I love the colors here!

In April, I took the kids to the carnival.  The Burton Brothers Carnival comes to Noblesville every year, but this year was a nice surprise.  As babies dad and I would sit on the merry go round with them and they didn't seem to mind it.  Then for a few years they were totally terrified of fair rides.  Getting on the Ferris wheel was something I really wanted to do, but I knew it was a no go!  One  year we spent over $20 on tickets and they screamed and we just gave away the tickets to some little kids and gave up.  Last year was better, they rode and loved it.  But this year, I actually bought them a wrist band.  And we rode for hours.  Isaiah sat in his own tilt a whirl seat ALONE.  I was terrified he would get out but he didn't.  Keaton loved the crazy houses.  But me, all I wanted was to get on the Ferris wheel and was shocked when the kids were game for it!  I love that we rode it all together.

 So, I had my PL spread completed but found this single photo left and this really great woodgrain paper.  Plus I really wanted to share my story about the Ferris Wheel.

 I finally figured out that I could use sequins in a pocket and use washi tape to hold it all in the pocket.

Products used:  BH Seafoam 12x12 designer paper, K&Company woodgrain 12x12 paper, BH Jade core kit, Studio Calico Snippets 3x4 cards, Amy Tan Remarks and Flair, Studio Calico geo tag wood veneers, and misc washi and alphas.

All gave some and some gave all.

Happy Memorial Day everyone.  Please take a moment to send up a prayer to the big guy in memorial of all the past, present and future Military branches.

Just hanging out with my little dudes today getting ready to enjoy dinner out back.

See you all next week for Project Life Monday.

Did you know that Indiana means land of the Indians?

So this is Indiana.  The weather is bipolar, you can experience all four seasons in a single week.  We are considered a Great Lakes State, although we only boarder about 40 miles of Lake Michigan, the land is pretty flat here but there is more than corn here also.

President Lincoln lived here as a child.  Lewis and Clark explored here.  James Dean was born here and John Dillenger is buried here.  The first professional baseball game was played here.  Over a million children mail off the letters to Santa Claus, Indiana every single year in hopes that St. Nick will bring them presents.  We have one of the best children's museums and one of the best children's hospitals in the center of our state.  Over 100 species of trees and catnip along the railroads that still carry freight through the towns.

We are the Crossroads of American, the Covered Bridge Capital of the World and the Greatest Spectacle in Racing.  The first Indy 500 race was held in 1911.  And I still have never witnessed this race.

Instead I am home with my babies today.  We are enjoying this beautiful weather, building with Legos and putting away the stacks of freshly laundered clothes and here in a few short hours I am going to sit down and start working on ideas for my little brother's photo boards.

See my baby brother, Nick, was born in 1995 when I was ten years old and I can not believe that we are approaching high high school graduation.  And today, might I add, he is out at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway enjoying the race.

I guess the reason this effects me so much is because tomorrow is Memorial Day.  And in exactually 5 days Nick will graduate from the same high school where I spent those dreaded teenage years on gloom.  In August, he will ship out to boat camp in South Carolina with the Army before being stationed who knows where.  I will always be thankful and honor those men and women that sacrificed their all for this country. I will miss my little brother, as will my momma and my boys and the rest of our family.  I am proud of my brother and will celebrate him this week and pray for him daily once he heads out in his fatigues with the rest of his new family that he will spend the next few years with.  But for today, I will be joyful that he is spending the day with his girlfriend at the Indy 500.

March Project Life 2013

Here are a few of my March layouts.  I didn't include them all because there were a lot of photos that were of kids that were not my own.  Most of the supplies used here were Seafoam cards and 12x12 papers, Amy Tan die cuts and a few Studio Calico and Clementine cards.

Sadly that is all the fun I have to show you for March BUT I do have some fun from my 

2012 album I started working on yesterday.  I am really excited about this album.  The style is much more free and airy, if that is even a work, than my 2013 album.  I am really excited to show it off once it is totally completed!

More of this later this month or week when I am finished.  Whichever comes first.  I am just waiting on a few things in the mail.

