project life weeks 40 and 41.

...showing again that when things are quiet here on the blog, it usually means there's a lot going on in my real life. truly grateful for that time on tuesday to map out these last two weeks of 2012 (because I am so itching to get started on 2013!) and then time yesterday evening to put it all together (and while I'm at it - huge thanks to marc for being patient with leftovers so many nights in a row - I do think tonight will be it and we'll have "new" food tomorrow!)

week 40 covered december 16 - 22. most of the photos have already shown up here, but the extra stuff, what's on that right-hand side, is new.

katie sent me those three postcards - and I loved using the new "G" page protector to showcase them front and back. it was also fun to include the front and back of the super-cute tags katie made and used (top row, center). each of her gifts included one of those tags, tied with bakers twine or adhered with washi tape.  I punched a hole in the page protector and tied the bakers twine through the hook to hold it in place.

and yes, I finally learned how to use the smudge tool in photoshop - if anyone wants my address, I'm happy to share it - just send me an email!

onto week 41, which included ... a lot. I ended up with three 12x12 spreads. 

this is just december 23!

we hosted the annual family gathering, which always includes photos. I was really pleased with the ones we had this year and love that this format accommodated my favorites.

and the rest of the year....

the rest of the year came together once I knew what photos I had and what stories I wanted to tell. I was careful to save ephemera from the whole week so I'd have plenty to work with. two wine labels, a piece of notepaper from maggiano's, church bulletins, and gift tags from christmas morning. I only ended up using one of the gift tags, but it was the most special gift. so it's perfect.

from the first year I did Journal Your Christmas (2007, with Shimelle Laine) I've tried to include a bit of how we wrap gifts in each album. this year was really simple - I have a huge roll of brown packing paper leftover (and bonus points that marc smiled when he found out I was using it instead of buying new!) - I added a glitter snowflake (bought a box of 20 at target for $5) and stamped "merry merry" on shipping tags. ...I still have a huge roll of brown packing paper and lots of shipping tags and I'm finding glitter in the oddest places...

...and that wrapped up the last week and my 2012 album. I had an empty page protector to fill and found this terrific idea on pinterest. a few hours and many google searches for free clipart later:

I saved each of these cards as a template to use for future albums. the counts were kind of surprising to me - I expected more running and finished objects (and maybe a few less self portraits); maybe I wasn't consistent about how I counted. oh well. I don't think it really matters. it's still fun.

...and it's done!