Go Ahead - Give it a Try!

Hey Girls - I was just readin Ali Edwards' blog and today she is offering a free 12x12 digital layout template and also has a tutorial on how to use it. I thought some of you might want to give it a try or at least read the post. I will add the link to the tutorial on the Tutorials Page also so you can always find it. But The template and post link will only be here.
I hope you all have a great day - I get to go to the dentist today - yuck! Should I bring my camera????
Toodles

Friday Update #4

Hello Friends! How has your week gone? It has been busy around here - working on my new studio space, having the girls each day and all of the other stuff I mess around with daily. But even though it has been a busy week it has been a good week! I have not had a chance to actually work in my YITL album but I have been making notes on my calendar and taking pictures when I can. How are you guys doing on yours?

I also wanted to let you all know that we had 2 more gals join our group this past Saturday - I will be taking them their kits this afternoon. So join me in welcoming Sandy Kelly and Dawn Brown!!!!

WELCOME Ladies!

Another thing I wanted to remind you all of is the assignment for this month - To finish your divder page for your Blessings and Gratitude section before the end of the month. Well guess what? Today is the 28th - you only have a few more days to finish! I let you in on a little secret. . . I do not have mine finished! I have the front side done but not the back. I am going to finish it up tonight while the house is empty. Did you all see that Ann G finished hers and I posted it under the assignments page - take a peek if you haven't already. Anyone else ready to share their's? Just send me a picture of it online and I will get it posted to inspire the rest of us!!!!

WEll, girls I think that's it for today - have a SUPER GREAT weekend!

Toodles

PS - I found these great quotes on Gratitude that I thought you might like - maybe you will want to use one in your book???

What is the DATE STAMP For????

I have been asked what you all will be using the date stamp for that I suggested you buy for this project. So I figured I would just show you tonight since I just now used it!

I spent the days with ALL of my girls today and when I got home I emptied my camera bag and got all of the goodies I had saved from the day out to put in my collections box. Before I placed them in there I got out my date stamp (I keep it in the box) and stamped all of my goodies with today's date. I don't have my pix printed from our day together yet and my room is still in chaos so I cannot get these items into my book yet. But my photos are loaded onto my computer and all of the goodies are dated and tucked away safely so as soon as I am ready to play in my album all of my stuff will be handy! I wont have to try to remember what day I collected these items and I wont have to search for the pix that go with them (my photos are filed on my computer by date & subject matter). Viola - I will be all set - nothing could be easier!

So here are the items I collected today - I might use ALL of them in my album or maybe only some of them. I have the take out menu from where we ate today (with the items we ordered highlighted), the coasters off of our table, the tags off of the build-a-bear items and a receipt.

You can see here how the date is nice and clear but doesn't distract from the item I am saving. I think this is a super cool idea!

Here are some of the pictures I took today that go with my goodies. Today was a special day - so I made sure I had my camera with me! We started off with lunch - Monkey got to pick where we ate today. After lunch I got a picture of her outside the doors making sure the sign was in the picture too.

And of course my bug and her Mama too - just not with the sign - after all it was Monkey's choice - not theirs.

Next stop was Bugs FIRST trip to Build-a-Bear!!!! This is something I started with Monkey when she was a baby (we collected monkeys every month her 1st year). I want to do the same for my bug and right now they have lady bugs in the store - perfect!

As we were getting ready to leave the mall, my phone rang and it was Lizzy wanting me to meet her and Richard at the mall for shopping and dinner. So I had Bryanna just leave me there to wait for the next round of fun! We did a little shopping and then headed over to The Elephant Bar for dinner. It was way too dark for pix there but I did get one of Liz inside the mall.

So now I am all set (as soon as I have time) to play in my book and document this GREAT day I had with ALL 4 of my Girls!

I hope you all had a great weekend too!

Toodles!!!

Friday Update

So how are you guys doing? Have you started (finished) your assignment for this month? Have you been taking pictures, saving memorabilia, and jotting down notes? I have been SUPER BUSY this week - we are redecorating my studio so everything is displaced and my house is a mess! But I have been using my calendar to jot things down at the end of the day each day. Nothing big just simple little notes so that later I can remember what happened on what day and add a little more "verbiage" for my YITL album when I have time. I hope you are finding a system that works for you so that this project can comfortably fit into your life.

As many of you know I love to read Ali Edwards' blog and this week I enjoyed looking over her Project Life pages she has made. Project Life is a Becky Higgins project that is very similar to our YITL project. I thought you might like to see what she has going on and that it might inspire you a little. So click HERE to see her most recent pages.

Well, I hope you all have a great week!
Toodles

Truer Words. . .

were never spoken! I found this quote the other day and I thought how perfectly this fit into our Gratitude & Blessings section that we are working on right now. I just had to share it with all of you girls - maybe you will find use for it in your albums???

Not what we say about our blessings, but how we use them, is the true measure of our thanksgiving.

~W.T. Purkiser

I hope you all have a great weekend. Take some pictures and jot down some notes for your album. And don't forget your assignment for this month!!!

