Fall Projects

hi Hi HI! I took a bit of a break from blogging. 

Just trying to be realistic about my time and my to do list. 

Understanding that not everything is going to get done nor does everything have to be done. 

I'm not sure that I've been crazy busy or even busy really, but I've just spent some time focusing on other things. 

Like these projects below!

Every once in awhile I decide to make non-scrapbook projects. These are a few of 'em. 

My Mama was in town this weekend. She brought her dog, Cadie, who was introduced to my Mac. This was the first time either was exposed to the other species. So we were on full alert! And really wanting to be a bit closer to home. (FYI: They didn't get along well. But at least there wasn't any huge melt downs, or scratched or bit body parts, or bruised egos...)

We only made it out to Wal-mart, for some apartment things and a few plastic pumpkins. 

And to Hobby Lobby, because we decided we should make wreaths for our doors! 

We pinned a bunch of wreaths before falling in love with this one we saw for sale on Etsy. (Seriously, if you're into wreaths but don't have time to put one together, check out Courtney Mahler's Esty Shop)

I hand made the little pumpkin using burlap ribbon, twine, and crumpled shipping paper. It took me a bit to figure it out, but I think I got it together. Love how my first wreath turned out!

Mama made her own wreath with most of the same products. She wanted hers to be fuller. With a "bunch of stuff" as she would say. She also wanted to put more orange in hers which looks so pretty! Sorry for the blurry photo. I'll take a better one when I visit tomorrow.

Remember those pumpkins I mentioned earlier? Here's what they look like now. Originally, both were orange. But with a bit of spray paint, they've been totally reinvented. That metallic one looks sooo good guys. I was shocked at how it came out direct from the can, looking so metallic. I'm still not done with the white one I think. But at least the base is done.

I also made another large pumpkin out of chevron burlap (to die!) to complete this trio. I'm still deciding if these should live inside or out for the season. Right now they're in. And they're making me so happy for real Fall to start! I can't wait for cold weather, boots, scarvs, hot apple cider.

My favorite time of the year!

cheers & besos,

Project12: August 2013

How have I not been doing this all along?!?! I really can't tell you how much I'm loving this project. In 2011 I did Project 12 and I loved the album. (You might have seen my title page, it was everywhere when I posted it) But it was some work to put it together and to remember the dates and to find more calendar papers and a whole host of other excuses. 

I decided that I wanted to try to tackle it again. But this time using all of these great Project Life goodies everyone is making these days. I could never be a "real"Project Lifer. Weekly spreads sound like sooo much work to me. So this is my adaption of the project.

Handbook sized pages.

Covering a full month.

As many pages as it takes.

Mostly divided page protectors.

Using mainly a kit (this was Studio Calico Marks & Co).

Black and white photos plus a few in color.

And that's really it. 

Have a scroll through the pages below. I made 15 of them for the month. Not really sure if that's a lot or a little. I made a few notes about some of them, but they're mostly straight forward. I have to admit, those little pockets were so intimidating to me! But I think I figured it out.

I already scrapped this for his album, so happy it's now in mine! Just love his sweet smiling face. "Smile" diecut is from the Toolbox printables.

This is one of my favorite pages! I loved the sequins in the kit and I loved it even more in the little glassine bag it came in. I knew it wasn't enough to make a full on pocket so I decided to strategically glue the sequins down on the cardstock. I had a time of it, trying to stitch the vellum to the cardstock, but that's just something I need to work out with my sewing machine (we're frenemies).

The die cut is from the Toolbox Class as well.

And here is my favorite page for the month. I had so much fun sewing these awesome fabrics down. Mercifully, my sewing machine cooperated at this point.  

I was directly inspired by the bonus class Corrie Jones did for Wilna's Art Class. The colors were inspired by one of the great PL cards in the Marks & Co kit, but I didn't end up using the card. 

Oh, and here's the point in the post when I plug the hell out of these Kal Barteski for SC stamps. I literally bought the kit for those stamps. And all of the fun goodies were just a bonus.

Here's my unsolicited opinion about handwriting in scrapbook pages. DO IT! Your kids will totally appreciate seeing your handwriting! There's nothing I recognize more instantaneously, than my mother's hand writing. Just seeing it makes me feel like I'm home.

