photos, words & paper

Project Life | Aug & Sept

2015-10-28T06:45:00.000-06:00

Keeping things very simple while I try to get back into Project Life. What tends to slow me down is trying to add journalling and embellishing, so I've decided to try having a 3x8 journalling card to summarize each month (similar to Jamaica Makes). With most of the journalling on that card, the rest of my album is focused on the photos.

Since most of the pictures around this time were food-related, I added some stamping to a journaling card using the Brunch set from Kellie Stamps.

I add small amounts of journalling here and there using digital templates by Paislee Press.

For my monthly titles on the 3x8 cards, I used an alpha stamp set by Kelly Purkey. I love adding pops of color with the patterns that come in the stamp set.

I was super excited to receive business cards when I started my new job, so I had to add one in.

I've tried to be less concerned with how well things flow or if colors are balanced on the spreads, and just slotted the photos in where they fit. It's certainly less "pretty" and less embellished, but I'm really enjoying the simplicity.

Project Life | Aug 2015 pt 1

2015-10-07T17:19:00.000-06:00

Back to my favorite, familiar Project Life size, 6x8. I did enjoy working with 9x12, but with how sporadically I was taking photos/keeping up with Project Life, I thought that the smaller format would work best. I decided to go with the Simple Stories 6x8 sn@p album I had from a few years ago (when I foolishly thought I was going to complete a December Daily album). The spine is smaller than the Studio Calico Handbooks, but a huge pro is that I can easily get more page protectors from my local Michaels.

I started off this album with August, and our annual summer trip to the mountains. It was probably the most memorable trip thus far, so I wanted to include more journaling than usual. The 3x8 inserts from Ali Edwards' shop have 6 holes, but luckily 2 of them fit into the sn@p album so I didn't have to punch additional holes. I was inspired by Tara Elias' beautiful Christmas album with the 3x8 journaling card.

On the other side of the journaling, I added another photo since there were so many that I loved. I left the photos on these spreads unembellished and bare, which will continue to be a trend throughout the rest of my album. I want to add most of the journaling directly on the photos digitally, without too many filler cards or embellishments.

To include some of my instax wide shots, I used some 4x6 Project Life fuse pockets. I don't have a fuse tool, but I just punched some holes into the side and it worked well to hold extra photos in my album. To prevent the instax photos from sliding around in the larger 4x6 pocket, I considered stapling the photos in place (a la Kelly Purkey). I didn't want to commit to it so I just left them free floating in the pocket.

Project Life 2015 | April part 2

2015-07-01T06:30:00.000-06:00

One of the reasons I wanted to transition from a weekly approach to more of a monthly/moments approach is because I haven't been taking photos consistently from week to week. This week above is a good example of that. I was lacking in photos and in documentation in general, so I had a few more filler cards than usual. I included a screenshot of a book I read recently, "Brain on Fire".

The Midnight Project Life core kit has been great for filling in blank slots. The colors and style just go with everything!

This particular weekend had a lot of eating out, so I took advantage of using this Kellie Stamps set, "Brunch" available for pre-order today. At first, I was a little hesitant of stamping directly on the photos since I'm not the best stamper, but it turned out better than I expected! I also added some stamping on vellum over a picture for a different look (on the "brunch" photo). Near the bottom, I stamped across two photos that I cut later to fit into the square slots.

One of my favorite stamping looks is gold metallic ink on a black and white photo. I used Galaxy Gold Brilliance ink over this black and white photo of my friend from a brunch adventure.

Products used: Kellie Stamps "Brunch" set, Becky Higgins Midnight Edition Project Life Core kit

Project Life 2015 | April part 1

2015-06-15T06:00:00.000-06:00

It's been a while since I've worked on my Project Life album! I think that attempting a weekly approach was a bit unrealistic, and when I realized this, it took me a while to decide if I should continue to keep the album consistent or try something different. In the end, I decided to just capture things monthly and not worry about having each week separated into one page protector. I was a little bummed that only the first few months will all have a "week in review" card, but I'd rather try an approach that works better for me than making it difficult for myself.

April was my birthday month, and Billy took some instax photos that I wanted to add into my album. I ended up using a trading card page protector from Staples. The slots are a little large for the instax size, but it was the closest fit I could find without trying to make my own page protectors.

Billy picked up the Midnight Edition Project Life core kit for me, so I've been adding the cards throughout to fill in the blanks when I didn't take as many photos. I love the color scheme of the Midnight Edition, lots of black and white and pops of yellow! This spread had a lot of eating out, so I used some fun food-related stamps by Kellie Winnell and Kelly Purkey.

