Project Life | Week 9

Good morning! I'm getting pretty excited about my trip to Manitoba. I'll be honest, the thought of spending a week with my parents, isn't necessarily my idea of a great time, but I'm definitely looking forward to seeing my cousins and getting away for a few days. It'll definitely give me something to document in the coming weeks. Today I'm sharing my spread for Week 9. 

This week I chose to use blue & aqua/teal. It compliments the bottom right photo perfectly! Most of these cards come from Studio Calico, a couple of them come from Dear Lizzy and the Blush Edition from Becky Higgins.

Here's the left side. The top right photo makes my heart so happy. I came around the corner and found Tori laying on the floor flipping through a little photo album. It was the cutest thing, and I definitely want to put mini albums full of people she knows in a space that she can reach them because watching her flip through them is the cutest thing ever. I used Amy Tangerine vellum alphas and my Shimelle date stamp on my title card. I added some ephemera from the Amy Tangerine Stitched collection to the blue card. The bottom right photo was the room design I created using this site. You can customize the patterns/colours of items, but I just wanted to use it to make sure that our new furniture would fit in the room, and figure out how to lay it out so that everything would fit. I saved it and cropped it close to the walls then printed it to fit in this slot. The photo on the bottom left is from mid re-arranging. We were running out of room to move, and it was getting late. Jon was trying to drill a hole in the floor to run the cable for the TV through the basement and up so we could put the TV on another wall.

Here's the right side. The top left photo is the finished TV wall. It's beautiful and I love our new furniture. I love that the doors have glass on the top to display knick knacks and my colourful books, and the bottom of the door is closed in so we can hide all of the DVDs and boardgames. The top right was my brainstorming the new sign. The idea was there, and I knew in my head how I wanted it to look, it just wasn't executed well. The bottom left was my sister wiping off our best work so far. It's so pretty I wish we'd just left it. I was surprised that no one tried to smudge it at all.The bottom right photo is my ampersand wall. I want to add to it, but currently all I have is a bunch of little ampersands. I'm thinking I'll collage them in the shape of an ampersand. A few people have asked me "Why the and signs?" and my answer is simple: "and". It symbolizes the inclusion of something. There's more than just me, it's me AND Jon AND Gracie AND Socks, AND our families. Plus they're pretty. The frame is from Ikea, all of our TV furniture is also from Ikea.

Thanks for coming to check out my spread for Week 9
I hope you all have a wonderful day! I'll be sure to update you about my trip when I get back.
-Alexandria

Project Life | Week 2

Good morning! Today I'm sharing my spread for week 2 of my Project Life. Just a simple spread again, full of crafty goodness, and books.

This week I used cards from the Midnight Edition, and Dear Lizzy Daydreamer mini kit.

Here's the left side. I included a photo of the final Save the Date that she chose. I printed one out to show her how it would look. She loved it. I included a stack of books I got in the mail, the Christmas tree was still up at this point (no big deal right?). I included a shot of my desk while I worked on my One Little Word prompts.

Here's the right side. I was photographing Project Life spreads from December, and the window was frosty, so I snapped a photo of it. Gracie yoga sleeping beside me. I dyed my fingers green making the vintage book mini album this week. I also included the book pages and the final mini album. So pleased with how this week turned out. So far I think I can fit it all into one album!

Thanks for coming to check out this weeks spread. I hope you'll join Karen's link up on her blog! I'd love to see your spreads, and I'm sure you'd love to see everyone else's spreads!

Have a great day!
-Alexandria

Project Life: Week Forty-Five

Good afternoon. I'm a little bit late with this post. Yesterday was a busy day, and I had meant to photograph this spread yesterday morning before my niece came over, and then work on the post after she left. Long story short, I didn't do either of those things. Instead I slept in, showered and played the new Captain Toad game for Wii U. It's so much fun, but also a huge time suck. So this morning I skipped Captain Toad and photographed this spread. But then I played a bit of Captain Toad while the photos were uploading, and let's just say I forgot to work on the post. But I'm doing it now, so that's what counts right?

This week I used Studio Calico, Midnight, and Dear Lizzy. I'm not sure yellow was the right choice for this week, given that it snowed, but I wanted to use that november card, and it tied in the yellow from the popcorn, and the antlers.

Here's the left side. My weeks start on Sunday, so this was the trip home after the funeral. It rained until about half way home, then it turned immediately into winter. We came over a hill, and suddenly snow, and lots of it!

Here's the right side. This was mostly about the middle of the week and our trip to Edmonton for my birthday. We shopped at Ikea, saw a movie (I included the tickets and giftcard we used), got stuck in typical city traffic, and stayed at a hotel (kept the room key). We came home early-ish the next day and I assembled my new craftroom furniture. It's much prettier than what I had in there before.

