Windows & diasters

The QR code on my Week 19 pages was temporarily not working yesterday. It works now, if you want to recheck it here. This is sort of a silly video, in that my grandson Peter is pretending to clean windows. My joy over watching Peter "clean" windows is that it (our earthly lives) is all about family.

My heart is heavy today as yet another area of the United States has been struck with disaster. This time it's Moore, Oklahoma, the site of multiple deaths and massive destruction following an F-4 (maybe F-5) tornado that roared through the town yesterday. (Moore is in the southern part of the Oklahoma City metropolitan  area.) The tornadoes we've had here in Memphis have come and gone quickly, but the one in Moore was on the ground for an incredible 40 minutes. Wow. This tornado was estimated to be two miles wide and did nearly 20 miles of wreckage.

I don't respond to every natural disaster, but we're contributing to the American Red Cross for his one. Want to help? Here is the Red Cross' website. You can also text REDCROSS to 90999 to make a $10 donation. 

On Sunday night Trace Adkins won this season's Celebrity Apprentice. (Yes, I still watch it; why I don't know.) He played for the Red Cross. Because of his winnings, the Red Cross received $1,000,000.

I'm praying for those affected by this tornado and praying for our country. Hug your family!

Project Life 2013 – Week 19 | Right Side

Here is the right side of my two-page spread for Week Nineteen:

Top row, left side:

Font: MankSans-Medium

Here are Carter and Kate.

Top row, middle spot:

The highlighting was made using a brush stroke on a blank layer under the text.

Top row, right side:

Here are Blake and Elisabeth.

Middle row, left side:

Middle row, middle spot:

Middle row, right side:

Font: MankSans-Medium

Here is Conrad and this week’s photos from The City by the Bay.

Bottom row, left side:

Bottom row, middle spot:

Font: MankSans-Medium

Bottom row, right side:

Font: MankSans-Medium

People were posting photos of their families on Instagram for Mother’s Day. I’ve already used a photo this year from the only session that included all 12 of us, so I looked for a photo of the original seven in the family.

Back then, the guys (who are two years apart) were stair steps. (So strange when Carter outgrew me, . . . not that it was hard to do.) Back then, Graham always wore a hat, and she often carried a doll who was dressed similarly to her. Back then, we had professional family photos made at least once a year. We carted in whatever animals we had at the time (much to the surprise of some of the photographers). Sometimes the animals were better behaved than the kids.

The animals here are Beatrice (our second Old English sheepdog), Max-a-Million (dark Persian who lived to be 18), and Mill-i-Cent (the light Himalayan who hated us). Rest in peace, sweet animals! You are missed. Well, maybe Millie not so much. She really hated us.

Project Life Products used:

   * Kit – Rain Edition (digital version)  

   * Template B (Pocket Page equivalent for physical scrappers – Design B). I turned the template on its side. I love scrapping digitally.

The template used is from Designs by Lili at The-Lilypad.com. Except for the templates, this week’s pages were made using only photos, cards from Rain, and lots of text. But, for a change, I only used two fonts.

Did you take photos today? I hope so!

Project Life 2013 – Week 19 | Left Side

Here’s the left side of my two-page spread for Week Nineteen: 

Top row, left side:

Fonts: MankSans-Medium, TooMuchPaper!

It’s the pesky week card, and I like it! Oh, I know it’s rather plain, but it’s all lined up!

Top row, right side:

Font: MankSans-Medium

Thank you, Elisabeth, for sending me these hilarious photos! Since he could walk, Blake has walked like a duck. It’s not so much that his feet are out; it’s the duck tail he makes with his hands. Blake particularly does the duck walk when he’s pacing, unless he’s on his phone. It’s hard to make a duck tail with only one hand.

Look at Peter! He’s either trying to be just like his daddy, or he inherited the duck gene. Love these photos!

Middle row, first spot:

The first of the kids to have a birthday during our family birthday season is Kate. I’d say turning 30 was pretty exciting for her, based on these photos alone. By the way, these are just two cropped photos on top of a Rain filler card. I added a white strip to separate them.

Middle row, second spot:

The highlighting was made using a brush stroke on a blank layer under the text.

Middle row, third spot:

Font: MankSans-Medium

Be still, my heart. Photos of this little guy just melt me. I’m rather fond of QR codes, too. In this one Peter is cleaning the windows in the family room in his house. If you listen closely, you can hear him making a spray noise for the can. He’s got window cleaning down! (Disclaimer: The can was empty, so he wasn’t using dangerous chemicals.)

