Gettin' By

Project Life: Week 11 (The post where I make lots of excuses for not blogging.)

Yes, I am still plugging away at Project Life. And I had good intentions to post this latest spread over the weekend. But all these other activities like a hot air balloon launch, 12-mile run, town fair, and backyard barbeque popped up and they sounded like more fun than blogging Project Life so I opted to do those instead. Though I guess I should clarify that the 12-mile run was not really fun at all. In fact, it kinda sucked.

But now it's Wednesday and I'm back. Don't ask me what happened to Monday and Tuesday. Because when it's the last week of school, and you're trying to make teacher gifts, attend end-of-year festivities, pack your kids (and dog!) for a trip to Nana's, pack yourself for a Memorial Day weekend wedding trip, and your husband is out of town...well, days tend to disappear rapidly. Along with much of your sanity.

But enough about me and my (lack of) sanity! On with PROJECT LIFE! Here's what I've got for Week 11. And let's just try to ignore the elephant in the room marching around carrying a sign that says  "YOU ARE NOW ONLY 10 WEEKS BEHIND!" Stupid elephant.

S U P P L I E S :

Most of the supplies were leftovers from my JBS Mercantile kits, and I used a lot of the Echo Park goodies that were in the Project Kit this month. I like using kit scraps for these spreads, because everything is already coordinated and I spend less time searching my stash for matching items. The less thinking I have to do, the better!

This week included Mike's birthday, so I added an 8.5 x 11 insert with photos from that celebration and included part of a birthday card in the center square:

I also included an insert to hold additional birthday cards and memorabilia. I cut an 8.5 x 11 page protector in half and decorated the top edge with border stickers. I added a stamped circle tag and camera sticker and it nicely holds things that didn't fit on the other pages:

And now I'm off to finish those teacher gifts! Look for a post on these later this week (if I don't get distracted, of course!)

Project Life: Week 10

From my frequency blogging about this topic, it might appear that I've ceased to continue the undertaking that is Project Life.  But no. I am still plugging away at this album, and documenting the weeks as I have the time.  No stress, no fuss.

Those of you that read regularly are now wondering what has happened to the typically high-strung-freak-out-and-lose-your-shit-in-the-middle-of-the-kitchen-floor-stress-case you call Lisa, huh?  Let's just say I'm typing this post after 5 pm, which can only mean there's a glass of wine within reach. Oooohhhhhmmmmmmm....better than yoga!

But seriously, I'm not letting the fact that I've fallen behind worry me too much.  I'm still taking photos and collecting memoribilia, and these spreads don't take too long for me to create. It will all make it into the album. Eventually. And if not? Well, there's always wine!

 So here's what I've got for Week 10:

S U P P L I E S :

Since a majority of this week was spent on The Big Spring Clean, the whole center row of photos reflects that.  The large white titles were cut on my Silhouette, and are my own designs. (I traced my handwriting in Illustrator and turned it into outlines to cut.)  If you'd like the .svg files, just click right here to download them.

And with that, I'm off to enjoy Happy Hour!

Give-It-Away Thursday: Freckled Fawn

I recently discovered the delightful little online shop Freckled Fawn and their lovely collection of ribbons, lace, doilies, and assorted trimmings. And if you're a fan of washi tape, you need to check out their unique designs...from chevrons to polka dots, florals to stripes, they offer whimsical and colorful tapes you won't find anywhere else.  I used their Chevron Washi Tape in my latest Project Life Spread:

S U P P L I E S : The washi tape was a perfect way to adorn my layout with simple, graphic flair. I added in a few pops of green and orange to complement my photos and went all retro with vellum journaling blocks.

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So how would you like to win a little shopping spree at Freckled Fawn for yourself? They are generously offering a $10 gift certificate to one of my readers.  If you'd like to be entered to win it, just leave me a comment below telling me your favorite Freckled Fawn product and how you'd use it. **

Comments will stay open until Monday morning, March 19, when I'll post the lucky winner below. Enjoy your Thursday, my dearies!

