Project Life 2013: Weeks 31-32, July 29th-August 11th

Playing some more Project Life catch-up over the weekend. Really proud of the progress I am making thus far. I just love Project Life. I love that I can go back to it, or skip it, or really do whatever I want to with it. I love how quick I am able to play catch-up, thanks to all of the photos taken and notes written down.

Since I am such a list person, I am including my catch-up Project Life list (hopefully to further inspire me to be completely caught up by mid-October.) I am determine to get this done...yes I can, yes I can, yes I can!

Project Life Catch-Up List

Week 8-9
Week 12
Week 13
Last Page for Volume 1
First Page for Volume 2
Week 20 insert finish (50% done)
Week 26 finish (90% done)
Week 27
Week 28
Week 29
Week 30
Week 31-32
Week 33
Week 34
Week 35
Week 36
Last Page of Volume 2
First Page of Volume 3


Now enough listing, onto two more caught-up weeks, weeks 31 & 32

 Full Layout:

 Left Side:

Right Side:

Supplies Used:

• Studio Calico 6 x 6 Thataway Paper Pad
• Studio Calico Thataway Stitched Pockets
• Printable Labels from Studio Calico
• Glossy Asterick Thickers by Studio Calico
• My Mind's Eye enamel dots
• American Crafts this to that dot runner adhesive
• Ink-Versafine in Onyx Black and Hero Arts Soft Granite

Thank you for stopping by today. Let's talk Project Life...how are y'all coming along in Project Life? Any other listers out there? Are you staying caught-up? I would love to hear any suggestions or time savers you have for staying current. I will be back tomorrow with week 36 Project Life, love that I am staying caught up with the current week. So much easier to complete when all of the photos and information is still fresh in your brain.

Happy Scrappin'

xoxox

Toni

30 Days of Lists: Week 1

So how many of y'all have heard of 30 days of lists?  I know I have. This is the first time that I have decided to participate however. I will admit to being a little skeptical, and wondered if this would be "just another thing to add to the ol' to-do list." Boy was I wrong. I have absolutely loved this process and have already found it eye-opening and very helpful.

I love to write. I also love making lists. So really, this class is a perfect fit for me. I have really enjoyed the list prompts. Day #5 proved to be especially insightful to me. On this day, we were suppose to list things that we worried about. I wrote my top five down and was instantly struck with an epiphany. One of those epiphany's where the skies open, the sun shines down on just you, and a lightbulb goes off over your head. You know what I am talking about. So here's how it went down. . .

I was sitting at the Honda dealership waiting while my car's oil was changed, and I started writing my list. It only took two short minutes to get it all down and maybe thirty more seconds to realize this...All of my worries have to do with money largely (or health would be money and health.) Wow. Big Wow. I have been going back and forth for awhile now, wondering if I needed to start seeking full-time employment, or at least part-time employment. This pretty much affirmed my need for full (or mostly full-time work.)

My husband works as a welder/ plumber. It is a great job, but lately he has been laid off a lot. This means much less income comes in, and we do not currently have insurance. My goal this month is to obtain a job that includes medical benefits. Completing just this once necessary step will greatly reduce my worries and therefore increase my happiness. Yes, I will have less time to craft, help in my kid's schools, and enjoy the house to myself. But the time I do have available for these things will be much less filled with these worry-filled thoughts. Total epiphany. Please wish me luck that I obtain a job with benefits quickly, and hopefully one that I even like.

Now enough of that...here are my lists.

Thoughts on the Process:

• So glad I made the "book" for my lists very simple. It isn't even a book really, but rather, two 8.5 x 11 inch baseball card sized inserts by We R Memory Keepers. I made one pocket for each insert a confetti pocket for some added color and fun.
• List #5 was truly eye-opening, see above.
• List #6 was fun to make, I guess I break a few rules, but could be worse I suppose.

Have a great weekend!

Happy Scrappin'

xoxox

Toni

Card Share

Today I have five cards to share with you.  I really enjoy the challenge of using a kit to design cards. It is so much fun to see how many different designs I can come up with and if it also includes a stamp set...I am so hooked. These cards came together very quickly. I think that is because I really liked the paper pad as well as the stamp set that was included in the kit. Do you ever use kits to design cards? It is a fun challenge and I strongly encourage you to try. 

Now let's look at some cards, shall we?

This card was the easiest to create. I used only stamps

included in the kit, ink, and white cardstock.

The banner card was created by cutting out banner shapes from the 

patterned paper, stamping the banner shaped thank you sentiment, 

and attaching them all to the card. I then hand-stitched a simple

back stitch along the top of the banners. Lastly, I attached the 

card front to a standard sized A2 card.