Here's a photo of what the spread looks like in my album. Thanks for stopping by!

Products used: Clearly Kelly "Food Coma" stamps, Kellie Stamps "Epic" set, Paislee Press Week in Review Card, Studio Calico Color Theory ink pad in "lemon zest", Becky Higgins Midnight Edition Project Life Core kit

Project Life 2015 | Weeks 12 and 13

2015-04-22T06:00:00.000-06:00

Week 12 and 13 were lacking in photos, so I had some extra room to play around with creating and embellishing some journaling/filler cards. Although I enjoy the ability to add more 6x4 photos with the 9x12 Project Life size, I really like how easy it is to position the photos and cards in this page protector that has only 3x4 slots.

The Clearly Kelly outline alpha stamps are probably the first alphabet stamps I've used. It can be a bit tedious to line up and align each letter, but it leaves so many possibilities for customized words and phrases. I used them with Staz-On ink to create a journaling card title. To random letters, I added pops of color with the different patterns the stamp set comes with. I also added the checkbox list stamp to note down the different books I read or was in the process of reading. At the top, I included a letterpress card that says "happy memories" in navy ink.

Week 13 wasn't a fantastic week, so I just tried to fill in the pockets and be done with it. I used a couple of 6x4 photos since I was really lacking in photos that week. I added a few filler items like the Ali Edwards digital stamp "make it happen", and created a little card with Amy Tangerine alphas.

To one of the photos, I used a Clearly Kelly stamp with Brillance ink in Galaxy Gold to add a little extra detail.

Thanks for stopping by!

Products used: Clearly Kelly "Food Coma" stamps, Clearly Kelly "Take Note" stamps, Clearly Kelly "Daily Life" stamps, Paislee Press Week in Review Card, Studio Calico Color Theory ink pad in "lemon zest", Ali Edwards Hello Goals digital stamps, We R Memory Keepers Journaling Lifestyle Letterpress Plates

Project Life 2015 | Weeks 10 and 11

2015-04-14T06:00:00.000-06:00

These weeks have a bit more embellishing than weeks previous. I ordered some Clearly Kelly stamps from Paper Issues, and had some fun stamping everywhere. Week 10 was a week off in between placements, so there was some time to relax, exercise, and meet up with friends. On the top left photo, I tried to stamp "big bite" directly on the photo, but my Staz-On ink had dried out (I left it uncovered one night by accident) and I didn't get a good transfer. To cover the mess, I just stamped on a piece of cardstock and stapled it over the botched attempt.

The lines and date in the "documented" card were letterpressed with teal ink. I love the added texture the letterpress gives! On the bottom right photo, I used Brilliance ink in Galaxy Gold. The ink is great for directly stamping on photos and looks especially nice against darker backgrounds.

Week 11 ended up having a brighter color scheme than normal (for me). I noticed I had a lot of red, yellow, and blue in my photos so I used mainly those primary colors for patterned paper and embellishing. This was also the first week I decided to try a different page protector (the one with 9 3x4 slots). This page protector was easier to work with in terms of arranging photos and cards since there were restrictions with 6x4 photo slots.

Although I didn't add many embellishments, I like the extra details of the stamping and letterpressing. It also helped to fill in some slots when I didn't have enough photos. Thanks for stopping by!

Products used: Clearly Kelly "Food Coma" stamps, Clearly Kelly "Take Note" stamps, Clearly Kelly "Daily Life" stamps, Paislee Press Week in Review Card, Studio Calico Color Theory ink pad in "lemon zest", Brilliance Galaxy Gold ink pad , We R Memory Keepers Journaling Lifestyle Letterpress Plates

Project Life 2015 | Weeks 8 and 9

2015-03-16T06:00:00.000-06:00

I'm impressed I've made it this far with Project Life this year! Putting it together a month at a time seems to be working well. I've been trying to make an effort to take more pictures this year, which has made the whole PL process easier since I'm just slotting them into the page protector pockets. Week 8 involved an attempt to start studying for the upcoming national board exam, a hockey game, and cold weather + snow = hot chocolate and marshmallows.

To keep the focus on the photos, I've been using mainly tags and stickers as embellishments. It's also been helping to keep the spreads relatively flat which will (hopefully) save some room in my album. I'm hoping the whole year will fit in one album, but I'm not sure if that'll be realistic.

I wanted to add a full photo, but like I mentioned in this post, getting 9x12 photos printed isn't the most convenient for me. I decided to add a 6x8 photo insert instead. For the text, I used this lovely minimalistic Paislee Press photo template.

