Our Life...

{School Days} Project Life | Elsie's Preschool 3s - Completed

Back today with all my finished pages for Elsie's first year of preschool! Like I said yesterday, I started with the Art pages and worked my way out. It just happened that this chapter of her album started on a single side. I do hope to add in her year that she spent in daycare to the beginning of this same album. So here goes a whole lotta pages...

{Design D} This is my introduction page which included the day she met her teachers and flowing into her first day of school. They actually ask that someone be there with the child on this first day to help ease the child into school, so Chris and I got to attend. It was so fun to be able to see her there. I can say that she is a school lovin' kid, even now as a first grader that school is her element.

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{Design D} Some pictures with her teachers and some of the activities they did on the first day.

{Design A} Sorry for the blur. I didn't feel comfortable having some of the kids' faces here. This is where the Memory Books that the teachers put together came in handy.

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{Design A} More school fun and activities. I also included her first homework too.

{Design F} All of her Holiday activities throughout the school year.

{12x12 Design for insert} Between this same spread, I included her Valentine for us...

And then her Christmas card too.

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{Design F} Showcasing some of her art work displayed at the big Art Show.

{Design B} A few more pieces of art and some pictures of us at the Art Show.

{Design F & D} I included a few more extra in between this spread too. These weren't at the Art Show, but I wanted to include a few pieces of the real stuff too. I chose the handprint flowers, because they had her hand print. I cut the lizard down to 6x6 to showcase her painting. I loved that the pig showed how she cut and pasted things together. This is just a 6x6 picture of it.

{Design E & 8.5x11 Landscape} I chose to include a 6x6 picture of the turtle because I loved that little smile she put on him. The painted mittens showcased her cutting again. I included an example of her coloring at the beginning of the year and at the end. I loved that by the end of the year, she could follow directions on what to color. She really learned how to control her coloring. Not to say she still didn't go wild at times, but it was nice to see she did learn to control it if need be.

This one just makes me smile. This is the perfect example of her very first portraits. She would always draw the person in their favorite color. Cute stuff, if you ask me.

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I also had to include one of her free style drawings. She was always drawing "fireworks."

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{Design B} Celebrating her birthday at school. It even fell on a day when they had a special magic show. How fun was that!

And then we have the last day of school. I included her signature.

I actually scanned the paper in, and printed it on a 4x6 photo. Funny thing is, I cannot figure out where that sheet went! Oye.

This is where I wanted to include some of her paperwork. This is her progress report.

{8.5x11 Vertical & 6x12} Some testing at the end of the year for coloring, cutting, and number order. Guess this was an off day for her. She did know how to count ;)

{6x12 & 8.5x11 Vertical} More testing and some homework that included her progression of how she would write her name. I think I will slide another journal card to point out the fact that she loved to include many lines on her "E" when she first started writing her name out, and how light of a touch she had too.

More name and coloring.

I love that this was actually done in class, and she must have felt the need to write her own name on it. LOVE.

I just wanted to show you how little space documenting an entire school year's worth of memories was for this. I am so happy to have Elsie's precious first year of preschool documented for her. Like I said yesterday, I just documented her schooling this way because I have already covered the rest of her life at this time through traditional scrapbooking. I was very intimidated by all the school "stuff" until now. Becky Higgins has totally saved the day for me. One mini kit and various page protectors later, I have one year completed. Not to mention, I will be able to use the same kit for year 2 of preschool with the same box of goodies. I am sure I will still have lots of cards left after that too. The Childhood mini kits are design to document one year's worth of memories for a child, not just school memories!

Now on to the next!

Product Used: Becky Higgins Mayfield Childhood Edition mini kit; Page Protector Design A, B, C, E, F, 12x12, 8.5x11 vertical & horizontal, and 6x12 (as indicated by each picture); American Crafts Memory Markers (various colors) and Precision Pen (black); Becky Higgins Date Stamp.

