but lately my little girl has been having a hard time.

She tells me that she would be pretty if she had blonde hair and blue eyes.   She begs for me to straighten her.  She has a complete meltdown when she makes a mistake.  If she tries something once and isn’t good at it she refuses to try it again.

Her self-esteem has been shook and I can not figure out why. I am very careful about what we watch, who she is friends with and the words we use when we speak to her.  I have retraced steps and analyzed where she is and who she is with when she is out of my sight.  I finally realized that she will not be under my protection every hour of every day for the rest of her life.  I have to figure out a way to prepare her for those moments that will make her question what her true worth is.

I purchased this mini album from Becky Higgins at the first of the year.  Since it arrived it has sat on my desk waiting for the perfect photos to fill it. It wasn’t until Aubrey and I were sitting at my desk looking at old pictures that the inspiration hit me.

As we flipped through photos I made a special effort to point out something awesome about her in the photos.  About 15 minutes into this she was helping me point our her awesomeness.  I then decided to print the photos and have her help me journal about them and why they remind us why she is so awesome.

This is what we ended up with:

Each card begins with the words YOU ARE AWESOME BECAUSE. . . . the above photos are because you love animals and you were smart enough to teach yourself how to find LPS videos on youtube.

These photos represent because you like to get dirty, you like to sing, you are funny, and you are brave.

Because you are talented, beause you have beautiful hair, because of your smile and because you are helpful around the house.  I wanted to mention her looks but I didn’t want too put to much emphasis on it becaus I want her to know that beauty is so much more than looks.

This is just the beginning of the book and I plan for us to sit down once a week and add more photos and more journaling. I keep the book on the bookshelves in the living room and I told Aubrey that whenever she was having a bad day and wasn’t feeling so awesome that I wanted her to sit down with this book so it could remind her just how awesome she is.  She can’t read yet but because she helped me she will know what each picture represents and when she is able to read the cards she will learn so much more.

She asked me to record a video of her showing off her book – just in case you were wondering what she thought of it.

In case you are wondering when she mentions The Blue Cat or the video her dad and cousin made she is referring to this.

This week we celebrated a lot of little moments.  I didn’t see a need to go into a lot of journaling so I decided to just use the LIFE card from the Kraft Edition and include photos with a short caption on them.  The caption reminds me of the specifics and the picture tells the story – that is all I need.

I started the right side of the layout with this adorable post card that Aubrey received inside one of her LPS packages.  Becuase it wasn’t exactly 4×6 I used some of the paper in the Kraft kit to frame it.  Beside the postcard is a title card, again from the Kraft Edition, with the dates stamped.  Across the bottom row is a photo from a birthday party we attended and a note that Becky sent thanking me for my help on the HSN layout.

For the middle row I used journaling cards and included a small amount of journaling about the specifics of each piece of memorabilia.  I also included one of the stock cards and printed the words THIS LIFE on it.

I actually really love this week’s layout.  It was one of the easiest I have put together but probably contains the most memories.

A PROJECT LIFE TIP

If you follow my blog at all you will now that I am a proud member of Becky Higgin’s Creative Team.  This means I totally love me some Project Life.  This makes my second year documenting my memories this way and over the last few months I have learned a valuable lesson.  YOU DON’T HAVE TO SPEND A FORTUNE on a photo printer!!!

Yeah that’s right.  You can print your photos at home and save money on shipping and not invest in one of those $100+ printers.

About 3 years ago I took advantage of a huge sale that Staples was having and I convinced my husband that I needed an expensive, large format, Epson printer.  Don’t get me wrong I love my printer.  I have definitely gotten my moneys worth over the past couple of years.  I have also spent a lot of money on ink.  About 2 months ago my HP desktop printer broke and I needed something inexpensive to replace it.  I took a trip to Target where I found this little beauty.

This is the Epson XP-200 and I bought this little baby for $40! (It was on sale + I have a Target Red Card)  It prints borderless photos, the ink costs about $12 per cartridge (holds 4) and the print quality is AMAZING!!!! (oh yeah it copies and scans) I can now print all the Project Life photos I want AT HOME and I can save my expensive Epson Printer for those large format jobs.

Who knew?!?!?!!!

WHAT TO EXPECT DURING iNSD

Check out all the awesome stuff that is happening at Pixels and Company this week.

In addition to that my entire store will be 35% off (want even more savings then sign up for my newsletter – oh yeah there’s a freebie if you do)

and just in time for iNSD I have a brand new facebook fan freebie – you should totally go like me and download it!!

Now why don’t we get to the real reason you came here today.  All the designers at Pixels and Company came together to create this amazing kit just for your for FREE!!!

