Friday, July 29, 2016

Day In The Life | March 2016

Did anyone participate in the last Day In The Life along with Ali Edwards back in March ?

I did. I loved it. I even bought the kit when she first announced that she was having the event. 

With another Day In The Life coming up tomorrow I wanted to share with you my completed project from my DITL back in March.

I decided to put it right into my Project Life album along with everything else and do it pocket style.

It turned out to be a full 12x12 spread and 4 separate 6x12 pages in the middle. This is what it looks like in my album. The full spread with the smaller inserts in between.


I purchased the kit from Ali and this Today card was perfect for my title card. I added a photo of the kids walking to the bus stop next to the title card. One of the items in the kit was the time stamp. I used the date stamp on the journaling card to record some of the things that happened that day.


I added a photo of me doing laundry on the bottom along with a journaling card.


Here is a journaling card and a photo of Maddie's bed. I went into her room and decided to count the number of stuffed animals on her bed. I added the number onto the photo.


I knew I wanted to add a big photo of some sort. I went with a 6x12 of reading time outside in the backyard. I added some tabs onto both of the inserts so that they can easily be turned.


Here's a close up. I added the day in the life digital brush with the date on the bottom. I had the photo printed through Persnickety Prints.


This is the other side of the big photo. I added a bigger photo of the kids playing outside on top of the 4x6 journaling card.

The other side I added in a 6x12 pocket page to hold more photos and such. Patrick came home way early and brought me a drink, Noah loves his new reading nook in his bedroom.


Here are a few close ups.


 

Moving onto the next page and the full 12x12 side.

I added a photo of me working in my scraproom, a journaling card from the kit and a photo of me at Hobby Lobby picking up some stuff for Katelyn's project. 


I really loved this fun journaling card that came with the kit. I added in two small photos and some journaling. I used lots of the time stamps through this whole project. So fun.


One last spread here to talk about. Lots of fun photos, another time stamped card, and a filler card.


Once of the things I loved about doing this project was to take the time to document the small everyday things that we do. I usually will sit down with the kids and ask them about their day and how school was. I had one of the other kids take a photo.


I wanted to try and capture my evening routine a little bit. It involves putting down all the blinds, straightening up the house, making sure lunches are made for the next day, ect.


I am glad that I took on this project last March and although I might not join in tomorrow ( July 30 ) I will be definately doing it again. Maybe when we return home from vacation.

Wednesday, July 27, 2016

Memorial Day Hike | Project Life Spread

Hello everyone ! It's me again checking in. How is everyone's summer ?

We as a family have wanted to start doing some hikes together. This past Memorial Day we made it happen. We drove up the canyon and were up the trail in no time.

I put together these pages using the New Kellie Stamps releases for July. Here is the link to her shop and the digital stamp set I used. Aren't they so much FUN ! I used a lot of them on my spread.



Here is what both pages look like.


Here is the title card. I started out with the Great Outdoors stamp from Kellie Stamps. I took the word  "the" from one of Ali Edwards brushes and added the gold star for a fun look. I used a few hints of gold throughout my spread for some consistency. The title card itself is from the Becky Higgins everyday collection.


 I had been saving this wood veneer piece for a project that we were all together and this one fit the bill. I added the letters MY to the card as well. One of the other colors I added in was green. There was lots of green in the photos and I wanted to make sure I had a little green here and there. I added the small green star onto the card as well.

I snuck in this photo of the rest of the family hiking up the steep trail. One thing I like to do lately is to leave a white border around my smaller photos to add more white space. It makes things look less busy in my opinion.

Before I printed out the picture I added the line of stars from the other set of digital stamp set released this month from Kellie Stamps.Underneath the stars I added another stamp from the set.



Here is a look at the left side. A few fun photos and journaling cards of course.


One of the digital stamps is the compass. I used photoshop to resize it to fit the space I needed for this first journaling card. I printed it out onto some vellum and cut around it to make a fun embellishment.

The other color in my spread that I wanted to use was this pretty blue. I used another filler card that I had and cut it so that I could use the corner. 


All the kids took their time finding the perfect climbing stick. During our hike Maddie kept wandering off to find ladybugs. I took a photo of her ladybug on her walking stick.

I used one of the digital stamps on the middle of the photo and added a few fun embellishments to the bottom. I positioned it right underneath the ladybug in hopes to draw your eye in to the ladybug. 


One more photo I want to mention about the left side. I loved this view that we had while we stopped for lunch. I added a digital brush and the pink and gold heart.


Let's move on to the right side now.

