PROJECT LIFE® 2017 | WEEK 5

A couple of blog posts ago I mentioned how I thought about switching back to a 12x12 format for 2017 because I couldn't find and album that was perfect for Project Life®. Through the month of January I completed each week in a 12x12 format, but didn't commit myself to that size by actually buying an album. I think I was hoping that a good option would pop up and I could go back to my beloved 6x8 size. Well once we hit February, I took the plunge and ordered a couple of white 12x12 albums. I told myself I am overthinking this whole situation and need to just get on with it.

And then the worst thing happened!!!

I was watching Ali's video for the Numbers Story Kit™ and she mentioned that she would be manufacturing some 6x8 albums later in the year!!! I know I haven't seem then yet, but I love Ali's Style so much that I know I am going to love them. So the questions remains... 6x8 or 12x12??

While I am figuring that out, let me show you my spread for week 5:

For this week I had a 12x12 page protector on the rleft and I added a Design A pocket page on the right. I really enjoy mixing thing up just a bit in this album. Plus having a full page protector helps out on weeks that I didn't take as many photos.

Whenever I am working with a full page protector, I use that opportunity to either highlight a favorite story or photo. This week all the stories I had to tell were worthy of being highlighted.

I decided to enlarge a photo of the boys betting on the Super Bowl game. I added a quick title, a couple of embellishment, and jotted down some quick notes. Easy peasy!

I got held up for just a minute while working on the pocket side of my spread. I knew what photos and cards I was going to use, I just didn't know what pockets I wanted to put them in. I tried a couple of different options, and settled on this arrangement. Super happy with how it turned out.

I maybe still be struggling with what size I am going to stick with this year, and I know I am seriously over thinking that situation. Does it really matter what size I use?? I'll eventually figure it out.. haha

If you want to see how this week came together, check out the process video below or on my YouTube channel.

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Supplies used: Felicity Jane London kit | Paislee Press title cards 

FELICITY JANE | SOPHIE KIT

I was so ready for something fresh and new to work with when my new Felicity Jane "Sophie" kit arrived at my doorstep! As usual, the kit was filled with all sort of gorgeousness. The pinks, blues, and yellows in this kit were so pleasing, and I loved the lovey dovey feeling that was sprinkled throughout.

Of course I wanted to jump right in and play! It is always a little bit painful to cut into a piece of Felicity Jane paper, but I never let that stop me from creating with it!

The first layout I created was this really fun 6x12 page about my daughters school pictures. You can find more details and photos here

I created a sketch for my fellow Felicity Jane team mate Nae Bowell and I to work with for my second layout. Felicity Jane paper + a grid design is never a losing combination. You can check out the sketch plus both of our takes on it here. 

My third project I created with my "Sophie" kit was a spread in my Project Life® album. I LOVE using my Felicity Jane kit in this album because I know it is going to turn out great.  I think if Felicity Jane ever decided to have a Project Life® style kit, it would sell like hot cakes. (I posted this project on my Instagram account... look me up if you are an Instagram user. I am @BanningLane)

My new Felicity Jane kit was taking it's sweet time getting to me. So I had even more opportunity to work with my "Sophie" kit and share with you a couple of bonus projects. Trust me, I wasn't complaining!

I have started a school album for my daughter, and last year I made a spread very similar to this for her first day of school. I ended up liking it so much that I decided to recreate it for this year. It is a super simple spread, but that is exactly what I wanted. You can find more details + a few more photos here. 

My second bonus project I made was a layout about baking with my little London. This photo melts my heart, and I am super happy that I could use the "Sophie" kit because I think the colors in the kit are just as sweet as this photo. I had most of the washi strips that came in the kit left, so I used them (along with some other things) to create a really great base for my photo. You can find all the details about this layout here. 

I have enjoyed working with the Sohie kit so much! I can't wait to get my new kit in the mail and see what greatness I will be working with next month. Be sure to check out the Felicity Jane blog for a ton of inspiration from the Felicity Jane girls. You can find more details about the Felicity Jane kit here.

Thanks for stopping by!

JANUARY FAVES

1. When I am sitting at my desk working on anything, the first think I will do is check out Netflix and pick a movie to play on the TV.  Lately I have been picking Mona Lisa Smile because its just the perfect movie to watch when you not really watching it!

2. One of my daughters favorite snacks are the Cheddar Bunnies form Annie's, so we always have some in our pantry. That my friends, is a good thing because these little cheese crackers are delicious. I love that they are shaped like little bunnies too, so cute!! I have been finding myself reaching for these little tasty crackers a lot during the day, or just bringing the whole container to my scrap desk while I work. That is never a good idea!

