Little Summer Joy | Introduction and Manifesto

Hello again!

I'm excited to announce I will be a contributor for a fun *free* little summer project called Little Summer Joy! I'm excited to be contributing online again. I had started a little mini book to document the little things that bring me happiness this summer and had even used the "little things" concept from Ali Edwards Story Kit for my title page (more on that below.) But as many of my projects go, I feared the title page would be about all that I finished! :)

So when I saw my Instagram friends Jen Lake and Julie Gagen create a new site called Little Paper Projects and launch the first project: Little Summer Joy, I knew this would be a great fit for me. Lucky for me they had a spot open for a contributor! Maybe it will give me the spark I need to actually do something more with my site. Or maybe I will just enjoy my summer, documenting what I can and enjoy sharing that. How about we just enjoy living, creating and sharing with one another? That's pretty exciting!

I really like the idea and philosophy behind Little Paper Projects as well. I love the idea of using memory keeping as a way to explore how we see and experience our world. That using little projects like this can create more self awareness and self love. I've been pretty much on board with that philosophy since I started memory keeping and I like how they are creating a community around it. Hooray for an awesome community of folks wanting to build each other up! It's awesome.

THE PLAN

Okay, so here's my plan for my Little Summer Joy book this year. I'm using a 4x4 mini album from Seven Paper, some of Ali Edwards "Little Things" Story Kit™ and a bunch of my stash. I am not looking to go super minimal with this project. You totally could and that would be awesome! Jen and Julie shared several options here. I've done simple journals before--for an example is my 30 Lists journal that I still adore. So, I might do a journal on the side with it. But right now I just want to PLAY with some of the cool stuff I've collected and make something with it. I've decided I need to make more stuff or I need to put the collecting on hold. And since I really like it, why not use it?! 

Also, I recently picked up the Fuse Tool and am really loving playing with it too! So you'll see some fun sequin pockets as well. Let me know if you would like to see a video "how to" on that. It's quite simple to use! Here's a look at my main title page. I just added some confetti I had plus some sequins. You start from the bottom pocket and just build up. Love how it turned out!

The first lesson for Little Summer Joy is to create your summer bucket list / manifesto or whatever you want to call it. I really liked Tracy's idea to also include things that might be holding you back from joy. I primarily included things we want to do as a family, plus a few things I wanted to include on my own. 

Here's a look at my title page plus my manifesto. I kept it simple and just used the back of the 3x4 title cards to create a 4x6 canvas to write on. I stamped Summer Manifesto with this stamp set from Kellie Stamps. Wrapped the edges in some glitter washi tape from Target and just wrote my list. Simple and done!

The nice thing about including my summer manifesto here is that I can easily refer back to it, but I'm not creating a book solely on these items. Some of them while will be included and who knows, maybe all?! But one of the focus points for me for this book is to be documenting the little things that are making me happy. Things I want to do and how to inspire myself to actually DO them. Plus, a reflection component of noticing things that brought me joy just because and not because they are on a list. Does that make sense? Plus, I want to include some of the prompts for the class. So I'm keeping a pretty open mind and heart here. It's summertime after all! Keep it easy!

I hope you will join us!! You can sign up at Little Paper Projects here + many will be sharing their projects on Instagram. #littlesummerJOY. p.s. did I mention it is free?!

And mostly I just hope you enjoy your summer or the season in which you live!

SUPPLIES: A few pics of my basic supplies:

1. Seven Paper Amelia 4x4 mini album
2. Seven Paper Number Transparencies
3. Seven Paper Transparent cards
4. Seven Paper gold foil letter stickers
5. Fuse Tool - This one is from Becky Higgins
6. Little Moments Kit from Ali Edwards (no longer available)
7. Lots of my stash! (note the Summer cards are an old set from Ali Edwards)

Check out the hashtag: #littlesummerJoy on Instagram to see the latest posts.

Summer Happiness MiniBook | Part 1

I know this post is a little late. I keep thinking, "maybe I should just wait and post the whole thing together...I'm only doing it one more month, right?" Sound familiar? Truth is, life and work have been busy and I need to let go of some of my perfectionism and just post it. Right?

So here we go.

My third project for Elle's Studio in July was a "Summer Happiness" minibook inspired by that cute Summer Happiness stamp and Gretchen Ruben's Happiness Project just to simply document what is making me happy this summer. To see more about the project you can check out the Elle's Studio site: click here.

I love the idea of a Happiness Project and was so inspired by Gretchen's post about "How will you make your own summer?" I'm currently doing a Summer Manifesto inspired by Ali Edwards, so initially I questioned whether I should even do this little mini book. As I've been working on it, I realized it's based more on observations than intentions. Sort of like a gratitude journal versus a goal setting album. Both can be excellent projects and worthwhile (at least for me.)

Okay, so for my mini album: the cover is a piece of thin birch plywood from a local hobby shop. I left mine raw and I love the color and feel of it. I've had this for over a year and am happy to finally put it to use. I had been saving it for a beach mini album, which didn't happen last year.

