Week in the Life: Monday edition

Well, that was fun.  Monday is not my favorite day of the week (sorry, Monday) but yesterday was a lot of fun. I took 58 pics on Monday and mostly on my iPhone. Like so many people, I always have my mobile phone with me and that makes it so easy to take pics on the go. I am planning to take my fancy camera on a few field trips this week but I am so grateful for my iPhone - especially during Week in the Life.

Anyway, here's a look at our Monday.

After 16 years of faithful service, our washing machine broke on Saturday. It's going to take 2 weeks for a replacement to arrive so it's off to my mom's in the meantime. (ps: Thanks, Mom!)

A MEGA ice cream sandwich on a summer day.

 

One of my tricks for getting through the Week in the Life process is to take a few shots of our environment - our home, cars, coffee mugs, favorite clothes, books - the items that are a part of our everyday life but we overlook completely. They are great pics for filling empty pockets and some of my favorite to look back on.

There is something about Week in the Life that I just love. Maybe because it's familiar and maybe because it's exciting.

Week in the Life also makes me want to tidy up! I'm constantly working around piles of clutter. I'm either taking pictures of it or cropping it out of shots. Still, it's what our life is like around here. I'm trying to get over the fact that we live with piles of things in our home. It's what we do and tells you something about us. If you look closely at those piles you can see things that are a part of our everyday life even if they drive me crazy. 

So, that's our Monday and I am really looking forward to Tuesday.

Thanks for stopping by!

Cathie

Scrapbooking Vindicated

Last week, I had one of those moments when I felt like my scrapbooking was vindicated. I scrapbook for my own joy because I do love this hobby but I love that moment when some one is flipping through one of my scrapbooks and they get it.

I was showing my nieces the scrapbook I made after a family trip to Ontario in 2009.

Back in 2009, I had planned to scrapbook on the road but that didn't happen. Instead, I enjoyed the holiday, took way too many pictures and finished the album when I got home. Here's a look at some of the pages from this album.

The girls loved looking at all the pictures and hearing the stories about them that are in the album and I loved sharing it. I absolutely scrapbook for my own joy but being able to share it...well, it's a great feeling. I don't scrapbook to experience that feeling of "yeah, they get it" but I certainly relish it when it comes along.

And that brings me to Week in the Life. It's the project that is totally awesome with a little bit of what-have-I-gotten-myself-into thrown in. It starts today and I wasn't sure if I was going to play along this time. I have family in town and we are not in any kind of a routine or schedule. Plus, we go on vacation in less than 2 weeks - there is so much to do and I won't be able to work on the album until we get back. And did I mention my washing machine is broken???

But...but I just can't let it pass me by. I just can't miss one of my favorite scrapbooking projects because I'm "too busy". So, I'm grabbing my pens and cameras and diving in. I'll take as many photos and notes as I can and put it together later.

Sharing that old vacation album with my nieces reminded me that while I like making scrapbooks,  I also like having a record to look back on. I like seeing the pictures and stories paired together. Maybe I forgot that for a little while.

So, here's to an inspiring and vindicating moment. And here's to creating and capturing many more.



Cathie

Do you rescrap?

I don't know about you but sometimes I just love a photo so much I have to rescrap it. Sometimes more than once.

I made this layout using some left over wallet prints from my Week In the Life album. I found the quote on an old sheet of Cosmo Cricket paper and just had to use it.  One of my favorite pics on this page is the one of Gabriel running in the backyard.



You may have seen it in my design team projects for The Paperie's May kit, Starbright.



And here it is again. This is actually the first time I used it, in my Week in the Life album.



Here's another pic I had to rescrap.



I used The Paperie's May kit for this page, too.



This one of Ben is another one of my favorites.



I used it again in a layout I made last week for my Paperie Pick post about Stencils that Layer. (love those, by the way.)



And these are just a few examples. I don't rescrap every photo (obviously) but there are some that just need more than one page.  There are so many wonderful stories I could tell using just one picture.

I love these pages and I don't mind one bit that I'm using some of the same pictures over and over again. Of course, I keep taking and printing oodles of new pictures but I just can't help myself. Some pictures have many stories they need to tell - more than I can fit on one page - and until they're all told I guess I'll keep rescrapping them.

