week 28

july has been a crazy rainy month in south carolina and it's driving us all a little batty.  

i captured a lot of great memories this week, although they are not all roses and sunshine and i wish they could be but this is real life. as a parent, i am learning more and more about what i want to teach my children. i think it's important for them to know, i'm not prefect, i will make mistakes, i will say i am sorry, i will love them unconditionally forever.  for me, project life is about real life, the everyday, and i hope that somewhere down the road my boys will cherish the fact that i documented these things.

i used the ali edwards's edge sentiments for the picture of the boys going through the catalog of tractors.  the journal cards for the week card as well as the hearts and the here & now, are all from studio calico's project life kits. i have really been enjoying those kits and i find (sadly) that i am not using my seafoam edition project life actual kit that often. the little wooden camera is also studio calico. on the image of denton and his ice cream is another ali creation. on the image of the rainbow, i used illustrator and photoshop to write "somewhere over the rainbow."

this week i changed up the plastic for this side, i used the becky higgins's design G for the layout, i like to see variety in the layouts. in the small 3 x4 areas, i cut down a 4 x 6 image, rounded the corners, i like the way the split pictures look. i used a white gel pen to write directly on the picture of the "intense" game of memory. on the image of lil' bit's 1st birthday party i used ali edwards's birthday hand drawn. the large journal card came for the studio calico project life kit, i then stamped ali's super fantastic stamps that i ordered from technique tuesday. over the stamping i then wrote on the journaling card with a precision pen from american craft. the time with you die cut is also from ali, its part of the 3 x4 time sentiment boxes, i scaled this to fit inside a 4 x 6 box. i scaled and cut it out on my silhouette.

i can honestly say this year has been the most on top of project life i have been, usually i am a month of more behind. for me, the changes i made this week, working on a weekly story rather than an everyday story has helped me greatly. i think i am more excited in general with all the new ways there are to customize the look. no two people will have the same layouts. hope you are still enjoying your journey too! 

week 26 + day in the life

happy week 26! 

lots of fun stuff this week and the day in the life, an ali edwards prompt to document your daily day, what happens when, what you eat etc. it's a great way to document the "everyday life." 

hello giant child on the t-ball team, far right, yeah... that's one of mine. my week 26 card is made from some paper i ordered from studio calico. added on some thickers and a piece of washi tape.  the wooden hello, i put some white ink on let it dry and attached in to the week card. it is also from studio calico. the i "heart" you card is from ali edwards's remember the story set and i ordered that from technique tuesday. the "this is summer" die cut is also from ali edwards and available at designerdigitals.

this month's day in the life, is 10 x 8 from becky higgins. some months i am really great about keeping track of the time of day and other months i just wing it and document more of the overall day and less of the specifics. today i was about to get a lot. yep... that's the boys peeing of the deck, one of their most favorite things to do, what's that all about? 

tucked into the back of the day in the life, is the program from denton's award ceremony, more on that in a bit. on the back, i used some pictures i took throughout the day. i created this layout in photoshop as i did for the front as well. i then send them to shutterfly to be printed. 

 

i used ali's edge sentiments on the top picture of denton pushing james in the grocery cart. d also wrote a note to the tooth fairy this week, he lost his second tooth but accidentally swallowed it while eating corn on the cob. the two journal cards are from studio calico project life kits. i also used small alphabet sticks from basic grey on the images of james with his undies on his head and denton receiving his bronze star! lastly, i wrote in illustrator "mollie girl" on the picture of mollie and that is then placed directly on the image before printing. that's this week!

week 24

happy 4th of july! (4 days late, yes, i know.) i have been doing a lot of canning again lately, so i seem to at least have a pattern with canning and my project life completion and blogging. i will have some pictures and recipes to share with you on the projects page if you are interested.  hope you had a great holiday. we had a soggy but celebrated 4th here in SC.

 

went to a pressure canning class in week 24, very fun. up until that point i only knew how to do hot water canning. little denton and i had a special date night. and well, the canning got out of control. james went to see his first movie in the theater. 

lots of fun in this week's layout. i used the weather studio calico wood pieces on the picture of the boys playing in the rain. the remember on james first movie theater experience is from ali edwards edge sentiments vol 1. the card that is cut in half is from echo park papers available at michael's. the "dream" is also from a echo park paper card that i just cut the dream word art out of. in the t-ball picture (although its a little hard to see) i used ali's ihearttravel collection above denton's head, it says awesome. this was their first t-ball game and denton was awarded the game ball for standing out as a good player... proud mama. 

i cut down a journaling card from the studio calico project life card to make the note on the green bean canning. the funny faces picture has studio calico alphabet stickers on it.

