Project Life | Week 7

Good morning! Today I'm sharing my spread for Week 7. Given that we don't celebrate Valentine's Day, I tried to keep the hearts and pink/red to a minimum on this spread. There were a lot of colours in my photos, and while they make it look a little busy, I prefer my photos to be in colour. I love black and white photos in mini albums, or on other projects, but when documenting my everyday life, I want to see the colours.

Here's my spread for this week. Studio Calico cards again. I realize now that I've been using my Studio Calico stash because it's on my desk and easily accessible. My Raskog carts full of all my other cards are a little harder to get to, and so I find myself using them less.

Here's the left side. I love love love my title card for this week. I'm trying to keep it consistent from week to week. The title card contains only the letters W and K and the week number. Below that I stamp the date using my Shimelle date stamp, and using a black pen, I put the dash between the dates. This week I had some extra journaling that wouldn't fit anywhere else, so I put it directly on the photo. I just used my white Uniball pen, and once the ink had a second to dry, it was fine. It didn't smudge, but it didn't write 100% clear either (it never does because I'm impatient and write too fast).

Here's the right side. So much food. We tried out a new recipe, and had my sister over for dinner, then played some boardgames, and I actually won a round of Settlers' of Cattan. I had a dinner date with my sister the day after Valentine's Day. Had the Filet Mignon work was selling for the whole weekend. It was delicious!

Thanks for coming by to check out my spread for this week. Have a great day!
-Alexandria

Black & White Mini Album | Socks

Today I'm sharing another mini album. Since I made one for Gracie, I decided that I needed to also make one for Socks. I actually made this one around the same time, but decided to delay sharing it until now. I was hoping that I'd have other projects to share in the middle, but I just ended up making more mini albums. Of course.

Originally I was going to keep this one strictly black and white (socks is a black and white tuxedo cat), but soon found that black or white embellishments were minimal in m stash, so I added a bit of gold to the mix. The white frame is from a Freckled Fawn embellishment kit, the heart in the middle is from an ephemera pack I had in a bowl on my desk. Label and alphas from my stash and Heidi Sawpp gold mist.

For the most part, I kept my pages pretty simple. Using only black and white papers and adding in little gold pieces here and there.

As with Gracie's album, I wanted to capture his personality, and a few of his favourite spots in this album. Most of these pictures are from when he lived at my moms house because I don't have many recent pictures of him.

I tried to journal on almost every page. With either a memory, or some personality quirk of his. Like sleeping in weird spots (around items on the table, on the top bunk of the bed my sister and I used to share, etc.).

I also wanted to include things he likes. On this page it happened to be that he likes to chew on things that crinkle. In this case it was a granola bar wrapper.

Socks was MY cat. I cuddled him, he sometimes slept with me, we hang out sometimes still and watch Netflix in the basement, or I read and he curls up in my lap. Unfortunately him and Gracie don't get along, AT ALL, so he's locked in the basement, and Gracie is upstairs. I keep saying that maybe one day they'll get along, but Gracie is older and stuck in her ways, while socks is very territorial. Ah well, most children don't get along either.

Thanks for coming to check out this mini album.
Have a great day!
-Alexandria

Project Life | Week 6

Good morning. Today I'm sharing my spread for Week 6.

This week was another bunch of Studio Calico cards. I'm paying for them, I might as well use as many of them as I can. I also finished another 3 books this week (crazy).

Here's the left side. I finished my Love Mini album this week after adding a few extra pages because it was too thin for my liking. Made a few congrats cards this week because my mom needed one for my cousins wedding shower, and did a little bit of blog planning.

Here's the right side. My niece and I finished up her mini album for her parents this week, and I forgot to snap a photo, so I stole one that my sister in law put on Facebook. The "don't be so hard on yourself" quote is a photo from Pinterest that is currently the wallpaper for my phone's lock screen. I included a shot of my One Little Word album as well as the sign after we filled in the white part. It's easily our best sign yet. So proud of us for creating something so beautiful.

Thanks for coming by to check out my spreads for Week 6. Have a great day!
-Alexandria

FavouritesFriday | Instagram Accounts

Today I'm sharing some of my absolute favourite Instagram accounts, and a few things I love about each of them!