The idea for the wood came from Nicole Reaves and her beautiful December Daily. Also check out this beautiful seashore minibook from Martha Stewart. I simply cut the plywood down to 4x6 and then embossed the summer and 2013 from Elle's stamps with white Zing. I added that cute glitter star from Studio Calico on the front too and just love how it turned out.

By the way, I absolutely love the summer stamp set from the Saltwater collection. So useful even when it's not summer. This stamp below was my inspiration for the book. I initially thought of going neon, but the lighter pink felt more like I wanted it to. Am also currently slightly obsessed with the chipboard stars from Pink Paislee. Here I stitched a plain transparency and the light polka dot vellum paper together to create the pocket with the stars, a few sequins and a bit of small gold confetti. I embossed the summer happiness stamp using Zing embossing powder on the transparency.

Here I used a glassine envelope and a tag with Summer 2013--card from the Elle's Studio June kit-- to create an intro page. The chevron transparency is from Alison Kreft.

I stitched the glassine envelope on and then glued the small polka dot bag onto the back with another one of the Elle's Studio cards--this one is from Saltwater. Here I used it explain what the book is about and the inspiration from Gretchen Rubin. 

Then I just started adding my items. What I did was create a two page spread (meaning a left side and a right side) with a vellum or transparency or something else in between for the number. Think December Daily meets 30 Lists meets Summer mini book.

Number 1: the beach (these aren't in any particular order, just whatever I decided to use for each one.)

I used a ticket from our trip to Stewart beach. Love including some ephemera like that.

 Number 2: my awesome niece Mckayla

Number 3: my daughter

Number 4: Taking time to enjoy the sweet things in life

Number 5: Road Trips

I stamped right on a transparency using the summer stamp to create this divider.

a closer look at the journaling above and the stamping on the transparency below.

Thanks for looking! For more info, check out my gallery at Elle's Studio!

How will you create or observe your own happiness this summer? Would love to hear!

Also wanted to note: Polaroid photos are from Persnickety Prints. I had them printed on linen paper and I adore the feel of these. Perfect for the look I was going for. The texture makes it tricky to stamp on though. They have lots of paper options and I might try the fine art paper next time. 

For more information about "The Happiness Project" by Gretchen Rubin click here. 

Will be back after the August reveal to finish up! Enjoy the rest of your summer!

December Daily 2012 | Days One & Two

Hello December!

We started December 1st with everything from breakfast tacos, a Christmas Parade and Stroll (downtown street celebration), being with friends and meeting Santa! It was her first time meeting Santa and she did great. I was so proud of her. A little shy, but she gave him high fives and hook 'em horns. And she remembered to ask for what she wanted with a small cue. (she wants a sheep and something pink--have I mentioned how much I love this girl?) 

Last night we came home to meet our Elf on the Shelf. She quickly named her Cookie. Maybe we were all hungry, but I love it. She loves her Cookie the Elf and we found her this morning eating little Christmas cookies! So cute.

Not surprising, we all needed a lot of rest today. And I got some pages done during her nap.

Here's a look at my day one. Hard to choose just one story, so I decided to highlight the photo of meeting Santa and write down our bucket list, since we accomplished two of them and got started on three others! I traced some cookie cutters I have to make the stars. I'm thinking I'll try something like this inside the cover of my bucket list album. I also did a light spray of Mister Huey's Shine and the silver pen is a little bit glittery which is fun.

December 1: Hello Santa!
Excited to meet Santa and start of our bucket list.

Day 2: Just a little bit of magic. Wanted to highlight little Cookie the Elf. I started with the hearts and then added a few stars and a bit more. A little messy but I don't want the pressure for this journal to be perfect. Just having fun and adding a little magic here and there. (love that Kelly Purkey stamp too)

December 2: December Magic
Excited to find Cookie the Elf eating cookies

Also got a chance to work on a little bit of my Project Life for December. I had already printed these journal cards from Ali Edwards and added them in a Design F page protector from Becky Higgins. I just added the photos and journaling, along with the title, which is a download from Ali Edwards in the 25 Days class at Studio Calico. I recolored it red and printed it on vellum. Also added the mini stars with a little glue dot on the back. I may add some tiny confetti stars too when I finally dare to try my new sewing machine! (printing on vellum or transparencies is a fun way to add a see-through element, especially if you don't have a die-cut machine)

I'm kind of liking the Design F lately. I'm thinking of using it more in 2013. We'll see. For December I think I'll end up with a Design A on the left of this, then there are three Design F pages, and another Design A. I've already started a Design G as an insert about yesterday's adventures.

December Daily in Project Life using Ali Edwards journal cards

Finally, I wanted to share a peek of my other project, the bucket list mini album in a 6x8 Studio Calico Handbook. I'm doing 12 things here, and probably Christmas Eve and Day. Really loving Liz Tamanaha's templates (Paislee Press). I'm using a mix of hers and Ali's 6x8 templates from this year, as well as various journal cards, etc. Hope to do a post about it soon.

It's awesome to see everyone's pages and albums and I'm excited to be able to share a bit today. Thanks so much for stopping by!

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