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27/07/2015

Project Life | Week 20



I can't believe it's Monday already! Today I'm sharing week 20, and I must admit that this is probably my favourite layout so far this year. There's just so much to this layout that I can't help but love it the most. Don't tell the other layouts. This week was a little busy, and I lost some photos, but Jon took most of the ones from our trip (smart idea on my part) and so I'm glad we didn't lose more than like 2 that I snapped at the zoo.

Here's the left side of my spread. I love love love love love that Big City Lover card from Studio Calico. I wish I had more of them because I LOVE the city (but not enough to live there of course). This page has 2 flip pockets. They're not done the best, but they're done at a level that's acceptable for me, considering what I had to work with. On the 3 card I journaled about how we celebrated our 3 year anniversary by going to the city!

Here's the first flip pocket. I knew I definitely wanted to include tickets from the zoo and the two movies we saw, but I didn't want to include an insert (I wanted to make a mini album from the zoo so left out most of those photos). I used a scrap pocket from a page I'd cut down (I'm the hoarder who saves all those pieces) and turned it into a flip pocket.
Since this pocket is on the back of the page protector (it opens from the other side) I left a half inch at the top to glue it to the pocket. I don't mind that I can see the adhesive through the flap piece. It doesn't take away from the photo. I adhered a journaling card to the back of the tabbed card and added some journaling about the zoo.
The other two flip pockets are these movie tickets. I left extra space on the right and left (respectively) to glue the flip pockets to the edge of the page where the holes are. It makes the adhesive less noticeable and having them hooked on the ring keeps them in place if the adhesive ever stops holding them to the page.
On the other side of the ticket I have some movie review cards I mamde, and the movie poster.
Here's the right side. The black and white "handmade" card was a 4x6, but I cut it in half and it appears in another spread. I added a label over the card to add some journaling.

Thank you for coming by to see my spread for this week! I hope you have a wonderful day!
-Alexandria


Go share a link to your Project Life spread on the Monday Link Up (here) from Facebook, Instagram, or your blog!

23/07/2015

23 | Places I'm Going to Visit

Originally this post was going to be things that inspire me. But I felt that was too open because a lot of things inspire me (books, movies, a hundred million quotes, craft spaces, everything on Pinterest, etc.) so I'm saving that one and maybe I'll do multiple "things that inspire me" posts in the future. I realize that I'm going away from just the crafty things I used to post, and more into Lifestyle/Creative blogging, and I find myself enjoying it. I enjoy sharing glimpses into my life as well as my creative projects. I've been thinking a lot about changing my blog, and possibly moving to another platform (like typepad), doing some rebranding, and possibly opening a small shop where I could sell some of the projects I make and would love to share with the world!

1. Ireland | Not any particular part of Ireland, I want to see as much of the country as I can. My sister was fortunate enough to go to Ireland earlier this year (in April) with her band group and I was so jealous! I could have signed up to go as a chaperone, but couldn't afford it at the time of the payments. I've agreed to make her a scrapbook of her trip (she can fill in all the journaling) but living through her experience isn't enough for me. I need to see the country firsthand and enjoy every second of it!

2. Scotland | Again, not just one part, I want to see as much of the country as possible. I love their accents, and of course the red hair that my Scottish (and Irish) ancestors gave me. Maybe it's all the styled and edited photos all over Pinterest of various parts of the country, or the fact that I have a thing for castles and wide open country side, or my love of learning the history of various places, but Scotland is one place I NEED to visit. It's been on my bucket list since 2012.

3. London, England | The accents, the red phone booths, the double deck buses and THE Royal Family are just a few reasons I want to see London. The architecture, and the history are a few others!

4. Germany | I literally can't narrow it down to one place in Germany I want to see. I want to see a lot of the country, and after following Paige Evans on Instagram and seeing all her beautiful photos, I could possibly live there! I want to see the history, the colourful architecture, and the country. I know that to most people WWII was far too serious for them to ever visit Germany (or Austria) but I still want to go, and I want to see those things. It's not the same reading about something as it is seeing it.

5. Austria | I don't think it makes me a terrible person that I want to see the concentration camps from WWII. I'm definitely not a history buff, but I've enjoyed plenty of historical fiction, and learning about it all was so interesting to me in school. WWII was the one subject that I actually cared to learn about.

6. Italy | The food and the architecture are the two main reasons I want to go to Italy. It looks BEAUTIFUL there, and after reading Eat, Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert, I NEED to go to Italy and eat some real Italian food. I also want to take in the architecture while we still have the opportunity.

