Wednesday, February 25, 2015

Be The Positive

The other day my good friend, Julianne Hough, jk... not really my friend. I just wish she was. Anyway, Julianne Hough posted this photo on Instagram and it was like she was speaking to me.

Being more positive is something that I have been struggling with for about the past 6 months. For whatever reason I have gotten myself into this awful habit of complaining and being negative about almost everything.. and honestly, my life is GREAT and I have nothing to complain about! I don't want to be that person that is sucking the life out of everything and always has something negative to add to every conversation because that is no fun to be around. So, here's to turning that around, not dwelling on negative thoughts but instead, finding the positive in every situation and spreading love!

Happy Hump Day!

Wednesday, February 4, 2015

Project Life


Scrapbooking is something that has been in my family for a while now. My Nana (my mom's mom) has 98 albums of the family's history documented through the CUTEST pages! Some grandma's are very grandma-ish but let me tell you, Nana is as up to date as they come. Her pages are so stylish! It is always a treat when we stop by their house because we get to check out the latest pages she has scrapped and also look back on all the fun things that have happened in our lives. Its also a great way for us to get a few more details on the lives of our relatives because she has kept track of everything. I often get phone calls or Facebook messages asking me if she has got the details of a certain event right so she can record everything perfectly. She takes notes during these chats just like a reporter! I admire her commitment to something so special. I'm sure all of my family, immediate and distant relatives, can agree when I say that we are so grateful for her hard work and dedication to documenting our lives for us! Her albums really are a special treasure! My mom also scrapbooked for a while and was talented enough that she did it for a scrapbooking company called Creating Keepsakes. Her pages were featured in some of their magazines a time or two which is pretty cool. She also wrote a few articles for another crafting company called Paper Crafts. Her 'scrapbook room' was full of paper in every color and pattern, embellishments, stamps, scissors, punches, ribbons, etc. There were countless nights that I fell asleep listening to my mom scrapbook in the next room late, late, late into the night to meet her deadlines. After scrapbooking started to take over her life, she gave it up, but not before some BEAUTIFUL albums of her own were created. I also have an aunt and a cousin that have worked for Pebbles In My Pocket, which is a scrapbooking company based out of Orem, Utah and their work is amazing as well.

One of my goals for the new year was to document my life more - take more pictures (!!! I always forget) and write things down either in my journal, blog, or perhaps one day I'd get into scrapbooking. As a kid, I would hide away for hours in my mom's scrapbook room trying to create my own pages. I loved the creativity it involved and all of the colors and patterns and possibilities! Needless to say, I was THRILLED when my parents gave me Project Life by Becky Higgins for Christmas. You guys. If you are interested at all in documenting your lives in a fun and EASY way then get Project Life! I'm not kidding, it is SO simple and SO cute and SO fast! Like I said before, my mom would spend hours upon hours late into the night several nights in a row just to get a few pages done for a deadline. With Project Life you can do a page in as little as 10 minutes!

All you need to get started are three things - a core kit, an album, and photo pocket pages.

Core Kit: includes several 4x6 size cards and 3x4 size cards that come in different colors and patterns so you can keep a nice variety throughout your album. Each core kit has enough cards to complete a whole album! On the Becky Higgins website they have SO many cute core kits. I want them all....
 ^^Photo taken from beckyhiggins.com featuring the Azure Edition Core Kit. SO CUTE RIGHT?!!

Album: There are three different sizes that Project Life offers. 12x12, 6x8 and "mini" albums that are 10 1/2 x 9 1/4. The Becky Higgins site has a ton of really cute options for albums.

^^ Photo taken from beckyhiggins.com featuring the Desktop Edition Designer Album. This is most definitely on my wishlist as I am obsessed with everything gold right now!

Photo Pocket Pages: These are basically page protectors that, instead of being one giant pocket, have several 4x6 and 3x4 pockets so all you have to do is insert the cards and/or photos into the pockets to create your pages. There are a variety of different layouts so not every page of your album is the same and you can keep your scrapbook interesting.

^^ Photo taken from beckyhiggins.com featuring the Big Variety Pack 1. This is the one I have and I love it! There are also Variety Packs 2 & 3 available as well.

Here are some of my pages that I've done so far. For Christmas I got a black faux leather 12x12 album and the Midnight Edition Core Kit as well as the variety pack of 12x12 photo pocket pages (which came with 60 pages... 6 different designs and ten pages of each design). It has been such a blast to do this and as a result, I'm taking a lot more photos now so I have more pictures to put in the album so that's definitely an added bonus!
Project Life

Project Life

Project Life

Project Life

Project Life

Project Life

Project Life

Project Life

Project Life

Cute right? I seriously get so excited about each page!! haha! Forgive my awful handwriting. As much as I loathe it, I do love the fact that it gives each page such a personal touch.

As I mentioned before, I LOVE the simplicity of this project. After I got started with it I decided to check pinterest to see if there were any pins and boy was I pleasantly surprised! There were so many great pins of the most creative pages. Even though my pages are very simple, I'm excited to keep learning and trying new things to create something that is uniquely me!

With all of that being said..... I should mention that there is also a Project Life app that you can get so you can do all of this digitally instead of physically. So if you are more of a techy person rather than a get-your-hands-dirty kinda person (not that there is much dirt involved.... more like lots of paper cuts) then maybe you should give the app a try!

Obviously, I am very excited about this project and I think everyone should try it ;)
Thanks for reading! xoxo