Project Life Week #2

Week Two was a little easier for me to do since getting back to scrapping!

I also enjoyed using some of the new items I downloaded along with my old stuff.

I had some initial problems with the sizing of the cards when printing, but that was OK because I could use those cards on top of the patterned paper. This week included football watching, hockey, Math tournaments, Mad Libs and a new pair of glasses. (Click on the photos to make them bigger).

Here are a few links for the products I used in these pages:

Smash Black Pen	Becky Higgins Project Life Pages - Design F	Layered Journal Cards No. 01	Elle's Studio Sunday Card	Becky Higgins Grid Design Card - Download
EK Photo Captions Punch	October Afternoon Homemaker Pins	Customizable Journaling Cards No.2	Secret Smash Pocket

InLinkz.com

Let me blow the dust off...!

OK, so it's been a while of nothing.

I thought I'd come back here and share some of what I've been up to this year. I decided to get back to scrap booking and photo taking this year. So, I started with this class over at Studio Calico called Photo-A-Day. So far I can proudly say that I have kept up faithfully. You can see my progress here at ShutterCal.

I also decided to join the Project Life bandwagon. I have really enjoyed getting back to doing this kind of creative work. It had been over a year since I had done any type of scrap booking! (If you are interested in learning more about Project Life, check it out here.)

I thought that I would share my first week of Project Life now. It was a little hard to get back into the rhythm of picking everything and making something I was happy with.

This is the whole two-page spread for Jan. 1-7.

By the time that I decided I was going to do this, most of the page protector styles were sold out. I ended up with Style D. It works, but I think that I would rather go to Style A when they are replenished. I used a lot of items from my stash (I've been scrapping for over 10 year, so I have LOTS of stuff).

Part of the reason I love this system is that I can add anything I want to tell the story of our week. As you can see here I added a gift card, papers from school and game cards from Clue. I think that it adds a great layer to telling the story of everyday life that my kids will appreciate when they are adults and have kids of their own.

I will try to update this every week to show you my progress. I have kept up with each week so far! I will add more sooner than later, so that I am caught up in time!



Here's a few links to the products I used that are still available:

Becky Higgins Project Life Pages - Design F	Becky Higgins Clementine Collection Digital Cards	Flag Smash Clips	Studio Calico Kraft Stars	Layered Journal Cards No. 01
Jenni Bowlin Calendar Cards	Jenni Bowlin Playdate Journaling Cards	Smash Black Pen

InLinkz.com

January 3rd, 2012

Carrick cleaning up/playing in the snow.

January 5th, 2012

Back in the swing of exercising again. Started back at EA Sports 2 after stopping in June.

My butt is thanking me! ;)

January 4th, 2012

In the Man Cave after Supper - video game / nap time.

January 1st

At 5 O'Clock in Michigan with Mike & Heather watching the Steelers - Browns game on New Year's Day.

The Holidays and Crepes

Cade and Cole before their acting debut.

So proud of these two. 

They were the narrators for their 4th Grade Christmas performance. They did such a good job and were not the least bit nervous! Cade's name was "Charles" and Cole's name was "Alistair". Too funny! All of the students did a fantastic job --this included songs as well as speaking parts. Big undertaking for the new music teacher, Mrs. Obaker. Congratulations to all on a good job!

At our house, we cook a big breakfast every weekend day. Even while on vacation. One of our specialties is Crepes with Sweet Sour Cream filling. Since I've had some requests for the recipe, I thought I'd share it here:

Basic Crepes

1 cup flour

2 eggs

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup water

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons of melted butter

Mix all ingredients together in a medium bowl. Cook over medium heat in a skillet, turning over once.

Crepe Filling

3/4 cup sour cream

8 oz. cream cheese (or one tub of plain Phila. Cooking Cream Cheese)

3 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon vanilla

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Combine sour cream and cream cheese in mixer, mix together until smooth. Add sugar, vanilla, sugars, and vanilla. Continue mixing until all ingredients have mixed until smooth on high -- approx. 5 minutes. Spoon into open crepes and fold over. Top with fresh berries or bananas.

Christmas is fast approaching! I only have a few more gifts to buy and most of them are wrapped. I still have to address Christmas cards. We are still getting over our flu bug from Thanksgiving -- slowly but surely. Still have a lingering cough.

