project life: weeks 1 thru 3

so, you may (or may not) remember that i decided to tackle project life this year. despite that i'm posting these layouts a few weeks late, i've actually done a pretty decent job of keeping up to date with this. and i'm truly loving it! 

i don't know if i will post all of my completed layouts here on the blog, but i really enjoy inspiration and getting ideas from others, so i thought i'd pay it forward, so to speak. (photo quality is horrible. my only excuse is laziness.)

instead of walking you through each layout bit-by-bit, i'm just including some photographs and then listing out information that might be helpful. 

:: three weeks of project life ::

Photos I included

:: special events

:: all of us in the car

:: restaurant

:: wrapped birthday gifts

:: friends hanging out in our home

:: pieces of home décor

:: self-portraits

:: art from daycare

:: picture messages sent to me from daycare

:: spencer at school (stolen from facebook)

:: spencer with his current “girlfriend” (taken on his iphone)

:: lots of everyday pictures around the house

:: our feet/shoes

:: the dogs

:: work calendar on laptop

:: journal

:: medicine

:: work project

:: pile of campaign mail

Stuff I included

:: game ticket

:: stickers from bowl game

:: coleman’s handwriting and art from daycare (cut to fit in pockets)

:: clothing tag

:: piece of airline ticket

:: itunes gift card

:: part of ibuprofen box

:: print out from doctor’s office

Design notes

:: everything seen is from the original project 365 kit (weekday stickers, overlay, "week of" cards, journaling cards, tri-fold journaling cards)

:: for photos that don’t really have much of a story, i just jotted notes with a black sharpie directly onto the picture.

:: in a lot of cases, i printed two vertical photos side-by-side on a 4x6 canvas.

:: i used my (new to me) vintage typewriter to do a week in review card and a couple of labels. the ribbon needs to be replaced but i foresee using this a lot in the future.

:: i like using small labels to just add a quick line to a photo 

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reminder: i am using leftover product from becky's very first project 365 kit (no longer available). 

confused about project life? start here.  

lom {connection layout}

during the weekend that i unplugged, and after i created the wallet photo pages, i finally did the actual *connections* layout from my category drawers. these photos were all found behind the grandparents tab. i originally pulled four, but ended up only using three. my goal was to capture my mom with her grandchildren when they were pretty young. there is no journaling, only a handwritten note under each photo to indicate who the kids are and the general time the photo was taken.

if you're curious, the far left is my oldest nephew, bo who just turned 18! the middle photo is coleman. the far right photo is teddy on the left (now almost 14) and maggie on the right (now 12).

these are the same papers i used to create several welcome gifts for neighbors. i really love them for some reason and have enjoyed using them (maybe because they are feminine...a type of  product i don't get to use very often). they are actually hand-me-down supplies from my mom's unwanted stash. interesting coincidence that i ended up using them to do a layout featuring her! thanks mom.

lom {wallet photo pages}

two weekends ago, when i decided to *unplug* on saturday, one of the things that i enjoyed was how it forced me to do something more productive with coleman's naptime. i spent time in my scrap studio working on my LOM system and projects. i wanted to complete one of the early assignments from class, which is to create a "connections" layout from your category drawers.

as i was looking for the connection, i came across all these extra wallets behind spencer's tab. i have a 5x7 album where i scrap all of his portraits (usually in a wallet or 3"x5" size). but since i was hanging on to these wallets, i figured i might as well do something with them. i came up with this super easy idea. i stole a few baseball card pages from spencer's room and slipped the wallets into them in a logical fashion.. no frills. no embellishments. no complications.

this first page contains portraits unrelated to school. i'm pretty sure there are some missing and if i find them, i can easily add them. i used my boring, but beloved, labelmaker to add dates/ages. this will be added to our all about us library album.

this is the backside of the above page. it contains photos that were all from the same photo shoot. we had so many that they warranted their own page.

