April 365 2014

April's been a pretty good month. Pretty rainy towards the end but I'll be happy with warmer days in May. 

Project Life 2013 Week: Thirty-Nine

Week 39 brings the week we started our puppy search.  It was a whirlwind sort of week and looking back it happened very quickly.

I was going for a autumn-y feel to this week with the colors.

The weekend took up most of the second page of the week.  Lots of puppy cuteness to include.

I was all over the place with some Midnight core kit along with some Dear Lizzy papers.  Tossed in some old Making Memories on this side too.  I don't go for uniformness in my pages, just what works for my pictures...at least in my head anyway!

Will be sharing more 2013 pages, while I now tackle 2014.  So happy to have it done as well as blogging material. ;)

Project Life 2013 Week: Thirty-Eight

Week 38 shows flavors of Fall.  I love taking something and making it my own, like the week cards from a mini-core kit and making it suit my page better.  

Still kept things simple.  

Letter stickers are my latest "must-have".  I've had them for awhile, but have been obsessed using them for my journaling.

I'm trying to remember that even if I think my pages are just "eh", someday, my daughters, or their children will love them.  They will have no idea what the latest trends were and just won't care. I think I hold myself back trying to create something "WOW" for every picture. I need to remember that no one in the future will care if things match perfectly, or if there are embellishments on it. To most people, all they want to know are the stories behind the picture. And that's what I need to care most about.

Project Life 2013 Is COMPLETE!

As of today, I can happily say that I am finished with my Project Life albums for 2013. 

Done. As in complete. Cover and end pages are done! Spines are labeled. 

They can be put away to make room for 2014. As soon as Miss G looks through the final album. 

She's my biggest fan. 

Top Favorite Apps

Like most people today. I am addicted to my iPhone. It's constantly in my hands, though rarely used for actual phone conversations! This is my current list of my favorite apps. 

1. Instagram

2. Photo 365

3. Momento

4. Timehop

5. Pic Tap Go

6. Camera +

7. Phonto 

8. My Fitness Pal

9. Up

10. Map My Walk

11. Rhonna Designs

12. A Beautiful Mess

Project Life 2013 Week Thirty-Seven

Week 37 was a "get it done-keep it easy" sort of week.  For the most part anyway.

I was sort of zooming through these, just keeping things simple.  Picture, label.  Picture, alpha stickers.  Nothing fancy, but I like it.

This side was a little more complicated, I had more pictures to include.  We had a family 50th anniversary party, so I simply made flip cards for most of the pictures, embossed them, added labels and DONE!  They aren't my favorite part of the spread but they're DONE!

Project Life 2013 Week: Thirty-Six

With the Disney trip taking up so much of the album, I had to start album #3 with Week 36. I haven't done the opening page yet but I have a feeling I'll do it when I get to the closing page. That's how I roll. 

Album three starts with the girls starting school and all of us having Disney withdrawals.

I was using the 4x4 page protectors with the Disney trip and for some reason, that I can't remember now, I continued it for the first half of this week. I do like having the larger pictures to play with and having room for some fun filler cards.

This side brings back the standard page protectors. I sort of want to go back and do parts of this page over but I know I won't. 

Happy to say that I'm currently working on the last week of 2013 and should have it done soon! I hate being so far behind on 2014 already! 

I miss traditional scrapbooking and want to have some sort of balance between it and Project Life. This should be a fun project not an all consuming one. There are days that I don't want to even start 2014, but it won't sit right with me, knowing I have all these supplies and if I just took the year off, there would be a gap in the albums and that would bother me. 

I know, once I catch up, I'll be glad I didn't take the year off. I just gotta get there. 

Easter 2014

Our Easter was a perfect Spring day! The sun was shining and it was warm enough for flip flops!!

With the girls getting older, getting them to cooperate with me on things like taking pictures together is more of a challenge. Or torture. Depends on how you look at things. I've told them the faster I get a good picture the faster I'll leave them alone, so that helps. 

Marissa was freshly out of the shower, and I had good to prep so this was the best I was going to get. I'm okay with that. 

All ready to hide outside.

I made some eggs obvious so my little niece, Nari, could find some goodies. We even have her a head start before releasing the beasts (aka older kids). 

Released from captivity!

These four. Love how this came out. They all have their personalities. 

Can't end the night without dessert. I made Angel Lush with Pineapple but in a trifle style. So light and delicious. 

It was a nice day spent with family. The kids go back to school tomorrow and I get to raid their chocolate stash!! 

