#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

#myselfiescrapbook | Week 3

Good morning! Today I'm sharing Week 3 of #myselfiescrapbook. I didnt take as many selfies this week as I thought I would. As it is, I've already taken more selfies this year, than I ever did in the entirety of last year. That's pretty crazy, but also super awesome!

This weeks prompt was to take 1 selfie 4 ways. Basically it means to take 4 selfies of different things. The example was 4 shades of lipstick. I chose my 4 go-to hair styles. I've never really noticed the differences of the different ways I wear my hair, so it was cool to see how it changes with a few bobby pins or a hair elastic. I used a divided pocket page, and added some gold number stickers to the right hand side. I trimmed a piece of clear plastic and stuck the numbers back to back on the plastic. I love that it adds that bit of gold I've had throughout this album. I chose not to do any journaling on this page and just left it as selfies and numbers.

On the back side, I have the other two selfies. I love that you can see past the numbers to the page before/after. All the see-through elements are my favourite in this album! There's a lot of them. On the right, I included a selfie with my favourite child ever. We were coming home from my sisters band performance, and we were laughing and singing along to Taylor Swift. It was so much fun, and this picture isn't a good one of either of us, but I wanted to include it because the memory is important to me, and there will always be embarrassing photos of us out there somewhere.

On the back, I adhered some pattern paper to the back of the frame to make it a little prettier. It was just plain brown kraft and I hated it. I had to include another from where I stand selfie because I was wearing my favourite shirt and carrying my favourite otter bag.

Thank you for coming by to see my pages for week 3. I've been having SO MUCH fun with this project. I hope you have a wonderful day!
-Alexandria

#myselfiescrapbook | Week 2

Good morning! Today I'm sharing the pages from my selfie scrapbook for the Week 2 prompt. You can find the prompt on Jen's blog here.

Here's the beginning of my pages for week 2. I love layers and different sized pages, and see-through elements, and I think that's obvious in these pages. I also love labels and tags and cutting things up.

Originally, I had the two 4x4 photos with the tag in the middle, but decided to add the "Yep I take photos of myself" card in between them. I might move it later on, but I like it here for now. It came from the Ali Edwards Click Story Kit, which you can purchase HERE until the 15th of May.

On the back of side I used the card that says "photos" over and over and just used it like a patterned paper. I added a paper heart to the back of the "me" wood veneer, a paperclip from Amy Tangerine and a wood veneer that says "love this". I added the paperclip to hold everything in the pockets. I thought about stapling, or sewing them, but decided I liked the look of the paperclip more.

I added a label, a chipboard star and the bottom half of the sticker to the top of this photo. The rest of the sticker went in the bottom right corner of the left photo. It's definitely my favourite photo from this week. On the right side, I wanted some see-through elements, so I cut a piece of clear plastic and adhered a label to either side of it for my journaling. I love that they're just floating in the pockets, but also serving a purpose.Those photos weren't traditional "from where I stand" photos, but I included them anyway.

On the back side I have two more photos and more labels. On the right side I included the "20 things about me" that I was tagged in on Instagram. It was something neat so I included it in my album on a piece of book paper. I painted some gesso over the page and added a label and flair to the center and paraphrased my 20 things from Instagram to fit onto this page.

They wouldn't all fit on the front, so I added some to the back and drew my own lines (like Ali Edwards does all the time). I had so much fun creating pages this week. So looking forward to the next few prompts, and trying to take selfies beyond the prompts, and include those as well.

Thanks for coming by to see my pages this week! It's still not too late to join in on the fun and start your selfie scrapbook!
Have a great day!
-Alexandria

#myselfiescrapbook | Week 1

Good morning! Today I'm sharing my pages for Week 1 of my selfie scrapbook. I'd hoped to share these sooner, but didn't  get them photographed before I left for my trip to Manitoba, so I'm sharing them now. Better late than never right?

For the beginning of my album, I took some inspiration from a Minibook workshop I took last year at Studio Calico. It was taught by Marcy Penner (one of my faves) and she had a lot of transparent elements, layers and different sized pages. I love that you can see right through my title page into the pages that come after it.

To start, I cropped my photo to a circle, and added the "My Story Matters" from this digital brush set by Ali Edwards. I used the PNG file as an overlay, and changed the colour to a light grey so that when I printed it, you could see through the letters. I typed out #myselfiescrapbook and cut it like a banner. I placed my photo in the pocket and stapled my photo to the pocket page (next to story) so that it wouldn't move around. I then stapled my banner on top of the pocket page.

I love how my photo looks even after I turn the page. It goes perfectly with the tag on the right.

