Week in the Life Prep

From a month in the life, to a week in the life it seems :)

The other day I shared with you some monthly calendar pages. Today, I'm sharing with you my prep for the epic Week in the Life project!

Have you heard of it?

It something Ali Edwards does once a year and it has such a huge contingent of followers.

And now I get to say I'm one of them!

Well, I guess I've always been a follower of her project (or at least since I discovered it last year) but I've never actually participated before.

Last year I was going through such a hard time, not working, living at home, and I didn't really feel like commemorating forever, this not so great time of my life.

But this year things have changed so much! I'm working, I'm closer to Matt (i.e. we actually live in the same city!!) and I'm starting to get my feet on the ground and figure out this whole grown up thing.

What a perfect time to document a typical week in my life!

I decided to go hybrid on this project and purchased the 3 kits below for there awesome "everyday life" theme/quality.

Cathy Zielske's Page Frames No. 3

This is the Day Word Art No. 02

Week in the Life Journal Cards

And here are my pre-photo pages! I printed 1 each of Cathy Z's templates (there are 6) and will figure out the most appropriate to repeat for the 7th day.

And then printed Ali's Week in the Life Journaling cards in Gray.

I decided to do 1 page 8 1/2 x 11 and also a baseball card photo sleeve to catch some of the ephemera, extra photos, and journaling cards, for each day of the week.

It's going to be fairly neutral, and the colors and a few bits and pieces of patterned paper are what will give it some life.

I also decided to not make a separate album for these. It's going to right there in the middle of my 2011 calendar page scrapbook.

I have most of the pictures and now need to work on the journaling. But I'm on my way to have a complete Week in the Life project!

Be sure to check back for the finished pages!

And truly, thank you for stopping by :)

xxbesos

Project 12: April, May, June

Hello dear bloggie friends! My apologies for the random hiatus. I've been scrapping lately, I just haven't had the chance to blog.

The words don't come as easily to me :) But I try!

So last weekend, I got caught up on my calendar pages. 3 whole months worth! I took a bit of a break from these for one reason.

My sweet Maddie got her angel wings in April.

And it left a big black hole in heart.

And I just couldn't bring myself to document it.

But it's been 3 months now and I'm just barely getting use to the idea of her being gone and just barely able to document. I still miss her so much!

For the April calendar, I used some Pink Paislee House of Three and bits of Studio Calico.

And the accompanying picture page, is full of color. I had to include that photo of the Royal Wedding and all of it's lovely fairy tale-ness & this awesome diecut from My Minds Eye that I've had in my stash for quite a awhile. It was too perfect to not use!

May was a much busier month, in the beginning. And then it was pretty low key and restful up until the end when we went all out with a trip to New Orleans!

I used my Lawn Fawn Polaroid stamp and some Studio Calico stamps to share some of the highlights. Also btw, lately I've been loving blue! It's not one of my usual faves (aside from the Tiffany's/robins egg/teal variety) but lately I've been using it quite a lot.

And then on to June, which led to a lot of activites, but not a lot of pictures!! What the heck was I thinking not taking a picture with my high school best friend, as we had dinner for the first time in 4 years?! What was I thinking when I had everyone over to my house for a pizza party to convince Susie to not be scared about her upcoming trip to Amsterdam?!

But alas, it's true. I do not have any photos of these oh so fun events.

I did however, have a few photos from date night, baby-sitting Urijah, and our weekend trip to San Antonio. Well, of some of the food we ate but none of me and my Grandpa! The entire reason why I'd driven out to San Antonio in the first place!

In the words of my mid western boyfriend, oh geez!

I guess I haven't learned!

xxbesos

J3 Team

This is the money shot! Team J3 out in the wild =)

I did a lot of day tripping out of London, with these two characters: Josh on my left (as you look at this photo) and Jonathan or Tash on my right. Hence, the J3!

Joshie had a guidebook, it was something about Trips out of London, and we'd just flip through it until we found a place we wanted to visit. Dover was our first day trip.

It was so much fun traveling with these guys. We're all pretty low key and relaxed, just content to hop on a train, jump off and explore for a day.

I love this photo of the 3 of us near the seaside in Dover. I used a sheet of Sassafras Basics paper (one of my favorite go to lines) and just added a few extra elements.

Like the row of punched circles and the 3 metal studs.

And then I stamped the circle chain (which is messy because I forgot my acrylic block and just had to go for it!) added some punched circles and letter stickers.

I'd love to have a J3 reunion one of these. Boys let's make it happen!

xxbesos

Dora the Explorer

Aaaand...I'm back sharing Scrap & Yap and England Mini album layouts!

This one was my favorite and made me fall in love with the Mind the Gap SC kit!

I picked these photos to play with, because I was (luckily) wearing an orange shirt. Which I think coordinates perfectly with the products in the kit.

This was my favorite page from the day. I just had fun punching and folding circles...

...and printing onto Fabrips!

Oh, and adding things straight onto my photo, including an Ali Edwards' timeline overlay. <3

And I couldn't waste the back of this gorgeous paper, so I created this quick and easy layout directly onto the back of the other. Old school!

I originally printed more journaling for the Dora page, but it just didn't look right on the layout. So I added it to the back and threw a photo and some goodies on for good measure.