All you have to do is stop by our blogs and gather our specific letters.  Once you have them all then head over to the shop and use those letters in a special coupon code and voila that beautiful kit is all yours.  In case you get lost here is the list:

Jennifer
Tiffany
Jan
Jaimee
Mye
Dawn
Rebecca
Robyn
Karen
Crystal
Shannon
Karla
Shirley- YOU ARE HERE
Deena - YOUR NEXT STOP
Celeste
Shen
Leah
Mindy
Erica
Gen

and my letter code is:

HAPPY SHOPPING!!

I have 4 major ways to track my week:

1 – ohlife.com// Love this website!!  Every night they send me an email and ask “what happened today”.  Some days I go into detail about my day.  Some days I just do a quick outline of my day.  When I am ready to put my pages together I just go to the site and look at my days from that week.

2- social media//facebook, twitter and instagram have seriously saved me some weeks.  They contain the little stuff from the week.  These sites have your random thoughts, they have your pictures and they have conversations you have with your friends and family.  That is good stuff right there!

3 – day planner// I am a planner and one day I will share with you my extensive day planner.  Since I plan every move I make every day this comes in handy when I want to document errands or major projects.

4 – camera// usually my iphone but I am making an effort to carry my Nikon with me more.  If you have kids that use your phone to play games or watch videos you may be surprised at the pics you will find.  I once had to delete over 50 photos of a blurry wall all because Aubrey discovered the camera button on my phone.

Every Sunday I sit down and take out a piece of paper.  I go through all 4 of those listed items and I make a note of the stuff I want to include. I put the date beside the item and I mark it if I have a photo or special journaling for it.

Once I have my list I sit down and I draw a grid.  The left side will always be whatever I used from the week before and the right side I choose after I look over my list.

I then put a number beside all the items on my list.  I take that number and I put it in the grid.

At this point the hard part is done and the fun starts.  I start printing my pics, I journal my stories and I assemble my pages.

There are some weeks that I pull my list together the night before and while I sit in bed watching TV I lay out my pages.  These weeks I am able to put my pages together in under an hour.

What does your process look like?

It was pretty obvious which core kit I decided to go with. . . . yep the Kraft Edition

I started the page with a title card and just used a date stamp to stamp my dates.  To the right of that card I used one of the 3×4 journaling cards to document JoJo totally losing it at the end of Twilight.  After having to sit through that movie (seriously one of the worst of the series) we needed a good laugh and we got it when Seth flashed up on the screen with his real name – BooBoo Stewart.  JoJo seriously laughed the rest of the night about this.

I used the ! card to document our trip to urget care with JoJo.  This week we both were running fevers but JoJo’s went over 103 and I made him go to the doctor and they snatched his butt out of work for a whole – which by the way is what I told him he needed to do

The rest of the page was dedicated to Aubrey’s room remodel.  JoJo made the mistake of heading out of town to a flag football tournament – after going back to work and not running a fever- and Aubrey and I hit the stores with our credit cards.  We updated her dressing area, we changed around her closet and Praise God we finally found a storage solution for those Littlest Pets.  I plan to do a new tour my room next week and show you all the details.

The right side of my layout contains photos from Easter, a 3×4 journaling card  and a special card that my friend Shannon sent me.  I say her Instagram photo of the doodle she was working on it and she sent me a finished version.  I loved it so much that I asked her to post it to her blog.
WORTH MENTIONING

1 – This week took me longer to complete, about 2 hours.  I believe it took so long because I was totally unorganized, I had pictures everywhere, and I was sick.

2 – I love this challenge and I think it will make me think more about what story I want to tell and how I want to document my memories.  Usually I am focused on what card to create to tell my story this week I just told my story.

Soon after that I heard she was selling at Design House Digitals and I continued to admire her and watch as her design career took off.  Then in January I found out that the two of us would be selling at the same store, Pixels and Company.

Um, can you say destiny.

Working on The Good Life with Shannon was an awesome experience.  The colors and the papers are totally all her – which is something I think she is amazing at. I asked Shannon if she would mind answering a few questions so that you guys could get to know her and she said “Absolutely”, again she is a total sweetheart.

1. How did you get started in scrapping and/or scrapbook designing?

I started scrapbooking in junior high after my mom got into it. We spent pretty much every weekend together scrapbooking. But I didn’t start designing until I finished graduate school. I was a part-time freelance designer, but  needed something to fill up my time. On a whim I opened my own digital scrapbook shop on Etsy in 2010 – and never looked back!

2. Where do your best kit ideas come from, what source of inspiration?

It’s amazing how the smallest thing can trigger a great idea. It could be something my husband says or a new sweater I bought. I also love to listen to my creative team’s ideas – I think it’s good getting a customer perspective.

3. Describe your design style in 3 words.

Colorful, modern, graphic.

4. Sum up your personality into one sentence.

A passionate, OCD perfectionist who has a hard time turning their brain off (which is both a blessing and a curse).

