Traveler's Notebook: September 2018

I'm back with another spread in my 2018 Highlights traveler's notebook. It's taking for FOREVER to get this notebook finished, but I'm determined to get it done.

September's page is about our trip to Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. I have a photo of the beach on the left side of the page. I had intended to make this a full-page photo, but my computer was giving me fits, and I already had the 4x6 photo printed, so I decided just to go with it.

For supplies, I chose some scraps from the February Hip Kit Club Main Kit as well as some embellishments from that kit and the Pocket Life Kit. I also grabbed some embellishments from the March Hip Kit Club Main Kit and a couple cards from the March Pocket Life Kit.

I had a lot of fun playing around with the embellishments for this page. I chose pieces in shades of blue and teal as well as the coral-pink that's in the Pinkfresh Studio Joyful Day collection. There are also bits of gold here and there, which I think works really well with the sand in the photo.

I used my WRMK Typecast Typewriter to type up my journaling on a piece of scrap card, then cut it in strips and used a Zig Glue Pen to adhere them.

And that pretty much does it for this page! You can see my full process in the video below:

 Happy Crafting!

2019 Project Life: January, Part Three

I'm back with another spread in my 2019 Project Life album.

Before I share the details of this particular spread, I wanted to talk a little bit about my format for the year and how things are going so far. I've been feeling lately like dividing my months into "parts" instead of weeks is just a bit awkward. I wondered if I shouldn't revert back to a weekly spread format instead. I don't want to leave my 6x8 album, but I thought maybe I would prefer weekly spreads.

I think this mostly came from seeing everyone else's weekly posts and knowing this is a comfortable way for me to approach this project, which was really appealing since I've been a bit overwhelmed by my new methods and am feeling WAYY behind.

So this weekend I spent some time getting caught up on the photo printing part of my process, and as I was doing so I totally remembered why I wanted to switch to a story-focused approach. It just makes sense for how our lives are structured. Nothing fits neatly into a week. I overflows and overlaps and makes much more sense in a story-focused spread than it does in a weekly layout.

I needed to take a step back from January, where very few real stories happened and my spreads all feel like they're the same. Going forward in my album, I know this is the right move. So I'm sticking with my original idea and staying story-focused within the monthly format. We'll both just have to put up with the awkwardness of breaking down my months into parts instead of weeks for the purposes of sharing. :)

So on to the current spread (or "part"). I used the Hip Kit Club February Pocket Life Kit, which I actually bought because it wasn't included in my design team packet and I couldn't resist the gorgeousness that is this kit.

The kit has tons of bits from the Pinkfresh Studio Joyful Day collection, and that's mostly what I used for this spread, with the addition of a couple papers from the February Main Kit, including an exclusive paper that I absolutely fell in love with.

I stuck with a limited color palette (as I'm wont to do) of blues and yellows. It's a pretty simple spread overall, and I like it that way. The only extra little bit I added was the pocket on the left side of the spread to hold some hidden journaling. It wasn't so much that I had journaling I wanted to hide as I needed something interesting to do with the 6x8 pocket on that side of the spread.

You can see my full process in the video below.

Happy Crafting!

"Such a Good Day" for Hip Kit Club

Today I'm sharing a layout I made for Hip Kit Club* using their gorgeous March Kits. 

So let me start by saying that this layout was a labor of love. The original footage was well over an hour long and that doesn't include the times I had to just walk away and let my brain contemplate things for a bit. I had so much trouble putting it all together and made quite a few missteps, but in the end I really like how it turned out. And it's grown on me. I like it more today than the day I finished it...or the day after that.

It all started with the "Blissful" paper from Maggie Holmes Sunny Days. I'll be honest and say that when I saw that paper in the kit, I was like, "how the hell am I gonna use this?!" I knew I could fussy cut the butterflies, but I had two full sheets of this paper. I don't like butterflies that much.

But the B-side totally reminded me of vintage postcards or photos you might find at an antique store. The kind with handwritten notes on them about where they were taken. I knew I could do something with that.

My next step was finding a photo to work with. I knew I wanted a beach photo, because, well obvs, and I wanted a landscape, something that had that same kind of postcard feel as that photos in that paper. I started searching through iPhoto, but then I remembered that I had this old print in my box of photos. It was perfect.

Once I got to that point I could actually start focusing on my Design Team assignment, which was to use the March cut files. I knew I wanted to use the camera, and the title was another easy choice. I'd also been wanting to do an offset layered title for like, months, so again decision made.

Then basically all that was left to do was to embellish. Ha! I say that like it was the easy part. Nope. It took me so long and so many tries to get the embellishing right, but if you want to see how that went down, you'll just have to watch the video.

Have I mentioned here how much I love the March kits from Hip Kit Club? Cuz I do. Like, a lot. The mix of Maggie Holmes's Sunny Days and Heidi Swapp's Color Fresh is on point. I cannot get enough. I'm a little sad that I'm going to have to put them aside when my April kits come....sigh.

Happy Crafting!

*As a member of their Design Team, Hip Kit Club sends me their kits for free in exchange for using them in my projects.

2018 Project Life: A Walkthrough

2018 was. a. year. It had lots of ups and downs, lots of trips and couch cuddles, and lots of things to be thankful for. And I'm so happy to have captured all of it via this project.

