Project Life - Week 5

I found myself struggling this week, too much to share and not enough space. I found myself leaving things out and that was hard for me. I'm really trying to keep this project to one volume only, looking long term, I don't want to get in the habit of having 2-3 additional scrapbooks every year for Project Life plus the other albums I do. I'm hoping that this album ends up being a place for more day to day stuff that I wouldn't normally do a layout about. I'll still capture the big events in Project Life but just the high points. Our family albums and Simone's albums will be the place to tell the bigger stories and the events in our lives, where I have room to spread out and really tell the story.

That doesn't mean you may not see a pop up or an insert here or there, I did just order some stuff to do that. I find that since I still don't have the final page protectors I'm skipping some elements. When I finally have them I'll be able to attach more to the pockets, maybe do some sewing and have elements sticking out of the pockets.  I'm looking forward to them coming back in stock in the next few weeks!

Here's a look at the two pages for the week, another colorful week. I've started to realize, I'm incapable of having monotone pages that are soft and pretty despite how much I love that look.

Here's a close up of the left side

Again I waited until the end to figure this slot out, I chose this card to balance the gray I used in the bottom right slot of this side. I ended up coloring in one of the "Remember" that was already highlighted with an orange sharpie, added a date stamp also in orange, this date stamp is a bit bigger than the one I've used on previous pages, its from 7Gypsies and the date is also laid out in the European style not the typical Month, Date, Year. I also added a chipboard element from the January Studio Calico kit, it really needed something.

Obviously this is not a photo I took it, came in an email update from US Weekly magazine about the SAG awards. I loved that it showed the fashions from the night and that it was all the Glee women. I just grabbed the image from the email and saved it to my photo stream, cropped it to the size I needed and added the banner and text and printed it all out on photo paper. 

Here is a photo I posted on Instagram Sunday morning of some yummy cinnamon rolls we made and then a shot of a cookie and milk break we took one day. I like to take photos of food, have you noticed that yet?

Simone got a new pair of shoes this week, not because she needed them, because they were so cute! I wish they came in my size, I would have totally bought them for myself. I also found a place online that will create custom Keep Calm images for you. I played around and this is what I made. Love it, look for more of these as the year goes on.

I love Glee and look forward to watching it every week. I wasn't exactly looking forward to the Michael Jackson episode but I ended up really liking it so I found this image online to include and talk about the episode.

Here are some images I posted on Instagram with a chevron pattern behind.  I'm really trying to be better about including my self in this album so the photo a day prompt for Jan 31st was a self portrait so here it is. I loved it so much I changed all my avatar's to this picture. What is it about Instagram filters that takes away all the wrinkles and lines. Thank you filters, for making me look young!

Isn't that little crown dish so cute! It's from Michael's and is intended to be a votive holder but I'm using it for jewelery.

Here's a look at the right side

Hey look more Chevron pattern! I redesigned by blog this past week so I wanted to include a screen capture from that day to show the change. See there's that picture again...

The next slot is from Friday, Larry helped Mark move their boat to Isleton so Simone and I drove to pick him up. We had lunch at a restaurant with a giant lobster out front, it demanded a photo op. The journaling label is digital, I added the text and printed it on photo paper.

I didn't add any journaling to the slot about the blog redesign so I added the journaling to this slot where I also talked about putting out Valentine's Day decorations that same day.  The journaling card is from Cathy Zielske and can be found at Designer Digitals. Next to it was a photo I took of a class I'm taking online from Cathy Zielske!

I tweeted about the class and got a response from Cathy so I included a screen grab of that.  Love it!

Next to it is a picture of a revolving bin I purchased on line to house my scrapbook supplies. The message boards over at Studio Calico are in love with this piece and it's gotten a lot of attention. I need to put it together and get it painted since were having warm weather this week.

Here's the slot that troubled me so much this week, we all went to a birthday party for a friend and I had a ton of photos to include as well as the invitation. I really had to edit my photos and I may still include a pop up using these once I get the final protectors.  But without them I don't want to attach anything permanently just yet.  I ended up just choosing my favorite from the day and going with that.  The rest of the photos will be made into a layout for Simone's album

 A dear friend of mine came over for dinner Saturday night, she was delayed a bit so I included a screen capture of our texts since I didn't take a photo of the two of us together.  I did get a few shots of her boyfriend doing some magic tricks with Simone that I loved.  I'm really kicking myself for not handing the camera over for a shot of the two of us.

I'm looking forward to the rest of this week, I'm going to a Tupperware Party tonight, haven't been to one of those in forever, Friday is Parent's Night Out and Saturday my brother is coming to visit. I haven't seen him in over a year so I'm really looking forward to seeing him.

I'll be back on Friday with something quick so hope to see you then!

Super Bowl recap

So the Hot Bacon Dip was a huge hit!  I would totally make it again.  I served it with Ritz Crackers and Celery sticks for those trying to keep the carbs at bay and it was even good with that.  I had to increase my cooking time since the bread I used was a really hearty sourdough round with a really thick crust.  I think if you have a softer bread shell you can stick to the allotted cooking time.  If you want the recipe check out Friday's post below.

Here's a look at the dip in action at the party and some of the other cute food out on display.

The hostess made the cutest Strawberry Margarita Jello shots

There may or may not have been a Superbowl Pool and we may or may not have won 3 of the 4 Quarters.  Woo Hoo for us!  Allegedly...

During the game the ladies made some Post it Note holders, an idea found on Pinterest.  They turned out really cute, even Simone made one, the pink polka dot one in the center.  My two are the right, the blue one that says Things to Do, and the yellow one with the big flower.

