The Best Things in Life Aren't Things

 So true!  The best things in life aren't things.  I designed this layout using the Lost & Found Ruby collection by {My Mind's Eye.}  I love the pinks... well, because I am a total PINK girl but also for this time of year with Valentine's Day just around the corner.  When I think of Valentine's Day I think of my 3 little valentines.  I saw the "BEST THINGS IN LIFE" sticker on the MME sticker sheet and right away in my head I finished the sentiment with "... aren't things."  I love titles with different texts, they are so visually interesting so it doesn't bother me that I had to find a way to finish my title myself. 

To create my title I used the Floral & Lace Glitter Paper shown above.  I cut off the edges that had the red glitter accent on them as well as the little box out of the lower right corner.  I placed a piece of the Grey Quatrefoil Embossed Paper on the back of the opening.  Then I popped the sticker off of the page using foam adhesive and used some Theresa Collins rub-ons from my stash for the "aren't things" part of the title.

Aubrey and Cullen were having fun in front of the camera but Hadley just wanted to be snuggled.  I was able to get a few cute shots of her in her car seat but the warning label was really distracting.  I sanded the edges of the photo and proceeded to add embellishments to cover up the distracting element.  You can see the finished results below.

 I used some tape and buttons from the collection.  I also removed the sticker from the center of the metal accent and added an "h" for Hadley to the metal piece.  I then decided to also add my other kids' initials to the LO near their photo.  I chose a grey "c" for Cullen and used another pink "a" for Aubrey.  I stepped back and looked at the LO when I was done and saw... CHA!  I hadn't realized before but my kids initials are CHA... love it;  (for anyone who may not know CHA stands for Craft & Hobby Association.  They just had there big winter release show in early January so everyone has been talking about CHA... at the store, on the blogs, on podcasts, etc.)

 I added this little cluster of embellies around my journaling block,  I used lots of stamps and some dies to make my own embellishments. 

The sticker sheet from this collection came with some really fun word stickers.  I used them here next to this photo of my big kids.

 When I was adding the year to my LO I realized the sticker sheet didn't have a 0, only numbers 1-10.  I looked all through the whole sheet trying ti find a 0 and instead I found the little heart.  Just goes to show you that sometimes the best design elements actually begin as a mistake or a problem.

Here is the finished LO!  I hope you've been inspired:)

Organizing my life... Project Life!

Several years ago I order this Becky Higgins kit for Project 365.  I really didn't plan on doing Project 365 but I liked some of the stuff that came in the kit and figured I would sometimes create 12x12 LOs and sometimes use the pocket pages and create sort of a hybrid album of quick & easy memory keeping and the beautiful layouts I love so much to design.

So the kit sat on the shelf in my closet in my studio until today!  I have been hearing so much about Project Life that I decided I would finally try it.  I am really excited to get going on this new way of memory keeping.  Of course I will still be designing regular layouts for my "jobby"  (job + hobby)  and I will be posting them here.  But I will also be keeping track of the goings on of this family of 5 in my Project Life album this year.  I can't wait to get my pics developed and get started!

I will always remember...

Just days after Hadley was born I went over to my mom's house for the day.  I wanted Nana to get to spend some time with Hadley and I wanted to get photos of them together. After all, Nana was 88 years old and even though she was in pretty good health you just never know.

I am so glad I took these photos of my Nana holding Hadley in her little sitting room at my mom's house. Just a few weeks after this photo was taken Nana went into the hospital.  She hadn't been feeling well at all and wasn't getting better.  She was mostly incoherent and in a lot of pain.  After several days in the hospital it became clear that my Nana wasn't going to recover so my mom brought her home so that she would be close to family when she passed.

She passed away on New Years Eve in the afternoon with my mother and older sister by her bed.  Hadley and I were on our way out the door to go visit and sit with Nana when I received the news that Nana had passed peacefully and had gone home to Jesus. 

We buried her today.  I will miss her so much.  I am so grateful that she got to meet Hadley before she passed away and I'm even more grateful that I took this photograph.  One day I will tell Hadley about her great grandmother and how Nana loved her so much.  Seeing them together in this photo just validates how important photography and memory keeping really are to me.  This was a beautiful moment and I get to re-live it all over again every time I see this photo.  I look at it and I can hear Nana saying "Oh, Megan.  She is beautiful.  Such a blessing."