This week, I was a little low on photos so I included a screenshot of the TV show I was binge-watching with Billy (House of Cards season 3) and a red filler card from an older Studio Calico Project Life kit. I thought that the phrase was fitting for my last week at my first external practicum. I met up with a friend in my program and we went for our usual bi-monthly brunch. To add some extra journaling, I used a simple Big City Quiet journaling card. For some extra color, I added a floral Paislee Press sticker to the bottom.

Thanks for checking out my Project Life! Have a great week :)

Products Used: Big City Quiet Days of the Week Journaling Cards, Paislee Press Week in Review Card, Paislee Press Pictures and Words No. 7, Paislee Press 6x8 Minimalist Template

Project Life 2015 | Weeks 6 and 7

2015-03-11T06:00:00.000-06:00

For February, I took the same approach as I did in January and waited until the end of the month to put it all together. This seems to be working since it makes it easier to just get one batch of photos printed at the end of the month. For the first week of February, I didn't end up taking too many photos so I had some room to add more journaling. I used the Paislee Press week in review card, a Big City Quiet journaling card for the weekend, and included a Big City Quiet filler card since we had a bit of a snow storm that week. I don't have a color printer at home, so I like that all of these cards come in black and white. The lovely scripted calendar card is by Pretty Organised.

One day during my practicum, I was really craving root beer and I ended up going to all of the vending machines and food shops in the hospital without finding any. One of the other students was nice enough to find me one, which is why I included a photo of the can. I'm not sure what it was about that placement, but I drank more pop there than I have in years combined.

This week's photos ended up being a bit darker. It was dark when I woke up and headed to the hospital, and then I spent most of the day in the basement before going home when it was dark again. Although I love the look of other people's Project Life spreads with soft, light colors, I like that this spread is representative of how little sunlight I was actually seeing. The "lovely evening" script was a digital stamp by Paislee Press. The photo was blurry, so I like that the stamp added a little extra detail.

That week was also Chinese New Year, and I celebrated by having dinner with Billy and his mom. I placed the "let's celebrate" word sticker by Cosmo Cricket directly on the photo of the traditional dinner. On the photo of my cat, I used a Paislee Press template to add some journaling.

Products Used: Big City Quiet Word Stamp No. 3, Big City Quiet Days of the Week Journaling Cards, Paislee Press Week in Review Card, Paislee Press Pictures and Words No. 7, Pretty Organised calendar card

Changing Project Life Sizes: 6x8 to 9x12

2015-03-09T06:00:00.001-06:00

This year seems to be all about the 9x12 Project Life size. Studio Calico and A Beautiful Mess both have new 9x12 albums and page protectors out, and I jumped on the bandwagon to make the change this year. Previously, I've worked with the smaller 6x8 size, but the older Studio Calico album and page protectors I used are now phased out. I wanted to share a few things I've noticed while working with the 9x12 size so far. These are just my thoughts and opinions about moving from the 6x8 to 9x12 size.

PROS: What I like about 9x12

Including more 6x4 photos: When I used the 6x8 Project Life size, I typically picked the page protector that had 4 3x4 slots. Since the whole album is smaller, I liked that this page protector gave you more options to add things. I ended up taking mainly portrait oriented photos since the 6x4 photos would either have to be cut in half or cropped to fit the 3x4 orientation. With the 9x12 size, I can add more 6x4 landscape oriented photos without worrying about how to crop them.

Taking up less space in an album: With the 6x8 album, I would usually work on a full spread (both sides) at a time, which ended up being 8 3x4 slots. My album got filled up pretty quickly, especially since I added a few custom inserts to hold birthday cards and extra pictures. I tried to make the year fit into one album, but it's a tight fit. I'm still filling in the latter parts of the year, and I'm finding that I'm limiting what I put in to ensure that it fits in one album. Rather than doing a full spread, I'm working with one side at a time with the 9x12 album. This works out to 9 3x4 slots, which isn't too different than the amount I filled in my 6x8 album with two sides. I'm also making an effort to keep embellishing flatter in hopes of reducing the amount of albums needed in a year.

Extra space for journalling: As previously mentioned, I have 9 3x4 slots to work with compared to 8 3x4 slots. With this extra space, I have room to add more journalling or filler cards. I usually limited this with the 6x8 album since there was less space available.

