Project Life: July 7-13

It was an awesome week for many reasons: First it was my first week of vacation...yay! It was also my son Addison's 19th birthday and my daughter Natalya's 9th birthday. There was a lot of celebrating going on. Even though my son is in Hawaii for 3 weeks. We did quite a bit of activities with Natalya. OK: so that was on the personal side. Now is the creative side: I decided this week I would use Becky Higgins plain lined journal cards and Doodlebug "Take Note" washi tape. I just adhered the tape onto the card. I love the simplicity of it, and the continuity of the entire layout.

I used a Doodlebug 4 x 6 "Take Note" card for the title card which happen to have the same exact polka dot design as my washi tape! Love when things work out that way : ) I used a variety of letter stickers from the Simple Stories line. I also used Doodlebugs Cardstock Stickers for the days of the week. If any of you know me, you know that I must have the coordinating date sticker on every one of my journal cards! Lol.

                                                                                                                   

I also added an extra page, Design F and trimmed off the last set of 3. I do this just so you can see the different layers. I added a label from my favorite Chibani Flip and a ton of other pictures. Since I was on vacation this week, I did a bunch of activities with the girls that I wanted to include in my PL. We sewed a lot and had shopping trips to Ikea & Michaels! Though my son is away in Hawaii, I still put a collage of pics on Tuesday in honor of his bday. We will celebrate when he get back home.

It was a glorious week and I feel the bright sunny colors of Doodlebug reflect my mood for the week! Hope everyone has a wonderful week. It's going to be a hot one if you are in the US on the East Coast....yet another heat wave coming this week...so keep cool.
I am linked up with Jessica at The Mom Creative Blog!

Project Life: Red, White & Blue Style!

This week I used a mix of editions, but just in reds & blues. I did use a 4th of July sticker I purchased at Michaels on top of a Honey title card. I journaled using blue & black Project Life journal pens.

This is also my official first layout in my "Volume 2" for 2013!! Whoo hoo! Three years and going strong, keeping caught up! Label by Cathy Z!

I used an Amy Tan digital word art  (delight) from her "Yes Please" line on my black and white photo of my daughter holding her new laptop. I also used Cathy Z's ribbon word too. There was a lot of white space that was bothering me...lol!

I also used Rebecca Coopers templates for an extra 8 x 8 insert. We had a 4th of July BBQ and I took a few pics that I wanted to include. I try to change it up with different templates so it keeps it interesting through out the year. I found (from YEARS ago) a label from Junkitz. I was so happy! I love when I find stuff in my stash from eons ago : ) So I slapped that baby right on my Thursday journal card!

I also have not been dating every one of my photo's, which is really a struggle for me, haha. I am finding that putting the date on just a few is ample enough to guide the eye through the week and clearly see which journal card goes with each picture...make sense?

It was an awesome week and as I write this, I am officially on vacation for the next week...yay! It is my son & my daughters birthday's this week. So we have so much planned. Well, not so much for my son who is going to be 19 and is in Hawaii for the next three weeks. He is celebrating with his ohana out there. So we will have a little party for him when he gets home. But my little Natalya will be 9 and we have a fun filled week planned ahead. So tune in next week for the details.

Here is the left, the right and the complete layout. Enjoy! I am linked up with Jessica at The Mom Creative Blog! Her Tuesday PL layouts are awesome and you can get so much inspiration from other crafty gals!

With 8 x 8 insert

 Have an awesome week!!

