Hey, We're Still Here

I haven't been feeling like blogging again, too much Christmas fun to be bothered. And maybe some Christmas lay-around-and-do-nothing was involved to. And, quite possibly, my December Daily book has kept me so busy that I don't want to be on the computer for anything else.

 Mackenzie has just been enjoying her free time.  Kayleigh has done some tot school but I haven't gotten around to editing those photos so you'll just have to take my word for it.  lol

Next week, we'll be back to the grind.  We have a few changes in store for us and a lot of great things to review.  I'll share more about that later.  For now I'll share some more of my December Daily layouts.

 

 

Shutterfly Photo Book Give Away

As a mom of two, who owns a digital camera, I take a TON of photos.  Everyday.  

The thing with digital photos is that you often take so many and then they sit on the camera or the hard drive or maybe land on your blog.  Living in the digital age doesn't require us to print them out to view them so you don't see a lot of photo albums these days, unless you're a scrapbooker.

I've recently discovered, and fallen in love with, digital scrap booking.  But there I was with all of these digital layouts stored on my computer.  Then I discovered Shutterfly photo books from a digital scrap book site.  I had found my answer.  

I can upload MY OWN digital scrapbook pages to Shutterfly and end up with a beautiful, professionally bound book filled with my layouts.   But maybe you're not into scrapbooking in any form; Shutterfly still  has options for you too.  The simple path requires little more than adding photos and captions.  The custom path offers more options to customize by allowing you to resize photos, move photos, and move text.  There is an option for everyone.

The photo books come in five different sizes, from 5x7 to 12x12.  You can get hard or soft covers, padded or cloth, leather or faux lizard.  The options are endless!

My family LOVES these photo books.  I am currently working on my third book and I can't wait to finish it and have the bright, orange Shutterfly envelope arrive in the mail.  My girls love flipping through these books, reliving our family memories.  Holding that book in your hands is so much more special than flipping through pictures on a computer.

The also offer Christmas cards, invitations, calendars, and birth announcements.  And, of course, prints.

Shutterfly has graciously offered me an 8x8 photo book (my favorite size) for writing my honest opinion about their photo books.  My honest opinion is that you should get one for your family because they are an awesome way to preserve your family memories.  So I have decided that I am going to offer the free photo book to one of my readers.  

If you'd like to win, leave a comment sharing your favorite childrens book.  I'm looking to up my collection.  Don't forget to leave your contact info.  I'll draw the winner at random on Friday, August 5th.  I'll email the winner with the code for the free book as soon as Shutterfly gives it to me.

Can't wait to win and have a blog?  Sign up  for a chance for a free photo book from Shutterfly. 

L.E.N.S. Photo Challenge~Red Edition

I haven't done one of these photo challenges in forever.  Not because I haven't been taking photos but because life has been so busy that I just haven't been blogging as much as I'd like.  At any rate, I saw this challenge and I happen to have taking a lot of red photo's last weekend.  So I'm taking a minute and posting one. 

It's my daughter's third birthday cake.  Getting that icing for the barn red was no joke.  And we all had red teeth afterward. LOL

Click the button at the top of the page to see more RED.  

Project Life: Week One

I had so much fun doing my December Daily project.  It was totally exciting for to have actually finished a photo project.  I still get a thrill when I look at my finished book.

My fantabulous friend Wendy, who got me to do the December Daily, had a new project idea for us.  Project Life by Becky Higgins.

It's a very simple twist on scrap booking.  You get the kit and it provides with a binder, special page protectors (similar to baseball card protectors only for photos), and decorative elements/journaling cards to use in the pockets.  All I provide are the pictures.  Take 'em, print 'em, write a little blurb on journal cards, and shove them in the pockets.  Any blank spots get a decorative card.  That's it!  You're done.

How easy is that?  (And there's also a digital one.)

Some people do a picture a day.  Other's a layout a month.  It's what works for you and your family.  I'm doing a layout a week but not a picture everyday, necessarily.  If I have more than one picture from one day then I'll use it.

I'm excited to see the finished project at the end of the year.  The girls love the December Daily book and I'm excited to have more albums for them to look back on over the years.

And with that.  Here's my first layout.  One down 51 more to go.

"Title" Page

Week One

Week One~left

Week One~right

December Daily: The Finished Product

All my pages are printed, mementos added, and the book is together.  I love it!  It's the first scrapping project I've completed from start to finish.  The only thing I might do differently next year is have the layouts professionally printed.  I'd like them a little crisper and I hate glossy photo paper. LOL

And I'll remember to photograph the right ballet program.  The one in this photo is last years.  By the time I noticed, I didn't feel like retaking the picture.  The 2010 one is in the book.

Now I'm moving on to Project Life.  Which should be even simpler.  Woot!

