Project Life: Week Fifty-One

Good morning! Today I'm sharing week 51 of my Project Life. I can't believe I'm almost to the end of sharing my spreads from 2014. It was such a crazy year, and I know 2015 hasn't been much slower! I'm finally branching out of my comfort zone and doing more custom cards. I have one set of wedding invites and save the dates for a wedding this August (Jon's sister). I know of a few people getting married next year, and I've considered reaching out to them, but I'm not sure. I understand this year is about DOING, however I don't want something I love to become work and something I no longer enjoy.

Enough about that. Here's my spread for Week 51. In the summer I was working on catching up on 2011-2013 and used most of my Christmas cards on those pages, so I decided to keep these pages not-so-Christmas-y. Next year I plan to try out December Daily, and just choose one thing about Christmas to document each day in December in a separate album, and keep my pages in my main album, also a little less Christmas-y. This week I used cards from the Jade Edition.

Here's the left side. Have I told you how much I hate socks. Sorry about my toes. I thought I cropped those out. The little Groot one is a photo I found on Instagram and just cropped to fit in the pocket using the PicFrame app.

Here's the right side. I don't know why, but when I have a group of photos from an event, I usually put them on one half of the pocket page, usually stacked. I don't know why, but I do. At the end of this week, we went to my cousins house, and we had never been to her place, so we had to Google Map her address because we got a little lost in the very small town. Apparently they have 50 houses with the same number, but the street they're on are all different. It was confusing, but thank God for smart phones.

Thanks for coming by to see my spreads. Don't forget to add your link to Karen's link party. Just click the above photo to be taken to her blog. Make sure you check out the other links!
Have a great day!
-Alexandria

Project Life: Week Twenty-Eight

Good morning! I feel like I've been a couch potato for a week straight. I took Monday off from the blog to just relax with Jon, and work on the baby announcements for my nephew. I wanted to get a little ahead on assembly before my photos come in (hopefully this week). Today, I'm going to share the photos of my week 28 spread and insert.

Left side and front of insert. This week I used Honey, Maggie Holmes, Studio Calico and Jade. The wood veneer on the bottom center photo is from Studio Calico.

Here's the left side. The photo in the bottom left, isn't particularly recent, it was taken in 2010, but it's the most recent picture I have with my Great Grandmother who passed away recently. The rainbow card is from one of the Studio Calico kits earlier this year (January / February). Behind the rainbow card I placed a 4x6 card with journaling about her, and a few memories. I like that I've hidden some private thoughts behind a card that is slightly symbolic of what happened, without dragging down the rest of the layout.

Here's the front of the insert. Just some of the guys Jon painted this week. Digging the colour combination! I used half of a Design C pocket page.

Here's the back of the insert and the right side. I used Kraft, 5th & Frolic, and Studio Calico.

Here's the back of the insert. Still waiting for Jon's journaling about his painting.

Here's the right side. We played a lot of Wii U this week, and beat Super Mario Bros. U, and all the main levels on Super Mario 3D world. I also included a bit more painting, and the shows we watched this week.

That's all I have for this spread! 

Hope you're having a great week!

-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-Three

Today I'm sharing my layout for week 23. This week starts off with our trip home from my Grandma's (see week 22 for the trip to my Grandma's). This week was very photo heavy, but there were also a lot of cards from the Studio Calico Sugar Rush kit that I wanted to use up.

Here's my first left side and the insert. I used Jade, Honey and Studio Calico cards for this layout. My title was made using light blue foam alphas.

Here's the left side. I included a map from our trip, and some photos of the ever changing weather. It started out rainy, then the sun came out.

Here's the front side of the insert. In the bottom pocket I included some of the songs we sang a long to on the way home. Jon and my sister are almost as terrible as I am, and we had a blast! The top photo is a mirror shot of my mom and my brother in the car behind us. I journaled about it in the 3x4 slot below it.

Here's the back of the insert and the right side to the end of the trip. I used more Honey, Studio Calico, and a couple cards from the Midnight edition as well.

On the back of the insert, I included more weather/scenery photos. I can't help but have a weakness for the bold colours of nature!

Here's the right side. This page was mostly about how we raced to catch up to my older brother and his fiance. We caught up to them about 20 minutes from home. We all thought it was pretty funny, and never thought Jon would seriously race to catch up to them.