The best part of the whole day was this, the Queen of Pops halftime show.  Man I love Madonna!  I just love how much fun she seemed to have during the show.  She had a huge smile on her face the whole time and I loved that.  I also love that she performed my favorite song, Like a Prayer.  It still resonates with me and I love it.  Way to Go Madonna!

The only downside to the day was not seeing the 49ers play the game.  A friend posted this on facebook today and I loved it.

Your sure did Joe!  I had the HUGEST crush on Joe Montana when he took the team to the Superbowl for the first time.  I saved all the articles from the newspaper and cut out every picture of him I could find and saved them in a 49er folder.  I wonder if its still around somewhere, that would be a hoot to see.  By the way, he still looks good!

I hope you all had a great day of football and yummy food too!

Blog Redesign and some recipes

So what do you think?  I've been thinking about changing up the blog design recently and had a "just do it now" burst of energy so Wednesday evening when I should have been doing other things I sat down to tackle it.  I stuck with the same basic header just changed the background to something that was a bit more "me." The other just felt a bit to country for me, not really my style.  It served me well for almost the whole first year but I like the new fresh modern look.  Once thing I realized when doing this and struggling with it a bit was I need to take a beginning HTML class just so I understand the basics, it's hard to figure out when you have no idea what all the crazy symbols mean, ubber frustrating for sure.

Busy weekend planned, Simone and I are off later to pick up Larry in the Delta (he's helping our Brother in Law move their boat) a bit later today.  Tomorrow we are going to a 5 year olds birthday party and then we're having a really good friend of mine over for dinner.  I haven't seen her since we moved so I'm excited to see her and her boyfriend and his daughter too. Sunday is the Super Bowl, could care less about the teams but its always fun to get together for some yummy game day food.  Here's what I'm making if you are interested.

It's called Hot Bacon Cheese Dip and my sister in law made it and said it was delish.  I can't wait to try it.

I think I'm also going to make this cake, it's from the Penzy's catalog and it sounds awesome, It's called Peanut Butter Pound Cake.  Sorry I don't have a picture, I'll take one after I make it.  It sounds heavenly and I love peanut butter and chocolate together.

Have a wonderful weekend, see you back on Monday!

Project Life - Week 4

It was nice putting these pages together on Sunday, it was quiet here and it went together pretty smoothly.  I did the left side then took a break and finished the right side.  Someone commented on Instagram asking what kit I'm using and it wasn't until that question was asked that I realized I used nothing from my Clementine kit this week.  I did however use a few of Marcy Penner's digital journaling cards and I love them.

Here's a look at the two pages together.  A lot of green and orange this week with pops of red by chance.

And here's a close up of the left side.

It was our Anniversary last Sunday so I knew I wanted to highlight that on the first card. There was talk recently over on the Studio Calico message board about bathroom people stamps. I knew I had received the woman in a kit I purchased ages ago so I dug her out and then went hunting for the man to go with her. The stamps are from Scenic Route and appear to be discontinued but I did find the man online so I picked him up to have the couple. I cannot tell you how much I love the way it turned out. The best part is the background which is one of Marcy's digital journaling cards that I purchased. The heart is punched out of red glitter paper, hard to see in this picture. The people were stamped with an old Adirondack dye ink pad in Lettuce.

The next slot is a photo collage I posted on Insagram of my new favorite lipsticks, Revlon Lip Butters.  They're not MAC, so ssshhh don't tell anyone!  The background paper is a lime green houndstooth from Basic Grey with a piece of Anna Griffin paper tape and a round journaling spot that I had on hand.  I love the way this slots pops.

This slot is a screen capture of a "conversation" I had with Siri when I asked her to send my sister in law a text message.  Gotta love her thoughtfulness.  The other slot was made with Cathy Zielske's tiny templates, I put two photos instead of the one, just layered them over each other.

The next slot is a shot I took of my first Studio Calico kit that came last week.  The wood grain paper and the logo were cut from an insert that came in the box.  I used a piece as the base and just cut out the circle and attached it on top of my photo that I shrank down to 2x2.  The fabric tab is from Smash. The other photo is attached to one of Marcy's journaling cards with the text typed and then stamped with the Tuesday from one of the 7Gypsies date rollers.

I love this journaling card from Gina Miller, I placed a photo on top added my journaling and printed the whole thing on photo paper, easy!

This is cute collage of some of the photos of Simone learning to ride her bike.  I added the journaling on top before I printed it out and then attached the paper tag from Smash.

Here's a close up of the right side, more green and orange.

Simone had her first Lunchables the other day when we had lunch with Grandma so I saved the packaging.  I just cut it out where it made sense and attached it to the top of my photo.

We spent some time organizing in the garage, a simple collage with a journaling element sized down to add the day of the week.  Does anyone else's husband save golf balls like mine does?

My husband is also pretty addicted to playing Slotomania so I snapped this shot of his iPad screen when he got a notice that he had more funds, journaling on a Martha Stewart for Staples lable.  Another tiny template with a photo and journaling.

Goofing off at Toys R Us and a shot of our Kleenex since we've been sick.  Love the chevron pattern on that Kleenex box too!

A collage of photos from the library attached to a journaling card of Marcy's.  I like her grid backgrounds a lot, the color and size is perfect.  I also got a new Smash date stamp just so I could have the I ♥ this and the date.

Laundry and catching up on scrapbooking on Saturday.  As you can see I'm a planner and even plan out my pages.  I like to do things chronologically so it helps me keep it straight.  I know, crazy!

And that's all she wrote!  All in all I love the way it came together this week thanks for checking in.  Hope to see you next week!