One thing I noticed is the care he takes to make sure the can is placed on the window sill just right. He has his dad’s duck walk and his grandmother’s OCD. I’m all about lining things up. A little OCDness is very good for keeping things tidy.

Middle row, fourth spot:

Bottom row, left  side:

Font: MankSans-Medium

Enjoy! This is the last group of bizarre photos of Graham until the fall semester. No more intense study sessions. No more nights without sleep. No more funny self-portraits?

Bottom row, right side:

Fonts: MankSans-Medium, TooMuchPaper!

My sight in my right eye continues to improve. I don’t have to sleep with the honking guard over my eye. But I do have to put lots and lots of drops into my eyes. I made a chart to keep on the counter in my bathroom, so I can keep up with the drops. I also had an appointment with my eye surgeon and had my eyes dilated. My eyes take the dilating drug really well. I looked as if I were in shock all day long. (In this spot, I once again put two cropped photos on top of a Rain card.)

Project Life Products used:

   * Kit – Rain Edition (digital version)

   * Templates A (Pocket Page equivalent for physical scrappers – Design A)

The templates used are from Designs by Lili at The-Lilypad.com.

Next post: Details about and close-ups from the right side of Week 19. 

Thanks for visiting!

Project Life 2013 – Week 19

Here's the two-page spread for Week 19 of my Project Life album:

Wow! No, never mind. I was going to say this is my first week not to include food or pets, but I did both. I love food and pets! This week marks the beginning of an intense birthday period in our family, and I’ll have to start thinking really hard for a while to remember how old each kid and spouse is.

I can still remember the birth of each of my children, and there were some interesting births. On their birthdays, I like to tell the kids what was happening on the day they were born, stressing the particularly painful and gory parts. I’m like that. Each birth had its problems, but each child was a blessing.  

Project Life Products used:

   * Kit – Rain Edition, a Project Life Core Kit

   * Templates A & B (Pocket Page equivalent for physical scrappers – Designs A & B)

Here’s a preview of the full kit:

Do you know what photos would look great with this kit? Snow photos. I must remember that in the winter.

Next post: Details about and close-ups from the left side of Week 19. 

Click on the graphic below to learn about all things Project Life. It’s now coming to stores all over the world. Amazing!

Thank you for stopping by! Happy scrapping!

Project Life 2013 – Week 18 | Right Side

Here’s the right side of my two-page spread for Week Eighteen:

Top row, left side:

Font: Cabin

After stewing over my grandmother name for the entirety of Elisabeth’s pregnancy with Peter and for a few months afterwards, I decided I wanted to be called Grandmother. (I might have already said this. If so, here I go again.) Yes, it’s a mouthful and rather formal sounding, but I called my favorite grandmother Grandmother. When I hear that word, I think of her. So many good memories!

Well, actually, I wanted to be called Bubbles. How fun is that for a grandmother name? Blake said it sounds like a stripper name, and he didn’t want his kid saying he was going to go see Bubbles. Blake burst that bubble. (Haha!)

So after all that, Peter calls me Granga, a name he made up. Works for me! He can call me whatever he wants! He's my grandson! ~smile~   

Top row, right side:

Font: Cabin

That’s me before and after surgery on my right eye to remove my cataracts and implant a multi-focal lens. The implant looks like a futuristic Frisbee or something. Very strange. It's not even sewn in; it's just there. I'm rather afraid to move.

Middle row, first spot:

Middle row, second spot:

Font: Cabin

I so enjoy Conrad’s photos of San Francisco! We need to go back and see it again. And see Conrad, too, of course!

Middle row, third spot:

Font: KeiserSousa

Middle row, fourth spot:

Font: KeiserSousa

Bottom row, left  side:

Fonts: Scriptina, Cabin

As the text says, this is a field of WEEDS! I couldn’t grow anything this beautiful if I tried.

Bottom row, right side:

Fonts: Cabin, KeiserSousa

It’s Graham’s next-to-the-last week of her first semester of nursing school. That means I only have one more week of receiving these bizarre photos of her in the middle of the night. I didn’t even ask how she got upside down in the first one. Poor Ellie Mae is so lonely for Graham’s attention, but she sticks right by her, even when she’s ignored. “Stick” is the operative word. Ellie Mae is always stuck to a person. (Cool red eyes, Graham!)

Project Life Products used:

   * Kit – Baby Edition, a Project Life Core Kit: physical version; digital version.  

   * Template A (Pocket Page equivalent for physical scrappers – Designs A)

That’s all for this page. Again this week, I used no exciting techniques. I’m trying to keep it simple, using photos, journaling, and one Project Life kit per week. I am using templates to make collages again, because that’s easier than cropping photos. (Favorite templates: ones from Designs by Lili at The Lilypad)

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. So, if I can get 20+ photos on my pages each week, that’s like writing a book each week! I love photos, I love journaling, and I love Project Life!