Mama sent me some scrapbook goodies she picked up at Ross and included a quick hand written note with them. I saved it, even before I thought to start this project. I love it that much. I ended up just stapling some ribbon to the top and slipping it in between two of the pages in the page protector. Simples!

Oh yeah, my nickname is Chubs....

This photo pairing might be my favorite. I love the colorful square with the smaller "photo strip". Plus Lauren is darn cute in these! App for the rainbow effect: Snapster. Photo editor: PicTapGo.

Loved the sentiment "you are here". It has so many more meanings, than simply where one might be standing in a photo. I used it metaphorically on this spreadie. I'm at the point in my career where its time to find a new job. The hunt has begun!

And this is too special to not talk about. Quick run down: I painted bright circles onto cardstock. Printed my photo onto vellum and glued it over top. Embellishing was so so simple, just a label, mist splatters and some enamel dots.

I think I'm most in love with the simple text printed directly with the photo. It makes me literally LOL whenever I read it because I can hear Eric's incredulous voice in my head.

I love that this not so awesome full on flash photo, turned into something I heart hard.

And that's it! For month one at least. I'm taking this project as it goes, I've decided. This will in no way take the place of my layouts. Because I love them so much! But it will help me scrap some of those smaller stories I don't think would fit into a full dedicated page.

As far as going back in time. I'm thinking I'll try to get the summer months done. But other than that, full size layouts from that time period will have to suffice.

What do you think of my first attempt at the whole Project Life phenom? Those small pockets weren't the death of me after all! I've tried the whole divided page protector thing before and never felt like I got it together. For whatever reason, something clicked in my head this time around and I actually enjoyed the process!! Took me a day and a half, but again, so happy with how it turned out!

cheers & besos,

Summer Update

First off, the winners of the Scrapbooking for the Soul giveaway! 

Congrats to GnomeHome and Melanie G =) 

I picked one winner from the commenters here and one from the commenters on the thread I started at 2Peas. (I wasn't very clear about which post to post on...but happy I had already decided to giveaway 2 spots!). Ladies, I'll Peamail you!

Secondly, I just want to say, if you didn't win, seriously consider purchasing the class. I promise you won't be disappointed!

Thirdly, it's the end of summer. I blinked and it was gone! At the beginning of June I sat down and made a list of goals. Now that it's the end of August, it's time to check in on what I've accomplished. 

• 01. Grandparents Mini. Not started
• 02. Note Mini. Done! And gifted...and oh yeah, I made two =)
• 03. Japan Mini. Nearly done! I just need one last push to help check this one off. But the project isn't inspiring to me anymore (and I'm questioning if it ever was) so I'm thinking I should just call it quits. 
• 04. Start Travels Mini. I started it and never shared it. Whoops! The minor hold up on this one is that I need to organize my ephemera before it can really get going. But hey, the goal was to start it and it's started!
• 05. Start Paper Life Mini. Not started.
• 06. Start Project 12 Mini. I did this yesterday and am hooked! Why didn't I start this sooner?
• 07. Update blog design. Done! But I'm thinking I might want to do this again....
• 08. Catch up on classes. I signed up for several throughout the summer and kept up with them! I also went back through Wilna's Art class so definitely accomplished that. I did not even crack open the binder with all of my Maggie Holmes lessons. I'd say this ones about 3/4 of the way to done.
• 09. Organize ephemera. Maybe tomorrow? I'm not feeling as rushed to accomplish this. Not started.
• 10. Create art. It's done! Thanks to Camp Scrap and May's Mixed Media mini class, I was able to gather the necessary tools to get what I had in my head down on canvas. 
• 11. Decorate guest room. I finished it! So excited about how this room turned out. I never shared the photos. Is this something yall would be interested in seeing? Just curious :)
• 12. Walk 100 miles. My energy levels were terrible this summer. I'm working with my doctor to figure this out! But it didn't leave me with much gumption to get out there and do this. Still in progress.
• 13. Take 100 pictures. Between Chicago, Los Angeles, Austin and all of the random birthday celebrations this summer. I'm totally set with a whole new set of stories and photos to scrapbook. Done!

As you can see, I didn't finish them all. But I think I'm ok with that. I did accomplish 7, so that's more than half and more than what I would have done without sitting down to make this list. And that makes me happy.

Hope you all have a lovely rest of the weekend!

cheers & besos,