Project Life 2011

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. 

Ours was fabulous.  

We ate, we played games, we exchanged gifts, we laughed.  We had a ball.

 Steve even got me crafty-stuff for Christmas--- major boyfriend points for him!

I'm a little sad that it's over, but know that I have so much to look forward to.

The New Year is almost here and I just know it's gonna be a good one!

The only negative for me is knowing that 2011 is about to start

and I am only about half way through with my 2009 album!  

Pitiful.

I get further behind every year, but the neurotic little organizer in my head 

that is ever-so-silent when it comes to washing dishes or cleaning my closet 

refuses to allow me to do anything other than a regular, chronological album each year.

Which is totally why I'm so far behind.

But this year is going to be better.  

This year, I'm going to get caught up & stay caught up.

"But how will you do this?" you ask.  

"Will you lock yourself in the house to scrap and doing nothing else for the next year?"

No- not so much.

First of all, I can't pay for the house if I never leave it to go to work.

And eventually, I will need to eat & shower & what-not.

Smelly, starving recluse does not = good scrapbook pages.

Besides, what will  I scrap if I never leave the house?

My answer this year comes from Becky Higgins.

She has this great album concept called Project Life that I'm so stealin'!

 

I'm totally diggin' the concept.

You can check out the link above for all of her official stuff, 

but here's my take on her project and how I plan to do it.

Every single day I'm going to take at least 1 photo of something that represents my day.

It could be anything.

Some people choose to use a year-long theme to make finding things to photograph a little easier.

I've been checking our various message boards & blogs to see what other people have done with this in the past and was really surprised to see the wide variety of themes that people have used.

I've seen:

Wedding Planning

Count-Down to a Baby's Birth

Baby's First Year

Weight Loss Journey

Gardening

Home Remodeling

Holidays

just to name a few.

I thought that was pretty cool, but for me

 I think that I already have too much going on in the next few months to narrow it down to just one theme.

So I plan on just doing life in general.

A photo per day of what's going on in my life that day.

"But aren't you then taking more photos?" you ask.

"Isn't that even MORE pages to create for a yearly album?"

Nope.

Not at all.

That's the nice thing about this project. 

There are no layouts at all unless I want there to be.

All of the photos are printed at 4x6" size and slipped into divided page protectors

with pretty journaling cards to give a bit of info on why that was my Photo Of The Day (POTD).

Super simple!

Yearly album, with no stress involved!

LOVE IT!!!

She has these great kits available for purchase.

(Over there-- on the right is the turquoise one, there's an Amber colored one too)

But I just can't buy even ONE more scrappy thing right now.

Not even one.

You see, we're buying a new house

(That's right--new studio for me in the works!! Hurray!!)

And next week, I'm going to have to start packing all of my scrap supplies.

Yup.  

It's all got to go into boxes.

All the paper, 

and the stamps, 

and the paper, 

and the Cricut cartridges 

and the paper 

and the books 

and the paper.....

You get the idea.

And in just a few very short weeks, 

Steve will be paying for hernia-repair surgery for whatever poor, unwary mover that unwittingly  agrees to take us on.

I've already got a Get-Well card in the works for the poor soul.

So I just CAN'T buy anything else right now.

 But I've got lots and lots of things in my stash that I can turn into a DIY kit, right?

Fun!

I love challenges!

Instead of doing a traditional, 12x12-scrap-every-page kind of yearly album

I'll be using an American Crafts D-Ring Album that I had bought about a year ago for another project and didn't end up using.

 Note to self: Make a cute card to fill that front frame with!!

and about 4-5 packs of divided page protectors left over from my '07  Christmas album.

 The album came with 10 regular 12x12 page protectors, so if I choose to add a couple of regular layouts here & there-- or at the end-- I'm covered.

From what I can see, Becky's kit comes with all kinds of fun journaling cards, quotes, number stickers, rolling date stamp, etc.  all of which I have in my stash.  

Of course, hers are all cute & coordinated and ready to go.

Mine are taking a bit more work, but I've got a good start on them.

I started by choosing a paper stack to work with.

I had a few to choose from.

(You can hear the sarcasm in there, right?)

I chose to use DCWVs Sweet  Stack because I thought there was enough color variety to carry me from season to season and because, for some unfathomable reason, I have 3 of them that have never even been opened. 

(sigh)

I chose 2 paper designs per month.

 (These are for April- I thought the design looked a little like Jelly Beans)

and cut them all down to 4x6" cards.

I'm storing each month's cards in a zip-top bag individually both while I'm working on them & after they're done. Then I will  store all of the zip-top bags, a rolling date stamp, a couple of Slick Writers & a couple of journaling pens all together in a Page Keeper.  

This way, everything is together & I only have 1 album & 1 Page Keeper to keep track of during the move.

 I planned out my journaling cards before I started working on them.

I made a list of every holiday & family event that I know of in the coming year.

That way I can make a specialty card for each event as well as several blank ones.

Here are some of my January cards:

 I spritzed a bit of my home-made Glimmer-Mist on the background here to make the swirl texture on the paper stand out a little more.