Thanks for coming by to see this spread. Sorry it's later than usual, the holidays are a busy time of year! Hope you all have a great day!

-Alexandria

Project Life: Week Forty-Three

Good morning! Today I'm sharing my spread for Week 43. I wanted to do a more pastel colored layout since it feels like forever since I did one, wo I went with pink and aqua. I wanted pink to match the sunset, and aqua so I could use that "let your heart sing" card from Studio Calico.

This week I used cards from Dear Lizzy, Studio Calico, and 5th & Frolic. I had very few photos this week, but that was okay because there were a couple of 4x6 cards that I really wanted to use, but hardly ever get a chance to use because I generally want to include so many photos.

Here's the left side. I included a screen shot of some Facebook comments because they made me happy, and my niece was in on it. Who couldn't be happy after seeing that smile! The bottom left photo cracks me up every time I look at it. I feel like I should have blurred out the potion the one pumpkin was drinking because it looks mildly inappropriate.

Here's the right side. I couldn't get the page protector to sit right on the top right photo, and I didn't think about pulling the photo out and just putting it on top, until now, of course. It's a photo of Gracie sleeping, and she has her eyes open, looking at me all "can I help you? I'm clearly sleeping here." The card to the left of it says "this is completely normal" and under it I wrote about gracie sleeping. The bottom right card says "let your heart sing" and under I wrote "even if it's terrible". On the card to the left of it, I journaled about Jon singing "Jessica's tips in Kristal's cup" it was hilarious, and I used another Ali Edwards stamp from the October Story Stamp. I love that her stamps encourage me to write about things in a way that I might not have thought of on my own.

Thanks for coming by to see this spread!
Have a great day!
-Alexandria

Project Life: Week Forty-One

Good morning! Today I'm sharing my spreads from week 41. This week was the week that work re-opened, so we had a lot to do, and tried to squeeze in some downtime early in the week so we weren't crazy stressed at the end of the week.

This week I used Studio Calico cards (again, I know). My title card is from the Dear Lizzy Polka Dot Party mini kit.

Here's the left side. Look at my nephew! Isn't he just the cutest little boy ever! We started the week by babysitting my niece for the whole day, and my nephew came over after supper so they could have date night. My niece fell asleep on the couch after getting really upset because she accidentally kicked her brother in the head. He cried a bit and she had a tired meltdown. Everyone was fine, and we enjoyed the rest of our day together.

Here's the right side. My sister and I were enlisted to work on some chalkboard signs for work. I did all the lettering, and she drew the little wheat details on the bottom of the please wait to be seated sign. I also had to make a giant "we are open" poster for the front window. It was so bright I thought I was going to be blind by the time I finished.
That photo in the 3x4 pocket (of the person) is Jon when he was really young. Someone found it when they were bringing up some stuff from the kitchen, so I snapped a picture of it. It used to hang in the kitchen, and it's the one thing I'll always remember about working back there. Plus it's a picture of little Jon, how could I not include it?
I was going to keep the original newspaper clipping, but it was from 1996, and it was really fragile and yellow from hanging in a restaurant kitchen for almost 18 years, so I snapped a close up of Jon singing, and used the photo instead of the paper clipping.

Thanks for coming by!
Have a great day!
-Alexandria

Project Life: Week Thirty-Three

Good morning! Today I'm sharing week 33.

 

This week I used cards from Dear Lizzy, and printable labels.

 

Here's the left side, I'm waiting for Jon to journal about this fishing trip he went on with his dad, and his sisters. They invited me, but ginger skin greatly dislikes the sun. He had a blast, and I'm glad I convinced him to go.

Here's the right side. On this side I used a lot of labels to journal on my photos. This was when they were making some noticeably great progress in the restaurant. I wanted to get a picture that showed off the booths and the beautiful carpet!

Thanks for coming by! Have a great day!
-Alexandria

Project Life: Week Thirty-One

Good morning! I sat down last week and looked at the number of posts I wanted to squeeze onto the blog before the end of the year, and realized that I was probably crazy, but we're going to see how it goes. There are a few things I'm completely okay with carrying over, like my Project Life album. That way I have a few weeks in the new year to get ahead on my pages before sharing them here, and it'll be one less thing for me to stress about. On the other side of that, are a bunch of things I want to post before the end of this month (Thanksgiving stuff).

Today I'm sharing my layout for Week 31. This is the week my nephew was born! There was a lot going on, but very few pictures were being taken (by me at least), so I tried to keep this layout pretty simple. I used Studio Calico, and Dear Lizzy

Here's the left side. This side was mostly focused around Sunday (the day my nephew was born). It was a crazy day. She went into labor that morning, and by about 1pm she had the baby. We went up around 3 to meet my nephew. My parents were watching my niece, and she was over the moon excited to have a baby brother. I included the photo my brother sent me, just after he was born (top right) and a photo of my niece holding him for the first time. They both look so tiny!! The bottom right is a photo from a couple of days later. I made a set of framed owls for my nephews nursery.

