Serious Play

Project Life 2016 | Jan 18-26

Here's a look at my Project Life album for Jan 18 to 26.

 

This week was all about my youngest moving away from home. My heart...

Here is the left side spread...

 

 

So love family gatherings and photos that capture us all. These are always my favourite in my PL album.

 

 

A moment of celebrating my hubby's accomplishments - even though he wasn't there with us!

 

 

Love the realness of selfies my daughters send to me - please don't stop sending them!

The 'Yes' card here was a freebie offered by Jasmine Nora. 

 

 

These photos of us are going to precious some day too...

 

 

And of course the good food that we get to eat!

 

 

Here is the right side of my spread...

 

 

I typed out the story of my daughter leaving home on a Heidi Swapp PL card. In the middle are photos of us going to dinner and the girls leaving in a snow flurry. And on the right side is them hauling all of Ashley's things out to the truck the night before leaving.

 

 

And then a random photo of hubby from the restaurant. I just loved his expression and the lighting. Over the top I adhered a wooden word.

 

 

I also started a course called Lightroom Organization with Rhonda Mason at LifeCaptured this month.

And of course I had to document the Kickstart Class at Studio Calico.

 

 

And here is the full spread...

 

 

That pretty much finishes off January in my PL album - yay me!

 

 

DIY Midori 2016 | Feb Folders

I am loving my folders for February in my DIY Planner.

 

For this month, I chose digital papers by One Little Bird once again. This collection is called Agenda and it is perfect for planners.

 

 

I love paper. And I love these digital papers. There is just something about cutting and pasting with paper pieces.

 

 

So, even though I could make these collages in Photoshop before printing, I still print all these pieces individually as though they were ephemera, cut them all out and then assemble them after the fact. So fun.

 

 

I just love these colours and with the digital versions I can make a few changes. For example, this five petal flower originally was green, but I wanted a pink version so I was able to make the colour adjustment in Photoshop before printing. I love that too.

 

 

I made five different folders for this month. Slowly I am figuring out what I want in each of the folders of my planner. One of the folders is dedicated to a monthly and weekly checklist of things to do. This is my title page for February.

 

 

Of course I like to embellish with quotes and practice my lettering skills.

 

 

This month I have a spread for each week, separated into 'To Do', 'Meal Plan', 'Stories', 'Notes' and 'Gratitudes' along the left side.

One of the things I am trying to keep track of is the stories that I want to tell in my Project Life album. When I get behind in PL (which happens often) I need to have my stories written down in order to document them at a later date. Right now I am trying out this method, but as I am nearing the end of the month, I am already realizing that I need a different method for recording the stories, especially the longer ones. The great thing is that I can change things up for the next month if something isn't working for me.

 

 

One change I made for February that I didn't do in January was to create this fold-out page for the month. I have been investigating the Bullet Journaling method lately and tried using that method in the fold-out page above for my main events on each day. Then, on the outside of the flap below, I put the checklist of things that I want to complete this month. As the weeks go by, I was assigning those tasks on specific days in the week view.

 

 

Can I just say that I am really enjoying this new little planner that I am creating...

What are your fave features of a planner?

 

 

 

Project Life 2016 | Jan 10-17

Here is my Project Life album from January 10 through 17th.

 

There was a mix of random things going on this week. The left side looks like this...

 

 

For some time now, I have been trying out different types of headphones and I must have funny shaped interiors of my ears, because none of the headphones that you insert will stay in for me. And I kind of have a thing with stuff being in my ears. So recently I went on a mission to find alternatives. I ended up with these ones that hook around the outside and the earpiece simply rests on the outside of my ear. I wasn't sure if they would bother me, but the plastic that wraps around my ear is soft and very comfortable. The headphone itself can swivel on the arm, so you can make it tighter (closer) to your ear or looser (farther away from) your ear, so I can adjust it. I like that. 

Now, when I go running, I am not stopping every 5 seconds to push the headphones back in! Yay!

 

 

My youngest ventured out this week to see if she could secure a job out of town. I have a cousin up north from us and her daughter is the same age as mine. The two of them have been scheming to move out together, so Ashley took a trip up there to scope things out. More than a week later she had a job, a roommate and a basement suite rented! 

 

 

Over the past 8 months we have been renovating our basement. We ripped out a bathroom/laundry and storage space to reconfigure it and separate it into three distinct and more functional rooms. This week we had the shower in the bathroom sealed and now we can use it!

 

 

Still thinking of the new year and what I can make of it...

Also, once again using the One Little Bird cards and papers for this spread. 

 

 

Starting to form my ideas for my Planner, I was making my January folders with the One Little Bird Thrive collection. 

 

 

My eldest daughter was starting a new semester in university. She is so discouraged by the outrageous cost of her classes and her textbooks!

 

 

Here is the right side...

 

 

The snow fell pretty consistently this week. But it remained fairly mild thank goodness.

 

 

Hubby and I discovered a new dessert - uh oh!

 

 

I love looking out my kitchen window in the summer and seeing all the pretty flowers and plants in my yard. But in the winter things are quite a bit more bleak. So I had this idea for making a star out of twigs that I had gathered. Now it hangs on the trellis for my clematis and makes me smile each time I look out and see it.

 

 

As it usually goes, there is a bit of a cold/flu that circulates in the new year and it hit me for a good four days. So thankful for soup...

 

 

...and lots of tea!

I decided to tuck in just a few of the tea packages that I had consumed while home one afternoon. I love how these will end up being a see-through element in my album.

 

 

And here is my full two-page spread...

 

 

My lighting situation is slowly improving. I have a bit more light at the end of the day when I return home from work now, so I am hoping to get caught up on shooting my remaining PL pages so that I can share them more real-time with you!

