Day one - December Daily

When planning my December Daily I made sure that for Day one I had plenty of room to document this day.  As my title page was 12 x 12 it meant that Day One could be a 12x12 layout as well because it would sit behind the title page in a page protector.

December 1st was always going to be a big day because we daughter was going to Sydney for a week.  This was to celebrate graduating from High School but it was also her very first major holiday without her Mum & Dad.  

When I first joined the CT for Feed Your Craft I noticed that Elise does several sets that can be custom made and one set in particular would be perfect for what I needed for this layout.  I chose "Custom Explorer by Plain" and had the letters SYD added for Sydney.

When I was searching the Silhouette store I couldn't believe that there was a cut for the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Opera House.  Perfect element to add with my mini flair.

... and here is the completed layout.

This whole layout was inspired by these very cute and versatile mini flair buttons from Feed Your Craft.  Right now you can get 30% of your order from now until 10th December and that includes her custom sets as well.
 How is your December Daily documenting going?
Would love to know how you are going about it this year?

Love me :-)

Advent calendar...

New digital stamps from Kellie Stamps are available today and I am so excited to show you what I created using the "December Circles" digital stamps.

There is a little story behind this Advent Calendar... If you have been following me you know that I love Christmas and I love Advent Calendars and I love making new ones every year.

A few weeks back I was talking to one of the Teachers that I work with about Christmas, putting up the tree, and advent calendars.  She told me that putting up the tree etc wasn't fun when she was younger and she has never had an advent calendar.

I decided that I would make her an advent calendar and as she loves quotes I chose to make matchbook style cards with my favourite quotes in them.

... and this was the end result.

This was such a fun project as I knew the person it was going to would be so happy to receive it.

I gave it to her on the 1st of December and she told me yesterday that she opens one every day and reads it out to her class.  And if she forgets the children remind her.

Happy Saturday

love me :-)

Technology love...

I was super excited when Mandy from Turquoise Avenue asked me to host this weeks prompt for #hashtagthisweek.  I chose the prompt "technology love" because life has changed so much and continues to change at a rapid rate.  Items or products that we used several years ago have already been replaced with better, faster and easier ones.  I thought it would be fun to document what piece of technology you just couldn't live without and for me it's my iphone.  That will be no shock to most of you but I have never really documented it before but it's something that I have wanted to do for ages.

I cut out cell phones from pretty pattern paper using my silhouette cameo and used some embellishments from a past Story Kit from Ali Edwards.  The gold lettering is from the main DD kit back from 2013. This kit is currently on sale.

Hope you have enjoyed my prompt for this week and please link up over on Mandy's blog so that I can check out favourite pieces of technology that you just couldn't live without.

Love me :-)

December Daily - cover page

As soon as I received this stunning glitter acrylic, I knew exactly what I was going to use it for.  It would be the perfect way to start my December Daily album.

I have done December Daily before and with a lot of success, however, since doing Project Life my December Daily albums have been, well let's just say, neglected.  I start out all gung ho and then BAM, I stop.  And it's usually that quick too.

I like the idea of December Daily though, so this year I am doing it a little differently.  It will be part of my project life album.  I am going to tackle it just like I would project life but with more focus on one particular story a day.  This particular idea of how I would do my DD has been with me for some time but I wasn't really sure if that's how I wanted to go.  I have been doing Ali Edwards Story Telling with December Daily class and that certainly helped make my decision final.  I have even started getting my foundation pages together which I think will help me, but I have not stuck anything down as I want to leave it open to move and change things around if I need to.

I have kept my cover page for my December section of my Project Life album but I just love how it turned out.  These beautiful embellishments, "Silver glitter accents" from Color Cast Designs are simply stunning.  My cover page is 12x12 but the following pages are a mixture of project life pages protectors cut down to 6x12 and approx 7x12 with a few 6x8 thrown in.

I cut the wreath from my silhouette cameo and added red sequins from the main December Daily kit.

I am hoping to be able to share some of my foundation pages soon.

If you are doing December Daily I would love to know you are planning on completing this project.

Love me :-)

Journal tips & ideas 4...

