questions or comments, leave them below. I love hearing from you! Thanks for stopping by!