The gift of memories recorded...

So I had a baby shower to attend on Saturday and rather than get the new mother-to-be something from her registry I decided to give the gift of Project Life. Now I know that traditional 12x12 Project Life can be intimidating for those who are not scrapbookers or memory keepers by nature. So I went with a mini kit and mini album to make the process not so large and scary. I knew that the new baby was a boy so I picked up the Project Life Baby Boy mini kit and Project Life mini album in Kiwi.

(Pardon the dog hair on the floor and the scratched and scuffed walls)

Since I almost always make a homemade card, I then used this design from the Silhouette store.

All in all, I think a very nice, and reasonably priced, shower gift for a new mother. I love the mini albums and mini kits that Project Life offers. They are an easy way to introduce someone to Project Life without it being extremely overwhelming. With so many different mini and themed kits available, there are numerous options available for gifts. I've done a mini scrapbook for my husband for Father's Day last year using the digital only Rad Dad kit. I've been thinking about doing a mini album and the school themed kit for my son's teacher as an end of the year gift. Or any of the sports themed kits for an end of year gift for a coach. I'm still holding out hope for a dance themed mini kit for my daughter.

Begin at the beginning...

The beginning is always a good place to start, don't you think? So today I bring you my intro page for my 2014 Project Life album. I used several different pieces, links are in the descriptions below. Please let me know if I've incorrectly linked anything.

-template is Project Life Design A
-top left card is a Life Quote card from beckyhiggins.com designed by Ali Edwards
-top right card is from Project Life Midnight Kit, first and last page cards
-first middle card on left is a Life Quote card from beckyhiggins.com designed by Monica McNeill
-second middle card is from Project Life Midnight kit, first and last page cards
-third middle row card is from Project Life Midnight Kit, first and last page cards
-fourth middle row card is from Project Life Midnight Kit, first and last page cards, font is Courier
-bottom left card is from sweetshoppedesigns.com freebie by Kristin Cronin-Barrow 2014
-bottom right card is a Life Quote card from beckyhiggins.com designed by Cathy Zielske

And so it begins...

A command decision has been made...

So I have made a decision for 2014. I'm going digital with my Project Life album. Earth shattering, I know. I've really thought about this and I think this will be the best decision for me. Here's why...

1- Being digital is neater. I don't have to have a clean workspace to work on my pages. All I need is a place to plug in my laptop. I think that is one of the main reasons I fall behind. Too lazy to clean up after my last project. And the fact that my office/scrap space seems to be the dumping site in our house. But I'm working on that.

2- No need for storage. I currently have 4 core kits, 2 that have never been used and I will most likely be selling. Plus a bunch of mini kits that I still plan on using for specific projects. And a bunch of cards leftover from other core kits I've used. And Becky Higgins just announced new kits on her blog yesterday that are super cute. It's getting to be too much. With digital, I can store as many kits as my hard drive can hold.

3- Price. I'd like to try using more than one core kit. It is very easy to get bored with only one kit per year plus, there are so many kits I fall in love with. I'm a fickle gal, what can I say? With digital, the price is so much less. And I have the added bonus of being able to purchase only the pieces of the kits I want. I usually just purchase the 3x4 and 4x6 journaling and filler cards. Plus, I can get the kits as soon as they are released because digital usually releases before physical kits. And no shipping costs either.

4- No need to worry about the other side of the page. If I want to use Design A on one side and Design B on another, no worries. No more stressing over which protector to use because what if I don't need or like that design on the next page.

5- Easier to share on the web. I'm not the greatest photographer of my layouts and this just makes it easier. Plus, I can put the layouts on my iPhone or my iPad and share them with more people.

It's not all sunshine and roses though. There are a few cons to this method...

1- Not printing the final project until the end. I will eventually put my 2014 into a digital photo book as opposed to printing the individual layouts. So that means my family won't get to see my work until it's all done. That bothered me for a moment until I realized that with my falling behind, they weren't seeing any pages anyway.

2- Not sure about which company I'm going to use to print my book. I've always been partial to Shutterfly but I'm beginning to look into some other options such as Paperkiwi and Blurb. But I don't really need to worry about that right now.

3- More difficult to include ephemera. It's not impossible, I do have a scanner. Just more work to scan the items and work to make them fit.

4- Not being able to add inserts. I did like that option for 2013 to add a small insert when I had more stories to tell for a certain week. Now I will have to be more diligent about using photo collages and/or editing my stories to fit.

So there you have it, my pros and cons about going digital for 2014. I'm excited to begin tomorrow. Maybe if time allows I will try and get my title page done today. I do hope to go back and finish my 2013 album this year as well so I will actually be able to accurately compare my paper vs. digital experience this time next year. 

Thanks for joining me. I can't wait to start creating and sharing my pages with you. 

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens...

My friend Laura hosted a "Favorite Things" brunch this morning. The rules were that we each had to pick a favorite thing that cost under $5, buy 3 of them and bring them to brunch, unwrapped. And we had to keep it a secret. I really wracked my brain trying to come up with something in the price range and that nobody would think was dumb. Here's what I came up with...