So, what about you? Do you rescrap too? Or do you keep moving through your pile of pictures? I'd love to know. Just leave a comment below.

Thanks for stopping by today.

zove

Cathie

Design Team projects...Day 2

hey, hey!

Here are a couple more of the pages I made for this month's Paperie's kit club, Star Bright. 

First up,



I was inspired to make the Polaroid frames by Krista and a demo she did at the Retreat with her  2" punch. A lot of my childhood pictures are Polaroids so I wanted to try this out.  I used a bunch of wallet photos I had left over from my Week in the Life project but just wasn't finished scrapping.

I'm particularly proud of the pinwheels though because I made them using washi tape and the 2" squares I punched out to make the Polaroid frames. I just couldn't throw all those little squares away so I covered them with hearts and clouds washi from my stash on one side and the red stripe washi that comes in the Star Bright kit.

Next up, 



This page came together pretty easily.  Probably because I love that picture - it is so typically Sam.  This is also from my Week in the Life. I printed this one a bunch of different sizes because I knew I was going to use it more than once - this is a 5 x 7.  The text is from the Jillibean Soup journaling block I cut up.  Finally, I used the ampersand stamp from Hero Arts, SC Mister Hueys in Dark Calico and White Calico, and the Jillibean alpha.  I'm thinking about using this in our kitchen when I get it back.

I'll be back tomorrow to share the layouts that finish up my Lay Out a Day challenge. Thanks for stopping by.

Have a good one.

zove

Cathie

Week in the Life: done at last

note: this is a long post so you might want to get a fresh cup of coffee before reading on.

Hey, hey!

Today I'm sharing my Week in the Life album.  It is done.  I am happy, proud and relieved.  Even though I didn't have any idea how my project would look when done, I've never finished a project so quickly. Perhaps my ideas about how things should look is slowing me down in other areas...hmmm.....

So, what was different this time? Well, I knew that I didn't want a 12 x12 album.  I certainly could have filled one up but I find that the 12 x12 albums are so big that people aren't as inclined to pick them up and thumb through them - especially my kids.  So, I went with the We R Memory Keepers 5.5 x 7.5 album.



Here's the side view. You can see that there was plenty of room for this project.



Here's Monday...



The "hello" is from this Cosmo Cricket washi tape. The roll has a vintage hand which I cut off and put in my art journal. The stamp is from the Studio Calico Weekdays set I borrowed from my friend Sara. Thanks, Sara!  I loved it so much I decided to start each day the same way.



I was recovering from a tummy bug on Monday and didn't take many pictures.  I took what I had and grouped them together to give an overview of our home life.



I used the Lawn Fawn Harold's ABCs alphabet set for the "little artist".  I used this throughout the book too.  The wire whale is a project Gabriel brought home from preschool.




Here's Tuesday...














Here's Wednesday...




This is a cautionary tale of what can happen when you have identical clothes for your kids. Gabriel and I ran out the door for an appointment and grabbed Ben's fleece by mistake. We didn't notice until it was too late but I had to take this picture when we got home. Too funny.







This a little note that I put in Gabriel's snack bag on preschool days.  Some days I pick a joke and other days it's a love note.  It's a great way to use up wallet pics and scrap papers.

Here's Thursday...(are you still with me?)









Here's Friday...







I had some extra pictures I wanted to add to Friday so I used a page protector from the Lickety Slippers 8x8 assorted pack. 





Here's Saturday...

And finally, here's Sunday...







More Lickety Slippers.



And that, my friends, is that!

If made to the end of  this post, thank you so much.

I also want to say "thanks" to Ali Edwards. Not just because she conceptualized this project and leads us through it each year but for her daily worksheets.  They saved my bacon this year, so to speak, because I had somewhere to put my notes during the week.  When it came time to put my album together I just punched holes in the pages and added them to the album.  So simple yet so perfect.

Another Week in our (Crazy) Lives is done and dusted.  Next year, Gabriel will be in Kindergarten and our lives will be so different so I'm really glad that I took the time to do WITL this year.

Thanks for stopping by!

zove

Cathie