It is Blog Hop weekend and it is time for me to share a tip with you all.

Okay, so my blog posts have been few and far between the past few weeks because I am 100% caught up with 2012 and 2013 Project Life albums as much as possible.  I am waiting on Persnickety Prints to send me a package of yummy photos so I can get cracking on June pages.

So for today, I wanna share a tip with you.  As a new Project Lifer I was very discouraged when I opened up my Big Box of Becky Higgins plastics to find Design F staring me in the eye.  I remember saying, "What is the world do I do with these?!?!"

Yikes!  I had 10 3x4 pockets to fill but all my photos were 4x6.  At the time I have NO clue about all the photo options and for over a month I just stared at this stupid plastic when I would open the box up.  It was very discouraging to me.  And then something happened.

These are my secret to getting an album done quick.  Persnickety Prints 3x4 Instagram Polaroids.  I am in love.

So here is my tip.  If you have stray photos that you feel are important to share in your album but they do not flow with you weekly or monthly spreads, print them as a 3x4 Instagram Polaroid and slide them into a Design F page.

 I work on my Project Life album in chronological order in a Monthly, not weekly manner.  So there are fantastic for adding as my monthly wrap up.  I slide in the carts, normally left over Studio Calico cards and then since these are my Instagram feed cards that I have had on Facebook, I simply copy my Facebook status and use it as the caption on the 3x4s.  I am in love with Design F now.

And lastly, my other idea for using Design F is to slip my children's Valentine's Day cards into the pockets.  I trimmed, folded and layered these cards, backed them all with the same blue grid card from my Becky Higgins Seafoam Edition and added a calandar card and a 4x6 journal card about Valentine's Day. Great for keeping those pesky cards all in one place.

 Well, that is it for this weekend.  Enjoy your Day!

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.

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!

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.