Cherished Memories

 I never, ever tire of using Crafty Secrets images on my cards. They charm me to pieces every time. I have even bought some of these cardstock cut out sheets twice. *LOVE* Those are vintage buttons from my quite extensive button stash. I finally quit buying them, because even I had to admit that I probably had enough.

 This card was a stash clean-out pure and simple. Remember those Making Memories metal embellishments? Well, back when they were actually on trend, I was a hoarder, so I never used them. Now I use whatever I want without a second thought. In five years, I don't want to be forcing myself to use things I would have enjoyed using at the time I bought them.

 The flower I used here is from my oldest SU! set. It's actually housed in a much deeper clamshell case. I think it's called Bold Blossoms.

 This stamp set is called Noel, and it's from A Muse Studio. It's gorgeous, and I love embossing it. If you are looking for terrific white embossing powder, try A Muse Studio's-I love it. I used SU!'s Winter White for about 11 years, I've always loved SU!'s EP. However, I think I like the a|s even better. I'm so glad embossing is trendy again. I never quit embossing, even when it was unfashionable.

Here is another Crafty Secrets image, plus a die cut from PTI's Love Lives Here set.

I hope you are enjoying your spring, and that you have a lovely Easter with your family. We always have a wonderful Easter get together with our whole family.

Project Life Week 1 New

 So, for those of you unfamiliar with Project Life, it's a scrapbooking idea that you document each week in your life instead of just birthday's and Christmas. Some people try to take a picture every day. Some people are very regimented, others are more free form. PL can be anything you want it to be. I think the coolest thing about it are the page protectors (even though mine keep ripping). You have all these little cells to work with instead of trying to fill a 12 x 12 page.

Above, you can see the intro card for the first week of January. It has the dates for the week. I used some old cork letters and an A Muse Studio mitten die cut to jazz it up a bit.

 The next 4x6 section has a picture of our bird feeder. Troy gor me the pole for our anniversary and the finch feeder for Christmas. Garry and Mary got us the suet feeder for Christmas. We are bird dorks; we get a lot of enjoyment from watching our birdy friends.

 These two cell give a little info about the week and the pictures. I keep a notebook to write down thoughts and events as they happen. I have to do this because I am about 10 weeks behind right now and I have a terrible memory.

 Then, when I sit down to do a week's page, I flip to that week, print out the pics from my camera and phone, and jot down some tidbits on my journaling cards. That pic of Ross's ankle makes my heart flip flop every time I see it.

 This is a perfect example of what PL is all about. You can have book after book of your kids opening presents, or you can have documentation of the way they really spent time enjoying each other. Skyler spent seven hours cleaning and organizing Wilsons' room, and when they were done, they played Legos.

 This is just one of those funny little life things that you wouldn't normally scrapbook, but Troy and I had a lot of fun reading all the fine print on this card and remembering what an ordeal they were to use. We were grownups before cell phones came into regular use, and this was a pretty fancy way to call long distance when away from home.

Remember to click on the images for a better look. I will try to get better pictures of next week, I realize that these are overexposed.

Project Life Week 1 Old

 Here is the two page spread for Week One. My pictures are better this time than last time, but I still need to work on them. This spool is a little too high for me to get the right angle. I need to stand on something next time. You can see them a little better if you click on them.

 I plan to put old pictures on the left side and new pictures on the right side. So these are wedding pics. By the way, the first three of my PL page protectors have ripped. I am not at all pleased with the quality of the holes; they should be much stronger. So far 100% of them have ripped through the top hole. This is not a ringing endorsement for the quality of Becky Higgins page protectors. Has anyone else had this trouble?

 And these are pics from the first week of January. I'll share more on these in my next post. I didn't want this post to be too long or overwhelming for my reader.

 I cut down one of our wedding invitations here, and added some typewriter journaling.

 Here we are coming down the aisle as Mr. & Mrs.

 The night before the wedding.

 Cake time.

 Whispering sweet nothings.

Filler block.