Project Life January 2015 Part 2

January - 2nd half This year I am doing my spreads monthly instead of weekly. This has freed me so much. i don't have to stress about getting the right amount or orientation of pictures for each week. And I can group like photos (e.g. preschool photos throughout the month) if I want to. I have also decided to take my color cues from the Echo Park Through the Year month cards. January's color scheme is blue and gray. I sorted through some of my giant stash of PL cards for gray and blue. And I sorted through my embellishment stash for similarly hued pieces.

Page five features some great shots from the Children's Museum and preschool. Plus I threw in a foggy photo of our street.  I am doing "Currently" cards at least twice a month. I want to include those into my spreads and this page was perfect for that addition. The alphas on the street photo are shiny silver.

Page six grouped all the photos from the Winter Social. I want to keep all those pics together in one page. All I added was a journaling card to tell about the event.

Page seven includes some random photos and the few good ones from our Safari Run visit. I chose to journal about that visit as it was our first to the place. Other than that, I added some word stickers and a few enamel dots.

Page eight features some random around the house pictures, but the highlight is my ticket to see Tim Minchin in concert. So excited to be able to get a babysitter and attend. I also decide to include my little monthly wrap-card on this page. I highlighted my books read and some other fun stats.

Page nine details my progress on my OLW word. I included my monthly intentions on a journaling card. The other pockets highlight some of the areas that I worked on. For embellishment, I added some washi tape.

Page ten finishes out January with highlights from our trip to the Oakland Zoo. We have a membership so we go often. I added just a few cute pictures and some word stickers for embellishment. I threw in my Currently card as an added bonus.

Supplies:

• Echo Park Through the Year
• WRMK Dreamy
• Random alphas and embellishments

Desktop Thursday #2

Working on finishing up some retreat gifts for next week. Almost done...

OLW January

Let’s take a look at what I did this past month for my OLW. This year’s focus is HOME.

My monthly intentions:

1. Project List – Got a master list. Now to start getting those items checked off.

2. Home Management Binder – I wanted to create a place to keep all my to-do lists, coupons, important info, and random bits of whatever that seem to multiple. I checked out a few posts on Pinterest and started formulating my own binder. I have a major projects page, my weekly to-do list, a pocket for coupons, and the rest of my OLW pages.

3. Craft Space Organization – I spent a fair amount of money at The Container Store to organize all the cabinets in my new craft space. It’s in a great space right now and so very usable.

4. Daily Housekeeping – My intention was to do at least one housekeeping duty per day. I’ve been very good sticking to this goal.

5. Curate Pinterest Board – I’ve got a nice collection of pins right now. I can’t wait to really dive into those.

Extras:

— January PL pages: I just completed all of my monthly pages this week. Loving how this new approach is working.

— Dining room: We’ve got most of the pieces in place for the dining room. I just need to add some curtains and this room is complete. Very excited. 

— Arthur’s playroom: I started with a completely blank canvas at the start of January. A few weeks later and things are shaping up. I need a few more decorative pieces and to organize the rest of his toys. Plus, I’ve got to get some curtains up there. One of next month’s intentions!

My OLW Pages:

I decided to add in my monthly OLW pages to my home management binder. My first page includes a nice self-portrait, some decorative cards, and the big prompts from January.

The next two pages hold my monthly intentions. While it wasn’t a prompt for January, I wanted to lay out my proposed large projects. This should help my keep me on track throughout the year. I may add to these intentions, but this is a good start.

Currently...

Watching: We're catching up with Elementary. After initial resistance (we love Sherlock on the BBC), we've really been enjoying the show. I love Jonny Lee Miller and Lucy Liu has grown on me.

Reading: Still reading Outlander. Hope to finish this week...

Listening: It's been raining for the past three days. I missed the sound of the rain. It's lovely, but probably time for the sunshine to come back.

Making: Finishing up the last of the retreat prep. My last big project before grocery shopping is the retreat notecards. I got all my supplies this past week so now it's time to get them done.

Feeling: Content. Things are going well right now.

Planning: I just booked my plan tickets to Indiana for March-April. Now I need to get moving on planning the twins' birthday party, Sarah's wedding activities, and general stuff.