 

 

Project Life 2016 | Jan 1-10

I do love documenting via Project Life.

 

Again this year, I am choosing to document in a more loose fashion. I am not trying to stick to  a week per spread. Or even a certain number of spreads per month. I am just letting the photos flow. Sometimes a spread will represent a day, sometimes a week, sometimes 10 days, as in this case.

 

 

The left side of my spread begins with this awesome card designed by One Little Bird, from her line called Thrive. 

 

 

The stamps I used in this spread are from the set I received for signing up in the Kickstart class at Studio Calico and I really love them. I just stamp right on the photo paper with black ink and it is so nice and clear - I just have to ensure the ink is dry before tucking the photo in the pocket!

 

 

My go-to technique for journaling is with my little vintage typewriter, if I don't do the journaling in Photoshop right on the photo.

Here's a little story about my girlie working an extra job over the holidays to earn extra money. 

 

 

To kick off the first day of the year, we invited our friends for Raclette - if you have never tried it, I highly recommend it. We had such fun eating and visiting and afterwards we played games. Such a fun evening.

 

 

I always love the January sales. I found this little gold purse at Banana Republic for a steal and it now goes everywhere with me! I also tucked the tag into this PL pocket that came with the purse.

 

 

And here is the right side...

 

 

One day I will have to do a mini album of all the Starbucks photos I have taken with hubby. Actually, it may turn out to me more than a mini!

 

 

These cards were part of the Thrive kit as well and were an opportunity to write down some thoughts and goals for the New Year.

 

 

And when I want to document a specific date of an event I will simply pull out my date stamp. Not all photos require the date stamp, it is good enough to know that it happened within this general time frame, but a doctor's appt. is one that I want to record specifically.

 

 

More goal setting thoughts and taking down my tree late...

 

 

We love lamb, but usually BBQ it, however, in the middle of winter there is no BBQing! So we decided to try a lamb roast in the crock pot instead and it turned out delicious!

 

 

 

And here is a look at the entire spread that spans from Jan 1 -10...

 

 

Still fighting the winter's drab lighting, so I am behind in posting these only because I am trying to get the best lighting. This is it!

 

 

 

Project Life 2016 | Jan Ski Day

We kicked off the New Year with a ski trip to the Canadian Rockies.

 

Because I wanted to use a whole spread to document this event, I featured our ski trip immediately after the title page. The left side pocket page is a 7x12 page by Becky Higgins and the right is a full 12x12 page.

 

 

I enrolled in the Kickstart online class at Studio Calico and received this awesome stamp set. Here I stamped right on my photo in the white space. Love how it looks.

 

 

The gold foil heart transparency is one from a Heidi Swapp PL kit.

 

 

This shot is my all-time favourite. It is currently my screensaver on my laptop as well.

 

 

And then I hand-lettered the 'Let's do this' with a gold ink marker.

 

 

Here is another stamp from the Kickstart class that I stamped on a Heidi Swapp PL card and embossed in gold glitter. My journaling is typed with my little vintage typewriter.

 

 

 

 

Such a very good day.

And I am so glad that it is captured and starting off my 2016 album.

 

 

 

 

DIY Midori 2016 | Jan Brush Lettering

As part of my Daily Planner, I have included a section for practicing my brush lettering.

 

I am not committing to every day, but I have given myself enough pages in one of my little folders to do lettering practice about every second day.

In January, my goal was simply to find a brush that I like as well as get comfortable with the basic technique. Currently I am still testing out brushes and haven't settled on a favourite quite yet. But here are a few samples from what I accomplished in January...

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am really hoping to see my skills improve as I work from month to month. 

How about you? Do you have a skill that you wish to improve in 2016?

 

 

 

Project Life 2016 | Title Page

My Project Life 2016 title page is all about the glitter.

 

[ I have to start by saying that I must have photographed the first few pages of my PL album no less than five times and each time spending countless hours editing them to make them blog-worthy. But I just couldn't beat the cloudy look of them due to our blue winter lighting and in the end I discarded them. So now, we are into February and I haven't posted a single January PL page! Well, I've decided to go ahead and share anyway. So I hope you can stand the poor quality of these photos. Trust me, I did the best I could... ]

 

Yes, I have committed again to doing Project Life in 2016. Even though I have yet to complete an entire album from past years, I am going to push on. 

My title page features each of us shortly after we rang in the New Year. I love the immediateness (is that a word?) of iPhone photos.Iin the minutes following the ball drop we all texted each other a message and a photo of what we were doing and where. 

 

 

Hubby and I were at a house party with some friends and karaoke was just beginning as we snapped this photo.

The accompanying pocket is a Heidi Swapp gold-foiled transparency (the numbers), which I sealed in with my fuse tool, surrounded with glitter and then sealed shut at the top to keep all that glitter in! I had originally sewn around the numbers, but of course the glitter was finding its way through the punctured holes (of course), so I promptly sealed it with my fuse tool as well.

 

 

My daughter and her boyfriend were at a fancy dress-up party and they snapped me this photo.

Having signed up for the Studio Calico Kickstart class, I received a great stamp set, which I used here 'Here & Now' and embossed with gold powder. Then I typed the journaling on the card with my vintage typewriter.

 

 

My youngest daughter had been working earlier that night and was at home in our basement by the fireplace with her boyfriend when she snapped this photo for me.

Beside it I inserted a photo of the tassels that hung on our wall throughout the holiday season. The 2016 was added in Photoshop before printing.

 

 

I love how this page represents us all so well and tells the story of us all doing our own thing.

Here's to another year and another album of memories...