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!

Project 2012 done in a week!

So, first off, thanks for joining me on Monday Project Life days where I am sharing my project life pages.  And now this, 2012 in a week.  Talk about two much time on my hands.  Ok, so let me explain myself first.

1. I work a seasonal job at a children's art company on three months, off three month, on three month, off three months...you get it right?  Well, my on time happens to be the 'busy' time of the schools years just before mothers/fathers day and before Christmas so we work like crazy people copying/scanning and printing art throughout all 50 states in the USA and some countries.  The job is great, if you ONLY could see the art that I see...so yes, I have lots of free time.  
2. While off work, my children ages 6 and 7 years old this month actually, are both at school full day.  So I have the majority of my day to myself.  When I am not being MOM, a Cub Scout Cubmaster or den leader or watching old tv series on Netflix I need something else to do so I make stuffs.
3.  I just really really really love to scrapbook.  I have been scrapbooking for as long as I remember.  My oldest scrapbooks that I still have date back to 1996 but even before then I spent a lot of time making things.  I was an only child till I was 10 so I didn't have any siblings to beat up as a kid, so I would "sit on my bed and make shit" as my mother would say. 

This basicially sums up my reason for documenting ALL of 2012 in a week.  Like seriously.  Let me tell you a few things about my week.  I spent $$$ of photos from Persnickety Prints and they all arrived at once.  So other than pulling a few hard copies that were given to me ahead of time, I was set with that one delivery.

Most of my SC cards that were never used in 2013 current months were used in my 2012 album, so this means that I had handfuls of cordinating cards and embellies.  Plus, I had been hoarding 12x12 pp so I had everything I needed at my fingertips.  

Then lastly I bought a great priced album and used the same design plastics through my entire album.  So all I needed to do was work on it.  I spent two whole Sundays putting it together and a few hours throughout the rest of my week to finalize spreads and add anything extra.

Anything extra at this point would just be photos found here or there from that year that I would likely just throw together on a 12x12.

So here we go.

So, I ordered nearly 200 3x4 Instagram Polaroids and none of them were in order of when they were taken so this took a few hours to sort through them.  This was my last group to sort through.  I was tired of sorting, just chilling bed watching Gossip Girl reruns...I love Chuck Bass.

This I am pretty positive I posted already.  Just me in progress.

The rest is just a handful of pages from the summer/fall months.

 I actually wanna run some sequins along some of this paper with a sewing machine, but have not been able to do that yet.  I am pretty positive that this is The Paper Studio pp.  I love it so much I have like 20 sheets of it.  I use it way often.

This is actually the back of my cover page.  All out of order.

This is my son Keaton, with the short dark hair and his half brother.  I loved this picture.  I journalled on the 4x6 card and then put some more journalling on that 3x4 card with the tab and star on it.  My only thing I want to do with this is run it through the sewing machine, BUT mine broke.  I need a new one.

Most of the 3x4 cards are either Studio Calico or Elle's Studio.  I also used some more of the woodland pp and a few sheets of Dear Lizzy pp and some Atlantic pp from Studio Calico.  My embellishments are an assortment of Smash, SC, Elle's Studio, K&Company, MME and other lables like Chic Tags and ticket stubs, etc.

I want to just encourage everyone to know that with just a few days and ALL your supplies organized in front of you, that you can complete a whole year right now.  I kept this simple, same plastics, majority of this was all 3x4 Instagram Polaroids from Persnickety Prints.  There were multiple other layouts with random photos too, but those came after the basic bones of the album were assembled.  

Anyways, thanks for looking.  

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.