Serious Play: January 2012

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January 2012

01/12/2012

Project Life :: Week 1

So, I completed the first week of Project Life!

It took me a while to get going. I am still finding my groove, but I like the process so far.

I want to be consistent with marking the week # and I am not sure if this is it, but I am going with it for this week. I also want to capture the weather from week to week, so this is a screenshot from my iPhone.

Sean and I went out to Canmore on Friday night without the girls. We went skating on this great little pond that we discovered.

The 'Life in pictures' that is on the bottom left of the pond shot is a brush from Ali Edwards' Life in Pictures Brushes and Stamps. I plan on using those brushes a lot in this album.

At the bottom of this page is a tag that I created from a manilla file folder.

And yes, along with everyone else, I am reading his bio.

Because we were still off of school this week there was a lot going on. I had quite a few things to report. So, right off the bat, I had to use an insert. Here, I used a 12x12 page that had six 4x6 pockets and simply trimmed off the extra three pockets along the right hand side.

Jess and I went for haircuts. I went fairly drastic. Her, not so much.

Again, still getting the hang of this, and I am not sure how I want to do an overview of the week. Here, I wrote it all on a recipe card. Not sure if I will always do it this way.

In the pockets on the backside of that insert, I have some memorabilia from the week.

A letter from our sponsor child in Mali.

The packaging from Bernard Callebaut's new chocolate shop called Papa Chocolat.

Tickets to the World Jr. Hockey Championships that Sean and I attended.

I really liked the mail that we received from Mali, and especially the stamp and postmark.

So I saved it.

And finally, the page of 4x4 shots.

I really like this size. Since I take so many iPhone shots using Instagram, this size is perfect.

I am realizing, too, that if I want to do some journaling in that space, I can simply print the pic in a smaller size and journal around it! Sort of like a mini scrapbook layout.

Well, already making note of some of the changes I will make for Week 2, but I am happy that I have begun this project.

I am not as consistent as some and therefore unable to state on which day I will be posting the pics of my Project Life spreads. Some weeks it may be Thursday. Some weeks I may have it done for Monday. And some weeks may end up being a few weeks all together after playing catch up.

That's how my life is.

One thing I know for sure... I am not happy with the current process I have for taking the shots of my PL album since a full spread is so large.

How are you photographing your spreads each week (besides standing on a ladder)?

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated...

Posted at 10:14 PM in Project Life 2012 | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

Technorati Tags: album, becky higgins, document, layout, life, photos, project life, spread, week 1, weekly

01/11/2012

Quote from Ali Edwards

So, I was affected by this quote today.

Ali Edwards was one of the first scrapbookers that I began to follow many years ago. I subscribed to Creating Keepsakes magazine and she had been one of their winners of the Hall of Fame contest. After that, she had regular articles and projects featured in the magazine. I have saved every one of her articles. In a binder. In page protectors.

Over the years, Ali had a newsletter that I subscribed to that just came to my inbox. I loved it, but it fizzled out a few years back. And now that Ali has moved from Typepad, I don't see it anywhere on her new website.

The good news is that Ali is doing a newsletter again. This time it is going to be weekly and she is calling it 52 Creative Lifts. I love this idea of sharing her inspiration in regard to creativity. Her first issue, called A New Beginning, can be viewed here.

And you can sign up to receive her newsletter here.

Anyway, I said all that to say this...while reading the first issue of her online magazine, somewhere near the bottom of the page, I read the words that you see at the top of this post:

"Don't spend all your time watching other people's practice."

It stopped me.

I reread it several times.

And then I nodded.

I do that.

I spend a lot of time looking at all the great things others are making and wish I could do that. A whole evening can pass...and I am inspired for sure, but I have not accomplished anything myself!

So, I made myself a little sign using Photoshop that is going to hang in my craft room with Ali's quote on it.

This is going to change me...

Posted at 09:58 PM in Me | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

Technorati Tags: 52 creative lifts, ali edwards, online newsletter, photoshop, quote

01/10/2012

Celebrating 65

So, we celebrated with my Dad this past weekend.

I created this card for him and attached it to the top of the gift.

I made the manilla tag from a file folder and added woodgrain self-adhesive drawer liner for the reinforcement around the hole.

The strip along the right side is the same woodgrain adhesive and then I layered a strip of glitter tape in a star pattern (Michaels).

The little flag is simply kraft paper folded around a toothpick and stamped with the words 'Happy Birthday'.

Instead of hiding the card inside an envelope, I wrapped a thick piece of grosgrain ribbon around the gift and tucked the card over the ribbon to hold it in place.

Ashley made my Dad the cake. Since we had pooled our money to buy my Dad a Wii for Christmas, she came up with the idea of making a Wii remote for his cake! It is a marble cake topped with her own fondant.

Ashley is making a name for herself and her cakes. Every time she brings one to a party people ask her how much she charges...and can they call her to make them a cake?

I am encouraging her to take them up on it!

And, of course, when it came time to open gifts, my sister's little guys were right there to get in on the action.

I love this shot. The look on each of their faces was worth capturing.

