Project Life | Week Fourteen

Still loving this project, still working on it although I'm a bit behind on getting my journaling and photos into this album.  But that's okay.  I've kind of been going with the flow on this, sometimes I have bits and pieces of time to work on this project, finish a weeks layout, and maybe post it on my blog here.  Other times it seems I'm lucky if I can just stick to taking photos and setting aside pieces of stuff I might want to save. I'm thinking that as I head in to fall I'm going to cut back and posting my project here on my blog, maybe a highlight here and there but definitely not every week like I have been.  Even though I'm behind on this project right now, I am still aware of how of how it motivates me to take photos and capture moments in our life, the special occasions as well as the everyday. 

Project Life | Weeks Twelve & Thirteen

WEEK TWELVE: JULY 4 TO JULY 10

Another busy wee that just seemed to fly by.  Since Monday was Independence Day I had the day off, and in the evening we went over to some friends of ours for a BBQ and fireworks with a bunch of other people.  It was fun. : )

Throughout this project I've been kind of making it as I go along.  Above I used some more of the great digital product available through Ali Edwards at Designer Digitals, the Embracing the Everyday Brushes and Stamps.  This whole pack is great.  Above is a picture of the journaling for this week. 

Project Life | Week Eleven

WEEK ELEVEN: JUNE 27 TO JULY 3

Love this week and the fact that we finally got a chance to head to the coast.  This weekend was a long holiday one with Independence Day falling on a Monday.  On Saturday we decided to take a day trip to the Oregon coast and visit some of our favorite spots, including Florence and Honeyman State Park.  This was Maggie's first trip to the beach and she loved it. : )  Our work weeks are so busy, I love getting the chance to spend time like this with family! 

Project Life | Weeks Nine and Ten

WEEK NINE

Still playing a little catch up with this project.  With the business of these past several weeks I've noticed that some weeks I have more photos and ephemera, and some I have less.  For weeks Nine and Ten I had a single page for each week.  Here's a look at Week Nine:

Project Life | Weeks Six and Seven & Week Eight

WEEKS SIX & SEVEN

Now that we are for the most part settled in I am finally getting the chance to catch up on my Project Life and posting that here. Weeks six and seven fell during the time of our move, so I decided to highlight both weeks with just one layout.  Here's a look at the left side:

Independence Day 2011

Florence 2011

Just wanted express my thanks and gratitude to the men and women who have and continue to serve, sacrifice and make the way for our independence, and to God for His blessing and grace on this nation.  Hope everyone has a safe and happy 4th of July!

Unedited Beauty

There is something to be said for something beautiful in it's natural form.  Here are a few unedited photos I shot a few weeks back:

Project Life | Weeks Four & Five

WEEK FOUR

Things have been so busy around here lately, I debated whether or not I want to try and keep posting this project here on my blog.  I love capturing these memories and moments, but am not so sure I will keep up on posting it here.  But, since I started I want to try, just probably not as often and more brief.  So here's a look at the left side of week four:

Project Life | Week Three

I'm not sure if it was like this for everyone but for me this week seemed to fly by.  It was my first week back after a long stretch of being a SAHM, so maybe that's why.  Definitely makes me appreciate even more the moments I have with my family at home.  I'm finding more that my time to put this project together is getting scrunched into the weekend.  Here's a look at the left side of this week:

Project Life | Week Two

Project Life Week Two...this week was actually a bit of a challenge to decide what I wanted to include in this album.  There were several historic current events I wanted to capture, as well as just moments around the house.  Here's a look at the left side:

Brand New Baby Girl

The other Wednesday was a half day at the kids' school, so Katie and I took the chance to scrapbook together.  I love getting the chance to do that with her.  She worked on a couple layouts while I worked on this layout for Maggie's album.  I love this photo of Matt and her the day she was born.  It's one of my favorites.  Here's a closer look:

Bacon Mac & Cheese

Earlier this week I made this mac & cheese for dinner...and it was exquisite!  Hands down the best macaroni and cheese I've ever had.  If you are a pasta lover and enjoy mac and cheese you might want to try this recipe!  In our house this had made the list of famous meals.

Project Life | Beginning

And so it begins!  After months of hoping I had started Project Life at the beginning of the year, I am giving in and getting going.  For those of you who are wondering what Project Life is, you can learn more about it at Becky Higgin's blog here.  I also love getting inspirations from Ali Edwards and Cathy Zielske. 

One of the things I am loving so far about this project is how it really does revolutionize scrapbooking.  Not as basic as a plain photo album but not as complicated as a scrapbook page...just a happy marriage of the two. : )  Will I continue to traditionally scrapbook?  Of course!  However, these days I'm finding it challenging to find the time to pull those together like I'd like to.  So with the Project Life approach I'll be able to capture the moments I want to throughout the week without the pressure of creating a 'finished' scrapbook page.  Not a photo a day, just different moments/memories throughout the week.

Classic Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

This weekend I decided to try my hand at making my own buttercream frosting and found this recipe from Savory Sweet Life.  To say that I am loving this site would be an understatement, and I am really looking forward to trying out some of the recipes I found here!  I'm not a huge baker and really don't have any advanced skills in the kitchen, but the end results were delicious (so if I can do this so can you)!  I really didn't need a big bowl of butter and sugar calling my name, but there's just something fun about trying something new, and giving my kiddos a chance to have fun in the kitchen too. 

So we turned this...

...into this:

'Stenciling' with Adobe Photoshop CS5

I decided last minute that I'd send one of the photos I recently got of Maggie along with a holiday card this year for  Easter.  After playing around in Photoshop I found a really neat technique so I figured I'd share it!  It's super easy and leaves the look of stenciled letters onto the photograph in any text you want.