July In Review

This page was made using my July 2015 currently list.

I made a template so I can easily change the month, copy & paste my journalling, and add 6 photos.

Photo Workflow

I've had friends ask me to explain my photo workflow, so here goes...

I take 95% of my photos on my iPhone 6. 

If I think I'm going to use the photo in a scrapbook or share it to social media, I open it in PicTapGo to edit it. As of right now, this app is available just for iPhone. (There are several great photo editing apps available for Android.)

Photos can be cropped, if you'd like.

I often use the "auto color" filter and/or the "lights on" filter. Once you've added a filter, you can scroll down again and add another filter.

I like than I can adjust how much of the filter I want to use.

At this point I can save it to my camera roll.

{Do you see that "Instagram - Float" button? You can use that to post non-square photos to Instagram.}

Another option is to "Open In" LetterGlow to add digital stamps. I learned how to do this a few years ago, and I was happy to pass the tip on to Cathy Zielske. She made an awesome video tutorial on using LetterGlow, which you can watch here. 

Once I have my photo ready, I can share to social media, or I can upload to Dropbox. 

I upload my photos to Dropbox once per week, and I get my husband and son to do the same. When we sit down to watch TV, I get the photos selected and uploading. I have a folder for each month. 

At the end of the month, I hop on my computer and copy the photos from the Dropbox folder into a monthly folder on an external hard drive. 

I'm comfortable with keyboard short cuts, so I open the Dropbox folder that I want to copy from and 

1. select "ctrl + a" to select all the photos
2. hit "ctrl + c" to copy them
3. Open the folder on the hard drive that I want to copy them to
4. hit "ctrl + v" to paste

You can do the same things by right-clicking your mouse to copy and paste.

I also back up to a second external hard drive because I'm extra cautious. Once I have the files saved to the external drive, I delete them from my phone. 

The photos are nicely organized, so when it's time to work on Project Life, I simply go to the photo folder for that month. I also appreciate that Dropbox names your photos by the date they were taken, so that helps keep things organized.

Hope this is helpful!

Orlando Trip Scrapbook Pages

I am a digi-scrapper. The great thing about that is I can make a page for my son's album, and then make a few modifications to the journalling and save it again for our family album.

Once we were back from our trip to Florida, it didn't take long to document our travels:

For the map card, I added a few layers: a PNG of a plane, a geotag over Orlando, and a scan of the boarding pass. I liked how the route was mapped out on this page by Scrappy Jedi, so I adapted it for digital, and I saw the idea for adding the boarding pass here.

The "By the Numbers" was inspired by this page by Gluestickgirl.

{8.5x11 Insert - front & back}

How we told our son we were going to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter

Scans of park maps

{6x12 Insert}

Map of spell locations

{5x7 Insert - front & back}

{5x7 Insert}

Postcard sent from Owl Post

{6x12 Insert - front & back}

I measured the size of the candy packaging and left space. Then I printed a 12x12, cut it in half and added candy packages.

{8x10 Insert - front}

I really wish there was a 6x8 horizontal page protector available as almost all the photos we get at tourist locations are this size. There is a postcard from Clearwater Aquarium on the back.

See our travel tips for visiting The Wizarding World of Harry Potter here.

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Digital Products Used:

Title Page

Facts About the Trip Card - Becky Higgins Wellington Edition Childhood Mini Kit

So Much Fun Card - Becky Higgins Wellington Edition Childhood Mini Kit (re-coloured)

USA Map Card - Pink Trike Design Let's Go Freebie

Simpsons Layout

Bring on the Awesome Word Art - Ali Edwards Find Joy Brushes & Stamps

Awesome Day Card - Becky Higgins Teen Boy Themed Cards

Heart This Arrow - I've looked through my digital stash and can't find where this is from. I may have made it, but if you know where it's from, please comment.

Hogsmeade Layout

Love This Brush & Overlay - A Vegas Girl at Heart

Vacation | Summer Life Word Art - Cathy Zielske Summer Life No. 1 Brushes & Stamps

Baseball Game Layout

Baseball Card - Becky Higgins Baseball Themed Cards

Good Eats Card - Anika at allerliebsteanika Journaling Card Freebie

End Page

True Story Card - Elise Joy Blaha Cripe (designer) Becky Higgins Seafoam Edition

Word Collage Card - Becky Higgins Cinnamon Edition (re-coloured)

Note Paper Card - Becky Higgins Wellington Edition Childhood Mini Kit (re-coloured)

Quote Card - Becky Higgins Teen Boy Themed Cards

Tips for The Wizarding World of Harry Potter

We are HUGE Harry Potter fans in our house. 