3. I have never had a skin care regimen that I stick to, or even skin care products that are my tried and trues. I usually will just look at the shelves until something catches my eye, which is exactly what happened when I bought this No 7 Beautiful Skin Radiance Exfoliator. I like to use an exfoliator about once a week, but I am totally not picky about what one I use. What I like most about this one is the smell. I am absolutely HORRIBLE at describing smells, but this has that "nice smelling beauty product" smell to it.  haha.

4. I have a handful of eye shadow palettes that I sorta rotate through with no rhyme or reason, but lately I have been loving this Too Faced Natural Eyes . The colors are very beautiful and I can easily do an everyday no makeup look or something a little more fancy on those special days. I find that I don't get overwhelmed with options when I use this palette, which I always appreciate.

5. I have decided to keep up with a weekly Project Life® album again for 2017. I usually pick out a title card to use of each spread, and this year I decided to go with these ones by Paislee Press. They are a digital item, so I can just print them out and stick them in my album, but I can also use them as an overlay on one of my favorite photos from the week. I have been loving the look of them so far in my album!

Well that is it, another month down and another favorites list!

Thanks so much for stopping by.

2017 SCRAPPY PLANS

I give myself the month of January to really think about what I want my year to look like and what goals I need to set for myself to make that happen. One of things that really helps with that process is starting the One Little Word project® (you can find more details about Ali Edwards One Little Word® here). 

This year my OLW is:

I have so many things that I want to change about my little world that I live in. Some of them are big, and some of them are small, but all of them are needed! You'll probably see me talk about some of those changes here on my blog throughout the year, but in this post I am just going to talk about my scrappy plans for 2017 and some of the changes with my approach to memory keeping!

PROJECT LIFE®

I have started a Project Life® album for the last 3 years. I say started, because I don't think I have actually fully completed any of them. I have done mostly 12x12 albums, but last year I decided to switch things up and use a 6x8 album. I really loved working with the smaller size, and to be honest if I could still get my hands on the same albums I used last year I would probably continue using it for this year too. Right now I am thinking about switching back to a 12x12 album for this year, and have already completed a couple weeks in that size. I will be documenting my year using a weekly format and I am planning on using this grey album from Becky Higgins to house all my spreads. My favorite products to work with when I am using pocket pages are from One Little Bird and Felicity Jane. You can probably expect to see a lot from both brands mixed throughout this years album. I will also be posting weekly process videos on my YouTube channel. Most importantly, I will be trying to stay pretty current with this project, because when I let myself fall too far behind it just becomes more of chore and less enjoyable. 

TRADITINAL PAGES

I am also definitley going to be telling my stories through traditional pages as well. I have never really had a plan when it came to my scrapbook layouts, at least not one that has stuck. This year I plan on being more intentional with my stories and photos that I scrapbook. I have subscribed to Ali Edwards Story Kits™ and Stamps since the very beginning and my plan of attack is to take most of my story telling inspiration from the themes of those kits every month. Of course I will get inspiration from other places along the way, but my main goal is to just scrap with purpose. I will probably use the same grey album that I am using for my Project Life® album, or maybe this white one? I also want to use a variety of page protectors and maybe even mix a few pocket pages in as well! Along with my Story Kits™, I definitely plan on using my Felicity Jane kits to create my layouts. I have had my eye on the Gossamer Blue kits, and want maybe try them out at one point this year too! Just like my Project Life® spreads, I will also have process videos for most of my traditional scrapbook pages over on my YouTube channel. 

CAMPING ALBUM

Last year I documented our family camping trips in Traveler's Notebooks. I didn't really share too much of that process. It was really new to me and I didn't know if it was going to stick, but I ended up loving it and plan on doing the same this year. The reason why I picked a Traveler's Notebook was that they were small and I could put them in our trailer. I actually can't wait to bring them out on our first camping trip this year. When I work on little side projects like this, I take the opportunity to use up my stash. I will probably share these notebooks this year by either sharing a few process videos or doing a album share.

FINISH OLD PROJECTS

Most of my albums on my shelf are not complete. Some of them I need to add just a few finishing touches, and others are just in the beginning stages and need a lot of work. My biggest goal for 2017 is to finish each project that I start, and to finish all my unfinished albums!! I know I will need to sit down and figure out what my action plan will be for the unfinished projects, but it is definitely something I want to work hard towards. 

I think that pretty much sums up all the scrappy goals for the new year. I really am excited and hopeful that this year will be a really productive year and that I will have a few new albums on my shelf as my reward!