Here's the rest of our week. It was pretty uneventful after our trip. I used more jade, and honey cards. 

Here's the left side. We got our new washer and drier before we left, but when we got back, Jon got some help to move it down to the laundry room and move the old ones out. They're beautiful! I started reading a new book so I included that, and a photo of a couple pages. I started sanding my little writing desk finally, and snapped a picture of our green yard. I also snapped a photo of the layout I was working on in the craftroom. I spent most of my free time doing PL this week since it was pretty rainy.

Here's the right side. Jon had a tournament so I included those photos and had him journal about the tournament and how he did. I'm terrible with those things, and I love to have his perspective in there. I might have to tag along and get photos of him actually playing the game to include in future spreads.

Hope you had a great weekend! Thanks for stopping by!
-Alexandria

Project Life: Week Eighteen

Happy Wednesday! I keep saying that I want to bring back washitape Wednesday, but project life has been consuming my crafty time as of late. I know it shouldn't be, but it has been. I made a few cards before Easter for an order, and shared them on my Facebook page, but I haven't made anything post-worthy since (except for two Mother's Day cards I forgot to even photograph).

This week I used cards from Jade edition, Studio Calico, Dear Lizzy Neapolitan and Honey Edition.

Here's the left side. This week I included my happy mail from Two Peas and Freckled Fawn. I didn't have space to put a journaling card in to write about going to Tori's first T-Ball practice, so I journaled right on the picture. I just used my sharpie pen and had no issues with smudging or anything. 

Here i trimmed my photo down to fit on a Dear Lizzy Neapolitan background card. I added a label from Studio Calico to the bottom to journal about it and a yummy flair. 

I'm not a huge fan of alphas, but I got some thinkers, and I've been trying to use them despite my great dislike. I feel like they just look better than my handwriting. I've also decided that on future spreads I might want to try stamping out the week. 

Here's the right side of my spread. I wrote directly onto the photo of the water bottles. I took the photo in a way that I'd have space to write on the photo or at least add a card/tag to journal on. I trimmed around the banner of the journaling card in the bottom left pocket and had it overlap the photo. I trimmed down a journaling card and adhered it to the bottom right photo. 

I've been seeing flip pockets everywhere so I decided to try and make one with things I have on hand. I trim pocket pages to use for inserts, so I trimmed a pocket out of one of the left over halves and stapled it to the front of the pocket. 

And below it I put my May calendar card. I can change out these cards if I want to, or add something to the top of the flap. You can buy pockets that are intended to be flip pockets. They come with a strip of adhesive on them to secure them to the pocket. 

Have you ever used a flip pocket, or made your own? I'd love to hear about your trial and error in the comments. 

Have a great day!

-Alexandria 

Project Life: Week Ten

Can't believe its already week 10, feels like just yesterday I wast starting my album (I'll probably say this again around week 20, 30, etc.).

When I started this album, I knew I wouldn't use a single kit. I thought I'd stick to two of them, then I got Dear Lizzy and thought three would be okay. My pages have gone from bright and pastel coloured, to slightly darker colours. I'm okay with that, I love the variety. This week I used the Jade Edition.

Here's the left side of week 10. I watched a lot of Lost this week, finished one book and started another. I tried out a new recipe for dinner.

This week I included an insert of Jon's hobby again. I added a washitape paperclip to this insert (and all my previous inserts) in coordinating colours.

Here's the full layout with the back side of the insert. Sorry for the right side being a little darker, I was in a hurry to get these on the blog and ice cupcakes for Jon's birthday yesterday.

The top picture of this insert is possibly my favourite (sorry for terrible photo quality). Jon helped his dad take their dogs Snoopy and Dante to the vet this week.

Here's the right side. The top left photo is our neighbour lady and a friend shovelling the little bit of snow we had. The right picture is Gracie sleeping on her head by the window. I included a comic from the book I'm reading because it describes my life right now perfectly. I also included a book Jon got in the mail and was super excited about. Jon's friend visited this week and we played boardgames with him.

This the washitape paperclip I slipped onto this week's insert. I wanted something to tell other people who were flipping through that there was something on the backside of this page so they didn't miss anything. I think its a subtle way to draw attention to it.

Have a great weekend!

-Alex