I managed to get back into my craft room for about 2 hours the other day. I spent some of that time cleaning and some of it finishing some pages I had already started.
Sorry the video quality is not fabulous. I used my old iPhone and I might have needed to focus too.
I know, it's really late to be getting started. But I took really good notes so it's actually not as daunting as it sounds.
One thing I wanted to do this year was combine a few more weeks together so that I'd have more room in the album. I like keeping the year down to one album, and I've had no problem combining a few weeks here and there in the past, but this year I wanted to do it more often than not. I'm off to a good start. ;)
This post will mainly be pictures, not a whole lot of explanation. If you want to know about a specific product, go ahead and ask in the comments and I'll see if I remember. ;)
Here's my intro page at the beginning of the album:
I normally put my word for the year in the first week spread, but this time it went really well here. The green you see under our stats part on the top left is actually green cork. Love it.
Week 1 Spread (I shoved the first few days of January into week 1 so it was 10 days):
Some close ups:
Olivia was so hoping her 'cheese heads' would get to go the Super Bowl.
And this was the first year my kids were really into the Rose Parade. Rae especially was enamored.
Seeds catalogs are rolling in and they just beautiful! And a coffee date with a friend highlighted my week.
Weeks 2-4 got combined onto one spread:
Some close ups of the left side:
The hubby prefers baked pumpkin doughnut holes for his birthday.
I created some yumilicious strawberry blood orange jam.
Dad an unusual homework assignment and needed some pics for a Power Point. The kids were happy to help stage some medical scenarios.
I think I'll do a video walk through of each quarter as I finish it, so look for that as each 3 months gets posted. I might do a little more explaining there.
So the last two weeks of the Whole 30 were hit and miss. More hit than miss, but still some misses. I gave into Starbucks twice. :( I also had a cinnamon roll one morning and a ton of crackers one afternoon when I didn't eat well and was starving. Other than that I was pretty good. I ate a lot of veggies and was able to alter a lot of family dinners for myself.
What I learned...I still like dairy. I don't crave sweets as much as I used to and the Paleo approved sweets are now what I crave (except for a few choice pieces of Halloween candy). Also, grains or gluten make me break out. I couldn't believe the clearness of my skin, except immediately following the days I ate a bread product. Lastly, when I eat healthier I find I'm less hungry at night, and therefore eat less stuff later than I should be.
What I'm doing from here: I'm planning on pretty much keeping it up. Yesterday I took the day off and didn't let myself think about it. Which was probably good considering what I ate with various relatives and such. My plan is to eat Whole 30 style for at least 25 days a month. I'm still going to keep track of what I eat because I find that makes me more mindful of what I'm eating and why. I'm also going to allow potatoes (because I really don't think they're carb evil), beans (cooked myself from dry), and I'm researching brown rice to see if I want to allow that as well. As for dairy, I'm trying to allow myself just cream in my coffee and homemade ranch for veggies. Cheese is the hardest thing to give up.
I figure this plan allows balance in what I think are still healthy items being left out in the Paleo fad (mostly good fad that it is), and also allows for special days or just crazy days, but still keeps me overall healthy and hopefully most of the those benefits I've been feeling the last month.
30 Days of Thankfulness
And with the beginning of November we have this year's 30 days of Thankfulness. I'm going to keep a small album this year with 30 things I'm thankful for, one thing each daily. I tried to do this last year but didn't get past day 2. ;) I'm really trying to make it a priority this year mostly because I really love what focusing on gratitude does for my mind and soul. Since I didn't get very far last year I'm actually going to use that album and just continue it. I'll be updating you here each week or so instead of trying to put it here daily. I will still be making daily notes and pages, just not doing the work of the blog post daily.
So this little baby is turning 7 this December. It's about the status-quo around here for me to just now be scrapping her siblings meeting her for the first time. ;)
This is mostly a combination of Stampin' Up! and My Mind's Eye. The 'Meet' I just hand wrote with my white Signo Gel Pen because I couldn't find what I wanted. The '{' and 'Olivia' were some thicker I got at Tuesday Morning.
I think the Love ticket was part of an artisan kit I got from Stampin' Up! a long time ago. The balloons I'm pretty sure are My Mind's Eye, as is the blue half doily sticker with the Love ticket and the little flower near the title. The vellum half doily is something I punched with my Stampin' Up! triple flower punch.
