::Christie:: Making Memories. Choosing Joy.

Friday Finds

Favorites from the internet this week (all images linked):

BOOK | Breaking Silence by Linda Castillo. This is the first book in a murder mystery series and I couldn't put it down. So far there are three in the series (Pray for Silence and Sworn to Silence are the other two). I highly recommend all of them!

SUBWAY ART | For Thanksgiving. This art completes a year of art they have made for free! I get mine printed at Scrapbook Pictures. See the entire series here.

Crockpot Winner | Meatloaf. I know. I can't even believe I typed it! I'm not a huge meatloaf fan, but this was really tasty! Of course, I had to leave out the bell pepper or no one else would have tried it. (The crockpot fail was using another crock pot for baked potatoes. They were okay, but I'll never use the crockpot again for baked potatoes.)

Christmas Gift | A very cute, personalized Christmas book.

Christmas Music | Straight No Chaser

http://youtu.be/7E-47VmFopE

Have an inspired weekend!

Ramblings

I'm warning you now, it's going to be a scattered post...

• I was helping Z study for his science quiz about Hypothesis, Independent Variables and Dependent Variables. When I asked him to give me a hypothesis, he said "If I feed Jasper 3 pieces of pepperoni, it will increase his poop rate." I really don't think I need to finish the story. I did ask him to not use any kind of example that has the word "poop" in it on his quiz.
• Jasper was chewing on something dark yesterday afternoon. When I got closer to see what it was, I noticed a tail. Yes, he brought a mouse in from outside. And yes, I started screaming that it was a mouse and for Z to get him out of the house now. Thankfully Jasper carried the mouse back out the door with him. And yes, Z is still teasing me about my squealing.

• Both boys started Open Gym for Basketball this week. Just as I about had the stink gone from Football, it starts up again. :::sigh:::
• As much Christmas music as I have been listening to, you would think I'd have some gifts bought. But I don't. And even worse, I don't have any ideas.
• My office is closed on Friday. Yea for a long weekend for me! I picked up 9 years worth of Christmas photos that I got developed today. Yes, I have high hopes. 

Have a terrific day! Make it count!

Pinterest Love

Need some inspiration? Be sure to check out Pinterest, but only when you have an hour or two to kill...it is addicting, for sure! Pinterest is online inspiration boards that you make for yourself. You name it, there is probably a photo of it. It is by invite, so if you haven't checked out the wonderful world of Pinterest and would like to, let me know.

Here is some of my inspiration this week (all images linked):

My Style 

 Food and Drink 

Christmas 

Quotes to Remember 

Decorating 

That's all for today. Have an inspired Wednesday!

Project Life: October 23 thru 29

It's not a very exciting week as far as using extra photos or ephemera. And this is one of the many reasons that I'm loving Project Life. Because it doesn't have to be anything fancy. It looks nice, and it is done. Memories of the week are preserved. Check it off the list.

Another reason I'm loving Project Life is that I am using photos that aren't so great...in fact, some of them are pretty poor in quality. But they are in there and they are documenting a memory.

Full spread:

After making several attempts, I can't get the other photos to upload. There really isn't much other detail to share on this week, but it is done!

 

Since I have been listening to Christmas music for a week now, and trying to come up with ideas for our Christmas card this year, I thought it would be fun to share a card from 2008. This was my first major attempt at photoshop, and let's just say I learned alot that year ;o)

Elements I used to create the front of the card can be found here.

And the inside of the card:

Unfortunately, I'm still waiting for inspiration for our 2011 card.

Have a terrific Monday!

Finds from the week.

Favorites I found on the internet this week (All images are linked):

APP | Where's My Water? (The boys give this 2 thumbs up. I give it 2 for entertaining them, but only 1.5 for how frustrating it was for me!)  

 

BOOK | The Mountain Between Us by Charles Martin. Loved this book. It sucked me in right away.

TV SHOW | Revenge. If you are looking for a great new show, do yourself a favor and watch this one. If you want to check out past episodes, you may want to give Hulu a try. Sign up and get 2 weeks FREE!

BE INSPIRED | December Daily with Ali Edwards. Document 25 (or 31) days of Christmas this year. After many years of watching on the sidelines, this year I will be following along and cannot wait to get started!

Have an inspired weekend!

Project Life: August 21 - 27, 2011

I don't quite have last week's Project Life ready to share, so I thought I'd go back in time and share a week that I did a bit extra. August 21-27 was the beginning of school and football games.

The left side:

I took a picture from the Mad Men website as I had been spending alot some time watching the series on Netflix. I also captured Nick with his teacher during First Night, as well as Zach putting his things in his locker. I'm also happy I got a picture of Nick and Mimi...this will be their last year starting their mornings together. Mom has gotton the boys on the bus for us since they started school, and next year Nick will be moving on to Middle School as well.

The Middle:

It has a couple of layers so let me explain. Here is layer one:

I wanted to write more about the boys first day of school, so I took one of Project Life's Design B page protectors and cut it to fit. One side is for Zach (before and after school photos) and the other side I used for Nick (I also used the grid design journaling cards):

 

They also had a scrimmage this week and so I enlarged a photo of each of them and put in an 8.5 x 11 page protector:

The brush overlays I used in photoshop for each photo can be found here.

And the right side:

Nothing special. I captured a couple of screen shots from the week...one of a blog where the post talked about help I gave them in finding a doctor for their daughter. The other of Hurricane Irene.

I am so happy with this week. I love the different layers and am so grateful that Maryann inspired me with her videos on continuing this project.

Let me know if you have any questions. I'd be happy to answer them!

Fifteen.

Fifteen Years. Happy Anniversary S.R.!

1996

2011

And it is true...There is no doubt: Life with you is one amazing adventure after another.

Wishing for us a lifetime filled with even more adventure.

Dusting off the blog

I don't think I need to state the obvious, but I will...yes, it's been a long time. I didn't realize quite how long. Now that I have a much faster internet connection (yea for Amplex!) I'm hoping to be back more often. When I finally logged back onto the blog, I was suprised to see that people still visit. My appologies!

So for some good news: I'm still using Project Life! I'm still loving it! I'm still planning on sharing. And I'm hoping to put together a post on how I'm putting together the boys' school albums. I am just about caught up and I love the result ... and so do they!