One Little Word | January Prompts

Good morning! Today I'm going to share a little glimpse into my album for my One Little Word. I need to be honest and say that I didn't fill out my prompts and put them into my album until around the middle of January. The class opened on the 1st of January, and I listened to the video, read the message board, and tried to find my word. Like I shared in my post about my word (here), I actively searched for a word that I felt was inspiring. I soon realized that DO was speaking to me, and accepted that as long as my word inspired me, that was all that mattered.

I used the One Little Word stamp from the mini kit Ali created, and a little watercolor heart that says "Do" from the Amy Tangerine Stitched ephemera pack. As soon as I saw this, I knew I had chosen the right word. It couldn't have been more perfect!

Like Ali I love having a variety of sizes in my pages. I like to be able to see beyond the first page to what comes after. I have a love of little see-through pockets as well. Words can't even describe how much I love these first few pages behind my title page.

I cut a baseball card pocket page down like Ali did, and decided I would include a few recent photos (from present, to last summer), I added in a few quotes that I found on Pinterest, and printed them to fit in the remaining pockets. I added a "GO DO" foam sticker from Freckled fawn to a piece of clear plastic and slipped it into the top centre pocket.

Here's a shot of the pages that come after. The back side of my half page, and the prompts. I used the PNG files from the class downloads and typed out the definition, quotation and reason why to fit into a 6x8 pocket page.

On the back side of my baseball pocket page, I included two more selfies, three more quotes and a little foam star sticker to cover the back of the GO DO sticker from the other side.

Here's the back side of the 6x8 page. I used the PNG files again and typed out what I wanted to let go, and invite into my life. On the right side I just printed bout the other pages at 8.5 x 11 and wrote out all the notes I'd been making over the last two weeks. As I was writing, I tried not to over think things, and just wrote the things that were coming to my head.

Here's the final page of prompts. I highlighted the quotes I added that spoke to me in this section. The right side has some additional quotes I included to help motivate me whenever I needed some extra motivation to make my word visible.

I typed out each quote and printed it on watercolour paper. Then I got out my watercolours and painted away and didn't worry about how they looked. I love every one of them. More than I thought I would.

Here's the back side. I added more painted quotes here. I just need to find something to add to the circle in the centre pocket. I feel like all these extra quotes will help keep me motivated to let my word work some amazing magic in my life.

Thank you for coming by to see the beginning of my One Little Word binder. I purchased this WRMK - Grape Soda - binder from JoAnn.com. The colour is just perfect! I'm looking forward to continuing this journey with my word. It's only been a month since I chose my word, and I can already see it making a difference in my life. I'm so glad that I set aside my fears and decided to embark on this journey!

Have a great day!
-Alexandria

Project Life | Title Page & Week 1

Good morning! Today I'm excited to share the beginning of 2015. This year I want to keep everything in one album, so I'm trying to keep my weeks on one two page spread. So far it's been hard to fill even one two page spread. I haven't been taking many photos, but I'm okay with it. Everything I want to remember is still being written down, or photographed.

This year I'm using this gold woodgrain album by Teresa Collins for We R Memory Keepers. I love it. I need to get a page lifter, but otherwise I love everything about this album. I almost want to switch all my Project Life pages into this album (obviously I'd need more albums).

Here's my title page. I decided I wanted to use cards from my stash because none of the first/last cards from any of the kits I have, were really my style. I cut some patterned paper for the top left pocket, and the rest of the cards came from old Studio Calico kits. I'm so happy with how it turned out.

Here's a close up of one of the cards. I used a gold button from the Maggie Holmes embellishment jar, and had Jon cut the back off of it to make it flat, and glued it onto this card. So happy with how it turned out. Just wish it was a little less bulky.

I used a stamp set from Studio Calico to stamp on this card.

Here's my spread for week 1. I was sick so I didn't take many photos, I included a few things I was working on this week, some movies I watched, texts from Jon, etc. I took A LOT of cold medicine this week. I had the world's worst cold and it took me two weeks to get over it.

Here's the left side. I used some cards from the December Studio Calico kit, and a few from my stash. I wanted to keep it simple, and use mostly photos and my words. Being sick wasn't the way I wanted to start my year, but I took photos of the drugs I was taking, and the cough drops. I made myself a couple of smoothies to get some fruits into my system, and took lots of naps.

Here's the right side. The "currently" card has the movies I watched while home sick. I started watching Grey's Anatomy on Netflix, Jon texted me sweet things that made me smile, and I finished Elizabeth is missing. I worked on sample Save the Date cards for his sister, so I printed those off to include. In Week 2, I include the one that she chose.

Thanks for coming by to see this super simple spread for Week 1. Please don't forget to visit Karen's blog to add your link to the link up! I look forward to seeing your spreads and being inspired!

Have a great day!
-Alexandria

Love Themed Mini Album

Good morning! I'm so excited with how most of this mini album turned out. I wish I could make a mini album that was just one thing, but I can't, and I'm okay with that. This was supposed to be about our relationship. Originally FIRSTS from our relationship (inspired by the Story Stamp from Ali Edwards), but it became just a variety of things I love about our relationship, and Jon, and a few firsts from our relationship. It's messy and full of love, and that's basically all I was hoping for with this project.

This album is so full of love that I have to tie it closed to keep it from bursting open. I love it so much. Each one of those tags sticking out, is sandwiched between two photos of memories, and tucked into the pockets I made between each page. I'd like to thank Celine Navarro for her class at Studio Calico that taught me how to make this album from scratch. Perhaps in the future, I'll share a bit of that with all of you!

