#myselfiescrapbook | Week 4

Good morning! I'm so happy to be sharing the final pages of #myselfiescrapbook but I'm also a little bit bummed that this project is officially over. I had so much fun doing this, and I think it's something that would be fun to do again in a couple years. This is definitely my favourite project I've made so far this year. I learned so much, I "met" some pretty amazing ladies, and I can't thank them enough for creating something so amazing.

In my mini albums, I love adding layers and dimension, and things that aren't necessarily photos, or don't serve any purpose other than looking pretty. For the page on the right, I had a felt doily and a normal white doily in my stash. I knew I wanted to include them in some way, and I decided to cut them in half and make a little 2x4 page between two full 4x4 pages. I wanted to add layers so I cut a little foam sticker from Freckled Fawn in half and adhered it along the edge after I sewed the doilies together. I love that you can see through a little bit to the next page.

 On the back of the doily page, I just repeated the same thing using the other half of all the elements. On the right, another selfie (of course).

The prompt was #seehowIthrive and I used a photo of my breakfast. I'm trying to eat better, and finding things I actually WANT to eat that are good for me, is one way that I thrive. The photo on the right was "doing something little for ME, like taking a walk when the weather is beautiful". I love that it has a tiny bit of my head in the photo, and the way the sun is shining. It was an accidental photo, but I love how it turned out.

This is easily my favourite 2 page spread in the whole album. I decided that I didn't just want selfies in here. I wanted to include things that inspired me. I have the quote at the start, and I knew I absolutely wanted to include more of them. I feel like this quote fits perfectly with the photo next to it. I make weird faces ALL THE TIME, but I never document them because I think I look ridiculous. I also have bad hair days more often than good hair days, and I wanted to include both of those things. Of course they happened to be in the same photo, but I would have been fine with them being in separate photos too.

My favourite element of those pages is the buttons. I knew I wanted to leave the extra bit of the pocket attached, and originally I was going to add sequins, but happily added buttons in rainbow order instead. I love the way they look. The pattern was completely accidental, I was just pulling buttons from my stash and I wanted them to be coloured on both sides so I chose these ones.

The next pages were about #lovingyourself and it's one thing that I wanted to work on after the stress of the last couple weeks. It started with a good hair day. I love good hair days, and I need to document them more. Loving myself means embracing the good hair days, even if they end in bad hair days. The photo on the right was about loving myself, even when I'm wearing pajama shorts and I haven't shaved my legs for an embarrassingly long amount of time. It was about loving that I can eat yogurt straight from the container, and not feel bad about probably eating a little more than I should.

This page was about trying to inspire myself to continue working on something, even when I wanted to quit. Loving myself means that even when I wanted to quit because things are hard, I find a way to get through it and keep trying. It means finding something that inspires me to be myself, and do the best that I can, even if I don't want to.
 

I love this song. It's almost like my anthem at this point and I play it often. It's not only empowering to me, but it's inspiring. It helped me to keep trying when all I wanted to do was snap under pressure.

This next bit is about being kind to myself. As human beings, we're so very critical of ourselves, and it's such a shame. I usually hate selfies with my whole face in them, and I'm always picking out the flaws I see until I eventually just delete it. But with this photo, I thought about all the things I liked about it. The quote along the bottom says "Create a life that feels good on the inside, not one that looks good on the outside". Things I liked about this photo included my good hair day I was having, but also how I felt. I felt like a million bucks. I was wearing my favourite shirt, my the sun was shining, it was so beautiful outside, I had some time to work on my own creative projects, I got all my contacts and some photos back from before my phone died (but still lost 2 weeks worth of photos). It was a good start to my day and I was happy. The right side is just some cards from the Farmer's Market kit by We R Memory Keepers, some wood veneers, a chipboard flower from an old My Mind's Eye chipboard sheet and a vellum flower from Maggie Holmes Open Book.

I wanted to add some dimension and something different to my book, so I found this old Heidi Swapp chipboard frame. Part of #bekindtoyourself was doing something that made me happy. I bought a TON of new books recently, and that was one way that I was kind to myself. I love reading, and my to-read shelf was getting empty, so I bought some books that I really look forward to reading. I'm rushing to finish my current book so I can pull one of these beautiful books off the shelf!

On the back of the frame, I adhered some patterned paper and a foam sticker. I'm kind to myself by relaxing on the couch with a book, under my favourite blanket EVER (Jon's mom made it for me). The photo on the right is another selfie. This one is probably my favourite from the whole album, and I said as much in my journaling. I used a stamp from the most recent Studio Calico kit, and wrote some kind things about myself and this photo. It was the perfect selfie to end the album with.

The very last page of this album is this photo I found on Pinterest. I loved the quote and I loved that it had some white space on the left side. This quote is one thing I want to remember now that this project is finished. On the left side I journaled about a few things I learned by doing this project, and just ended the whole thing on a happy note. I'm so pleased with how it turned out. I love that adding the lines to my journaling made it look like a separate piece next to the photo.

 My album is full and I love it. It has layers, and embellishments, and photos, and things that matter to me. This is definitely one I'll flip through in the future.

I added a mint tassle to the spine of my album along with the other two and the little charm. I haven't decided if I'll add a title to the spine yet or not. Maybe I'll just add the date.

Thank you for coming by to see the last few pages of my album. This was probably the most fun I've had in a long time, and I'm so grateful to have all these selfies and have them all in one place. I tried a lot of new things, I learned a lot, and I'm grateful for all the people that this project has connected me with. It's definitely been a wonderful experience!

If you haven't done the #myselfiescrapbook, I definitely suggest that you do. It's so much fun, and you definitely won't regret it. Just do it!
-Alexandria