I love celebrating.

Posted at 10:12 PM in Family | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

Technorati Tags: 65, birthday, cake, card, celebrate, dad, gift, wii

01/08/2012

i heart us

So, here is my first layout of 2012.

I am still reminiscing over the Christmas season.

It was such a wonderful time. I didn't want it to end.

Throughout the month of December, my husband was off work. No, he didn't lose his job. It was his scheduled holiday time. He gets three tours off in a row, which works out to about 28 days off in a row.

Shift work is brutal on family life. But being on holidays meant having my husband home every night and on weekends. This is the first time he has not been working over the holiday season in 7 years.

I soaked it in.

We spent a lot of time together last month and I realized that the more time we spend together, the more we like each other. Funny how that is. When we are not together (on different work schedules) for periods of time, it gets easy to just grump on one another about all the stuff that bugs us. But when we interact and have time to listen to one another, the connection grows and the stuff that bugs us goes away because we are enjoying one another's company.

In this layout:

an Instagram photo of us at Starbucks
layers under the photo of tissue paper from Christmas wrapping, some notepaper, the printed side of a security envelope and a bit of doily
the red tag is from Mara Mi and is actually a holiday gift tag
the heart is punched from a doily
the little 'together' card behind the picture is actually a hidden journaling card on which I recorded my story
the pink drops are OA Sprinklers

Posted at 10:19 PM in Instagram, Scrapped Pages | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

Technorati Tags: design, doily, heart, instagram, layout, mara mi, scrapbook, tag, together

01/05/2012

Project Life 2012 :: Title Page

So, I have completed the title page for my Project Life album.

Here is the overall look of the page...

The words on the top are chipboard that I coloured with a silver metallic marker. I am loving the Blackout font that I am seeing around the internet, so I left the centers of the letters to simulate the look of that font.

The numbers were created using double-sided sticky numbers (Stampin' Up) and then I covered the sticky shapes with tiny glass beads that I found at the dollar store.

So far, they are adhering very well. If they start to let loose, I will probably cover the beads with a layer of gel medium. I would just do it now, but I am afraid that the gel medium may take away the glossy shine of the beads. I'm going to wait and see on this one.

I found this on Pinterest and printed it out. It seemed fitting for this album. The grey/white background paper here is the inside of a security envelope. I have been collecting these envelope papers for some time now, and decided this is the place to use them. The silver doily is a remnant left over from my Christmas stash and used frequently in my December Daily 2011 album.

I created this tag from a manilla legal folder. I started with just a 4x6 rectangle, trimmed the sides and rounded the corners. The reinforcement around the hole is punched from my favourite woodgrain adhesive drawer liner that I found at the dollar store.

Here, I just prettied the tag up with some doily, more left-over pink scallop from my DD album, and little banners that I trimmed from kraft cardstock and stamped (all stamps from Michaels for $1.50 ea).

The 4x6 with our family name on it, is a piece of October Afternoon's Farmhouse line called Phonograph. As you can tell, I like doilies. (And yes, I did purchase all of the cardstock pieces that have doilies on them). On top of the cardstock, I simply added black letter stickers to spell our name.

Our family pic is one that was taken on our Christmas tree-cutting outing. It is not a great shot due to lighting, but it is the most recent one that I had of all four of us. I am hoping to snap a better one in the near future and then I will swap this one out.

So excited about this project now...

Posted at 10:02 PM in Project Life 2012 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Technorati Tags: document, doily, every day, everyday, farmhouse, october afternoon, project life, title page, weekly album

01/04/2012

Project Life

So, I am starting Project Life.

I have watched others participate in this project for a couple of years but I always felt it would be too much for me to manage.

There are couple of reasons that I felt I would do it this year...

1. My oldest daughter is graduating from high school this spring and I want to remember everything that I can before she leaves home.

2. There are a lot of little things that take place during a week that need documenting and that will fill up a week's spread quite quickly.

3. I love the work that others have done in their Project Life albums.

4. I think this will be a great way to use up a lot of the supplies that are just sitting on my shelf.

5. I already collect 'stuff' and this would be a great place to put it all.

6. My daughter said, "Just go for it, Mom!"

7. I want to do it!

Now, I am a little late to the party, and all online supplies are either on backorder or gone completely. So I am going to do my best with what I have on hand and what I can improvise with.

I am using an American Crafts 12x12 D-ring binder.

I purchased some photo sleeves from We R Memory Keepers at my local scrapbook store. They were out of 4x6 pockets so I picked up this package. I will make it work. I have ordered some 4x6 pages that are supposed to be in next week.

I know that the popular page protectors for Project Life have some smaller pockets down the center, so I am just going to do a few quick stitches down the middle of the 4x6 pockets to make my own smaller pockets.

And if needed, I can stitch the top pocket into two 4x6 pockets as well, which currently is 4x12. I am going to play with this top pocket a bit first and see if I like it as is.

I also found this package of 4x4 photo sleeves. Since I take so many Instagram shots on my iPhone now, I am thinking this size will be great for those.