:: OLW Blog Hop ::

Welcome to the first One Little Word blog hop of 2013! 

Did you come from Janet's place?  You are in the right place! Thank you for viewing my part of the world for a bit! 
Feel free to look around -- but orange colored glasses are required!
A complete list of participating blogs are listed at the bottom of this post. 

A little more than a week ago I shared my 2013 One Little Word, and how it found me, in this post.  My word is present, but it's really more like two words, be present.  This is my second year participating in Ali's class at Big Picture Classes and I am completely hooked.  Last year my life was...interrupted...and although my 2012 word, balance, stayed with me all year (and will always be a part of me), I didn't participate in the class with the prompts as much as I'd hoped. I am excited as I begin again (aren't new beginnings like magic?) and I am hopeful that I will continue to participate in the class and with this blog hop all year!  I hope you play along, too!

I started a flickr group to share photos related to our words.  Wanna join?  Here's a link.  You should totally join.  All the cool kids are doin' it (OK, right now it's just me, but I'm hoping for other cool kids). ;-)

OK.  Now...to the photos -- when I hop to all these blogs, I always want to see the photos!

I didn't really feel right just starting, so I decided that I needed a title page. I resized a photo (that I took with my iPhone) to 7.5 x 10.5, added a banner and Ali's title card in photoshop, and printed it on my home printer (I'm pretty much doing all my printing at home right now, just for the convenience of it!).  I learned that I LOVE big pictures. OK, I admit, I think I already knew that, but now I know it for realz. Then I cut it up, rounded the corners and voila!  I may add some flair or something to it, I haven't decided.  I might just call 'er done.

two page spread for the prompt (names blurred for privacy)

Wow.  This was a difficult prompt. I didn't put numbers or dates on mine because I feel like I'm going to do them all, all the time, I'm an over achiever like that, yo!  BUT, I do like the idea of having a focus each month.  This month I was mostly just trying to survive, and think about my word, and make a conscience effort to listen, to others as well as myself.  That's not going away, the listening thing.  I know that I'm more of a talker than a listener.  :-)  So this is one that I will need to always focus on! To be present, one must be a listener.

process photo

For the main prompt, I used blue and orange StazOn ink to stamp "be present" on the cards (on both white and a light kraft color).  Then I used a fine print, blue sharpie and wrote on each card. The writing is basically the action or intention, I'm not sure what to call it.  For me, these words are the ways I need to "be present", if that makes sense.

I filled the rest of the spots with fun papers from my stash. This month much of it is Amy Tangerine.  I added some alphas, washi, and some other fun.

I printed Ali's title card on vellum, as well as a sample that I got from Shelley Haganman at A Flair for Buttons.  She is doing some custom flair for me related to my word and I borrowed one of the .jpg examples that she sent (with permission), printed it on vellum and put it over some of the Amy Tangerine paper. Both pieces of vellum are stapled with the Tiny Attacher.  I am not sure I am finished.  I might put some of the flair that I get on that top left card, or I might replace it with a self portrait.  I haven't decided yet!

I put a little wood veneer camera on this card (Studio Calico paper), but it wasn't quite right.  Then I added a little brad in the middle and I love it (it might be my favorite card)!

blogpost insert front

Finally I printed out most of this blog post on that same light Kraft card stock (front and back) and added a 6x12 insert.

blogpost insert back

Pretty simple, but I'm happy with the result.

One last thing...I am using the same binder that I used last year.  To separate the years I added a divider.

I used some plain (thick) transparency, painted it and added stickers for the year.

Hope you enjoyed seeing my process.  Please continue hopping!  Next stop...Ruth's place!

Here is the complete list of bloggers participating today -- give 'em some love!

Lee

Cheri

Lisa

Lynn

Nikki

Kathryn

Missus Wookie:

Veronica

Eydie

Karen

Kelly

Melanie

Valerie

Marya

Nupur

Angela

Janet

Dona <----- That's me!

