PROJECT LIFE - "Week 2"

Welcome back for the next installment of Project Life.  This is the week of June 12-18 Twenty 12.


 Week 2 - Left Page:

Week 2 - Right Page:

I didn't have a photo for today, but did get this quote off Facebook.  My best girl friend lives in Miami now, and I don't get to see her as often as I would like.  We were inseparable at high school and often went months without being apart for a day.  She moved to the UK, then on to Miami and I moved to Dubai.  We have the sort of friendship that is not awkward, no matter how long we spend apart.

Last summer, I went to visit her in London, and on our first day, we went to Spuntino in SoHo....This picture just reminds me of the two of us at the counter eating pork sliders :D:D:D  Happy memories.

This was a happy day for our family.  My daughter got 2nd place overall in her gymnastics competition.  She did so well and we were so proud of her :D

There were quite a few photos I wanted to showcase for this day, so I repurposed a PL page protector.  I separated the for 4 x 3 pockets from the rest of the page and attached them to the journaling pocket on the page.  I used a concertina fold to layer up the photos.  This is the "inside" of the pull out section.

And here is the "outside" of the pull out section.  I added the score sheet to the remaining two empty pockets.  I secured the "mini" album using postage bakers twine, which was attached to the page behind using buttons.  I just tie it in a bow and it keeps the added insert from flapping around :D:D

I wanted to use this photo in its entirety.  We have an endless friendly argument in my house as to why we eat our meals at the kitchen breakfast nook, as opposed to the dining room table.  My argument is that the dining room table is used as a store it place for everyones stuff they are too lazy to take upstairs...I love my husband with all my heart, and he has many great qualities...BUT, he always insist none of the stuff on the table is his...Today I got photographic evidence of his stuff on the table :D:D  I think that is now a moot point in my house.

I will be doing my best to post a new PL update every Tuesday.  Fingers crossed and all that, see you next week for a PL update :D

Jo

Scrapbook Layout - You Sparkle

I really enjoyed scrapping this page of my daughter.  The photo was take at a family wedding in March of this year.  Amy was a flower girl.  As you know, I have been entrenched in Project Life recently and it was a nice change to scrap on a page more than 4" x 6" big :D (Don't get me wrong, I am LOVING crating mini scrap pages for my project life) - It was just different to embellish with larger bits and pieces :D

I had tons of fun with this page, using supplies from but not limited to - Prima, SwissGirl Designs, Paper Inklings, Kaiser Craft, Tim Holtz.

It was so much fun making this banner out of paper scraps, tags and washi tape.  I stamped on the two bigger Kaiser Craft tags using the "Dream Real Big" stamp set from SwissGirl Designs.  I really love all her stamps and one of my best things about them is that they are one of the few acrylic stamps that work well with Tim Holtz Distress Inks....

Added some acrylic elements.  The flowers are REALLY OLD Maya Road stash that I recently rediscovered during one of the many crop room clean outs I have done recently.  The heart is cut from a 2L milk bottle which i washed out, let dry and then up-cycled :D:D.  The lovely chipboard clouds are from Paper Inklings.

I recently made a huge paper purchase from Paper Inklings in Australia.  They have the most awesome rub-ons and chipboard embellishments (not to mention the totally yummy paper too).  I used the "You Sparkle" wording from the Fairy Princess rub on set.

I layered some white tissue paper under the photograph.  I have recently seen Rahel from SwissGirl Designs do this on a couple of her layouts and I love the soft feel it gave to the page...Thanks Rahel for ALWAYS inspiring me :D:D

Thanks as always for stopping by :D:D

Happy Scrappping!!!

Jo

Project Life - "Week 1"

Hello friends....

I have had a very hectic few weeks.  I decided to use the first part of the summer holidays to do a mini home makeover.  I have had almost the whole inside of the house painted, and sold all my son's bedroom furniture and bought all new items more age appropriate for a young man of 10 years old :D.

After managing to catch up from being 5 months behind in Project Life, I found myself about 3 weeks behind due to the madness of the end of year at school (I was working as an LSA, then as a TA at my children's school).  I enrolled my 7 year old daughter in Creative Camp at our local scrapbook store, Creative Hands, and used the sessions she was crafting to sit in store and catch up on Project Life.  I am once again caught up, but have no doubt that I will fall behind again as this seems to be the way of Project Life...falling behind and catching up seems to be a catch phrase of Project Life...That is part of its charm for me :D

Thanks to my mad record keeping skills (see my post on falling behind, catching up and organizing by clicking HERE), I have managed to catch up with very little hassle.

My Project Life runs from June - May, an academic year as I decided to start Project Life last year in May, and not being one to wait, I started cracking on as soon as my goodies arrived from Amazon.  June this year marked the start of my second year doing Project Life.  I would like to share my opening pages, as well as the first week for this "year".

I made a date opener in an A4 format.  This is something new from what I did last year.

I used some printed paper, cut to size on the front page protector.  It just houses some quotes and I wanted it to reflect the feel of what my PL will be this year...

Left page of the first week.  

Right page of the first week.  

I used a calendar I got from a free printable for the first page of the month.  I run my PL monthly rather than weekly.  This way I don't have to worry too much if I don't have a photo a day and then have plenty blank pockets which need filling, or if I have additional photos and need to use more than the allocated 2 pockets for pictures.  I used a grid glassine bag which I ordered from Michelle Wooderson's online store, some wash tape and a home made tag as embellishments.