There are a few enamel dots here and there that I'm pretty sure are also My Mind's Eye. There's a red one on the balloon bouquet a blue one on the vellum doily flower thingy.
I'm really hoping to one day have a dedicated time and day to scrap so I can do more. Sigh.
I would have done more with my Silhouette on this but I can't find the cord to my dead laptop! This is serious business.
What crafty projects are you working on these days?
This was a crazy week. This was the last week of school before Christmas Break. It was full of holiday parties, concerts, shopping, etc....I was at the school almost everyday this week...and this was the week that I came to terms with the fact that I don't have more time with all the kids in school. I am just as busy, just in very different ways. This was the week I was making a lot of notes for myself to reflect back on once the holiday craziness was over. This was the week I realized I needed to prioritize (again) and say no more often.
Anyway,on the left side:
-title card
-pic of kids at a friend's house the last night of school before break. We had popcorn and hot cocoa and pizza and watched the Veggie Tales Christmas movie.
- Some filler pretty cards, just to keep it from looking so jumbled
-the hubby took and passed a CNA test - he's in RN/NP school, just took the CNA test to work while in school
-The youngest daughter's Christmas concert. Aren't they cute in reindeer antlers?! We went back to the class afterward to make gingerbread houses
.
On the right:
-Pic of the teacher gift this year- hot cocoa trays. Great idea for when you're on a budget. My son's teacher told me she took her tray up to the mountains with her kids to play in the snow. It made for fun memories. Her husband was just laid off and it made an inexpensive but great family memory over the holiday break. I LOVE stories like that!
- The son practicing cello religiously like a champ
-pic of the middle kid at her cookie decorating party/pajama day
-week in review
-The hubby and I had 1 day to shop together for the kids this year, and I found this totally hilarious calendar of the cows doing yoga. I wish I had a reason to buy it, but I didn't, so I took a picture of it to remember it by and laugh at during future weeks.
-On the bottom are two pics of the middle daughter at her Christmas concert. I used the branding strip from some patterned paper to embellish her pic a bit.
The papers in this spread are mostly old from my stash. The exception was the red and kraft reindeer paper which was from a haul video I put on Youtube during this season. The glitter snowflakes are Michael's Recollections line, and the puffy pine cone was a Jolie sticker from the previously mentioned haul.
These two weeks cover right after Thanksgiving to mid December. I went mostly with neutral Christmas patterns to fit all the daily life and Christmas color stuff in but also pay homage to the season. I get a little more Christmas festive in my December Daily album. Here's I try to include the main seasonal events but also document the non seasonal everyday life.
Here's the two page spread:
On the left:
-title card
-family picture from our photo shoot - we won free photos!
-My youngest thinks it's fun to copy Leviticus right out of the Bible into her notebook.
- A couple of pretty spaces. The wood tree is from Recollections, the red snowflake as well. The snow globe was from a cut apart sheet. It MIGHT have been the Webster's Pages ones.
- The weeks in review
- Notes my husband put in the kids lunch boxes while I was gone at the National Science Teacher's Association conference in Long Beach for a few days in December
- and lastly a picture of the view out the conference center window
On the right we have:
-A pic from a local church's Christmas Encounter we go to every year...I never tire of the scene with the angels singing and the sheep hanging out grazing.
-shopping for a Christmas tree - I journaled right onto the picture with a white Signo gel pen
- a couple more items from the Christmas encounter
- a pretty space with paper and more glittered snowflakes from Recollections
-the middle kid getting Student of the Month ;)
- my youngest using a Wendy's toy to 'crack a code' - she was enamored with the coded message thing
-another shot of the student of the month group
I'm putting final touches on the last of the pages of 2014 (hopefully tomorrow) and getting started on 2015.
This was the week of Thanksgiving and my middle kid's birthday (on Thanksgiving). I actually forgot to take pics during the meal, of the meal spread out, guests, etc... And I know somewhere I have pictures of taking my daughter to the art museum, but I can't find them. That's unusual for me.
On the left:
-title card
-week in review
-deep frying turkey
-I wrote the menu and people on one card since I had no pics
-the gold leaves are from the place settings
-A pic of a place setting this year
On the right:
-the day after Thanksgiving we went to lighting of a local inn
-ants came in the mail for an ant farm a family friend gave us
-the hubby and I went to see the LA Galaxy in a playoff game against the Seattle Sounders
-My youngest is doing her own hair these days, odd style, but she likes it
-1 pic from Rae's birthday, we celebrated 1 day early so she wouldn't have to compete with Thanksgiving (and for my ow sanity)
-my son using birthday balloons as muscles.
