Early Morning Scrapbooking

This morning I woke up with an almost urgent need to make something. Does this ever happen to you? This feeling that you just need to create something, like NOW. It happens to me all. the. time. Though I have to say, it rarely happens before 8 am. But today I woke up with the dawn itching to get my hands messy. How could I ignore such a desire?

Normally, my Project Life album would have been my obvious go-to project, but I just sent off a full year's worth of photos to be developed (March - June of this year, and a good portion of 2015), so I knew I didn't have any Project Life pages ready to work on. What I had was a photo, taken several years ago, that had been sitting on my workspace for several weeks. It's one of my all-time favorite photos, and I had been waiting for a moment such as this to give it the attention it required.

And so, in a frenzy of creativity, I created the page below. All before 9 am.

I don't do 12x12 scrapbook layouts very often. Even when I was first starting out (nearly two decades ago - yikes), I preferred to create smaller pages that would fit in a standard 8.5x11 binder...mostly because I was broke and they were cheaper than 12x12 albums. But lately, I've been drawn more to this larger size. Maybe it's the piles of 12x12 papers I've been hoarding, or maybe it's because I've switched to a 9x12 Project Life album and so to switch things up I need to go bigger rather than smaller. Whatever it is, I'm enjoying working with the 12x12 format. 

To give credit where credit is due, this layout was largely inspired by this one by Niru for Cocoa Daisy. I loved the black and white striped background broken up by the gradient, watercolor-look paper running down the center. 

Of course, I needed to change the color scheme to match our outfits...which was the whole reason the photo was taken in the first place. 

Products Used:

Dear Lizzy Fine and Dandy 12x12 Paper Pad
Studio Calico Sundrifter 12x12 Paper Pad
Amy Tangerine Cut and Paste Cut Out Accents
Maggie Holmes Confetti Celebrate Thickers
We R Memory Keepers Inked Rose Sentiments 12x12 Paper
Alison Kreft for Echo Park Capture Life Bokeh Blur 12x12 Paper
Chic Tags Happy Place Labels


Thanks for stopping by. Hope you're having a creative morning!

Week In The Life 2016, Part 4

It has been a crazy couple of weeks around here. This driving back and forth between the two houses (in two different towns) stuff is getting old. But at least there is an end in sight. More on that later...

The important thing right now is that I was (finally) able to get the last video of my WITL album recorded, edited, and posted. Woohoo!

It's a short one. I really just wanted you to get to the see the finished album in its entirety, and I really didn't see the need for a long, wordy video in order to get that done. So without further ado...

The ridiculously long supply list I promised is below, so be sure to scroll down if you're looking for a particular element I used in the album.

Since the video flips through the album pretty quickly, I thought I'd share a few close up photos as well, so you can peruse them at your leisure.

I can't say enough how much I enjoyed working on this project. It was exactly what I needed at the time. I will definitely do it again in the future.

And I've been thinking a lot about Ali's upcoming Day In The Life date as well. More of my thoughts on that at a later date.

Previous Week In The Life 2016 Posts:

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

Full Supply List:

BasicGrey Hipster Capture Album & Inserts
French Bull wrapping paper from Michaels
Album label holder from Michaels (similar)
Becky Higgins Project Life Golden Themed Cards
Simple Stories 6x8 Page Protectors
Ali Edwards Handdrawn Day Brush File
Ali Edwards The Story of Today Digital Cards
Ali Edwards Read Story Kit
Inkjet Transparency Film from Amazon (similar)
Pebbles Family Ties Mini Alpha Stickers
Martha Stewart Label Stickers from Staples
Studio Calico Geotags Chipboard Shapes
Gelly Roll White Pen
American Crafts Slick Writer Pens
Studio Calico Snippets 6x6 Paper Pad
EK Tools Mini Heart/Star Punch Set
Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher
We R Memory Keepers Fuse Tool
Studio Calico Sundrifter Love Wins 12x12 paper
Becky Higgins Clementine Edition Paper Pack
Becky Higgins Seafoam Edition Paper Pack
Studio Calico Project Life/Documenter Kits:
Hello, Hello
Penny Arcade
Sandlot
Poet Society
Walden
Park Ave
Far Far Away
Cirque
Odyssey
Lisse Street
Carolina Moon
Pop Art
Brimfield
Wink Wink
Arendal
Savannah
Film Club 
Jolly Holiday

Project Life: 2016 Title Page

I ran into a little snag in getting the final Week In The Life video posted. Actually, as I write this I'm out of town for a job interview (keep your fingers crossed for me!). So while I'm away from home working on scoring a paying a gig, I've decided to share this year's Project Life title page. Seems appropriate since we're now over halfway through the year, right? Oh well, better late than never.

I actually completed this a couple months ago, and I honestly had so much fun doing it. It was one of those rare moments where inspiration seems to strike out of nowhere, and I was totally in a state of flow. That doesn't happen very often in my craft room.

I chose to do a 9x12 album this year. And I'm keeping with the monthly, rather than weekly format. I works better for us and our not-so-exciting daily lives.

I've also decided to keep my corners squared off instead of rounded. This proved to be a little difficult to do with the Studio Calico Documenter kits, but I'm making it work.

 I'll have more details about my 2016 album soon. No, really I will. I promise. ;)

I'm not caught up by any means, but I have plenty to share. Besides, I've kind of given up on the idea of ever being "caught up" anyway. It's overrated.

Supplies:

Studio Calico January 2016 Arendal Documenter Kit
American Crafts Printshop! 6x6 paper pad
American Crafts Amy Tangerine Rise & Shine Grace Gold Phrase Thickers
American Crafts Amy Tangerine Ready Set Go Roller Date Stamp
Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher

I hope to have the next (and last) Week In The Life video posted early next week along with some close-up photos, so check back soon!

Week In The Life 2016, Part 3

Guys, I finally have some real progress to show you! Day 1 is complete! It took me forever to figure out the best way to deal with the awkward pocket sizes in this album, but once I decided what I liked best, it came together in a snap.

I'm really loving this album so far. I'm so glad I took them time to do this project! Thank you, Ali Edwards, for the inspiration and motivation to do this!

If you missed the first two videos, you can find them here and here.

The font I mentioned is Amatic, and it's available here. The two Ali Edwards digital files I used are Handdrawn Days brush file and The Story of Today digital cards.

I'll be back later this week with lots of pics as well as a video walk-through of the finished album, so stay tuned!

Week In The Life 2016, Part 2

Today's video will walk you through how I decided to structure my album, as well as how I handled my photo sizing/printing and journaling.

If you missed the first video, you can find it here.

The two Ali Edwards digital files I used are Handdrawn Days and The Story of Today 3x4 Cards.

I hope you all enjoyed seeing my process. Check back next week for the third video of the series!

Week In The Life 2016

This year I finally decided to join Ali Edwards in doing a Week In The Life album, and I am so excited to be sharing this project with you guys!

Since I was out of town during the week that Ali chose for her WITL album, I chose to document the week of May 15th through the 21st instead. I also made the very difficult decision not to purchase the WITL kit. I really loved everything about the kit that Ali put together for this year, but ultimately, I couldn't justify purchasing more supplies when my stash is already overflowing.

So today I have a video for you that walks you through the supplies I've chosen and the first steps I've taken towards putting the album together.

I hope you were able to find some inspiration in my rambling. :) Stay tuned for more videos as I continue to work on my Week In The Life 2016 album!

Happy 2016!

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