Garage Sale Find

I have been on the search for a desk to put in place on this 7 foot long folding table where I work on my Project Life album.  I found one.  It was the first one I looked at and cost me $30.  Score.

 I can NOT tell you just how excited I am that all my storage containers fit into the drawers.  I had 10 storage containers on the 7 foot desk.  I cannot believe these all fit perfectly in the drawers.

 Alphas, 6x6 paper pads, bags, Studio Calico kits, and photos.

 Non-kit or Core related cards, punches and trimmers, stamps, Dymo, adhesives, tags.

 Box of BH core kits, die cuts, flair, veneers, pens, Thickers.

 Blush and Jade Core kits, plastics and washi.  My washi needs a basket.

 Detail on the metal T brackets and drawer pulls.  The drawers and desk itself and two separate colors.  I kinda like the warn look.

 With my super cute chair and ya, I think this is my cat's desk.

See ya soon!

ETA:  I actually found out after I posted this blog that this is called a Campaign Desk used for military campaigns.  Apparently, the desk was able to be taken apart for easy transportation during a war.  While mine seems to have some pretty awesome details and looks old I would date it around the 1970's or so as a reproduction of some sort.  So more vintage than antique.  But I have no evidence either way, just my interweb research.

Oh goodies!

It is Happy Mail week over here.  Yesterday I received some swap cards and Persnickety Prints photos.  Today, I got my Studio Calico Project Life add on, Halley's Comet.  Tomorrow I am expecting 177 Instagram Polaroids from Persnickety Prints for my 2012 album that I am going to start.  Plus I am expecting some wood veneers that are all the Cub Scout emblems as well as lots Studio Calico bits from the Yardies and the May Elle's Studio PL kit.  Plus, I need to say I am waiting on a party order for origami owl.  It is a happy, happy week.

Then I am cut off till the SC kit is ready to order, except for those plastics I need for my 2012 album.

This was what I did today.  For nearly 2 hours I worked on 4 single pages.  Mostly, I feel like I made a massive mess.  Oh well, it was fun.

You can now follow me on Bloglovin too.  Check the upper right hand corner of the sidebar.  See you soon for Pinspiration.

February PL and Mother's Day

Spending my Monday morning getting all my layout photos in order to share.  Here we go!

This was my first Design F page.  The kids many Valentine's Day cards from their class parties.  It took me awhile before I really loved this and figured out that I can love it more now that I fill the 3x4 pockets with the Instagram Polaroids.

Blue & Gold Banquet.  My little Bobcat has almost earned his Tiger Badge!

The photos above and below really need to be reprinted by Persnickety, however, I deleted the photos from my phone already.

 My favorite below!  I love the MAMBI cards, they were perfect for this month.  And the SC Smile card.  This page makes ME smile.

I have decided that I am going to start printing my entire 2012 Instagram feed and buy a ton of these plastics so I can start 2012.  I have no problem at all keeping up with 2013 since I am going monthly, so it only makes sense to work backwards on 2012.  And along the way I can throw in special pages for birthdays and holidays!

And now on to yesterday, Mother's Day.  I wanted to make a post last night but was beat!

I spent Saturday doing this with my kids.  Painting flower pots and watching the kids draw pictures on them.  Planting Geraniums  working on homemade cards and wrapping gifts.  The boys had loads of fun.  

Then yesterday we headed to my mom's house for a little cookout and some time to run around in her back yard.  She is lucky enough to own a home built in the mid 50's that sits on about an acre, so she has a huge yard, the entire neighborhood is like that.  So the kids love to go play on my old swing set from when I was a kid and try to dig up the dirt and kick around ash in the first pit.  But my brother who is an 18 year old senior and graduating from high school in less than a month, I am a proud sister, was on mulch duty.  And he had a few side kicks.

 These two kept getting mad at eachother because the wagon was filled with mulch and then they wanted to sit on it and be pulled to the back yard by my brother who also was using a wheel barrel.

