Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Finishing up Project Joy 2011

Well, my great laid plans didn't go exactly as expected for 'Project Joy' this past year, but I am still extremely happy with the end result and very glad I did it.

My motivation and passions were not in the area of scrapbooking for most of the second half of the year. However, December and the approaching New Year gave me the desire to finish what I had started. Here are my layouts for the second half of 2011.

2011_P365_24_June_1200

1 - Sage plays ‘hard to get’ while I take her picture. 2 - Marley chills out in the grass. 3 - Baby birds take over a bush in the landscaping. 4 - The girls hang out with Andrea.. 5 - Regan exploring at the Outdoor discovery center (class field trip). 6 - Celebrating Regan’s birthday with Cam and AJ. 7 - Mima joins the celebration too. 8 - Favorite fireside treat - Smore’s with peanut butter. 9 - Regan’s birthday wish list.


2011_P365_26_June_1200

1 - Regan enjoying the fruits of our strawberry picking labor. 2 - The girls ‘maxi mop’ the kitchen floor. (Still too young to know exactly what they had on their feet!) 3 - Regan’s homemade Pippi Longstocking hairstyle. 4 - Celebrating Grandma and Grandpa B’s 50th Wedding Anniversary at Uncle Terry’s cottage. 5 - Taking their first ride on the Grand Haven Trolley 6 - Flying high while daddy bounces the girls on the aqua tramp. 7 - Daddy and Regan take a spin on daddy’s new green machine. 8 - The girls feed some corn to the ducks at Chinook Pier. 9 Comparing ‘small’ ice cream cones at the Fruitport Ice Cream place.


2011_P365_28_July_1200

1 - Sage learns to ride her bike while camping in Battle Creek.   2 - Regan holds a huge bullfrog the girls caught at camp. 3 - Sage does pushups to win a water bottle at the air show. 4 - Regan gives Sage a ‘banana’ mask. 5 - Stunt plain from the air show. 6 - Girls make veggie animals for the library flower show - which they both won. 7 - Daddy catches a big one in the pond. 8 - Fantastic fireworks at the Battle Creek Air show. 9 - Hot Air balloons light the sky before the fireworks. 10 - The girls create their own version of the flower show.


2011_P365_30_July_1200

1 - Sage loses her first tooth. 2 - The girls play video games on the old Nintendo system before selling it at a garage sale. 3 - Last photo of my original wedding ring before trading it in for a new one. 4 - Girls have fun turning scraps of Grandma’s yarn into God’s eyes. 5 - Mommy gets a banana facial from the girls 6 - Regan enjoys feeding the giraffes at Binder Park Zoo. 7 - Sage and Regan enjoy playing aggravation with Mommy and Daddy. 8 - Regan smiling over her ice cream sundae at her ‘friend’ party. 9 - The girls take a sunset dip at Ludington State Park.


2011_P365_32_August_1200

1 - Fresh batch of one of the families favorites - breakfast cookies. 2 - Tent set up on the deck for the girls to sleep in. Regan chickened out and Sage slept out there alone. 3 - Sage helps Regan rollerblade down the driveway 4 - Regan has fun making ‘thumbprint’ animals using a book from the library (skipping the thumbprint and drawing the body instead). 5 - Sage mans the buckets for the girl’s ‘fish farm’. 6 - Today’s harvest - eggs, two types of tomatoes and green and purple beans. 7 - The girls find a stash of costume jewelry at Grandma VanderWall’s. 8 - Some good clean fun with water balloons.


2011_P365_34_September_1200

1 - Sage works on a picture of herself at her first day of school. 2 - The girls stuff their jammies with animals and play ‘belly bonk! 3 - Sage’s rides a pony at Tuesinks on her first field trip. 4 - Peaches are in season and we ate and froze two bushels!. 5 - The girls use their garage sale proceeds to buy their much desired fish tank. 6 - The freezer is full of goodness   - tortellini soup, venison and various other things. 7 - Regan starting third grade. 8 - Sage starting kindergarten.


