Also saw on there that she has a new book/guided journal that’s available for pre-order called And The Story Is Happening.

Totally love that title – add that book to my list.

Welcome to Project Life 2012 | Week Three.

It’s really hard to beat having a pile of just-printed photos.

My routine these last few weeks has been to print all my photos on Monday (my weeks go Monday to Sunday). I look back over the photos taken in the past week and hit print on whichever ones I like best (or whichever ones catch my attention).

Some of these in the photo above didn’t end up making it into my spread this week. I’m thinking I’ll just add them to next week.

Here’s a look at Week Three:

Being a birthday week I expected to have at least one insert to accommodate the number of photos. I ended up with two as you will see below.

I have to say that I’m really loving the Clementine journal cards. I feel like there is more space to write compared with last year (and I feel like I’m taking advantage of that so far).

We began our week with a dusting of snow (and that was it – just a dusting). On the top right photo I added a Hello Winter Brushes & Stamps (“heart snow”) by cutting it out with the Silhouette and then stapling it with the Tiny Attacher. On the bottom left photo I added some word art from my Sibling Brushes & Stamps. The photo of me and the big white balloon was a self-portrait for the February One Little Word prompt.

I also included one Instax Mini photo out of front door into the snow.

The first insert for this week uses the Design G Page Protectors. I decided to use this entire insert for things related to Simon’s birthday.

On the kraft piece of paper are the names of the kids Simon invited – he and Chris worked on the invitations together.

I used my Silhouette for two more things. The January frame is from the Hello Life Boxes Vol.2 package and the number 10 card is from my 3×4 Rounded Number Corner Cards package. Behind the #10 card I added a piece of Hambly Studios 12×12 Overlay Moustaches.

That “big day” date stamp is part of the new Dear Lizzy line from American Crafts (love it).

On the back I included a pirate napkin from the party. On top of the napkin I added Moss Notched Corners Labels from Paper Source and journaled about the party right on top.

I blurred the faces of the kids faces who attended the party.

The second insert is a We R Memory Keepers 8.5×11. Love this treasure hunt that Chris came up with – especially the part about the notorious pirate George.

On the back of this second insert I included the cards he received and a copy of the invitation.

After all that I really love how this page is just a bunch of words and photos. Photos + journal cards + a few little labels to identify photos. Love how this can be anything you want it to be.

SUPPLIES | 2012 | WEEK 3

Click on the images to link to the products.

COOL THING #1 | This photo. Katie snapped it during the craziness of the birthday party, after the kids had finished the treasure hunt (the glasses were some of the prizes). I’m thankful that this was my prize.

COOL THING #2 | Simon getting an email from my parents first thing in the morning with an interactive card and fun Spongebob game. I’m thankful for all the ways my parents have connected with Simon.

COOL THING #3 | For his party Simon really wanted to have “marshmallow lasagna.” The idea for this dessert came about from a show called Wubbzy and he’s talked about it from time to time in the past. I googled “marshmallow lasagna” and found a few different recipes. We ended up doing a modified version of this one – it’s basically a smores casserole and it is super, super sweet. For some reason (most likely it’s part of the Wubbzy episode that Simon has memorized) he asked for grated cheese on top of his. I’m thankful that he wanted to try something new.

COOL THING #4 | The kids really played together. There was chasing (Simon’s favorite), and laughing, and running around upstairs and downstairs, and light sabers and swords. More than half (actually most) of the kids at Simon’s party are somewhere on the autism spectrum. They’ve been in the same program with each other since kindergarten and we’ve watched each of them grow and develop over the last few years. Most of the same kids were here last year and this year there was really a difference in the way they interacted with one another. I’m so thankful to those kids and their parents for showing up.

COOL THING #5 | I got some photos that I really like of all the kids together eating at the table. I’m not going to be sharing them here but I’m really happy that I took them. Those photos especially remind me just how old he is getting. I’m thankful for the chance to share these photos of friendship with Simon.

COOL THING #6 | My sister sent a bouquet of birthday balloons for Simon. I’m thankful for my sister who is always so thoughtful when it comes to celebrations.