In the summer of 2014, we surprised our son with a trip to Universal in Orlando. 

We managed to get a great deal on a vacation package (flights, hotel, and car rental) but we had to fly out of Bismarck, North Dakota. We told Nigel that we were going to Bismarck for a little bit of shopping and water-sliding. About an hour into our drive, we gave him a riddle to solve, and he was thrilled when the answer revealed that we were going to "Hogwarts". 

I found the idea on Pinterest and tried to find the original post to link here, but was unsuccessful. 

We bought 4-Day park hopper tickets. 

• It was the perfect amount of time for us as it allowed us to spend lots of time in both Harry Potter sections of the parks. 

• We probably could have seen most of both parks in 3 days, but we enjoyed not feeling rushed. We were also travelling with one 11-year-old child, not younger children and not multiple children.  

• We also had lots of time for the rest of Universal Orlando and Islands of Adventure. 

• The nice thing about the 4-Day ticket is that you don't have to go for consecutive days. We went for a couple of days, but we also had days of rest and other activities in Orlando before returning for our other two days.

• The park-hopper option allowed us to take Hogwart's Express between the two parks.

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter includes two parks: Hogsmeade (Islands of Adventure) and Diagon Alley (Universal Studios Florida).

Diagon Alley

• We went to Diagon Alley first. We figured that, similar to Harry Potter, we would go pick up a wand and wander around this magical section of London before taking Hogwarts express to Hogsmeade.

• The Night Bus is located in front of the London façade. It's worth lining up for a chat with the driver and Dre, the shrunken head.

• Also, make sure to watch the windows in London because someone might peak out at you.

• There was a payphone in the London section that was supposed to call the Ministry of Magic, but someone had broken it before our visit. I'm assuming they've fixed that by now. 

• Once you enter Diagon Alley, it's like the rest of the park disappears and you've been transported to another world. It's truly magical.

• We went to Ollivander's and picked up an interactive wand which allowed our son to "cast spells" throughout Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade. The wand comes with a map, but if you hold your map under the black lights in Knockturn Alley, a few more spell locations are revealed. 

• If you look at the ground in front of the spell location, you will find instructions on how to move the wand.

• Knockturn Alley is dark and cool, so it's a great place to go to cool off (and also a place to go if it starts to rain).

• The dragon on top of Gringott's breathes fire. Make sure you experience that at least once. We saw it during the day, but it was especially splendid at night.

• The Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringott's Ride was amazing, but since we were there the month that Diagon Alley opened, the lines for this ride were very long, so we rode it only once.

• You must put all of your loose items (purses, bags, etc). in lockers before you ride. The lockers are free, but they are also small.

• Even though the lines are long, there is much to see as you walk through the bank. The animatronic goblins are incredibly life-like and full of character.

• In fact, all of Diagon Alley is a feast for the eyes. Take the time to look around at the store windows, signs, advertising, etc. There is excellent attention to detail.

• Make sure to have some butterbeer when you're there. It comes in two forms: frozen and regular. I preferred frozen, but my husband preferred regular butterbeer. 

• While you can get butterbeer at The Leaky Cauldron, we found it to be refreshing in the mid-afternoon heat. We stopped in at the Fountain of Fair Fortune in Horizont Alley.

• There is also butterbeer flavoured ice cream at Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour.

• We ate at The Leaky Cauldron. They serve British pub fare, and we enjoyed it, but our son is a foodie who loves to eat all kinds of food. If you have picky eaters, you may want to eat elsewhere in the park.

• We asked for Coke to drink and were informed that they do not serve Muggle drinks, so we ordered some pumpkin juice and lemonade. We were not fans of the pumpkin juice at all, but the lemonade was delicious.

Hogwarts Express

• The train stations have great attention to detail. 

• When walking through Platform 9 3/4, you can watch people walk "into" the wall. If you want a photo of this, someone from your party needs to hang back to snap the photo.

• Once on the train, images are projected on the door and window. There are different experiences each way, so make sure to ride Hogwart's Express in both directions.