Egg-Citing Times 2014

While getting things ready for Easter tomorrow, we took a break and colored eggs. 

We used a tie dye kit and though it was supposed to be less mess it was still fun. Except for the "torture" I put the girl through in taking their pictures. 

Managed to get a few smiles before calling it a day. 

Found that I have accumulated a ton of dye kits (over the years) so I told the girls we'll do this more often and switch them up a bit. The good news is, the puppies make out like bandits eating our yolks. 

Hoping for a low key Easter tomorrow, while we wish we were at Disney. 

She Rides!

Today has been monumental for Gianna. Today she learned to ride her bike. 

Finally. 

Not for lack of trying, either. We've tried teaching her but she's very independent and likes to learn her way. 

After having a friend over yesterday, she started talking about learning how to ride her bike. Today she was determined. 

Today she did it. 

Eight Things 2014

I recently came across an old blog post of mine and decided to do an updated version.

8 Things I'm Listening To:

1. P!nk

2. Lourde

3. Sara Barellis 

4. Christina Perri

5. Bruno Mars

6. Train

7. Maroon 5

8. Adele

8 Things I'm Watching

1. NCIS

2. Criminal Minds

3. Scandal

4. Grey's Anatomy

5. Glee

6. Suits 

7. Sons Of Anarchy

8. Big Bang Theory

Bonus: Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson 

8 Things I'm Looking Forward To

1. Disney World (always!)

2. Last day of school

3. Warm sunny days

4. Wearing flip flops again. 

5. Not packing school lunch

6. Marissa getting her braces off (I'm sure she does too)

7. Playing outside with the puppies

8. Driving with the windows open

8 Things I Did Yesterday

1. Laundry (always) 

2. Worked

3. Spent more time than I should on Pinterest. 

4. Saw my niece in her school play

5. Picked up pizza

6. Let my daughter have a sleepover with her friend 

7. Cleaned up a leaking coffee cup (not fun)

8. Cooked pasta per requested as a late night "snack"

8 Things I Wish I Could Do

1. Move to Florida 

2. Lose more weight (working on it)

3. Stick to a schedule with things. 

4. Make a quilt out of all the old T shirts we have.

5. Learn my MacBook Pro better 

6. Learn Photoshop

7. Convince Joe to sell his business (so #1 would be possible)

8. Visit DisneyLand in CA

8 Things I Collect

1. The letter "S". I have a collection in my scraproom. 

2. Washi Tape 

3. Purses/Tote bags (always looking for the perfect one)

4. Disney Coffee Mugs

5. iPhone cases

6. Disney Trading Pins

7. Lady and the Tramp collectibles 

8. Owls

8 Places I'd Like To Go 

(for the 1st time or again) 

1. Italy (again)

2. Hawaii (again)

3. Australia

4. Arizona

5. California

6. Antigua 

7. Aruba

8. Las Vegas (again)

8 Must Have Items In My Purse

1. Wallet

2. Blistex

3. Tissues

4. Mirror

5. Any giftcards given to me (so I can randomly shop!) 

6. Checkbook

7. Gum

8. Pens 

Project Life 2013 Week Thirty-Five {The Disney Week}

Finally sharing my Project Life pages from our Disney trip in August.  The pictures may not be the greatest but I took them quickly with my iPhone. 

The trip took me forever to get done. I have a problem with over thinking things too much.  Looking back now, I'm happy with most of it.  You can almost tell when the mojo was flowing and when I was just forcing myself to get it done.  

I mostly used the 4x4 square pocket pages.  They fit a lot of pictures and worked great for me.  Each spread was done by day instead of weekly.  There was no way I'd narrow down the trip into one week.  I cut the day with my Silhouette using the "Waltograph" font.  I used a variety of papers from my stash and LOADS of embellies I've been hoarding (still haven't made a dent in it).

The top pocket with Winnie the Pooh and Tigger flips up for more pictures.  I did a lot of flip ups for the trip, just didn't take pictures of each one.  

Did some stitching to the Magical Memories pocket & I love how it pops.

This top picture of our hotel might look like a panoramic shot but it's not, just different angles.  I did take a panoramic of the hotel and used it in an insert but just didn't take a picture of it.  This post is long enough! LOL!

Had extra pictures for Tuesday so I added an insert.

The circle "GF" was a coaster from our room that I punched into a circle.  Made sure to use some of the memorabilia I brought home!

Had to include a visit from my friend Carla!  The "friends" part flips up for journaling.

The trip took a big chunk of the album.  So I ended the album with some highlights from the album time frame and started album number 3!