COOL THING #7 | Chris organized a fun treasure hunt (you can see the flier he made up in my Project Life post here) that included five different pirate treasures. I’m thankful for the relationship that Chris has built with Simon and for the one they are building now.

COOL THING #8 | Lots of Ninjago. I’m thankful that Simon’s current favorite lego theme has books available.

COOL THING #9 | The nap time after the party. An early in the day party meant time left in the day for a nap on the couch for me. I’m thankful that Anna took a nap (she was exhausted from the excitement) and that Simon was ready and willing to play in peace and quiet with his new toys.

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

Last year I did a Nine Years of Simon post featuring a layout from each year of his life. That was such a fun process of looking back that I decided to do it again this year with ten different layouts.

I’ll have a birthday party weekend recap to share tomorrow.

One person will receive a free spot in Playing Big, Tara Sophia Mohr’s online program for women who want to play bigger in their work or in their lives.

• #124 | Ann Marie said…This would be great for my little photo biz.

One person will receive a grab bag full of paper-crafting goodies from My Minds Eye, Basic Grey, Fancy Pants, 7Gypsies and more valued over $150 from PeachyCheap.com.

• #777 | Lisa Taylor said…Thanks for the opportunity to win!

One person will receive a spot in Amy Tan’s new class at Studio Calico: Stretch Your Kit.

• #648 | Margie S said…Those all look awesome. Thanks!

One person will receive a spot in May Flaum’s upcoming 12-week workshop The Curious Scrapbooker’s Field Guide at Big Picture Classes.

• #733 | kathyg3 said…Had to order the stamp set right away, thank you for the link to Peachy Cheap! What another outstanding giveaway.

Congrats to Ann Marie, Lisa Taylor, Margie S and kathyg3! Please email me giveaways@aliedwards.com with your contact information.

GIVEAWAY | One person will receive a grab bag full of paper-crafting goodies from My Minds Eye, Basic Grey, Fancy Pants, 7Gypsies and more valued over $150 from PeachyCheap.com.

www.Peachycheap.com is an online store that sells craft, scrapbooking, and mixed media products at AMAZING prices. Today’s deal is featured in the image above. Just visit www.Peachycheap.com everyday to check out the fabulous deal of the day.  Then grab it while you can because everything is discounted up to 50-90% off!

GIVEAWAY | One person will receive a spot in Amy Tan’s new class at Studio Calico: Stretch Your Kit.

CLASS INFO | Are you ready to jump-start the way you look at supplies?  Tired of letting your kits pile up month after month without touching them?  Ready to pull out the tools you have on hand and put them to use? Amy Tan is here to help show you how to see the Studio Calico Main kits in new ways and get those supplies onto your pages.  She’s ready to share tips and tricks on making your kit supplies stretch to create beautiful page after page.

Known for her playful and innovative pages, Amy is the perfect teacher to help you stretch your kits.  She’ll walk you through ideas for breaking open those brown paper bags and seeing your kits in a fun new way. Amy and Studio Calico kits…what a great combination!

Amy is joined by creative powerhouses Kelly Goree, Celine Navarro, and Jen Jockisch who will all share inspiration for using ONLY the Studio Calico Main kit. You’ll see their process for getting started on a layout, selecting which supplies to pull from the kits, and tips for using their favorite tools and techniques.

START DATE | February 1, 2012
REGISTRATION ENDS | January 31, 2012
PRICE | $30.00

GIVEAWAY | One person will receive a spot in May Flaum’s upcoming 12-week workshop The Curious Scrapbooker’s Field Guide at Big Picture Classes.

Here’s some information from May about this workshop:

I have dearly loved each and every class that I have put together for Big Picture. I am constantly adding, upgrading, improving, and taking suggestions to heart. Now, after many months of plotting, creating, and pulling it all together I’m thrilled to introduce you to my first class of 2012: The Curious Scrapbooker’s Field Guide: 12 Weeks of Techniques and Creative Play.