7. Greece | The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants opened my mind to the idea of visiting Greece. While I don't particularly like hot, humid places, I want to see a lot of the history of Greece. I love the architecture, and it's something I think everyone should experience while it's still there.

8. Australia | As much as I dislike hot climates, and bugs the size of small children, I still want to visit Australia. A friend I met in college spent a month in Australia and loved it. I burn easily, but I'd absolutely love to visit some of the wonderful ladies I've met online from there, including my penpal from the One Little Word Facebook Group.

9. China | Jon's dad's family is from China, and him and his parents went a few years ago. They enjoyed it, and I absolutely want to see it. Their architecture is so incredibly unique and I can't imagine being around for millions of years and losing a lot of your history. He talks about their trip a lot and it makes me want to go more every time!

10. Tokyo, Japan | I'm not as interested in Japan as other countries. I'd be fine with just seeing Tokyo, even though I know that's probably not the best way to take in the culture of the country. It is, however the only part of Japan that has piqued my interest.

11. Russia | Even with all of the unrest in the country, it's somewhere I want to visit. I don't know a ton about Russia, but I know that it has incredible history that I'd love to learn more about, and see pieces of for myself.

12. Canada's East Coast | I've never been further than Manitoba, and I want to change that. I want to at least see a portion of every province and territory in Canada, and while I've seen from BC to Manitoba, that's not even half the country. I'd like to start by seeing Newfoundland & Labrador, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Nova Scotia. It looks beautiful out there, and I think it would be a wonderful trip!

13. Toronto, Ontario, Canada | Like I said, I've never been east of Manitoba (Winnipeg to be exact) and I definitely need to see Toronto. A friend from England has been in Toronto since December or January and seeing her exploring the city and sharing her photos on Instagram makes me want to visit it ASAP.

14. Niagra Falls, Ontario | A few people I know have been there and said it was amazing. I've seen pictures, and all that and I need to go! I love waterfalls, and magnificent things. It's something I think everyone should see if they have the chance. I'm not one for tourist-y things or places (this list says otherwise) but I want to see the world!

15. San Fransisco | Thanks to Full House, and the Golden Gate Bridge, of course this would be on my list. I'm clearly very much impacted by the media and my love of bridges (seriously though). At this point it's almost safe to say I just want to see every major tourist attraction around the world.

16. Paris, France | I don't speak any French (except maybe Bonjour, merci and counting to 10) but I want to see the Eifle tower and all the beautiful architecture. My cousin and her husband honeymooned in France and their photos were beautiful. I clearly live vicariously through my family and friends and their travels.

17. Amsterdam, Netherlands | The beautiful architecture more than anything is what draws me to this place. The colorful houses are so beautiful and I need to see them all!

18. Las Vegas, Nevada | Not to gamble. Not for the food. Not because it's a tourist destination. There's a junkyard of old signs in/near Las Vegas, and I'd love to see it. I've also seen a lot of the city in movies, but I want to see it myself (always).

19. Tree House Point, Washington | Thank you Pinterest. It's full of all these cool places around the world, and Tree House Point is no different. I love trees, and camping (minus the bugs) and I think it would be so cool to sleep in a tree house. I always wanted one, but out here we don't have trees that are generally sturdy enough to support a tree house.

20. Banff National Park | Considering that I live in Alberta, and have only driven through the mountains twice (during the same vacation) is amazing. My family didn't do "vacations" when I was younger, so the first time I got close to the mountains I was 19, and was traveling with two friends out to Vancouver Island for two weeks. The second time, we were coming back from the Island.

21. Oregon | The internet is full of beautiful looking photos (of course) and that includes beautiful photos of Oregon. I love the trees and how green everything is in the warmer months. I imagine people who live there don't see it the way I do, but it's definitely on my list!

22. Iceland | It looks so beautiful! Growing up I always assumed that it was an island made out of ice (like the North Pole), but obviously it's not, but even if it was that would be so cool to see!

23. Norway | The internet makes it look so beautiful, but more than that, I want to see as much of the world as I can. I've seen so many pretty photos from Norway, and I think I might have some distant relatives there, so of course I want to see where my family came from (basically all over Europe).

Go ahead, make a travel bucket list. This may very well become a layout. I'm having a lot of fun gradually working through the Type Workshop from Ali Edwards, and it's definitely inspiring me to tell more stories, and document different things I'd never have thought I'd want to remember in the future.