So with it being Mother's Day, well the day after, I want to say Happy Mother's Day to a handful of people.  My Momma, no explanation needed there.  My Gramma who went to heaven when I was 16 years old.  I miss her so much and know my mom does too.  And lastly, my son's step mom, whom I have a great relationship with.  

I hope everyone had a great weekend and celebrated their mothers!  Happy Monday everyone!  See you tomorrow for something new!

GAHHHHHHHHHH. Hobby Lobby

So no, I did not at all go to every Hobby Lobby store in the Indianapolis area the search for Becky Higgins Project Life core kits, if I would have had the extra money I have been tempted to though.

Instead I am excited because it has been known in my town for nearly 5 months that Hobby Lobby was going to open up here.  And the past two months, I have know the location.  Luckily there was an old strip mall here that was recently remodeled in the past decade and it still looks great so they are just working on cosmetic things in the store.  They have been working maybe 2 weeks on it.

Any who, I have been wanting a job there forever.  This is my chance.  0.70 miles from my house is pretty dang close.  Ya think?  Keeping my fingers crossed and needing all the prayers I can get for a new job.

But back to PL...maybe then, with a discount and a coupon I would be all about buying a new core kit, to split or swap.

And last, a little inspiration for the day, I have been on Pinterest having some kitchen/dining room love tonight.

If only my apartment complex would let me paint my crappy cabinets, they would so be this color! I love green.

 I have been thinking about paint my kitchen table, since it is looking pretty rough.  I bought it brand new about 4 years ago, but with my boys, it is looking pretty sad.  I am thinking of teal.

 Uh, although I have the perfect piece of furniture to do this already, it is my office nook.  But one day, I am totally having a coffee bar so that I can display all my awesome owl mugs.

An lastly, the awesome aluminum trashcan that has been spray painted and has this way awesome liner cover.  Want.  This would be a super cheap, easy way to glam up my trash.  Ya...

The anticipation is killing me.

This... I want this so bad.  Of course, like all the other Studio Calico kits, want it, really bad.  An awesome Scrap Yard friend has a sub to the PL kit and was able to add this on for me this month so now I am patiently ( I am lying, I am not patient at all) waiting the kit to get to her so she can send it out to me.  This will be my first full month with a Studio Calico product, even if it was the add on.

Studio Calico's Halley's Comet PL add on

I have been anticipating this for awhile now with no plans on what I am going to use it on.  And then I hit me.  My 6 year old, Keaton, is graduating from Tiger Scout to Wolf Scout.  Not only am I the den leader but the Cubmaster, so I will be pretty busy helping 40 boys cross over the bridge and paint stripes on their faces.  So naturally, it calls for a double page PL spread and our colors and blue/gold and as Tigers we are orange!  UH YA!  This works!  

Studio Calico had an awesome challenge for NSD with transparent pages, so I am gonna be trying this for sure!

So come May 15th, I will be getting SNAPPY with my camera so that I can get some graduation photos to use on this for sure.

And the obligatory kid shot of the day.  My youngest, Isaiah, wearing my glasses.  We were waiting to get into the doctor at 8am, eh.

3x4 Instagram Polaroids by Persnickety Prints

YES, I have already been asked about the 3x4 Instagram Polaroids.

My awesome friend Lauren, who is a fellow PLifer and a photographer in the Northern Indiana area, has me HOOKED on Persnickety Prints.  If you are interested in some amazing photos of your family, check her out here.  Look at this!  She is awesome!

Anyways, here are the steps I take to use my Instagrams and turn them into Polaroids not Photoshop involved.

Follow this link here to the Instagram Printing page.  They do more than just the 3x4 Polaroids, you can get them in 3x3s and other square sizes.

If you scroll down a bit, you have a section that looks like this

I always choose option 2 on the list, Instaport.

I choose option 1 Connect your account, which takes me to an Instagram log in box.  Log in.  :)

Upon log in, I have this screen, that is me o_hootie if you want to follow me on Instagram.  I choose the download .zip file box and start the export that takes only seconds.  