My husband recently returned from a trip to Tokyo and came back bearing rolls and rolls of Washi Tape.  He certainly knows that the way to my heart is through stationery :D

This was a no photo day (gasp, shock, horror) so I used some banter off Facebook to tell the story.

So that is it for "Week 1" (June 3-11 2012) of my Project Life so far....I have pinned all the free printables I have used on PL to my Pinterest page, which you can find HERE.  

Keep creating :D:D

Jo

PROJECT LIFE - falling behind, catching up, organizing....

*Grab a cup of coffee, this is a LONG read*

As you all know, I have been working at my children's school for the past academic year.  Their last day of school was last Thursday (28 June) and we now officially have TEN WEEKS of summer vacation!!!!  I love having my kids home :D

I had recently fallen 5 months being in my Project Life *urgh* and was feeling overwhelmed and totally LOST as to what to do.  I stumbled upon Michelle Wooderson's blog, Mish Mash.  She has an online store with lots of beautiful goodies for scrapbooking and Project life, and she has written a FABULOUS article on tips and tricks on when you fall behind on Project Life, which you can find by clicking HERE.  I read this article over and over, and finally got the guts to go and tackle my way behind PL.....I had been taking "notes" of what I had done for the month of December 2011 (my Project Life Album runs July-June), so December was a doddle, just finding the photos which corresponded to what we did in December.....The rest of the year to date.....not so easy....

I started by going through my photos by date, and printing off the photos and taking notes corresponding to the date, including jotting down any ephemera I had for that day.  I had to surrender to changing my approach from "A Photo A Day" to "Photo's from the Month of...."  It was at this point that the knot in my stomach started to ease.

I used Michelle's Sticky Note solution and planned my pages by writing the date on a small sticky note along with a description of the photo for that pocket.  I added the date and "JOURN" on another sticky note and placed that where I wanted to add the journalling for that photo/day.  Using the sticky notes made it super easy for me to "rearrange" the layout if I needed to add anything in.

My next step was to print off the photos in the sizes I had made available for them, insert them into their predetermined slots (thanks sticky notes :D).

The next step was simply to do the journaling and a little embellishing for the photos.  I worked on this for about 3 evenings and got it all up to date!!!  I was ELATED......

But alas......*sigh*

I then ran into end of school year busyness at school and was either working late or coming home TOTALLY exhausted and really not in the mood to even walk into my craft room, let alone actually do anything creative.

I did keep up with one thing though, thank goodness....I found this super cute June-July planner from Paperchase...(oh happy days!!).  I have faithfully been updating it regularly with the goings on of day to day life, as well as religiously printing out the pictures from the day.  This was another pointer I got from reading Michelle's blog.  (BIG ROUND OF APPLAUSE PLEASE FOR MICHELLE!!!!)

It is A5 size, with uber-cute colorful owls on the cover - I KNOW RIGHT!!! I love owls :D  The best is inside....

The left hand page has a week to view on it...It is just the right size to take down some notes on the day.  I haven't needed more space as yet, but if I do, I will just add in a sticky note with the additional information on it....

The right side is grid note paper with seven sections, corresponding the the day on the opposite page.  Here is where I write down the photo notes for the day.  Once I have printed the photo off for the day, I highlight it off (NERDY!!)

I print off my pictures using a Canon Selphy printer.  I have recently managed to get it to print directly from my laptop....It has opened up my printing size options, so future pages will have more interesting photo shapes and sizes.  I write the date of the photo on the tear tab of the photograph, so that I don't need to go looking through the notes again to see which day it belongs to.  All the photos from the week, stay in the planner in this week until I am able to add them to my album.

I have ordered my new page protectors from Becky Higgins through Amazon, but I am yet to get a new album to put them into, so I currently have the pages held together with clips.  I am planning a trip to Creative Hands soon to get a few more crafting supplies :D

I started with the first week of June last night, and have been HUGELY inspired by Leena Loh's blog, findingnana.  I stumbled upon her blog while trawling Pinterest for Project Life layout ideas.  She started PL in January and documents her journey through it beautifully.  You can go to all her PL posts by clicking HERE. Leena also has some goodies for sale on her Etsy shop.  I have ordered some of the buttons from her and I am sure you will see them pop up on some of my layouts :D.

I have sorted out bits and pieces that I will be using for PL and put them in a wooden container.  All of these bits are used in my SMASH book, which is on the back burner for now, but I will post on the blog about it soon :D

What would I do without sticky notes??????

Newly completed left page for the start of June....

Right page for June....

Lastly, I have recently installed a couple of FAN-DABI-DOZI Apps on my iPhone, especially for using with Project Life....Here is my list of recommends of iPhone/Ipad Apps which are a must have....

Instagram (no brainer :D) - iPhone and iPad

Photo Collage (simple but fun to make collages *duh*) - iPhone and iPad

Befunky (fun photo effects and frames) - iPhone and iPad

I have recently installed Camera Awesome on my phone, I am still learning its workings.  I will keep you posted as to what I think :D

I am sure you are all read out, but thanks for sticking with it....

I always love to hear from you, so leave a comment :D

xx