2016 & Project Life...

I have quite a bit of catching up to do for Project Life for 2015 which I am ok with but it got me thinking.

How do I want to tackle Project Life in 2016?

My first thought was to take a break.  I have been doing PL for 5 years and maybe taking a break would give me the chance to do something else.  I will be honest here, I came very close.  But the reality is that I would probably miss it, then try to catch up and fail - and then be upset because I didn't do I right from the beginning.

So I made the decision to do it again but I needed to find a way to do it differently as I was getting a little bored.  I know that sounds awful.  The product is brilliant and the concept truly wonderful but for us creative people, sometimes we need to change things up.

I decided that 9x12 would be a great idea.  It wasn't 12x12, so that was different but the shocking truth is, to find albums and page protectors here is Australia is impossible.  Yes we can purchase them overseas but with the exchange rates and the postage it just isn't worth it.

I then gave 6 x 8 some serious thought.  I love the size and Stampin Up has Kraft 6x8 albums that I just love.  But that gave me another problem.  I would end up with a heap of albums (not much storage is my house) and I wouldn't be able to add layouts.

So back to 12x12 I went. So how could I make this different to any other year.  I also needed to make it simple because half the reason I fall behind is I have made it too complicated.  In comes the Project Life App.  I have had the app since it began and  I liked the idea of being able to put together 12x12 pages on my phone and get them printed.  Although the app was great, getting 12x12 photos printed here in Australia is expensive.  In the last week I went back to playing with the app and started playing with the 4x6 collages.  Once I had completed the collage I just saved them and then exported them to my dropbox.  From there I can print them at home or just upload them to a USB drive and take it down to my local print shop and they are done.

The photos above were all done using the PL App.  I will admit that on two of them I did the journaling in photoshop  as I wasn't sure what I wanted to write when putting it together in the app.

  

Tomorrow I will be putting them into my PL album for 2016.  Week One done!!

Lets see how I go!!

love me :-)

OLW2016 - Focus

I spent quite some time choosing my OLW2016.

Sometimes my word comes easy and other times is takes a bit longer.  I had originally chose a different word and although I liked the direction that it would send me in, I felt that it also may limit me.

In the last few days something happened, and word kept coming up and each time it did I could feel it was trying to tell me something.  So I stopped, listened and spent time just being with this word.

I loved how it made me feel and I loved how it got me excited.

I wrote a list of some of the things that I want my word to help me with...

(one)

Acknowledge bad days, learn from the lesson and then FOCUS on making tomorrow better.

(two)

Accept bad food choices, then FOCUS on making good choices for my next  meal.

(three)

Look beyond the negative experience and FOCUS on the positive.

(there is always a positive, you just have to look)

(four)

Splurge every now and then and continue to FOCUS on good spending habits and saving goals.

(five)

Listen to your body and FOCUS on making it healthier, fitter and stronger.

(six)

When the road ahead is foggy, take a breath and wait - give yourself time to FOCUS on what you need to do, never rush.

(seven)

Everyday FOCUS on the little things that bring Joy.

... where will this little word take me!

Love me :-)

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 :-)