It's hard to believe it's that time of year again- December 1st is TOMORROW!? (and my kids are still eating halloween candy!!)

I wanted to share my December Daily cover with you today and share a little bit about my plan and approach for this years mini album.

This year I fell head over heels with October Afternoon's "Make it Merry" line, so when they offered the Make it Merry Mini Book kit, i jumped all over it.

source: October Afternoon

I love the colors and sentiments of this line, and it matches perfectly with the Elle's Studio Be Merry Collection.  

Last year I pre-made my entire mini book--- and i finally finished it this past fall.  December it's SO busy, so I decided to take a slightly different approach this year.    I did very little "prepping" of the album.  Since the kit came with pre-punched pages I just slid them in the album and decided I would add the date numbers later.  That way I could decided if a certain day needed the full left and right page, or just one side.  

However, I did make my cover.

The cover is a chevron Hambly overlay with stitching.  I layered an Elle's Studio tidbit with some of the October Afternoon stickers on top of a Martha Stewart doily.   

This is what it looks like when you open the overlay.    The green pattern paper, snowflakes, and journaling card is from October Afternoon.  The red journal tag, circle alphas, and silver stars are from Jenni Bowlin.

Like last year I decided to start my December Daily on the day after Thanksgiving-- we have so many Christmas traditions the weekend of thanksgiving and the week after that i wanted to include it in the album.  

And I already have two pages done!  I don't know if that makes me ahead or behind at this point ;)  Not stressing about it though and enjoying the process.

One thing that has helped already is that i have my list ready to keep everything straight.

And I collected all my December Daily materials and organized it in a shoe box.  Now everything is separate, yet all together.

Thanks for stopping by and happy Friday! 

Thanksgiving Weekend in Photos

Thanksgiving morning light

Thankful for them

Thanksgiving lunch, and football.

Cousin.

Aunt.

Grandma.

On Black Friday we decorate.

and go to a movie. (excellent movie).

And on Saturday we shop... for a tree.

Our fourth year at Millbrook tree farm.  Love this tradition.

Friends.

Mother & Daughter

Family.

That's our Thanksgiving weekend in a nutshell!  Hope yours was wonderful.

Project Life Week 45: Being Transparent.

This week's Project Life covers the week of November 5-11, 2012.

This was the week the election occurred, Resolve was officially released, Jordan's dede (blanket) suddenly had a HUGE hole in it (tragic), Jonah had Native American Day at school, and we went to a family wedding.   That about sums up the week!

The left page covers a lot of the election-- we were able to go downtown Indy for the Mike Pence victory rally which was really cool.  I included my voting sticker on the Jenni Bowlin Animal Trivia Card.  I've also been collecting quotes and photos of my grandmother in recent Project Life spreads.  I ate lunch with her on election day which proved to be comical commentary :)

On the right side I included an email text sent from my dad.  I appreciate his wisdom and perspective in life so very much.

One thing I aim for in my Project Life pages is transparency.  I hope to truly represent my heart and thoughts so that my family will know what our lives were like years down the road.  It's tricky being transparent -- and blogging about it-- when documenting on election week. :)  My intent is to not bring up political topics but rather document my week.  I hope you know that I completely respect opposing views and think we are pretty darn lucky to live in a country where we are able voice (and post!) our own opinions freely.  :)

On the back side of the insert I included a panoramic photo from the wedding we went attended.  It was the wedding of very close family friends and we sat at a table with all my cousins.  I recently put a free app on my iPhone- DMD Panaroma and took this fun photo of our table.  I love that i got almost everyone in the photo!

I printed it on Mpix.com as an 8x12 and trimmed it down to just the panoramic part of the photo.

On the right hand page I included photos from Jonah's Native American Day and a photo of Resolve at Barnes & Noble on release day (surreal!)  I may or may not have moved the book to be placed next to "Unbroken" on the book shelf.  

Thanks for stopping by today!  Be sure to stop by Elle's Studio today to see my PL post (and giveaway).

Also linking up with The Mom Creative today.

I'll be sharing Week 44 (Halloween) later this week!

Project Life was created by Becky Higgins as a way to simplify how you document life and preserve memories. Photo pockets used in my Project Life are created by Becky and can be found here. You can read all of my Project Life posts here.

InLinkz.com

Perfect Christmas?

GASP.

I have a layout to share with you today!  This is the first layout I made for the Jenni Bowlin team and i am in love with the way it turned out.

I don't know about you, but every year- post thanksgiving-- my perfectionism/OCD goes into overdrive and I am gung-ho about creating a "perfect christmas".  and every year i come to grips that there is no such thing.   the meaning of christmas goes far beyond how you decorate your home, what pinterest projects you complete, what parties you attend.  it's about preparing your heart for a King.

I wrote these words last year, and they ring true this year as I was tangled in a mess of christmas tree lights yesterday, frustrated, in a bad mood, and sweating like a banshee:

No matter how much i prepare or "do", Christmas will still be Christmas. 

And that's when i realized it's not about me anyway. It's all about Him.

Amen?  Amen.

Last year I was reminded of this when Jonah and Jordan were decorating cookies with their cousins.  I wrote a little about it here.

I had a super fun time putting this layout together and I share more about how i completed it on the Jenni Bowlin blog.  Jenni Bowlin's Christmas line is perfectly classic.

Thanks for swinging by today-- i have lots of Project Life to share with you this week,  Thanksgiving photos, and (hopefully) December Daily photos.  Happy Cyber Monday!

Resolve Launch Party Photos

Today I wanted to share a few additional photos from our Resolve Launch Signing and Gala Event.   We had my dear friend Melody Carpenter photograph the days events.  (if you have read my blog for awhile you have likely seen many of Mel's photos as she has photographed my family since Jordan's birth).  These are a few photos she sent our way.

Author Bob Welch signing books at Barnes & Noble.

It was truly fun to see friends and family that came out to B&N to have copies signed.  

We are so thankful for the book's author Bob Welch.  He did an incredible job writing Clay's story.

Bob Welch with Clay Conner, Jr.'s four sons (L-R  Tom, Jack, Bob Welch, Jim (my dad), and Clay III).

As I mentioned in this post my family stopped by Clay's gravesite before the gala event.  It was frigidly cold outside but I am glad we took that opportunity to REMEMBER.   It was an interesting day of emotions for my family.  Our hearts were full of excitement and celebration for the release of this book, but at the same time we miss Clay deeply.

The Indiana Historical Society is beautiful as you can see.  We had a wonderful cocktail hour / mingling time before a Q & A session.

I think one of my favorite comments from Bob that evening was when he was talking about the Conner Cousins--- "they just seem to pop out of every corner".  If you know my family this is true.   There are a lot of us and we have been really invested in this process and some "grassroots marketing".

I love that the word "Sharing" is at the top of this photo.  Appropriate for any storyteller. :)

An excellent Q&A time with the four brothers (Jim, my dad was standing as an MC), Bob Welch, and two representatives from the Indiana Historical Society- Wayne Sanford and Doug Clainin.

I am certain my uncle Tom was saying something funny here as everyone was laughing-- lots of great memories of Clay and the process of completing this book was shared this evening.

Thank you Mel for these photos.  I treasure them!