Project Life December Part 1

Almost done with 2012, I think I'll have the rest ready to share next week.  That will mean I'll have made it through a whole year of Project Life!  That's really an exciting thing for a repeat PL drop out.  But last year it really saved me in terms of memory keeping.  I know only a small fraction of photos would have made it off the hard drive it it wasn't for Project Life.  Can't believe I feel "caught" up with 2012!  I think that's the magic behind PL, for avid scrapbookers we just want an easier way to record our memories and still be able to play with all the "stuff". 

The first week kicked off our holiday season because Brad's brother, his wife, and their baby daughter came out to visit for a long weekend.  It was the first time we've all been together since both of the "babies" ours and theirs were born.  I forgot to see if they minded if I could share photos of their sweetie pie so unfortunately the pictures of our niece have to be blurred.  You will have to take my word that she is just adorable.

I picked up a the Happy Christmas - Digital Cards by Crystal Wilkerson & Kristina Proffitt early on and got a lot of use out of it.  The 4X6 journaling card, Merry & oh so Bright filler card, and green patterned paper below are all from the kit.  You'll see bits and pieces of that kit pop up all month long.

Back to what we were up to...we put up the tree to see how LB would do with it.  I'm happy to report he didn't try climbing it - a real fear of mine!  I love the soft glow of the tree lights with ER.  The second row has pictures of LB and his new obsession, carrying containers all around and doing an endless round of fill up and dump out.  The bottom row has a picture of ER working on her gingerbread town and checking out the new Crayola gifts we got for review.

One of my favorite little bits this week is this itty bitty Studio Calico frame, just so cool!  I picked up a seasonal set and more general purpose set of 12 so expect to see more of them.  I put a picture of Brad and ER working on the houses inside.  The washi tape is K&Co and the puffy stickers are also K&Co but from an older line.

Most of the pictures on the right side of this week's spread have my niece in them so it didn't make much sense to share it with all the blurry parts.  I thought I'd share how I've been using the set of 3X4 Grid Cards I got when I also ordered the Clementine Core Kit.  I wish I'd also gotten the Page Dividers too.

Anyway, the Grid Cards are so versatile I think they should be part of any Project Lifer's Core Kit, whether you purchase an official kit from Becky Higgins or not.  It's very easy to make them match whatever colors or theme you are working with.  The grid also makes it so much easier to keep your handwriting straight.  For this tag I just trimmed a tag, stuck on some washi tape & a old Making Memories sticker, and popped it onto a Grid Card.

I made an even quicker card by just adding an ornament die cut and some stamped dates.  The ornament and tag are both from the Mod Holiday collection by K&Company.

This spread and the two inserts are all from December 8th when we went to Breakfast with Santa and spent the rest of the day with my husband's family.  I know that's a lot of space dedicated to one day but I know that I might never get around to making a scrapbook page for these pictures and there were just too much to contain in any other way.

I put all the pictures from the breakfast on the first divided protector.  I had so many I wanted to include there wasn't much space to make it look pretty.  Next to it, in the first insert is part of the program.  I always want to include more bits of life for Project Life but always seem to run out of room so it was nice to include it this time.

 

On the reverse side of the first insert I made a quick little scrapbook page with the family pictures we took after breakfast.  The Ho Ho Ho text card is from the same Happy Christmas kit I mentioned before, the border and Happy Holiday Season are from the same sheet of paper from the Winter Wonderland collection by My Mind's Eye.

Following that insert is another, this one has pictures from our annual trip to see the elaborate holiday decorations at this upscale mall that's by Grandma Norma's house.  ER just loves the Christmas fairies.  I used the Jolly Holiday Recollections paper pad for most of this and the right side of the spread, shown below.

Normally I would probably skip showing you this just because I blurred so much of it.  But I decided to share it anyway because I wanted to show where I used the I Believe in Santa freebie filler card, shared over the weekend. 

I needed something bright to match the other papers I used and kept it on the plain side so it wouldn't clash with the paper used right above it.  The Santa journaling spot was cut right out of the Holly Jolly Recollections paper pad (Recollections is the Micheal's store brand).
There are two versions of the freebie, the Red version I used and this one, which I actually prefer, with a beautiful patterned background.  Both are available for free, in this post.  If you need a filler card for Martin Luther King Jr. day I have two quote filler cards that I just shared yesterday, you might like to check out.

Turning the page will bring you to the week of December 9-15.  It began with a ladies day out to a Sugar Plum Tea Party and seeing the Nutcracker performed by a local Youth Ballet.  If you're keeping up that means from last Wednesday through Sunday we were running and busy with family.  It was one whirlwind of a kick off to December.

At the tea party the ballet dancers came out and mingled with the guests. I was really nicely done and ER just loved seeing the beautiful costumes up close.  It was also special because both Grandmas were with us, plus we had front row tickets.  ER said it was her favorite holiday activity.  I'm so glad we went!

The first insert is Design G, with pictures from our family celebration for my brother's birthday.  It was the same day of the Nutcracker.  My Dad, brother, and Grandma Norma's boyfriend Ray came out with each Grandma and they hung out at home with LB having a Men's Day while we were at the show.  Our time was more fun. Dad and Ray got put to work moving dry wall down to our basement.   They're good sports. 

When the ladies got back from the ballet we went to dinner, which was very crowded and a long wait because the restaurant was booked for the Nutcracker cast.  They were having their closing night celebration so we got to see them again!

The ornament filler and journaling card plus the snowflake circle are from...you got it the same Happy Christmas kit.  See, I told you that would be popping up a lot!  Just really loved it.  The birthday paper and elements are all from an older DCWV.

I used both the horizontal and vertical 5X7 page protectors to add two of our Christmas card designs.  We ended up with four different versions because of all the various deals and coupons I used.  These are from Ink Garden (front) and Shutterfly (back).  We also got square cards from Tiny Prints, which were also printed on the pearl white shimmer paper.  That was just beautiful, I got a lot of feedback on those.  The recipients just loved them.

The second half of the week has one of the most exciting things to happen to me lately, even though it's just tucked in there.  Can you guess, yep it's getting an iPhone5!  I have wanted one for a long, long, long time and love, love, love it!  It is so unnecessary and such a luxury so I feel so lucky to have one.  My husband is such a nice guy, that when it came he let me have it right away.  We were already paying for the new contract so it didn't make sense to wait, he told me.

A good deal of the page is about the Daisy Holiday and Service Project, the girls made tray favors for our local Meals on Wheels to deliver with meals.  We also made reindeer snacks; it was a busy meeting but a lot of fun.

At the top right is a cool picture with some accidental bokeh that I captured with a stack of our finished cards ready to send out.  I used extra Vistaprint return address labels that I got for free during a holiday promotion on a Grid Card for filler.

The bottom card has my first iPhone pictures and are of my husband at the movie theater and brother Dave at the restaurant when we took him out for his birthday and to see The Hobbit opening weekend.  I'm really happy with how everything turned out, but I may switch the coffee talk card at the far right.  That's the same day at the tragedies in Connecticut.  I had my neighbors over to chat and since none of us were on our devices we had no idea what had happened.  It was like a few last hours before the calm.   I think the stickers I used are a bit too cheerful. 

Sharing at Jessica's The Mom Creative.