Using the "I AM" stamp from Ali Edwards' One Little Word mini kit  I stamped onto the tag. Then in Word, I typed out a few things about me that were relevant to right now. I love that it offers a little glimpse into who I am, and what I like at the moment.

On the back of the tag, I used a frame from my stash (I believe it came in a Studio Calico kit) and a quote from Julie Gagen (found here).
When I was reading through Jen's intro post about #myselfiescrapbook I knew that I needed to include this quote in my album somewhere. I could have put it on the front of the tag, but decided that it was better for the back of the tag. I didn't want it to distract from my front page, but I love how perfectly it fit with the "my story matters" that I put on my front page.


Behind the tag, I have a little 2x4 pocket that was hidden behind the tag. Originally I thought about moving the tag, or changing the order of the pockets, but decided I was okay with it hiding behind the tag. It's almost like a little surprise when you turn the page.
The first weeks prompts included starting with my feet. I don't really take pictures of my feet, but after a few prompts that involve my feet, I'm a little obsessed with taking selfies that include my feet! This particular photo happened to include Gracie who is always near my feet in the morning.

The second prompt I did was "hands". I hate my hands. Like to the point that I do everything I can not to draw more attention than necessary, but for some reason I notice other people's hands and assume they're staring at mine. Anyways. Enough about my hands. I added a label and journaled straight onto the photo. The journaling on my photo is a short description of what they do/endure during the day.
On the right was "hair" (obviously). I had a wonderful hair day, and took advantage of the natural light in the craftroom. I wish my hair curled that nicely everyday, but since it doesn't I'm trying to embrace the imperfect curls as well. I printed some labels on vellum as well as cardstock and cut them out. Some are from Studio Calico, others are freebies I found on Pinterest. Just whatever I had saved on my computer.

Next up was "favourite shirt". This shirt is one of my favourites right now. I don't know why, I just really like it. Used a self-timer app on my phone to snap this photo.
On the right was "what I carry". I have 2 bags, and so I took a photo of each bag, and it's contents, and journaled about what's in each bag, and where I take it. The top bag was the one I take to work. It usually has my keys for work, a book, and a little zipper pouch full of random things that usually go between both bags (mints, advil, lotion, etc.). The bottom bag is my purse, which has my wallet, a TON of random candy and receipts and lists I forget to clean out of it, my glasses (that I never wear), some lotion, midol and there was a hair elastic, but I don't think it made it into the photo.

Next up was jewelry. I don't wear it much these days, but when I do, it's one of the necklaces in the top corner. The pearl was my very first birthday gift from Jon and I love it so much! The robot and mustache are ones I purchased in college, but still love. My favourite pieces, are two of my owl necklaces. Is it obvious that I'm obsessed with owls? I adhered the labels to a scrap of clear plastic that I cut to fit in the pockets. I used the same label shape on both sides of the top pocket, and a different shape for both sides of the bottom pocket.
The right page's prompt was "now let's see you". I was originally going to take a head to toe selfie, but was feeling like a whale that day, so I opted for just a photo of my face.

I'm definitely enjoying this project so much! I've loved seeing everyone's pages on Instagram, and in the link ups (that I'll be adding my link to). This project fits perfectly into my One Little Word prompt for this month, and I'll definitely be including a piece of this in there in some way.

If you haven't joined the #myselfiescrapbook, it's definitely never too late, and I absolutely suggest that you check out Jen's blog Sunlight & Air and jump on board. You might regret it for a little while, but you'll have so much fun!
Have a great weekend!
-Alexandria

#myselfiescrapbook | Introduction

Good morning! Today I'm sharing a little bit about a project that closely resembles the 30 Days of Me class I took last September. This one is also about documenting yourself, but in a slightly different way. Jen from Sunlight & Air along with a few other ladies have created something they call "My Selfie Scrapbook" you can read Jen's intro to the project here, find a list of suggested supplies here, and find the first week of prompts here.

After a little bit of debate with myself, and convincing myself it was too much like 30 Days of Me (which I plan to do again later this year) I decided to JUST DO IT. I've been looking for excuses to make mini albums, and what's more perfect than a glimpse into little details of life right now? It's only been 7 months since I did 30 Days of Me and things have already changed. We bought new furniture, we're back to work, my nephew is almost a year old. Things aren't insanely different, but different enough that of course I'm going to document them. I hate that I waited so long to get started!

I'm a little bit behind on this project. They've already shared the first 3 weeks of prompts, and I only have the first week finished. Later this week I'll share my pages for week 1. I was gone last week and the week before I left was a little hectic so I didn't get a chance to post this before I left, but I'm doing it now! Better late than never right?

I hope that you'll join in on this wonderful project these ladies have put together. It's never too late to start. The link ups for week one and 2 are still open, and I'd love to see what you create!

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