Project Life: June 23-29

I changed it up a bit this week. Still using my beloved Honey Edition, I chose to print all pictures in black and white to make a bit of a statement. Now my printer is a bit off...cause they do look a bit green! Lol! I tried adjusting, but so not worth the aggravation. I figure in 20 years it won't make a darn bit of difference. Don't stress over the little things. I did take Jessica Sprague's class on a Photoshop tricks. Each Friday for the entire summer she has a video, pdf & digi goodies. I really like her style of teaching. Everything I know in PSE, I learned from her. Let me tell you I was clueless!!! It takes anywhere from 5-10 minutes and voila, I've learned another trick. I used week's 1 lesson, "Extracting Patterns". Didn't know when I'd ever use this, but guess what? I used it this week...go me! I extracted the little red camera, (that I absolutely love!) and used it on my Sunday picture & Thursday's journal card...oh yeah, I'm on fire! Ha, well I find I have to use what I just learned several times or "poof" it's gone from my memory. But like I said, she has the directions written out, clearly! I print them all out and keep them in a binder very close to my desk! I still turn to my original class I took with her for the basics....especially when my PSE resets itself : ( Here is a link to her class Baker's Dozen.
OK, back to Project Life. Awesome family week! My sister came to visit, lots of playing in the pool, Japanese take out with my son, it was all good. Except for Paulina getting an ear infection, it was a pretty darn good week! I used Cathy Z's new item at AC Digitals. I'm a sucker for her clean lines. It was just a few simple saying, that yes, I probably can recreate my self. But it is so nice just to pop it on the page. I used it for Wednesday's picture of my 2 girls in the pool. Here is the full spread:

The left and then right sides:

A few close ups...

This is the end of my volume one for 2013. So I did a last page with some pictures I didn't use the month of June. Can you believe we are half way through the year??? Yikes!

I am linked up (as usual) with Jessica at The Mom Creative Blog!

Project Life: June 16th - 22nd!

This was our first official full week of summer break! The week flew by! I used all of the Rad Dad Edition from AC Digitals. First of all I was in need of a little change up, plus...it had orange in it, seriously, how bad could it be? I enjoyed this kit, but truthfully, I won't use it too often. I would possibly use it for my husband's b-day and other "manly" holidays. I used a few Cathy Z. templates a gadgets. Love her side bar titles (Mondays 4 x 6 picture) & her ribbon sayings (I used one on fridays 4 x 6 picture). As always, I use my day of the week digi stamps for ALL my journaling cards. My eye is use to looking for one to match up with the picture. I've been using them for three years and I can't seem to stop. Besides: I like the look of them : ) I also used some dingbats for my Thursday journal card. I forget I have about a million of them. I think they add a little interest to the journaling too

The entire week spread. This week consisted of Father's Day & a trip to NJ. Our family attempting to play badminton!! Our pool being cleaned up and ready to go. My sister coming to visit. And the girls and my husband participating in Relay for Life.

I am linked up with The Mom Creative Blog!

Project Life: June 9th - 15th

This lovely week of project life was once again Honey edition! I am thinking of purchasing the Rain Edition. I do love the green/blue/purple color scheme, but it reminds me of Springtime. But I am thinking it will be good for "water" pictures, anything from the ocean to the pool. So I may be placing an order at Amazon very soon. But getting back to business... Didn't do too much embellishing this week. During these busy weeks, I tend to be happy that I got pictures taken & the story told. I seem to notice I play more with stickers and mixing core kits when I have a solid few hours to do PL. This was not one of those weeks.
Sunday after church we were on a hunt once again for the Rainbow Looms! We found them, all the way in Richboro!! We bought a boat load of them, and I mean a boat load! Bryan got the grill sparked up and we had our first cookout/BBQ of the season! Yay! Apple gave its Keynote Presentation on Monday, I was glued to my iPad Monday after the girls were in bed...so excited for ios7! We had a hysterical game of wiffle ball! We had the entire family out there! Friday was the girls last day of school. I used Cathy Z's free download which you can get here! I also added 8 pictures of the wiffle ball game. I used Design H. Here is the front & back.

 Here is the first part of my week & where I used my Cathy Z. card. I also used a bifold card for my title card. I just added the date & a mini title in Photoshop Elements.

Here is the second part of the week. Friday's picture is of a marigold. I used my iPhone with my olloclip. You can read more about this here!

