Project Life | Week 1 & 2

Well, I can't believe it but I have joined the hundreds, possibly thousands who have hopped on board the Project Life band wagon this year. I tried it once before in 2010 but only made it through the first month and then life took over. So, I recycled that album and kit and have started over.

I have also purchased the Clementine core kit which should be here next week and have pre-ordered a variety pack of the page protectors and the new black signature binder. I will be using the original kit and clementine core kit together with product from my vast stash, including several Studio Calico kits, and some digital elements from Ali Edwards, Cathy Zielske, Marcy Penner and Paislee Press.

It has taken more time than I wish but I have finally finished week one and two and I love the results. With me working four days a week I really didn't think we would have enough going on to do a double page spread each week so I am planning on only a single page each week but am flexible enough that if there is enough going on one week I will make it a double page. Week three was a big summer holiday week for us so it is planned as a double page. I am also adding inserts in when and if I need them.

Here we go with week one and it was a quiet week at home for Ashleigh and Scott and I was back to work on Wednesday. I am trying to keep each week simple and the embellishments reasonably flat otherwise I can see the album getting quite bulky by the end of the year.

This 4 x 6 photo has been layered with an October Afternoon label for the weeks dates and some very old alpha stickers and rub-on.

I used my new Silhouette Cameo for the Hello Life 2012 and the Weekend Ritual banner. Because I am only doing a single page per week I am following Michelle Wooderson's lead and doing a 'this week' card summarising each week.

Here is another October Afternoon label, you will see lots of these in the coming weeks, and I typed my journalling with my vintage typewriter.

I also had an insert this week. You can see how it looks with the main pages below. This one is a 6x12 using a template by Cathy Zielske from Designer Digitals. The journalling for the page is on the main page and was printed on the card so I could get the whole story down.

I have plans to use the back of the insert for week two to tell the story of our trip to Waiheke Island for a long weekend.

Our week two was a busy one. The school holidays continued, I travelled to Melbourne and Sydney for work and we all went to Waiheke for a long weekend. So you can see most of my photos this week are from our time at Waiheke and I used several of the free templates from Paislee Press. I think I will be using these a lot as they let me get more photos in a week. This week I also used a 4x6 and 3x4 journalling card from Marcy Penner.

I hope to get quicker at putting my pages together each week and already have my photos organised and printed for week three and four. The plan is to have both of these weeks finished before the end of week five. I also have an insert planned for week three and my photos for that are also printed.

Currents

Sorry it has been so long since I have been here but I have been so busy with school holidays and work that I don't have anything to share. I have been working away at things; printing photos and writing but nothing is complete yet....soon hopefully.

So, today I thought I would share my currents. I got this idea from Tina's lifelovepaper.com blog and it is just a great little snapshot of me right now.

Time: 13.05
Location: work
Weather: a gorgeous summer day and hot out
Eating: my favourite cooked salmon sushi that I have every week
Drinking: water
Loving: that someone just noticed I had lost weight and was commenting on how great I looked
Wondering: if I will have time to work on my PL week one tonight
Enjoying: being on top of things at work for the moment
Accomplishing: a lot of tasks that have been on my lists for quite some time
Thinking: I really need to get to bed early tonight...I am so tired

Time for Action...

Happy New Year to you all!

For me 2012 is going to be the year of action...that is my one little word for this year. Last year my word was nurture and for the most part I did a pretty good job of living good to my word but maybe a little too good at times. Sometimes the nurturing of myself and family meant I didn't take any action and get the things I wanted to achieve done. So this year it is all about finding balance and taking action on some projects that have been lingering for some time now. I will keep you posted over the year on how I am progressing.

Now onto exciting scrappy related matters.

With all the chatter on the scrappy blogs about December Daily I was really keen to give it a go this year. Then I took a reality check and reminded myself how busy my December normally is and how I don't get all the things done during December that I want to at the best of times.

This year I really wanted to make a big effort to make December the best ever for Ashleigh as Christmas is her most favourite time of year. So, I printed a calendar and planned places to go and things to do at least each weekend and as much as we could possibly fit in.

With all the Christmas places we were going and things we were doing I changed my mind on the December Daily and decided to give it a go. After the first weekend I realised that although we were doing a lot over Friday, Saturday and Sunday our Monday to Thursday hadn't really changed and it was just work and school as normal. So, I have finally decided on a hybrid December Daily; for the long weekends I am telling a story a day and then for the rest of the week I am recording other Christmas memories that I don't want to forget but don't necessarily happen on that particular day ie traditions, decor etc. 

It is already January and I have only completed a few pages but I have all the photos, journalling, memorabilia and a list of memories for each day so now I just need to keep working away a few days at a time.

In the meantime, I thought I would share what I have so far. I am totally using what I have in my stash for this project, together with Ali Edwards December Daily Overlays and her word brushes and stamps, all available from Designer Digitals. 

DAY ONE | This is all about the wonderful advent 'calendar' Nanny made for Ashleigh this year with a different surprise each day - sometimes a gift or chocolate and sometimes a voucher to do something together over the holidays. Ashleigh loved the excitement each morning opening the present.

And by leaving finishing this page until after Christmas I was able to include a full list of what she got each day. I think this will be great to go back and read in future years. 

DAY TWO | Sorry, this photo isn't that great and I still have the journalling to add to this page but it is all about Ashleigh excitement for the Christmas 'season' to start and getting the Christmas tree up and decorated as close to the first as possible. She was so keen to start decorating I had to get the tree up and the lights on before she was home from school this Friday because she started as soon as she arrived home.

The twinkle twinkle is an Ali Edwards digital stamp and I added the holly brad as the dot on the I because when I recoloured the stamp from black to white I forgot the dot....but it is a happy mistake, I love the brad.

DAY THREE | These are photos from a local Christmas Display we went to which was truly amazing. The community town hall was totally decked out in Christmas decorations and decor from one couples collection of many, many years. Ashleigh absolutely loved it.

This page is not on a DD overlay because I used one of Ali's 6x8 Layered Templates and then printed it the wrong size so I improvised by cutting off the bottom three photos and just using it as above. The number 3 tag is cut with my Silhouette and the 3 is backed with red patterned paper. The sequin flowers and epoxy tree are both very old from my stash.

DAY FOUR | Some days when I have more photos to share or a longer story to tell I have included an insert, which I am using in various sizes. This page on the left is a 6x8.5 insert and I have ordered those page protectors from Studio Calico. 

This page is of the Sculpt 6k walk I did and includes a photo of my six-months pregnant sister and I at home before the walk and me finishing in the rain and still with a smile on my face. 

The believe is from an old Studio Calico kit. 

This page uses an Ali Edwards 6x8 Layered Template printed with just the red frame and words, no photo. For the journalling I took this straight from my blog post about the walk and achieving this goal I had set myself. The number is cut from my bib I wore on the day and it is just attached with my tiny attacher. The brackets are from the Silhouette shop and cut with my Silhouette and stitched on.

Well that is it for now....a very long post, thanks for hanging in there. I will share some more soon, hopefully.