Project Life | Week 12

Good morning! Today I'm sharing my spread for week 12. This week I tried something a little different, and used a set of digital cards that I won in a giveaway last year. I printed these cards a long time ago, and had wanted to use them, so when I saw that she was having a Design Team call, I made this spread with her cards to submit. I didn't get it, but if I didn't try, I wouldn't know right?

Here's my spread for Week 12. I'm in love with these cards from Little Lamm & Co. These cards are no longer available, but she has some super awesome designs in her Etsy shop. I love her designs, and definitely need to buy more!

Here's the left side.  I added plain black alphas to my title card, and stamped the date. I used the card with the label next to my photo on the top right. I taped them together on the back and then journaled. I used a Studio Calico stamp on the pink 3x4 label card and journaled about Gracie. I journaled about house of cards on the lined card and used the pie chart as a filler card. I journaled about the books using a label from my stash that matched the orange in the title card.

Here's the right side. I included close ups of my AM/PM layouts. The colours went well with the cards in my spread. I finished two more books this week and journaled about those on the yellow label card. In the label spot I wrote in the hashtags that I use when sharing my books on Instagram. On the polkadot card on the right, I journaled about Jon being in Chicago, and my AM/PM layouts. I used the Pie Chart card to journal about how I spent my time this week. Lots of work, reading and creating. It was a good week, but I did miss Jon terribly. He had a blast in Chicago.

Thanks for coming by to see my spreads for this week. I hope you had a wonderful weekend!
Have a great day!
-Alexandria

Craft Haul | Michaels, Ali Edwards, & A Little Scrapbook Shop

Good morning! It's definitely been a while since I shared a craft haul on here. It's also been a while since I picked up as many supplies at one time, as I did when I started these posts. I feel like I have enough stuff in my stash at this point, that there isn't a lot of things that I NEED or have the space for. I have subscriptions to the Studio Calico card and Project Life kits, as well as a subscription to the Ali Edwards Story Kits & Stamps. With all of that, and my lack of crafty time lately, I have a huge stash of things I need to use, so I've been trying to buy less.

Despite all of that above, I can't go into Michael's and NOT buy something that I probably don't really need. I picked up some little metal corners from Tim Holtz, some jump rings, and some black tags.

At some point, I'm making a scrapbook for my sister to document her trip to Ireland over her Easter break this year, so I bought some stickers to hopefully use in that (though probably won't). She had a blast, and I'm so excited to help her document her trip.

I found these beautiful frames (and some other larger and more expensive ones!) and they were buy one get one free, so of course I picked up 2 sets. I wasn't sure what I was going to use them for at the time, but I knew I'd figure it out after I got home. These frames aren't very big, the picture slots are 1" - 3", so they're not very big.

I decided that I'd put photos of our nieces and nephews in them. Jon's sisters each have 2 kids (his one sister has 2 boys and the other has 2 girls), and my brother has 2 kids as well (a boy and a girl), so they were perfect for that.

I also picked up these super cute recollections frames. They will look so cute on the front of a mini album, or on a little gift box. I might pick up some more next time I'm in Michaels. They're just so cute!

Of course I also had to pick up some Project Life cards as well. On the left is the Trinkets value kit. The gold foil made it jump straight into my basket. I've been looking for the Gold Foil kit (center) for a while now. I'm so glad I finally found it! I'm like obsessed with gold foil, just like pretty much everyone else! And I also picked up the Chalkboard kit. I love that it's more than just black and white, it also has some other colours on the black paper.

I picked up a variety of other things from Michaels that I didn't include here. I picked up some metal letters to put in the livingroom, some cork sheets for Jon, and some large gold and silver foil letters from MAMBI. 

A couple weeks ago, Ali Edwards had a sale on her sight. I bought a TON of digital files, but I also bought these three stamp sets, and some white embossing powder. 

While I was in Manitoba, visiting my Aunt & cousins, we visited her local scrapbook store. I found these Tim Holtz lightbulbs I've been looking for online, and I also picked up some little clips. I could have spent an entire day in that shop looking at everything, but we had to pick my cousin up from school, so I reluctantly left the shop with just these items.

I can't wait to share projects using some of these items! I'm so excited to get crafty, I wish I had more time to do crafty things. So many ideas rolling around in my head now. Gonna go write some of them down.
Hope you have a wonderful day!
-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

Project Life | Week 11

Good morning. Today I'm sharing my spread for Week 11. This week was a busy one, so I have two full pages, and 3 inserts of varying sizes. It was fun to create some inserts that allowed me to see all the pages at once.
 

