Monthly Recap - May 2012

Here's another of my monthly recap pages for my 2012 album. I create "recap" pages after I've finished scrapping any other individual pages for that particular month. I found that I've always got other photos that I like, and that tell a story, that haven't been included in my family album on an individual scrapbook page. So ... I create a couple of recap pages. It's been fun. I seem to really be drawn to the Project Life format so that's what I've been using for 2012. (I did recap pages in 2011 as well, but used a completely different format).

So ... this is my May 2012 recap:

For these pages I used mostly the awesome designs of Splendid Fiins, including: A Little Birdie Told Me cards, Camera Love cards, Look At It cards, 2012 Calendar cards, Grey Skies Volume 1 paper, Very Krafty Mixed Bag paper. I also used a Becky Higgins Project Life template as well as Karla Dudley's Essential Stitches.

Tech Support (Reason #7,563 I love Digi Scrapping)

Reason number 7,563 why I love digi scrapping ... (yes I love random numbers)

... because sometimes,when I finish scrapping a page and I save it as a final JPG I realize that I already scrapped those very same photos with essentially the very same story. At that point I'm a little frustrated with myself for not remembering that I'd already scrapped those memories (giving myself a break, I could have scrapped those photos quite some time ago - you never know!). That's where the joy of digi scrapping comes in. I take a deep breath ... remind myself that I like the design of the page and I simply need to find some different photos that I can essentially display in that "digi frame." 

That's what happened to me with this page. I saved my "Night Out" page to final tonight, I looked at my 2012 "to be printed" scrapbook page folder, and then realized that I'd already scrapped those very same photos. (Deja vu ... this happened to me about a month or two ago ... darn!)

So ... I had these photos of my son being tech support for my husband. It warmed my heart seeing my guys working together on a computer issue. (It made me realize my son really is growing up so fast!) ... So I plopped these photos in my page, changed up my journaling and voila ... I've got a new page!

My new (current page):

My oopsy page:

And ... since this is a new post, the supply list again, is:

Karla Dudley

Remarkable (paper)

Life Recorded (circle tag, circle wordart, today overlay)

25 Days of Summer (bracket tag)

Clear Essentials (screw)

Audacious Designs

Everyday Celebrations (stitching)

Fonts

Very Fine Serif & Zapfino

Night out with the grownups!

Hmmm. The name of my post ... yes. I did say grownups. That probably means we don't get out as often as we probably should. Ha! (Maybe I need to make that a belated New Year's resolution!)

Anyway ... back in November - the Friday of Thanksgiving week - as we were between holiday celebrations with my family and my husband's family we had Friday night free. We were going to do a family thing and go to a movie with the kids and their cousins and my sister, her husband and my mom. We could not, for the life of us, come up with a movie that everyone could decide on. So ... we decided we'd just make it an adult night out. The kids were all more than happy to stay home without us so it worked out just fine. We went to the movie The Life of Pi - in 3D. Awesome awesome movie. I went to it with no preconceived notions about it at all. Love that! I only had my iPhone with me so I didn't get any great photos, but at least I got these pics - grainy as they may be!

So, fun night out ... fun page to put together!

FYI, for this page I used a bunch of fun stuff from Karla Dudley who now is at Pixels & Co. For this page I used papers from her Remarkable kid, a circle tag, circle wordart and today overlay from her Life Recorded kit, a bracket tag from her 25 Days of Summer kit and a screw from her Clear Essentials kit. I also used Audacious Designs' Everyday Celebrations stitching and the fonts Very Fine Serif and Zapfino.

A Thanksgiving Celebration

My cousin invited the family over to their house to celebrate Thanksgiving the Saturday after Thanksgiving. It was great fun hanging out with my cousins and their families!

For you digi scrappers, for this page I used:

Design by Dani's Birds of a Feather kit

Carina Gardner's Essential Stitches

and the font Very Fine Serif

2013 Project Life: Week 2: January 6 - January 12

I scrapped Week 2 of Project Life this morning. I love it! It's so much fun. I think I'm really going to enjoy it!

For now I've decided on two things to help the pages go together fairly quickly. I've decided that I'm going to, in large part, try to stick to just ONE digi kit per week (this week I used Becky Higgin's Clementine Project Life kit). I like the idea of using a different kit every week. I don't think I'll get bored that way (I don't want to use the same kit all the time). AND then I don't have to think about searching my entire huge digi stash for other cards and things that might work on my page. Of course I might dabble in other stuff a little bit, but largely I'll just use one kit.

