2019 Project Life: December Stories

I have to be honest with all of you. Every year I have intention of finishing my Christmas documenting in January, and every year when January rolls around, it's the absolute LAST thing I want to do. Once Christmas is over and all of the decorations are put away, I'm done. I don't want to think about the holidays for another ten to eleven months at least.

So it takes a lot of discipline and will power to make myself work on December projects in January...or July...or whenever I manage to get them done. Which is why so many of my December pages go unfinished year after year. But I'm trying.

Another confession: I am 100% product-driven when it comes to creativity. If I don't have product that I find inspiring, it's not going to happen. Or I will struggle until it's so not fun that I quit. So if I'm working on something out of season AND I don't have inspiring product to work with, I'm just setting myself up for failure.

That's why I knew I had to give myself something good to play with if I wanted to get any of my December Project Life pages done. The Hello Holiday collection from Push Print Studio was at the top of my list. 

Since it's a digital collection, I went through my extensive holiday stash to find things that would coordinate with it. I found a ton of things that worked, including some super old stickers from Cosmo Cricket. I LOVE that I was able to use some old stash!

Once I had the cards printed and the embellishments chosen, these three pages came together really quickly. I kept them super simple, which is the key to getting them done. And I'm still very happy with the way that they look. Simple doesn't have to be boring. 

These three pages aren't chronological in my album. I have all of my December photos printed and put into my album, so I just went through and picked out a few pages I was excited to work on...another trick for getting things done.  

Of course, I chose pictures that I knew would work with the cards from this collection, like the "cheers" card above and the "falala" card on the first page. That also makes the whole process a bit easier. 

If you want to see my process in more detail, you can view the video below. 

Thanks for stopping by! 

FREE today at Scrapbook.com!!!

Have you been following along with all of the amazing Pre-Black Friday deals at Scrapbook.com? There are tons of sales, and every day they're giving away a free item with your order!

Today's freebie is one of my favorites, the ephemera pack from 1Canoe2's Saturday Afternoon collection! I have been loving this collection since it came out, and I've gradually been adding pieces of it to my stash as my budget allows. Which is why I was so excited when Scrapbook.com offered to send me this freebie to play with and share with you!

I knew right away it would be perfect for using with my 2019 Project Life album, and I had the exact right photos to pair it with.

This page is from my family reunion on Labor Day weekend. We all rented cabins by Table Rock Lake and had an absolute blast together. The motifs in the Saturday Afternoon collection were perfect for a weekend at the lake, and the colors matched so well with our late-summer vacation.

I used some random dot and grid cards from my stash to back everything up, and I added a few pieces of washi tape from the same collection. I love how it all turned out!

Don't forget to stop by Scrapbook.com to see all of the amazing deals and to get your freebie. But hurry, the deal only lasts 24 hours!

Happy Crafting!

***The links above are affiliate links. That means that if you make a purchase after clicking on one of these links, a small percentage of that purchase comes back to me. Thank you for helping to support this blog!***

Check me out!

I'm over on the Citrus Twist Kits blog today sharing another spread in my 2019 Project Life album. Stop by and check it out! :)

Project Life for Citrus Twist Kits

Today I'm over on the Citrus Twist Kits blog sharing a spread from July in my 2019 Project Life album. I used the September "Explore" Life Crafted kit to create this very un-adventurous page. Be sure to stop by their blog to see all the details!

2019 Project Life for Push Print Studio

I'm back again with another page in my 2019 Project Life album. This one goes all the way back to February! 😳

This page has sat there, undone for months. It didn't really have a big story to go with it, and no matter how I tried, I couldn't figure out what to do with it. Enter Push Print Studio.

While I was working on my last layout for the PPS Creative Team, I was drawn to the gorgeous deep burgundy color in some of the cards from The Lovely Pear collaboration. And then it just clicked!

Once I figured out that I wanted to use these cards with this spread, it came together so easily! I grabbed some other favorites from the Push Print Studio shop, as well as a few random bits from my stash, and voila, the page was done!

You can watch the entire process in the video below.

Thanks for watching, and happy crafting!

2019 Project Life: June in Maine, Part 2

When I saw the "You Are So Brave" card in the Clear and Cloudy kit designed by Brandi Kincaid for Feed Your Craft, I knew I had to use it on the spread. This section of my 2019 Project Life album documents a trip Jesse took to Maine with a friend of his. They were there nearly a whole week, saw a couple of Phish shows, then hiked Mount Katahdin.

If you've never heard of Katahdin (I hadn't), it's the mountain at the end (or the beginning) of the Appalachian Trail. It's a steep rocky climb up something like 5,000 feet. It's crazy. And I'm so proud of Jesse for accomplishing this goal of his.

To document this page from his adventure, I used two of the cards from the kit. The "Brave" card, obviously, and a 4x6 card that looks like a topographical map, which I cut in half to make it fit a 3x4 pocket. I also used several pieces from the digital cut apart sheet that comes with the kit, including a tag, some labels, and a couple decorative circles.

