this is our happily ever after

2014 Project Life (January)

This year (and the last half of 2013) I am documenting life one month at a time.  I love the idea of completing layouts for each week, but that just doesn't work for my life right now.  

I plan on writing a blog post about my process when choosing photos, ordering photos, and creating a layout, but for now here are some visuals of the January layouts in our Project Life album.  

I have 6 more weeks of Summer Break and it is my goal to be caught up by the time I return to teaching in mid-August.  I also really need to work on Karsten's baby/toddler/childhood album, but let's take this one thing at a time!  

This is the title page of our Project Life album.  I have a lot of kits to pull from, but I'm really loving Strawberry right now!

 

Design A pocket pages are always my base, but I also really like adding Design G to highlight events that I have more photos of.  I typically take vertical and horizontal photos, so this design works well for me. 

This Design G page holds photos of my Dad taking K to the putting green in our neighborhood.  I treasure these photos and wanted to highlight them in the album.

 

Just everyday life photos...nothing fancy

 

That cute pink flag is from EmilyLey.com...I bought them to use in my Simplified Planner, but they also are perfect for Project Life!

Another Design G insert to highlight a winter trip to the beach

 

Like so many...I have loved documenting my life using my iphone 4s and Instagram.  I actually find it kind rather addicting.  I knew I wanted to include some of them in my album and the best way I found was to print them as 3x3 squares using Persnickety Prints.  Now, this is not the cheap way of doing things, so make sure that what you print you plan on using!  I threw a few away and will plan my layouts a little better next time, so as not to waste!  When tryint to place them in the Design F pocket pages they were a bit too snug, so I trimmed off just a tiny part of each side.  To keep the style clean and simple I just used the 3x4 grid cards to write a brief description of the photo.  I actually used one grid card for 2 photos...the photo on the front and the photo on the back.  

I am thankful that I love my handwriting...I know this is a hang up for many!  I had terrible handwriting as a young child and worked one summer and improving it....it's transformed over the years and some days (and with some pens) it's better than others...I used my black LePen for all of this journaling....these are my favorite pens ever!!!  

 

 

I used two Design F pages for instagram photos and filled them with greys, black,and yellow fillers cards.  I even used some hashtags for certain photos....because that's something I do on Instagram.  Will we still be hastaging in 5 years, who knows...but it's part of my daily life right now, so why not!

 

These pages are pretty simple, very few embellishments, but that's fine with me.  At this point, I just want to tell stories and get photos in pockets.  Check out my other Project Life pages and  see how my style has evolved.  Hopefully next week I'll have February complete and ready to share!   

planning for summer + a giveaway

This giveaway is now closed!!!  Congrats to Tracy V for winning the Project Life goodies!!!  Enjoy!

Welcome!!!  This blog post received a lot of love and attention and I am so thankful. The reason I shared it was to encourage every reader to be intentional with their summer time and to keep myself accountable to all of my good intentions!  

I know that many of you are first time visitors...hello!  Thanks to the wildly talented Becky Higgins for sharing my Project Life Summer Bucket List on instagram and facebook.  I know many of you are visiting via that link...thank you!  I hope you'll browse around my little blog.  You'll find delicious recipes, photos of our everyday life, devotionals, and all kinds of other randomness.  

As I state in the video below, I will be hosting many other Project Life giveaways this summer.  I love the products (way too much) and have more than I could ever use.  So, I will be giving a lot away over the next couple of months.  You can follow me on Instagram and/or sign up to receive email updates of blog posts using the feedburner over on the right hand side.  

So here's my first vlog ever!  You're witnessing my randomness in full force!  It was fun and weird and quite an adventure!  Thanks for watching and make sure to leave a comment to enter into the bigger and better Project Life giveaway!  

The giveaway ends June 26th at midnight.  Winner will be announced on Friday, June 27th!  Canada and US only, please ;)

  

NEW GIVEAWAY GOODIES!!!!  Cards from many core kits and theme kits and even a few tiny square cards from the Just Add Color Kit :)  

 

 

 

 ORIGINAL POST on May 31, 2014

I truly love my job...and have especially loved teaching in a Christian school this year.  My class of 7 have been a joy to teach and I will miss them greatly.  I'm already beginning to plan for next year and think about what I'll do the same and what I'll do differently

BUT....

This girl is so happy it's summer break!!!!  I am so ready for some freedom, more time with Karsten, and a chance to do all those things that have been sitting on my to do list for way too long. I have a to do list a mile long and the hopes and aspirations to tackle it one item at a time.  I have dreams of having a well balanced, super productive and very relaxing summer.

BUT...

I know myself...I know that I am really good at creating lofty goals for myself and then falling way short, very quickly.  I've been thinking about my goals for the summer and things I want to accomplish as a Mom, Wife, Writer, Teacher, Friend, Photographer, Believer, and all those roles that make me, ME.  I don't want to come to the end of my summer and feel that it was a waste of time and/or resources.  

