Project 2012 and Journaling

I continue to enjoy my project for 2012. This project is REALLY saving me right now.  I feel like I'm scrapping a lot less and working a lot more and yet, I know that our lives are being documented.  In fact, I think this is the most I have ever documented our lives.  As I looked through my photos for 2011, I discovered a ton of photos that I loved that hadn't made their way onto pages or in my 365 album.  I decided on this approach for 2012 in hopes of getting more photos off of the computer and into an album.  The funny thing that I have discovered is that I think my most favorite part of this project is actually that I am journaling more.  I have described in detail every little thing that has been going on in our lives and I know that years down the road, I'm pretty certain that is going to be my favorite part.   Here is a look at our July....it has been FULL to say the least!

Scrapbooking has been such a wonderful creative outlet for me and yet, I don't want to lose focus of why I ever started this hobby and that is certainly to tell our story.  The beautiful thing about scrapbooking is that you can tell your story in a number of different ways and it can be as easy or as complex as you want it to be.  I think it is just important to enjoy the process and know that your story is important.

We are heading out of town on vacation this weekend.  I will be back in a week.  I'm really looking forward to this time with my family.  Thanks for stopping by and have a great week!

Heritage Photos

Yesterday I did something that I have not done in years.  I had some individual pictures printed.  I have been fully engrossed in my family heritage album this summer.  When I start a project, it is hard for me to do anything but that project.  My desk has been covered with family tree, family group sheets, old photos, memorabilia for months and the end is in sight. I have loved every minute of this project and I'm so excited to have this all put together in one huge album.  The other day Amelia asked me "do you like scrapbooking old people".  I had a laugh over it and the answer is certainly "YES".  I love the fact that by creating this album, I am bringing to life people and stories that would have been forgotten.  It feels so good to tell their stories and to have them live on in this manner!

Last week, I went to meet with my mother's brother.  I hadn't seen him in years and he had told me that he had photos that he thinks I would be interested in.  He opened up a series of albums and I gasped when I saw what he had.  So many amazing photos that told the stories of our family's past.  I have had these names on my family tree for years but to put the photos with the names was awesome.  I also discovered so many photos of my mom that I had never seen.  They mean the world to me.  It was amazing and I sat there for hours asking him questions and taking notes.  He then took me out to the farm where he and my mom grew up and to the old country school house.  It was so fun and so eye-opening.  The whole area is filled with Amish farms now. 

The wedding photos that have been shared with me are my favorite.  These are all from my side of the family.

Adolph and Anna - Wedding 1905

Elmer and Ella - 1916

Henry and Rose - mid 1800's

Julius and Clara - 1905

Peter and Catherine - 1905

Wendlin and Helen -1936

Ervin and Mildred - 1937

 Wayne and Eileen - 1965

There is so much history here and I just love what these photos represent.  Throughout this project, I have learned that I need to be printing out more photos and adding names and dates on the back.  I just want these photos to be treasured for generations to come.  I treasure these photos so much and I am so grateful for everybody who has shared them with me.  In my eyes, this is what scrapbooking is all about.

Creating Keepsakes - Mixed Media Scrapbooking

Creating Keepsakes has a new special edition issue out called Mixed Media Scrapbooking.  All I can say is that this issue blew....BLEW me away.  It is AWESOME.  The pages in the magazine are all paper and are absolutely BEAUTIFUL.  These scrapbookers used so many fun products that I never would have imagined using on a page.  This magazine certainly reinforced the art of scrapbooking.  As I flipped through the magazine my jaw was on the floor.  As a "digital girl", I kept marking pages that I want to lift.  I was seriously on inspiration overload. 

Creating Keepsakes had asked me to contribute a home decor project to their "Bling Chapter" and this is what I came up with.  It is a dry erase board and I combined digital scrapbooking as well as traditional scrapbooking techniques.  I had so much fun with this project (and so did my girls)!  It felt great to go back to my "old" scrapbooking days and get my hands dirty.  This project was so easy and so fun.  I have made several other dry erase boards since then for other family members.

Product credits: Designer Digitals, Rust-oleum, Celebrate It, Recollections, Glidden


I would highly recommend that you pick up this issue.  I guarantee you will not be disappointed.  Creating Keepsakes is offering chances to win a free issue on their blog which you can find here.  Hop on over and check it out!

