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 Fifty

Good morning! I still hate Monday's, but at least I can share my Project Life with all of you. I don't live a super exciting, or glamorous life, but it's my life, and I'm having fun documenting it, in this way. I wish I took more photos, so I could make more mini albums, but given that this year I want to keep everything in one album, I suppose I'll have a few extra pictures that don't make it into each spread, and I can make mini albums with those.

Here's my spread for Week 50. I used the Blush Edition for this spread. I'm trying to use up some of my stash, and use older kits that I have just sitting there. I'm considering taking 1/3 of each kit and setting it aside to donate to the Seniors Lodge. They've been looking for different crafts to make with the seniors, and what's better than helping them to document the wonderful lives they've lived. I'm sure it's something that their families would like. I'll look into getting something started, and if anyone wants to donate any extra cards they have laying around, I'll be sure to get some more information to share.

Here's the left side. I missed my Niece's birthday at the end of last week because I had to work, so I made up for it by going to see her Christmas play at church. She was so excited that I came. I pulled out my two Christmas cups, and made some tea in one. It took me three tries that day to get a hot cup of tea. My niece and I made a lego Christmas tree, and she was so excited about it.

Here's the right side. We added our Christmas tree to our lego train. The lodge had Birthday Bingo for the families of the seniors with Birthday's in December (they do this once every month). We had some unseasonably warm weather, my niece and my cat cuddled on the couch, and a very rare selfie.

This week, we have another Project Life Monday Link Up. Just head over to Karen's blog (here), check out her pages and add your link to the bottom of the post. Don't forget to check out some of the other wonderful spreads being shared, and spread some love.

Thanks for coming to check out my pages!
Have a great day!
-Alexandria

Project Life: Week Fifteen

Week 15. This week was a little busier! the weather finally warmed up a bit, and we took my niece on an adventure. I included a bunch of QR codes for videos and spent a lot of time on this spread. 

Here's the front half of my spread. I used blush, 5th & Frolic, Studio Calico February and March kits, some free printables, and some patterned paper from a 6x6 pad. 

Here's the left side. The snow started melting and so I snapped a couple photos and included some journaling about those.

I made my title card this week using sheet of paper from the In Bloom 6x6 paper pad by MME (my minds eye). I cut a banner from a scrap of white paper and wrote the week on it. 

I made the insert by cutting a Design D page protector in half. I did this simply because I had vertical photos and it was the only page I had on hand with more than one vertical photo.

I used google maps to create a map of our 'adventure' then I found a free road trip printable and cut out the adventure label. The journaling card to the right of it was also a free printable, it wasn't quite 3x4 so I adhered it to another card and then journaled on it. 

Here's the back and right sides of my layout. As you can see there were a lot of QR codes. For this portion I used SC February and March kits, Midnight, Maggie Holmes, Neapolitan, some music paper, and free printables. 

On the back of the insert I tried to keep everything in order. I wrote about my niece singing along to the choir grou and pretending to be the conductor. I included videos of the songs my sisters band performed and one of my niece dancing. 

On the right side, I included Jon's painting and some organizing he did in the basement. I journaled about the adventure we went on, the songs tori sang in the car and I recorded, and her and my sister watching Netflix in the backseat. After we dropped my niece off at home, my brother texted me to tell me that she was so excited about our adventure and couldn't wait to go on another one. It was adorable and so much fun. Probably the most excitement our album has seen in a while. 

Have a great day!

-Alexandria 

Project Life: Week Eleven

This post is long overdue, but there's been a lot of work happening, and I currently have issues with updating this at work. I've also been debating the future of  this blog. I want to do more than just crafty things, but that would involve another name change, or another blog, or something I haven't quite decided upon yet.

Until I figure that out, I'll keep posting my Project Life layouts and crafty things here. So, here's week eleven. I've been keeping up with making the layouts, but falling behind when it came to photographing and posting them here.

This week had a lot of photos that I wanted to include, and when I made it, I was trying to adjust my style a little bit and try being a little more creative with my layouts. Right side is Design C.

Here's the left side of my week. I used a variety of cards from Blush, Midnight, 5th and Frolic, and the March Studio Calico Kit. I try to keep my photos in chronological order as best I can, but I tend to group them in a straight line when I can't. 