Page protector styles: There are four main types of page protectors available for both the Studio Calico and A Beautiful Mess 9x12 albums:

1) full 9x12 (1 slot)

2) 5 3x4's and 2 6x4's (7 slots)

3) 3x4 grid (9 slots)

4) 3x3 grid (12 slots)

I like that they have a few different options to try out, and you won't need to buy a different brand of page protectors that will need to be re-punched. The older style of 4-ring 6x8 album didn't have a square grid page protector, and I ended up having to buy another brand and punch in new holes. It's probably not a huge deal to most people, but I wasn't a fan of all of the extra holes I'd end up with.

CONS: What I don't like about 9x12

Restricted positioning of cards: Although I enjoy adding in more 6x4 photos, the structure of the page protector also ends up restricting where I place them. There are two slots for 6x4 photos, so they always end up being in the same places. When planning out my pages, I set these photos down first and then work around them to add in the journaling cards and smaller photos. With the 6x8 album, I could place my photos or journaling cards in any of the slots since they were all 3x4. It's not a big problem, but it is a bit of a change to have a positioning constraint.

Awkward size for full pages: Once in a while, I liked adding a full page 6x8 photo to my Project Life. It was a nice change from the usual page protector, and I especially enjoyed the look paired with a square grid page protector. With the 9x12 album, I don't think I can add full 9x12 photos. I don't have a home printer that could fit that size, and I can't justify price of a 12x12 or a 12x18 photo print (at the Canadian Costco, the price for a 12x12 or 12x18 print is $5.99). I started adding a few full sized 6x8 prints to my 9x12 album, and they make for fun inserts.

Lack of consistency between pages: Since I work with one side at a time rather than a full spread, sometimes I feel that the flow between pages is not very consistent. Working on a full 6x8 spread usually meant that both sides complemented each other in terms of colors and balance. When I open my 9x12 album, each side works by itself but not necessarily with the page next to it. In a way, I like that each week is a bit different, but sometimes I wish that my album was more cohesive.

Overall, I am enjoying the switch from 6x8 to 9x12. There are pros and cons to both, but so far I like how the 9x12 has been working for me. I've been documenting more than previous years, and I've managed to keep up so far. One of the most important thing is that I'm really enjoying working on it. Another size that I've been seeing lately is 6x12 Project Life that Kelly Purkey and Kellie Winnell are doing. I love seeing their spreads, but I'm not too sure how it'd work for me. Maybe something to look into for another year!

Project Life 2015 | Weeks 4 and 5

2015-02-23T07:00:00.000-07:00

Weeks 4 and 5 are quite simple with minimal embellishing. Week 4 actually has no embellishing, except for the addition of a gold paperclip to hold the ticket stub from The Imitation Game (great movie by the way!). Although my dates got a little mixed up from the previous weeks, I enjoy using the "week in review" card to jot down some of the highlights.

The middle "my brain has too many tabs open" card was a picture my clinical coordinator sent our class. I thought it was nice that she still tries to keep in contact even though we're all spread out in different provinces now. I also included a screenshot of some Project Life spreads that are currently inspiring me. Sometimes I enjoy looking through everyone else's spreads, but at other times it makes me wish that my Project Life looked more like theirs.

Week 5 is probably my favorite of my 2015 spreads so far, probably because I remembered to take photos of people. On the weekend, I got together with a friend from my program for brunch. I loved the yellow color of her sweater, so I ended up adding a similar yellow colored sticker to the bottom of the spread. I like the overall color scheme of the spread with the yellows, blues, and darks.

I went for lunch (right after brunch) with my two good friends I hadn't seen in a while. We went to an interesting New Orleans styled diner, but I was too full at that point to really enjoy anything. It was nice to spend some time catching up with them all the same.

Putting all of January together was quite easy, especially since it mainly involved just slotting the pictures into the page protectors and being done with it. I'm going to try to take a similar approach with February and see how it goes. Thanks for stopping by!

Project Life 2014 | August

2015-02-18T17:16:00.000-07:00

most of the photos in the spreads are taken by Billy Wong
Another Project Life post! This is from my 2014 album which is 6x8. I didn't keep up with PL after about July so I'm starting to fill in some of the missing spaces here and there. This spread is from August and documents a trip taken to the mountains. Billy brought his instant camera, so we ended up with lot of polaroid shots. I wanted to include some of them in my album so I cut down a trading card page protector by Avery. The page protector is bigger than the polaroid photos, so I used some patterned paper to fill in the spaces.

Most of the patterned papers I used were from older 6x6 paper pads. I used Atlantic and Wanderlust by Studio Calico. The blues and greens in Wanderlust were great for the outdoor photos. I always enjoy going to the mountains and I wanted to try to fit in as many photos as possible so I used a page protector with 2x2 squares. The square page protector is by Simple Stories, and required a few extra holes punched in to fit into the Handbook album.