Here's my spread for Week 11. This week I used the Rain Edition from Becky Higgins. It went pretty well with the colours of my cousin's wedding, so I felt that it was a solid choice for this week. PLUS, I haven't used it much lately, and I needed a lot of cards in similar colours because I had a lot of pages/photos this week.

Here's the left side. I didn't take many photos at the start of the week, so most of these are from towards the end of the week. I made cookies for Jon's get together this weekend, and snapped some cute photos of Gracie, and Jon. We finished watching Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. So funny! The theme song is still stuck in my head. I read The Opposite of Loneliness (a must read!), and finished my vision board for One Little Word.

Here's the front of the first insert. I took a Design A page, and cut the top 4x6 slots off, all the way across. I considered keeping the strip along the left edge with the holes so it wouldn't slip down on the right side, but decided not to. So far it hasn't stuck out the bottom of my album, but if it does, I could always move it up to the top 2 rings to keep it from getting ruined.
Here I included the three movies I watched this week. I journaled a bit about all three of them on the card between Gone Girl and The Best of Me. I also included the photo from my 7AM layout. I've changed up the make up I use recently, and I really wish I had a photo of the make up I've used in the past. I think it'd be cool to see what I've changed, and what I've kept the same (though most of it has changed recently). I stamped and journaled on the bottom right photo.

 

Using a stamp from Freckled Fawn, I stamped "Here we go" on this photo. It was taken rather early in our trip, and I wanted to document that I went with my parents and my sister to my cousins wedding. I used black Staz On ink, and just used my fine tip sharpie pen to journal on my photo.

Here's the back side of the insert, and the beginning of the next few pages. I included the program from the ceremony, and just put it into a 6x8 pocket page that I sewed and trimmed a little smaller to fit the program.

Here's the back of the first insert. I finally won something from Roll Up The Rim at Tim Horton's. In the same day, I won 2 free regular coffee. My dad ended up using them both (I prefer mochas), and it was the least I could do since he bought both of my winning drinks. I snapped a couple photos of the guestbook table. Their guestbook was the posted with two wood slices on it. It was so cute! They also had some envelopes on the table with clothespins. They asked guests to write their address on the envelope and clip it onto a tree they had placed near the front of the church, and they mailed their thank you cards out in the pre-addressed envelopes. It was a great way to get addresses they didn't already have!

Using some more Freckled Fawn stamps, I stamped "Pure Joy" onto my photo, and "Yes" onto my journaling card. I stamped a little cup that says "Yum" on a scrap of paper, cut it out and used foam squares to adhere it to the card. I definitely need to stamp in my Project Life more. It adds the perfect little touches to cards and photos.

Here's the front of the second insert. I trimmed the right half off of a Design F pocket page. My sister took a few photos during the ceremony and then sent them to me. They're so cute together! In the little sequin pocket I included a couple of the fake flower petals that Tori picked up off the floor and handed to me after the ceremony, and the little tag off of their S'more wedding favours (so cute).

Here's the back of insert 2 and the front of insert 3.

On the back of insert 2, I used a couple cards from the Rain Edition to document little things about the day. They were the perfect cards to document what the day was about, and journal a bit about all the photos on this insert. The top photo on the left was them braiding a rope. It was a tradition I'd never seen before, but it was interesting. As she was braiding she said "I tried to teach will how to braid, but he still can't, so I guess I'll do it". I love when they can make jokes during the ceremony. Her dress was beautiful! She looked amazing!

Here's the front of insert 3. I cut the right hand side off of a Design D pocket page. During the lunch after the wedding, Tori stuck her glass on her face and was laughing about it. Cutest thing ever! With the help of her dad, and her bridesmaids, Kate made her center pieces. They're beautiful! There were flowers in the jar on the top.
After the lunch, Kate & Will had some photos taken with their families, and while Will was having his family photos taken, Tori asked if I'd take a picture of her and Kate. She thought she looked like a princess. It was sweet!

Here's the back of insert 3 and the right side. This spread is all about the trip home, and some failed attempts at selfies. Lots of journaling on photos, and a bit more stamping.

Here's the back of insert 3. I included my 7PM photo and some journalling about where we were and what we were doing.
The selfies. Oh boy. They're a little embarrassing, but I wanted to include them because they're an important part of the story, plus we laughed about them for AT LEAST half of the trip home. Also caught a picture of Tori colouring. Her dress was so cute! We sort of matched.

Here's the right side. I have a thing for taking photos of the country side while we're driving. I was trying to get a good one of the pink sunset, but it was too far away so it doesn't show up well in the photos.
More selfies, only one of them turned out really well (the second last one). I also made sure to take a selfie of my dress. I love it so much I almost didn't take it off. I also snapped a photo of a terrible park job because I was on the phone with Jon after we finished supper and I mentioned the terrible park job, and promised to send him a photo of it.