This top left photo was kind of great and kind of funny at the same time. Some of the kids were not in the mood to take photos. Trust me, I did not take that many. But I asked them to walk with me up the trail as I had set my remote on my phone. Well Katelyn purposely hid behind me and Maddie looks like a flamingo with only one leg down. Oh well. 


This fun wood veneer card I have had seriously forever. I finally put it to good use and made a filler card with it. I love seeing these flowers along the way. And don't get me started on the moss on the trees. SO COOL !


If I don't have enough photos or I need to add some more journaling into my spread I will add in a 4x6 journaling card. I made my own using some stickers, and this rubber word TODAY.

Another thing I like to do is to start out my journaling with a bold word or a word phrase. To draw your eye in so to speak, to add some more to the page.  I used the word " adventure" from the digital stamp set to start out my journaling.


These are the last cards from this spread I want to point out. I used another digital stamp onto the small 2x2 photo and made a cluster of embellishments. The other card I just love. I started with this fun circle digital stamp that I added in the small images on the top and bottom, adding in the year with letter stickers.

The pink flower is actually an overlay from the Heidi Swap September Skies Value Kit. I added a few embellishments onto the top of the overlay piece.


Here is one more look at the right side.


We sure had fun hiking and I look forward to doing it again. I also loved working with this digital stamp set from Kellie Stamps. Go check out her shop, lots of great things.

Thanks for coming everyone ! Take Care now.

Friday, July 22, 2016

Disneyland 2016 | Project Life Spread #2

Hello, hello everyone ! I am currently on vacation for the next several weeks but I'm going to be updating the blog while I'm here. Yippee right ?!!

I am going to be sharing another Disney layout. This is the second layout from our 4 day trip we took back in March. I mentioned that I have a plan to create 2 misc. spreads, 1 for Tomorrowland, and 1 for Carsland. This one one is the 2nd misc. spread. Here's what the whole thing looks like together.


Here is the left side. I started out using some supplies from the Say Cheese 2 line from Simple Stories. This line is full of great Disney themed products. I threw in a few other things from my stash and the Magic Story kit from Ali Edwards.


Since I didn't need a title card I created a journaling card instead. This card is from Simple Stories and I added the love stamp and the stars.


If we are in Disney for a birthday we always go to the Character breakfast. Maddie's Birthday was March 1 and so we went to breakfast that day. The two photos on the 3x4 are from that morning.

The next journaling card is one from Simple Stories again paired with the chipboard circle from the Magic kit. I added in some journaling and then some digital words on the bottom.


Here is a closer look.


One of our favorite rides is Pirates of the Caribbean. I snapped a photo of the sign while waiting in line.

This wish card came together so great. The background card is from an old SC kit. I cut out the black castle from a 3x4 journaling card and adhered it to the background card. I though the wood veneer wish piece was so fun and that it needed to be added in this spread. The washi tape on the bottom is from a recent SC kit.


This photo is of the top of Big Thunder Mountain. I added a digital brush from Ali Edwards and a few little embellishments.


I kind love how this card came together. Like really love. The mickey ears I cut out of a Simple Stories card and put onto the journaling card after I had printed on it. The blue chipboard piece is also from the Magic kit. I am so happy to be using that kit now that I have Disney photos. Yippee.



Let's talk about the other side now. This photo on the left is on Noah at the Redwood Forrest area. The kids could spent hours here. There are rope courses, zip lines, and slides galore.



This year was the first time that all 5 of us were able to ride a bunch of rides. Big Thunder Mountain being one of my favorites. The photo on the right is one of them.



This cute little photo of the girls on the rocket ride makes me smile every time. Their faces are full of joy and I always want to remember that.

Can I just say this sparkle card was perfect to hold a quote from Maddie. Love it.


Noah thought I was being silly when I was making a big fuss about going on the kid roller coaster in Toontown.


If you have ever been to Disney you know what I mean about Disney at night has this certain magic all in its own. I snapped a photo and added a digital brush.


Since we were not home to make or purchase a real cake we bought Maddie a carmeled apple for her birthday. We put the 9 candle on it and sang happy birthday to her at the hotel.

The last journaling card is the one about Big Thunder Mountain. I wanted to make a point that it is our favorite ride. Those stickers are from Simple Stories.


Well that is a wrap for my second Disney spread. I have so many more to do and I can't wait to get them done.

The colors for this spread came together rather well, I was surprised. You never know with busy and multiple photos you know. Anyway, I have to go now. Lots of fun to be had while we are on vacation.

Thanks for coming. Take care.

Friday, July 15, 2016

Patio upgrade | Project Life insert

I thought I would check in today with a short blog post/share.

This one is a little story about how I wanted to add a few fun items to the front porch. Nothing big or amazing but I wanted to document it. It all happened in a very busy week, with lots of photos. So I added in an insert. I have to finish up the other side of the insert still but this side is done.