December Daily 26-31 The End

Well my first December Daily album is almost complete.  I finished the cover yesterday,  printed all the layouts and have begun to put them in the book.  While not as fabulous as the creators, I'm pleased.  I'm just happy to have completed something.  Finally!!  LOL

I can't wait to tell you about my next photo project, Project Life.

Embrace the Camera

So my friend ordered me encouraged me to try out this link-up she ran across.  It's called Embrace the Camera.  The short of it is that moms take tons of pictures of everyone else but are rarely in front of the camera.  Another blogger mom noticed that she didn't have a lot of pictures of her with her mom and didn't want that to be the case with her and her children.  So she started a link-up to encourage other moms to take a picture of themselves involved in their kids lives once a week.  And then you link up.

It's a great idea in theory.  Who doesn't want their kids to have pictures of them to remember the good times by?  Of course that involves taking pictures of yourself that others can see.  I've packed on some extra pounds lately, so that doesn't thrill me.  LOL  So this project will serve 2 purposes for me: To include myself in our family memories and to get on the elliptical machine when I don't feel like it.   Bonus!

Since I happen to have some recent pictures of me and my kidlets, I figured I might as well start today.  So here are a few shots from our recent trip to NYC.  I want to live near Central Park now.  I need more money.  =o)

Times Square Toys R Us

Liberty Island

Rockefeller Square

Click the button at the top of the page to see other mommies and their kidlets.

My Digi-Scrapping Teacher...

A while back I got a new laptop to replace the one that crashed on me about a year ago.  A Macbook Pro.  Woot!  That took a lot of saving but sooo worth it.  

At anyrate, I had buy Photoshop Elements again because, of course, you can't use the Windows version on a Mac.  (Incidently when I bought the new one it came with a Mac and Windows disc.  Those rats!)  But it also came with a digi-scrapping tutorial from Digital Scrappers.  That excited me because I've recently started digi-scrapping and I'm not that good at it.  =o)

So here are some of the layouts that I created while doing the tutorial.  I'd like to say that I've got this stuff down but I keep having to review the dvd to refresh my memory because I suffer from CRS (can't remember squat).   It's quite tragic.  The dvd is always nearby when I'm trying to scrap.  LOL

This is my favorite one.  I did  the page stacking, corner folding, and made the vellum myself.  Without a template or pre-folded paper.  Don't ask me how.  I couldn't have told you 5 minutes after doing it. LOL

 It's my mommy when she was in 3rd grade.  Wasn't she adorable?  I have to say she was a little offended when I called her and asked to scan me one of her school photos for a vintage layout I was doing.  Maybe it was the word vintage?  LOL

This is my second favorite, although I'm not totally happy with the journaling and the title yet.  But that's the great thing about digi-scrapping.  You can go back and change things.  What I LOVE about this layout is the background paper.  It's a photo that I took when we lived in Guam.

Here are some random ones from last Easter.  Some I like more than others.

These are from my hubby's Navy retirement earlier this year.

So now I'm obsessed with tutorials.   Love you tube for this.  One day I'd like to do this without someone holding my hand.  One can dream...but for now I'm satisfied with sucking less.  =o)

Weekly Wrap-Up

It’s time for the Weekly Wrap-Up hosted by Kris @ Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers. 

This week’s Wrap-Up is part this week and part last week.  As I just posted about our field trip last week because I was just feeling lazy.  This offended my student, who feels that everyone should know what she’s been up too.

So here are the highlights…

Science

We are still studying birds.  Our “What food do birds prefer?”  ended.  The birds in our yard prefer sunflower seeds to mixed seed, but they will eat whatever’s available to them.

Here’s some of the birds that visited us.

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Now we’ve moved on to a bird bath experiment.  What do bird prefer? High or Low?  So far they prefer not to come near ours.

We did some experiments about how birds slow themselves down and waterproof their feathers.

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Social Studies

We’ve been working our way through the Gold Rush and have begun to work our way to the events leading up to the Civil War. 

She finished reading Freedom Train: The Story of Harriet Tubman.  And we finished her first pocket in our History Pockets: The American Civil War.  We’re now on pocket two.

 

We also had a field trip to the Jamestown Settlement for homeschool days.  It as a nice review of what we studied last year.  And I got an awesome picture of the musket demonstration.  Check out our day HERE.  

Extras

She’s been continuing to work with lines in How to Teach Art to Children.  One day she had to create a drawing using two lines going in the same direction.  Here you see her beach scene, a walking stick, the sun & moon, and a pyramid scene.

Then she had to create a maze by curving lines around torn pieces of paper.  She found this one a little tricky.

She’s also continuing to enjoy our study of Mary Cassatt.  Our weekly picture study notebooking page is the only time she doesn’t gripe about writing. LOL

Lastly, she had her first soccer game of the season and the Yellow Bumblebees won!!  Mackenzie even scored a goal!

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