How do they do it?

It's no surprise that not only do I love scrapbooking, but I'm pretty much smitten with all things crafty... I have what might just borderline an obsession with Pinterest... Seriously, all things lovely, in one single spot... Be still my beating heart...

And of course, I follow a lot of my favourite bloggers. Lots of my favourite scrappy girls. And while I get ridiculously inspired, by the stuff I see, at the same time it tends to make me feel inadequate at this memory keeping gig.

I know. I know. I scrapbook. I record our every day. I have over a year and a half worth of our 'every day' recorded in albums... For the most part, I'm caught up to date on pictures I want to scrap. And still, I feel like I have so much more to capture... I see mini albums, trip albums, summer albums, and I feel deflated.

I am a stay at home Mum, to two school-age kids. And I do NOT home school. Nope. My little munchkins are out of the house for 7 hours a day, and I can not fathom how these other ladies find time to do all the scrappy things they do. I do my very best to keep up to date with Project Life, but I do fall behind.

My days consist of spending time at the kids school, volunteering. I realize that this commitment will slow down slightly, as they get older and venture into Middle and High Schools [thankfully, for the girl, that's a little ways off yet] I have a house to keep clean. And sometimes the clean house falls to the very bottom of my priority list.  I have laundry to do, on a continuous, never-ending basis. And yes, the laundry piles up. I try to sort of menu plan and feed my crew homemade meals during the weeknights. And yes, we run low on groceries. Sometimes we even run out of milk... I will be the first to admit, that when Friday night rolls around, I do NOT. WANT. TO. COOK. I attempt to get to yoga once a week [knowing it should be more than once a week] and I'm involved with a walking group and walk with them once a week. Sometimes I venture out and meet girlfriends for coffee, but I will be honest, my days are busy.  It seems like I'm in a rush to pick the kids up from school every afternoon. Each day at 2:55 pm, I'm not exactly sure where the day has gone.

Then comes after school. We are busy. Mason is in hockey. Any hockey mum out there knows that is one crazy erratic schedule. From week to week it's never the same. We can have hockey from once a week to 3-4 times a week. Mason is also involved in Scouts. Madelyn is a Brownie. There seems to be something going on, that we have to plan for, most nights. A free night on the calendar is heavenly.

So the long and short of it is, I'm envious to those ladies out there, who capture even more minutes than I do. The mini albums of summer time. A recent trip. And I will continue to pin them to my boards, and one day, might even get around to doing one...

Project Life - Week 30

My first blog post was in late 2008. At that time I had a 3 and 6 year old. I created my blog, to record the little stuff. The things I would surely forget as the years go by. The 'every day' things, that seemed kind of mundane and to be honest, kind of boring... But they were MY boring things. I tried to be diligent about blogging. Keeping up. I did pretty good back then. I wasn't awesome, but I certainly blogged more than 2 times a month... These days, I don't record our 'every day' stuff on my blog. I capture it in our project life book. And life still seems kind of mundane, and every day-ish... I know that in the future, when I look back to these days of my now 8 and 11 year olds, I'll once again be glad that I've captured all the little tidbits that bring the memories flooding back.

I apologize that my weeks are out of order. Not much I can do about that, I'm lucky enough to be part of the Sahlin Studio Creative Team. I get the opportunity to play with the most awesome products. At the same time, some of my pages are used as samples to showcase the product.  I'm so loving this opportunity, and using different digital designs keeps everything exciting and new.

I am continuously amazed at how much I love project life. I'm Nearly two years in [do you realize that to us project lifers, we're in Week 40... As in, there are only 12 weeks left in 2013...] That puts it into perspective a bit doesn't it?

Or it might run a chill down your spine...

Here is the week 30 spread:

Sahlin Studio Product used in Week 30:

Washi Tape No.3
Journal Cards - Summer
Acrylic Arrows
Aztec Summer
Glimmer Paper - Indian Summer

Project Life - Week 29

As we creep deeper into September, I have finally traded my flip flops for shoes and socks, and my capri pants and shorts for jeans and tights. Only just recently though, thank goodness. Last week it was still hot, and some parts of the province even broke records. The last few days however, there has been a bite in the wind, and the leaves are now beginning to change colour at an alarming rate.

Fall is gorgeous. But guess what it means? It means winter is around the corner...


It's no secret that I loathe winter...

So, looking back at these project life pictures, from week 29, smack dab in the middle of our summer, certainly put a smile on my face...

To include even more vacation pictures, I added an insert. I simply cut down one of the page protectors [Design D] I had to include the addition of the new royal baby. I left one of the pockets blank, so we could see the new royal family. I added confetti from Studio Calico and sewed the pocket shut.

To include the 2 - 6x4 size photos, the one of the new baby, and of the proud parents, again I cut down a page protector. I added some washi tap, so that I could punch holes in it and include it in my album. 

 Close up of the Left Hand Side:

Close up of the Right Hand Side: 

Still totally inspired every week to work on this project.

Sahlin Studio product used:

Washi Tape No. 2
Glimmer Paper - Indian Summer
Acrylic Arrows
Summer Journal Cards 
Aztec Summer - Elements

Project Life - Week 33

It's taken two weeks, but we're back into routine again around here. It seems like summer was a long time ago... All the kids extra curricular activities have started up again. It seems like September hits, and you hit the ground running.