Click on the graphic below to learn about all things Project Life.

Thanks for visiting, and remember to take photos, lots and lots of photos!!

Project Life 2013 – Week 18 | Left

Here’s the left side of my two-page spread for Week Eighteen:

Top row, left spot:

Fonts: Ieicester [capital "I" at the beginning], KeiserSousa

The week card! Yeah, I know, keep it simple. I chose a card from Baby Edition with two blank spots—perfect for the date and the week number. Next thing I knew that ”Good Times” stamp from Ali Edwards hopped out of my digiscrapping supplies and landed right on this card!! So there it is!

Top row, middle spot:

Woochee gives her opinion about Mister Bucky’s photo shoot in the hall. She doesn’t share attention well.

Top row, right spot:

Font: Cabin

A nice thing about going to Downtown Memphis very early in the morning twice a week is that I get to enjoy driving through Shelby Farms. Such a pretty area!

Middle row, first spot:

I’m so used to having a bunch of color on my pages that this card seemed to need some bright brush strokes under some of the journaling.

Middle row, second spot:

Font: Cabin

We watch the Kentucky Derby every year, mainly as an excuse to eat those cute and tasty little cucumber sandwiches shown on the bottom row. This year I picked Normandy Invasion to be the winner, simply because I liked his name. In 2010 Graham & I visited the beaches of the Normandy Invasion in France.

The photo is from the internet. The yellow under the photo is part of the 3x4 journaling card; it’s a yellow card with a white border. In the middle of the card is a large letter “Y,” and under the "Y" is the word ”you.” I chose the card for the bright yellow. Since a photo was going on top of the card, it didn’t make any difference what the card said.

Middle row, third spot:

Middle row, fourth spot:

Font: Cabin

Bottom row, first spot:

Font: Cabin

Bottom row, second spot:

Font: Cabin

Bottom row, third spot:

Font: Cabin

Bottom row, fourth side:

Font: Cabin

The QR code above links to a video of me . . . making a fool out of myself. I wrote about this on my blog earlier, here and here. Basically, we on the 2013 Project Life Creative Team were each asked to submit a short video, giving a tip or showing a PL page. These clips were compiled and shown as a video on Becky Higgins’ blog in honor of National Scrapbooking Day (4 May 2013). Here is how to put a QR code on your pages.

Project Life Products used:

   * Kit – Baby Edition, a Project Life Core Kit: physical version; digital version.  

   * Template F (Pocket Page equivalent for physical scrappers – Designs F)

That’s all for this page!

Next post: Details about and close-ups from the right side of my 2013 Project Life Week 18. 

Project Life 2013 – Week 18

Here's the two-page spread for Week 18 of my Project Life album:

Project Life Products used:

   * Kit – Baby Edition, a Project Life Core Kit: physical version; digital version.  

   * Templates A & F (Pocket Page equivalent for physical scrappers – Designs A & F)

Here’s a preview of the full kit:

Question: Why in the world would she use a baby kit, when her pages aren’t about a baby?

Answer: Because I'm a woman with a mission! A mission to use every single Project Life kit this year! Also, my last few weeks have been bright and colorful. Next week’s pages will be colorful and intense, compliments of the Rain Edition that was released today. Therefore, it seemed appropriate to take a breath between all the colors.

The Baby Edition is obviously a kit designed to be used with babies. Its generic and limited colors—yellows, tans, and grays—are appropriate for either sex. However, as I always say, I really believe any PL kit can be used for any subject. These colors would be good with brightly colored photos, so they wouldn’t interfere with the colors of the photos. They’d also be good for black and white photos.

All three Baby Editions include cards with specific prompts for babies. I just ignored those cards for these pages. This is one reason I scrap digitally. Since the digital kits are so inexpensive compared to the physical ones, I don’t feel bad about buying kits for the colors, even when I know I won’t use all the cards.

Next post: Details about and close-ups from the left side of my 2013 Project Life Week 18. 

Click on the graphic below to learn about all things Project Life.

Thank you for stopping by! Happy scrapping!

In real life (a week after Week 18 occurred) I had eye surgery today on my left eye. My left eye has a honking big shield over it for 24 hours, and my right eye is not exactly focusing. I hope the pages above don't look bizarre, considering I made them without normally functioning eyes.

Project Life 2013 – Week 17 | Right

Here’s the right side of my two-page spread for Week Seventeen:

This week's pages were made digitally with the Blush Edition of Project Life. 