2011_P365_36_October_1200

1 - Dressed and ready to go trick or treating with Theune’s. 2 - Sitting in the ‘big chair’ at art prize. 3 - Somewhere on this tree is a wooden disc that Regan painted at Girl Scouts for an exhibit at Art Prize. 4 - Apple and pumpkin pies ready to go to the school for a bake off at Harvest Festival. Sage won for her apple pie in the Y5’s/Kindergarten category. 5 - Flowers from Caroline were a pleasant surprise on my 40th birthday. 6 - Pumpkins carved (mostly) by the girls this year!


2011_P365_38_November_1200

1 - Marley shivers with anticipation, hoping to get a chance to chase the squirrel that is eating from the bird feeder. 2 - Mommy and the girls at Greenfield Village. 3 - Kodak moment for the girls at Henry Ford Museum. 4 - The elves up to more mischief,, making snow angels with flour. 5 - Sage uses an antique view master at Greenfield Village. 6 - The girls redecorate the house with balloons and streamers the elves used to decorate their bedroom. 7 - First official snow fall always gets the girls excited and outside to play.


2011_P365_40_December_1200

1 - Regan  paints some sugar cookies with strawberry flavored icing. 2 - Sage loves being my kitchen helper, peeling carrots on this day. 3 - The girls added pictures and stickers and notes to the 25 wrapped Christmas books the elves left. 4 - Marley takes a little ‘cat nap’ on daddy. 5 - Sage hangs out with her buddy Gabi while we wait for Regan’s Christmas concert. 6 - The girls did a great job decorating our feeble tree, 7 - Regan wanted to keep the gingerbread house and men that she made indefinitely.





I am so happy to have these 'year in review' pages done for 2011. I had never done these types of pages in the past and love how easy it is to include 'everyday life' in this format. I loved having a simple, repeated page style to use and the fonts predetermined, as this made it very easy to put pages together. By the time I got to the last layouts, I did find I was a bit 'bored' with the layout style and will try to come up with something a wee bit different for this coming year. Lots of fresh ideas rattling around in my head! 

What about you? Did you do a 365/52 project last year? Are you doing one this year? I would love to see it or hear about it!!

Blessings! <3




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Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Fracture

I am always so excited to find businesses that have phenomenal customer service and wanted to give a shout out to one that I dealt with recently. The company is called Fracture. They offer a unique, frameless way to print your snapshots or professional photos.

I heard about Fracture from some friends, but didn't actually give them a try until there was a Groupon available recently. I sent in one of my favorite back to school shots of Sage and was really excited to see how it would turn out.

When my first Fracture arrived, I was really impressed with the product. It was very light, had a classy look to it, but I was very disappointed with the colors on my photo. I contacted customer service to let them know of my concerns and they were very responsive and quick to find a solution and offered to reprint my order.

After a bit of communication back and forth, the staff was able to sort out the color issues and sent me a new, gorgeous fracture with colors that are spot on.

Here is a picture of the before (left) and after (right) products.

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They come with an 'easel' to stand them up  - or they can be hung on a wall, using a screw and a pre-made hole in the back of the foam core.

DSC_8993_600


The glass front is very thin and lightweight, but not cheap or flimsy in any way.

DSC_9000_600


I am so happy with the final product! I look forward to ordering some more Fractures soon!
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Monday, June 20, 2011

Catching Up

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I have finally had the time, motivation and creative mojo to get my 365 project caught back up. Here is the latest.


1 - April Fools Daddy! The girls decorated your car windows. 2 & 3 - Spring Break fun - painting a plate at Your Plate or Mine. 4 - Bald Eagle spotted in the back yard.  5 - More spring break fun - painting freezer paper t-shirts. 6 - Cardinal caught yawning in the tree by the deck. 7 -Finished plate ready for eating! 8 - Regan’s last spring break excitement - getting her ears pierced!



"2011 - April - Part one" digital scrapbook layout by Christy VanderWall uses:



1 - The girls look so beautiful and happy in their new  Easter clothes. 2 - Dying Easter Eggs. 3 - Shelby adjusts to her new home in the girls bedroom. 4 - No cancer found on my mammogram. 5 - Sage has fun painting my toes. 6 - The duck waits for Marley to come out and play. 7 - Winter decided to reappear. 8 - Eight days after the snow, it’s warm enough out for fishing.




