Sunday, August 23, 2015

Cultivate a good life and record it...

That's Becky Higgins' motto. I love it! Here's a little video from her blog and believe it or not, the pianist is an 18 year old who wrote and is playing the music. Enjoy...


Sunday, August 16, 2015

Married for 40 years and Project Life!

Yep, I've been married to Paul for 40 years today. I could not imagine my life without him, I seriously could not. I'm not sure if we're going to do anything other than dinner out. He's downstairs relaxing and watching tv and I'm working on my Project Life album. LIFE IS GOOD!

So, I've been struggling a bit with my Project Life. One reason is without Logan and Emmy living close by anymore, I thought to myself..why? Why put pics in an album and spend all this time documenting...what? Me? Really? I didn't think my life was important enough to document. I mean I've always taken photos of "everyday" stuff. Even when L & E were living close by, I took pics of what we did together, but I also still took pics of food (meals I've cooked or baked), flowers, critters in the yard, where we live, and everywhere else. My pets, even my coffee cup! Then a tragedy recently happened to a person who's famous in the scrapbooking world. She creates pretty stuff to use in scrapbooks and pretty decor for your home. She's partnered with the inventor of Project Life Becky Higgins and her world was perfect in every sense of the outside world's view..perfect just like mine, until that day just a few weeks ago.

Let me back up a bit first. So, I started a new journal. It was created from a small planner that I bought from this "famous" person. I took out the monthly calendar pages and bought some photo sleeves to fit into the pretty little 6x8 binder. I even bought the hole punch so I could cut down to size, journaling pages and punch holes in them to fit. All the while, my 12x12 Project Life album was sitting in my craft room, not being touched. So, I'm printing 1x1 and 2x2 pictures to fit into my new little journal. Not sure if I'm going to be happy carrying around a ring binder...here's a picture of it...

Pretty right? I'm thinking that without L & E here, I can just put my everyday photos in this and journal at the same time and be done. Well, to be honest, I missed my Project Life. I have hundreds of pics on my phone that are just sitting there and this little album that holds a few small pics a month, didn't seem to do it for me.

Back to now. I'm on Facebook and see a terribly sad post about the death of Heidi Swapp's 16 year old son Cory. He committed suicide and it has really changed my whole outlook on scrapbooking, Project Life and memory keeping in general. She shared a very heartfelt post about why it's important to print our pictures and tell the who, where and when. I've been shown, after watching her go through this horrific tragedy, just how important it is to keep printing my pictures and putting them in page sleeves for safe keeping for future generations. You can read what she wrote here: Memories Matter.

A couple of things she wrote that touched me at the core:

  • I am a storyteller, and I love to inspire others to capture their stories and document their beautiful lives!
  • Find the good and notice the beauty in the everyday! I believe that when we focus on the good parts, we live more fully with gratitude and happiness. Our stories are then filled with what we HAVE, and not what we lack. 
  • YOU MATTER. YOUR FAMILY MATTERS. Your story… MATTERS!

 
So, I've decided that since I too find the good and notice the beauty in the "everyday", that I am going to continue telling "my" story. That's what scrapbooking is all about, telling your story so one day not only your children will get to look back and cherish all those memories you're living today, you will too. Because by the time your grandchildren are our age, Facebook and iphones won't be around any more, but your PRINTED photos will be.

Here's my Project Life pages for May:







I have since fixed the wording here about the duck. She is sitting on her "nest"



Well, I'm going to see if the Mr. wants to go on a bike ride. As always...