Top row, left side:

Here it is, folks! My grandson, the child prodigy, working on his first masterpiece! Notice his hand is a blur because he draws quickly with certainty. Even before he received his first crayons, he knew what he must draw. (When he’s older, we’ll have him tell us what it is.)

Top row, right side:

Font: Haettenschweiler

Imagine Graham’s surprise when she opened an envelope she received in the mail and found SHE had been chosen by Peter to be the recipient of The Masterpiece! By the way, I don’t advise making a copy of The Masterpiece. Peter’s dad (my son!) is a brilliant attorney, and I imagine he’s already filed for a copyright, a trademark, and a patent for this drawing.

Middle row, first spot:

Obviously, I was blown away by Peter’s very first work of art, because I was still talking about it. (Note the washi tape on the card. More about that at the end of this post.)

Middle row, second spot:

Font: Kitchener SF

This is an example of never say never. I said I was never going to do a physical album, but look what I ordered. I have an entire closet of physical scrapping stuff, but . . . I just realized it's mostly paper and the stuff scrappers were using 10 years ago, like stickers, die cuts, and such. So, I'll make my pages digitally, cut them up, and put them into this cute album. 

Here is a link for this album. The color is Kiwi. Four other colors are available. Each album has 20 sewn-in pages and holds 80 4x6 horizontal photos or Project Life Cards and 80 3x4 vertical photos or Project Life Cards.

Middle row, third spot:

Font: Haettenschweiler

The caption says it all—Mister Bucky is fat. A few years ago I would have said he’s phat, but that word is no longer cool. I’m all about using cool words and expressions. (Is “cool” still cool?) Another thing about Mister Bucky is that he loves the dog’s kennels. He’s in one of them a good portion of the day. I guess he thinks he's safe there and doesn’t have to worry about someone stepping on him. Like we’d miss seeing him on the floor . . ..  

Middle row, fourth spot:

I love life, and I love the Project Life kits. It would have taken a while to make this card in real life. But since I use the digital kits and Photoshop to do my pages, all I did was open one card from Blush Edition, reduce it, and slap it onto another card.

Bottom row, left side: 

Font: Helvetica Rounded LT Bold

Above are three cropped photos on a white card. The top left photo is Memphis’ beautiful Orpheum Theater in Downtown Memphis. When I was a kid, it was a regular movie theater, and it looked about this nice. That was before the days of multiplexes.

The bottom left photo shows my ticket. The fact that Peter paid $85 for each ticket blows my socks off. Maybe one day we’ll look back and think that was cheap. I like to sit on the first few rows, hence the higher price. 

This time our up-close seats gave us the opportunity to see two shows—the one on the stage and the one put on by the two women on the front row across the aisle. They thought they were at a rock concert, judging by the way they stood and screamed for the first part of the show. They waved their arms and hooted and hollered. Did I say they were drunk? Very drunk. They were waving their drinks in the air, too. One was probably in her 60s and the other one had to be in her 80s. Their performance was cut short when they were evicted.

The right photo shows the front of my playbill. This show totally deserved Best Musical of 2010. It might be my all-time favorite musical.  

Bottom row, right side:

Font: Haettenschweiler

Here are two photos about Graham’s last month of her first semester of nursing school, which is also the last month of her sophomore year of college. (My baby is growing up!) Whereas she used to send me crazed photos of herself staying up half or all of the night to study, she’s now smiling. She has lost her mind.

Further proof she’s lost her mind is that cookie cake. In case you can’t read it, the writing on it says, “Did you pull that out of your butt?” Her clinical supervisor was very tough on the students, and she’s the one who caused Graham to stay up all night once a week, writing Care Plans. One time Graham’s information was a bit sketchy. The woman said, “Graham, did you pull this out of your butt??” Graham replied, “Yes, I did!” At least she’s honest. The woman mainly spoke in questions and exclamations, hence the rest of the writing on the cookie. (The clinical supervisor has a good sense of humor. She loved her giant cookie.)

Side note: I used two digital Blush Edition cards this week that had washi tape on them. If you’re a physical scrapper and want some really cool washi tape, check out what Leena (also known as Findingnana), my friend and fellow member of the 2013 Project Life Creative Team, has in her shop here. Her prices are very reasonable, she ships all over the world, and her tapes are beyond fabulous. I told her it’s a shame for her I’m a digital scrapper, because if I did the physical form, she would make a bunch of money off me.

The digital Blush Edition is still on sale for a few more days at AC Digitals, and the physical version will be on Home Shopping Network on May 14 (details here).

Happy scrapping to you, until we meet again!