steph's stuff

Why does he have to be so cute?

I was going to write this long post about how I photograph my Project Life pages. I've gotten a few questions about it and, as every other Project Life'er has commented, it's pretty darn tricky to photograph the pages when they're in the page protector. So, I was going to post this photo:

 

 

and then explain how I stand on a chair, position the binder directly under me, what camera settings I use, how to straighten the photo, and on and on. And I was going to add in multiple other photos of the process.

But there was a tiny noise behind me that distracted me. I turned around and saw this outside my office doors.

 

 

All I wanted was 30-45 minutes alone so I had closed him out of the office. 

But, seriously, look at this face. And the furrowed brow. And the pleading eyes.

 

I couldn't stand it. So I picked up my Project Life binder and let him in. We'll do that post another day. My mommy guilt couldn't do it today. 

 

Monday's Happy Things

 

Supplies: Yesterday and Today: You Should Know Layered Templates, Words + Pictures: Christmas Paper Pack, Elfin Magic Kit, Christmas Village Kit, Damask Transfers No. 02, Flourished Clusters Brushes and Stamps No. 02, Siblings Brushes and Stamps

Things making me happy today:

~ It's Project Life day! I have week 4 almost done but today is the day to put it all together. LOVE!

~ This coming weekend is our photo shoot weekend! I asked for one for my birthday and everyone agreed to do one monthly for me. Yay!!!

~ The digital layout at the top of the post. I created it earlier this month for DesignerDigitals and every single time the dog hair around the house makes me want to scream and yell, I look at this photo. And the dog gets to stay. :)

~ My kids being happy. I spent all day long with them yesterday and they were just happy all day long. All three of them - happy, laughing, playing with friends. And it just made me so happy to be with them and listen to them. And, again, I am sooooo thankful for our neighbors who have kids that just totally "get" my kids. 

~ Libby and her friend, Katie, have a really neat relationship. They don't get along perfectly all the time - who does? - but they work together so incredibly well and they simply want the other one to be happy. I watched both of them yesterday trying to work through a small difference of opinion they had and, with no input from anyone, they both offered a compromise that made the other one happy. It almost brought tears to my eyes because I was so proud of both of them. They just like to be together. There are big life lessons people could learn from watching kids play well together. 

~ A new week. Last week was not good - everything that could go wrong seemed to go wrong. Today is a new week and I have another chance to get it right. 

~ My husband. I am the luckiest woman in the world. He puts up with so much from me and still loves me in spite of myself. 

Happy new week to you!

Shuffle me!

Ah, I've been tagged! My lovely and wonderful (really more me than me somedays) friend, Mel, tagged me. The tag is a prompt to shuffle my iPod and share with you the first five songs that show up. 

To be honest, this scares me and makes me laugh. Because I have all of my kids' music on my iPhone, too, so who the heck knows what will show up?!

Here we go!

The first song is.........the Glee version of "Only the Good Die Young." UGH. I hate this version and only have it on here because I have my phone set to the iCloud and it automatically downloads whatever my girls buy. This way, I know what music they're buying and when. ;)

 

The second song is........"All We Are" by One Republic. This is Emily's current favorite album. I love a lot of songs on this album but this is not one of my favorites.

 

The third song is............"Somebody to Love" by Justin Bieber. UGH. 'Nuff said. Oh wait - one more thing about JB. Pull up your pants, kid. 

 

The fourth song is............"Believe" by Brooks & Dunn. This one really is mine. But from a long, long time ago. They're not even together anymore, are they???

 

And the last song is..........."Let 'Em In" by Paul McCartney. I have to say after seeing him in concert this past August, I am his forever fan. ;)

 

And now, I get to tag friends!!!

I tag Sharyn (you knew it, of course!), Tania, Stef, Angie, and Terri! 

How 'bout this?

 

Thank you all so much for the comments, emails, and Facebook messages about working with Design F!!! I have a lot of Design F pages and I really want to be able to mix it up and use them, so I'm not willing to give up just yet. 

Instead of putting my weekly card in the top left as in previous weeks or cutting it up like I did here and asked for advice, I changed the background paper on it and moved it the top right. I'm working on the page right now and am trying to balance it out by adding in other red cards. I'm thinking this will work. 

What do you think?????

Help. A major decision to make.

  

Do you ever have a week that makes you think that you've really got it all together? You think, "Man, I am on top of things this week. I have GOT THIS." 

Well, this week was not that kind of week for me. :p

I feel as though I've barely been holding it together all week long and the slightest little thing will push me under water. 

Not to be a downer, but sh!t happens and this week has just not been stellar for me. 

Anyyyyyyyyyway, the point of this post is to ask a simple question. Because my week has been crapful (the opposite of wonderful, in case you were wondering), my Project Life planning has consisted only of printing my iPhone photos and throwing them on the binder. 

I used a Design F page protector on the right side of last week's spread. You can see it here. I LOVE, LOVE Design F for the right side. But now that I'm using the back of it for the left side of this week's layout, I am.not.so.sure. I cut the weekly card in half to use in the same place as usual but um.....it's not doing it for me.

Here it is. What do you think? 

As you can tell, I'm dealing with very, very important world issues this week, people. Things like this can keep me up at night. 

