PROJECT LIFE® 2016 | WEEK 3

My goal for this year is to stay "caught up" on my Project Life® album. Even though it's only February, I am happy to say that my album is current and up to date!

Today I am going to show you my Week Three:

Last year was the first year I decided to add regular 12x12 pages along side my pocket pages. I really like having the variety and it came in handy when I was low on photos for the week.

I am still using my One Little Bird date stamp. I really like the look of it and I have a lot of fun finding new ways to make it look different and fresh each week

The "I love you so much" card came from an Ali Edwards Story Kit™. I have a hard time using those kits because I am always waiting for the "perfect" story to tell. I am working on letting that go.

I made the rest of the cards by cutting down some paper from a Project Life Jade Edition paper pack. 

When I choose to use a 12x12 page protector instead of a pocket page, I usually will take that opportunity to tell my favorite story of the week. That doesn't always mean the best quality photo of the week. As you can see this photo of my little girl at dance class is not the best quality. It is blurry, plus I decided to enlarge it to a 12x12 print so that made the blurriness even worse. 

My solution is make the photo black and white (blurry photos or ones with bad color always look better in black and white) and then move on. It does't bother me to have "bad quality" photos in my albums. I LOVE this picture of my daughter and I am super happy that it is in my album. 

I have a love hate relationship with full page photos. I love the look of them, but I always struggle with how to embellish them. For this photo, I decided to start with a tag, because you can never go wrong with a tag. To tie the two pages together I layered some more of the patterned paper behind the tag and then simply added my story. Super simple and super cute!

I am happy with how this spread turned out, but I did struggle with the photos that I had available to work with. As I worked through my process I made some mental notes to myself.

• TAKE MORE PHOTOS. The last few months of 2015 were hectic and crazy for our family. I wasn't reaching for my camera as often. I need to create the habit of taking more photos again
• ASK MYSELF QUESTIONS. What does my life look like right now? What is different and what is the same? What am I going to want to remember about our life as we live it today? Asking myself these question throughout the week really helps me to take the kind of photos I want to scrapbook
• GET OUT OF MY OWN HEAD. It doesn't have to be perfect, and I don't have to like it. Some weeks I will have a lot of really great photos and other weeks I may have zero great photos. In the end it doesn't matter. Getting the photos and words in my album is what is important. I need to remind myself that in 10 years from now I am not going to care if some of my photos are a little blurry, or the lighting wasn't quite right. I am going to be happy I recorded the memory.

Thanks for stopping by! If you have any questions, don't hesitate to leave a comment below.

JANUARY FAVES

1. about 6 months ago I discovered this Out The Door top coat and it was a game changer for me.  It dries super fast and leaves your nails super duper shiny! Best top coat EVER!!

2. I have a long list of lip products that I love, but this NYX butter gloss is probably in the top five. Creme Brulee and Tiramisu are my current go to options

3. I have always liked Soap & Glory Hand Food, and the last time I was in Ulta I saw they had body wash too! (Soap & Glory Clean On Me) Of course I had to get some.  I was not disappointed!!

4. Last year I used these digital title cards every week in my Project Life® album. I really liked the look of them, but it was kinda a pain printing them out every week. I decided to switch things up a bit when I saw this One Little Bird stamp set from Studio Calico. So far I am liking it!

5. I have never met a Felicity Jane kit I didn't like. Full disclosure, I am on the Felicity Jane creative team... but I was also loving and subscribing to these kits long before I became a team member. When I got January's Susie kit in the mail I loved everything about it and had so much fun working with it. This kit is not longer available, but February's kit is and it is just as fantastic. You can check that kit out here.

FELICITY JANE | JANUARY

In January I did three project for the Felicity Jane blog. I am still loving these kits so much and and feel so lucky to work with them every month

Here is a look at my layouts.

My first layout I did was about building a snowman! London LOVES the snow and LOVES building snowmen even more. Last year I told the story of the magic of building her first snowman. This year to make my snowman layout a bit different, I took the "how to build a snowman" approach. You can see more pictures plus a process video here.

My second layout is a page about my Gramma's Sugar Cookie recipe. This layout will actually go into a cookbook that I am making London. You can find more details about this layout here.

My last layout was a Project Life® spread. I used the super cute sheet of cut apart cards to complete my layout and I just love the way it turned out. You can find more pictures plus a process video here.