Here are some things I want to make sure that happen almost every day this summer:

***"School time" with Karsten.  Spend time working on letters, numbers, counting, colors, sequencing, sorting, crafting, etc.  Each week I'm planning a theme that will be a basis for our crafts, stories, etc for that week.  Pinterest is a fantastic resource with this.  I will share my "lessons" once they're more developed ie: not just rambling thoughts in my head. 

***Quiet playtime for Karsten.  During this time I will work on projects/laundry/chores while he plays quietly in his playroom.  **naptime will also be an integral part of each day**

***Outside time with Karsten.  Could be in our backyard, at the pool, the park, or an outing to the Zoo. 

***Time with friends (a few times a week) Make playdates for K and Mommy time for me...nothing fancy, just time for socialization

I typed up the following list one evening, but then decided to take it one step further. 

Download Summer list 2014

 I took each item on the list and wrote it on a Project Life 3x4 journaling card.  I plan on taking a photo (or a hundred) of each activity and will create a mini album at the end of the summer using these journaling cards.  I then taped the cards on the playroom wall and added a banner also made out of Project Life journaling cards. 

GIVEAWAY-- to be entered to win leave me a comment and tell me what you're most looking forward to this summer!   I'll ship to US and Canada!  Winner announced next Satuday, June 7th. 

A pack of 80+ 3x4 Project Life cards to create your own Summer Fun Bucket List wall and/or album!

Assorted cards from a multitude of Project Life core kits

For those of you who have never heard of Project Life it's a simple way to document life.  I've done Project Life for 4 years and love everything about it.  Check out the video on the founder, Becky Higgin's, blog for more information.    This is not a paid advertisement...Becky doesn't know me, but I'm sure we'd be great friends if we did know each other ;)  I'll be doing more Project Life giveaways throughout the summer, so sign up on feedburner to receive my blog updates.  

my love of instagram

Back in November Brian and I entered into the 21st century and got iphones!  For better or worse, our lives are forever changed!!  

As you know I'm an avid photographer.  I take pictures of the littlest things in life and the biggest moments.  BUT...I do not take my Canon 7D with me everywhere I go. It's way too cumbersome.  I do however have my phone with me pretty much all of the time.  I love the iphone because it has a pretty good camera and this helps me to capture moments throughout my day.  

The first app I put on my phone was the instagram app.  By nature I'm a sharer...I like to share my life with people (thus having this blog for over 7 years).  I love being able to share even more glimpses of my life through Instagram.  

I also really like some of the filters that Instagram has.  These filters can quickly add mood to a photograph or alter a photo to make it more appealing.  

I've added a link to my instagram page over on the sidebar.  If you're on instagram feel free to follow me.  

Here are a few of my favorite moments captured on instagram.

100th Day of school last week

 

 

These two love each other, especially when it's cold outside!

We spent last Saturday researching playgrounds for our backyard.

Cool story about this instagram photo.  I added an #ikea #raskogcart hashtag when I posted it and #ikeausa used it on their instagram stream one day last week.  I had also #projectlife hashtagged it and Becky Higgins also shared it.  So many people left comments that they were goint to go buy this cart.  I really think that Ikea owes me a free one!  #ifonlythatweretrue

moments with my sweetest little boy

Karsten at his first swimming lesson

 

Mr. Happy in the car

 

**Note---I rarely post something on instagram the moment it happens.  I am trying to be more conscience about not posting where I am at any given time.  Sadly, there are people who use social media as a means to track/stalk people.  I certainly have NOT been victim to this, but I don't want to open my family up to this possiblity.  When you see that I've posted a picture of somewhere we are I'm really sharing somewhere we've BEEN.***

 

Scripture Printable--Philippians 4:8

Last year I made an effort to create a new Scripture printable each week, this year I've decided that two per month is a better idea.  Weeks seem to fly by and sometimes I just can't get a verse memorized in 7 days (sad, but true).  

Here is the first one in the 2014 series.  It is actually my verse for the year.  If you plan on printing these out and memorizing along with me, would you please leave me a comment?  I'd love to know I have friends out there walking in the truth with me.  

As always I'm using Project Life Digital Templates for each printable....this just makes it so easy for me to type up a verse to share with you, but it's cuter than just plain paper!  This template is from the Coral Edition, gorgeous!!

Right click to save and print.  I'm going to only use 4x6 templates this year so if you want to get a little photo album to stick your cards in that will work well.  

Here's to FOCUSING on HIM this year!

 

*Normally I will post a new verse every other Monday.  You can expect the next verse on January 13.

day 3 giveaways

First order of business....I'm going to wait until Sunday to draw names for each prize this week.  This will give everyone more time to enter on specific days they're interested in.  I know there were some issues with entering yesterday, hopefully I've fixed them.  

