..:: project life : week 14 ::..

Week 14 left

Lots of black, white, and red this week!  It was a rough week -- including Bea home sick and my coffee maker breaking!  Some more tragic things too.  It's all in there.  The card that says "status" is where I wrote 10 awesome things to remember, so that I could try to forget the not so awesome!  It was actually a status message of mine on Facebook, so I added it here as well.

Week 14 right

The "hello sunshine" is stapled to a piece of clear acetate, and so is the partial card.

Week 14 spread

And there it is. Week 14.  No inserts, lots of content though.  I love this project!

Thanks for stopping by!  See you again, soon!

..:: project life : week 13 ::..

Week 13 left

The colors in this whole spread were inspired by the polkadot 3x4 card that you see above.  I got this in a SwagBag from Paper Issues and loved it immediately!  I looked through my PL cards to find others that could carry the colors throughout the two page spread and inserts.  This week TWO inserts were required -- including some mud-inspired artwork by B.  I love this project!

Week 13 spread with insert #1

The first insert houses 5 photos and a journaling spot (see where it says, "Yes" that's the insert).  This was all about going to my folks house and decorating an egg tree with Grandma!

Week 13  spread with insert #2 (and back of insert 1)

Above you can see the other 3 photos for insert 1, and the mud masterpiece that my daughter did during "worm day" at preschool.  I love including this stuff!

Week 13 (back of insert)

I enlarged a photo from "worm day" and added it on the back of the mud art work.

Week 13 right

My bank card was hacked on April Fool's day!  NO FOOLIN'! Ugh.  But it was documented.

Week 13 Panoramic Play

See where it says "lift"?  My Soul Mate was playing around with the panoramic feature on our iPhones and I had to include it in this week's spread.  Fun!

Also, I had some scrapping time with my sister-in-law this week!  Awesome!  Love it when that happens!

Thanks for stopping by, come back soon!

..:: project life : week 12 ::..

Still plugging away! I do love this project.  This week was part of my Spring Break week.  There is an insert: there were lots of stories!

Week 12 spread with insert

This week:

• My One True Love and I got to spend some alone time together being goofy eating out and drinking adult beverages during the day!
• We also bought some goofy "presents" for B., including the Frozen movie (came out on BluRay this week).
• We became obsessed with Breaking Bad.
• It was warm enough to go on our first park visit!

Week 12 right

Week 12 spread with back of insert

Also this week:

• We visited Urgent Care for a cut on B.'s finger (all was fine)!
• The iPad that we took to Urgent Care didn't return home with us (stolen!)

Week 12 right

And finally this week:

• It was March Madness week (I don't really dig basketball, but we went to a bar to watch it anyway).
• Batman (girl) made an appearance. 
• When we returned to school, there was a dusting of snow.
• It was also Iowa Assessments for students (blah).
• Early in the week light jackets and parks, later in the week heavy coats and snow!

Wow!  Full week!  Documented!  Love this project!

Also, I love Scrapbook Circle (but I bet you knew that)!  The great Melissa Mann lifted me -- awesome sauce -- check it out here!

Thanks for stopping by!

..:: project life : week 11 ::..

I've been pretty good at keeping up with Project Life this year -- I've recorded our memories and organized our photos.  I've even gotten the photos printed, added to the book, journaled and embellished! I'm mostly caught up. But I have failed as a blogger and I have not shared since week 10!  YIKES!  My plan is to share week 11 today, and continue to share more frequently until I'm caught up!  So…here goes!

week 11 full spread

week 11 left

I got a bit fancy this week and used a stitching template by Amy Tangerine to highlight "March" and the dates this week's spread covers.

week 11 right

That green eggs & ham card is actually a flip up -- I love doing these because there is so much room for journaling underneath.

flip up

The insert this week is all about Dr. Seuss!   They were celebrating his birthday at preschool, so B. brought home this cute Cat in the Hat paper plate art.  It fit almost perfectly in a 6x12 page protector (I had to cut little inserts on both sides for the little ears to pock through!

week 11 insert

week 11 insert back

I just stapled the Cat in the page protector without backing it with paper because I wanted to be able to see her signature! I added a little green circle, and then a 3x4 card for the journaling on the back.

Lots of green this week for St. Patrick's day! (yes, that was a long time ago!)

Thanks for stopping by!

:: project life notebook ::

In December I shared this post, and the notebook that I would try out for the first few months of 2014.  This is my finding:

I think it would be difficult for me to do this whole project, without it!

Since the first planner went only through April, I've made my second.  The inside looks very similar to my first one -- and I used  Traci Reed's template again --  so I'll just share how I did the cover! I am super happy with it!