My new Felicity Jane kit will probably landing on my front porch anyway now. I have seen the sneaks and I can't wait to actually start working with it

Thanks for stopping by!

PROJECT LIFE® 2016 | WEEK ONE

I am so excited to be starting a new year of Project Life®. It just feel good to have a fresh start.

Last year I fell behind because life got more than a little crazy. I had good intentions of "catching up" but it just became so overwhelming that I found myself working on different projects and avoiding Project Life® all together. As of now I am still behind. My plan moving forward is to work on last years album when I get the chance, but absolutely stay current with this years album.

Here is a look at my week one:

Ahhhh... look at all that white!! It makes my heart happy.

For my title cards this year I am using this One Little Bird stamp set that I got form Studio Calico. I love how versatile this set it. definitely one I will be reaching for again and again.

The 3X4 cards that I used for this spread came from a One Little Bird set called Thrive, and also from my Ali Edwards Story Kit™.

The "It's A Brand New Year" came from the same One Little Bird set. I sized it to fit on the back of my 6X12 title page (still waiting for that photo to be printed). The white space below the quote was the perfect place to write about my One Little Word® for the year. 

If you want to see this layout come together, be sure to watch the process video here or over on my YouTube channel.

MY PLAN THIS YEAR IS TO "FOCUS"

For 2016 I'm going with FOCUS as my One Little Word®.

So here is some truth... focus was my One Little Word® last year. At first I didn't even consider the word focus. How could I pick the same word two years in a row??

Here is a little bit of more truth... The only thing I did with my word in 2015 was actually pick it. I hardly even thought about it after the month of January. So after thinking about the new year and really asking myself what I wanted those 12 months to look like, I decided choosing FOCUS for the second year in a row would be ok.

I want Twenty Sixteen to be a happy year, and in order for that to happen I need to FOCUS on what matters most. I am taking the month of January to really think about what I want to invite into my life, and setting some goals for the future. A lot of those goals are personal, and I may or may not share those with you as the year unfolds. Some of them are crafty goals and I will probably be sharing those with you here on this blog or on my YouTube channel. 

I am excited to be participating in Ali Edwards One Little Word® class this year. I know that this is the sort of project that you "get out of it what you put into it". I plan on carving out a chunk of time each month to work on the prompts and really make this word apart of my everyday life. 

Have you picked a "word" for this year? You still have time to join in on Ali's workshop. You can find more information here. 

NOVEMBER FAVES

1. I have been on a huge herbal tea kick lately, and this chocolate orange herbal tea from Stash has been my favorite. I usually add a bit of cream and honey to it... super yummy!

2. Speaking of honey, I love the Raw Honey Enriched With Royal Jelly from Stakich. It is a bit more pricey but I really like it.

3. I have rediscovered my It Cosmetics Butter Gloss and I am wondering why I ever stopped using it. I use the naturally pretty shade. It has the prettiest shine and just a hint of color. I LOVE it.

4. Whenever we get together with family, you can bet a game will be played. We had family stay with us for the Thanksgiving holiday and we all seemed to enjoy playing Five Crowns. We got this game for my mom last year for Christmas, and it is pretty simple and fun.

5. I am not a big candle person, but I like having them on hand to light  if I know I am going to have company. I really like the Sweater Weather scent form Bath and Body Works. It's my go to choice as of late.

Felicity Jane | Savannah Kit

I had so much fun working with my Felicity Jane "Savannah" kit. November was such a busy month, but I managed to get three layouts done and they are all on the Felicity Jane blog.

The first layout I did was actually a project life spread. My favorite card was probably one I made using a bunch of different labels and banners from the cut apart sheet. I love how it turned out. You can find more photo plus a process video here.

On my second layout I stepped outside of my "super simple" box and had fun playing with all the little bits and pieces that came in the kit. I will definitely be doing another layout like this soon. You can find more details, plus a process video here.

I decided to tell a longer story about "real life" on my last layout. I told the story of my daughter's cardiology check up this year. This layout is probably my favorite. Photo + words + a few embellishments... perfection. You can find more photos and details here

I have already received my December's kit. It is absolutely beautiful and I can not wait to start creating with it. I know I will have lots of memories to document next month.

Thanks for stopping by!!