this page contains his school portraits. i had some tabs with number words on them, so i used those to label the grades. there is room on the back to keep adding future grades. this page was slipped in the back of his school album. on the back side, i tucked in the tabs with future grade numbers so that i don't have to hunt them down when i add future portraits.

these are his actual baseball cards from his baseball seasons. i'm pretty sure we've ordered these each season that he's played, so there might be some missing. i am in the process of moving all of spencer's baseball related scrapbook pages into their own album, so i will probably add this to that album.

i love how quick and easy this is. now when we get new photos, i can just slip them into the appropriate page. i will definitely start this for coleman as well.

i remember {9.11}

every year i struggle with the *perfect* way to remember this day, honor this day. honestly, there is no right answer. i think the important thing is that we never forget.

the last couple of days, i kept thinking about the layout that i did about this day, 9 years ago. this morning, i pulled it out of my 2001 album and took a picture to share here with you. but you know what? i am so glad i did because i just got so much more from it than a mere blog post. as i stood here at the computer with the layout beside me, spencer comes over, takes it to his chair and reads it. all of it. when he was done, he looked at coleman and said "one day, when you're older, you'll understand" and then he brought the layout back to me, saying only "that's pretty impressive." and then he went upstairs, where he is right now. i wonder...is he sad? is he thinking about that day that he doesn't remember because he was too young? is he trying to make sense of it all?

at this moment, i am so incredibly glad that i took the time 9 years ago to document this event when it was still fresh and raw.

the layout is mostly journaling, with some photos cut from magazines. a good portion of the journaling is comprised of excerpts from president george w. bush's speeches during the days following 9-11. then i included a timeline of the tragedy and finally "my story".

journaling directly from layout

on the morning of september 11, 2001 i was at work in charlotte, nc at mergent, inc. a coworker, heather told me to go to cnn.com because a plane had crashed into the world trade center. i really didn't comprehend anything yet. once i heard about the 2nd plane, i knew it had to be on purpose. as the news unravelled it was all just so overwhelming. i immediately called matt, who was taking spencer to school, so i spoke to his mom. my sister sherry called and wanted me to go home. she was worried about me being in charlotte. i later found out mom felt the same way but didn't call because she didn't want to scare me. we were all glued to the radio at work. you couldn't access any news websites because they were so busy. they sent us home at 11:15. the next several weeks i watched the news constantly and listened to talk radio. i continue to pray for our country as president bush leads us into a war against terrorism. my patriotism is stronger than ever. i am proud to be an american and i am proud of those leading our country. i have accepted giving up small conveniences for our freedom. the images of that day will forever be in my mind & heart. written 10.2.2001

MY THOUGHTS FROM TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY:
i don't even know what to say or think. On my way home there is a big car dealership with a huge flag and it was at half mast...that is when i broke down. don't know why. just did. i am lucky & blessed that i do not have any close friends or relatives in the areas that have been attacked, but i can't even imagine what it's like for all those people...

it was so weird yesterday going on with my life...fixing dinner for spencer and matt. i feel guilty getting up and coming to work. so many people will never have dinner with their families again. so many people's lives will never be the same...yet we go on. i know we have to be strong or the terrorists win. it just seems so unfair...watching the tv is like watching some of those middle eastern countries that are constantly at war...it seemed impossible to be our country. i think that is why it is hitting me so much harder today. yesterday, they were horrible images on tv, but they were so horrific, it didn't seem real. now, the names of the dead are being announced, the numbers of missing and deceased are starting to develop...this makes it real.

even though i'm glad i wrote this, looking back is still doesn't even begin to capture the emotions of that tragic day and the weeks that followed. it is impossible for me to think about it without my eyes getting watery.

it's hard to believe we still have troops fighting because of this one day. i'm still very proud to be an american. i still pray for those sacrificing for our freedom. today, and every day, i will remember.