I would love to have you along on this memory keeping adventure, and this is where you can find me.

YouTube: Banning Lane
Instagram: @BanningLane
Facebook: you guessed it... Banning Lane

and of course right here on this blog!

Thanks so much for stopping by, and hopefully we will see you all very soon.
-Dannielle

DECEMBER DAILY® ALBUM SHARES

For the past three years I have participated in Ali Edwards December Daily® project (You can find more about that project here).  Everybody has their own approach when it comes to documenting their December memories. How I tackle this project is I only worry about taking photo's and writing down daily stories through the month. I then wait for the Christmas dust to settle before I actually start putting my album together. I find that I get overwhelmed if I try to take my photo's and scrapbook them all while trying to enjoy the moments we are creating during such a special time of the year. Waiting until January to do the scrapbook portion of this project just lets me enjoy the whole process more.

When I sat down to work on my 2016 album, I discovered I still had a few days to complete in my 2015 album. I also discovered that I pretty much hated my 2015 album so much that I decided to re-do most of the pages. It was a bit of work, but I am so happy that I made that choice. I love my album so much more now!

You can take a look at my 2015 album in my video walk thru below, or on my YouTube channel here

When working on my album, I will usually work on one day at a time and complete that page before moving on to another day. I took a different approach when working on my 2016 album. I did all the "scrapbooking" part of my album first, and then went though a did all my journaling. I also made sure that I completed the entire album, and didn't leave any little details unfinished for me to work on later. So super happy about that.

I also have a video walk thru for this album as well which you can watch below or on my YouTube channel here

It feels pretty darn good to have these albums "completely" done. As I was working through each day, I thought a lot about my approach to this project. I am think that next year I might want to switch things up a bit. I'm not quite sure exactly how just yet, but something to definitely think about.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

DECEMBER FAVES

1. This Is Us was a few episodes in before I jumped on the train, which was a bummer! It only took that one episode to get totally hooked though. I probably watch too much TV, but there are very few shows that I actually REALLY love and this is definitely one of them! I missed the heck out of it over the holiday break and am pretty anxious to see more episodes!

2. I bought Ticket To Ride for my little brother for Christmas because I thought I heard him mention it once. We played it on Christmas day and it was an instant favorite. It's basically a train adventure game where the players collect and play matching train cards to claim railway routes across the country. The more routes you complete the higher your score. I love that it is a game that a group of people can play, but also one that just my hubby and I can enjoy too.

3. Home Alone was one of my favorite movies when I was a kid, but I honestly think I was a kid the last time I watched it. My hubby and I for a brief moment decided that we were going to do the 12 days of Christmas movies. After seeing Home Alone at Target one night we decided that it would be the choice for our first night of movie watching. Turns out I love it just as much now as I did when I was a kid! We actually gave up our movie watching adventure after just a few days because we could never stay away to finish any of them! oh well. 

4.I got some Celebrity Pink Trendy Infinite Stretch jeans in my December's Dia & Co box. Hands down one of the best pair of jeans that I own! The color was super cute and the comfort level was on point. Plus they truly were skinny jeans, meaning they were fitted in the thigh AND the calf. I am sure it is just a plus size problem, but the other skinny jeans I have fit great in the hip and thigh area, but are a little more loose in the calf. I am tempted to buy them in red too!

5. This was our second year in a row that we attended our local showing of the Nutcracker. I think the girls like it a bit more than the boys, but its a new tradition that I look forward too. We usually show up a little early so that we can buy a new Nutcracker to add to our small, but growing collection. Plus it is absolutely adorable to watch how excited my daughter gets when the big Nutcracker appears on stage. I hope she will keep that excitement for many, many years.

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HOT COCOA BAR

It's the week before Christmas, and I am sure I'm not the only one who is scrambling to get things done. I have gifts to still buy, holiday baking to do, a house to clean, and just a bit of party decorating to put up.

Every year we have a very casual, but festive Christmas celebration. We definitley don't do anything even remotely fancy, but I usually do fun little touches with my food and decor to make things a little more merry. This year I decided to have a hot cocoa bar and it turned out so cute. 

It was so super easy to put together. I used a bunch of Felicity Jane cut files and let my Silhouette do most of the work for me. This project ended up being very cost friendly because I used mostly what I had on hand! I still have to add a couple of things like my whipped cream and maybe some marshmallows, but other than that I can check this chore off my to do list!

I am sharing this project over on the Felicity Jane blog, so be sure to hop on over there for all the details, plus a few more photos!