This card was created by inking the bottle stamp with 

black Stayz-On ink and applying it to vellum. I then 

cut out the stamp, and carefully hand-stitched it to 

the card front (only stitching from the bottom to 

2/3 of the way up.) I then added confetti and

 stitched it up the rest of the way. Lastly, I 

added the pinwheel sticker, made a quick 

stitch for the pinwheel "stick," and added 

my sentiment.

This card was constructed with hand-cut banners glued to the card. 

I then stamped the thank you banner onto a piece of white 

cardstock and cut it out. I attached the stamped banner to the

 card using pop dots. Lastly, I added three enamel dots

 around the stamped sentiment.

  I used paper weaving to construct this card. To achieve this, I 

cut the two different types of patterned paper into 1/2" strips. 

These were wove together from the top and sides. Once the 

weaving was done and glued down, I adhered a bit of 

seam binding to the card. I then added some twine 

in a messy nest glued behind the sentiment.

Supplies Used:

• Studio Calico Marks and Company Card Kit
• Vellum
• Stayz-On Black Ink
• Versafine Ink in Onyx Black
• Hero Arts Shadow Inks in Soft Pool, Soft Yellow, Butter Bar, and Pale Tomato
• Embroidery Needle and aqua, white, and yellow embroidery thread
• White cardstock from stash (I needed two extra 8.5 x 11 inch pieces)

Thank you for stopping by today, I appreciate you being here and leaving comments. Let's talk cards...what kinds of cards have you been creating lately? Anyone else thinking about fall cards? I have seen some really cute ideas floating around Pinterest lately and am feeling very inspired. Do you like to send cards in the mail? Who do you send your cards too? I would love to hear from you. 

Happy Scrappin'

xoxox

Toni

Project Life 2013: Week 35, August 26th-September 1st

I am back today with a new week of Project Life to share. I mentioned being a little behind last week... I decided to get real today and see just how behind I am with Project Life this year. I have 11 weeks to catch-up on and finish, but I am trying not to stress about it too much. I look at it as wow I have a little over 2/3 of the year done and pictures and memorabilia for the rest of it. This past week I managed to get three weeks completed, ( yay me) so I feel that this is manageable and totally do-able. I think the key for me will be to do the current Project Life week every week as well as two older weeks. If I can keep this up, I should be completely up to date in Mid-October. I definitely want to get this all caught up before the holiday craziness comes up on us.  Anyone else in the same boat with me when it comes to Project Life? Behind or not, I am still loving Project Life...this is my third year in and it is safe to say that there is no turning back for me.

Week 35 Full Layout:

 

Thank you so much for stopping by today. I will be back tomorrow (Wednesday) with a card share. On Thursday I will be sharing some organizational ideas for storing cards. I hope to see you back here on Friday with my completed 30 Lists. I jumped aboard this project on September 1st, and am really enjoying it thus far. Are there any other fellow listers out there? Rounding out the week, I will be back on Saturday, sharing two more catch-up weeks of Project Life. 

For more Project Life inspiration be sure to check out The Mom Creative.  Every Tuesday Jessica Turner hosts a Project Life link-up at her blog. You will find this Project Life week linked there as well as many other truly inspirational Project Lifers. 

Happy Scrappin'

xoxox

Toni

Layout Share: Splash

Happy Monday and Happy Labor Day for all of my fellow American friends! Today is a day for relaxation and some family fun. My labor day will include some studio organization, some Pride and Prejudice movie watching, and some family game time. A pretty perfect day in my book!

Today I have a layout to share with you made from the Studio Calico Marks and Company Scrapbook Kit. There are still some available as of September 2nd, so if you are interested I highly recommend this awesome kit full of a really cool exclusive stitching plate designed by Amy Tangerine, exclusive stamp set, and all kinds of goodies from the new CHA releases. I have really enjoyed working with this kit.

This layout really showcases my style right now, and techniques I am still loving; some mist, journaling around the perimeter of the layout, neutral background, some stamping, layers, and clusters of embellishments. I also love to include lots of different types of texture, in this case there is shiny and smooth enamel dots, rough wood veneer, hard acetate, and shiny and bumpy puffy arrow stickers. I also think that mists and stamping adds some fun texture, by adding some base layering to you pages.

Products Used:

• Studio Calico Marks and Co Scrapbook Kit
• Heidi Swapp Color Shine in Teal and Mustard
• Studio Calico Mister Huey in Pretty Pink
• Dear Lizzy Polka Dot Party Heart Acetate Paper 
• Stamping Ink: Versafine in Onyx Black, Prima Chalk Fluid Edger in Vintage Pink

Thank you so much for stopping by today. Let's talk about finding your scrapbook style? How do you know what your style is? An even better question might be to ask, how do you define your scrapbook style? I was able to pinpoint my style by just searching through my last 50 or so layouts, and it soon became fairly obvious that there are some techniques I use again and again. My favorite layouts all follow the techniques I used in this layout, and they feel the most authentically me (I hope that makes sense.) I would love to hear your answers and thoughts on these questions.