It all started with a bunch of random washi tape on white card stock:

You know when you are working on a project using washi tape, and there are parts that aren't used -- like you grab too much off the roll, or you change your mind or whatever?  Well, if I remember, I stick it on card stock.  When I have enough, I seal it with Matte Medium or Mod Podge or something similar (I use this).  For this project,  I used my Silhouette Cameo to cut out some butterflies from this paper for my flowers.

To prep my planner, I used Matte Multi-Medium to adhere some old piano music to my covers for a background (I used a heavy chipboard for my covers). Then I went over the music with some gesso, mostly to make it a bit more subtle. I used some orange, red, and yellow tissue paper on paper torn out of a book (adhered with more Matte Medium) for the vase. I drew some lines for the "stems" and then added the butterfly flowers  ALL of that was applied to the background with more matte multi-medium to seal it all.  I went back and outlined it all with a black pen, and then distressed the edges of the book with some brown ink (StazOn) and my Tim Holtz blending tool. This was so much fun to make.  I love it when you make something and it turns out pretty much like the vision in your head!

I am in the middle of LOAD (LayOut A Day) and playing catch up with project life (I am pretty much done through April, but very behind with my sharing!). This time of year is so busy at work, so I'll only be sharing here now and again. Then I hope to be able to share more regularly again this summer!  Eighteen school days left!  :-)

I am using LOAD to work on Bea's first year of life.  Before May I had only one page of her first year!  YIKES! Here are a few sneaky sneaks.  I will share the full layouts soon!

..:: project life : week 10 ::.. (with video)

This is my first attempt at creating a process video. The most difficult part : finding a time without distractions that is also a time that it's still light outside!  :-)




Please let me know in the comments if you have any questions, or if there is something specific that you would like to see in future videos. This was kinda fun.  As long as it remains fun, I will keep making them here and there.  :-)

Week 10 Spread

Week 10 left

Week 10 Right

Thanks for stopping by!

Here are a few video related links:
I blogged here about the journal that I made to keep track of stuff for PL.
I used this app to create a collage on my phone.
March Studio Calico Project Life kit is here.
Cathy Zielske 'spring forward' freebie found here.
Seafoam Core Kit can be found here.
Strawberry Core Kit can be found here.
My post about making my own enamel dots can be found here. 

..:: project life : week 9 ::..

week 9

For week nine,  I took another break from the Studio Calico kit and used cards mostly from the Kiwi Core Kit (Becky Higgins).  I love this kit! So many fun colors! Isn't that heart card to die for??

week 9 left

I chose to use a photo for my "title card" this week, and then added the dates on a 3x4 card below. The photo was taken during one of our many coloring sessions. ;-)  Bea was sick, but not really sick, and home from school with Daddy one day this week. I snapped a photo of them on the couch just before I left for work. I like that I was able to get this story in the book. One of the many reasons I love PL is getting those little everyday stories down. Bea (or whomever reads this in the future) will know so much about our everyday lives! The Oscars were this week -- we didn't really watch it, but I thought I should document Ellen's "most tweeted selfie" from that night -- it was in my FB and Twitter feeds over and over…

Spring cleaning at work and a Pampered Chef party were also documented this week!

dates

week 9 right

On the right side, more coloring, wii yoga (notice the QR code - it links to a video of her doing yoga), building, and playing games. I am so lucky that I get to see Brycen on a regular basis, I love that he is in this album so often!  Happy mail from Elise Blaha Cripe arrived this week so I stuck her card on a black and white 3x4 card. Two of these cards have flip ups (see below).

peek a boo

OK, so, there are mistakes in the card above. I fixed them. Just too lazy to retake the photo. ;-)

peek a boo

This is one of my favorite photos/cards. I took a 3x4 card that just said him & her and I cut it up, put it over the TV, and then added another section for the sub heading. I don't know why, I just like it! (I also like that the beanie baby is playing). I used parts of that same cut up card on a couple of photos on the other side of the spread to help tie the page together.

Thanks for visiting! I'm thinking about working on a process video.  Let me know if this might be something that would be interesting to you!

See you soon with week 10!

..:: project life : week 8 ::..

week 8 spread

Have I mentioned lately that I love this project? This week is all about the weather (again), food, My One True Love, and family visitors. The February Studio Calico project life kit was not my favorite (but that's about the only month I can say that -- normally I love every part of the kits). So, I decided to break into some of the core kits, mini kits and theme packs that I've purchased recently (and I've purchased quite a few).  This week I settled on the Girl Theme Pack (Becky Higgins).

week 8 left

This week we had a date night and my wine spill looked like a heart.  :-)  We also ate some yummy food at home -- so I journeled about how much I love spending time with my One True Love, at home or out.  I love that "Love you more" card!  Perfect for this story!

