2012 Title Page

After completing my December Daily journal, I missed working with fabric. So when I started doing my title page, a light bulb moment went off. This album is supposed to reflect me, so I thought “Why not?” So after a trip to my local scrapbook and fabric store, Etc.  and a little depletion of my bank account I came home with this.

{Insert angels singing here}

Our family title page reflects us. We are that silly family. Our kids have over 1,000 photo booth pictures saved from the month of December alone. So when the kids were acting goofy, Jeff and I jumped in. Formal, posed pictures are lovely but just not us.

I included photo booth pictures, stitching, fabric, clear acrylic letters, letter stickers, and an office binder clip. Perfect because those items reflect me perfectly.

Week #1

Here is exactly how my week looks when I open my binder. I have my weekly spread, 2 notes {1 to Jeff, 1 to the kids}, and a 6 x 12 insert with pictures and journaling taken from this past week’s blog posts.

More fabric, sigh. And letters stitched. Also I want my pages to go from Monday thru Sunday so that my weekends aren’t  split up. Total personal preference. So I included 8 days in my first week. No problem since it’s a leap year anyhow.

I love this week showed more of our life than just posed pictures. I so wish I had a picture of my Strawberry Shortcake lunchbox. And I continue to love my Instax camera.

I’m working hard at losing weight and this is my treat once a week. My mouth is watering right now. So glad I grabbed a picture and embarrassed my kids in the restaurant. Food evokes powerful memories so I’m glad I captured it on camera. My journaling is on the end of one of the grid journaling cards that I cut off with my trimmer, stapled, and used my own handwriting. Easy, easy.

I love, love the Clementine edition. I just took one of my favorite cards and stitched our family initial and the number 6 for our family of 6. You will see this repeated ALOT this year in my album.

As part of my life list I made when I got sick, I wanted to write weekly letters to my husband and kids. I include them in my Project Life album. I had a lot of questions and emails about the letters, so let me answer those.

First, I buy my cards from various stationary stores and just yesterday ordered a couple off line for the first time. I write all 4 kids on one card. Some are silly, loving, and some are talking about lessons I want them to learn {or about issues they are learning about}.

For example, this is what I wrote Rebecca this week:

Remember that even when a friend hurts you and apologizes, then offer her grace. There will come a day when you will hurt a dear friend and you will hope for that same grace to be offered. I love you to the moon and back.

Simple. Don’t make it difficult. It took me 90 seconds to write to all 4 of my kids. I figured it doesn’t have to be long, as I do it consistently every week.

I do not put them into protectors. I punch a simple hole and insert them directly into the album.

However now that 2011 is complete, I will take those cards out of the 2011 album and put them into a box that will fit on my mini album wall. The kids are constantly into those. {Note: Even my first card placed last May was in great shape.}

I love Ali Edwards and her continued inspiration. I don’t know how she does it all. Insanely creative I tell you. These 6 x 12 journals were purchased here from Designer’s Digital. I included 2 of my blog posts from last week.

This journal was about things I wished I had a picture of from my childhood. You can read that post here.

After I wrote this post, my parents emailed me the picture above of me as a baby. It is the only physical picture I have as a little one. Love.

This journal is from my blog post about the Power of Music and how it effected my great grandmother Hazel who had Alzheimers the last 25 years of her life. You can read about that here.

Speaking of the power of music, I made a very cute insert about my love for 80s music and compared it to the kid’s music today. Samantha loved it so much that she put her pizza hands all over the page protector. No problem, right? Because that’s what page protectors are for. But not when Hank proceeds to eat half of it. Lord give me strength.

So tomorrow I will have cupcake #21 up on the blog and probably mid afternoon will redo the layout and post. Thanks for your patience – all you music lovers out there.

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask. I try my best to answer all questions and comments.

For those of you completely new to Project Life I did a post last week here. You won’t regret it.

Blessings sweet friends – Jenny