I appreciate you being here. I will be back tomorrow with a new Project Life week to share. Up later this week, I will be posting cards, organization, and some of my lists from the awesome 30 Days of Lists group. I hope to see you back here.

Happy Scrappin'

xoxox

Toni

Project LIfe 2013: Week 34, August 19th-25th

The majority of this week was spent on vacation in Colonial Williamsburg. I was very careful in selecting what photos to include for this layout, I started with well over 200 photos from our trip, and just chose my favorites from each of our activities. I just try to keep it as simple as possible. I also kept this week simple by only using items from a pre-selected kit. Just like with week 33, I used the Studio Calico Marks and Company Project Life Kit. The only extra elements I included are the light blue stickers, the cork heart, and the mint green embroidery thread. Sticking to a kit really sped this layout up for me.

Now onto Project Life:

Full Layout:

Left Side:

Left Side Close-Up:

 I embossed a little onto this card, using the awesome 

stamp set that came with the kit. Don't you 

just love white Zig embossing powder?

This title card was made stamping onto Vellum with black 

Stayz-On ink, and doing four really quick and simple cross stitches. 

The rest is just teal letter stickers and a die cut Dear Lizzy card 

laid on top of a white piece of patterned paper.

Right Side:

Right Side Close-Up: 

Just some simple backstitching onto a pre-punched

 kraft tag included in the kit

Let's talk using Project Life kits. Do you like using kits to speed up the process? Are you more of a fly-by-your-seat-of-the-pants kind of gal? What are some of your favorite kits to use? Have you ever tried making your own little kit BEFORE you start putting it all together?

Thank you so much for stopping by today. I appreciate you being here and leaving comments. I hope you have a fabulous weekend. I will be back tomorrow with some more scrappy goodness to share.

Happy Scrappin'

xoxox

Toni

Project LIfe 2013: Week 33, August 12th-18th

Oh how I have missed y'all over this long, hot, muggy, North Carolina summer. Life has gotten crazy busy and hectic these past few months. With both kids home, I feel like all I have done (while in North Carolina this summer) is play entertainment director, referee, clean, and cook. I am sure other mother's out there in blogland can relate to this phenomenon. They say it gets easier when they get older, but mine are nine and thirteen, and nope still not easy. They have their awesomely sweet moments, but this summer they both had some let's say...interesting moments as well. Regardless, I did love having some extra time with them, and I tried to just live in the moment and just soak it all in:  The good, the bad, and (the semi-frequently ugly.) So thankful that I have Project Life to record all of this fun stuff.

The kids and I were fortunate enough to take a long vacation to our home state of Washington this summer. That was such an enjoyable and fun-filled experience. We also took the kids to Williamsburg, VA for a week for some historical sight-seeing and a fun day at Busch Gardens as well. That is such a gorgeous amusement park...if you have never been, I highly recommend it.

Things are getting back to normal now. The school clothes are washed, the house is semi-clean, the kids are back in school, and this momma is proud to admit that I am loving it! Yup, just loving having some time to myself and an empty house during the day. Any other mom's out there proud to admit to not missing having their kids home? Gotta give me some credit for a little honesty. I believe in keeping it real peeps.

Now onto Project Life...

Full Layout:

For this week of Project Life, I kept it fairly simply by sticking to a kit. I used the Studio Calico August "Marks and Company" Project Life Kit. The only items not included in the kit are the light blue number stickers, yellow embroidery thread, Studio Calico wood veneer stars, and Basic Grey Capture label stickers.

Left Side:

Not the best photograph clearly, if you look closely you can see an image of my distorted camera in the & pocket, LOL. Going with it however. Everything was fairly simply on this layout. The yellow stitching in the upper pocket was time consuming, but very simply, and required a needle, embroidery floss, and one episode of Under the Dome. My hubby and I are loving that show, and no I have not read the book, so no spoilers please!!!

Right Side:

How are you doing on Project Life? Are you horribly behind like me? Yes, I am super behind, it is driving me crazy, but I am slowly getting caught up. Little by little and picture by picture. My least favorite part is editing photos, and I felt like I was going to be doing it forever since I had around 12 weeks to catch up (now down to 10.) My solution was to just edit and print photos one week at a time, or two weeks at a time at most. That way I am not so frustrated with editing, choosing, and developing well over 125 pictures at one time. 10-20 in one sitting seems to be the sweet spot for me.

Let's talk photo editing...Do any of you have any photo editing tips? What works best for you? I really need some pointers to make this process go by faster...and don't even get me started on my 7 years of photos on my computer that are not organized (like 90% not organized.) Oh dear.

Thank you so much for stopping by today. I will be back again tomorrow with Project Life week 34 to share and Saturday I will be popping in with some scrappy goodness. I hope to see you here.

Happy Scrappin'

xoxox

Toni