Project Life: January 2012 Part 1

Love doing Project Life in a monthly format. I am using the monthly badges from Marcy Penner to title each month, then I just add what inspires me each month. For this spread, I used it to capture some of the earlier part of January. 

Here is the two page spread. 

Left side: you can see the Marcy Penner badge. Really love those. Hopefully she will be able to restock soon. I am really wanting the weekday badges but they were already sold out. One thing I am learning about finding goodies online is you gotta be fast! Just like Bananafishstudio goodies. Those go very fast but I think she is going to be restocking more frequently. In any case, you can still get digital cards, etc from both, like the second card in the middle row is a digital card from Bananafishstudio.

Here is the right side. More Paislee Press cards (the story). Also some Smashtape and other washi tape. More Martha Stewart labels from Staples. Also I am loving using the Jenni Bowlin Fiskars mini tab punch. For an office product loving geek it is the equivalent to the way some people use butterfly punches. I could use it on just about every layout and be totally happy. (I also bought the Jenni Bowlin butterfly punch and love it too! ) More office supplies with the metal circle tab. Seriously, if you get bored with Hobby Lobby just run next door to Staples and you will be so happy!

A few close ups: I love using Ali Edwards stamps and also digital stamps/brushes. Used both in this shot. And yes, I am using these on every page too! I am a Studio AE member and absolutely love it. And I have quite a bit of the digital products as well. Just an overall huge fan of Ali. I love that she can make a random picture of my daughter watching Cars suddenly look cool. Oh and another tip: if you just run out of things to put in the pockets, look to your patterned paper stash or some memorabilia. I think it helps the eye rest to have some patterned paper in there. You can also order patterned paper to match the Project Life kit you may be using. This is the kit I am using: Clementine.

Here's a close up of that mini tab punch from Jenni Bowlin / Fiskars. Use it on scraps of chevron paper for just the perfect touch.

Here is the digital card from Bananafishstudio. It's a png file, she even has a video of how to use it on her blog. Check it out here. 

So there we go. Even though it is March and I am finally posting January, it's all good. Because "Raarr!" 2012 here we come! See, it's never too late to start and it's always okay to scrap out of order! Do what inspires you and what works for you! And a little behind the scenes: I am working on a bunch of the spreads all the time, but I really like to sit down and finish a spread once in a while! Feels great!

Project Life by Becky Higgins is a set of cool divided page protectors, kits and more to help capture our photos and stories in an easy to use format. It can be whatever you want it to be. Check out her site to learn more. I also recommend checking out the Design Team. They totally rock. And also there is a free Project Life Community at Big Picture Classes. 

A Day in the Life: the Me Edition part 2

Just a quick update to share my A Day in the Life template pages. I used this template from Ali Edwards on Designer Digitals. You can get it here. You can see my Part 1 here.

As you can see I used my iPhone for the pictures. Easy and fun. Captured the bed-head hair and all. 

I used this template to capture most of my day, mainly the getting ready and working hours, at least what I can share of it. Lots of time on the road. Trying to drink more water and less Diet Coke. Bathroom stops. I've been seeing lots of those cool arrow signs, so I pulled over to get a pic. More Sonic stops. Gas prices. The best hand-dryers ever. Photo of the gum I chew with my One Little Word on it. Coming home to my family is the best part. Love seeing her smiling face.

This is an 8.5 x 11 template and I just printed them at home and put them in a page protector back to back between my other two Project Life pocket pages. Here is a look at it all together.

The front of the template is on the right.

This is the second page of the template here on the left.

And finally, here are some glimpses of the daily sheet. You can get it here from Ali Edwards. It's an 8.5x11 sheet, one side has all the times of the day and space to write. The other side is divided into things like observations, overheard, favorite moment, etc. Loved using this.

So there it is. I love doing a project like this but sometimes it can be overwhelming. I just try to have fun with it and capture what I can, what I feel like at that moment. Seeing it all together has made me realize different things. Overall I am just thankful for my life and my family. Thankful to be me. Good to include ourselves in our scrapbooks.

I'm glad I did this and it has gotten me thinking about finishing my Week in the Life project because Ali will be doing it again this year in April. The dates she is doing it is April 23-29th but you can always do any week that works for you. I am going to try to do it. For more info on Ali's Day in the Life check here.

A Day in the Life: This is Me Edition

A Day in the Life. This is Me Edition. Part of my 2012 Project Life.

Excited to play along with Ali Edwards and lots of others. Capturing a day in the life. I did Week in the Life last summer. Still need to complete that album. Got the inspiration for the Today badge + Hambly overlay from Ali. Also using the cute blue camera overlay is from Hambly. Love that one. The black Today badge below and the ME kraft tag above are from Ormolu.

Am finding lots of places for hidden journaling. Like under the Einstein's sleeve. I used a stamp from Studio Calico's Epic set. "The Rest of the Story" I just love that stamp. Brilliant!

I also am loving all the different products coming out for Project Life. The "Daily Routine" card is from Liz Tamanaha. You can get them here from Oscraps.  The Currents card is from Tina Aszmus. You can find them here. Lots of stamps from Ali Edwards for Technique Tuesday. You can find them here. 

Fun to focus on my story and my routines. I am looking forward to doing this for my husband and daughter as well later in the year.

Here is the left side page. Had to include the tunes I am jamming to. And my favorite podcasts. The large "A Day in the Life" is from Ali. It's a free download too! Get is here.

Here is the right side. On the bottom row are a few "Tiny Templates" from Cathy Zielske at Designer Digitals. You can find them here. By the way, these rock!

I have also used Ali's template for A Day in the Life to create an 8.5x11 insert. I actually did two of these so they are back to back. Then I added the daily sheet as well.

Here is the full page again so you can see how it all looks together.

And here is a glimpse of the daily sheet that I added inside the insert. Just slid it in between the 8.5x11 photos.

So there it is! I am just adding this to my Project Life, which is just a compilation of whatever I am inspired to do. Not stressing about it, just adding photos and bits of pieces and stories. Having fun. You can check out my approach here.

Updated: Go here for the Rest of the Story.

Project Life: A Day in the Life edition: in progress

Just a quick update to say I'm still here! Been busy but finding bits of time to play. This is a little bit of a project in progress. Working on A Day in the Life. I have found I keep adding product to my stash. It's just a fun time of year with lots of new products being released. Also it seems a lot of new products that work really well with Project Life. Must stop buying and start using!

So for A Day in the Life I just focused on myself. That is the easiest to do. iPhone all the way. I think I will do one for DD and DH later this year. And I might even do a day just focusing on us as a family, like on the weekend. 

I like that Project Life is so adaptable. I am doing a whole spread just about A Day in the Life. I am doing whole spreads (two pages) of Take 12. I have a spread in progress for my DD's birthday. Then other weeks are a "week at a glance" or weekly highlights type layouts. And some are monthly reviews. Just having fun and playing along. Yes, some of these could go in my Library of Memory albums. But I think there is something fun about doing this as a year album. 

Aren't these little blue camera overlays from Hambly just awesome? Have a great week!