Hogsmeade

• Hogwarts is impressive, both inside and out, and the Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey ride is awesome. We rode it a couple of times. Similar to the Gringotts ride, you need to put loose items in a locker.

• The Flight of the Hippogriff is a smaller roller-coaster that was a perfect fit for my then 11-year-old son. You also get a great view of Hagrid's hut while in line, and a spectacular view of Hogwarts.

• There is a post office that post-marks your mail with Owl Post. Our son sent post cards to friends, but he also sent one home (to our cat) so that he would have the Owl Post postmark for his scrapbook.

• We purchased Owl Post stamps, but they are US postage. Keep in mind, if you are mailing postcards outside of the US, you will need to add additional postage. Luckily we were there for more than one day, and we were able to purchase postage at a post office and return to mail them at Owl Post when we returned to the park.

• Be sure to visit Honeydukes. They have packaged candy as well as freshly baked goods and fudge. We loved the Fizzing Whizbees.

Other Tips:

• We travelled in July. Florida in July is VERY hot & humid. That's probably why our vacation was such a good deal!

• It was also storm season. We knew to expect a storm each afternoon, so we watched the skies and planned accordingly. We made sure that we were at an indoor ride or at a restaurant when the storm hit. For safety, they shut down outdoor rides during storms, so we always planned to ride those rides in the morning or evening.

• I wouldn't go back to Florida during the summer months, but spring or fall would be a great time to return - and we certainly want to visit Diagon Alley again!

• Take a re-usable water bottle with you as we were able to get free ice water at many of the stands throughout the park. 

• We splurged for preferred parking. After long days of walking in the Florida heat, we were glad to have a shorter walk to our air conditioned vehicle!

To see my scrapbook layouts from this trip click here.

Us:The Abridged Version Album

Last fall, I took Cathy Zielske's Me: The Abridged Version class. I had taken my brainstorming sheet with me on a road trip thinking that I could use the time in the car to come up with ideas. I ended up asking my husband and son for help. My son asked, "Can I do this too?" Of course he could. What a great record of his personality and interests! Next thing I knew, my husband had decided that he'd complete the project as well.

Before we arrived at our destination, all three of us had brainstormed words for each letter of the alphabet. I worked on journalling for my list of words and started gathering photographs. I typed and sent my son his list of words so that he could journal on his iPad, and I left my husband responsible for his own words and photos. 

I love spreadsheets/tables and often work on my computer, phone, or iPad, so I transferred my list of words, cross references, and honourable mentions to a Google doc. That way I was able to copy and paste right onto the journal cards since I was completing the album digitally. 

I completed the cover page for our album.

I also created a colour scheme for each of us. 

Before Christmas, I had put together most of my pages, but I didn't have anything for my husband or son. Once summer hit, I realized that we had neglected this album. After some gentle nagging, my husband has now finished his journalling, and my son is 2/3 done. I hope that we can find the time to finish this album off this summer.

We're going to print a photo book including all three of us, and I'm going to print an 8x8 photo book of my son's pages for him to keep. I'm so glad that I chose to participate in Cathy's class. It will be an amazing record of who we are right now.

Currently - July 2015

Reading Girl on a Train. I know I’m late to this one, but the irony of being an English teacher is that I’m so exhausted at the end of the day that I don’t read very much during the school year. It’s summer though, so I have big plans and a stack of books.

Watching True Detective and The Brink on HBO and The Fosters on Netflix. I’m also watching lots of movies at the theatre: Inside Out, Spy, Minions, and Ant Man (which comes out this weekend). 

Image from here.

Drinking a whole lot of coffee. 

Planning our trip to Los Angeles. I think we’re pretty much ready in terms of planning. Now I just need to pack.

Listening to Damien Rice’s newest album on repeat. I can’t wait to see him and Iron & Wine at Red Rocks Amphitheatre later this summer.

Cuddling the cat a whole lot. She loves that we’re on vacation and around the house for snuggles all day long. It affects my productivity though.

Enjoying the late night movies and reading with Nigel.

What are you doing this July?



This post was inspired by Kristin Tweedale's Currently List and Cathy Zielske's Present Participle posts. I plan to turn my monthly posts into a one-page layout for my Project Life album. 

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Digital stamp used: Cathy Zielske's Summer Life No. 1