This is the front side of my full page insert. It's design D. I didn't really want to journal about any of the photos on this page except the bottom left one, and since it was a vertical photo I just used pic frame to make it a 4x4 square and adhered it to a 4x6 blush card. I used my cricut to cut out the white shape next to it, and wrote my journaling on it so it would stand out a bit more. 

This bottom left photo of the left page, I stamped on a scrap of paper and adhered it to the photo. I wanted to draw attention to the photo and the silly expression on her face. I asked her to say cheese and that was the face she made. 

This is the second half of my layout. I used another card from the SC March kit, some blush cards, and a couple background cards by MAMBI (me and my big ideas). 

Here's the left side. I used the to left card to journal about the icing I accidentally smeared on the cupboard, and I used the bottom card to journal about Jon's Warhammer photos throughout the layout. I like to include his painting progress whenever I can because creating this album is my hobby, and I feel it's important to include bits of his in here. Plus the mat in the bottom left corner is super awesome! It's like a super fancy car mat, and I would absolutely drive cars on it. 

Here's the right side of my week 11. Jon's birthday was this week (hence the cupcakes). We didn't have a fancy dinner or anything for him since we were bothy working, but we took the cupcakes to work and shared, and then a couple days later my sister came by and we ate the cake. 

I used a similar stamp as the beginning of my layout, but it says this guy instead of this kid. I also stamped on the card below it because the journaling went with the photo on the previous page. 

My layouts could be prettier, but I don't always have the time to spend hours on a layout so I make them simple. Perhaps I'll go back and embellish more in the future when I have time. But ten years from now, no one will concern themselves with how much embellishing I did or what products I used. At least I hope not. 

Have a great day!

-Alexandria

Project Life Week Three

Good morning. Sometimes I wish my life was a TV show, then exciting things would happen every week and I'd have something to document. This week Jon went to his first war hammer tournament of the year, and I reminded him to snap a few photos of his trip. 

The left page has a 3x4 journaling card from the Blush Editiom, and a 4x6 title card from 5th & Frolic Edition, both by Becky Higgins. The right side was made using the Kraft Edition by Becky Higgins. The left page is the half page I used for the cake disaster the week before. 

Jon stayed with his sister while he was away, and took a picture of his nephew playing with his toys after breakfast and I finished reading the Rosie Project.

People constantly ask me what Warhammer is, and I still can't explain it. I don't think I ever will be able to, but its really boring to watch. Jon enjoys it so I don't complain, but I don't go to every tournament, only when I absolutely have to. I can assure you though, that there will be more Warhammer spreads to come. The album is my hobby, the least I can do is document a little of his hobby as well. 

Have a great Wednesday!
-Alex

Project Life Week Two

Good morning! I hope you're all having a wonderful week. I think I'm going to designate a specific day to posting my PL pages each week, I just haven't decided what day yet. If anyone knows of any PL link ups, I'd love to hear about them, and possibly link up with other people. 

This week was a little bit busier, than week one, but not crazy. I'm getting into the mindset of 'hey, this is something I'll want to remember in 5 years, maybe I should be taking pictures'. Plus where my nieces and nephews are concerned, they grow up so fast that it's important to take pictures of them. This week I had too many pictures for one page, but not enough for two full pages to I cut one in half. I know that there are insert pages made this way, but living in the middle of nowhere, I worked with what I've got. 

This week, I visited my niece at my moms and we played with blocks. Our tower was taller than she is before it toppled over. I managed to snap a few pictures of our progress and she enjoyed looking at them afterwards. Jon's family also came over for dinner to celebrate Jon's Mom's birthday. His dad loves doing family photos when we all get together so I scanned the one he gave us and put a copy in our album.

Jon and I were responsible for making the cake. Needles to say  it didn't go well. I baked the cake the morning before the party and we think it didn't cool long enough before we tried to take it out of the pan so the cake started falling apart. We ended up cutting a portion of the cake off and icing over the open edge. It was still good, but I much prefer cupcakes or a single layer cake.

The picture and cards on the right side of this page, are from next week. I'm exploring options for a tab to put on the edge of the 'insert' so people remember that they're separate pages.

Both of these pages were made using the Blush Edition by Becky Higgins. 

Have a great day!

-Alex