{School Days} Project Life | Elsie's Preschool 3s - The Process

Confession time. Even through my little girl just turned 7 years old last month, I have yet to do anything with all of her memories from all her days of school. I know, it could be worse. I could be even further behind. She could be 17, right? You see, I have been documenting her everyday home life, holidays, and birthdays. I just had an issue inside my head that couldn't get past all of the school "stuff" that comes home. I really wanted to work on her school memories, but it just was so very overwhelming. 

In comes Becky Higgins Childhood mini kits. Lightbulb! With a mini kit and all the different page protector designs Becky has already on the market, I knew that was the route I wanted to take for both of the kids' school memories and all that "stuff" that comes along with it.

I decided to jump start this project of documenting school memories with Elsie's first year of preschool. Now remember, these mini kits can easily cover an entire years worth of memories for a child, not just school. I already have the "other" memories pretty much covered, so I am just rolling with school stuff for now.

So where did I start?

I have kept all the school stuff from each year for each child in an Iris plastic storage box. Mind you, not all of it fit in there... but it was somewhat contained by this. I pulled it all out and began sorting. Art pile. Homework/Written pile. Calendar/Paperwork pile (Yes, I even had each of the calendars saved that showed what they did each day. It actually came in very handy!). I even had a trash pile. Gasp! I like to save it all, but I knew stuff had to go. I took pictures of it all on a white board, just in case I feel even more adventurous some day and toss more of it.

Next step: Pictures.

I have all my digital pictures in folders sorted by year and then inside each year, months. I rename all my pictures with the date first... 2013.05.13-IMG_001.jpg ... so that I can easily see what the date is and they will be sorted correctly with all the various cameras that I use. What can I say, I am crazy. BUT it made it super easy to go back to pull all the random pictures I had taken pertaining to Elsie's first year of preschool.

{Clearly, I wasn't much of a deleter of duplicate pictures back in 2009. I am happy to report, I am much better at that now.}

Once I had all those pictures in one place, I went to town sorting the pictures I wanted to be printed and documented in her book. After whittling down the pictures to a manageable number, it was much easier to see "categories" I wanted to document.

The biggest category was her Art Show. I knew it wasn't going to be the start of her album, but it was going to be the easiest spot to start for me. I had already taken a lot of pictures that evening at her school of each piece during the Art Show. I decided to just start sizing those pictures down to 3x4.

I knew a Design F page protector would be able to fit the most on one spread, so I went with one of those for the art. On the facing page, I included a few extra shots from that evening. Design B fit the bill for that. Once I had a base to start with, I knew which design page protectors I was using and where I could add a new design. I simply worked outward from there.

I pulled out my envelopes containing all the various design page protectors, and working with my chosen pictures, I started editing and sizing pictures. I added the page protector I chose to work with for each spread, making sure to sketch out what the plan was for each page. There is nothing worse than getting a fresh stack of pictures back only to be clueless as to what to do with them. My memory is short. Sketches save me from doing the work all over again.

One thing that did save me...

The lovely ladies at my daughter's preschool, put together Memory Books for each child. LOVE that! AND I was able to scan in some of these pictures to include in her book. I am still keeping this book (of course!); I just wanted some of the pictures. I know that is doubling them up, but I didn't care. I plan on packing this back up in the original Iris plastic container along with a few other things. It will be safe from sticky hands, but the pictures will still be able to be enjoyed.

This is how I got started; one mini kit, stack of various design page protectors, pictures, lots of sticky notes, and a pen. Actually, I used a few different colored pens to add in some "funness" factor. Please come back tomorrow when I will share the finished pages!

{365} Project Life 2013 | St. Patrick's Day (Week 11 - Bonus)

I guess this is showing you how far behind I am with completing my album right now? My little secret is out. BUT I have to tell you, I am A-OK with that. I actually prefer to have several weeks to play and catch up with at a time. I keep taking my pictures each day, and that to me is "all caught up."

... So anyway.

This is what our St. Patrick's Day looked like this year. We had a sneaky visit from a tricky Leprechaun.