 

**Please be sure to leave a contact email in your comment if you are not signed in to Typepad.  Comments will remain open until the morning of March 19 (whenever I drag my butt out of bed, make coffee, and log on to Typepad) and the winner will be randomly drawn from the comments, announced at the bottom of this post, and contacted via email (if possible). Giveaway is open to everyone - internationals included! And that concludes the fine print. Yahoo!

UPDATED WITH WINNER:  Congrats to Erin T who is the winner of the $10 gift certificate! Be sure and stop by this Thursday for another great giveaway!

Project Life: Week 6 & 7

Catching up on Project Life with a double-week post today. And to keep this project rolling along, I think you'll notice some simplifying that went on in the design. I also discovered the world of Project Life printables available on Pinterest, which made these weeks come together quite nicely.

So up first is Week 6, a single-page layout that uses mostly Instagram photos from my phone.  Since Instagrams are square, I filled the page protector (which normally has 8 pockets for 3x3 photos and 1 pocket for a 12 x 6) with all 3x3 squares.  I alternated photos, screenshots and memorabilia, along with a printable + Thickers for my date card. After labeling each photo with mini-number stickers, I typed out a corresponding journaling card to describe each of the photos. Note: The links for the free printable cards are in the supply list below! I did modify the files in Photoshop a bit to fit my squares:

S U P P L I E S :

Since Week 7 included Valentine's Day, I dedicated a whole page to it. The top portion of this spread contains a collage of Valentine's cards the kids got from their classmates, and I adhered the heart + date in the middle, right on top of the page protector:

S U P P L I E S :

For the rest of Week 7, I went with a two-page spread and used several of the free quote cards from Smitha Katti as fillers.  Inspired by the simple, colorful cards, I create a few of my own using the same style fonts (including one for Riely's sparkly shoe photo!) and styled my journaling block in a similar way as well:

S U P P L I E S :

 

I actually laid this whole spread out digitally and printed everything on photo paper, adding in a tiny bit of pink patterned paper and the ski lift ticket before sliding it all into the page protector. Once again, I ignored the pocket sizes of the sleeves, and fit everything into twelve 3 x 4 blocks. Not being locked into a certain photo size/orientation is proving to be very effective in helping me get these weeks documented.

So how is your Project Life moving along? Link me up to your pages - I'd love to see your progress, too!

 

Project Life: Week 5

I'm a bit behind with posting this week, but Project Life is still running along pretty smoothly. The family has gotten very involved, collecting things for me to include in the album, and both Mike and Hayden are snapping photos for me. Which means (1) I don't necessarily have take photos everyday; and (2) I end up actually being in some of the pictures!

For the week of Jan. 29 - Feb. 4, I ended up doing a two-page spread with a 8.5 x 11 insert:

S U P P L I E S :
This week I pretty much used whatever happened to be laying on my desk at the time, which means there's not a whole lot of matchy-matchy going on here. And there's a small OCD part of my brain that is freaking out about this, but I'm trying to convince it to shut up. After all, the week is documented and it's done.

It includes the elaborate ceremony the kids performed Thursday night in hopes of getting a snow day Friday (it worked!). And just in case you want to try it, it apparently involves wearing your pjs backwards and inside-out, flushing an ice cube down the toilet, and sleeping with a spoon under your pilllow.

I also included a coaster from date night in one of the slots (I cut it down to fit):

I was lacking some photos for the last page, so I got creative filling the center section. I used a screen shot from the website of the restaurant we ate at, which included some cool photos of food and drinks and the "Be Happy" phrase which perfectly suited our night:

I filled the rest of the empty space with a patchwork of patterned paper and a square cut from a sticker sheet, stitching them together and topping them off with an Ormolu badge:

And that's about it...another week is in the books!

Project Life: Week 4

I meant to post my PL project yesterday and got so busy making gumbo for Super Bowl (and drinking wine WHILE making gumbo) that it just didn't happen. But there was a very large pot of yumminess as a result, and it was the perfect accompaniment to a great game, stellar commercials and a pretty cool half-time performance by Madonna. But, uh, her arms still scare me.