I cut them out on my silhouette, assembled them, and bought frames for them. They loved that I made them to match the bedding and mobile I bought them.

Here's the right side. I included two photos of our slightly neglected cats, and two photos of my niece. We stopped by to drop off the gifts for my nephew, and she asked me to hang out while she played in the pool. It was so hot out that she was lucky she could cool off in the pool.

I can't believe this was back at the end of July. The temperature has gotten cooler with it being fall, and simply looking back and remembering this week, makes me miss the warmer temperatures a little bit, but I'm loving the current sweater weather.

Have a great day!
-Alexandria

Project Life: Week Twenty-Nine

This week, lacked photos. There's a list of things I could have done to push this into a full two page spread (I'll include a few suggestions at the bottom of this post), but I only had a few from the next week as well, so I did a single page with the front of an insert for Week 29.

This week I used Studio Calico, and Dear Lizzy. 

Here's the left side. I used a photo for my title card because the photo was pretty empty. I used the 4x6 spot next to it, to journal about my trip to the lake to visit my niece. The bottom right quadrant is from the beginning of my trip to my Grandma's for the funeral.

Here's the front of the insert, and end of this weeks photos. The top photo is from a photo album, I'm working on putting into a Project Life style scrapbook for my Grandma. The bottom photo is a scrapbook I started to her when I was a preteen. I was so embarrassed by it, but I can see how much my style has evolved from that since then. It also makes me pretty happy that I've discovered Project Life so I can fit all of it into one album, instead of two or three albums.

Here's a few ideas for when you have few photos, and want to push your spread into two pages:

• add a list 
• favourite things
• what you're reading right now
• favourite foods
• more filler cards
• combine two weeks into one
• add photos from another week that either didn't make the cut, or wouldn't fit
• share a story about a loved one or your hometown

There are plenty of other things you could do, just do whatever feels right to you, and fits into your album.

Have a great weekend!

-Alexandria

Project Life: Week Twenty-Six & End of First Album

Good morning! Today I'm sharing week 26, and what I did for the last page of my first album. At the start of the year, I thought I could squeeze the whole year into on album (this was my first year doing project life) but by week 15 I was fairly certain that it'd take two. Lately, most of my layouts have been more than two page spreads, so I was lucky to squeeze week 26 into the first album, and have an equally divided year.

This week I did three double page spreads. Here's the first one. I used cards from Maggie Holmesedition, MAggie Holmes Styleboard, Blush, and Studio Calico.

Here's the left side. We celebrated my mom's and my uncle's birthdays with my Grandma. My niece blew out the candles (of course). I used Dear Lizzy navy polkadot thickers for the title.

Here's the right side. I included my messy desk, and a collage of photos my niece took while we were playing outside.

Here's the second two page spread. I used cards from Studio Calico, Azure, Maggie Holmes Styleboard, and Dear Lizzy Daydreamer.

Here's the left side. We were so excited about our new patio furniture. Jon and my sister did most of the assembly, which was super nice!

Here's the right side. I helped Jon work on some terrain for Out of the Basement. I also got the first coat of paint on my desk (which looks amazing).

Here's the third one. I used coral, strawberry, and azure.

Here's the left side. This side was all of Jon's painting for the week. 

Here's the right side. IT was a bit of painting and some gardening we did before my mom's birthday.

For the last page of this album, I chose to include this 12x12 sheet of paper from the Maggie Holmes paperstack. I feel like it perfectly describes why I'm doing project life. Currently it's in a 12x12 page protector taped to the last page of week 26. I'm considering cutting it up, but I like the way this looks.

How did you divide your first and second album of the year? Did you keep your year to one album? If so, how?

Have a great day! On Friday I'll be sharing my latest Scrapbookers Inner Circle Haul.
-Alexandria

Project Life: Week Twenty-Four

Good morning! On Monday I shared week 23, and it completely slipped my mind that the first portion of this week ties into the last portion of that week. Because my weeks don't keep the weekends together (it has to do with the month cards I chose) sometimes my weeks kind of overlap. 

Last week the second half of my trip started off that spread, this week, the tournament photos from Sunday ended up starting off this spread. I put my title card on the right hand side to keep the tournament photos together. For this portion of the spread I used cards from the Midnight edition, Amy Tangerine Plus one, and We R Memory Keepers Blackboard.

The left side was just more tournament photos, and Jon's chicken scratch journaling. I love that he's happy to be a part of this. I hand him the page and say "could you journal about these pictures on the blank cards. Just write whatever you want, it's your input for the week". He's great about getting me his photos that he wants included too. I'll just say "send me your photos from this week or you don't get to contribute"

Here's the right side. I included his model assembly, my experience with extreme couponing, the movie we saw this week, and the new Wii U and games we picked up.