Not just layouts, or simple inspiration either: this course will get you deep into the techniques, fundamentals, ideas, and process of creating layouts, altered projects, tags, and more. From stencils to inks, paper punches to pens, I am working with all kinds of products and have a lot of ideas to show you. Bringing them to life like you’ve never seen in my previous classes, this twelve week course is packed with more than fifty videos, not to mention the handouts, active classroom, and so much more.

Learn more about this workshop, watch a promo video and sign up here.

Three new products are now available from me at Designer Digitals.

Hello Life Boxes Vol. 2 (to go along with the original Hello Life Boxes).

Routines And Rituals (used in my PL2012 | Week Two)

Everyday Photos

Have a great weekend!

Reading M. Scott Peck’s The Road Less Traveled.

Hearing Simon and Anna race back and forth upstairs from my office, down the hallway and into my bedroom (while I’m downstairs cleaning up the kitchen). Back and forth and back and forth. There’s laughter and then there’s yelling and then more giggles and it most often ends with one of them yelling for me.

Navigating our new normal and finding places of peace and connection and joy.

Riding waves of emotion and working on allowing myself to be present in all aspects.

Negotiating money and time.

Adoring the addition of our new cat George. He is awesome.

Refereeing a myriad of arguments between an almost 10-yr old and an almost 3-yr old – most having to do with one of them touching the other or getting too close.

Savoring Natalie Goldberg’s Writing Down The Bones one chapter (or two) at a time.

Organizing legos.

Enjoying the process of working on my 52 Creative Lifts newsletter the last few weeks.

Listening to Simon read Kung Fu Panda 2 out loud in the evening before bed.

Listening to Anna sing so many songs. Songs she knows and songs she makes up.

Cleaning up my office after painting this past week. It was a major project and now I’m into a major supply reorganization. I’ve got a bunch of layouts I want to do but before I start I really want to get this place in order.

Preparing to celebrate Simon’s 10th birthday tomorrow and taking cupcakes to his class today.

Planning, dreaming, taking steps forward for this next chapter.

Today I’ve got something a little different to share with you.

If you follow me on Facebook or Twitter you might know that I like to read things that lift me up, encourage me, make me think and spur me to action. I often share links to posts I’m reading around the web from sites like Tiny Buddha, Marc & Angel Hack Life, and from Tara Sophia Mohr.

Today I’d like to personally introduce you to Tara and am really excited that she’s offering one of you a spot in her Playing Big program that begins next week (more on that below).

I’m not sure how I was first introduced to Tara and her work. It could have been one of those link to link to link sorts of adventures or maybe it was from Jen Louden or Tracey Clark or maybe via Twitter. However it happened once I clicked over and read some of her writings I was definitely interested in reading more.

Her passion for encouraging and empowering women to be bold and fearless is something I admire greatly. Her writing is real and genuine. I found myself lost in her archives as I was typing this up, getting inspired reading older and newer posts.

I just recently read her new book of poetry Your Other Names. I actually cried when I read a few of the poems. They touched me deeply. You can read more about her poetry here.

I’m excited to embark on my own journey in Tara’s Playing Big program – really looking forward to that experience being a part of my story in 2012. I know that this might be the sort of thing that would interest some of you who are also working towards inviting new things into your lives.

GIVEAWAY | One person will receive a free spot in Playing Big, Tara Sophia Mohr’s online program for women who want to play bigger in their work or in their lives.

PLAYING BIG IS FOR YOU IF:

• You have a project already in motion – but you aren’t moving forward with it as boldly as you’d like to.
• You feel a calling or longing about a project or a new direction, but you feel scared about getting started or unsure how to do so.
• You want to make a positive difference and are held back by self-doubt, a “who do you think you are” voice, or just by feeling “not ready yet.”
• You have the sense that some support for playing bigger, and an inspiring community of like-minded women could really make a difference for you.
• You suspect it would be a whole lot more fun to play bigger. (YOU ARE RIGHT!)

Join 100 incredible women from around the world in participating in the Playing Big journey.

Learn more about the course HERE. Registration closes on Tuesday, January 24th.

