Project Life: Weeks 11 &12

I hope you all had a good Easter weekend!  Ours could've been a little better, since both the baby and I came down with colds and were feverish.  But Brad took good care of us and took ER to an egg hunt and decorated peep cupcakes so at least half the family had a jolly time.

I am finally catching up on sharing.  I have the next two done and will share them next time, they show part 1 and part 2 of our long weekend in Missouri so it makes sense to post them together.  Then I will finally be up to date, which for me is week behind. 

This was my birthday week, so it was already going to be pretty busy but as you'll see from the second half it was busy for rather unexpected reasons.  My family took me to dinner, and a retirement party was going on behind us.  It made for a festive atmosphere, and I thought the picture made it look like everyone was celebrating with me. 

On Monday we went on a Costco run and when I went to pick up my favorite spinach salad, I found they'd replaced the mushrooms with dried cranberries.  Yay! I always picked off the mushrooms and threw them out, so it was a nice birthday surprise.  Ever the cynic, Brad told me it's because mushrooms must have gone up in price.

Tuesday was my actual birthday and Brad sent me this pretty bouquet of tulips.  A little present I'd ordered myself also arrived.  Do any of you use GroopDealz?  I just started using them, I usually use Very Jane but am branching out.  Both have new handmade boutique style deals every day.  This is the second piece of jewelry I've gotten, it's very pretty.  I just love pink!

The banner tags are a terrific freebie from Linda Tieu on Back to Paper.  I got lucky with the company logo, I copied and pasted it from their site and it was a png image, easy to add on top of a banner in Elements. 

I redid this half of the week a few times.  The reasons I had so much trouble doing this side of the spread was because it included when a tornado came through town.  My husband actually saw the twister from our bedroom window and the neighborhood with destroyed houses is just across the street from ours.  In fact, we are friends with several of the families who lost their homes.  Needless to say it was a very stressful and upsetting time, but one through which our community has really grown together.  It's been amazing.

It was a challenge for me to figure out how to include this event.  Ultimately, I decided to keep much of the journaling private, in two accordian folded cards.  They are easily accessible in the pockets.  In the top right photo is a collage with photos of the neighborhood path flooding, ER in our tornado shelter aka the basement, some hail from our front yard, and news coverage.

In the journaling pockets I included a screen capture of a picture posted to our local new's channel's webside of the tornado on the ground near our church.  I used Days of the Week Photo Journal Cards from A Vegas Girl at Heart for it.  Next to it is some information about the tornado's strength and then the journaling cards.

Additional Credits for Week 11:

Check It Journaling Card by Gennifer Bursett
Hello There by Crysal Wilkerson

One kinda fun thing I did was incorporate the birthday card, that comes with a $20 coupon, I got from Vera Bradley.  I trimmed it down to fit on top of one of the longer tabbed journaling cards, these came with the original kit but I don't think they make this size anymore.  They are three times the length of a regular card and fold up so you can still fit them in a pocket.  I trimmed mine down to just two panels.  It opens on the wrong side, which is kind of awkward, but I wanted the tab with neutral numbers to show up on the page.  The reverse side is red and that clashed with the yellow and blue of the card.

It relates the story how the day after the tornado we drove across town to see both Grandma Norma and my family.  We also met with a friend at the mall and I used my coupon.  I think big scary events like a tornado make you want to see your loved ones.  It felt comforting to see my mom and dad and I think all the grandparents were glad to see with their own eyes that we were safe and sound.  I also wrote about it here.

The second half of last week and these pages are the first time I've used Design A page protectors.  They are very similar to the ones I still have on hand from the very first Project 365 Kit of the Month through Creating Keepsakes Magazine.  Basically the journaling card slots are in the middle of Design A and in my kit all the journaling cards slot are in a row along the bottom.  There weren't any other page protector options so I have a whole year's worth of those.

When I decided to give Project Life yet another go and really try to stick this time, at the end of last year, I got the Big Variety Pack.   So far I've only incorporated Design F into the occassional extra insert.  I really needed to break out of a page protector rut.    I am so glad I did and now it might be very tough to go back!  I think having the journaling in the center of the page makes it easier to connect the photos with the journaling that goes with it.  I'm sure they already figured this out and is the reason for the change.

While on the surface they seem very similar I quickly found out that the journaling card slots on my protectors are not true 3X4 so the original cards are a little small for the spaces in Design A.  I had already trimmed down the two cards I created digitally.  A little of the backside of the cards for the next week show through and I'm still trying to decide if that's going to drive me crazy.

After a crazy weather week, the next one was odd too.  We had unseasonably warm days.  The trees started budding, bulbs came up, it was like spring and in Michigan it's not usually warm enough for shorts March!  We loved every minute of it and spent every spare moment outside.  I loved seeing the little "meal" made in our playhouse.

On Sunday we had a lunch and play date with friends.  My daughter got the cutest edible Easter basket.  On Friday night I took our kindergartener to a family night at school for pajama night.  She loved it and the activities were very fun.

It was a big week for LB, full of firsts.  We started giving him more solid foods than just the cereals, that he didn't ever seem to like, and that just seemed to plug him up.  The prunes were in one day and out the next, hence the impromptu bath in the middle of the day.  He also began pulling himself up to stand on a regular basis plus he better at getting all the way into a sitting position.  He's been able to do it, sort of for awhile but would usually just get into this lounging position we called the "bikini pose".

Partial List of Credits for Week 12:

Smile from Live Free, Love Life Freebies by Miss Tina, who is so awesome she's got new coordinating freebies!!!  Go get them right now!
Make Today... and vintage looking frames from Spring Menagerie, A Collaboration from the Design House Digital Designers, I got it free through their blog hop.  It's now available for purchase.
Days of the Week Photo Journal Cards from A Vegas Girl at Heart, used for weather
Orange Journaling Card, Remember This journaling card, and yellow polka dot printable card from Crystal Wilkerson
Most elements on Standing Up photo collage, First Food title and baby food jar, Momemt Captured Journaling Strip, First Time Ever kit by Erica Zane

Sharing at The Mom Creative and One Happy Mama