Credits: Do What You Love – Meghan Mullens
Basic Cardstock Autumn – Libby Pritchett
Here We Grow – Dani Mogstad

I love being a mommy to each of my children. Jenny has been extra special because my husband has been here with me since she was born (he was deployed at some point with all of our other children). This has allowed me to truly enjoy being a mommy without all of the added stress that a deployment brings!

Being a mommy is what I love and I truly love what I do!!

Being on Week 4 of Project Life means that we’ve made it an entire month! That is definitely something to be proud of and to celebrate.

This recording of life’s everyday memories is going to be such a treasure to my family…that’s what keeps me going.

Thankfully, I’ve been able to complete a layout each week and stay on track.

I really like the format of the project life templates that I’m using this year. I love that each week has a two page spread to highlight our pictures and journaled memories even more.

Sunday – After waiting over a month to watch the final episode of The Next Iron Chef that I had saved on our DVR, I finally sat down to watch it. Just as The Chairman was getting ready to announce the winner the recording stopped because it ran out of time. I was shocked!! I still don’t know who won the competition, either.

Monday – Our house gets to be a zoo in the afternoons. Just before my husband came home from work, Jenny was standing on her head repeatedly calling for him.

Tuesday – Jenny loves to tease her big brother! As she was helping me put away dishes Tuesday morning, she decided to put this colander on his head like a hat.

Wednesday – I love how Jenny can be occupied by the simplest things! She spent the longest time playing with these paper cups.

Thursday – Will is really starting to make some progress in school. He’s reading words with short vowel sounds and his handwriting is starting to take shape, too!

Friday – We had blueberry pancakes {with fresh blueberries} for breakfast. They’re our favorite!!

Saturday – Everyone was excited to welcome Daddy home from a weekend away at the beach. EA and MC made welcome home cards for him. They were thrilled with the shells he brought home for them!

Week 4 Layouts…

Left side:

Right side:

Side-by-side:

Supplies used:

How are you preserving your memories from this week?

I did this layout for the January Portfolio Challenge at Sweet Shoppe.

The challenge was to use this quote by Audrey Hepburn to inspire the title or theme of your layout.

Credits: Half-Pack 28 Templates – Cindy Schneider (freebie); Pipe Dreams – Libby Pritchett;
Get Real Shadow Styles – Jenn Barrette; Font – Almost Perfect – Darcy Baldwin

Just in case you can’t see the journaling well, it reads, “We got a Wii game system as a family gift this Christmas. It came with the new Super Mario Brothers game. This is the game I played on the first Ninendo system…the game that I could literally spend hours playing! I had so much fun playing it the day aft, especially if I win, of course!”

As soon as I saw this kit by Libby Pritchett, I knew I had to have it to scrap these pictures from Christmas.

Here’s a closer look at the kit:

It’s perfect for any video game playing pictures!!

As I finished up my layout for week 2 of Project Life, I thought “Wow!” I think I may like this even better than last year’s book, which is amazing!

Sunday – We went to an Epiphany party at another chaplain’s home. Elizabeth Anne and Jenny had a great time playing outside while we were there. It helped that the weather was absolutely perfect!

Monday – I made “real” oatmeal for the first time. Keith found a recipe for Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal and it was delicious! It really was a huge hit with everyone. Being able to feed my family good food makes me happy!

Tuesday – All of the big kids had a dentist appointment on Tuesday morning. They were happily entertained looking at books while we waited for them to be called back. Two out of three made it through with no cavities!

Wednesday – I like to play kids’ music on my iPod Touch in the mornings. Will was enthralled listening to Elmo and The Wiggles sing while I got our breakfast ready.

Thursday – Will started working in his first Explode the Code workbook this week. I love using these books as a language supplement!

Friday – We met friends at the Playroom for a homeschool playdate. Mary Catherine headed for the monkey bars as soon as she got her shoes off of her feet. We all had a blast playing with friends…even Mommy!

Saturday – We had a very relaxing Saturday morning…the best kind! I even let the kids eat their breakfast at the coffee table while they watched cartoons on Disney Junior.

Week 2 layouts

Left Side:

Right Side:

Side-by-side view:

Credits: Project Life Templates – Becky Higgins
Bradys Everyday Life (Vol. 1 & 2) – Wishing Well Creations
This Life – January – Penny Springman (star element)
Get Real Shadow Styles – Jenn Barrette

How is your project life going?

Are you getting into a work flow that’s working for you?

As soon as I saw this printable time capsule survey at Amy’s Finer Things I knew I wanted to use it in a scrapbook layout.

I asked MC and EA the questions on New Year’s Eve. I asked Will, too, but he didn’t want to participate, so we’ll wait to do that another year. Maybe when he’s six??

I took some of their answers and used them to create these two layouts using the January Portfolio Challenge at Sweet Shoppe Designs to add list-type journaling on top of a photo and create a layout around it. You can see all of the inspiring challenges they have by following Sweet Shoppe Designs on Pinterest.

Credits: The Little Things You Say – Lauren Grier; Font – DJB Brooke Print (Brat Pack 2) – Darcy Baldwin

For these layouts I blended the large photos of EA and MC into the background paper. You can see a bit of the texture from the background photo showing through…I love that look for layouts like this!

The journaling strips from Lauren Grier’s kit The Little Things You Say were just perfect for these layouts.

One of the advantages of digital scrapbooking is that I can create two layouts that are almost exactly alike with very little work. I created MC’s layout first and then saved it in PSD format. Then for EA’s layout all I had to do was change some of the journaling, move things around a little and add her picture.

I think I may use a survey like this to at the end of every year and see how their responses change.

How neat would that be to look back on!?

Have you ever used a questionnaire or survey in your scrapbooking?