And here is the entire spread. I usually take my pictures in front of an open door - NOT in direct sunlight and I do not use a flash. I stand on a chair.

I will be linked up with Jessica at The Mom Creative Blog!

Project Life: June 2nd - 8th

This was a super busy week! I used the Honey Edition, which is still my reigning favorite. I will put this out here first. Last week I had posted that we were half way through the year and that I was starting Volume 2. Yeah well I must have been absent the week in school when they went over the months of the year! Duh!! We are NOW going into our 6th month. So after the last week in June I will then start Volume 2 of Project Life. Alrighty then, lets back to the busy week...
I found out my 18 year old, slender, healthy, athletic son has high blood pressure...really high, like scary high. He is on meds & the doctors are stumped to why he even has it. On the upside, my favorite launch came out at work. All About Orange for MAC Cosmetics...yay!! My daughter sang in her Spring Recital...beautiful. Here is a 2 minute clip if you want to hear a beautiful 10 year old sing : )

Click here!

I got a night out with my husband, yes! So all in all it was a fabulous week. So much happened I added an insert of Design J. Here is 6 extra pictures that are all from my iPhone5.... I love my phone : )

Here is another insert. It is a 4 x 6 template. But I printed it out as an 8 x 10. I wanted it to be more of a focal page since it was such an incredible performance.

Here are my base pages. As always I used Design A. I can't seem to stray from this format.

 A few little close ups

I will be linked up on Jessica's Blog, The Creative Mom Blog

Project Life: May 26 - June 1

This week went by so fast! We were all busy with projects and activities. I used the Blush Edition again this week. I did add the date using SN@P Simple Story Letters. They came in a pack of 8 different colors. I got them from Michael's using a coupon...I think they were about $2! I am going back for more! I'm actually getting use to my own handwriting. It helps because I am using Becky's Project Life Pens. I didn't think they'd be any different then any other pen/marker, but they seriously are! Smooth is all I can say. And I love, love, love the fact that they are housed in that nifty durable plastic container...it's the little things : )

I also love the different points on them. They range from 03-08. And they include blue, red & brown! Plus 2 Slick Writers for writing on slick surfaces (duh). Got these from HSN, bargain city!
For the first half of the week, I continued with the Blush Edition. I did add some Doodlebug letters on the Monday card & the Tuesday 4 x 6 picture. I find this adds a little pop to the story & a little jazz to a photo, especially the Tuesday  4 x 6. On Sunday I used my favorite templates EVER! I use these at least once a week when I have an abundance of photo's for a certain day. I got these from The Lily Pad. They rock and are simple to use in PSE.
I used the app Cycloramic for the first time ever...crazy! It actually makes your phone do a 360! It turns it by you placing it on vibrate! Insane, and so fun to use. We apparently had it on the wrong setting and it took a crazy picture of my friend & I....too funny! But if you have an iPhone 5, it is worth checking out.

These are the SN@P letters. Super affordable and come in great colors.

These are the doodlebug letters I used. They are so whimsical and fit the Blush Edition perfectly!

 I went to Google images and looked up the app, and then printed out the logo for it!

 

These are the Lily Pad templates...LOVE! For $4 you get 20 different templates with the white border.







The second half of the week was a whirlwind! The girls had their schools field day, which they call Maroon & Gold day...so much fun! And my best friends daughter graduated from high school...our old high school! Our Lady of Mercy Academy in New Jersey, I am sorry I had to miss the ceremony. But I was able to make it to the party on Saturday. I decided to end volume 1 of Project Life on June 1st. The next binder will start with Sunday, June 2 until the end of the year, December 31st. Since I had the back page of Design A left blank, I added some pictures of Maroon & Gold Day.

And the last page for this binder, Volume ONE of 2013! I'm not sure if you realize this...but we are half way through the year!

I will be linked up (as I am every week) with Jessica at  The Mom Creative Blog!