Thanks for taking a look :)

Project Life 2015 | Weeks 2 and 3

2015-02-16T07:00:00.000-07:00

Continuing to keep it simple for weeks 2 and 3. I think weeks 2-4 got a little mixed up together, but I'm just going to leave it as is. I'm enjoying typing up my journaling on the week in review cards and adding text directly to photos, it makes things a lot easier for myself once I get the photos printed.

This week was spent getting used to my external practicum, and I didn't end up taking too many photos so I included a tag from a new clothing purchase (a pair of comfy work-appropriate pants) and a poster from a movie recently watched (The Fall with Lee Pace).

In between weeks 2 and 3, I added a small 3x8 insert for books I was currently reading: Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me by Mindy Kaling, The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkein, The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkein, and Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen. Although Water for Elephants isn't something I'd normally pick out for myself (it's for a reading group that I am helping run at my practicum), it has been an okay read.

Week 3 is mainly just photos and text with no embellishments. It feels a little empty, but I like the simplicity and the contrast of the darker photos. Thanks for stopping by!

Project Life 2015 | Week 1

2015-02-08T12:37:00.000-07:00

twenty fifteen print by Paislee Press
This year, I decided to try a different size for Project Life. Originally I was going to stay with the 6x8 album, but I wanted to try to keep everything in one album if possible. There's been a lot of hype over the 9x12 size, and I thought it would be a good way to cut down the thickness of my albums if I filled one side of a page protector at a time instead of having a full spread. My main concern with the 9x12 was the availability of the albums and page protectors, but I was pleasantly surprised to see that everything was still in stock after the initial debut.

calendar card by Pretty Documented; week in review card by Paislee Press ; top right photo by Billy Wong
As you can see, I'm keeping things simple with minimal embellishing and more of a focus on the photos and words. Although I'm taking a weekly approach with the documenting, I'm waiting until the end of the month to get my photos printed and put it all together. I managed to get all of January done with relative ease, so I'll see how long I can manage to keep it going.

Thanks for stopping by!

The rest of the Gossamer Blue September guest designer projects

2014-10-13T22:04:00.000-06:00

Hello! Long time no post. It's been a busy start to the school year (my last semester of courses, EVER!) and crafting was my last priority. I'm struggling to figure out how to document September in my Project Life album as I have grand total of 2 photos. This month, I've been trying to take more pictures and I might just move on to start that instead of letting September hold me up.

Today I wanted to share the rest of the projects I created last month with the Gossamer Blue kits.

I loved all of the different patterned papers in the kits and wanted to try out the large plus sign trend, so I handcut several of my favorite papers and tried to arrange them in a random fashion. The title card is from a cut-apart paper and I thought it was a great reminder to remember to step away from the little stresses in life that add up.

Most of the time, I tend to layer a lot of paper on my pages. For this one, I wanted to focus on layering embellishments instead. I used some tags and my photo to create a loose grid shape, and added smaller stickers and tabs to each section.

Thanks for stopping by :)

A Case of the Giggles | Gossamer Blue Guest Designer

2014-09-15T07:30:00.000-06:00

Gossamer Blue September kits and add-ons
Another page with the September Gossamer Blue kits. This one documents some of the laughter from my sister's trip. We tried to take some nice photos together, which resulted in a lot of hysterical giggling.

I mixed up the kits and layered some of my favorite patterned papers and embellishments. I loved that there were so many tags and other ephemera in the Crate Paper Notes and Things embellishment pack.

Underneath the layers, I added the silver rub-on stars for some extra shine. For extra dimension, I used pop dots to adhere the layers and curled up the edges.

When I was finishing off the page, I thought about adding some stitching for more texture, but ultimately decided against it. I thought that the dimensional adhesive and curled edges added enough extra texture to the page. I added my title to the bottom corner, and placed a patterned paper in the opposite corner to balance it out.

Thanks for stopping by!

Project Life - July (part 3) | Gossamer Blue Guest Designer

2014-09-12T06:00:00.000-06:00

September Life Pages main kit (sold out), Life Pages Themed Add-On (sold out), Bits & Pieces kit (sold out)
This is the last few bits documenting my sister's visit. I usually keep my spreads quite simple, and using kits with coordinated cards and embellishments helped make the process even more efficient.

The yellow journaling card is from the main Life Pages kit (unfortunately sold out now). I used it to write down some currents, like what we've been watching and eating. The date stamp is from the Bits & Pieces kit (unfortunately also sold out now), and is from Shimelle's new line. On the right is a photo I took while my sister drove us to the mall. She hadn't driven in this city for around 4 years, so it was a fun adventure that resulted in only 2 car honks. Underneath the photo, I added a pink phrase sticker from Shimelle's line.

