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-Two

Good morning! Today I'm sharing week 42. Back in October before the snow fell. It's hard to believe that there was ever a time when we didn't have snow. It seems like forever ago that I could see the ground, now everything is buried in 2 feet of snow, and it's still snowing. This past week we had snowfall warnings for the entire province. Some places were forecasting up to 70 cm. It's crazy that this is a real thing. The roads weren't the greatest, but they're still travel-able if you have somewhere you absolutely need to be. Luckily we live in town, and the street we live on, is only two houses away from a street that was recently plowed (I believe they did it early last week) so we have no reason not to make it to work. Alright, enough about the weather.

This week I used some cards from Midnight, as well as Studio Calico. I also used my Ali Edwards story stamp from September. The "Fall in Love" card is a wallpaper for my phone that I downloaded from The Wonderforest (here). It fits right into this spread, and I love all the wallpapers I downloaded (which of course was all of them).

Here's the left side. I wanted to use the 10 card from studio calico, and the "a quintessential autumn moment" so I decided on a black and orange-ish yellow for this week. Which of course was perfect because most of my photos are he beautiful orange-ish yellow trees!

Here's the right side. I used a couple of stamps from the Ali Edwards "Story Stamp" you can learn more about the Story Stamp here.

Usually when I print two 3x4 photos side by side, I cut them apart, but in the bottom right pocket I wanted a before/after shot of one corner of the craftroom. I bought a small Kallax from ikea and sold the large bulky drawer unit I had there before, and wanted to document my excitement over pretty craftroom furniture! I spent so much time in there, that little things like that make me very excited.

Simple Stamped Greeting Cards

Today I'm sharing some simple cards I made using some stamps I have from Studio Calico. I keep buying stamps, putting them in a pile and then never using them. I made it a point to try and use some of them in different ways, and make a few simple cards with just stamps. I'm pretty pleased with how they turned out.

This card was made using this stamp set from Studio Calico. Unfortunately it's sold out, but It's so cute! I wanted it to just be simple, so I stuck to two sentiments and the tomato stamp. I love that it comes with the little face stamp, and a die so you could cut it out after you stamp it.

Pears don't really have one color, but it was nearly impossible for me to get the yellow-y/green color of the pear without it looking like a pile of poop. I added a simple "perfect pair" sentiment, but the addition of a "congratulations" would also have been a nice addition.

This card was made using the stamp set from this add-on, also from Studio Calico. I stamped the hello circle, and then took the "one thousand good night kisses" stamp and a scrap of cardstock that I cut to fit over the sentiment, and stamped the circles around the hello. I added some Heidi Swapp mist to finish off the card.

I used the triangle stamp from the stamp set above, and a thank you stamp from my stash to create this card. I love that the thank you stands out against the simple background.

Thanks for coming by to see these cards. I hope you liked them.
I'd love to see what you do with just stamps. Feel free to leave links to your projects in the comments!

Have a great day!
-Alexandria

Christmas Cards - For My In-Laws

I can't believe that it's already December. It's my niece's birthday in a few days, and we have 3-4 Christmas's to try and attend this year. Luckily most of my family lives close enough to make day trips to see them, instead of taking two weeks off to make sure we see everyone. I'd love to go a little further and visit my Aunt & Uncle in Manitoba for Christmas (I have yet to see the house they've been living in for the last 4 years). We'll see how things go.

Every year I make Christmas cards for my in-laws. I usually choose an animal that's somehow associated with them. This is the third year, and the last two years we did a horse, and a panda. This year, we decided on a deer, and after flipping through a dozen card making magazines, I found a simple on that had a deer head on it. I love that they include any cutfile details in the fine print at the bottom, so I downloaded the one they used and started planning.

I chose this cutfile but I hated the head of the deer. So while browsing Pinterest, I came across this photo, and so I used the trace feature in Silhouette, and traced the deer head. The image was small, so I traced it while it was small and after removing the image, I changed the size of the cut design to be the size I needed it for the card.

I used the "mount" from the original cutfile so the deerhead didn't look like it was just floating on the card. I typed out the Merry Christmas sentiment in word, and made a table with boxes the size I needed so I didn't have to think about it, I could just cut them out, cut the ends to make a banner and glue it down.

I love this paper. It's from the DCVW glitter pack. We decided on a stripe because it was more visually appealing than just the solid colors. I love that the glitter doesn't come off on your hands, and get everywhere, but I hated how thin it was. I had issues with it sticking to the cutting mat too well, and ripped a bit of the leftovers trying to get them off, luckily no deer were harmed in the making of these cards!

I also love that the deer don't all look the same. There's a few that are similar, but they're not exactly the same. I apologize for the terrible photos. I meant to do this post last night, but when I got home it was dark, and I couldn't find the lamp, so I took the photos this morning, in a rush before work.

Thanks for coming by to see these Christmas cards! I'm hoping to get mine and Jon's done fairly soon, but with my luck they won't be going out until next year, again.

Have a great weekend!
-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