Mid Summer Summary

The other day I was working on a page and I found some word art that I really liked and it said "savoring the sweet, slow pace of summer".  I immediately thought that I will never be able to use that word art because "slow pace" doesn't even come close to describing summer for us.  I thought I would give a little peek into our world this summer....

Farm - We just got back from an awesome weekend at the farm.  It is always a highlight for us.

Golf League, Swimming Lessons and various other camps...June and July have been packed with activities and I'm hoping that August is a wee bit slower pace around here.

Papa's Visits...papa comes out regularly.  I love this shot of Quinn and Papa in a deep discussion while he tends to the garden.

Playdates...playdates...playdate....

Ellie learned how to ride Fritz's motorbike...

Lots of time at the swimming pool....

The pencil eraser incident...page and story to come....

Jeff surprised me at Christmas with tickets to see Kenny Chesney and Tim McGraw at the first concert ever at the new Target Field.  It was AWESOME!

Fourth of July parade with dear friends....

Rodeo Time...

Zoo Time...

Soccer Time...

Beach Time...

Jeff's Birthday on the 3rd...

Capturing and Caring for little creatures...

Splash Pad Time...

That is some of what we have been up to this summer.  There is never a dull moment it seems.  Life is great and I am very thankful that God has blessed us in so many ways.

Digital U

I hope you are all enjoying a wonderful weekend.  We are away at the farm which is one of my favorite places on earth to go....quiet, beautiful and so fun to spend time with family.  We will be coming home later today but just wanted to remind you that Digital U is tonight.  We will be visiting with Debbie Hodge who is the mastermind behind Get It Scrapped, Masterful Scrapbook Designs, Easy Scrapbook Pages and a Memory Keeper's Life.  She is brilliant, creative and fun.  I'm looking forward to hearing more about her scrapbooking and family of scrapbook sites.  I hope you can join us.  Head on over to Creative Passion and register.  It is free and it is fun!

Designer Digitals Summer Spectacular

Happy Friday!  It is going to be a great few weeks at Designer Digitals.  The Summer Spectacular starts this afternoon and you are going to want to take full advantage.  There will be a new 99 cent item every day and each day more than 400 different items will be on sale.  I would load up your wishlist and watch each day to see what shows up on sale.  I know there are some fun events planned as well so I hope to see you there. 

We are headed out of town for the weekend.  I'm really looking forward to some down time on the farm and spending time with our family.  Have a wonderful weekend!

Splash of Color to Your Title

I would describe my style as very graphic.  I like clean titles and frequently just use word art for my title.  I will frequently use this little technique to spice up my word art.  I like to use outlined titles.  Some are created by our fabulous designers at Designer Digitals and other times I will create my own like I demonstrated in this tutorial. 

I created this page today and I used a combination of word art from Katie Pertiet as well as Cathy Zielske.  Katie's "Memories" was an outlined title.  I created a new layer below the title.  Then I sampled out the blue that was in my son's goggles with the color picker and I started coloring with a small brush.  I was pretty sloppy with my coloring because I like it to spill over my letters for a water color effect. This is what my image looked like after I was done coloring.





I then reduced the opacity of my coloring to 25% and it gave the whole title a splash of color and more playful look.  I thought it went well with my beach scene.

There are so many fun, little things you can do to a title.  It certainly doesn't take much time to dress up word art.  I hope you give this a try.  I think you will like the effect.

All products are from Designer Digitals.

Jana's Jumpstarts

There is a new "Jana's Jumpstarts" over on the Creative Passion blog.  Head on over and check it out.  I hope you play along.

June 2012 Project

I hope you had a great weekend.  It was a quiet weekend at home...my favorite kind of weekend.  My friend Patricia sent me a WACOM tablet.  It was so thoughtful of her!  I'm convinced she was tired of hearing my mouse clicks on my recordings.  At any rate, we got it hooked up today.  I know I will like it in the long run.  I just need some...or rather a lot of practice!  I'm so excited to have it and very grateful.  Thank you Patricia!!!

I've been working diligently on my heritage album and having a lot of fun with it.  I really enjoy working with old photos.  There is just something extra special about it.  I've also been plugging away at Project 2012.  I've been asked a number of times about the template that I'm using.  I created it and unfortunately it is not for sale at Designer Digitals.  All of the products that I used to create it, however...are on sale at Designer Digitals.  I love looking back through the month.  Here are some of my pages for June.

All products are from Designer Digitals. 

Thanks for stopping by.  Have a great week!