Why hello there cute cat! It was hard to get a non-blurry photo of him, too speedy. On the other side is a photo taken from the upstairs window, a view my sister hadn't seen in a while. I added a wood veneer piece to the white space in the photo.

I love the blue in this journaling card, such a lovely shade. It was perfect to balance out the light blue from the sky photo on the other side of the spread. I added some journaling about the last few days of my sister's visit. The left side is a family photo, to which I added a simple cork heart embellishment.

When I sent my photos for printing, I sent a few 4x6 sizes that I thought I may want to use for a scrapbook page or other project. I ended up wanting to use this one in Project Life instead, so I cut it into two pieces. I could have just used a different page protector, but I already planned out the next few spreads and they didn't require the 4x6 slot. To the bottom corner, I placed some embellishments and a tag.

Thank you for passing by! If you'd like to see what the amazing design team made with the Life Pages kits and add-ons, head over to the Gossamer Blue galleries.

Free Your Heart Minibook | Gossamer Blue Guest Designer

2014-09-10T06:00:00.000-06:00

Gossamer Blue September kits and add-ons
There were so many lovely papers from the Crate Paper Notes and Things 6x6 pad in the September Gossamer Blue Bits and Pieces kit. I wanted to get a chance to use some of them up, so I decided to create a mini book. The front cover is the specialty gold foil dot paper that comes in the main kit. It's a real standout, and I knew it'd make a great cover for a mini.

When I was putting the mini book together, I was having a hard time trying to think of how to add journaling. I wanted to add more than a small label could fit, and I didn't want to use the backside of the pages since the machine-stitching was showing through. To add a light layer, I ended up printing out journaling and a few filler cards on vellum.

For this page, I layered a few patterned papers from the 6x6 pad. I like having different sizes of papers peeking out of the pages, so I made sure that they went off the edges of the white cardstock. The wood veneer was perfect as a bold embellishment underneath the photos. I added some more hand-journaling to vellum and placed them as strips.

The Life Pages themed add-on had a lot of fun nautical items. I've never been sailing, but I liked that most of the pieces could be used for more general subjects. I used a filler card layered slightly underneath the photo, and added some of the number stickers from the Shimelle sticker booklet since there were definitely a lot of "1, 2, 3" countdowns as we tried to coordinate our jumping. The cork banner is from the main scrapbook kit.

Another page printed out on vellum documenting some memorable quotes from my sister's trip.

The photo had a lot of greens and browns from the trees, so I pulled patterned papers and embellishments from that color palette. It's probably a little hard to see, but we're wearing deerstalker aka Sherlock hats! My sister gave me one for my birthday and we knew we had to take photos with them on while she was here! The touch of British in Shimelle's embellishments were perfect for this page!

There were so many fun little embellishments in the kits this month. I used some to create a banner next to the photo of Billy, who was super awesome about taking photos of us.

Another vellum page recording some of my thoughts about her trip.

Following the format of the other pages, I picked out a patterned paper to place behind the photo and then added some coordinating butterfly stickers. Getting some bubble blowing pictures with our Sherlock hats on was a must! We happily hummed the theme song as we waved the wand around like maniacs.

Thanks for taking a look! I think that this was my favorite project I made with the Gossamer Blue kits. If you want to see the design team's work, you can check it out here: layouts, Life Pages, and cards and other projects.

Better Together | Gossamer Blue Guest Designer

2014-09-08T06:00:00.000-06:00

September Main Kit (sold out), Main Add-On (sold out), Add-On #2, Life Pages Themed Add-On (sold out)
The yellow patterned paper by Traci Reed was my favorite in all of the kits, I used it in most of my projects this month. It's the perfect shade of yellow! I'm looking forward to the Gossamer Blue product lines hitting the stores so I can pick up a few more sheets of it. This page uses an older photo from a photoshoot that was an anniversary present from Billy. We rarely have photos together when he's always behind the camera, so it was a nice treat!

One of my favorite color combinations is yellow, light blue, and red, so I pulled out various sheets from the kits and started layering. To create subtle dimension, I pulled the corners of the papers upwards so they didn't lie flat.

Since the right side was more colorful with the patterned paper, I added a line of embellishments to the left to help balance it out. The page has nothing to do with sailing, but I loved the cork in the Life Pages Themed Add-On and wanted to use it. I tried to arrange and spread the embellishments out in a random fashion to prevent having a straight vertical line. To add more color to the left side, I placed embellishments in the top corner and stitched through them to create a banner.