I'm trying to get myself somewhat organized, and into a routine. Easier said than done... I have so many things on my 'to do' list. I kind of hate to look at it actually. But I'm going to get things crossed off, one by one.

Last week I participated in Ali Edwards 'Week in the Life'. For anyone that hasn't heard about it, can check out her website here. I have been doing a week in the life since 2008. I love to look back and see how things have changed in the past 5 years. And they have changed. A lot. It's crazy how your every day just adjusts and morphs, as your kids get older. I'm so glad to have all those memories of my kids being little... They're not so little anymore... Having said that, one day I'll be looking back to these memories and remember them as 'little'.

I didn't download daily pictures. I couldn't fit that in. I hope to show a glimpse of my finished work. That's my goal anyway. 

Here are my week 33 project life pages:

These were created using the following Sahlin Studio Products:

Country Road Kit
Country Road Journal Cards
Country Road Word Art

I still love this project.

Project Life: Week 31 & 32

I know I haven't posted weeks 29 and 30 yet. I jumped ahead, to use some new digital products from Sahlin Studio. Right now I'm four weeks behind... I hate getting behind. Mix that in with the fact that school started last week, the kids activities are all starting up, and I have hardly had a chance to catch my breath.

The next few weeks will have me being up at the kids school. A lot. Being the volunteer coordinator takes a lot of time. Especially in September... By October things slow down a bit, but the next few weeks are going to look like a dogs breakfast... [what exactly that looks like, I can't say] The next few weeks will be chaos. It sounds like I'm complaining. I'm not. I'm grateful to be in the position to spend my days at the school. I'm grateful that I don't have to juggle work and volunteer time. I'm grateful my kids still get excited to see me at the school. I'm grateful that I know the kids teachers.

Anyway, here is week 31:

When I was going through pictures for this week, I surprisingly had very few, for both week 31 and 32, so I ended up enlarging [here it was 8x12] to take up a bit more space.  I'm sorry that the quality of the pictures aren't great... I think I've finally figured out how to make the pictures show up a bit better, without the glare... I'll try that with the next batch.

Right Hand Side:

Left Hand Side:

It's always my intention to add more 'physical memorabilia' but I am terrible at it. I was pleased to include our movie ticket stubs as well as the little Canadian flag that adorned a meal we got at a restaurant on 'date night'. Some people are so good at adding in little trinkets. I collect stuff, but I don't feel like I have a knack for adding them in. Going to try harder to do that. 

Week 32:

Right Hand Side:

Again, I had a large picture [6x12] take up extra spaces.  One of our trips up Nose Hill. I love that Madelyn was flying a kite, but was much more interested in the critter in the grass. She is a bug girl through and through.

Left Hand Side:

The little square photo collages were easy to do, just used the app PicFrame on my iphone. I use that particular app a lot.

Sahlin Studio Product Used:

Week 31:


Apple Orchard
A for for Apple: Snippets

Week 32:

Apple Orchard 
Summer Journal Cards
Acrylic Arrows

Project Life: Weeks 27 & 28

It's week 27, and I'm still trying to figure out the perfect way to photograph this project. I think I may have finally got it figured out. Not in week 27, but in week 28. I just may be onto something...

Week 27:

Left Hand Side:

Right Hand Side:

I included a list of 'things to do this summer' in my project life and I'm embarrassed to admit, that we did an incredibly poor job of crossing things off this summer. I don't exactly know why that is...
This was the first summer in a long time, that we were home during Stampede Week. We often choose to get away from the city for that week. We did end up taking the kids down to the grounds for a few hours on 'family day'. It was a GONG SHOW... Everything had a crazy long line up. Rides averaged about $5/ride. Games were expensive. And the people... Oh how I dislike being wall to wall with that many people. So, we went, we saw, we left. It was all good.

Week 28:

Insert - Side A & B: These pictures are 6x12, an insert added in. I simply cut a 12x12 page protector in half. I love how flexible I can be with this project.

Left Hand Side:

Right Hand Side: 

Sahlin Studio Product Used:

Week 27:

Washi Tape No.2
Washin Tape No.3
Acrylic Arrows   
Melon Sorbet Bundle
A Wonderful Day

Week 28:

Washi Tape No.2
Acrylic Arrows
A Wonderful Day
Aztec Summer

Project Life - Week 26

Week 26 marks the halfway point of the year, for project life. 26 weeks in, 26 more to go. Time just marches on. I love this project.

This also marked the end of the school year. [Hard to believe we're a mere 2 weeks away from school starting up again. This Mummy is not clicking her heals together in anticipation of school starting, yet. I LOVE our summer days]

Because Calgary was in a state of emergency, school ended up being finished sooner than expected. I had to include the school closure info, from the city's website. Still can't believe that this happened to our lovely little city.

These were photos were created in Photoshop Elements, using Sahlin Studio products. The heart sun overlay, was using Ali Edwards This is Summer Overlay.

Sahlin Studio Product used:

A Wonderful Life
Aztec Summer Bundle
Birthday Cake Snippets
Project Mouse Days Washi Tape