December Daily 2013, The First Half

As I sit on my couch tonight, drinking hot cocoa and watching National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, thinking over the month, I realize how very blessed we are. My problems and stresses, that seem so insurmountable as I face them every day, pale in comparison to what so many in the world, even close friends and family, are facing right now. We have a home, car, food, steady job, and even toys under the tree. It's been a rough year, but because God is with us, Emmanuel has come, it's all worth it. Every tear, every doctor visit, every dirty diaper, every lonely day. I'm so thankful for my longsuffering, sweet husband, and for our three crazy, amazing boys. Merry Christmas!!

Not technically December, but our new elf's arrival (christened Twinkle Thomas) is certainly a big holiday event! This new tradition has been a huge hit.

More journaling on the back of the Countdown card. For our Advent "calendar" this year, I tucked journaling cards into little 3x4 linen bags that my friend stamped with numbers for me. Each day we did something fun, a craft, small gift, or activity. Often Twinkle Thomas got involved, appearing with a new craft (or tangled up in it!) some mornings.

Journaling tucked on the red card about how much I love my Hallmark ornament collection.

Please excuse the leftover sticky note! 

By far my favorite part of the month, the few days my parents flew in to visit! An early Christmas celebration, children's museum, Santa's Wonderland at the train museum, and more precious memories crammed into a short six days!

Our movie's done, three adorably pint-size bikes are put together and hidden away, gifts have been magically relocated under the tree, and Twinkle Thomas' goodbye letter is printed, wrapped in tinsel, and stowed behind the tree. After all the other presents are unwrapped, the boys will find his letter, which will lead them on a scavenger hunt to find the bikes! I am so excited I'm not even tired and it's way past my bedtime. Time to sleep and wake up to Christmas! It may be a day late, but my boys don't care and what's important is we're together and IT'S CHRISTMAS!!!!!

Merry Christmas :)

Project Life, Week 36

I finally got the last few photos printed from Riah's birthday for my week 36 layout. My baby is 2!!! Wow. I kept it simple with one of my favorite inserts, Design I, to include some Instagram and other photos I snapped during the day. I've been enjoying using the Rhonna Farrer app to add cute overlays, text, and designs to my photos right in the phone, which minimizes the time I spend editing on my computer each week. Some weeks I actually do all the editing and ordering prints from my phone - isn't technology amazing?! I do want to work on taking more DSLR pictures, though.

On the left side, I worked in a few little hybrid touches. The "letter b" collage is from the 365: Unscripted 3x4 collage cards, by Traci Reed, with a paper and letter from her recent collab Virtuoso. I printed that "Together is the best place to be" overlay (I think it's from my Studio Calico class) onto transparency paper. Paper products used include Studio Calico cards and that awesome Scraptastic "Feeling Like This" stamp. Plus my usual washi, veneer, and sequins :)

More hybrid here including the chalkboard card from Traci Reed's Mr. Mister cards, a Studio Calico freebie (polaroid picture), and the Rhonna Farrer app. And it's a little hard to see in the photo, but there's a days of the week overlay on the middle right journaling card. That's from Traci's 365Unscripted: 3x4 Transparencies 2 set. Next time I print transparencies I'll be sure to make the colors darker!

I wrote a short letter to Riah and tucked it in a little pocket behind his photo. I did the same thing for Avyn this year, and hope I remember to make that a tradition for each birthday now!

And here's the insert. I took several videos throughout the day to share with family who couldn't celebrate with us, and after some trial and error, managed to (hopefully!) create QR codes that link to those videos. I should probably test that...

Week 37 happens to be Ali Edwards' Week in the Life project, and I chose to participate again this year. I won't have it all finished until next week, but it will be several spreads and inserts. Basically I did it as a more in-depth Project Life style. I'm also still keeping up with 30 Lists, following along with Fat Mum Slim's photo a day on Instagram, and just started a class I won, Picture Everyday, at Big Picture Classes. Whew. Busy month for memory-keeping, but I'm loving it. Keeps my mind off the more depressing stuff of life, and I really need that right now.

30 Days of Lists, September 2013: My Journal

If you've never heard of this thing called 30 Days of Lists, well, it's exactly what it sounds like. Thirty days of list prompts, offered twice a year, by the creative gals over at the 30 Days of Lists blog. There's a whole community of fellow listers to inspire and motivate you, a private blog where ideas, giveaways, and daily prompts are posted, and a new-to-this-round private Facebook group. I'm also excited about posting my lists to Instagram (hashtag #30lists) and seeing other listers there, too.
The fun starts tomorrow, September 1st, and I'm all ready to go with my journal. I had this adorable Big Dreams Photo Journal kit from Simple Scrapper sitting around and decided this would be the perfect project for it.

And here's my album cover:

To set myself up for success, I pulled together everything I thought I might want to use in the album - printed-off 30 Days of Lists cards (included with purchase), the embellishments from the kit, a pen and mini glue stick, and a few extra labels, stickers, sequins and veneer from my stash. I'm pretty proud of myself. Going to keep it simple, and get it done. I tucked it all into this Timeless Beauty Bag from Thirty-One Gifts:

I don't have that much makeup, but I certainly have enough scrapbook supplies to fill a few of these nifty totes. Maybe more than a few. Priorities, people. 

If you're listing this month, too, share a link to your blog/Facebook/Instagram/wherever and I'd love to follow you. This project inspired my longtime friend Erin to resurrect her blog, LifeInk List Maker, and I'm super excited to read her words this month. Always thought-provoking. Or funny. Or head-scratching. Sometimes all three. She's pretty cool. 

See you back here next week for my next Project Life installment, and my first few lists!