20/07/2015

Project Life | Week 19

Good morning! Today I'm sharing my spread for Week 19. I love the title card this month. Studio Calico never fails to make pretty things!
Here's the left side. I lost a few photos from this week when my phone died, but I managed to get a few from Instagram, and my sister sent me a couple that she had. On the green card I added some washitape and a chipboard piece to tie in the pink a little more.
Here's the right side. I love that Chinese Proverb. I included it in another project, but wanted to include it here as well. I love the grey "you can do this" card, and journaled on it using a white pen! I love how it turned out.

Thanks for coming by to see my spreads this week. I have a bunch of 1/3 kits separated, and I'm not sure yet what I'm doing with them, but if you're interested in any of Becky Higgins older kits (rain, midnight, 5th & Frolic, cinnamon, dear lizzy, maggie holmes, coral, honey, sunshine, azure, olive, kiwi, strawberry or a few WRMK kits) let me know!
-Alexandria


Go share a link to your Project Life spread on the Monday Link Up (here) from Facebook, Instagram, or your blog!

13/07/2015

Project Life | Week 18

Good morning friends! Today I'm sharing Week 18 of my Project Life. I love how colourful this week's layout is. I loved the Be Nice card from Studio Calico, and the colours were perfect for this spread.

Here's the left side. This week had a lot of photos I wanted to include, so there was lots of journaling on photos, and not a lot of space for extra cards. Lately that's been my style, but I know that these last few weeks I haven't taken many photos, so that might change.

Here's the right side. We tried a new game, and played a long-time favourite. I cut the 4x6 May card from Studio Calico down to 3x4 and included that to signify the changing month.

Thank you for coming by to see this spread. I hope you have a wonderful day!
-Alexandria

Go share a link to your blog, Facebook, or Instagram post of your spread (here) on the Monday Link Up.

10/07/2015

Scrapping My Stash | Thank You Cards

First, let me just say that I'm fangirling (is that even a word?) over the comment Paige Evans left on yesterday's post. Both her and Wilna commented on my Instagram post yesterday as well (which is freaking amazing!). I'm forever grateful to be a part of such a wonderful community of people, and I definitely will continue to fangirl when people I admire comment on my work.

In other news, this post is a little later than normal (sorry I was busy spray painting a file cabinet - and not taking before photos). Today I'm sharing some cards I made using this stamp set from Ali Edwards. Originally my plan was to use more paper layers on all the cards, but ended up mostly using the stamp. I just love everything about it, and I can't wait to use it for more cards!

I don't LOVE this card, but I do like it. I think maybe I need to stamp more "mucho thanks" in another shade of purple. I love that the black thanks is hanging off the edge of the card, and isn't perfect. I love how messy it is.
I made two of this card. I made one and gave it to a coworker with a gift certificate for all her help, and made this second one because I didn't photograph the first one, and Jon was all "you have to share this one. That 'dude. you're the best.' sentiment is AWESOME" I love it. It makes me laugh every time I see it.
This was inspired by this Studio Calico Card Sketch (they share sketches on their blog on Sundays), but of course I made it my own. I love how it turned out. I don't think I've ever machine stitched on a card possibly ever, but I LOVE how it turned out. I feel like it ties everything together, and of course it's holding the papers down.
I have the biggest stash of paper scraps ever. I use patterned paper and the leftovers go into a basket, and I rarely look at it again. Then I use a full sheet of the same pattern for a small piece when I could have just used the scrap piece. I'm trying to be better about it and use my scrap pieces, so I dug out this one and stamped a simple "thanks" on the bottom.

I'm a simple person, so I love this card. But Jon tells me it's too simple. I think it's clean and simple and the words become the emphasis of this card (but I might go baack and add some enamel dots or something to make it less boring).

This card is one of my favourites from this batch of cards. The pattern paper is from a super old kit, and I found it in my scraps and knew I was probably never going to use it for anything else, so I made my card a square and found a brown piece of paper to frame it. I used blue and red ink to pull in other colours from the paper. I love how happy it makes me feel when I look at it.

Thanks for coming to check out these cards. I'm always looking for new ways to use my scraps, and of course Paige Evans is the queen of using pattern paper, so I think I'll draw some inspiration from her and make some traditional layouts with scraps.
Have a great weekend!
-alexandria

09/07/2015

Hand Embroidered Page | Unfinished

Good morning friends! After the stress of the last few weeks, I needed something to keep my hands busy, and let my mind focus on anything else. I've been inspired by Page Evans' pages for a while now, and since becoming a member over at Big Picture Classes, and looking through her classes there, I was even more inspired by her embroidered pages. They're beautiful, and I wanted to try it. I had planned to share this yesterday, but instead I'm sharing it now!

