Project Life... still going

“The world is but a canvas to the imagination.” 
-Henry David Thoreau

I'm still at this Project Life thing, and have even caught back up... pretty much. I've been working a little bit each evening after work and exercise (and softball games). I'm hoping to get into a bit quicker routine, but I'm enjoying the act of creating.

I work with my Photoshop pages open, jumping back and forth between Illustrator for typographic and iconic illustrations. I've got my Evernote document close at hand with my notes that I've made throughout the week, as well as Pinterest in the background in case I need a spark of inspiration.

Few events throughout the weeks stick out as especially memory-worthy... such is the life of a married couple with full-time jobs and a pretty consistent evening routine. But, in truth, these are the moments I want to remember, the ones that slip my mind so easily... heck, I can hardly remember what I did yesterday, much less a year from now.

Week 4: July 8-14, 2013. The week of getting stuff done... Project Life, Crafternoon plans, practicing for softball.

Week 5: July 15-21, 2013. Another rainy summer week.

Week 6: July 22-28, 2013. A crazy week preparing for back to school.

How neat it will be to flip through a year's worth of these everyday memories!!

Project Life... I've bitten the bullet...

"The album we've made is much more than a book. It's worth even more than the time that it took."
-Kimberly Rinehart

I have always said I was going to start Project Life when I found out I was pregnant, but last weekend on a whim, I decided “why wait?” This will be the perfect way to reflect upon my 30th year and to record our everyday life... before we leave our twenties and before we have little busy-bodies under foot.

Project Life digital title page: "Staying fine @ 29"

I love the idea of the physical Project Life album as a place to collect the paraphernalia of everyday life (ooo, pockets!!),  but I'm not so into the scraps and the mess (and the expense!). My plan is to go all digital, with the hopes of printing a 8"x10" Blurb book at the end of the year. I've created some templates in Photoshop and am often browsing my ever-growing collection of digital embellishments. Although I'm not afraid to tweak the files or just create my own illustrations and wordart when I can't find exactly what I want. My design style tends to be minimalistic with bold graphics (although sometimes I have to remind myself of this when I start to add too much stuff on the pages).

I've backed up a few weeks to start the project with my birthday week. Now all I can think about is how to make this new project fit my life and my style…  Each night this past week, I've worked for a few hours trying to get caught up. And, I'm getting close!

I'm hoping I can keep this momentum (and that I'll get quicker at putting the pages together!!) I've started an Evernote document to keep track of memories, quotes, and photos in real-time. I also marked the occasion by starting a new Pinterest board to collect inspiring design elements.

Week 1: June 15-21, 2013. It's birthday week!

Week 2: June 22-June 30, 2013. Our adventurous trip to Utah.

Week 3: July 1-July 7, 2013. A rainy and wet Fourth of July week.

I'm excited... can you tell?!?!?

Sketch it out...

“When the creative impulse sweeps over you, grab it. You grab it and honor it and use it, because momentum is a rare gift.”
-Justina Chen Headley, North of Beautiful

The coolest birthday present I received this year... a Wacom Bamboo Connect tablet. As I tore off the wrapping paper and realized what was inside, I immediately knew exactly what my first project would be.

I've been following along with the One Little Word workshop prompts this year (and totally loving where it's guiding me, by the way!!), recording my thoughts and ideas in an Evernote document. However, I'm a little behind in the creation of actual album pages.

I have been stuck on the May prompt... not too enthused about the doodles that I've sketched on notepads at work. But with a tablet, a whole new world was opened.

On our rainy 4th of July, I spread out across the dining room table and got to work. Drawing and tweaking... drawing and nudging... drawing and twisting.

I'm totally tickled with the results and can't wait to print them out for my album.

To celebrate my first tablet project, I'm sharing my wordart with you. Download them here [right-click the image and save as]:

• This is the adventure
• Ready, willing, open
• Be fabulous today
• Focus on what matters
• Make it happen
• Say yes and figure it out later
• Step one is showing up
• Can't hurt to try
• Onward and upward

___

I'm also eager to use the tablet for other scrapbooking and design projects... any ideas? Do you know of any resources or sources for inspiration? Share with a sister!

Southern Utah 2013... Adventure on!!

“In every walk with Nature one receives far more than he seeks.”
-John Muir

We just returned from one of our bucket list trips! A week of adventures through Zion and Bryce Canyon National Parks. We braved the triple-digit temperatures, totaling over 65 miles of hiking and just under 20 miles cycling.

A quick recap:
Day 1 | Saturday: Flew into LAS. Drove to Zion National Park. Hiked the Watchman Trail.
Day 2 | Sunday: Hiked to Observation Point, Hidden Canyon, and Weeping Rock. Rode the Zion Shuttle to the viewpoints.
Day 3 | Monday: Hiked the Zion Narrows.
Day 4 | Tuesday: Hiked to Angels Landing and Emerald Pools.
Day 5 | Wednesday: Rode bikes through Zion Canyon and Springdale. Hiked to Canyon Overlook. Drove to Bryce Canyon National Park. Stopped at the overlooks on the auto tour.
Day 6 | Thursday: Hiked the Navajo/Queen's Garden/Peekaboo Loops and the Fairyland Trail.
Day 7 | Friday: Hiked to Lower Calf Creek Falls and through Willis Creek Slot Canyon in Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.
Day 8 | Saturday: Drove through Cedar Breaks National Monument. Drove around St. George, UT. Flew home from LAS.