More birthday pics and the missing museum pics will go on her birthday scrapbook page when I get around to that. Since I have Project Life I am not so worried about 'keeping up' with those pages. I get them done when I feel like it and I am truly happy with that. By the way, the art museum was her request.
Almost done with PL 2014. It's amazing how I've learned over the past two years to really not feel behind, to enjoy the process, and to love scrapbooking.
Week 46 was the week before Thanksgiving and the holiday season busy-ness was in full swing. There was a lot going on at the kids school in addition to my son's soccer playoffs.
I scrapped this one from my stash.
On the left:
-title card
-an ultrasound order for my knee to show I went and got one (didn't take a pic)
-a jag-a-thon at school- I included all the kids lapsheets even though I only had pics of one of my kids
-Thanksgiving outfit on my youngest in kinder
-a pic of my daughter's kinder teacher- I went in my normal work day at school and found a pilgrim teaching. :) I'll be putting this one in the kid's school yearbook
-week in review
On the right:
-pics of my kids "camping" on the trampoline in their sleeping bags
-my son's end of season soccer party at the bowling alley
-youngest daughter snuggling under my coat during a cold playoff game
- pics from the soccer playoff final game, including kicks to end the tie
- an egg experiment my kids wanted to do using salt water and fresh water - thanks Bill Nye app
I did most of my journaling this week straight onto the photos with either a sigma white gel pen or a black very fine point Sharpie.
My word this year was inspired by a song. It moved me when it first came out, and still moves me today. It really describes how I want my year to go. If you've read my latest post on TheElementaryProfessor.blogspot.com you know I sabotage my own success. I have some issues to deal with this year.
My heart burns every time I hear the lines in the chorus of this song:
WE KNOW WE WERE MADE FOR SO MUCH MORE THAN ORDINARY LIVES IT’S TIME FOR US TO MORE THAN JUST SURVIVE WE WERE MADE TO THRIVE
Here's a link to a video of the song:
Sadly, I kept pushing this word out of my mind. Why? Because it was Ali's word last year. I know that's a dumb reason, but I've always had original words that were not inspired by reading someone else's. That's also the case here, but I was afraid of people thinking I was copying her word. Even though it was totally inspired in a different way and I didn't connect with it until about August of last year. My dear friend Heather helped me get over myself for this one. I know Ali would want that too. ;) And it really goes back to me sabotaging my own success. Trying to not do that this year. Trying to allow myself to
Thanks again to my great friend Heather for making me a bunch of Thrive inspiration notes.
I share that story with you because part of thriving, for me, is letting go of how others think of me. Everytime I think I'm so over that, that it's so junior high, God shows me another way that I let that type of immaturity rule my life. It's embarassing. So I'm sharing it here. ;)
Here's to a year of thriving. Thriving through letting go, clearing out, enjoying, creating success, and an atmosphere of health in all areas.
The title card has thickers with a wood grain. Love me some wood grain. ;)
Left side:
- I have a selfie from my birthday and a journal card about changes over the past few years.
-my kids at Aunt JoAnn and Uncle DeWayne's 50th anniversary party
-A screen shot of a text conversation with my son. He's started texting me with dad's phone on their way home from soccer practice. I just wanted to capture the beginning of his texting life and excitement. Especially since he doesn't have anything to text about so he just tells me how awesome I am. ;)
-A text I woke up to from my husbad
-my daughter practicing french braids on my hair
-My middle kid eating lunch with a monkey on her back
Here's a closer up of the birthday journaling:
On the right side:
- Weeks in review
-my hubby let my daughter paint his toes
-an eye injury during soccer practice - black eye for hubby
-a lunch date with the husband after a doctor's appointment for my bum knee
-my youngest daughter wore unmatching shoes to the soccer game, on purpose
-the oldest orders (and loves) oolong chilean sea bass at my birthday dinner out at PF Changs
-middle kid soccer party
-birthday flowers
Almost done with the year. During this, my second year of doing Project Life, I've really learned to let go of staying on time, capture the memories, and enjoy the process in a more relaxed manner. I don't get stressed about getting behind, because I know my notes are adequate. I also have been able to keep things in 1 album again because I combine some weeks where I wrote less notes. And I'm ok with that.