I've also decided on a time to put together my pages. My weeks end on Saturday so my thought is that I'll try and put my page together every Sunday morning. So far so good. OK, it's only been 2 weeks but I'm still going to say that!

It was a fun week. One of the huge things this week was how very many games of card we played this week. "Barbara's Gin" was huge. We pretty much played at least a game or two every morning before school and then again after school and then oftentimes at night too. It was fun.

One of our family Thanksgiving celebrations this year

I just got around to putting together some pictures from a Thanksgiving celebration we hosted at our house this year. This celebration was for my husband's side of the family. We had kind of a big group - 31 people and 2 dogs. It was lots of fun and great fun to see and hang out with everyone!

For these pages I used:
Crystal Wilkerson's September 2009 Paper Collection and Fall Wordart
Patti Knox's Epoxy Extravaganza Thanksgiving
Fonts: Very Fine Serif & Impacted

January Jumpstart Challenges at Pixels & Co.

An awesome new store opened up in digiland this January. Pixels & Co. Some of my very favorite designers have made their home over there. Check 'em out. They're at www.pixelsandcompany.com

Pixels & Co. is having daily jump start challenges during the month of January. I was inspired by the January 5th jump start and here's my take on the page:

For this page I used a largely a bunch of kits from Karla Dudley - one of the designers over at Pixels & Co. Here's my list:

Karla Dudley: Right Now (paper); Ashbee (washi tape); Digi Essentials (stitching); 2011 DHD Blog Hop (tag & love overlay)
Katie Pertiet: Simple Spots 3 (good life button - recolored)
One Little Bird: Storyteller (camera button)

Now ... also to mention ... on January 7th Pixels & Co chose one of MY layouts for a challenge. How fun is that? I'm enjoying the pages I've seen that were "jump started" with my page. FYI, mine was a page I created in 2011. If you want to check it out, click here for the details of the January 7th challenge. This is my layout:

A Hard Core Gamer

My son preordered and waited for AGES for the release of the Call of Duty Black Ops 2 game (it came out in mid-November - he saved for and bought this fancy edition himself). Didn't we all? Ha! Just kidding! Was he ever excited about it's release. The night before it was officially released he really (truly!) hoped that I'd go to the store at midnight and pick it up for him. While I'm a nice mom (I think!) I didn't do that. (Besides it being midnight - eek! - I also wasn't going to let him game in the middle of the night - PLUS it was a school night!) I did pick up the game as soon as I got off work and brought it home for him. He was thrilled to have his game so quickly.

While I did want to scrap a page about his happiness over this game ... I also wanted to include that while he can be a crazy gamer (most teen boys are I think), he was super sweet as well. The night after he got it, even though he could have been playing his game, he offered to show me how to play. Let me tell you, I am completely clueless on how to use a PS3 remote. COMPLETELY clueless. We spent about a 1/2 hour (maybe even an hour) of him patiently showing me the basics. It was fun ... but more than that ... I really enjoyed hanging out with my son and having him teach me how to run his game.

He sure is a great kid!

My supply list for this page is:
Simply Tiffany Studio's 25 Days of Summer
Karla Dudley's Stamp Sheet Boy, Digi Essentials and Clear Essentials (I LOVE her essentials kits!)
Karen Funk Simply Boyish Elements
Design by Dani's Boy Crazy
and Katie Pertiet's Basic Twills (recolored)

It was a pretty quick page to put together yesterday ... and while I completely enjoyed making my Days of December album ... it was fun to scrap something completely different!

Days of December: Calendar & hand journaling pages

I decided at the last second that it would be fun to include - at the end of my Days of December book a couple of extra pages. I included a page that showed our calendar for the month. I took a screen shot of my iCal on my Mac (I redacted that because I knew no one really wanted to read that!). I felt it showed a glimpse of our real life. Also ... I really like to see my family's handwriting (particularly the kids - since their handwriting changes more). Since this is a digital book, I just created a blank page that I intend to have the family write on. I'm going to have them write whatever they feel like. Anything they write will reflect them the way they are now and will be a treasure down the road! I'm almost done with my book ... I only have the cover and spine to finalize!

