Seriously? Can you handle the cuteness?

Flash back about 10 years ago...

I am at my cousin Tosha's house.  We are looking at scrapbooks.  This is during my scrapbook diva period where every event was faithfully documented.   Tosha had just given me the most appropriate magnet that said, "IF IT ISN'T IN THE SCRAPBOOK IT DIDN'T HAPPEN".   I had just switched to the new 12 x 12 format for layouts and I was feeling GOOD about it all. My goal was always to stay caught up within 3 months, and I was pretty successful at it.
 

Tosha shows me her scrapbooks.  She is also using the 12 x 12 format but rather than doing full page spreads she is using a system where you slide pictures into sheet protectors which are divided into 4x6 slots.  One of the slots can be used for an embellished title or journaling card.
 

I remember thinking very smug and judgemental thoughts.... that while this was fine for HER there was no way I was going to scrapbook like that. It was such a CHEATER way to scrapbook.
 

Flash forward 7 years

 I am years behind on my scrapbooks. I have plenty of pictures and plenty of time and plenty of supplies but no willpower.  I love the creative side of it all but it just seems like TOO MUCH.

I am talking about scrap booking with my dear friend Ker-Bear. She is THE Scrapbook Goddess of the Universe that not only faithfully cut/pasted/embellished her own family history but also the history of several friends and their families.  Every page is seriously amazingly awesome.  She tells me about something called Project 365.  I'm vaguely interested until she mentions the name of the creator, BECKY HIGGINS.
 

I KNOW this name. I was a faithful subscriber to Creating Keepsakes magazine and Becky Higgins was a contributing editor there. I could pick our her layouts from across a crowded room and often mimicked her clean simple style.  She had recently left the magazine to strike out on her own (and quite frankly the magazine was never the same to the point that I didn't even renew this year).   Well apparently Becky had started her own business and has developed a simple, effective way of scrap booking using (you guessed it) sheet protectors divided into sections.  Oh how the universe has a way of humbling us.....
 

In 2010 I join in with Kerry who has already completed a year of Project 365.  With about 90% success I attempt to take a picture EVERY SINGLE DAY of 2010.  Some days are exciting.  Some days are pathetic.  I remember Ker talking about taking a picture of her furnace and the furnace repair man as she was so desperate for something DIFFERENT to document.

The idea is so simple... take a picture and slide it into the appropriate sleeve.  Write a few words on a journaling card and add that to the book.  DONE. No guilt. No stress.

What is so simple turned into something so surprisingly wonderful.  The kids LOVED it.  They pulled this album out more than any I've ever made.  Instead of just documenting the supposedly "big" stuff I end up documenting our ACTUAL lives without the fluff / posed pictures /artificial reality that can come with traditional scrap booking.
 

I take a break in 2011.  It is a mistake.  The kids miss it. I miss it.  2012 comes around and I am ready with my camera.  Instead of being called Project 365 it is now called Project Life.  Becky's new motto is "CULTIVATE A GOOD LIFE AND RECORD IT".  I still try to take a picture a day, but I focus more on a layout a week rather than a picture a day.
 

I pick the TURQUOISE EDITION for 2012.  I buy the actual paper kit and filler cards but then decide I want to be able to type my journaling so I buy the digital kit.  And I seriously love it.  The kids are back to pulling out the album.  People come over and want to see it.  We are back to documenting the REAL Sheffer family.



This year I have chosen the SEAFOAM collection (a portion of which is pictured below).  The album has not come into stock yet, but I have purchased the digital kit. Isn't it wonderful?   However I have gone kinda nuts and purchased the digital versions of the new OLIVE collection, the CLEMENTINE edition, and all the new childhood kits. 

 

I am excited to do even more with the digital stuff and do things like adding text and etc directly to some of the pictures...

 

 

I plan to post a layout each week on my OTHER blog.... which is at www.shefferfam.blogspot.com

 

 

If you want to check our more Becky Higgins awesomeness, go to her blog at www.BECKYHIGGINS.COM