Project Life Week 2 (January 9-January 15, 2012)

Happy Weekend to you! We have a busy day planned so I have to type fast to sneak in this blog post. Josey's BB team is playing in the championship game tonight in their league tournament. Go Lady Cats!! But for now I can't wait to share my Week 2 of Project Life with you. It's my favorite week to date. In my Week 2 PIP (Project Life in Progress) post I challenged myself to use mostly items from a Studio Calico kit + make cards with the leftovers. The cards are coming soon and I did use mostly SC kit items. I got totally scrappy and treated each insert as a mini scrapbook page. My spread is very mixy matchy but I think overall it blends together pretty well. I'm also very excited because I completed my insert pages in the same week that I got the 2 page spread done. I have lots of incomplete insert pages for 2011 because I thought I would go back and scrap those pages in the traditional method. Not gonna happen probably. I used divided page protectors this time and got my inserts done so much more easily. You'll see those at the end of my post.
Here's the left side of my Week 2 layout. I had so many photos this week that I to bypass my main, dated insert and the week in review insert. Those extra slots come in really handy when you have excess photos you want to use. I also didn't use one single 4 x 6 photo this week. I love the slots filled with those big photos but there was just too much to record this week.
There were tournaments, a party for Josey, card night for Eric, homework, lots of traveling, lots of sickies at our house + just lots of photos that I captured.
Here's shots from my 3 x 4 journaling inserts. I used a PL Clementine card on the left with typewriter journaling + an Ali Edwards stamp set from Technique Tuesday called It's OK. I used this stamp set several times this month. On the right I used patterned paper from Studio Calico's January County Fair kit. It was fun to just reach into this box knowing that I had a nice selection of items to choose from. Easy thinking. I also used some October Afternoon Flower Sack die cuts that I ordered from SC last month also. The little dog and girl was perfect for this photo of Josey and Charlie. The best friends banner was from that Flower Sack collection too and I used several these as an ongoing theme for my inserts this month.
Here I used a die cut from the kit from Ormolu. I backed it with grid patterned paper + added butterfly die cuts from the OA Flower Sack collection. The small alphabet also came in the SC kit and is from October Afternoon. It's nice to use pick 1 small alpha + 1 chipboard alpha and use those to tie everything together for my pages. Behind the butterflies I added a wadding of string and then stitched down the center of the butterflies with my sewing machine. The right uses more Flower Sack accents + alpha stickers. You'll see lots of typed label journaling on my pages today. The journaling card with "Tuesday" on it is from Marcy Penner's shop.
Here I used another Clementine journaling card + the coordinating patterned paper from this kit on the right. I love the light and airy feel of the Clementine kit and I'm noticing the look in my last few weekly layouts. On the left I used a white tag from my shop as a base for some chipboard letters that I stitched on. On the right I used small photos + an OA banner + alpha stickers. Don't forget the date stamp. Love to add that to each insert.
Here I used 2 Clementine journaling cards that have photos on them. The OA Flower Sack puppy accent was just perfect for this photo of Charlie.
And now on to the 4 x 6 inserts.Here I used a Clementine piece that has photos of my mama's famous scalloped potatoes. Does potatoes have an E? Well it does in my pages, ha. I used some Washi tape, OA accents and a chipboard piece from the SC kit from Basic Grey I believe. Funny how so many of those accents worked perfectly with my photos this week.
Here I got really scrappy with an insert that features some kit items from my new Big Cartel shop. I challenged myself to find a use for the "C" circle accent from the OA Flower Sack pieces. I added it to another white tag from my shop + a bracket from Ali's It's OK stamp set + small alpha letters. Love that Jenni Bowlin plastic flower you see on the right. That was a kit item too.
More kit items + a sticker that came on a Sonic bag + a stamp from Ali's It's OK set.
Here I used 2 photos that both have a "celebration" theme. More OA accents + typed sticker labels. I think those are becoming a mainstay on my pages. Must keep them on hand.
I used an Instagram photo here along with an Ormolu die cut from the kit. I typed right on these die cuts.
And here's my 2 page spread shown with my insert page. I used a Project Life Design G Pocket Page which will available sometime in February. I like all my insert pages to be smaller than a 12 x 12 size so that the main weekly pages can be seen.
Our little Jordy gets sick every year and has a hard time shaking it. With her asthma, every cold or flu symptom gets magnified and it's a big deal. She was down for nearly 2 weeks and is just now feeling better. It's an event that I wanted to document on it's own. I saved a Jell-O box and some prescription pieces for memorabilia. Lots of label stickers with typing for journaling. My handwriting is just too big and loopy for the small amount of space I had.
I used more papers from the SC kit + a few from the Clementine collection + the same alphabet letters that I used on the weekly pages. A blank grid card from Project Life is a perfect backdrop for lettering.
Here's the back side of that insert page. We've been to so many games this year and the traveling and coordinating times with having one red in grade school + one red in high school has really kept us busy this year. I wanted to make a special page that shows the girls' biggest fans and how we love going to their ballgames.
I really love the insert pages because you can use one full page that focuses on one theme, therefore making it feel like more of a traditional scrapbooked page. I used 2 separate inserts for my chipboard stickers because I knew I couldn't fit it all onto one insert. When the inserts are added to the page protector the letters just flow from one insert to the other pretty seamlessly. The basketball was hand cut from a larger sheet of patterned paper.
I used photos of all of us that attend the girls' games + a text message Josey sent to Jordan + these two photos of the girls in action. I like how it looks like Jordan is playing defense against Josey dribbling the ball. I happy little thing that was not really planned. I used sticker letters for their names + chipboard letters that were stitched to the photos. Love adding #'s to inserts whenever I can.
Okey Doke. That's it for Week 2.