First up:
@ara_esp I've been following Ara and her paper creations since I created my crafty Instagram in 2012. At the time, I had 2 accounts, and only used my current one to post crafty things. I fell in love with her style and creativity. We've done a swap or two of crafty things, and I'm so glad that she's the first person I follwed, and still continue to follow!

@jesiiii I love her little wood paintings, and have been trying to save up to get a custom piece (or several) from her! Her creativity is inspiring, and I've fallen in love with her quirky style, her cat Digby, and her photos of abandoned buildings.

@littlepaperlane There are no words. I love seeing glimpses inside her little shop, and photos of her kids and their dog. Minty is easily my favourite Instagram kid on the planet. I love their Australian accents, and would absolutely love to meet their adorable little family. She's blunt, opinionated, and so so creative. I love seeing her window displays, and envy her creativity in making them.

@creatiate I don't even remember how I found this lovely human being. Her stamps are amazing, and I've also been saving for a bunch of them. I just love her creativity, and that she hand carves all of her stamps herself. That right there is the definition of small business. I've recommended her to TONS of people and I can't get enough of her creativity. She recently had a baby and isn't doing as much custom work, but the stamps listed in her shop are still beautiful pieces of work!

@jmm_crafts I love love love Harry & Bella (her cats), and love seeing them help her with her quilts. I love that she loves her cats as much as her hobby and shares them with the world! Makes me think of my cat every time I see hers trying to help her sew, or holding a quilt down. Cats are the cutest!

@angelascreativecorner Angela is the most creative human being I've ever seen. I love that she not only makes paper creations, but also makes cake pops, and sometimes even cupcakes. I love seeing all of her crafty projects and have definitely been inspired by her on more than one occasion!

@happiescrappie I'm definitely not a planner nerd, but for some reason, I LOVE her planner photos. I don't understand owning more than one planner, but she has a lot of them, and I love all the pretty colours. I think I'm mostly attracted to her photo style. So many bright colours, just browsing her feed makes me feel happy!

@wonderforest I probably have the biggest girl crush ever on Dana from The Wonder Forest. I've been in love with her work for quite some time! She's so beautiful (inside and out), and I'd be honoured to work with her to make my blog pretty. I've been reading her blog on and off for a few years, and her Instagram is simply beautiful. I love that she's also launched a Youtube Channel, and blog to help people with their blogs for free. I've learned so much from her, and I'm currently working on making mine a little prettier without (hopefully) spending a ton of money. I think I'm also a little biased because she's a fellow Canadian, but I love her blog, and her cute little Etsy shop. I also love that she has a line of device cases on Casteify.

Thank you for coming by to check out some of my favourite Instagram accounts. I hope you found some new people to follow. I'd love to hear some of your favourite followers! Leave a comment and I'll check them out. Feel free to link your own account, and I'll check yours out as well!

-Alexandria

Project Life | Week 5

Good morning! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend! It was Jon's birthday on Friday, and he had some friends coming down for the weekend, for what we call "Provocon". Basically a bunch of nerds playing games, eating, drinking, and yelling over each other. I missed a lot of the noise because my cousin got married on Saturday (while most of the games, yelling, eating & drinking was occuring). Overall, I'd say it was a good weekend.

Today I'm sharing my spread for Week 5. This week I used cards strictly from my stash of Studio Calico cards. I also used some thickers I got for Christmas, and some chipboard hearts from Studio Calico.

Here's the left side. Finished up my love mini album this week. My sister turned 17, so I included the photo of her from when she was probably 3 or 4, that I shared on Instagram with a birthday wish for her. Jon and Tori played with some lego while she was over. She was so excited to build a castle with Uncle Jon.

Finished another book, documented a snippet of a routine I developed this week. I started a few days with coffee and a book, and so I included that. Organized my stamps (I think I have a enough now) and made a new chalkboard for work. Definitely one of our best (we later filled in the white scallop around the outside and it looked even better).

Thanks for coming by to see my spreads this week! I hope you have a wonderful day!
-Alexandria