 (These cards are 4x6", the others are 3x4")

I've also decided to participate in Ali Edwards One Little Word project this year.

My word for this year is "Can".

No more "can't".  

This year I CAN!

I wanted to make sure that this is represented in my daily activities, 

so I made a couple of journaling cards per month with my word on them.

Here are some of February's Cards:

I'm tellin' ya.  

I have been having more fun making up these little cards than I have had in a long time.

I assembly-line cut all of the background papers & inked all the edges in front of the TV while watching Judge Judy & waiting for my lunch to cook.

(Did I really just admit to watching Judge Judy?? Oiy...)

I have been able to make use of a TON of left-over stuff too. 

Papers from seasonal mat stacks, 

holiday-themed stickers that were sooooo cute but will never make it onto a layout because they're toooo cute, 

quote stamps that I loved, but have never had the right place to use them, 

rub-ons that I only have 1-2 left of, 

all those $1 stamps that I adored, but are just too small to use on cards or layouts

The Designer's Calendar Cricut Cartridge that I had to have, but hmmm I don't make calendars.....  

This is the PERFECT place to finally make use of some of that stuff.  

LOVE IT!!!!

I'll be posting a couple more months worth in a few days.

I certainly have to have to have them all done with in the next week or they might end up in a box somewhere.....

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Do You Remember The Time?

It's almost here!

And for once, I'm ready!

The cards are mailed.

Our stockings are hung.

The presents are finished and (most of them) are wrapped.

All that's left is a little Christmas Eve baking & we're good to go!

Which means that I'm now thinking ahead to The New Year.  

As you probably already know, I'm not much of a journaler.  

I'm not sure why, but I never have been.

Even as a kid, my diary would sit empty & ignored for months between entries.  

So, 2 years ago, in an attempt to make my journaling a little more consistent, I started doing a monthly questions layout. 

Every month I answer each of the following questions about things that I love this month:

1. What was my favorite meal or restaurant?

2. What was my  favorite TV show or movie?

3. What was my favorite typical weekly activity?

4. What was my favorite place to shop this month?

Favorite purchase?

5. Did I learn any new scrapping techniques?

6. Did the kids (or pets, in my case) learn any new tricks this month?

7. What did I love the most about (this month's holiday)

(I'm sure that I found this list of questions in a book or magazine or on a website somewhere, but I have no idea where.)

I also add some random journaling here & there.  

For example, in the 30 days leading up to Thanksgiving, I did a 30 Days of Thankful list.

(One thing each day that I was thankful for.)

I keep all of these here:

Functional, but not very inspiring.  

I started keeping them here thinking that I would later transfer the  journaling to the computer & toss the notebook itself.

I'm now regretting that. 

I wish I had used something a bit sturdier that I could keep intact.

After all, 2 years of my life are in that little book.

This year I decided that I needed something a little nicer.  

Something a little more permanent.

So I made this:

Supplies: Composition Book, PP: DCWV At Home Stack, Mod Podge, Flowers: Prima, 

Pearl Brads: Imaginisce, Letter Brads: JoAnn Craft Essentials, Ribbon: Unknown

In the spirit of expanding my journaling skills, I've also decided to add to my list of questions this year.  

In addition to the ones listed above, each month I will also finish each of the following sentences

(mostly snagged from Big Picture Classes Big Idea Festival this past fall)

I love...

I like...

I loathe...

I live...

I listen...

I lack...

I lost...

I learn...

I labor...

I lament...

I lean...

I've decided that I'm going to keep making myself a new journal every year or so.  

I think that having a pretty place to put my thoughts will be motivation to do it a little more often.

If anyone would like directions on how to do your own journal, please feel free to email me & I will post a tutorial.

I hope you all have a wonderful, safe & happy holiday!

Jingle Jingle

I can't believe that Christmas is only a week away.  

That's soooo wrong.

I'm so not ready. 

I have so much left to do!

Thankfully I did FINALLY finish the Christmas cards.  

I started them, with the very best of intentions, in mid-November at a crop night with The Girls.  

I got 15 or so simple, but cute and stash-friendly cards done.

Supplies: Card Bases: My Mind's Eye, PP: DCWV,  Reindeer Chipboard: DCWV,  Santa Sticker: Recollections,  

Tree Buttons: Unknown, Sentiment: Stampabilities, Bling: Studio 12

Little did I know that I would wake up the next morning with the world's worst cold/flu/miserable-sinus-related-illness that would hang on for weeks.

But I did finally get the rest of our cards done by locking myself in my craft room for 3 days this week doing nothing but 

Cutting,

glueing

flocking,

flocking,

and more flocking!

When those were dry, I flocked all of the red parts of the design and let them dry overnight.

The next morning I added wiggle eyes

 (cuz a Santa Dog is just not a Santa Dog without wiggle eyes)

 gave them all a good coating of sealant spray,

glued the sentiment to the inside,

(available as cut-able SVG files from Lettering Delights )

And they're ready to mail!

Headed off to the post office now 

but I swear, next year, I'm starting our Christmas cards in June!!