Of course I had to stamp on one more photo. Another Freckled Fawn stamp, and I journaled about the trip, and how we laughed ourselves to tears. I think I'll use that stamp more
often!

Thanks for coming by to check out this photo-heavy spread for Week 11. I'll see you next week when I share Week 12.
Have a great day!
-Alexandria

23 | Things I'm Thankful For

I was inspired by this post Ali Edwards put on her blog earlier this week. After reading it, I knew I absolutely wanted to create a list of things I was thankful for. I also decided to use her style of using your age to dictate the number of items on your list. I'm sure I could go on FOR DAYS about all the things I'm thankful for, but perhaps by limiting myself to only 23 things, I'll be able to share more of them in the future.

1. I'm thankful for my family living so close together. All of my siblings, and one of my Grandma's all live in town, and I think I'm lucky that they're all here.
2. I'm thankful for bad jokes that result in genuine laughter.
3. I'm thankful for my books. I could buy them cheaper on an e-reader, but I love holding a physical book in my hand and turning the pages.
4. I'm thankful for our home. It's taken a bit of hard work, but we're lucky enough to have a place that's entirely our own.
5. I'm thankful for Netflix. It's an addiction, and I'm so glad that we decided it was beyond worth the $8 it's currently costing us.
6. I'm thankful for good friends. There aren't many, but I'm beyond grateful to have them in my life.
7. I'm thankful for vanilla Greek yogurt. I discovered it sort of by accident, and now I'm addicted. I thought Greek yogurt was slightly bitter and flavourless, but then I found this and its wonderful. I've replaced ice cream with vanilla Greek yogurt and strawberries. So good! It's also good by itself. Just sayin.
8. I'm thankful for technology. I think it's possible to be too connected, but I'm so thankful that we have the option to always be in touch with those who matter to us. 
9. I'm thankful for the sunshine. Things are finally turning green, and I can't wait for flowers!
10. I'm thankful for music. Some of it's terrible, but I'm so thankful for the good stuff. The songs that make you want to dance around, and sing along, no matter how awful you may be at it.
11. I'm thankful for running water. It would be so incredibly hard to shower without it, and I'm glad I live in a world where we can have running water.
12. I'm thankful for creative people. I can't even tell you how many different people have inspired me over the years, but I'm so thankful for each and every one of them, and their contribution (no matter how small) to my growth as a creative, and a person.
13. I'm thankful for my creativity. It's always been a part of my life, and I'm at the point where I can't even imagine not having some sort of creative outlet. 
14. I'm thankful for unique hair. I know a lot more gingers than I think I should, but none of us have the exact same shade of hair. It's so interesting to see how slightly different everyone's is, even if it's just one shade.
15. I'm thankful for the few people reading this. It means more than you know that you're taking time out of your day to read my words. 
16. I'm thankful for words. My words, other peoples words, words that mean nothing to some people, and everything to others. 
17. I'm thankful for online workshops. I've self diagnosed social anxiety, and online workshops are my source of useful information, and where I learn so many interesting things. I've already signed up for a few this year, and I'm looking forward to those that haven't started yet, and thankful for those I've already learned from.
18. I'm thankful for the Being Boss podcast. I'm still a little behind, but I've learned a lot from Emily and Kathleen. They're funny, and smart and I hope to continue learning from them, and eventually have a successful creative business. You can find their podcast here.
19. I'm thankful for Pinterest. It's a time suck, but I've created some pretty awesome things with the help of Pinterest. I've also planned my dream wedding, house, and unborn children's lives on there. 
20. I'm thankful for my job. I'm able to read, or blog, or Pinterest, or take online classes while I'm at work, and I'm so grateful that I haven't been fired for doing this. I'm also thankful for the amazing people I've met and gotten to know through my job (despite social anxiety)
21. I'm thankful for my relationship with Jon. He's wonderful, and I honestly have no idea where I'd be right now without him. 
22. I'm thankful for my word. Do. It's only been a few months, and I haven't done my April prompt yet, but I'm so thankful that it's making a difference in my life.
23. I'm thankful for my life. I hate it sometimes, but I am forever grateful that I'm able to live, and (hopefully) impact the lives of others in some way (hopefully positive).

Thanks again for coming by to read these things I'm thankful for. I've decided that I'm replacing Favourites Friday with 23 things. My goal is that future posts will be on the 23rd of each month, even if it's outside of my usual range of posting. I had a bit of trouble creating this list, but it makes my heart happy that I did it.

Have a great weekend!

-Alexandria