d and i had a special date night. we wen to a tie dye class and had ice cream afterwards. i played up the special date night all week. it was so sweet when we were leaving he opened my car down. not sure where he learned that but it was cute none the less. 

the week card was made from an echo park paper journal card. i added the stripped washi tape to it and the 24 from ormolu.  the journal card with the orange star is from the clemetine project life collection. i used it last year. on the image of the snapping turtle i used precision pens to write on the picture. the morning card is cut down from the studio calico project life kit. and lastly, on the image of james "playing" t-ball i used photoshop to create a ez label look. 

week 23

hello, welcome to project life week 23. 

this was a bittersweet week. the last day of denton being in pre-school, although he will still be in the same classroom with the same fabulous teacher and my BFF next year. his montessori program has them pre-k 3 to kindergarten. james said good-bye to our private sitter, an amazing woman, who has been taking care of the boys part time since d was 6 months. i cried dropping him off and picking him up all week. she will be deeply missed on a daily basis.  

james is the creative one of the two boys. he loves to cook and craft, if i have something out he wants a piece of the action. i used part of a studio calico project life kit card for the first image's journaling. stickers also from studio calico to document tropical storm andrea's arrival to the carolinas. i wrote on that image with the precision pens too. the two journaling cards are also from studio calico. i used ali edwards's technique two's summer rocks stamp series for the pink card.

the one thing i love the most about living here is that its just a day trip to the beach if you want to go. so on our first official day of summer vacation, we packed up a bunch of friends and kids and went to the beach. no beach trip is complete without ice cream.

for the week title card, again i used a studio calico project life card with thickers and a summer rocks stamp. on the picture of the boys with our homemade popsicles i used the totally rad actions in photoshop. they also have an app for your phone and i HIGHLY recommend it. the other images i used the precision pens to write directly on the photos.

all and all, a busy week, a fun week, the start of summer week. 

 

week 22

playing a little catch up from the crazy canning experience. see the projects section for that post. here we are week 22.  

this was denton's last full week of school. summer is just around the corner. i thought we would have lazy summer, late mornings but no we are one the same wake up schedule, same run schedule but the afternoons are a bit lazier.  

GONE is thickers that i sewed to the image, this is a series that followed my vein removal surgery. all that's left now is small marks. the hello? is the stickers series from the studio calico project life kit, march. below that i used the precision pens from american crafts to write on the image. the die cut is the reverse of the starter layout (which i haven't finished yet). it says summer joy when right reading. the last image on the left is my new favorite brooks running shoes. i wrote directly on that photo too with the precision pens. the first two journaling cards also come from the studio calico project life kits. the "learn grow happy love smile" is a card from the project life bridgeport mini edition.  the last journaling card on this side is from the seafoam addition, i wrote on the stripes and then added the small gold stars from the studio calico project life kits. i like how that one turned out. 

i cut out a banner from a studio calico card and added handwriting to it for the "world;s greatest," i saw ali edwards create a image using the awesome card from the studio calico project life kit, i really liked how her's looked so i borrowed that idea. the rest of the journaling cards are also from studio calico project life kits. i added a wood heart which i colored with tim holtz's barn door stamp pad to color. the yellow heart on the black and white image is also studio calico. the last small image is has a cut down journal card from the seafoam edition with a wooden @ also from studio calico. the images of the salsa also has a cut down journaling card from studio calico, i added some handwritten text there and cut the card. the last card on this spread is also from the studio calico project life kits. i am really enjoying the kits, can you tell?

week 21 + free download

welcome to week 21. this is the last spread in my first 2013 album. i figured the start of our summer break would be a good place to leave off and start a new album, plus i still want this one to be able to close. : ) 

this week i am also offering a free .png cut file of one of the die cuts i made for my layout.   

if you are a new visitor, please come over to the Facebook page and give it a "like." i would love to hear from you here or there. https://www.facebook.com/StephanieNaceDesigns

"tough guys" is written with the stickers from the studio calico 's may project life kit. the true story card is part of the sea foam project life kit as is the "you are here." i cut that down with a circle cutter and wrote on it with a precision pen. "the story of today" card is part of a series that i found at michael's. it is park of the echo park paper co, they have super cute stuff. on the strawberry cake i used a flag and put a wood "S" from studio calico on it. 

 

 "live each ..." card on the title card is also part of the echo park paper co. then i used thickers to create the week 21. the arrow washi tape is from smash. the "super duder" flag comes from ormolu. "ride on" is a sticker from studio calico. then i wrote on the image with the precision pen again. i used the may calendar in the studio calico project life kit, and the blue card and today card are also from the kit. the butter dude image has a tag that says, "this little guy means SUMMER." the paper is from the summer series of the echo park paper co. the word summer are stickers from the march studio calico kit. i wrote again with the precision pen.  the "never a dull moment" was something that i created with my silhouette. 

this week, a freebie for you is the "never a dull moment," .png. i hope you enjoy it!

have a great week. week 22 should also be up this week.  