Anyway, last week's Project Life proved to be a bit of a challenge because when I sat down to put it together, I realized I had a whopping TWO photos from last week.  Last week was hectic - I was prepping for CHA, Hayden had an extraordinary amount of homework, and we were generally preoccupied with more important things than taking pictures.

But I decided to used the lack of photos as an opportunity to feature other snippets of life - emails, packaging, tickets, receipts. And I filled in some of the spaces by taking photos of stuff we completed this week (booth projects for CHA, a first-draft of a writing assignment.)

S U P P L I E S :

I used several bold patterned papers from my stash and to balance them out, I added in liberal doses of kraft as my neutral.  To spice up the kraft a bit, I pulled out my recently neglected stamp drawer and had a little fun stamping  numbers, text, and background designs with brown ink:

I topped one of the kraft squares with screen shots of emails that I reduced and printed out, another one holds a receipt from (where else?) the liquor store!

The shot of Hayden's homework was dropped onto a digital paper in Photoshop before I printed it out, which helps it coordinate with the rest of the spread.

So even though the week isn't photo-heavy, I had fun getting creative with other bits and pieces that give a glimpse into our life. Next week will feature my CHA trip, so lack of photos definitely won't be an issue!

Enjoy your Monday!

Project Life: Week 3

In the rush before CHA, I neglected to post my Project Life for last week, despite the fact that I had gotten it done (go me!). Today I'm home and playing catch up on blog posting, amongst other things, and thought I'd share it now.

This was the first two-page spread of the year, and I loved having the extra room.  I used some really old Scenic Route birthday papers (gosh I still love their lines!) along with the Silhouette-cut date block. For the photo of Hayden blowing out his candles, I took up two photo sleeves with an enlargement printed 6 x 8 (and split down the middle):

Because it was Hayden's birthday week I added a 8.5 x 11 sleeve to hold all the extra shots I had taken.  The journaling included a quick recap of his party, along with his top 5 memories of the day.

S U P P L I E S :

And with that, I'm off to tackle my inbox - I'll be back soon with a CHA-recap.  Hope your Wednesday is wonderful!

Project Life: Week 2

Well, I'm wrapping up the second week of Project Life and the last of my single-page weeks. This layout employs a minimalistic approach, as I didn't have a lot of photos and didn't feel they required a whole lot of journaling. But I still think it provides a nice snapshot of our week:

 S U P P L I E S :

This week I switched things up a bit, using a different style page protector with a 4 x 12 slot across the top and four 4 x 6 slots.  Instead of using 4 x 6 photos, though, I printed most of mine at 4 x 3, allowing me to fit two in each pocket.  They are bit wobbly right now, but I plan on adhering them to the back of the photos that will be slipped in the opposite side next week.

Like I mentioned before, one of my favorite parts of this project is revisiting my stash for forgotten supplies. I have been hoarding this striped paper from KI Memories forever (they do the BEST stripes, don't they?!!)  and decided it was high time to put this colorful pattern to use. I layered Days of the Week tags from Elle's Studio over it and topped it off with a red button.

Hayden brought home a stellar book report grade this week so I snapped a photo of it to include. I cropped and reduced it to 4 x 2 to fit in with the other photos. The pennant and wooden "A" were adhered on top.

To keep with my theme of exterior embellishments, I added a few pennants from Elle's to the pockets, stapling them with a mini attacher through the front of the pocket.

So that's week two for you! Because I didn't have a lot of free time for this week's spread, it had to be quick and easy and simple. Some weeks are just gonna be like that - providing more of an "overview" than lots of detailed info. And, of course, some weeks are going to be more complex.  I'm already looking ahead to next week, as it includes Hayden's birthday celebration and will have a lot more photos and stories to tell. Until then - happy scrapping and Project Life-ing!