Doing Project Life can sometimes be a struggle. There's a lot of pressure to stay on top of documenting all of life's little moments. I constantly fight with the voice inside my head that tells me it all needs to be perfect and beautiful, even though I know that it's not and never will be. But despite all of the pressure and self-doubt, I am so glad I do this project. Why? Because of the finished product.

I've recently shared two walkthrough videos on my YouTube channel documenting my completed 2018 albums. They're not perfect. In fact, I'm probably using the word "completed" a little loosely here; there were definitely things that never made it onto my pages. But they are full of moments documented, memories captured, and stories recorded for posterity. They may not mean a lot to anyone else, but they are precious to me. This is why I continue to do this project.

You can find videos for Volume 1 and Volume 2 below.

Happy crafting, friends.

#The100DayProject

If you haven't been following along on Instagram, you may not know that yesterday was the first day of this year's #The100DayProject. I've done (or rather attempted) this project for the last two years, and I'm excited to be participating again in 2019. (If you're curious, you can find more information about my previous year's projects here.)

For this year's project, I'm doing #100DaysofArtsyPlay. My goal is pretty simple. I just want to play with my art supplies every day for 100 days. I don't intend to have some finished product at the end of the time period, and likely much of what I create will end up in the bin. But I hope that by allowing myself time and space to play with my supplies I'll become more comfortable with them and will actually use them more often in my regular creative pursuits.

I am certainly no artist, so I wouldn't expect to see any high-quality work, but if you want to follow along, I'll be posting all of my artsy play on Instagram.

Are you participating in #The100DayProject this year? I'd love to hear about what you have planned!

Can you even believe it?!?!

I am so incredibly excited to be joining this amazing group of women on the Feed Your Craft creative team. I have been a huge fan of Feed Your Craft for years now, so it is truly an honor to get to design for them. You can learn more about the other incredibly talented women on the team here, and be sure to check out the Feed Your Craft shop (affiliate link).

2019 Project Life: January, Part 2

Today I'm sharing another spread from my 2019 Project Life album. If you've been following along, you may remember that I've switched to a 6x8 monthly format this year, so my spreads look a bit different from those in the past. So far, it's working out really well, and I'm enjoying the change of pace.

I've decided to break down the months into "parts" for lack of any better way to divide them. The breakdown is strictly for sharing, as there's no designation in the album itself outside of different pages. But sharing a month at a time seemed overwhelming and to be honest, unrealistic. So parts it is.

Anyway, here's Part 2 of January. It's a pretty simple spread about our time together at home during the cold months. There's only two photos, so I had the chance to play with lots of product.

I used the Citrus Twist Kits February "Love Stories" Life Crafted Kit for this one. It's a gorgeous kit, and the fact that it's sat unused for so long just goes to show how much amazing product has hit my doorstep in the last couple months.

I chose a somewhat unusual color palette, at least for me, but I really love the way it turned out. That geometric heart paper is one of my all-time faves!

The kit comes with two die cut ephemera packs. One is full of acetate bits, which can be hard to deal with, since most adhesives show through. In the past I've used my tiny attacher to add them to my pages, but this time I used a Xyron Sticker Maker. It's the best way I've found to add these little clear bits without an adhesive nightmare.

I managed to sneak in a bit of stamping using both the stamp from the kit and the February Travelers Notebook Stamp. And I added some hidden journaling on the full-size page.

Like I said, I pretty simple layout overall!

You can watch my entire process here:

Happy Crafting!

#The100DayProject 2018

Have you heard of #The100DayProject? You can learn all about it by visiting their website.

Last year, I chose to do 100 Days of Commonplace Inspiration. Basically, I wanted to create a sort of commonplace book filled with quotes and other inspiring bits of encouragement. It's what I needed at the time, and I'm not gonna lie, it's come in really handy several times since. It serves as a little pick-me-up when I'm having a rough day, and I'm so glad I completed it!

Here's a closer look at the entire album:

This year's project starts on April 2nd, and although I'm not entirely sure what I'll be doing, I know I'll be doing something. Will you be playing along? I'd love to hear what you have planned!

2019 Project Life: February, Part 1

So, clearly I've gotten a late start on my Project Life album this year. Here it is, March 4th, and I'm just now creating my first spread. I was feeling pretty bad about my lack of progress, and then I looked back at previous years and realized I had done the exact. same. thing.

Both in 2017 and in 2018 I didn't create a single thing in my PL albums until March. In last year's plan video I mentioned how it doesn't even feel like the year starts until around March and how I've mostly been hibernating, just trying to survive the winter until then. I guess habits are hard to break.

Anywho... I'm jumping right into this year's album with a spread to kick off February. That's right. I'm not even bothering to start at the beginning. Honestly, I couldn't get myself excited to document the first few weeks, so I decided to start with something I was anxious to get into my album. Who says I have to go in chronological order? I have no problems going back and filling in previous weeks when I feel like doing so. Remember, there are no rules!

So here's the spread I created for the first part of February. I made it as my very first Hip Kit Club Design Team project! Yay! I used the Febraury Main Kit, which is 100% gorgeous. It includes some bits a pieces from the new Pinkfresh Studio collections, so obviously it was love at first sight.

If you'd like to see my entire process, you can watch the video below.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and as always...Happy Crafting!

https://www.hipkitclub.net/

So this happened...

Eeeeek! I'm so excited and absolutely honored to be a member of the Hip Kit Club Design Team. I can't wait to start creating!