Thanks for stopping by! If you'd like to see what the Gossamer Blue design team did with the kits, the galleries are over here: layouts, Life Pages, and cards and other projects.

Project Life - July (part 2) | Gossamer Blue Guest Designer

2014-09-04T06:00:00.000-06:00

September 2014 Life Pages Main Kit (sold out)
This spread uses the 2x2 squares page protector from my last PL spread. I always hesitate to use a page protector other than the 4 3x4 slots because I'm never sure if I want to commit to using it on both the front and the back. My sister took plenty of Instagram photos during her trip, so I used those to fill in the squares randomly.

For the filler squares, I cut up some of the 3x4 or 4x6 cards from the Life Pages main kit, or added some of the fun wood veneer or cork embellishments. I had a lot of navy and lime green going on, so I added some pink for a warm touch.

The 2x2 squares were great for my smaller sized Project Life. It can be hard to fit multiple photos and embellishments in the scaled-down album, and the 2x2 squares give you some extra space to play. I used the stamp from the kit on the middle square as a prompt for some journaling.

On the other side of the spread, I went back to my usual 4 3x4 page protector. We had a few action shots jumping in the air, so I decided to include all of them. Over one of the photos, I stapled a trimmed down 3x4 vellum card to balance out the pink from the opposite side.

You can head over to Gossamer Blue to see what the talented design team made with the Life Pages kits and add-ons. Thank you for visiting!

Bubbles | Gossamer Blue Guest Designer

2014-09-01T13:30:00.000-06:00

Main September Gossamer Blue scrapbook kit
I am really excited to be the guest designer for Gossamer Blue this month! With how busy school has been the past year, I've felt out of the scrapbooking loop, and it was great to be able to jump in again. Luckily, I had some time off in August so I was able to create and play with the kits a bit longer than I normally would have. For this page, I used only the main September scrapbook kit. The fun bubble-blowing photo is from my sister's visit back in June. I think I documented her trip in every form - scrapbook layouts, project life, and a minibook!

This patterned paper from Studio Calico's Brighton Pier line had lovely colors and phrases in long strips. I wanted to incorporate them into the white space of my photo, so I cut several pieces into a banner shape and stitched a line through them. For extra texture and dimension, I folded the ends of the banners upwards.

The light patterned background paper is by the new line from One Little Bird, it was tough to use up all in one go! I machine-stitched circles in the background to go with the "bubble" theme, and placed gold stickers randomly around. There are a lot of gold elements in the kits this month, and I loved how they look against darker woodgrain. To finish off the page, I added a wood veneer tag to the top and used the kit stamp to add the date. I used the gold pen included in the kit for journaling in the bottom corner.

Throughout the month I'll be posting more of my layouts and Project Life spreads made with the kits. You can check out what the talented design team made with the kits over here for layouts, here for Project Life spreads, and here for cards and other projects. Thanks for stopping by!

Project Life - July (part 1)

2014-07-28T06:00:00.000-06:00

School is finally over for the year and I get a month to relax. I'm excited to be able to do some crafting and recreational reading! This spread is from the beginning of July from when my sister was still visiting. I wanted to include more photos, so I used a Simple Stories page protector with 2x2 squares. It doesn't fit perfectly into the Handbook album (the Simple Stories page protectors have 2 holes that do not line up with the Handbook holes), so I had to punch 4 new holes.

The left side of the spread is another 6x8 photo. I usually use an older Canon Selphy printer to print out 4x6 photos for Project Life, but I sent in some photos to be printed at London Drugs and decided to get some larger sizes as well.

page protector by Simple Stories, badge button by shopEvalicious
To contrast the more posed photo on the left, I used a lot of candid, laughing photos on the right. There were plenty of giggles throughout the photo-taking. We brought our deerstalker Sherlock hats that my sister bought for us, and blew some bubbles. It was a fun day!

Working with this style of page protector was a little tricky for me with all of the photos and patterns, but I like how it turned out. It was a nice change from my usual 4 3x4 page protectors.

Thanks for stopping by!

Project Life - June (part 2)

2014-07-21T06:00:00.000-06:00

I think I may have missed documenting a couple of weeks in June, but I was too excited to start on photos of my sister's visit. The last time I saw her in person was about 4 years ago, so we were both super excited to spend some time together.