I typed up my journaling with an old typewriter, so please excuse all of my spelling mistakes. Elsie put up signs around the house as a preventive measure, but that Leprechaun must not have seen the "make a mess" sign until he tossed dinosaurs all about the living room.

But good thing he did see this one. Although, Elsie was a little disappointed that he didn't leave real gold and silver. I got to say, it would have been nice if it was real. Too bad leprechauns are so tricky!

And here is my favorite part of the whole thing. The kiddies are always up for a little paint mess. I had them make their own clovers using their finger prints. The blank grid cards that Becky Higgins makes are perfect for stuff like this.

If you want to see more, I have a post up at the My Mind's Eye Blog today with more details!

Product Used: Becky Higgins white grid cards, Becky Higgins Design G page protectors,  My Mind's Eye Kate & Co. Collection, American Crafts Memory Marker (Raspberry, Denim, & Evergreen), Typewriter.

Another Double Layout: Cousins

I am up with another layout for my "Anatomy of a Double Page Layout" series over at the My Mind's Eye Blog today. I hope you jump on over there to check it out!

 

{365} Project Life 2013 | Week 10

We have Maggie in the middle of DinoLand, Elsie in her new bed, Elsie not feeling too well, some reading time together, a tattooed little boy just like his dad, SUNSHINE, and play-doh fun.

My Mind's Eye had a Decorative Tape Week, and I (with my little assistant) created this little table for it. She's pretty proud of it. I love how it turned out!

The rainbow art was created by Sam at school. Love that this was the week we finally saw some sunshine, and we just happened to have a couple of rainbows show up throughout the week too ;)

Product Used: Becky Higgins Jade Edition & Seafoam Edition, Becky Higgins Design A page protectors, Studio Calico's March (fave) & January (today) Project Life kit, Martha Stewart Label, American Crafts Dear Lizzy 5th & Frolic date stamp, American Precision Pen 05 (black), American Crafts Memory Marker (Carrot & Leaf) Versafine (Onyx Black), Prima Chalk Ink (Brick Red), Bohemian Typewriter Font. 

Happy 7th Birthday, Elsie Bug!

My baby girl turned 7 years old today. WOW! We had a birthday party this Saturday, and afterwards we had dinner at Quaker Steak & Lube. We had never been there, didn't know what to expect, but I think Elsie was pretty happy about the end result. After waiting for "forever" for our food, a group of servers walked out of the back clapping and a siren went off with a "We have a birthday in the house" over the loud speaker. Elsie looked up, and then was quickly surrounded. Her face turned red and she sunk a little in her chair with the biggest grin from ear to ear. They were singing to her for her 7th birthday. When I asked that evening what her favorite part of her day was, it was all of it.... but then she quickly said that the most awesomest part was when they sang to her at the restaurant.

What a cool waitress to think of my little Elsie? It just made her day!

Happy SEVENTH Birthday, Elsie!

{365} Project Life 2013 | Week 9

A very simple week.

... of homework, a little (or should I say big?) guy's 4 1/2 birthday, and LOTS of girl scout cookies.

We had Sam's teacher conference so we talked over what his teacher told us. He is doing a great job! I decided it was time to take down the Christmas cards. I really do like having them up. Chris and I sorted out cookie orders, and Chris did the dreaded taxes.

So there we have the last week of February and rolling into March.

Product Used: Becky Higgins Jade Edition & Seafoam Edition, Becky Higgins Design A & D page protectors, Becky Higgins Seafoam Designer Paper, Studio Calico's February & January Project Life kit (Awesome & Hello Cards), My Mind's Eye Tiny Word Stickers, Martha Stewart Label, American Crafts Dear Lizzy 5th & Frolic date stamp, American Precision Pen 05 (black & blue), Versafine (Onyx Black & Deep Lagoon), Bohemian Typewriter Font.

{365} Project Life 2013 | Week 8

The week of February 18th - 24th .... We had a little boy re-discover the sandbox to excavate some dinosaurs; uumm... and a mess of dinos, cars, & supers; lots and lots of dino play; a date night for father-daughter & mother-son; snuggles with Dad; and beer brewing with some special assistants.