Toodles

Permission to NOT Follow the Schedule!!!

Hey Ladies, I wanted to pop on here and give you permission to do something (not that you really need MY permission - haha) in your YITL Album. I want you to all feel free to jump in and work on anything in your YITL album. You do not have to stick to the quarterly outline. Go crazy, create whatever, where ever, whenever, you want in your album.

For example: We had a celebration here on New Year's Day and I wanted to be sure to get that in my album while everything was fresh in my mind. So I got my pictures printed, did some journaling and put it all together in my album. No sense in waiting till July, our 3rd Quarter to do this. There is no need for it to sit in my collection box that long. I had the time, and the stuff, so I did it! After I did that, I had a fun idea that I wanted to use for my divider page for the Celebrations section that New Years goes into. So I created that! I had the time, I had the supplies, so I did it!

This is not supposed to be a chore or a strictly regimented adventure. I want you to all have FUN with it! I want you to all be able to express yourselves creatively and on your schedule! So, go forth and create!

Toodles

WELCOME TO OUR NEW "YITL" HOME

That's right - we have our own special place to celebrate this journey we have embarked upon together. I hope you will take the time to become a "FOLLOWER" (in the right column) and subscribe to this blog (also to the right at the bottom) so that you can stay up to date and encouaged along the way this year.

Let me give you a quick tour. . .
We have five different pages of information (at the top) -
The Front Page - all of the updates and basic information
Quarterly Updates - a great reference for what we will be doing and when we will meeting
Layouts - I will post pictures of my finished layout and album pages here
Tutorials - Here I will post some "How-To's" for you
Assignments - Here you will find any assignments or challenges to work on

We have a "Links for Inspiration" area (in the right column) -
I have added a couple of Ali Edwards links here to inspire you and help you jump-start your creativity. I will continue to add more as we go along. Be sure to let me know if you have any you would like to share and I will add them here for the whole group to be inspired by

We have a "Search" area (in the right column) -
Here you can type in key words or dates and it will search for relevant posts on this blog

I have already transfered the "YITL" information from my "Spillin' the Beenz" blog to our new home, and there are lots of extras here too. Enjoy looking around and make sure you take advantage of using the "comments" area at the end of each post so I know what you think and if you have anything to add or questions you want to ask. Let's really make this a fun forum for us to use and to motivate each other over the next 354 days!
Toodles,
M

Update - Friday Jan 07, 2011

Hello Ladies! So in just a couple of days we will all be together starting to put together our albums - I hope you are all excited! Now that we are officially getting started I am going to do my first Friday Update. Every Friday by midnight I will make an updated post here for you all to read. Some weeks I may have pictures to share of what I have been up to or pages I have completed in my album. Some weeks it might be "brilliant" ideas I have come up with that I want to share. Others I may post links to sites or products I think might encourage you in your endeavor and with your creativity.

So for this 1st week, I want to share with you the lyrics to the song "Seasons of Love" from the Broadway show Rent. You may want to use some or all of these somewhere in your YITL album.
Enjoy!

Five hundred twenty-five thousand Six hundred minutes,
Five hundred twenty-five thousand
Moments so dear.
Five hundred twenty-five thousand Six hundred minutes
How do you measure, measure a year?

In daylights, in sunsets, in midnights
In cups of coffee
In inches, in miles, in laughter, in strife.
In five hundred twenty-five thousand
Six hundred minutes
How do you measure A year in the life?

How about love?
How about love?
How about love? Measure in love
Seasons of love. Seasons of love

Five hundred twenty-five thousand Six hundred minutes!
Five hundred twenty-five thousand
Journeys to plan.
Five hundred twenty-five thousand Six hundred minutes
How do you measure the life
Of a woman or a man?
In truths that she learned,
Or in times that he cried.
In bridges he burned,
Or the way that she died.

It's time now to sing out,
Tho' the story never ends
Let's celebrate
Remember a year in the life of friends
Remember the love!
Remember the love!
Seasons of love!

Oh you got to got to
Remember the love!
You know that love is a gift from up above
Share love, give love spread love
Measure measure your life in love.

Update - Tuesday Jan 03, 2011

I will be bringing my camera and white backdrop to our 1st meetings (the 9th & 14th) to take your pictures. So this is just a warning if you want to have your hair and make-up done. They will just be headshots but at least you will all have at least one current photo for your YITL album. Gary took mine on New Years Day since I was taking everyone's photo.

I really hate having my picture taken - but I did it!

Kit # 1

Here is what you will get in your 1st kit. . .

(1) 12x12, 3 ring K&Co Album
Lots of great Teresa Collins Papers and Bazzill Cardstock

Lots of divided 12x12 Page Protectors as well as some fun 8.5x11 Protectors

Some Teresa Collins Chipboard Elements, plus some calendars and tags designed by me

A Banner for the window in your Album Cover

These are not part of your kit, but things I suggest you get to go along with your kit.
A package of Rhinestones and a Rolling Date Stamp

And a photo box or some other container to use exclusively for your Year in the Life project photos and memorabillia