"2011 - April - Part two" digital scrapbook layout by Christy VanderWall uses:



1 & 2 - The girls have a great time at Kinderplaatz in Holland on Mother’s day. 3 - Regan nominates me as Time magazine ‘Mother of the Year’.  4 - Paul plants my favorite flowers - gerber daisies - in the planters on the porch. 5 - The ornamental pears are such a beautiful sign of spring arriving. 6 - Regan loved the horse rides at celebration day at Jeffers. 7 - Fishing in the pond - another sign spring and warmer weather have arrived. 8 - Bubbles are always sure to bring smiles. 9 - Sage washes the windows in style. 10 - Mommy takes a trip to Atlanta and visits the zoo.



"2011 - May" digital scrapbook layout by Christy VanderWall uses:
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Thursday, May 5, 2011

March Part Two and Some Inspiration

The last few weeks have been a bit crazy for me. There have been lots of things to be JOYful about, and for that I give thanks. But the JOY has also been clouded with sickness and tears and sadness. The loss of a friend kind of derailed my creativity for a while.

But, alas, I am slowly picking up the pieces and pushing play again...as I know my friend would want me too. I've gotten a bit behind in my project, but that's ok. I'm just going to pick up where I left off! :)

The end of March, which seems like forever and a day ago, was filled with lots of great things. I am thankful to have the pictures to look at and remind me of all the blessings.


1 - Regan adds new quarters to her collection of States. 2 - Sage and I venture outside, ready for some sunshine after a long winter. 3 - Sage author’s her first book. 4 - Family favorite, Cheerio bars. 5 - Regan’s rendition of our new bottles. One of the pieces displayed in her and Sage’s art gallery throughout the house. 6 - Regan, not feeling well, rests in our bed and listens to some ‘Tales2Go’ on the ipad.
7 - Mr. and Mrs. Bluebird come to visit. 8 - Regan’s Pinewood Derby car, take two. (An epoxy mishap rendered the first one immobile.) 9 - First bike ride of the year, up and down the driveway. 10 - Supermoon setting over lake Michigan at Grand Haven Beach. 11 - The girls enjoy a snack outside on the lawn, eager for spring to arrive.  



"2011 - March - Part Two" digital scrapbook layout by Christy VanderWall uses:

And some other pages I have made recently:



"Slime" digital scrapbook layout by Christy VanderWall uses:

"Monkeying Around" digital scrapbook layout by Christy VanderWall uses:

"Golden Egg" digital scrapbook layout by Christy VanderWall uses:

"Five Candles" digital scrapbook layout by Christy VanderWall uses:


"Tahquamenon Falls" digital scrapbook layout by Christy VanderWall uses:

"Creative Genius" digital scrapbook layout by Christy VanderWall uses:


I hope your days are filled with everything that brings you great JOY!
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Monday, March 21, 2011

More Freebies!

Good day my friends! I hope it has been a great one for you!

Barbara has kindly reformatted my Templates 1 & 2 to landscape format for you! 



And...while you are downloading freebies...



Have a blessed day!
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Saturday, March 19, 2011

Landscape Format Templates Freebie

Do you like to scrap in Landscape format? You are in luck! My friend Barbara Crane does too! She has reformatted my latest layout templates and has kindly given them to me to share with you! :)




Thanks for stopping! Have a JOYous day!
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Friday, March 18, 2011

There is JOY in giving {freebies}

It has been a long time since I have given anything away here at SpeedScraps. So, I guess it's about time to do something about that! I am feeling so amazingly blessed in my life right now, it makes me bubble up and just want to share that JOY!

I started working on some layout templates a while back and have now finally finished them and bundled them up to share with you! Included in this freebie are 12 layered PSD templates, based on layouts I have made in the past. 


 (Sorry, there are no PNG files in this freebie, only PSD files)

Here are a couple sample layouts the templates are based on:




If you are wondering why these templates are numbered 3-14 it's because numbers 1 and 2 were freebies I gave away in the past. If you missed them, you can find them here and here.

Have an incredible, awesome, JOYful day! Thanks for stopping!
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