When I decided I wanted to do this, of course I thought "I want to do it, but I want to do it in my own way, and on my own terms." I didn't have the time, or the resources to get additional embroidery thread, so once I chose the design I wanted to use, I made a plan using only the thread that I had in my stash (which wasn't much). I chose to use this file from Wilna Furstenberg and shared on Instagram what my plan was. Everyone was excited about my plan, (including Wilna and Paige (I might have had a huge fangirl moment)), and that was all I needed to know I could do this, no matter how long it took me.

I took progress shots to share with Jon, my sister, and Instagram. When I started but I definitely didn't realize just how long it would take me. The very first heart (top left) took me 30 minutes.

After work, I'd come home and work on it while we watched some TV. It really helped me to unwind after work, and it helped me to get it done sooner than if I'd only done it before work. I knew if I set it down to work on something else, I'd never finish it.

I did all of the hearts before starting on the leaves/swirls around the rest of the page. My original plan had been to make all the leaves/swirls green/aqua, but I ran out of it very quickly, so I added in some purple leaves/swirls and I love how the colours looked together.

The finished page is far too pretty to cover up. You'll see on the right side that I have a spot that isn't finished. I'm not sure what I'm doing there, but a few of the holes were too close together and it ripped in a few places, so I just stopped and left it. I might cover it with an embellishment, or a small photo, but currently this page doesn't have any more of a plan than just looking beautiful! I love how it turned out. I almost want to frame it, and never do something this detailed again! But of course my hard work paid off and it looks wonderful! Everyone loves it and I'm so pleased with myself. I'll definitely do this again, just with simpler designs.

Thanks for coming by to check out this layout. I love it so much!
Have a great day!
-Alexandria

06/07/2015

Project Life | Week 17

Good morning! I can't believe it's already July. Where did the first half of the year go? I feel like just yesterday I was taking down the Christmas decorations, and now we're 1/3 of the way through the summer. There's not a whole lot going on for the rest of the summer, so far just Jon's sister's wedding (August 1st) and a trip to Calgary for Global Fest (August 19-21). Soon it'll be December and I'll be asking where the whole year went.

Today I'm sharing my spread for Week 17 (in case you didn't read the title of this post and didn't know). This week started off with 2 days of driving from Dauphin to Wadena to Provost (where I live). We crossed almost 2 provinces in 2 days, but the return trip still felt faster than the trip out (as always). The second half of this week was pretty uneventful aside from my sisters final band performance in Wainwright.

Here's the left side. Since I made a mini album of my Dauphin trip, I left out a lot of photos. I included 1 from the first section of the trip home. The little map is about how we drove past a small town in Saskatchewan called Margo, which happens to be the name of a coworker (who's like a second mom to me), and when Jon didn't believe me, I snapped a shot of the map to send him. The picture of the tractor is from the last stretch of the trip home, and so is the "up the river" photo. The bottom right photo (in the wrong spot of course) is from when we stayed the night in Wadena (at my grandma's house) before finishing our trip.

Here's the right side. Took a "family" selfie with Jon and Gracie while squished onto the couch. It's the only selfie Jon and I have taken together. The right half of this page is about our trip to Wainwright for my sister's final band performance. We took my niece with us, and had a blast!

Thanks for coming by to see my spreads this week. I hope you have a great day!
-Alexandria


Go share a link to your Project Life spread from Instagram, Facebook, your blog, or wherever you share your spreads, on the Monday Link Up (here).

03/07/2015

Currently Layout

Good morning! Today I'm sharing a layout that was inspired by this acrylic word piece that came in a Studio Calico kit. I've never made a currently layout, but given that there's been a lot going on lately, and I want to remember the little details of right now. I've also been trying to use more items from my stash because nobody needs as many embellishments as I have and haven't used.

I wanted to make a 6x12 layout for this because I knew I didn't have enough currently items to make a full 12x12, and I've been wanting to make a 6x12 for a while now (Thanks again Ali Edwards). I wanted to create a haphazard grid of labels on the bottom portion of the layout and put a different currently item in each label.

I made a photo collage that fit with a few of the items on my Currently list. I decided to print it in black and white to go with my neutral colour scheme.
 I tried to keep a similar distance between the labels and decided to keep it rather neutral. I thought about adding a colourful embellishment or two, but decided on just black white and grey.
 I love the little chipboard NOW piece, and put it on foam squares to make it pop off the page. I love the variety of shape and size of labels.I love that my handwriting doesn't look the same on all of the labels, and the variety of directions of writing.

Thanks for coming by to see my spread. I hope it inspires you to create a longer Currently list. You can use items from this list, or make your own. Make a layout using the list in a way you might not normally work, or try a new technique on your page.
Have a great weekend!
-Alexandria