album {coleman's first birthday}

this weekend, i completed the photo album that captures coleman's first birthday party. i'm super excited to have this completed (just shy of six months after the big day!). even before the party happened, i had a "vision" of how i wanted this to come together. i'm pleased to say that it's pretty close and i'm happy with the results.

the cover: the green album was purchased from michael's. it's a basic "2-up" photo album (not a scrapbook). i added brown ribbon and one of the many circle embellishments from the party.

on the opening page, before the photos begin, i included an enlarged version of the invitation (this was matted and on display at the party).

the first photo page is just a couple of family shots from the quick photo shoot we had before the party.

this album, like many "2-up" options, had journaling areas on the inside edges of each page. i used leftover party supplies to cover them (cardstock, patterned paper, ribbon, circle embellishments, etc).

i did all journaling on the computer (in the same font used for the party). i printed them in 4x6 so i could easily slip them into photo spots.

i included actual things from the party where it made sense (bottom left is one of the many food labels).

not every 2-page spread contained journaling. some were all photos, or like shown here, a decorative "filler" was added.

at the party, guests were asked to write a note to the birthday boy. i combined these notes (bottom right), with photos of those guests, and my own journaled comments about those guests. i really love this. it combines faces with their own words, but also my notes about who these folks are and why they are important in coleman's life!

after the party was documented, i included photos and details from his daycare party.

the last section of the album includes bits & pieces of all the birthday cards he received. i made sure to cut out all of the handwritten sentiments. where i was able, i'd punch or cut out cute elements from the card as well. we end up with so many greeting cards and i feel bad throwing them away, but it's hard to save (and store) every single one. i love this method.

using this "photo album scrapbooking" technique makes a bunch of photos much more manageable. it's not quite as inspiring as standard scrapbooking, but i feel like it totally *works* for the right group of pictures. since most of my photos were consistent and all embellishments matched, i think it helped make this method come together nicely.

supplies: album - michael's; all ribbon & patterned paper - hobby lobby; scalloped punch - stampin' up; all digital elements were designed by me

most of the photos IN the album were taken by lindsay alexander photography.

layouts {spencer 5x7}

many moons ago, i started a 5x7 album for spencer to highlight his professional portraits. it actually started as something matt would keep on his desk at work, but turned into more of a memento we keep at home. and i love that i started it. i love having these all in one place. i have all intentions of doing the same thing for coleman. i'm tempted to do a different size, but will probably go with 5x7 so that the boys' mini albums are consistent.

anyway...when we get a new professional portrait of spencer, i slip a wallet or 3x5 into the next page protector in his album. every so often, i play "catch up" with the actual scrapping portion of it. as he's gotten older, this album has really started to fill up. in a normal year he has two school portraits, two baseball (spring and fall), and one basketball...plus any we actually have done on our own (which is usually at least one). that's six per year!!

i had gotten behind so the last couple of weekends, i tackled getting caught up.

i apologize for the poor photo quality. as you can see, i keep these super simple (so they are quick to create). the key is to capture the date/age and showcase the portrait.

lom {lesson 1 - least common layout}

as i mentioned in this post, i needed to create a layout that combined my least common categories (places, us, where, and why). i tend to associate the library of memories more with paper scrapbooking (though there is no logical reason why). however, i knew if i realistically wanted to do this assignment in the near future, it'd get done more quickly if i did it digitally. ultimately, the point is to capture memories so it doesn't really matter how that's accomplished, now does it??? exactly.

so, i did this last week while watching american idol:

JOURNALING READS:
seven years: the first set of photos was taken just days before matt and i got married; before we became an official family. the 2nd set shows how our family had recently grown. these illustrate how so much can change, while some things remain a constant.

photos taken 4.7.2002 & 9.7.2009 @ GLENCAIRN GARDENS IN ROCK HILL
 
as always - i used a layered digital template, for which i take no credit. i used a freebie kit and i'm horrible and keeping up with who designs what.

i just added this layout to the LOM galley...Lesson ONE is officially DONE (better late than never).