"today happened" tab by shopEvalicious, "there's no place like home" card from July Studio Calico PL kit
The "there's no place like home" card was perfect for this week. I could have definitely used a few more copies of it for other projects! To coordinate the rest of the spread, I drew from the colors in the card: yellow, pink, navy blue, and orange.

vellum pocket from July Studio Calico PL kit, "memorable stamp" from June Studio Calico PL kit (sold out)
Before I added the vellum pocket, the spread looked unbalanced with more color on the right side from the enlarged photo. I love how the orange coordinates perfectly with the orange in the "there's no place like home" card, the benefit of using a kit I suppose! I used the stamp set from the June Studio Calico PL kit to fill in the empty chipboard banner.

page protector by We R Memory Keepers
Since I had extra photos I wanted to include, so I used a page protector with 4 2x2 squares. It was feeling very busy with the large photo on the next side, so I placed a patterned paper from the Dear Lizzy "Lucky Charm" line between the insert and the photo.

Here's a look at the spread without the extra insert. Since this visit was pretty special, I decided to send the 6x8 photo for printing (my home photo printer only does 4x6). This was the first time I've used a 6x8 photo, and I love how it ended up looking!

Thank you for taking a look :)

Happy Six

2014-07-15T09:00:00.000-06:00

It's been a while since I created a layout! I had forgotten my camera when Billy and I went out for dinner to celebrate our 6 year anniversary, but we were both quite tired from school/work so it wasn't a huge celebration or anything like that. When my sister was in town a few weeks later, we went to take some photos. These are a few of my favorite snapshots my sister took of us.

patterned papers from the July Studio Calico scrapbook kit, gold vellum by My Mind's Eye
The Studio Calico July Scrapbook kit had some lovely neutral colors, and I thought that some warm gold would be a great addition. I had a gold striped vellum paper from My Mind's Eye laying around, so I cut out some pieces to create a starburst effect. For extra dimension and texture, I sewed down the middle and pulled the sides up.

thickers by Studio Calico South of Market
For layering, I used a muted pink patterned paper with a few strips of grey and black/white paper tucked behind. I wanted to use the wooden alpha set that came with the kit, but unfortunately it didn't come with a "y" or an extra "p".

badge by shopEvalicious
This layout is quite simple and I didn't use too many embellishments. I added a small cluster of a shopEvalicious badge and feather die-cuts to the right of the photo, splattered some gold ink, and scattered some wood veneer stars to finish off the page.

Thanks for taking a look!

Project Life - June (part 1)

2014-07-13T19:28:00.000-06:00

The last two and a half weeks flew by way too fast, but I was happy to spend some time with my sister who was visiting from the States. This spread is from before she arrived, around the beginning of June. I still love these brush script calendars by Jasmine Dowling, so simple yet elegant.

wood veneer banner from July Studio Calico PL kit, journaling card from Paislee Press
Over the weekend, Billy and I saw X-Men Days of Future Past. We usually buy tickets online and I didn't have a traditional ticket stub, so I decided to add these awesome movie posters instead. On the right is a Paislee Press week in review journaling card (I added "clinic") that I used to document my thoughts about clinic. I added a wood veneer banner by Hello Forever on the top that says "do good".

"slow down" chipboard sticker from July Studio Calico PL kit
That Saturday, we went to check out the Pride Parade, so I included some photos of the floats and a photo of Billy and I. I used a chipboard sticker from the July Studio Calico PL kit on the journaling card, and recorded some thoughts about how quickly these past few months have been going by.

Thanks for stopping by!

Project Life - May (part 4)

2014-06-05T06:30:00.000-06:00

This month went by so fast, I think there may have been a week where I forgot to take any pictures or document anything. I wasn't in the journaling mood when I was putting this spread together, so I got the chance to put in a few more filler cards than I usually do.

Paislee Press Week in Review journaling card
I decided to use the Paislee Press Week in Review cards to document at least one positive thing from clinic every week. It's been a little overwhelming, and I wanted to make an effort to document something that went well or made me smile rather than focusing on what didn't work. This week, I included some quotes from the kids. We learned quickly to be wary of which carrier phrases we use depending on which sounds the child has difficulty with.

Studio Calico digital stamp
A while back, we got tickets for the Ben Folds concert so I included a quick snapshot of the hall while we were waiting for it to fill up and start. I used a digital stamp brush from the Studio Calico Digital Basics class (which is free!) to add "here".

All of Me card by Vanessa Documented
For Billy's birthday, we enjoyed a nice lunch together and spent the rest of the day enjoying some much needed relaxation and lounging around. We've both been quite busy lately, so it was a good change of pace. On the right,I added a lovely brush script card by Vanessa Documented.

Thanks for reading!