Here's the cover of the album. Isn't it just beautiful? Pink is definitely not my favourite color, but I just love the way this looks. Originally I was just going to make it, throw in some pink love-y paper for the pages, and sell it or give it away. But after I embellished this beautiful cover, I knew I was going to keep it for myself. I'm so glad I did. The black doily is from My Minds Eye (Sweetest Thing) I cut it in half and stuck it down in two places. The ticket to my heart sticker is also from that line. The arrow is from Maggie Holmes (Open Book) the chipboard hearts are from Studio Calico, and the love thicker is by Amy Tangerine. I used some old white sheets and dyed them different shades of pink using food coloring and water.

Here's What it looks like when you open it. On the left I used some word stickers from MME Sweetest Thing to create a short list of things I love about Jon. I stamped the date the photo was taken in a few places, and tried to do this where I remembered when the photo was taken.

Inside the pocket I included a photo of us from early in our relationship, and a collage I made a few months later.

The photos that were attached to the tag and slipped into the pocket.

 

On this page, I cut the "10 Things I Love About You" sticker in half, as well as my photo, and a chipboard heart and a banner that I stamped "I love you because" onto. I listed 10 things I love about Jon on this page and added some jewel hearts from Freckled Fawn.

Here I used my Firsts stamp set from Ali Edwards. I documented our first date, kiss, I love you's and adventure. I told the stories about each of them and included a collage of one of our trips and a selfie in the pocket.

This page has photos in the pocket, but I wasn't comfortable sharing them here. Nothing super inappropriate, but I don't think Jon would appreciate me sharing shirtless photos of him on the internet. (And none of you need to see that anyways).

I kept this page pretty simple. The pattern paper was super busy so I just stuck down a vellum circle and some heart stickers along with a recent selfie and a little journaling. I don't know why there's an acorn on this page (tucked under the tag) I definitely do not remember putting it there, but I might leave it.

I ran out of photo paper so this page doesn't have a photo in the pocket. I used some chipboard stickers from My Minds Eye (Market Street I think). It says "Perhaps it is our imperfections that make us so perfect for one another". It's perfect for this photo. Jon and I have so few pictures of the two of us, and since I (sorry for being so blunt here) got fat, I try and avoid them whenever possible.

The final page is from our first Christmas in our first house together. The bell ornament my mom made me for that year. It's so pretty and I love her for making it for us. It will always be front and center on our tree. Eventually our goal is to replace our set of purchased ornaments with ones from family that mean something to us. I almost want to write the year on all of them, but I'm pretty sure they're all documented in our Project Life at some point.

Thanks for coming to see this album. It's very similar to how I made the Vintage Book album, but instead of using a book cover as my base, I just used some chipboard from the back side of one of those giant fridge calendars. It worked perfectly and was thin enough that I could stitch the fabric down around the edges, plus you can make it any size you want!

Have a great day!
-Alexandria

Project Life: Week Fifty-Two

Good morning! Today I'm sharing Week 52. Because I got sick just after Christmas, I combined the last week and a half into one week. I wanted to keep the year together, and didn't have many photos from the end of the year, so I included a few extra Christmas photos, and made it a double two page spread to finish off the year. 

Here's the first spread. This covered our work Christmas lunch, and Christmas with my parents on Christmas Eve. I used cards from the Christmas Theme Pack by Becky Higgins.

Here's the left side. I decided to stick to Green for this spread, simply because it felt more cohesive to me. A few photos from our work Christmas lunch, and the Elvis photo was a gag birthday gift for one of my favourite co-workers. She hates Elvis, but we always tease her about the Elvis plate collection (she doesn't have one). She was an amazing sport, and said she'd hang this up, because Jon and I gave it to her. She laughed so hard when she saw it. It was possibly the best gift I ever gave someone. We laughed about it, and she loved it. I promised that next year we'd buy her the Elvis collectable plates.

Here's a few pictures from Christmas at my parents house. Jon made the turkey and snapped a photo of it. It was delicious. after most of the family left, my mom, my sister and I had some wine, and I made sure to get all the baking in the photo. I tried out a new recipe, (I'll share it later), and there were so many sweets that we definitely never made a dent in them. There was only 9 of us, and enough baking for a small army.

Here's the second two page spread, Christmas with Jon's family, a few little things I didn't include earlier in the month. I used the red cards from the Christmas theme pack from Becky Higgins.

The only picture I have from Christmas with Jon's family is the turkey. It was amazing! The food was great, and we had a great time with his nephews, playing in the giant cardboard house they brought to entertain them with. I included a photo of the tree topper, and the ornament his parents gave us (a tradition of theirs is a new ornament every year). We got together again at my parents house to exchange gifts with my brother and watch the kids open their gifts (long story about why they didn't come to the original Christmas).

I made sure to include the window stickers Tori and I put up at the start of the month, but I forgot to include. I included the ornaments his sister and her husband gave us as well. The bottom left photo is of a frame I'm working on with photos of my siblings and I. I found recent photos of them, and collaged them with their "kids" and then wrote the date they became part of the family (more about that later). The bottom right is a 4x6 card with journaling about our New Year's Eve.

I started this album with the First Page cards from the Dear Lizzy Neapolitan core kit, and I'm ending it with the last page cards. I might embellish a bit, or add something to a couple of the cards to make it a little less plain (perhaps a photo or something). That's the end of 2014.

Once again don't forget to add your link to the Link Up over at Day to Day. Just click the photo to be taken to Karen's blog and add your link! Browse the other things and be inspired, share your link and inspire!

Have a great day!

-Alexandria