I also purchased a bunch of the new Amy Tangerine Plus One Collection (from Paper Issues) and I put that to use this week.  The pink letters are part of this collection, and see that stitched card? That's one of her templates. Fun stuff!

week 8 right

That sunshine card is a journal card that I used a craft knife to cut around so that I could put the photo (a screen shot from my phone) behind the sun.  We had very strange weather this week -- hail, a thunderstorm, melting snow, warm and cold temps. I documented that with both pics and words.  I absolutely love the umbrella wood veneer and the little wood veneer drops of rain. FUN!

My brother in law and his family came for an overnight visit. Bea LOVES to play with the boys, and having a sleep over is even better!  My sister in law and I scrapbooked (fun!) and the men got to have some brother time. It was a great day!

This spread is a pretty straight forward, simple spread with nothing hidden and no added inserts!  That never happens!  :-)

Thanks for visiting! Check back tomorrow for Week 9 (I am trying to catch up with the sharing part of this project)!

Because if all the weather related topics on this one, I've linked up with Paper Issues: Pocket Full of Sunshine Issue. 

..:: project life : week 7 ::..

Week 7 included Valentine's Day.  

I have been saving this gift card holder since October, knowing I would use it in PL someday! Well, this week seemed perfect.  When you take out the card, the journaling is on the back (I had to cut a slit in the pocket protector so it could easily be slid out). When the card is completely inside, the heart in "love" is red.  Here is the two page spread, including an insert:

week 7

I used mostly the February Studio Calico PL kit with some embellishments from my stash (and a couple of cards from other collections).

week 7 left

I really like the photo of Bea in her undies and cowboy boots -- working on her valentines.  But, it was a "portrait" photo instead of horizontal. I wanted it bigger, and didn't want to cut off any of it -- so I made it go through several pockets.  

I had several "portrait" photos this week -- and in some cases, about the same thing, but I couldn't decide on a photo -- so I made a little extra room by adding some washi tape at the top to create a flip up (best part is that there is also room to journal on the back of the front photo)! I did this TWICE this week!

week 7 right

More weather and white board shots!  We took Bea to a The Lego Movie (we are so done with this weather)! I didn't really get a photo while we were there, so I took a screen shot of the movie poster so I could document that part of our week. 

I used my Tiny Attacher to staple the movie tickets to a plain grid card, stamped the word "tickets" on a tab and added that to the card so it would be easy to pull out (and so you would know something was there). The second flip up is also included in this shot -- with a quote from Bea as the journaling.

week 7

On the back of the insert, I included the three types of Valentine's Day cards that Bea gave out this year.  Each of these cards came with something to give away, something that isn't candy. There was an eraser with one, a very small pad of paper with another, and a pink bracelet with the Hello Kitty cards. I used a leftover pink bracelet as a decorative element (it's the pink line between the top and bottom of this layout.

Some fun stuff this week! Thanks for stopping by!

..:: project life : week 6 ::..

If you keep reading to the bottom of this post, you will see why I really love documenting life this way.

A layout inside a Project Life LO??  Wha?????? Yep, awesome. Here's how it looks in the spread:

week 6 spread

This week I mostly used the Studio Calico February Project Life kit. I did add a couple of things that I'd like to highlight. See the circle under the arrow pointing at Bea sleeping on the couch?  I needed something to "match" the "make believe" card and the dots on the 3x4 card on the far right. So, I found some paint…painted a bit of card stock and punched it with my 1 inch punch.

I also added a few cards from other kits (I think Honey) and I made a couple of my own!  See all those colorful polka dots below?  Those were all from one journaling card that I cut up and placed throughout the page.

week 6 left

But then I ran out of the perfect polka dot paper -- so I made my own!  I used a circle stamp in various colors to create the journaling spots on the two top photos (below). All of these dots were inspired by that lovely 3x4 polkadot card on the far right (below).  To that lovely card I added a heart (painted with that same paint) and then a little squiggle and boarder with my journaling pen (AC precision pen).

Weather. Batman. Games. Food. OMGoodness, I am ready for spring.  It seems like week 5 or 6 is when I feel like we just might be too boring to do project life…and then something happens to change my mind.  Keep reading for the something!

This week I was able to document the exact week that Bea jumped a developmental stage in her drawing. Up until this point, she drew her people as a circle with the arms and legs coming right off the head (no body) -- you can see this in the painting on the insert below.  But this week, she started adding bodies -- and I got it documented!  Woot woot!  Go Project Life!!! (You can see these new people in the 3x4 card on the far left of the photo right above this paragraph). It's even funnier because not only did she add a body -- she also added BRAINS.  Ha!  So funny!!!

I've said this before, I'll say it now, and I'm certain I will say it again : I just love adding all that "stuff" to my album (like artwork).  And this week I extra love that I was able to get this developmental milestone documented!

Would you like to see more of my PL spreads (just the photos of them)?  Click here.
Would you like to read about my PL spreads & see the photos? Click here.