Memory Keeping

I am having SO.MUCH.FUN!

After Christmas, I had some Christmas money to spend.  I looked at the FitBit for about a week, thinking that it might be helpful to track my steps and my sleep.  But the more I thought about it, the more I knew that for me, it would be a guilt inducer.  Not to mention all the times I would have to take it off my wrist so that I could do dishes and clean up messes.  I decided against that.

Books?  All it takes is one look around my home and a look inside my Nook to see that I do not need one more book to read.  There are many books sitting on shelves and in the Barnes and Noble lala land that are waiting to be read.  So books?  No.

Then I looked at my Amazon Wish List.  Now!  There were some interesting things in there that I had forgotten about.  Back in 2009, a friend of mine started scrapbooking a picture a day using the Project Life system.  I was intrigued by that.  I had started scrapbooking back in '96, after Carrie was born, using Creative Memories.  I loved scrapbooking!  But it soon became something that I just couldn't keep up with.  Having no space to devote to my supplies, I would have to drag everything out and set everything up and remember where I had left off before I could begin.  Then I would have to put it all away...in some organized fashion so that I could get it out again in the future.  It fizzled.  Another friend started using Project Life just a few years ago.  I would sit in her living room and admire her pages as she told me how easy it was.  And how quick!  That's what I needed.  Easy and quick.  I just want to get my pictures and stories in books so that Paul and the kids could sit and look at them.

One thing kept stopping me from buying Project Life and getting started.  I could not decide which pocket pages to use.  Seriously.  I never got any farther than that.  Until about three weeks ago!  I finally bought the album and the core kit that were on sale and just decided to get a bunch of one kind of pocket page.  And GO!  I also found a class at Big Picture Classes devoted to kicking off your year with Project Life!

So I'm in!  I am scrapbooking again!  And learning new things about it every day thanks to my online teachers.  Did I mention that it is SO.MUCH.FUN!?  One of things that I am trying out is editing my pictures a bit.  I have never been a big fan of editing, because I don't want to take anything away from  the experience caught in the picture.  But I'm realizing how much fun it is to edit...just a bit...and how much better the pictures can look if I lighten them or add a bit of contrast to them.  And if I really feel daring, then I add a filter.  

Here are some pictures that I messed with a little and then added the antique filter.

Matthew at Bob Evans...

Bananagrams!  

Our new favorite game...

Our Bible memory chapter for first semester this year...

Right now I am scrapbooking each week.  On Saturday evening, I go through my pictures for the week, edit if needed/wanted, and then I send them off to Walgreens to print.  I'm working on a 2015 weekly album and also working on monthly spreads for 2014.  Just get started!  That's what I needed to do.  And then...FINISH what I start.  That word enters my head several time every single day.  FINISH!  Especially when I'm folding mountains of laundry and thinking about what else needs to be done.  I have to force myself to stay and FINISH.  (But that's another blog post for another day...)

I love documenting my family's life.  That is why I started blogging in 2008.  I wasn't scrapbooking then, and this became my way of keeping up and not feeling guilty.  I really enjoy ordering blog books and having a record of the special moments of our life.  But I really love the hands-on experience of scrapbooking!

Did I mention at all how much fun this is?  :)