I chose these Paisley Design coloring books from Amazon and a pack of colored pencils. I love to color. There is just something so soothing about it to me. So off to brunch I went and Laura made an amazing spread for us of some of her favorite things.

After we all ate we wrote our names on 3 pieces of paper and put them in a basket. Then we passed the basket around and each took 3 different names. We went around the circle explaining our favorite thing we had brought. Whichever names we had chosen were the recipients of our items.

When all was said and done I ended up with a Starbucks gift card, a Dunkin' Donuts gift card and a Limoges dish filled with mint M&M's. We all had such a good time and agreed that this may need to become an annual event. 

Scrapbook Generation Blog Hop!!!

 

 

 

Welcome to the SG Blog Hop for June, if this is your first stop, you might like to start at the Scrapbook Generation blog and then hop through each link. Here is the list in case you get lost

Scrapbook Generation blog - http://scrapbookgeneration.blogspot.com/

Ruth - http://scrapmachine.com/

Alisha - http://layoutaday.blogspot.com/

Michelle - http://ownerofchanel.blogspot.com/

Manda - http://mandalikadesigns.blogspot.com/

Sheree - http://www.sheree412.blogspot.com/

Nicole - http://nicolesscrapbook.blogspot.com/

Tammy - http://www.tammygrant.blogspot.com/

Steffanie - http://steffanies.blogspot.com/

Cécil - http://isbahashome.blogspot.fr/

Stephanie - http://craftyholidaygirl.blogspot.com/

Nicole - http://lovemesomepaper.blogspot.com/

Brenda - http://roseblossomlegacies.com/

Kelley - http://www.kelleykreates.blogspot.com/

Lindsey - http://www.scrapping-by-the-sea.com/

Wanda - http://sketch-lovers.blogspot.com/

Mandi - http://mjskraze.blogspot.com/

Laureen - http://mybusyscrapbookinghands.blogspot.ca/

Corrina - http://anotherthingoffthelist.blogspot.ca/

Cicily - http://www.pinkdalmationscrapper.blogspot.com/

Michele - http://michelesscrapycreations.blogspot.com/

Tessa - http://www.scrapwithtessa.blogspot.com/

Sherri - http://www.sherripriest.blogspot.com/

Devra - http://mycreativeview.blogspot.com/

Tina - http://tiggersscrapplace.blogspot.com/

Deborah - http://scrappingmycrazylife.blogspot.com/

Each blog will share a project using one of the SG sketches as a starting point. You can find the sketches in their books and downloads in the SG store, and there is a free one every month in case you wanted to try it out.

My layout is from 2011 and it is one that I love. I apologize that I can't remember where the sketch came from. It may have been from the Sketch Support website or from one of the fabulous SG sketch books. You can't go wrong with any of them. I truly believe that if it weren't for SG and their amazing sketches, I would be so much farther behind in my scrapbooking than I am.

Next on the hop is Lindsey, leave a comment on each blog and one lucky commenter will receive a free sketch bundle of their choice from the store. The winner will be draw on June 10th, so you have one week to leave a comment.

Getting a vision out of my head...

December 14, 2012 was a horrible day. I can't imagine the grief, pain and fear those parents of Newtown, CT went through. I hope that I never know.

I've had a difficult time with this tragedy. I'm sure that's most likely due to having a first grader myself. Those could be his friends. That could be him.

I went and saw the movie Les Miserables on Sunday. It was wonderful. I was moved by a song towards the end of the film called "Empty Tables at Empty Chairs". I won't spoil the movie for you but it's obviously being sung by someone with survivor's guilt. And maybe I have a little of that. Relief that it wasn't my child's school that day. And guilt for feeling that relief.

So ever since then I have had this image in my head of the empty classroom. But not a neat and tidy classroom. A classroom that had obviously been full of life and learning, then had to be abandoned and left behind. While I was at my son's school yesterday morning for a PTA meeting I asked his teacher if I could take a photo of her empty classroom. I told her my vision and she gratefully agreed.

Here is my vision...

I dedicate this photograph to all those affected by the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Both directly and indirectly. May healing come to us all.

You is kind. You is smart. You is important.

Those words, said by Abilene Clark to Mae Mobly in Kathryn Stockett's The Help, hit me today while I was walking Cookie this morning. It was probably in my head since I've finally gotten around to watching the movie, and have since watched it about half a dozen times, but they really resonated this morning. I think as women we tend to beat ourselves up too much. I know I do. I'm extremely critical of myself and that critical voice in my head tends to scream at me. I've been doing a lot of thinking lately about where I want to go with my life. I'm 39 years old and I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up. I feel like I don't have a direction. I don't feel I'm successful at anything, except maybe sitting on the couch, surfing the 'net and eating way too much food that isn't good for me. My kids start school soon. And this will be the first time that they are both gone for the whole day. I'm terrified about what I'm going to do with my time. I have some commitments, like PTA and being the bookkeeper at Riley & Jake's but I'm scared it's not enough. I want to be amazing at something. I want people to say that I am the go-to person for something but I'm not sure what. Hopefully I can figure that out and maybe I can actually begin to believe that I am kind, smart and important.