Project Life: Week 1

It's official - the first week of Project Life is in the books!  And I'm a little bit giddy about it (so prepare for overuse of exclamation points!!!!) Since I'm usually working with kits or assigned product, it's been a long time since I've actually dug through my stash to find items to use on the page. And I've forgotten what fun it is. It really was a joy to create a page with absolutely no limitations or parameters. Here's how it turned out:

S U P P L I E S :

While I've planned to have most weeks take up a two-page spread, I'm giving myself permission to do a single pagers these first two weeks. I think the smaller canvas will make it less intimidating and get me rolling, at which point I'll move to the larger format.

Besides the photos (which I've already determined I need to take more of!), I've included journaling layered over my large photo on vellum (rockin' it old school!), movie tickets, and a sweet note I found in one of Riely's papers:

I ended up adhering a few of the embellishments on the exterior of the pockets because I liked the tactile element they added. Having everything behind the plastic protectors seemed a bit sterile to me. The stitching on this heart was kind of difficult as I didn't want to go through the other side of the page protector, so I had to maneuver my needle inside the tight space of the pocket and it ended up a bit wonky. Plus it's really hard to do straight stitching after a few glasses of Pinot Grigio.

One of the challenges I foresee with this project is letting go of my OCD tendencies to have everything in the album perfectly coordinate and match. I am planning to keep the date die cuts consistent (though I may cut them out of different colored cardstock) but everything else will be a hodge podge of whatever strikes my fancy that particular week. I figure it will be a more accurate reflection of our lives if everything is just a bit mis-matched. Er, kind of like my socks today.

I'm also not sure I will always include this much journaling. I have a feeling some weeks will require a quicker format like lists or simple labels - and I think that's OK.  Like I said, I hate to put too many constraints on the project as its completion is more important to me than the actual aesthetics.

So how did your first week go? Any challenges or roadblocks you encountered? Do you have pages to share? And am I the only one wearing mismatched socks??

 

Kickin' Off Project Life

One of my goals for 2012 was get back to the basics of scrapbooking - to rediscover the joy that I initially found in this hobby.  I've always gravitated toward documenting the smaller moments in our lives - the funny quips...the tender moments...the simple pleasures.  For me, they are more fun to scrapbook than the bigger events like birthdays or holidays, simply because there is no preconceived idea as to how these smaller (though no less significant) milestones should be scrapped. I don't feel limited to certain products or techniques and it's on these pages that I find myself being more creative, and innovative.  And - bonus! - I am ultimately more satisfied with the pages that I create.

Which is why I think Project Life will be a great fit for me.  It's all about documenting the simple, everyday things that make up our lives.  It's the photos, the memorabilia, the to-do lists, the homework...the receipts, the tickets, the love notes, the random doodles. Even before I started scrapbooking, I was collecting these items - sometimes gluing them into photo albums and sometimes just storing them in shoeboxes to reminisce over one day.  But now, I'll be able to collect them in one album that highlights each week of the year.

To keep my project as flexible as possible, I'm planning on using a variety of We R Memory Keepers divided page protectors (in both 12 x 12 and 8.5 x 11 sizes) and will house them in an American Crafts Modern Album to match the rest of the albums already in my arsenal. I'm not limiting myself to any particular line of products, but rather hope to put a slight dent in my stash by using anything and everything that I already have.

I've put together a title page for the album, using an enlarged 6 x 12 photo for the center and filling the other squares with patterned paper and die cuts I created on my Silhouette.  The Jack Kerouac quote "Be in love with your life" that I've included is sort of my mantra for 2012 and I love that I'll see it every time I work on this album.

S U P P L I E S :

I'll likely be posting my progress on this project on the weekends, and hope to keep myself accountable for its completion that way.  If you are particpating in Project Life too, please share your album link  - I'd love to see your take and hear your thoughts!

And with that, I'm off to create my first weekly spread for the project. There's a fire in the fireplace, it's beginning to snow, and I can't think of better way to spend rest of this Saturday!