For these pages I used: 
Karla Dudley: Heart of the Holidays
Mye de Leon: Vintage Christmas
Katie Pertiet's Linen Buttons Polar Mountain

Days of December: intro page to my album

This is almost it. I'm finishing up the final touches to my Days of December album for 2012. The page I'm sharing with you tonight is the intro page to my book. I've got just a couple more pages to show you, but I've got a few finishing touches I need to complete on them first. Soon!

For this page I used:

Tiffany Tillman's Heart of the Story Template Foundation Pack (altered)

Karla Dudley's Heart of the Holidays

Mye de Leon's Vinatge Christmas

Creashen's Oh Joy Alpha

2013 Project Life: Week 1: December 30-January 5

I did it. I completed my first Project Life page. My first Project Life page for 2013. My first Project Life Page EVER! It was really fun. I have to tell you, it definitely took me longer to create these two pages than it did to create my more graphic photo-a-day pages for 2010 through 2012 but I enjoyed the process.

I'm sure that as I go along I'm going to get a lot faster (at least I hope so!), but even so, it was great! What I like about these pages is how many more stories and bits and pieces of our lives that I can include on a weekly spread. I showed my daughter a peek at the pages as I was working on them and she really liked them. She told me she thought they were really fun and she liked how much stuff I can get on a page about our week. She thinks I should stick with this new style.

I think this is going to be a really fun (and very different) way of documenting our daily lives this year. I'm so happy that there is so much wonderful Project Life inspiration out on the web for me to check out!

Realistically, I'll probably tweak these pages a bit, but then again maybe not. Maybe I'll just let it be and see how my pages change over the year. So, what do you think? Are you doing Project Life this year?

For these pages I used Becky Higgins Cobalt collection and Splendid Fiins' 3x4 Calendar cards.

Days of December: Family Portraits

For the last several years I've made a point of snapping a family photo as we head out the door for a New Years Eve party. (We started that after we did our big kitchen remodel two years ago and we actually had room to get a family picture in the kitchen. LOL!). Before that we'd make a point of getting a photo of the four of us (five if you count the dog - Maggie!) at some point during the holiday season - lots of times in front of the tree.

I thought it would be fun to put a bunch of our family pictures side by side on these pages. It's fun for me to see how much the kids have grown over the years!

For these pages I used:

Karla Dudley's Heart of the Holiday (paper)

Katie Pertiet With You Word Art

Jenni Bowlin Studios Mercantile Labels

Days of December: Favorite TV Shows & Movies

We have watched so much Big Bang Theory this month. It's been kinda crazy. (If you haven't watched Big Bang Theory, check it out ... it's absolutely hilarious!) My son got a couple of seasons of the show for his birthday and we've been pretty focused. It's been fun - and such a big part of our month that I wanted to document it. We didn't even have time to watch many Christmas shows ... just a couple of Christmas movies (Elf and Home Alone). And then, my daughter became crazed with the movie Pitch Perfect. I haven't seen it yet (I'm sure I'll watch it with her soon), but my son gave her the movie for Christmas and within just a couple of days she watched it seven - yes SEVEN - times (sometimes by herself for our holiday car rides, with her cousins on both sides of the family ... lots of times).

Anyway this is regular life so I want to remember it!

For these pages I used:
Simply Tiffany Studios Heart of the Holidays Template Foundation Pack
Katie Pertiet Fa La La Paper Pack and Simple Spots 3
Pattie Knox (popcorn)
LivE Designs Needs + Wants Date Stamps
Fonts: Century Gothic and Channel

Days of December: a 2nd part to our early gift opening

This is partially a re-do/partially a new set of pages for my Days of December album. I had initially paired up the photos of the kids by the tree with my Christmas tree page but I decided I wanted to show my ornaments and decorations alongside my tree so I had to make some changes. I like this better. It makes more sense to me for placement in my book. (Details, details ... I know!)

This is a second set of pages for our early gift opening with just the 4 of us at home. It was a fun night. I like the large photo because it's such a normal everyday photo. It shows my messy table (that's reality) ... it shows my daughter being dramatic and funny ... it shows my son just being cool in his shorts and t-shirt (the style of clothes he wears every single day regardless of the weather). Normal stuff. Love it!

Days of December ... it's coming together quickly.

For these pages I used:
Simply Tiffany Studios: Heart of the Story Template Foundation Pack
Karla Dudley: Heart of the Holidays
Mye de Leon: Vintage Christmas
LivE Designs: Needs+Wants Date Stamps
Fonts: Century Gothic & Channel

Days of December: New Year's Eve - Party like it's 2013!