I cut down a regular page protector to use. Although there is a page protector called Design H I believe that is the same configuration.

The top pocket holds a photo of me, my new rug, and my flower pot. I really wanted to get a photo of all of it together and I love it.

In that white space on the right side of the photo I added in a digital brush from Ali Edwards garden set.  On the top I added in those little flowers. In the other corner I added a flower die cut piece and a wood veneer piece from the Cathy Z. value PL kit. One last thing I added to the top of the photo was an overlay from a Becky PL kit. I think it was High Five.


Here are the middle pockets that I added in a photo and a journaling card. I used the newer Simple Stories collection called Bloom & Grow. It is full of wonderful spring/grow/gardeny type stuff. Yes, gardeny ! Oh and a lot of gnomes.

I used this gnome journaling card to tell my little DIY porch update. In the top corner I added a few layers starting with a small doily, a red banner sticker from the collection, a digital word that I cut out from Ali Edwards, and a cork piece.


On the other side is a photo of my new pillows. I added a few journaling strips and a few embellishments.


The bottom photo is one that I took of my newly planted flowers.

I really loved the circle that the flower pot made. I used it to add in the word bloom. I knew I wanted to add something else to this photo and so I fiddled around with a few things but this cross stitched heart die cut piece was perfect. I added a few sticker strips and another cork piece.


That concludes this post. I am glad that I can share this insert with you today. I will be on vacation for the next couple of weeks and hope to check in here and there while I am away. Hopefully I can get some down time while I am vacationing to blog. Crossing my fingers. Take care everyone.


Saturday, July 9, 2016

Disneyland here we come | Project Life

Hello everyone. I am so very excited to be sharing some of our families Disneyland adventures with you all. This past March we surprised the kids and took them down for a 3 day Disney Magic getaway. We told them we were heading to the beach but boy were they shocked when we drove by the Disneyland sign and parked at the hotel.

I have a confession. Ever since our trip to Disney there has been a couple empty page protectors waiting to be filled.  I knew I had some fun and precious photos waiting for me to do something special with. Fast forward to last week. I had this itch to go back to the beginning of my 2016 album and get a few of these "empty pages " filled in. I started with an insert that was empty then I flipped through a few more weeks and landed on the Disney empty ones. I said to myself, " Self, I know you wanted to spend some time to make these pages AMAZING but it hasn't happened yet. It's ok. Let it go, print the photos, write down those stories and in the end you will be happy. " So that is what I did. I didn't spend hours and hours on these spreads, instead I printed photos, played with the supplies I had, and in the end I love them. Okay anyways enough about me and my crazy ways. Let me get to the good stuff.

Here is what the whole spread looks like.


In my planning for what to do with all my photos I decided to fill two spread with random but wonderful photos. Then make a spread about Tomorrowland and Jedi training. And then a last one all about Cars Land. This spread is my first misc. spread which if you looked at it doesn't scream DISNEY and I am ok with that. The photos pretty much gave me a great color scheme and a place to start.



This title card came together easily. I went through my alphas and came across these sort of transparent red alphas. I added the chipboard piece from the Magic Story kit from Ali Edwards on the bottom with the date. This title card is from the Currently edition I believe.


Instead a crowded castle family photo I decided to get one of us all here by the beautiful blooming trees and the castle in the background.

The journaling card is from the GO Story Kit from AE. I added a little sticker from Simple Stories and the wood car.


One of the first things we did was upgrade the kids Mickey Ears. I was not surprised when all 3 of them choose BB-8.


On the bottom I added a few photos. One of them I added to one of the Story Kit cards. Loved the top part and thought a photo would be great on the bottom.



Let's move onto the right side. This side is mostly photos.


I added a few fun things to this photo of me and Katelyn's shadows.

The journaling card is all about a little story about the castle I didn't want to forget.


When we were having a bathroom break Maddie was so funny when she was looking over the map and instructing us on how we were going to go here and there.


Some more fun photos.


While we were there the trees where showing off with their beautiful Spring blooms.



One last pocket to talk about it this fun circle one. I started out with a card from the GO Story kit and cut out the circle from the card. I added this circle digital brush in photoshop and printed it out onto white cardstock. Then added the circle journaling bit. So in hindsight the Mickey balloon really doesn't go with much else but I loved it and wanted to use it. It is from the Simple Stories Say Cheese 2. The pink chipboard piece is from the Magic Story kit. I knew I wanted to use that kit when we went to Disney next. It is perfect.


I am so happy to have a start on my Disney photos. Stay tuned for the next Disney spread.  It is all finished and I will share soon. Thanks for sticking around everyone.