They celebrated Sam's half birthday at school on Tuesday. He got to bring home Birthday Bear for some Bear Adventures.

Elsie had her Father Daughter dance hosted by the Girl Scouts on Friday. So, Sam and I had our own fancy date night too. He chose McDonald's with a Happy Meal, followed by a Sundae dessert and Madagascar 3.

I used the lovely Collectable Collection by My Mind's Eye to complement Becky Higgins Turquoise Edition for this week. You can read a little more about my process over at the My Mind's Eye Blog today.

Product Used: Becky Higgins Turquiose Edition, Becky Higgins Design A & D page protectors, My Mind's Eye Collectable Collection, Basic Grey alphabet stickers, American Precision Pen 05 (blue), Versafine (Black), Bohemian Typewriter Font.

{365} Project Life 2013 | Week 7

The week of love...

Sam finally pulled the last dinosaur out of this excavation. I felt a little bad, because the last one out was his very favorite, T-Rex. BUT then again, I am not sure if he would have kept at it if it was just any dinosaur. What a boy! We started pulling Sam's room together over the weekend, and it is finally finished! Well, I am sure there are a few more things I can do to it, but it looks pretty darn good the way it is. I had been randomly collecting stuff to put up on the wall for a collage. I wasn't sure if it was going to turn out... BUT I have to say I am pretty impressed with my randomness. The best part, Sam LOVES it. Yep. He is a happy boy to have a dinosaur room with a splash of cars. Wednesday, we got around to pulling some Valentines together for the kids. There is nothing like waiting until the very last minute. They were both excited just to do the pre-made ones, which totally worked perfectly with my schedule this year.

Then there was the big love day, both loved shuffling through all of their Valentines from their classmates. We spent that evening at the Roller Rink with the Girl Scouts. This was Sam's first adventure there. He started off pretty rocky not liking it, but then he got the hang of it and was rolling around in circles with Chris. Elsie is a pro, so she was off and running with all of her friends. It was a great Valentine's Day spent together. I even got  a special Valentine from my Valentine, my very own coffee mug for my Lattes. Saturday, we enjoyed the Ice Festival in the square. The kids wanted a picture by each and every one, but I think this one just might have been Elsie's favorite. On Sunday, we actually got a little bit of snow. Why yes, that is Chris throwing a snowball in his daughter's face from about a foot away. What a nice dad.

Product Used: Becky Higgins Seafoam Edition & Turquiose Edition ("Love This" card), Becky Higgins Design A page protectors, Studio Calico's February Project Life kit (2 Valentines cards), Studio Calico pocket, Marvy Uchida Heart Punch, Unknown Tag Punch, American Crafts Dear Lizzy 5th & Frolic date stamp, American Precision Pen 05 (black), Zig Pen (Pure Red), Hero Arts Shadow Ink (Royal Red), Versafine (Black), Bohemian Typewriter Font.

{365+1} Project Life 2012 | Week 48

... And we are squeaking into December!

Week 48 of 2012 brought us memories of Elsie joining us for Story Time because of a day off of school, grocery shopping with my little man, layouts back from Creating Keepsakes for some inspiration, and snuggle time.

... My dinosaur Sam, Rexy makes his way back to our house for the month long visit in December, Project Illuminate the house is underway, Sam upgrades his car seat to a booster seat (how did he get so big so fast?), and a Girl Scout meeting for Elsie. December 1st also marks the start of our Advent Books!

{Now to finish up the last two weeks of 2012!}

Product Used: Becky Higgins Clementine Kit Edition, Becky Higgins Design A page protectors, Martha Stewart Label Stickers, My Mind's Eye decorative tape, Simple Stories Label Stickers, Zig (black & Bluebonnet),  American Crafts pen (Raspberry), Prima Chalk Ink (Vintage Rose) ,  Bohemian Typewriter Font.