 

week 20

week 20, how did that happen already? kids are getting out of school for the summer soon, what is everyone doing with your breaks?​

this was a week of firsts, first week of Denton being away at school, funny how fast your brain forgets that he was just deployed for 15 months, these two weeks were LONG. first time that i did a juice fast, i am currently still working on this, mostly juicing two meals a day and eating something nice and healthy for dinner. more on that in my running blog. first for james riding the ponies at the zoo. look at that crazy happy smile. melts my heart.​

much of this layout is see through from the other side. the cards are the backs of our disney passes, big d wrote our names on the back. of course, the back of the week title card was also on a clear disney sheet, so you can see that as well. on this side, i used a little flag to write "compost," i compost the pulp from my juice making. i used the "mommy" card from studio calico's april project life kit.​ i wrote around the outside of the circle with an american craft precision pen, then used a circle cutter to cut it down to size. i used the calendar card from the may project life kit. i stamped the date on it, then used basic grey stickers for the may' 13 and clear mint colored letters from heidi swapp.

on this side of the layout, i used a sticker from studio calico that says "forever friends," and basic grey stickers again to create "super sleepover."​ i used an ali edwards' digital brush for the "love this." in photoshop, i then wrote a little journaling inside the brush. the little heart in the speech bubble card and the star card came for the studio calico april project life kit. i am really enjoying all the kits, so fun to work with. lastly, the lucky card that i cut down, i believe was from the studio calico grab bag that i purchased when they were available.

hope you have a great week, with this i am caught up. week 21 will be uploaded this week. ​

week 19 + day(s) in the life

welcome to our disney vacation! since denton's deployment we planned on taking the boys to disney. we were planning to wait until they were a little older but with the military discounts especially when they first return, we decided that now was the time. we had a blast!​

this might be a bit of picture overload : )​

somehow we managed to keep this from the boys. so monday morning, we got them up as usual to go to school. but when they came down we had a mickey and gift bags waiting for them, crudity of my bbf and then i added a few things. they were so excited yelling mickey, mickey, mickey. everyone got ready and we headed out for the 7 hr drive. most of the embellishments for this week, i can't give you specifics on. my bbf also put together a little scrapbook gift basket for me that included all things disney. i also used a bunch of stuff that i collected along the way while we were there. for example, the electric parade dragon has a parking stub on it. a lot of the word art that you will see came from a clear 12 x 12 sheet that was given to me.

in the pocket, i put everything that we collected, the park maps, the fast pass ticket stubs that we never used, my written itinerary of when we had our character meals and where. ​

this is what was hiding under the envelope. i used the clear scrapbook page and cut it apart for my week title card. the "week 19" are thickers and the mickey head is something that another friend found at walmart. ​

we had so much fun and i wanted to remember everything we did, i decided to make this my day in the life project for the month of may. but i couldn't just pick one day, so i did all the days that we were there. yay! i had persnickety prints print them. they always do such an amazing job, good prices and are super fast! i created my pages in photoshop, then i uploaded them. when they arrived i put them in the 12 x 12 plastic sheets and they are in between the 2 disney pages. 

​i'm really happy with the way they turned out. i am happy that i did the extra work to document each day. 

well of course, since i am not caught up here i am behind in the actual production of week 20 and 21. someday i will get my system for working down. i am however super excited that i got some new embellishments from two peas in the bucket today! yay!​

hope you have a good weekend!​

week 18

​on a catch-up roll here. this is project 18, aka prep for disney week!

the other big news of this week was the lil'd lost his first tooth!​

the little red and white chevron envelope is from the paper source, i used some washi tape from smash to close it, i made the small tag from becky higgins grid card. the journal card next to it is from ali edwards, i printed it out using silver metallic ink on the silhouette. ​i used cards from both the baby edition of project life and the sea foam addition to make the small journal cards on the other pictures.

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i created the week title card using some paper that i ordered from two peas in a bucket. the ​"this" card is from the sea foam edition of project life. and the little location wood piece is from studio calico. the blue stripped card is from echo park paper co. again something i picked up at michael's. on thursday of this week, i decided that it was time to make the boys some mickey clothes, we were leaving monday and the boys didn't know where were going anywhere. so i had to make them in secret. 

then last but not least, was the kenny chesney concert, with eli young band and zac brown band, great concert and a date night for denton and me, it was to celebrate our 10th anniversary which he missed in november. ​

up next week, our disney world vacation!​

week 17 + day in the life

welcome to week 17 and also a day in the life on april 28. let's go!​

​the big news for this week. we got a new dog, yep, that makes two. her name is mollie. we got her from midlands golden rescue. we are told she is almost 5 but the vet disagrees and thinks she is more like 3. 