These will be the last pages that will be in my Days of December album. It was New Year's Eve ... that's it for December. (I still have pages to create, but chronologically these will be the last pages!)

For these pages I used:
Tiffany Tillman: Heart of the Holidays Template 8
Karla Dudley: Heart of the Holidays
Mye de Leon: Vintage Christmas
Cosmo Cricket: Social Club
Katie Pertiet: Linen Buttons
LivE Designs: Needs+Wants Date Stamps
Fonts: Century Gothic & Channel

Days of December: My Daughter's "Just Because" Christmas party

My daughter wanted to throw a party "just because." Just because she wanted to have some of her friends over. Just because it was Christmas. Just because she wanted to have fun. She's so sweet. I sure do love that girl!

She hosted her party after Christmas but before New Year's Eve. Lots of girls were traveling with their families for the holidays but there were 4 girls in town who could come over for the evening. A perfect number of kids. They had a blast!

FYI ... the other day, before her party, she came up to me and told me how much she loved me and how much she appreciated that we let her have "just because" parties. Awww! I love that! I told her she and her friends are awesome, she can have lots of parties!

For these pages I used:
Tiffany Tillman: Heart of the Holidays Template 17
Karla Dudley: Heart of the Holidays
Mye de Leon: Vintage Christmas
LivE Designs: Needs+Wants Date Stamps
Fonts: Century Gothic & Channel

Days of December: It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

I'm finishing up the last few pages for my Days of December album. OK, I still have a fair number of pages left to create, but not TOO many! I've made a big dent already! This is a little bit of a re-do. I had already made the tree page and had paired it with photos of my kids in front of the tree. I decided to change up the order and do a page of some of the details of Christmas decorations around the house and place that by the tree page. (We like to remember what room we decide to put the tree in every year - and besides I always LOVE lighted tree photos!) I thought it would be fun years down the road to be able to look back and see some of the details of how our house look at Christmas time with the decorations sitting about.

Just this Christmas my mom and sister were looking at a heritage album I had created of our growing up years. (It was an album spanning about 20 years.) What were some of the things I was hearing as they looked at the book? Hmmm... look at that catalog Santa Claus ... look at those decorations ... look at that wallpaper ... look at the xxx (a bunch of stuff!). It was a reminder that the little things bring back so many memories. So ... I'm going to make a point of including more "stuff" and "surroundings" in my albums! I want the kids to be able to look back and remember that I always hung their old (little kid) Christmas art projects on the wall every holiday and other little family traditions, as well as some of the little doo-dads (yup, that's the word I'm using!) we have sitting around the house. Little stuff!

For these pages I used:
Karla Dudley's Heart of the Holidays
Mye de Leon's Vintage Christmas
Katie Pertiet's Letterbox Holiday Corners, Buttoned Up Holiday and Christmas Blendables
The fonts were Century Gothic and Channel

Photo Book - 2012 Photo A Day Album

Click here to view this photo book larger

Shutterfly offers exclusive photobook layouts so you can make your book just the way you want.

I've done it. My 2012 Photo A Day album is on order. I'm so excited! This was year THREE of this project. and I absolutely LOVE it! Now that this book is on order I'm ready to start 2013!

Days of December: Christmas with the Unzen Family

I'm plugging away on the final pages of my Days of December album for 2012. I'm enjoying the process.  Today I'm sharing with you pages I created over the last couple of days of our Christmas Day celebration with my husband's side of the family. Aren't the holidays wonderful and busy and fun?!

Here are each of the 2 page spreads side by side:

Here are the closer-up versions:

I created these pages using in large part Design by Dani's Mistletoe collection.

P365+1 2012: December 30-31 ... the FINAL pages of my 2012 POTD album!

This is it. I'm done. I've completed the last pages for my 2012 photo-a-day album. I'm going to upload these last pages to Shutterfly this afternoon and send the book off to print. (I'm doing a happy dance here! I'm always so excited waiting to get my book in hand!!)

With this year being a leap year I had to end my book up a little differently (there were 2 days in Week 53 instead of only 1). It just made for an extra page in the book (more pictures, that can't be bad!). So ... here's my Week 53 page (December 30 & 31), 2 pages for the fun New Years Eve party we went to last night AND, as the last page of my album, my traditional family photo taken as we head out the door for the New Year's Eve Party.

Happy New Year everyone!