5. What are two things you couldn’t live without (besides your beautiful family)?

One: Disneyland. I know it sounds crazy, but I get really anxious if I haven’t been in awhile. It’s my happy place and luckily my husband enjoys it almost as much as I do.

Two: My notebook. I keep it in my purse AT ALL TIMES, so I always have it on hand to write down notes. I have a horrible memory, so without my notebook I’d be completely lost.

6. Who is your favorite Game of Thrones character?

I’m embarrassed to admit it, but I haven’t had a chance to watch it yet. My husband and I are hopelessly behind in TV shows we want to watch. We JUST finished Battlestar Galatica and up next is either Mad Men or Downton Abbey. Although, Game of Thrones is close behind on our list. Especially since I hear Peter Dinklage is amazing in it!

Even though she doesn’t share my love -yet- of The Game of Thrones I still think she is the 1 of the 3 coolest people I have had the pleasure to meet in this design journey of mine.

The middle row tells 2 stories. Story one is all about Aubrey and the crazy things she says.  This week she told me I was crazier than a cricket. ummm what?  I used a card from the kraft edition to record the convo and then I used one of my favorite photos from her.  LOVE THAT HAIR!! Story 2 is our big mail day.  The mailman seriously had to make 2 trips to his truck to bring us all our swag!!  I snapped a photo of the boxes and in the pocket beside that I included a snapshot of some of the stuff that was delivered; to name a few of the favorite things- LPS, Project Life Pens, an Easter present from Grandma and my new bag from Amy Tangerine.

I wrapped this page up with a snapshot of Aubrey doing the dishes – she totally asked us to teach her a chore!  In the last pocket I documented Same Sex Marriage going to the Supreme Court.  No matter how you feel this is an important matter to document.

The right page told 3 stories.

The entire right side of the right page documented Aubrey’s art show at school.  This is an annual event and I look forward to it every year!!  A couple of photos from the day and a stock kraft card to document the event.

The bottom left side of this page is dedicated to my new obsession “GAME OF THRONES”.  The husband and I watched 2 seasons in a week.  I used the awesome card from the kraft edition and I created our own Family Crest at hbo.com. LOVE IT!!!!

The top of the page is a photo of my fresh flowers.  I try to keep at least one vase of flowers in the house.  This week my husband surprised me with tulips and I couldn’t have been happier.  I created the overlay in photoshop before printing the photo.

Both our stores are 25% for the entire week and in addtion to the 10% savings you get this lovely set of Journaling Cards free!

They contain both the 3×4 and the 4×3 versions!!
In addition to all that awesomeness I have decided to put my collage sheet shop on sale this week as well. Not only can you purchase any 2 items and get a 3rd item for FREE but at checkout your cart will be 25% less than you thought!!

I have also created this new collage sheet. I had a few folks email me and ask if I could recereate the buttons from my Wanderlust kit as a collage sheet and so I did.

And if that still isn’t enough I am also going to be featuring a product each day for the entire week. The feature product could be a dollar, free, or something new. So if you don’t like me on facebook today is the day you totally should.

So I am going to be really honest with you for a second.  There are some weeks when I do not have the time or energy to start my creative engines. These are the weeks that make me truly appreciate a seriously awesome kit like the Kraft Edition, about 90% of my layout is straight from the box!

A s always I started with my favorite date card and my week card. To the right of the card is a photo of my weekend to do list that I posted on instagram.  I just took the photo into photoshop and wrote a caption on it. I began the 2nd row with 2 stock cards from the Kraft Edition.  I took the convo bubble into photoshop and typed out the story.

To the right of the convo bubble is another photo from my instagram.  This is the balloon that wouldn’t die!!! Seriously this balloon has been floating at the top of my ceiling for almost 2 weeks!

Next to the balloon from hell is a screenshot of my inbox and yes that reads 229 NEW messages.

I wrapped up this side of the page with my video card, to document Aubrey’s audtion video. To the right of that is another stock card from the kraft edition.  Again I opened it in photoshop and typed directly on it.  The story is about how Aubrey got an audtion with a new CBS series!!!!  The video is her audition video for that series.  I will let you know if we get a call back!

The entire right side of this page is dedicated to “Mommy and Bre Day”.  I have been working really hard lately and she has been begging for some special time with me.  We took the entire day and just hung out.  We ate Mexican food, we bought littlest pets, we laughed, we took a nap, and so much more.

The left side of the page started with Aubrey doing the “Wop”.  Thank you Myley Cyrus for that stupid twerk video and bringing this song back. *insert sarcasm here*.  The That’s Funny card is another stock card from the kraft edition with the story of Aubrey’s wop on it.  On the middle row is a picture of new favorite cocktail, try them!  Beside that  is another stock card that says everything about mommy time!

I ended the page with a stock card from the Olive Kit!

With that week 12 is done!!