To finish off the spread, I also added stamping from two other Feed Your Craft sets. I used the stamp set from the "Summer On My Mind" mini kit designed by Beshka Kueser to add a few sentiments around the page, and the "Head High" stamp set to add "you got this" to the picture of him rock climbing up the mountain.

I also added a few of the All Hearts Puffy Stickers around the spread. I love these things so much! I'm going to need to stock up, since my sheet is nearly gone already!

And that's about it! You can see the whole thing come together in the process video below.

Thanks for watching and happy crafting!

***The links above are affiliate links. That means that if you make a purchase after clicking on one of these links, a small percentage of that purchase comes back to me. Thank you for helping to support this blog!***

2019 Project Life: June in Maine for Feed Your Craft

When I saw the new "Clear and Cloudy" kit designed by Brandi Kincaid for Feed Your Craft, I knew I wanted to use it to document Jesse's recent trip to Maine. He traveled there in June with friends to visit Acadia National Park and hike Mount Katahdin. The water/rain theme, as well as the bravery/"do your own thing" vibe of the kit was a perfect match for this section of my album!

I decided to document his trip right in our Project Life album. I could have made a separate mini album, but I thought that we would be more likely to view the PL album in the future. And since it wasn't a trip I actually went on, it seemed easier to just tuck it into the timeline of an existing album.

For today's project, I chose a double-page spread from this section to focus on. I wanted one with lots of water pictures and plenty of space to embellish. I actually had to remove one of the photos on this page, but not to worry; it will make it back in at some point.

Once I had chosen the spread to start with, the whole thing came together really quickly. I added lots of little bits from the cut apart sheet that comes with the kit, stamped a few of the  icons and sentiments from the coordinating stamp set, and that's about it.

Of course, I'll add journaling from Jesse once I'm able to. He's been out of town for work, so after he returns I'll get him to sit down and write out the stories of his trip.

And that's about it! Here's a video of my process so you can see just how quickly everything came together.

Thanks for stopping by, and Happy Crafting!

***The links above are affiliate links. That means that if you make a purchase after clicking on one of these links, a small percentage of that purchase comes back to me. Thank you for helping to support this page!***

2019 Project Life: June for Push Print Studio

When Caytlyn of Push Print Studio reached out to me and asked if I'd consider being on her very first design team, I was absolutely thrilled. I've been a fan of Push Print Studio since I first saw her designs in use, several years back. She recently took a short hiatus, but now the shop is back and updated with a new look and new collections, and I'm so honored to be a part of it.

For my first project as a member of the design team, I had the chance to play with the brand new collaborative collection with The Lovely Pear. It's absolutely gorgeous and full of so many fun details. I printed out a few of my favorites and found the perfect spread in my 2019 Project Life album to document.

I grabbed a few embellishments from my stash: a couple sheets of chipboard stickers from Studio Calico and A Beautiful mess, some enamel dots from Prima, a bit of washi, and some printable labels from Illustrated Faith. 

I was amazed at how well everything coordinated with the colors in this collection. It all came together so easily.

I started with the cards, then chose a few bits of chipboard to add here and there. I tried to spread around the beautiful colors in this kit to make the whole spread feel balanced.

I used the labels to add some handwritten journaling to a few of the pictures and cards, and typed up some longer journaling to add as well.

I used gold staples to add a bit of sparkle to some of the cards. It was the perfect finishing touch to all of these rich colors.

I had a little extra story to include in the middle of this spread, so I used one of the two-pocket page protectors from Citrus Twist Kits. It fits perfectly in the Studio Calico album I'm using this year.

It also gave me an opportunity to use a couple more cards from this collection! I love the way the whole spread turned out. You can see all of the details in the video below.

Happy Crafting!

2019 Project Life: January, Part 4

For this spread in my 2019 Project Life album, I wanted to use some of the Kelly Purkey Friday Freebie printables. These are free printable 3x4 cards sent via email to those who are signed up for the Kelly Purkey Shop newsletter. (If you're not signed up, you can do so here.)

I'd been hoarding these freebies until I could find a better way to print at home, and I finally did! I'll be sharing more about that soon, but for now let me just say it's been life changing.

I picked cards from several of the freebie sets, all in pretty neutral tones to match my photos. For embellishments, I chose some random things from my stash: a chipboard set from Ali Edwards Believe Story Kit, a chipboard set from an older Studio Calico set designed by One Little Bird, a phrase sticker sheet from an older Week In The Life kit from Ali Edwards, and a set of stickers from Pinkfresh Studio's The Mix No. 2.

The Pinkfresh Studio stickers are the only thing I used that's still available, but if you're looking to recreate this look you could try this Becky Higgins chipboard set or this one from Pinkfresh Studio. Both have a similar look and feel to the ones that I used.

This spread came together really quickly, as you'll see in the video below. I love it when that happens. It's how I usually feel when I use a kit, but I'm generally not as good at putting things together myself, so it's worth a small celebration when I get it right. :)

Here's a look at my process:

Happy Crafting!