Journaling Reads:

In this moment I am in my element, out in the world, traveling, exploring, wandering. I lave each and every minute.

It's worth all of the hassle, every backache and foot blister. Whether I'm with someone or by myself it doesn't even matter. I cannot quench my thirst for travel.

Cheers, bye!

xxbesos

5 *Mini

Sorry for being MIA these last few days, I was over in Austin playing with this girl:

My bestie, Tara Fay! I love her to pieces :) We went to celebrate her 27th year of awesomeness, with a little karaoke and some bowling. Needless to say it was an awesome 24 hours of fun. But we're old and now everyone is tired.

And now I'm home to write about her gifts.

Tara has received a lot of my handmade creations, so it's always a challenge to think of something new and innovative. I tend to go overboard on these things and try to think of themes.

One year, when I was poor and unemployed, I baked her cupcakes and personalized the cupcake toppers. I also made her a cupcake mini album and a cupcake card.

Last year, I spruced up some moleskine journals for her (she's a writer) all with the theme of achieve.

This years theme was all about the number 5.

It all started with that book in the middle. I found it at Paper Source (along with some other scrappy goodies) and instantly had my theme for this year.

Now, to know a bit about Tara, you have to know that she's a planner, she's a list maker, she's future thinking and goal-oriented. That's my girl to a T (hehe!) So when I came across this book, on a second pass through Paper Source, I knew it would be perfect for her.

It's all about where you're going to be in 5 years. It's a workbook of sorts that focuses on your values and goals, etc. Spot on for my favorite life planner.

So I came home and made this silly card using a stencil purchased from Paper Source (which btw I could not love more!) and some Maya Mists. (I'm seriously lacking in red Mister Hueys...)

It's my attempt at humor :D And actually a really quick and easy card to make.

I sprayed it, used my Slice to cut the circle and the 5, printed out the type and heat embossed the 27 on the inside.

Simples!

Then I got to think about it. Tara and I have known each other for several years now, but we really didn't start hanging out on a regular basis until 2006...5 years ago!

So I had to make a mini! And since I've just added a new type of my album binding to my repertoire, I knew it could be quick and easy. KP, I hope I made you proud :)

I used a Hambly overlay for the cover, and cut another 5 with my Slice.

Then I busted out the stencil again and hit with Red and Coral Maya mists.

And then I got to playing. The theme was all numbers, so I pulled together some number paper, an SC number stamp etc.

And I added the date to all of my photos, picked one from each year of our friendship.

Played with some shipping tags, mist and stamps.

Added some blue which is quite an accomplishment for me since I don't really use blue very often, but I love how this turned out! These are my favorite 2 pages :)

Busted into my House of Three Daily Junque stamps. I used those a lot in this album.

And I'm loving my white embossing powder!

Ran out of room for some journaling, so I added in a shipping tag for some extra space.

Have to add that this is my absolute favorite photo of me and T. It's just so us it isn't even funny!

Misted the tag using Warm Calico Mister Huey.

And finished the album with a photo form New Years' Eve 2010!

I wouldn't have thought to add a back to the mini, if it wasn't for the Fabulous Fabrips class, but I love how it literally helps close the book on the mini. I'll never forgo this potentially wasted space again!

Oh, and I have to add that the majority of this kit was made using the leftovers from the CKC class! I only added a few elements and papers and of course used my own stamps and Mister Hueys. So keep that in mind if you're thinking of taking the class :)

I just have to end on this note. T Fay, I love you to pieces! Never change, always keeping striving for improvement in yourself, in me, in the world. You are one of the most amazing people I know! Love you girlie :)

xxbesos

Mind the Gap

More Scrap & Yap layouts!! I adore how this mini is turning out. I totally just went for it at this crop, didn't plan a thing.

This was my first layout of the day. But it didn't always look like this. It didn't have the border punched strip or the gray on top. But it was missing something up there, so I cut a strip of the blue off of the bottom, flipped it over (it was double sided) and anchored it with the Kraft backed by this awesome geometric print from the Mind the Gap kit.

Oh, and I added an Ali Edwards digital element to the photo before I printed it out. Just to give it something extra, ya know?

This was the view of the city from the top of the castle. The sad fact is, I don't even remember it. But I'm so glad I have this photo now! I do remember how windy it was out there, and I remember talking with my friend Josh. Sigh...it was a good day. I miss having friends around!

But onwards and upwards,

So I really love circles, in case you haven't been able to tell. And by love I mean obsessed!! It seems like all of my pages feature some kind of circle design.

For this page, I punched a bunch of 2 in circles out of scrap paper and used them as masks, layered them on a sheet of paper that came with the album, and hit it with Mister Huey in Barnwood (which btw, you all know how much I love gray. I officially have my second favorite color, after white of course!) and then filled in the circles with photos and punched patterned paper, stamps and even did some heat embossing.

It was a fun page and an easy way to combine a bunch of random photos. And I have to add, I love this color scheme! In case you weren't able to tell ;)

Cheers, bye!

xxbesos

Mister Huey Winner

And the winner of the Studio Calico goodies is....

Jamie McG! Congrats :)

Please e-mail me at paperheart[dot]project[at]gmail[dot]com and

I'll have your goodies out to you ASAP!

xxbesos