Project Life in Progress:

Stay tuned Monday or Tuesday for my Week 3 PIP post + I'll be showing some of the cards I made using leftovers from my Week 2 product picks. I love reading that Project Life has brought many of you back to scrapbooking. I'm right there with you! I know that I would never get as many photos scrapbooked the traditional way. Love that Project Life gave me a new option. I'll be answering your weekly questions in this post so be sure to leave a question in the comments section.

Shop happenings:

I'm waiting on a few new products to come in as soon as some snow clears it's way for some delayed deliveries. I have a few styles of sacks left in the shop + lots of tags that are great for Project Life, cards and more. Look from some vintage kits coming too. I found a few little trinkets at my favorite thrift shop last week and they are cute!

And now:

I have to go shut down Josey's marathon hot shower so that I can hop in myself. Then I gotta pump myself up for the big game tonight. Charlie will be home from his vet check soon too. Eric texted me that Charlie has bad gas today(just what you want to know) and really smelled up the vet's waiting room. Great. Now he's gonna be known as Smelly Dog from now on. Later friends! Enjoy your weekend.

PIP Day....Project Life In Progress..Week 2

I thought it would be fun to start a new feature on my blog for all you Project Lifers. I'm calling it Pip Day, for Project Life in Progress. I get so inspired by seeing other PL pages whether in progress, a sneak peek or a finished week. So why not share the mid-week progress along with a little chit chat?

I'll be sharing a photo of my PIP each week, like the one below. This is the part I love and look forward to each week with Project Life. The putting it all together. Digging through my stash for little embellishments. Seeing what colors I choose for the week. Stealing a few moments here and there to work on my pages.

The posts are going to be random in nature. I have a few weekly topics in mind but we'll just roll with it and see how it goes. Please feel free to leave comments and let me know how your PIP is going. :)

Products Picks:

For this week I saw my Studio Calico box sitting on my chair, calling my name. Okay, why not? So most of my products this week are from the January County Fair main kit + a few other fun items that I purchased last month from SC. It was fun to have all the choices narrowed down. In particular I'm using the alphabet stickers, patterned paper, lots of October Afternoon Flower Sack pieces, Ormolu die cuts & journaling cards and pieces of the BG Picadilly chipboard stickers. I have some inserts for this week so I'll be using more from this stash on those too.

Challenge:

1.Use mostly items from the Studio Calico box.

2.Use leftovers to create cards for my stash using card sketch from this post.

Chit Chat:

1. I didn't use any 4 x 6 photos this week, just lots of smaller photos. I was just saying to myself how I really liked the 4 x 6 photos with white borders. Go figure.

2. Was thinking, you CAN work on your pages even if you don't have the page protectors. Simply lay out 2 pieces of 12 x 12 cardstock or (2) 12 x 12 page page protectors. Use 4 x 6 and 3 x 4 sections + items from your PL core kit and you're in business. Lay it all out like you would if you had the page protector, snap a photo of the finished layout and tuck it all in a page protector or envelope. When your page protectors come in, slip all the pieces into place.

3. Listened to a podcast that Ali Edwards participated in yesterday. They brought up an interesting discussion in keeping up with PL. Will I keep up this year? Are we committed to this project this year? It definitely takes time and effort whether you use just the basic products or are getting scrappy with your PL. I feel confident that I'll stay up to date this eyar. Stay with it friends, the payoff is worth the effort. :)

Inspiration:

1. Definitely loving Marcy Penner's free page layout printables. Very helpful for laying out multiple photos. You can see mine in the top photo today.

2. Monica McNeil has written some insightful posts about her perspective for Project Life. Good reads indeed.

3. Ali Edwards' weekly PL pages are just so fun to look at. To me it seems that Ali selects each and every embellishment very thoughtfully. I love that her pages are full of eye candy but very simple in nature. Definitely about the photos + the words.

4. So excited to see Nichol Magouirk's first PL creation, her 2012 title page. Nichol gives me my traditional scrapbook layout fix each time I visit her blog. Looking forward to see her take on PL this year.

Your questions answered:

1. How do you take a screen shot of weather and text messages with the iPhone? Hold down the home key and the power button simultaneously.

2. I have a hard time dealing with each space. Do you plan it as a whole or just go with it? Lately I've been using lots of photos in both the 4 x 6 and 3 x 4 slots so I've been using Marcy's printables (see above link) to plan out my pages. I have an Interior Design background so this just seems natural to me to sketch it all out.

3. How much time do you spend on a Project Life layout each week? I spend 10 minutes or so each day jotting down notes in my calendar. Probably 30-45 minutes printing at home and trimming photos. And about 2 hours working on a 2 page spread, not all at one time.

4. Do you sew/attach embellishments directly on the photos or on the page protectors? Right on the photos.

5. How do you sew through chipboard letters? Very slowly, sometimes helping the needle along manually. A sharp needle helps.

And that's it for this week's PIP. Since my weeks go Monday-Sunday I'm thinking I'd like to do a PIP post on Tuesday with a weekly PL update on Thurs/Fri. We'll see how that schedule works.

This week:

Jordan is sick again. That's 4 days in the last two weeks she's missed school. Josey is out today too. Bleck. Also I have some re-stocks of products in my shop here. Some new kits will be added to the shop soon when new product arrives. Also, look for a huge new selection of tags coming soon. Perfect for cards and pages. :)