Next screen has the orange donate & download button but I just go with the free option and download only.  And it downloads to my downloads folder right away.  Mission Instaport complete.  

Next, log in to Persnickety Prints here.

Obviously, Upload and Order link in the dark purple.  It is cut off in this photo but two buttons to the right on the light blue Slideshow button is the Add Photos button.  Just follow along uploading your Instagram feed from your downloads file that you just downloaded via Instaport.

Once you have added your photos select the photos, they will have an orange boarder around them and then click the orange button that says Order Prints that is to the top right below where you logged in at.

You have a small red box pop up that gives you the option to SHIP or PICK UP... I obviously ship since I am not in Utah... and then hit continue.

Another red box pops up with a small selection on sizes to order, these are NOT it.

Below the Add to cart button and above my finger, ignore the chipped nail polish, is a blue link that says Order with More Options.  After clicking on that link you come to the next screen.

On this more options screen you have your photos, click the photos you want to use and make sure it has the blue border around it and the under step 2 and size you are going to use the drop down arrow to click on Persnickety Prints Ploaroid (3x3 Print on 3x4).  I use the Matte Cardstock and LOVE it!  It is super easy to journal on.

Simply add it to your cart and you are ready to go!  I suggest that you order them all at once because it is a lot of steps.  They also sent me a 3x4 coupon card this month that was super cute for free shipping next month, that I am including in my PL album.

I hope this helped those of you that were asking how I did this.  No PS needed!  Enjoy!  

Project Life : January 2013

I feel like I do not take enough photos to work on my Project Life weekly.  Plus with this being my first year doing a PL album, I wanted to not stress myself out by trying to play catch up all year long.  I produced 9 single page front and back pages this month.  I did not include all of them, since I had a few that included photos of my son's Cub Scout pack.

So I present to you my monthly, chronological ordered PL layouts for the month of January 2013.

 

My main Becky Higgins core kit this year is Seafoam Edition.  I have bits of Studio Calico cards, washi tape, flair and cardstock stickers by Echo Park's Everyday Eclectic line.  BH design A

Besides Seafoam, I have MAMBI cards here, not sure what pack.  BH design A

I threw a touch of Olive Edition in this with my above mentioned as well as some Amy Tan Remakes stickers that I found for $2.00 at Big Lots.  BH design B

Seafoam, Cobalt, Turquoise and Simple Stories cards.  This is by far one of my favorite.  The 100th day of school is a big deal in first grade.  100 wiggly eyes.  I want to mention my love for Persnickety Prints here.  I didn't start ordering prints from them other than my 3x4 Instagram polaroids till March, so I want to show you this layout.  The bottom two photos are from CVS, 99% of my photos are taken on my Samsung Galaxy and just uploaded online to wherever.  All three photos were taken the same day, but the quality and color of the Instagram photo is MUCH better. And yes, there was a filter, but still that is on CARDSTOCK.  All of my January and Febuary photos are getting reprinted as long as I can still find the photo on Facebook, since I deleted it from my phone.  BH design D

Okay, carrying on, :) 

Yes, my cat lives in my 31 Large Utility Tote.  If you need one for your cat I am pretty positive you can find ten 31 consultants in your neighborhood.  What a huge company with amazing bags!  Here I have mixed tons of products, SC, Blush and Seafoam editions.  BH design D

And my new found love here!  Becky Higgins design F pages.  It took me FOUR months to decide what in the world I was going to do with the pack of a 10 3x4 pockets.  And then two weeks ago it hit me.  A monthly recap of the Instagram Polaroids that I didn't use.  I keep it super simple.  Just a few 3x4 filler cards, here I used Studio Calico.

And a close up!

So, I use a few different pens.  I have been using ZIG Memory System Millennium pens for over 5 years.  I prefer the 05 ones.  My new favorite pens are the fine Sharpie Pens.  They still tend to bleed through but I love the way they write.  And Sharpie makes ever color under the sun.  

I use the Studio G tape runners.  I bought a ton of them for $1 each last week and I use Glue Dots for my flair.