One of my favourite things to do is journaling.  I know many of you struggle with it but words on your layouts and project life are so important.  It's what gives the photos history.  Remember you won't always be around to explain what is going on in the photo.

One of my other favourite things (I really love this one) is to make lists.  Yep, I can list about anything!

I love to make lists about what I want to achieve, goals I would like to chase after.  

Most people like summer, it lets you get out and about and soak up the fresh air.  It also allows you to relax and unwind.  Summer for me is all of this plus its HOT!  It can get so hot here that we just don't do anything.  We stay inside in the airconditioning.

It keeps us cool but our long summer break (school holidays are about 6/7 weeks) can get very long and boring.  This summer I wanted to set some fun goals, to give me a little prompt to get outside and enjoy life... whether its hot or not.

The new digital stamps from Kellie Stamps inspired me to write my manifesto and I thought for something different I would try a 12x12 photo.  I am fairly new to digital scrapbooking so it can take me awhile to figure something out.  Adding the words onto my photo in photoshop was fun but I wasn't sure if my spacing would be right or not.  So I decided to add "strip text" as this would allow me to move things around if my spacing wasn't quite right.  I could have done all the journaling in photoshop but I wanted to add some texture, I didn't want it to be a completely digital layout.

Strip text journaling is a form that I have used many, many times. Mostly because I can type up my journaling and then find a space on my layout for it to go.  This also allows me freedom to create a layout the way I want and not worry about the journaling as I can just add it after.  This type of journaling is also a good way to get your words down on paper if you are going to a crop night.  Then all you have to do is cut up your words and find a space to add to your layout.

Now that I have my "to do" list I am all ready for summer.  

But maybe not the hot weather LOL!

Love me :-)

Why I Journal - tips and ideas Part 3

I have always put the words first in my memory keeping and to be honest I find it very hard to scrapbook/project life if I am limited to how much journaling I can add.  I do believe that photos are very important but the words bring the photo to life, give it meaning and emotion.

Quite often a story I want to tell is sparked from an embellishment or a stamp.  These are also great things to use if the words just won't flow easily.  I wrote a blog post about my "bucket list" (a prompt from 2015 Blog-tember challenge) and I wanted to get the story down on paper and into my album.  When I first got these mini flair buttons from Feed Your Craft my first intention was to use them to document a holiday that we had recently.  As I was looking at them, a different story started to unfold in my head.  The words on the mini flair and my blog post were coming together in my head and I realised that I could use these to tell a different story.

Quite often when I get new products like these mini flair or stamps I just stare at them for awhile, letting my head just take them in.  I let them flow around in my brain and as I sit there stories start to emerge.  If the stories come quickly I grab a pen and paper and start making notes but if the story is not there I just let them sit on my desk and wait for the story to appear.  It may sound a bit strange but this process has worked for me for many years and I have been able to tell so many wonderful stories.

This particular story was important for me to tell as I want my children to grab life and enjoy all that it has to offer, the good and the bad.  This has been my personal mantra all through my life and I want them to understand that a good life just isn't handed to you, you have to go out and get it.  I want this layout to encourage them to do so.

You can read these earlier posts about tips and ideas for journalling here and here.

Don't always be in a rush to use product, let them inspire you to tell stories and record your history.

If you would like to order some of your own mini flair buttons head over to Feed Your Craft and use the coupon code TRACEY20 to get 20% of your order.

What inspires you to tell stories?  I would love to hear how your stories unfold.

Love me :-)

Kellie Stamps - new release...

Its always exciting when new stamps/digital stamps are released over at Kellie Stamps.  And this month is no different.  There are three new digital sets and one physical stamp set available.

I am showing Project Life cards made using "Gosh" and "I am, you are, we are" digital stamps that are available for purchase now.  The great thing about digital stamps is there is no waiting and no pre-ordering.  As soon as your purchase has gone through you can start creating.

Also exciting this month is the "gosh" digital stamp and physical stamp set which has been designed in collaboration with Brandi Kincaid using her amazing doodles.

I have a few more projects to share over the next few days so keep an eye out.

Happy Monday

Love me :-)