Ok...so today's giveaway!  If you've been around this blog for very long then you know that I love taking photos and documenting life.  My life is abundant and blessed and I am thankful every single day that I am alive and healthy.  Part of embracing and appreciating my life is to take photos...most of us take photos right?  You don't even need a fancy camera...just a phone or a point and shoot can capture some pretty special moments or even just the details of your everyday life...  BUT ... how many of you have recently taken your photos off of your computer, phone, or camera for that matter?  How many of you have printed photos in the last 3 months? 6 months? Year?  I can say that I have printed photos in the last month and I think that the reason is that I have a place and purpose for them.  Project Life has allowed me to stay on top of printing photos and journaling about the little everyday things as well as the big events in our life.  I seriously LOVE this system because it's simple, creative, and practical for my busy life. 

Today's giveaway is a Project Life Cinnamon mini album, special "Dear Lizzy" mini kit (cannot be purchased anywhere) , and a bunch of components from different Studio Calico Project Life kits.  To see my past Project Life pages click here

To be entered leave me a comment and tell me how you found my blog.  To earn another entry subscribe to my blog by typing your email in the subscription bar in the top of the right column.  US residents only!

 

2013 Project Life (week 17-22)

Week 17 (April)  after a week full of festivities it was nice to have a quiet week

Week 18

Week 19

Week 20

Week 21

Week 22

2013 Project Life weeks (13-16)

Can you believe it?  I've blogged 3 times in the past week....wanna know why?  I remembered I have a blog and I have a backlog of good stuff to share!  

Project Life---yep, still doing it, though I've altered my approach just a bit since working full time.  Now I'm not focusing on a week at a time as much as doing a few layouts for the month.  I try to keep the first page for the first couple of weeks and the second/third pages for the last part of the month, but I'm just letting it work for me.  In 5 years it's not going to matter a whole lot exactly what week something happened as long as I have it documented.  ***if there's a date I want to remember I'll add that to the photo or journaling card**

I'm only one month behind on PL...so I'll be sharing a lot more pages very soon!

Here's week 13 (sometime in March...we're going WAY back)

Week 14 (March)

Week 15 (April) focusing a lot on Karsten's family birthday party and Easter

Week 16 (April) focusing on our time at Moody Gardens and Karsten's friends bday party on his actual bday lots of pages this week

 

2013 Project Life (weeks 8-12)

Yes, I'm still enjoying Project Life, everything about it actually, but I'm running about a month behind on my album (mainly because I'm printing photos a month at a time)  The system I used last year (printing weekly at Walgreens) kept me up to date, but I didn't like the quality of the photos I was receiving, so I've switched to printing at Costco once a month.  It's what works for me (and our budget) right now.  

So let's take a step backwards to February and March... Seems like a lifetime ago.  

Feb 18-Feb 24

Feb 25-March 3

I added a Design G page protector to this week...it's my favorite design next to Design A.

March 4-10

This week covered our anniversary and visit from my cousin and her family.  I included a Design I insert to showcase the photos taken on our anniversary.

March 11-17

Included another Design G insert to make extra room for some photos taken outdoors

March 18-24

yep, included another Design G...

memory verse monday (week 17)

This week is going to begin a different memorizing challenge for the next 5 weeks.  Starting this Monday we will be learning a short passage from Ephesians 3.  This particular passage has been recurring in my devotionals and other things I've been reading and after reading it several times I decided I wanted to memorize the short passage. 

Today's verse is Ephesians 3:16 and we will be memorizing the rest of the passage over the next 5 weeks.  If you're hyper diligent you could go ahead and memorize Ephesians 3:16-20 in one week, but I'm neither hyper or diligent, so I'll be memorizing one verse at a time.

Each week's Scripture passage will be typed up on a 3x4 card that is this design but a different color. 

Right click, save and print. 

Digital project life card from the Honey Edition

Scripture Memorization Album

I've been feeling a need to have all of my "memory verse monday" printables in one place so that I could access them during my daily quiet times (or other times throughout the day).  I have been placing a copy into my Project Life album each week, but still wanted a place for just these cards. 

What could be more perfect for these printables (created out of digital Project Life cards) than a Project Life mini album.  Last week I ordered a midnight mini album and very quickly placed all of my cards from this year...just 13 so far.  I also created a title card for the album which I'll share below. 

Because I don't have as many 3x4 cards I just used some solid cardstock to fill in those gaps.  I thought about embellishing them, but then decided against it.  I reminded myself that blank spaces, whether in our daily lives or in our journals, allow room to breathe...I need room to breathe... and reflect! 

Here's the title card from the kraft collection of PL

You'll notice that quite a few of the cards have some tape at the top of them.  This is the washi tape I used to tape them on my office wall.  Instead of tearing it off, and possibly tearing the card, I just folded it over. 

To get all of the scripture printables click here.  Sign up to receive my blog posts via email on the feedburner to the right of this post.  I'd love for you to join this challenge with me!