Favorite hike in Zion National Park:
J: 8-mile round-trip hike to Observation Point
R: Also, Observation Point

Favorite hike in Bryce Canyon National Park:
J: Peekaboo Loop
R: Navajo/Peekaboo Loops

Least favorite hike of the week:
J: Fairyland Loop
R: Zion Narrows

Favorite non-hiking activity of the week:
J: Flying down Zion Canyon Road on the bike
R: Riding roadbikes in Zion

Favorite meal of the week:
J: Carnitas flautas at Bit and Spur Restaurant and Saloon in Springdale, UT
R: Burger and sweet potato Smashfries from SmashBurger in St. George, UT... he planned our last vacation day around this meal

Best after-hike snack:
J: Coke and Pringles
R: Diet Coke and a nectarine

Favorite hiking gear:
J: The rented canyon shoes, neoprene socks, and hiking stick... don't know how we would have made it through the Narrows without them
R: A bandana filled with ice or drenched in water and wrapped around his neck

Most extreme temperatures:
J: The hot hot heat reflecting off the sand on the Fairyland Trail
R: The cold cold water of Lower Calf Creek Falls

Scariest moment of the trip:
J: Tripping and falling over rocks in the Zion Narrows, especially knowing that I had the dSLR camera in my daypack. I panicked while in the water, unable to get myself upright. Rob says I cried, but I don't remember that. But I did bring home nasty bruises and scrapes on my right calf as a souvenir.
R: The 2.5 minutes [sic] I was on Angels Landing... as well as trying to beat the storm on the unpaved Skutumpah road back from Willis Creek.

Biggest disappointment of the trip:
J: Realizing that we had only climbed half of Angels Landing... and knowing there was no way I would get Rob back out on that ledge 
R: Realizing that we could have biked further into the canyon because it was such a quick descent  

Proudest moment of the trip:
J: Every time Rob congratulated me on how well I was holding up to the hiking challenge... I think he was impressed.
R: Just knowing how many miles [upwards of 90!!] we did this week... in our multi-sport adventures

You can see more photos on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/janaandrob/collections/72157634415451857/

Everywhere Fun Fair wrapup, part 2

"Together, together, we're coming together. Celebrating the love of God in every way. It's the love, it's the joy, it's the faith that we share. Come On! It's an Everywhere Fun Fair!"
-Cokesbury's Everywhere Fun Fair theme song

In the last post I showed how we decorated for this year's VBS, the Everywhere Fun Fair. But decorations alone do not a Bible School make.

In recent years, my church has scheduled VBS from 5:45 to 8:00 pm on Monday through Thursday, with a finale performance and church-wide supper on Friday. However, the Cokesbury program is designed for five days, so we had to leave out one of the days [Day 3 in this case].

We divided the kids up into five groups, based on their grades. We had about 35 kids each night. After the opening group session in the sanctuary, the elementary groups rotated around four stations, each for about twenty minutes: Music, Story, Crafts, and Games/Snack. The preschoolers went to the Music station first, but then went to their own room to spread out and go at their own pace.

The theme, story, and country focus for each day were determined by the Cokesbury curriculum. Our wonderful kitchen leader, Michelle, organized the snack for each day, and I organized the craft project (although luckily found someone else to lead it!). Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to make a note of the games that were played in the recreation station... to be honest, it looked a bit like chaos all week, but I'm sure the kids had fun!

Here was our plan... 

Day 1 – Monday
Theme: Neighbors are Friendly!
Story: Sarah and Abraham
Country: Japan
Craft: Celebration Kites similar to the carp kites flown on Japan's Children's Day [following this tutorial]
Snack: Pretzels and edamame toothpick kebabs (similar to this) with soy sauce for dipping

Day 2 - Tuesday
Theme: Neighbors are Giving
Story: A Widow gives Cheerfully
Country: Zimbabwe
Craft: Decorating flowerpots with buttons and markers, and then planting a succulent to give to a "neighbor" (some groups focused on the flowerpots on Tuesday, and then planted on Thursday)
Snack: Sweet potato chips

Day 3 – Wednesday
Theme: Neighbors are Forgiving!
Story: Zaccheus
Country: Australia
Craft: Decorating totebags in the style of aboriginal dot paintings [using q-tips and fabric paints for the dots, following this tutorial]
Snack: Fairy bread

Day 4 – Mexico
Theme: Neighbors are Welcoming!
Story: God welcomes Everyone
Country: Mexico
Craft: Decorating foam door hangers with Everywhere Fun Fair-themed foam stickers to welcome "neighbors" [similar to this]
Snack: Tortilla chips and salsa with sopapillas

The preschoolers used Bingo markers to decorate their totebags. Here you can also see some of their decorated door hangers.

I printed each country's name/flag on a printable label. Before the closing program each night, the kids received the sticker from the country du jour to stick in their VBS passports. 

At the finale performance on Friday night, as the kids "graduated" from VBS 2013, they received their personalized totebag full of VBS goodies, including the rest of their crafts, their nametag, their passport, their photobooth photo as a magnet, a certificate of completion, a handout describing all of the things they learned this week, copies of some related workbook pages, and a brochure about the children's activities available at church throughout the year.

We ended the fun-filled week with a hot dog supper, homemade vanilla ice cream for dessert, and a slideshow of photos from the week.

I'm so glad that I was able to help plan VBS this year. Everyone agreed it once again was a great success!! But, I have to admit, I'm glad that it comes around only once a year!