Loving: Attempting to finish up Arthur's room this week. It's turning out well. I'll have a room tour as part of my OLW wrap for February.

Sunday Haul #5

Lots of goodies this week. I had a small trip to Michaels, a surprise RAK, and lots of Stampin' Up deliveries. First up: Michael's. I went to get sticky strip to finish off the modified notebooks, but you know I can't just buy one thing. Value paper packs were on sale so I grabbed two whites and a kraft. From there I remembered to grab some glue dots (getting low). The purple fabric flowers, dollies, and mason jars were all impulse buys.

On Wednesday I received this great RAK or two PL cards and some fun embellishments. They will be making an appearance in my February PL pages.

I had multiple SU deliveries this week due to workshops and customer orders. I even managed to buy a few things. Okay I bought a ton, but I needed to replenish some of my paper and buy things for upcoming classes and special events.

• Sophisticated Serifs Stamp Set
• Little Snshine Stamp Set
• Vivid Vases Stamp
• Personalized Stamp (for business purposes)
• E Block (needed for bigger stamps)
• Something Borrowed Embellishments (for friend's upcoming wedding)
• Wister Wonder Blendibilities
• Old Olive Blendibilities
• Coastal Cabana Blendibilities
• Rich Razzleberry Blendibilities

• Sponge Daubers
• Paper Snips
• Love Who You Are Stamp
• Hey There Buds Stamp
• Crisp Cantaloupe Twine
• Daffodil Delight Blendibilities
• Back to Black DSP
• Painted Blooms DSP
• Something Borrowed DSP

SSINKCC18: Under the Sea

One of my resolutions for the new was to do more card challenges. It's now February 7th and I haven't done a single one. Shame on me!  Thankfully our great friend sent a little challenge out to our demo group to participate this week. I came home from class this morning and knocked this card in 15 minutes!

Orange and turquoise (Tangelo Twist and Coastal Cabana) is not my favorite color combo. Mainly because I am not a huge fan of orange. But that's why the challenge is so great. It made me reevaluate my aversion to certain colors. I own them, why don't I use them more often.

After looking at the colors, I immediately grabbed for my Sea Street stamp set. I envisioned something nautical but in non-nautical colors. Although now the orange is reminding me of life vests... Anyway I grabbed the set, but realized that I needed more texture, more layers, but I didn't want to actually add a ton more paper. Enter the Work of Art stamp. The chevron matched almost perfectly with my piece of Fresh Prints DSP (retired). From there I added the starfish, octopus, and greeting. And topped the card off with a few Bermuda Bay sequins taken off the thread. I just may use this color combo again sometime...

• Stamps: Sea Street; Work of Art
• Inks: Tangelo Twist; Coastal Cabana
• Cardstock: Tangelo Twist; Fresh Prints DSP (retired); Whisper White
• Accessories: Bermuda Bay Sequin Trim
• Tools:

Modified Notebooks

Last Sunday, I held a modified notebooks class at my house. I've held the class once before, but decided it was such a great project that they needed to be featured today.

For my examples, I used a mix of SU and non-SU products.  This is a great project to use up scraps and random embellishments.  For the big notebooks, I glue on a full sheet of DSP using sticky strip. I then cut around the notebook to get the perfect fit. I add a 1" strip on the binding. Lastly I re-enforce the small strip and cover the rest of the binding with washi tape. From there I embellish.

• Bases: Mead Compositions Books (bought one super sale during Back to School); $1 journals from Michael's/Joann's/etc
• Paper: SU DSP (mostly retired); Coordinating Recollections Patterned Paper; Kraft paper (cover smaller journals)
• Stamps: Hello There (Hostess); Kinda Eclectic
• Ink: Night of Navy; Chocolate Chip; Blackberry Bliss; Baked Brown Sugar; Gumball Green (retired)
• Embellishments: Mambi alphas; Various washi tape; Recollections fabric flowers; scrap paper; SU Candy Dots
• Tools: Ovals Framelits; Starburst Framelits; Floral Frames Framelits; Butterfly Punches; Decorative masks

I love how my class attendees customized their notebooks. They picked their favorite colors and patterned paper. For the small notebooks, they changed up the decorative masks and and butterflies.