My Second Quilt - Vintage I-Spy

 I just finished my second quilt! This one is called the Vintage I-Spy Quilt from Amy Smart. I also got all the printed blocks from her. The pattern was very easy to follow and an easy quilt to do.

The size is 40 x 40 and a perfect size for my new nephew that will be born in just over a month!

In addition to the printed squares, I used Ash Kona cotton for the solid squares and the backing. The red was also a Kona, but I am not sure exactly which one. The red and white is a new one from Moda -- Circa 1934 Davis in Red. As you can see it is a much brighter red in person. The blue is a Timeless Treasures fabric.

 I quilted it by echoing the seam lines. Not too confident in my free-hand quilting ability yet, so I'll stick with this for now! Here's a closeup of the label I made by hand-stamping and hand-stitching.

Last week - maybe...

 

This may be the last week for football. Hard  to believe  that the  season is almost over already! 

Other Sewing Projects

I've been busy with some other sewing projects too besides the quilt I showed you yesterday. I made a new Halloween table runner for my kitchen table. I used this method and I can get it totally done in about and afternoon. I have done quite a few of these for gifts and they are so fun and easy to make!

Here's my new laptop case I made from DS fabric from JoAnn. I got the instructions from this book. It has a lot of cute ideas for sewing and the instructions are pretty easy to follow. It fits my laptop perfectly and has double batting to keep it safe. It was my first attempt at straight line machine quilting.

This one I am pretty proud of. I made the design myself, based on the laptop case. It was really out of necessity because it is hard to find a case for it since it was just released.

It's a case for my newest gadget that DH got me for my birthday. It's a Acer A100 tablet. I really didn't need a smartphone since I rarely use a cellphone, but I wanted the functionality of having an Android. This is the next best thing. I picked this one because of the size. It's 7". I didn't want the 10" version because that is almost the same size as my laptop!

 

So far I haven't tried to download too many apps. But one of my favorites is the GroceryIQ app. I can make out my grocery list at home and then take it with me to the store and check off things as I get them. So much easier! I usually forget to add things to my list as the week goes by, but with the app I can just add as I go along and you can even scan the item's UPC to add it to your list!

My First Quilt!

I've been working on this for a while if you remember. After the kids went back to school, I made the push to finish it up. The quilt pattern is from Denyse Schmidt - A Hop, Skip, and a Jump. I had a lot of fun selecting all the patterns for this. I made it for my son, Cole. I think it reflects his colorful personality. He told me that it was the best thing anyone had ever done for him. Awww.

Here is the front of the quilt. It is fun to collect all those wonderful patterns and put them together!

I'm so glad that it turned out well and I am already working on my next one that is a gift for someone special. After that I have 3 more to make for my other 2 boys and one for me!

Here is the back of the quilt. I just used the same pattern to go the whole way across in a rainbow.
I machine quilted it in a random straight pattern. 

Our Summer So Far

Colonial Williamsburg - June 2011 - rolling hoops at the Powell House

We've been busy so far this summer! We took a trip in June to Colonial Williamsburg. The kids enjoyed it as much as I hoped (CW is my most favorite place in the whole world --I interned there when I was in college).

Colonial Williamsburg - June 2011 - flash mob with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir
We even made history by singing with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir! They were part of a flash mob in the Historic Area on June 21, 2011. You can see it here:
YouTube Video

Colonial Williamsburg - June 2011 - mixing clay for bricks at the Brickmakers

The kids enjoyed everything we did here and I think that we visited all of the sites, with the exception of only 1 or 2! They had maps to fill out of places they had visited and they got the idea to do them all. Overall it was a great trip and I hope to do it again with them sometime soon.

Pig Roast - July 2011

After our trip, it was time for the annual Pig Roast in Corry -- this being number 19. It was nice weather and good to see old friends!

Marco Island - Tiger Tail Beach - July 2011

Then two weeks ago we went to Marco Island, FL for a wedding. We stayed for a week in a very nice house. The kids loved to pool and spa. We spent time at the beach and swimming in the pool along with enjoying the local seafood!

Marco Island - Our House - July 2011

The wedding was beautiful on the beach by the Hilton (if you  know the area). Very wonderful time!

Marco Island - Jenn and Dave Wedding - July 2011

And now that we had all those wonderful vacations, it's now Football time! Practice started last week. For it signals that summer is just about over. We have to eat either before or after practice (usually after since school is still out) so that takes up about 1/2 of my day it seems.