ABOUT TARA | Tara Sophia Mohr the creator of the popular 10 Rules for Brilliant Women and the free downloadable 10 Rules for Brilliant Women Workbook. A regular blogger for Huffington Post, she’s appeared on The Today Show, and in ForbesWoman, More Magazine.com, Whole Living, and numerous other publications. She lives in San Francisco with her husband and loves art, long walks by the water and gatherings with friends.

CONNECT WITH TARA : Blog | Twitter | Facebook

From time to time this year I’ll be sharing stories from people who are embarking on the One Little Word workshop journey at Big Picture.

My hope is that their stories will inspire you as you make your own word visible in 2012.

Today I’d like you to meet Michelle and Heather:

NAME | Michelle
BPC SCREEN NAME | MichelleC
BLOG | http://michelle-livingandscrappingmylife.blogspot.com/
2012 WORD | Learn

WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO CHOOSE “LEARN” | I chose learn for my 2012 word because I often find myself craving to know more about everything. I choose “Learn” this year so that I would be more intentional in the areas I want to focus my learning, rather than always jumping from one idea that interests me to another.

HAVE YOU DONE OLW BEFORE? IF SO, WHAT IMPACT DID IT HAVE? | The first year I choose a word was in 2011, the word actually choose me. A post on Ali’s blog on December 1, 2010 prompted me to write down a word that encapsulated 2010 in one word and imagine a year later what word would capture 2011 for you.

I wrote: 2010 in one word…Chaos. It has felt like we are chasing our tails all year. Our business was so consuming so we stopped, but the rest of the year has been a whirlwind. Some self imposed, some imposed on us. As we are winding up the year, work for me has been more crazy than normal with a structure reorganization. And November brought us heart break in the sudden bad turn in my mom’s health. Now that we are in December, I am spending my evenings in the hospital, my days at work, the few minutes I have in the morning with my boys and squeezing in Christmas shopping on my lunch hour. As I look to 2011 I hope for Peace. Time to enjoy our life, time to enjoy our boys, and some freedom from everyday worries. No life is perfect, but I pray we have some peace in our days.

Little did I know when I wrote those words, that we would be faced with more before the year would end. Ten days after I wrote this, my mom passed away. The focus of my word “Peace” helped me persevere through the rough months of mourning our loss, while battling off depression. Having a word to focus on helped me change how I reacted to stressful situations and it helped me to work through the huge loss I felt when I lost my mom. I never imagined choosing a word would have such a profound effect on me.

WHAT ARE YOUR BIGGEST HOPES FOR 2012 | I hope in 2012 I will open my mind and heart to new experiences that push me to grow and learn new things.

NAME | Heather
BPC SCREEN NAME | hlowens
BLOG | heatherlowens.blogspot.com
2012 WORD | focus

WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO CHOOSE “FOCUS” | My word for 2012 actually started speaking to me in the Fall of 2011. Last year, I chose “explore”, and really made a connection with it. I found myself reaching for new things constantly, always seeking new experiences, really making exploration a way of life. I explored my environment, photography, the world through the eyes of my toddler, literature, my relationships, and so many more things, all the while thoroughly enjoying the process of documenting my experiences with the help of Ali’s prompts. Still, as much as I embraced the concept of exploring things, I wondered how much better life could be if I was able to pick a few of these things that I loved to do or think or feel, and really hone in on them. And so the word “focus” chose me, I really didn’t choose it.

HAVE YOU DONE OLW IN THE PAST? IF SO, WHAT IMPACT DID IT HAVE? | I love how my word for 2012 blossomed out of my previous years’ chosen word. This has created a sense of continuity in my life that I know I will carry through this year and beyond. My word last year, the first year I actually declared one, was always in the background of my thoughts and actions as I went about my daily life. It didn’t become so much a project in and of itself, but a way of improving and enriching a life that I already loved. The process of documenting the experience in Ali’s class gave me a tangible product, my album, that made my word and it’s impact even more real to me. Furthermore, the memories that I created with the help of this simple concept are priceless. I love that result most of all.

WHAT ARE YOUR BIGGEST HOPES FOR 2012 | I sincerely hope that I make a deep and lasting connection with my word again this year. I can’t wait to watch it evolve and change and grow over the course of the year. It really is a journey that I’m so excited to be a part of.