For the upcoming mom's retreat, I decided to make modified notebooks for the participants. Each one of the ten notebooks uses different paper combinations and washi tape. My plan is to let each participant chose their notebook and then add an initial sticker. I think my personal favorite is the hot pink and green notebook.

Project Life January 2015 Part 1

Title Page For Volume 1 of 2015, I wanted to create a title page using fun bright colors.  I wanted a family photo, but J refuses to get his picture taken. So instead I just put our names. I added the "Home" stamp (and colored it in) and star brad (at our approximate location) to the map card. "You are my whole heart" is an overlay that I placed on top of the fun chevron card. I added a bit of journaling to the "hello" card and some sequins all over the page. Lastly I added the silver glitter numbers as my focal point. I love the brightness of my title card.

January - 1st half

This year I am doing my spreads monthly instead of weekly. This has freed me so much. i don't have to stress about getting the right amount or orientation of pictures for each week. And I can group like photos (e.g. preschool photos throughout the month) if I want to. I have also decided to take my color cues from the Echo Park Through the Year month cards. January's color scheme is blue and gray. I sorted through some of my giant stash of PL cards for gray and blue. And I sorted through my embellishment stash for similarly hued pieces.

Page 1 features Fort Wayne pictures with a bit of journaling about how we started the month in Indiana. I added an overlay to one of the pictures, some alphas, and a few stickers. The weather photo was taken using Instaweather app. Lots of fun!

Page two is the other Fort Wayne pictures. As it was so cold I got to add the little snowman and snowflake stickers. Unfortunately they don't work for the rest of January in California. I added a few random word stickers and a graphic card to complete the page.

Page three heralded our return to California. Some more word stickers and a cute cloud for my fog picture add to the page. I'm trying to add more story journaling instead of just listing where we went. This card highlights our return home and the three playgrounds we explored this month.

Page four rounds out the first half of my January pages. All I added to this page was the mustache sticker (just thought it was too cute!) and a small word sticker on the top left photo. I also journaled about us hosting preschool the first week back. Fun fun!

Supplies:

• Echo Park Through the Year
• PL Seasons
• Random alphas and embellishments

5 on 5

A look at some of the things I'm working on this month...

1. This was my setup for Sunday's Modified Notebooks class. I'm loving that our new dining room has enough space to actually hold classes. I even have room to add our big folding table if I need to.

2. I started my 2015 PL pages. This is the partial title page. I still want to add a nice family picture and some journaling about our upcoming year. I'll post the complete title page and half of the January pages tomorrow.

3. I bought these great Scrabble tiles this week. I've got a few projects ideas floating around on Pinterest. Hopefully you'll see the finished project soon.

4. After initial hesitation, I've decided to complete the OLW February prompt and create a vision board. I had these 8x10 canvases left over from preschool; perfect size for me. While at Target, I grabbed these three magazines to use for the board. 

5. Lastly, I'm finishing up the 10 retreat notebooks for later this month. I just need to add the washi tape and starbursts. Complete projects will be featured later this week.

Fun 'n Crafty Blog Hop February 2015

 Welcome to the Fun n’ Crafty Blog Hop for February.  The blog hop has been on hiatus for the holidays, but we're back this month to share some great cards. February we will be showcasing project ideas with a Love theme.

I took the Love theme very literally and decide to make my own background paper using "Love" from Snuggles and Smooches. I wanted a good Valentine's themed stamp set, but wasn't sold on You Plus Me from the Occasions catalog. But I love Snuggles and Smooches. It is so adorable. I also used the random squiggle to add more dimension to my homemade background paper. Some nice DSP from the Stacked with Love DSP stack, washi tape,  and punched out hearts add those little extra touches.

Full product list:

• Stamps: Snuggles and Smooches
• Inks: Calypso Coral; Real Red; Crisp Cantaloupe; Basic Black
• Cardstock: Real Red; Stack with Love DSP; Whisper White
• Accessories: Stacked with Love wash tape
• Tools: 2 in circle punch; mini heart punch

Complete Blog Hop List:

• Pam W. of Stinky Tofu
• Jennifer B. of Northwest Stamper
• Stacey L. of A Work of Carte
• Tobe B. of The Craft Sea
• Susan S. of Stampin' By The San Francisco Bay