Serious Play

Project Life :: Week 6

So, here is Week 6 of Project Life.

 

Starting with the two-page spread...

A close-up of the left hand page...

And a few shots from this page...

Here is a close-up of the right hand page...

The adorable Polaroid card in the top right corner is from Marcy Penner.

And a few more shots from this page...

My girls are full-swing into rehearsals for the high school play. Jess is head stage manager and Ash is head of costumes. After a full Sat of rehearsals, Ash crawled right into the truck and fell asleep while we were waiting for Jess!

The *heart* this photo! on the pic of Ashley is from Ali Edwards  and is called Life in Pictures.

As part of their roles, we went to Red Deer College to wade through their costumes and pick out the ones that we need for our play. The girls had fun trying on many of them and figuring out which costumes would fit each actor.

Our week was full, and when the weekend hit, we were all ready to take it easy.

 

Now, only one more week of Project Life to catch up on...

 

 

 

 

Project Life :: Week 5

 
So, here is another week in my Project Life.

 

I am working at catching up and I am almost there. Once I am caught up, I promised myself to stay on top of each week. I'm not sure how I got so far behind, but it is too much work. Having only one week to worry about is all I can handle right now.

Week 5 looked like this...

 

Here's a close-up of the left hand page...

 

 

The overview of Week 5...

 

Some closeups of individual pieces of the left hand page...

 

 

I was ever so lucky to get two shots of my girls together this week...

 

Here is a closer look at the right hand page...

 

 

A few close-ups of that page...

 

Wow! Week 5 completed.

And Week 6 is close behind...

 

 On another note... my daughter asked me today, "Why can't I enlarge the pictures on your blog anymore? I used to be able to." If you have been trying to do the same thing and it wasn't working, I apologize. I believe that I have fixed that issue. So now, when you click on any of the pictures in my post, they should open in a larger size in a new window.

If for some reason it doesn't, please let me know in the 'Comments' section below.

Thank you.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Project Life :: Week 4

So, this week was a full one for Project Life.

 

I recently purchased some journal cards from Marcy Penner. They were incorporated in this week's layout. As well, I purchased some flags and doilies from Katie Pertiet at Designer Digitals, so I experimented with those too.

 

My girls were busy studying and writing final exams. Sean was taking training with the Fire Department.

 

On the weekend, we slipped away to the mountains to breathe some fresh air after a hectic week.

This week includes an insert...

We were invited to lunch on Sunday with friends. They served Raclette, which is an experience in eating similar to fondue. You cook your food on the grill in front of you at the table while visiting and enjoying the company. Raclette is actually the name of the cheese that is melted on the grill and then poured onto boiled potatoes. It is truly fantastic.

 

In an effort to use more recycled materials in my scrapbooking, I repurposed a shopping bag from Banana Republic. After cutting it to size, I sewed it along the side of this insert. These pocket pages had been trimmed down from another page and the edge with the holes had been trimmed off. So it needed a little something in which to punch holes to attach in the binder. The repurposed bag did the trick!

 

I am still trying to find a comfortable way of working on this project that is sustainable. But in the meantime, I have completed a whole month...

 

 

 

 

Project Life :: Week 3

So, I have Week 3 of my Project life to share with you.

 

This week there were no inserts. Just the two-page spread.

 

The left side contains most of my stories this week. 

 

 

The right side is full of 4x4 Instagram shots.

 

 

I like this little weekly review of the main events...

 

 

And to finish up, my favorite shot of the week (even though my hips look huge)...

 

I have been working on a few 'new' things for my PL for next week.

This project is really growing on me. And the rest of my family too. I am noticing that they are beginning to participate more. Yay.

 

Have a super weekend!

 

 

 

 

Project Life :: Week 2

So, I am right on top of Week 2 and quite proud of myself.

 

I created the little blue pinwheel with the inside of a printed security envelope and punched a star to put on top.

I have another insert in this week's spread. So here is the spread with the insert to the right.

 

And here is a close-up of the left hand page.

You can click on any of the images to enlarge.

 

Here is my spread with the insert to the left...

 

And here is a close-up of the right hand page.

Here I included the quote by Ali Edwards that I created in Photoshop and printed out. You can read more about the quote here.

 

I am continuing to make a journaling card dedicated to a brief overview of the week. It is just something that I know I would want when looking back after a few months. I am a bit of a detail person.

 

Lastly, the insert for this week contains a story about my daughter.

I used one of Ali Edwards' Long Journalers which I resized to work on a 6 x 12 piece of cardstock. I trimmed around the outline of the journaler (as shown below), attached my printed pics and slid it into a 6x12 page protector.

 

The journaling reads...

This week, a package arrived for Jessica. She was at school late due to rehearsals, so it sat unopened on the island until she returned home. No one thought much of it. We assumed that it was just an information package. However, when Jess opened it and began reading, a smile spread across her face. It was an acceptance letter to  the University of Calgary in the Commerce program majoring in Accounting. She had only put in her application last week, so this was a very quick reply. We were not expecting it. 

Another pleasant surprise came when we read that because of her "excellent academic performance to date" she also qualifies for the President's Admission Scholarship worth $2000. We couldn't be more proud. To begin the celebration, Ash, Jess, and I had a little toast to her right then and there. 

On Friday night we went out as a family to Cravings (our fave restaurant) to celebrate Jess's accomplishments. Saturday night, we had Gramma and Papa come for supper and again, we all toasted and prayed over Jess. She has worked so hard at school to make it to this point.

Even when applying, she wasn't sure that this is what she wanted, but after all of hte people celebrating with her, she is now embracing this new adventure that is before her. You go Girl!

 

Hard to believe we are at this point already.

Trying to hang on to all the remaining moments that I have my girls near.

Trying to capture memories to last a lifetime.

That is why I am doing Project Life this year.

 

What is your story?

 

 

 

 

 

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...

 

 

 

 

 

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...

 

 

 

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.

 

For inspiration, I am following these brilliant ladies, who are also participating in Project Life...

Ali Edwards

Marcy Penner

Lisa Truesdell

Jenni Hufford

...just to name a few!

 

Are you joining the journey too?

I'd love to connect with you as we embark on this adventure in 2012.

 

So, here I go...