Project Life 2013

So, I haven't posted about Project Life since I think June. oops. But I have been keeping up with it. Well, except for the last month to two months. I have to finish up the album still. But I have started moving on to 2013 because I don't want to get behind while waiting to get motivated to finish 2012. 

I have done digital books through Shutterfly in the past but decided to try something new with the Becky Higgins Project Life system. My problem with digital in the past is although I completed a page a week, I never had a uniformity to the book and it was a little all over the place. So when I saw her system I loved the idea and decided to try something new. 

Below you will see my 12x12 Shutterfly book from 2011on the the left and my TWO albums of Project Life on the right. Once I realized it would take two albums to complete the year using the big 12x12 albums, I knew I could not do this every year. I just imagine myself handing my kids 40 or more of these huge albums when they are grown up. They would say what I would say, "What am I going to do with all of these?" I loved making these albums though because I could keep so much memorabilia in them. Everything I wanted to save from the year could be in one place, ticket stubs, kids drawings, cards from people, DVDs of the years home videos, etc. I love it for that reason, I just can't store all those albums. The Shutterfly books are much easier to store and display. So this year I am going back to digital. But I'm super happy to say I'm still using the Project Life system, because she made it all available digitally also. I used the Cobalt edition in 2012 and I will be using the Clementine digital edition in 2013. Plus she is coming out with a ton more products this year!

The size difference.

2011 vs. 2012

I love being able to display my books and look through them anytime.

I did really enjoy using this system and here are some of my pages from the second half of 2012.

Love being able to slip some tickets in the pockets.

I also loved being able to add room keys etc to the book.

Because I did love her system so much and she is coming out with a Childhood kit now. I've decided to use her products to make books specific to each of my kids. They can hold professional photos and mostly items from their school years. I'm hoping to fit birth through 12th grade into about 4 books. That will be much easier to pass on to the kids when they are grown then 40 books. And they will get books that are specifically about them not just about the whole family. Below is Hunter's book. He is in Kindergarten this year. I used her black signature album which she is no longer selling. (Frustrated because now I can't have all 4 albums match, but oh well.) She has great dividers for the years/grades.

I can easily add report cards, artwork, certificates and other goodies.

She also makes these great envelope pages and to save on space in the book, I've decided to put all the photos from a school year into a soft cover 8x8 Shutterfly book that I can just slip into the envelope page instead of several large photo pocket pages taking up lots of space. (I take tons of pictures.)

Here is the 8x8 Shutterfly book out of the envelope page...

Ok so on to 2013...

Here is my first week of digital Project Life. I love adding qr codes of the videos I make, that way as we flip through the book we can scan the code and see the video that goes with it. I used mostly the Clementine Project Life products and a Ali Edwards stamp and a couple other Designer Digital products (like the stitching). Very excited about 2013!

The only drawback to going digital is that I don't have the satisfaction of seeing my pages when they are finished in a book right away. I will wait until the end of the year and all pages are finished and upload them to Shutterfly's site to print. Plus, digital I have one cost at the end of the year instead of paying weekly to get photos printed. Either way the cost is probably close to the same. Either way you decide to use Project Life, use it! I think it is a great way to preserve your memories. 

Lime Chipotle Skirt Steak Tacos with Corn Relish

Ok so I made another recipe from the Costco cook book tonight. My husband loved it!

Here is the recipe:

Lime Chipotle Skirt Steak Tacos with Corn Relish

Juice and grated zest of 6 limes

1/4 cup honey

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1/4 cup adobo sauce

2 teaspoons ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

2 1/2 pounds skirt steak, cut into 6 pieces

12  5- to 6-inch corn tortillas

Corn Relish

12 green onions

4 ears of corn, husked

3 tablespoons olive oil, divided

Salt and pepper to taste

1 cup chopped fresh cilantro

2 teaspoons finely grated lime zest

2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

1 teaspoon chipotle chile powder

In a bowl, combine lime juice and zest, honey, oil, adobo sauce, cumin and pepper. Place steaks in a zip-lock bag and add marinade. Seal the bag and marinate in the refrigerator for 6-14 hours, turning occasionally.

Prepare the relish: Brush green onions and corn with 2 tablespoons oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Grill over medium-high heat until slightly charred, turning occasionally, about 2 minutes for onions and 7 minutes for corn. Cut corn kernels into a bowl. Add coarsely chopped green onions. Stir in cilantro, lime zest and juice, chipotle powder, 1 tablespoon oil, and salt and pepper.

Grill steaks over medium-high heat to an internal temperature of 145 degrees, about 5 minutes per side. Let rest for 5 minutes.