What do you think? Design F or not????

It's not all about scrapbooking

I have a bunch of blog posts I'm dying to find time to write and they're not all about scrapbooking. I've had a very fun time with Project Life, Scrapbook Update and, of course, Designer Digitals, over the past few weeks but my life is not all about scrapbooking. 

Some of the posts I still need to write include:

~ a post about how laundry is the absolute bane of my existence. And how my poor husband doesn't dare tell me that he needs clean shirts for work.

~ a post about the poor crazy puppy - his allergies are almost unbearable and he is miserable.

~ a post about how I'm never having another dog - the dog hair around the house is thicker than the air I breathe and I'm done. D.O.N.E. 

~ another post about laundry and ironing and how Libby says all I do is cook dinner and pay bills and why do women get all the Valentine's Day presents when the husbands do all the work. WHAT???? Clearly, I have some educating to do. 

~ a post about how wonderful my neighbors are and how much I enjoy them. 

~ a post about how I keep trying to kill some of my neighbors. Unintentional for sure, but I keep forgetting about their allergies and it's downright unbelievable how often I have exposed them to death. 

~ a post about girls and drama and maturity and silliness and giggling.

~ a post about how laundry is the bane of my .... oh, yeah, already said that. 

~ a post about my husband's penchant for joking that is getting him into trouble. 

All coming soon to a blog near you. 

I hope. 

Maybe.

I need a few more hours in my day. 

In the meantime, I will be doing laundry. 

Project Life Printing Ideas

I am now a Contributing Writer at Scrapbook Update and I wanted to let you know that my first article is up because it may be of interest to those of you who are doing Project Life. If you're interested in printing supplies, digital products or even photos at home, you can read more here: Printing Digital Products: Which Paper To Choose?

Project Life - Week 3

 

Three weeks into this project and I am just as excited as week one! Maybe even more! My favorite part of the entire thing is the kids journaling and having them ask me if their pictures are going into Project Life. They love it!

My two-page spread is directly above and I mixed it up a bit this week. I'll show you more in just a bit!

Page one includes my weekly card that I designed and described here, made with DesignerDigitals products. I also have a photo from our Sunday morning food pantry service - we had 4 families this week and we had to fill 100 boxes of food in two hours. We set up a huge assembly line and had it done in no time. Serving at the food pantry has become the absolute highlight of our week!

There's also a photo of the ice and snow I took out of the car window on our way to the food pantry, a photo of Em's phone that was blaring "White and Nerdy," Em's journaling about our morning, a photo of Em's bus arriving one snowy afternoon and an iPhone photo of my girls. 

I have a 6 x 12 insert with journaling on one side and pictures on the other but the second page is a Design F page protector. I'm excited to use this design. Most of my photos are vertical because I use my iPhone for most of them and Design F is perfect. I am really loving Ali Edwards' Long Journalers and have a feeling I will use them all year.

 On the back of the journaling is a collage of three pictures from Emily's small gathering of friends she had over on Friday night.  

 I simply adhered the three photos to the back of the 6 x 12 cardstock that I printed my journaling on.  

Page two includes a photo of Andrew and Tom along with Andrew's comments about one of his teachers. I also included the screenshot of an auto-correct text - you can read about it here - it should have been included in week two but I totally forgot. And that's okay. It doesn't really matter. A year from now - heck, even a month from now, it's totally not going to matter. 

Libby's Titanic obsession is also included, along with a journaling card that she wrote and I also included two photos using my new favorite digital product. Tiny Templates No. 01 by Cathy Zielske - LOVE!!! 

 Another digital card that used this week was one from Katie Pertiet's Labeled Journaler's No. 04 pack. I added a cut-up from Cut Ups: Everyday as well as an old Heidi Swapp mirrored heart.  

 This photo of the girls is a Nikki Journaler with their photo layered over it.  

The photo of Tom and Andrew is one of Cathy's Tiny Templates with Ali Edwards' Everyday Photos Brushes and Stamps.  

Here are a couple more Tiny Templates from Cathy. Seriously loving these and will use them all the time from now on! 

Link me up to your Project Life photos! I love this project. :)

{If you want more information about Project Life, visit BeckyHiggins.com. You can see all of my Project Life posts and layouts here.}

Happy Birthday, Emily!!!

Happy 14th Birthday, Emily! We love you and couldn't be more proud of you!!!

Good things are on their way for you - I just know it!

I need a weekend to recover from my weekend

As part of my goal this year to fill our lives with people and activities that bring value and fulfillment to our lives, I've been trying to say "yes" to the kids more often. You can read more about it in this mushy post if you're so inclined. 

And it's been great. The kids and I are spending more time together, Tom and I are planning our down time with more care, and I think we all feel good about changes we're making. 

The only downside is that I need a weekend to recover from my weekend! Not a complaint at all - just an observation and I'll probably have to move my Project Life posts to Tuesdays. 

A fun Project Life note - I made a wonderful new friend this weekend who is also doing Project Life (Hi Betsy!!!) and another local friend and I are swapping page protectors to mix things up a bit. So, this week's spread will include at least other design - Design F. It's making me think outside of the box and that's a good thing. :)