Hello 2012!

Can you believe it!? 2011 was one insanely fast year, but we are very much so welcoming 2012! This is going to a big year for us. Lots of exciting things . . mostly continuing to get my home as organized as possible so that at the end of the year we can buy our first house (eep!) and have a peaceful transition.

So with all of that .. I also posted before about how I am starting Project Life. Super excited for this! I bought three albums thinking I'd do an album for each of the kiddos and then a 2012 album. I had planned to make the first few pages in my 2012 album an introduction to 'us' and sort of summarize how Josh & I began . . and how we got to where we are. However, after I started rummaging through old pictures and memories .. I knew that a whole other album of catching up and showing how are family has grown the 7 years prior to finding Project Life would probably be a better choice. So for now, I am building myself a catch up box with all of the things I want my pre-Project Life album to include.


I am doing the box because I want to stay on top of my day -to-day 2012 album . . and this 'pre' album is all past tense so I can't get behind on it. I figured with the box of memories, I can start plugging them into my album when I have time or am all cut up on the 2012 album. I'm tossing memories from the babies in here too since I will be backtracking in their albums. So in here I have pictures, hospital bracelets, ultrasounds, movie tickets .. basically every special memory I can find that happened before now, lol!


& especially this very special memory. My concert ticket from the day Josh asked me to be his girlfriend . . awwww. I have had all of these little mementos in boxes for so long with no real home and I am so happy to be able to neatly preserve them.


Okay, so I put that aside & spent some time today 'building' a core kit to use in each of the baby's albums. I just used my Becky Higgins core kit as a template for size and picked my own scrapbook papers and cardstock to cut from. I've only just begun, but after some time .. I have a good start to get going on their albums.


I even hopped on Excel and gave making my own journaling cards a whirl. I am actually pretty pleased! These (obviously) are for Chlo's album. & you can feel free to snag them here! For whatever reason, my dimensions on Excel were just a little off. *shrugs* But basically, if you are using them in the 3x4 slots with Becky Higgins page protectors . . the sides of each card will need to be trimmed up from your printable. Here's mine after I neatened them up to fit! *pats self on back*
ETA: I made Ian's album some journaling cards too . . which you can also find here! (Forgive my lack of natural light!)


& just because .. how cute are these little die cuts I scored on mega clearance at HL! I can't wait to start sharing my layouts. :)

Project Life!

Okay, truth is .. my husband pretty much sucks at gift giving. Sorry babe! I have sulked about it plenty, but the man's best quality is just not surprising me. Good thing he has other qualities to make up for this. I know. I'm horrible. I decided to embrace it this year and pick my own gift. He told me just what he wanted & I told him what I had my eye on. Hey, no disappointments there. I guess I can't give him too hard of a time. I'm not an easy one to buy for. :P

On to the gift of . . Project Life! Ah so excited. Project Life is a really simple, stress free way to scrapbook. No hours of figuring out layouts and cutting and gluing. Basically you get scrapbooking, minus the hard work. So let me just show you. & if you feel the need to learn more, here's where you begin: Becky Higgins

I got 3 albums with intentions of doing a family album and one for each of my kiddos. For my family album, I am planning on doing 1-2 layouts a week. For the kiddo's albums, it will probably be more like 1-2 layouts a month.


Then I ordered the Becky Higgin's page protector big pack of design A (60 pages for $25, not bad!) and also the Amber Core Kit.

This core kit is amazing. First off, how cute & sleek are these boxes. I know, I am easy to please, but I just love them! They are clean and sturdy. Then when you open it up:

Cuteness overload. The set comes with tons of journaling cards, dated cards, stickers, foldable cards, & such. Just love it. Best part is .. they are already cut to size to pop right into your page protector slots. Nice and neat .. quick and easy.


Really all of her kits are colorful and pretty . . and I would be happy with any of them. I feel like it was money very well spent. My plan is to start with the New Year! & .. I will be blogging my layouts! :)