Place tortillas at the edge of the grill to warm, about 1 minute.

Arrange 2 warm tortillas on each plate. Thinly slice the steak across the grain. Divide the steak and juices among the tortillas. Spoon relish over each. Makes 6 servings.

I've never bought Adobo sauce before. This is all I could find that said "adobo".

The marinade.

This is actually flap steak from Costco. Not sure if it makes a difference.

I used frozen corn on the cob because I didn't see any at the store.

Finished Corn Relish

The finished tacos.

I'm not a huge fan of lime but they were good. I actually liked the taste of the relish before I added the lime and cilantro. But my husband loves lime and he really liked these tacos.

Steelhead with Strawberry Glaze

Well, I haven't posted anything for while, actually since June. I am still doing Project Life (only 4 weeks behind now). I'm hoping to do a post soon about my favorite pages over the past 5 months. Anyway I found out Costco gives away a free cookbook this past weekend and I have been reading through it and I'm excited to make some recipes out of it. This is the first one I tried and it turned out really good so I decided to post it.

I am definitely no chef but I'm learning and I love to find new recipes that are good. I do not like to eat the same thing over and over, and I need something fairly simple. Like I said, I'm no chef. Here is the recipe (and some pictures to go with it):

Steelhead with Strawberry Glaze

• 1 2-pound steelhead fillet
• Salt and pepper
• 1 cup chopped fresh strawberries
• 1/2 cup good balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup organic blue agave nectar
• 1 cup sliced fresh strawberries, for serving

Preheat oven to 425

Place steelhead, skin side down, on a lightly oiled baking sheet. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

While the oven is warming, combine chopped strawberries, vinegar and water in a saucepan. Cook over medium to medium-low heat until reduced by half. Puree the mixture. Return to the saucepan, add agave nectar and cook until reduced by a quarter. Remove from heat.

Place the steelhead in the oven and bake for about 10 minutes, or until the fish lifts easily away from the skin.

To serve, remove the skin and dark meat from the steelhead. Spoon the sauce over the fish and top with sliced strawberries. Make 4-6 servings.

I followed the recipe and I had way more than enough sauce. I could've made half and easily had enough. I also had to cook the fish a couple minutes longer. I made rice and asparagus to go with it. It was delicious! I loved the sweet flavor. I will definitely make it again.

Project Life 2012 | Week: Who Knows?

So I haven't posted in quite awhile. But never fear, I have not fallen behind on my project. I just haven't had the time or energy to post to the blog. We are almost halfway through the year and I have so enjoyed putting my pages together each week. I love being able to put everything important about each week in one spot. I can put movie tickets, receipts, greeting cards, notes, and movies all in one spot and I love that! The only bummer is I have already filled my 12x12 album and I'm going to need another one to finish out the year. I'm worried at this rate I won't have room to store all these albums in 20 years, but I so love it. Then I look at the Shutterfly book I made last year and it is so compact and easy to flip through and store. But, there are no tickets, cards, or movies in it. All that has to be stored somewhere else. I'm still not sure which I will do next year. Anyway, here is this week's Project Life and a few before that...

This week was pretty simple. I tried to take less of my normal pictures and switch it up a little.

Love being able to add movie tickets.

Took a picture of Hunter's tball bracket and photos then added the coin to the printed picture.

I LOVE how this spread turned out. I love the colors and the inserts. I just hole punched a DVD sleeve and popped in the video of our trip. One side is camping, the other is tball. Added a little tab from SMASH.

Back of the insert, and the journaling for it is the "It's Rally Time!" card.

This spread is just of one event. It was my sister's wedding. It took up a lot of room in my album but I love how it turned out.

Put a DVD of the wedding in this Design E that I cut in half.

Of course loved this spread of our vacation to California and Disneyland.

Added a baseball card plastic and put in little memorabilia and chipboards.

Wasn't my favorite spread but I like the Instagrams on it.

I really loved how this week turned out. Love the colors and the Design D switched it up and gave it a fun new look. The insert had a card from my sister-in-law and a DVD of Hunter's Tball Game.

Love the colors and Instagrams.

Added an initial to each journal card for Violet and Hunter. Love how Ali Edwards does this on her pages.

Insert with journal and warning.

We celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary this week. Hunter made this "card" drawing for us, and I loved it and had to include it this week.

Also added a Facebook screenshot from our posts to each other on our anniversary.

And that's it for now. Couldn't post all that I have missed. But that was the last couple months and I'm happy to say I have been keeping up with it and really enjoying it!