Project Life - One Whole Week

Did I already blog about this?

 I looked back and couldn't find anything about it, so forgive me if I am blogging about it twice. 

When we went to the good ol' US of A, we found many yummy snacks that we had to stop and buy, and then we went to Michaels and found the best invention for scrapbookers since the corner rounder! Project Life! I may have told you I tried to do this Project Life thing two times without a kit because it was so expensive to order it on-line. So I tried to make my own for 2 years, then 2013 came and I said I wasn't doing it again. So I put my unfinished 2011 and 2012 albums aside and tried not to feel guilty about them.

So back to our trip to Oregon and beyond...I made Kerry stop at almost every Michaels between here and there, and as luck would have it, one of them had the Project Life stuff! And some of it was on Clearance! We didn't even have it in Canada yet! I bought boxes of page protectors, a Honey kit, and the Holidays kit. And then I put it in a box with other scrapping stuff because I seriously thought I'd scrapbook my way to Oregon and back. Who was I kidding?

But when I got home, I decided that this was how I was documenting my whole trip. I mean "Our Trip". I printed over 500 photos, from our week long trip, including the iphone photos, and the instagrams.

I could not believe how fast this went together. With everything coordinating, it was so easy. I only used the Honey kit and the page protectors I bought, adding a few that I had in my stash.  The Honey kit was so perfect for Karen's Hometown Workshop, it even had "snapshot" cards in her colours, and lots of cards with cameras! I added a few Thickers, but other than that, I chose to keep it simple.

And I journaled, which I have a hard time doing. There's so much going on in my head, and I'm not always sure I want to put it on paper. Add to that my extremely messy handwriting, and you get the picture.

 OMGosh, isn't Karen just the cutest thing ever?

We were so fortunate to have all the pictures we took and the zillion favourites of everyone else to take home.

This is towards the back, where I put all the iphone, and instagram photos, I didn't round the corners, I got a little lazy back here, but I did journal, I took this one before I did it.

I'm pretty sure this is the only album I have fully finished in all my years of scrapbooking! Thanks to Becky Higgins, Project Life, and Karen Russell!  Also, a big thanks to Cathy for making me see how easy Project Life could be!

Our Michaels now has Project Life products, as does Clipper Street in Langley. I managed to add another kit, Midnight, and a few extras I found on sale and using my coupons! I'm totally addicted now!

Kelli's Big Adventure Days 3 + 4

I'm bundling the last few days together. Not because there wasn't much going on, there was! Late nights, early mornings, delicious Thai food, and Mexican food, and mud pie, bagels, scones, alcohol, belly laughs, plate licking, drippy cupcakes, great conversations about least favourite words, serenading Karen,  and music and scents from the concerts across the road.  But somethings are better left to the imagination.  

I think Karen hit the nail on the head with this sign, kind of credo, that set the whole tone for the workshop. She covered everything, every little insecurity we had, she didn't belittle them, she just told us to leave them at the door.

(I'm not sure what Kerry was doing. Probably having a great time with his new friends. I was too busy to think about him.)

We got to meet her family, the one I've been reading about on her blog for years and years. It was like meeting celebrities! They were so sweet!

Karen made us play games, ones that made us laugh....

(Don't we look fierce?) 

 and ones that made us think, and ones that made us get to know each other.

And every morning, we got to wake up bright and early to see this face!  She taught us so much about photography, and about ourselves.

 This part is one of my favourite. White balance. I am sure we all had a few dozen shots of our hands as we checked our WB.

 Then we all went out and bought this handy little tool, the Expodisc. And now we should all have correctly balanced photos!

 I think this photo sums up how I feel about each and every one of my homies! I expected to love Karen, to learn a ton, and to have fun, I didn't expect to love each and everyone of these women! They are all so awesome in their own ways!

 I originally found Karen through scrapbooking, and here she is demonstrating how her brilliant transparencies work.

I gave Cole my Canada hat, because let's face it, I'm not a hat person. I was pretty tickled to see him wear it for his camping trip on Karen's blog. 

And not only did I learn a bunch, have a blast, eat amazing meals, sweat buckets in the 101+ weather, and meet great people, I ended up with a pile of photos of myself taken by some pretty awesome ladies!
As happy as I was to see Kerry, I was so very sad to leave Hanna House. I may or may not have cried for a long time, until Kerry said "next year when we go back..." and I wailed "this was a one time thing!"

Moral of that story: If you have taken Karen's Photographers' Workshop, save your pennies and take her Hometown Workshop. You won't regret it.

After Kerry picked me up, we grabbed some of the best bagels we've ever had and didn't get to go to the antique store that everyone else went to. I'm still a little bitter.  We stayed in Garibaldi, right on the ocean.

The little pub was empty. We had delicious deep fried clams and fish and chips.  I set my camera up on a table and took a picture, just like Karen would. Just like I've always wanted to do but was too afraid to do. And it's not perfect, but I love it!

I'm really slacking on this blogging thing.

August Memories

Of course, we celebrated my birth month! 

 August brought us the best home made pizza crust! The new thing we love, Alfredo sauce instead of tomato sauce.

 So yummy!

 We met sweet baby Shaye. Then she puked on my mom.

 We went to the Anime Revolution con again. This year, Kerry and I didn't get a pass, so we just hung out and did lots of people watching.

 We walked all over downtown Vancouver. Most of that was looking for the Nespresso place, and once we found it, we stocked up on coffee for Shaun.

 The view from our hotel, the Marriott Pinnacle, it's such a nice place, and so close to everything!

 S's costume, I can't remember who she is, but she made the costume herself, including that wig.

 While the kids were at the con, we met Justin, and went to Meat and Bread again. I love that porchetta sandwich.

We ate and watched these guys make a video. Those 3 costumes are hand made. There are some very talented people at the con.

 You can see me at :51.

 We wandered around other parts of Vancouver while Justin got a hair cut.

 He is sad that his hair dress is moving. She's cute.

 Then we went to Granville Island for bagels and dolmades.

 Did a bit of shopping.

 We had a little photo shoot each day with new costumes.

 Went to a park and wandered around. It was over cast pretty much the whole weekend, which was nice because it wasn't too hot.

 I spotted this rabbit. I made carrot sounds and surprise...He hopped right to me!

And just as I shot this, Kerry says "have you seen that Monty Python bit where the rabbit attacks the knights?" Aaaaahhhh...no. Well, now I have.

 We were bored on Sunday and drove around until we remembered the Food Cart Fest was on! So we met Justin, and had lunch.

 There were lots of different kinds of foods, Kerry had some lamb wrap thing. I had a little meatless nibble and it was tasty.

 Justin and I had El Salvadorian.

 Pupusas! I love them! With yuca fries! Yummy! I would eat this every day, and it's gluten free!

 I made everyone pose at the info centre, like every trip, for the bad travel photo.

 We went to the bird sanctuary. I'm always behind everyone. I need longer legs!

 I'm getting better at getting in the photos, even learned to set the camera up for who ever I hand it to.

 I'm pretty sure this is just after he texted me, "the noise of the fountain covers up the sounds of my farts!"

We started with the best pizza crust, and we end with the best gluten free pizza crust. I am half way through my month of gluten free. The dr. thinks that could be the root of all my stomach issues. He might be on to something, I feel way better. And it really hasn't been that bad.

Don't forget to check Amelia's blog to see what she did in August!