Ruth

Naomi

Pam

Kara

Clare

Margareta

Tricia

Jacqueline

..:: currently ::..

 

Currently, I am...

appreciating the geese that fly over every evening.

thankful for my mother.  She is wise and kind.

excited about the rug she made for my literacy room at school.  I cannot wait until I get it (you know I will share pictures).  She made it to match my awesome table.  :-)

frustrated with pacifiers, potty training, and sleeping issues. We think B. is going through a growth spurt.  It actually looks like she has grown the last few weeks, but also her sleeping and eating patterns are changing.  Those changes are causing growing pains around here (and circles under our eyes).  Will she figure out care about this potty training thing...EVER?  She can...but she doesn't.  Argh.

amazed that we will be registering B. for four-year-old preschool soon.  YIKES.  Not ready for that.

remembering when my older daughter, H. was three and a half, seems like just yesterday, but it was twenty-one years ago.  She didn't have the pacifier or potty training problems...but oh the sleeping! :-)

spending way too much time getting to know my bathroom lately (but feeling better now).

appreciating snow days with B.

anticipating spring, but thankful for right now. Snow. If it has to be cold, I love the snow.  I love B. in the snow. I love the magic of a new snow. My One True Love doesn't really like the shoveling part.  I appreciate his shoveling.

loving my Soul Mate more than ever.

wishing we could figure out this moving thing.

experimenting with my camera and Photoshop again.  I'm feeling like I'm getting in the groove with my 365 project!

playing with a new iPhone app (Vine).

satisfied with my progress toward my Pinterest Challenge and Layout Mission.

finishing the January prompt for Ali Edward's One Little Word class.

enjoying this prompt. So. Much.

excited for the OLW blog hop tomorrow!  Join us!

project life :: week 3

Week 3 spread without insert

Holy catbirds, Batman! The weeks just keep flying by!

with insert, front

with insert back

Another insert this week!  This time I used an American Crafts 12x6 page protector, and stitched it a bit so I had an 8x6 spot and 4x6 spot.  Mainly I wanted to add this awesome drawing of my daughter's, along with a photograph that I snapped while she was drawing it.  :-)  Journaling reads: "I love that she draws in her art journal.  I love that she drew Africa.  I didn't even know she knew the word Africa." (and then on the photo at the bottom) "Why does she keep growing?"  For this journaling I used some fun striped washi (that I'm pretty sure is Recollections), and then cut some white strips of paper to write on.  For a little added fun, I trimmed the white strips so that one end looked like a banner.  Journaling this way is my favorite because I can mess up and easily fix it!

I needed something for the other side of the insert. I had taken several photographs of B. taking photos with her pink camera.  I had a difficult time deciding on which one to add to the book, so I grabbed a second one and cropped it 12x6.  I don't have a printer that prints that size, so cropped that photo into two photos (8x6 and 4x6) so I could print them (and I needed to use them as that size anyway). FUN!  The related photo is right beside the insert, so I put some fun arrow Washi that I got in my January Scrapbook Circle kit, across the top of the big photo, pointing toward the second photo.  I felt like that tied it together a bit.

This week I also wanted to add just ONE MORE photo for Saturday, so I made an extra pocket using these self-stick photo flip pockets.  I did need to alter it a little bit, but mostly it worked really well, and you may see that technique pop up in future weeks!

flip pocket closed

flip pocket inside

This is such an enjoyable project. It is so awesome that I now have a place to put the photos that I take and I love being able to stick in things like her art work! So far, I think that is one of the best parts of this project.  I was recently cleaning out some "stuff" and I just kept thinking, "Wow, I wish I had done project life [insert year here] because this would have gone in the book, now what am I going to do with it?" Plus, there have already been stories that I've documented that may or may not have made it in to a traditional scrapbook layout. Awesome.

Coming soon : OLW Blog Hop on Friday (yay) and 'Week Four of Project Life (guess what?...there's an insert)!