the garden is a growin' so nice to walk out the back door and have so many yummy things to gather up. we got our first 2 tomatoes this week. denton got a basketball hoops this week and he has been doing great in math at school lately. we also did our annual march for babies walk. team "will walk for peanut" raised over $3200 this year. ​

the little camera card is from studio calico project life kits. i printed out the week number and date on the epson printer, cut them down and glued them onto the card. easy. i added a hash tag wood symbol from studio calico also and then wrote "so proud" with the precision pens again. ​the recorded card is from the project life seafoam addition.

once a month i like to try and do a daily look at life, it's called a day in the life and is something that i picked up from loving ali edwards.​ so i just happened to pick the day we got mollie. i wasn't super detailed about the time which i have done a hourly look in the past. but today was more general, i divided it into morning, afternoon and evening and then the story of the day which of course was mollie. this is a 6x12 layout. 

on the back i created at grid of pictures that i took throughout the day. ​

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every year i take a picture of d next to his march of dimes alley picture. hard to believe that he is 5 now. we had strawberries ripen this week, i was very excited but we have none since. : ( the plant is healthy and growing but no new blooms. while we were hunting for a new dog we found these two cuties, beauty and rocky. after the march of dimes walk was the sparkleberry fair. d got to be spiderman for awhile. there is used the precision pen and an wire arrow that i got from two peas in a bucket. ​the 4x6 and grow where you are planted" cards are from studio calico as well.

have a good one!​

week 15

happy memorial day! let us not forget all the service members that have given their lives for the freedom that we enjoy. freedom isn't free. thank you! ​

since i live in a free land i thought today would be a perfect day to take this new site live! i would love to hear from you. please like me on facebook at https://www.facebook.com/StephanieNaceDesigns or follow this blog and leave me some comments. thanks! ​

so here we go, week 15. i am actually up to date in my project life but just behind on the blog so i will be working on that this week. i hope to be caught up but the end of the week. ​

this was a very exciting week, lil'd started reading at school, he even read "the desert" book to his whole class. so proud of him. we also took james to old mccaskill's farm on friday, we all really enjoyed the trip. ​

denton and i had a sushi lunch date this week. its been so nice having him back home. i wrote directly on the photo with american craft's precision pen. the "heart" this stamp comes from hello forever and was part of the studio calico project life kit for may. the two larger 4x6 cards are also from studio calico. the two smaller cards also from studio calico. i used the "let the adventure begin" stamp on d's image of his reading to the class. that stamp is from the same hello forever series. the cheesecake, by the way, is a margarita cheesecake, i will have to include that recipe on the projects page. 

the right side was dedicated to our trip to old mccaskill's farm. it sprinkled on us for a bit during lunch but it was a really great trip. this place is a b&b and working farm. they serve a country lunch on fridays. let me tell you what, it's some of the best food i have ever had!​ they have dogs, horses, goats, chickens, cows, pigs, pretty much you name it and it's there. james really enjoyed it. i took a lot of pictures there and these were the most touching for me. i loved how he studied the animals, he has a funny little habit of putting his hands behind his back, love it. nothing sweeter than watching him and his daddy together. i took the larger picture in the chicken coup, i loved the color shift. i made that an 12x8 image and then cut it up to fit the layout of the design A photo protector sheet. i cut a 3x4 card down and used just the circle of "you are loved," and then used the "simple & real" from the studio calico project life kits. 

week 14

yes, i have been behind. yes, i have been missing. but i have been working. since i got behind i decided to just start fresh. i wasn't really digging the last blog site, not enough bells and whistle and well i was just feeling blah. so here's the new layout, i hope you like it! 

w14intro.jpg

decided to add onto our woodshop, so all the boys wanted to do this week was dig, play in the "hole," and be outside with daddy. ​

w14l.jpg

i combined the week title card and my weekly journaling this week. i used paper that i got from studio calico.​ i used thickers to create the boys' weekend. the monday, tuesday... stamp came from the studio calico project life kit from march, i believe. honestly with all this catch up work, my workspace got a little out of control. the "hello" was a digital file also from studio calico that i cut out on my silhouette. the chalkboard sticker came from pebbles and was something i picked up at the paper source.

w14r.jpg

the girl side of this weekend was spent at the country crop retreat, in north carolina. before we went to the retreat we had to go to our three other most favorite places, ikea, the cheesecake factory and the paper source. at the retreat i mostly completed d's project life baby edition (more on that later). the ampersand stamp came from the project life studio calico kit for may. the "serious tractor" stickers came from the studio calico project life kit for april. the 4-w are stickers from lucille. 

​all in all a good week.