Here's the second part of my week. This was Thursday morning. I used cards from Midnight, and Studio Calico. The bottom right card was a 4x6 I cut in half and used on this side and the back side of the insert. The insert is a design F page cut in half.

I was visiting my niece at my moms and we were blowing bubbles for the first time this year. It was a little cool and windy, but we made the most of it. I journaled about our blowing bubbles. It took her a little while to get the hang of it, and she's still jealous that I can get a lot out of it and she can only get a few.

Jon came by to blow bubbles with us, and she got some chalk on her face. This bottom right card was a 4x6 and I cut it in half. it says "P.S. You're adorable". The two 3x4 Photos were actually taken after we finished blowing bubbles, but I had a bunch of 3x4s so instead of using half of a design A, I cut down a design F an put her and Jon blowing bubbles at the top on either side of the insert.

Here's the back of the insert and the right hand side. I used different background cards from a variety of kits to complete the right hand side.

The back of the insert. We made a hopscotch, and she tosses the rock and jumps (both feet) to that square, picks it up and tosses it a little further. It's cute. On the right in the middle, is the other half of that card. It says "yes you are". I thought it was perfect for her because she's adorable. I journaled about how she plays hopscotch. She'll hear about it when she's older.

She asked me to help her draw the family. It started out with just her parents, and turned into her drawing her parents, the baby they're expecting, her grandparents (my parents) and her aunties and uncles. It took the entire sidewalk from my moms house to the street, but she had a blast. This is how she got chalk on her face. 

When her mom came to pick her up she was beyond excited to show her all her pictures that she drew for papa (my dad). It rained that night and when she came back the next day she was so heartbroken that her pictures had washed away a little bit and she asked me to help her fix them.

This week was pretty photo heavy and here's the end of it. On Saturday we attended the wedding of one of Jon's friends from Highschool. It was extremely country. Not pictured is the insert I made to put the wedding invitation, and program into. I just used a 6x8 page protector (which they fit into perfectly). I used cards from Dear Lizzy, Jade, 5th & FRolic, and Studio Calico.

In the top right corner, I used the signature they had on the little brown bags from their candy bar to put a title on this layout. Jon took a few photos from the ceremony and I journaled about how the groom drove a tractor and a hay wagon with his groomsmen on it, and the bride tried to hide behind the cars before walking down the aisle. Their vows were sweet and the bugs weren't too terrible.

Here's the right side. The wedding party all rode out on the hay wagon. They continued their country theme to the reception where they had sunflowers and burlap. It was very simple, but so beautiful. I also snapped a picture of jon in the car. The card in the middle on the right says "let the fun begin".

This week wasn't particularly busy, but had a lot of photos. So many memories I wanted to keep.
Hope you have a great week!
-Alexandria

Project Life: Week Twenty

Today I'm sharing week twenty. It wasn't anything special, but lately I've been struggling a bit with choosing cards. I need to clean the clutter off my desk and get rid of some things in the craftroom and hopefully get my crafty mojo back. This week I stepped out of my comfort zone a bit and used glitter. I still hate it, but it was the easiest way for me to get alphas that went with this layout.

This week I used cards and paper from My Mind's Eye: Cut and Paste, Maggie Holmes, Studio Calico, Dear Lizzy Polka Dot Party, Dear Lizzy Daydreamer, and customizable thickers.

Here's the left side. I added some chipboard stickers from the Sugar Rush kit from Studio Calico. The wood veneer heart is from Freckled Fawn. It was our anniversary this week so I journaled about that. Added a double flip pocket on the left to include some texts to my sister about a heavy metal band we wanted to start.

This title card was made using some paper from the 6x6 Cut and Paste paper pad by My Mind's Eye. These thickers were like double sided foam tape, so I added glitter to make them navy and match my layout.

Wood veneer heart and chipboard heart. Also included a chipboard arrow in the top left corner. It's pointing to the photo the journaling goes with.

This card is from the Dear Lizzy Polkadot Party mini kit (I think). I used it to write down the date. It was our two year anniversary and the first time Jon's ever bought me flowers. He's allergic, so he's always bought me other things instead (which I was okay with) but this year he said he'd suffer through it since we already had flowers in the house.

The card with the happy anniversary tag (from the flowers) above it was the inspiration for this whole layout. I wanted to use it desperately so I found a way to pull in the different shades of turquoise and pulled in some navy from the cape when I got my hair cut. I journalled about how I cut off 13 inches of hair again (and took a selfie). We also had the first 'twister' (basically a blizzard, just not from DQ) of the year. It was delicious!

There you have my week 20. Probably the first time this year that I've included something that wasn't a photo or a PL card. It fits perfectly!

Have a great day!
-Alexandria