Project Life 2012..Week 52 + New Year's Eve

The last 2012 Project Life post....today I'm sharing Week 52 which includes Christmas festivities + my New Year's Eve page which wraps up my album.  I will admit that I have about a dozen insert pages to complete yet for 2012.  Mainly photographs that will go into smaller sized page protectors.  I've made my list and am printing and catching up week by week.  

So here's Week 52.  The 2 page spread using lots of my pre-made journaling cards.  

The left page which features a Christmas celebration at my folks.  My niece brought her daughter + her fiancee has kids so it was a very lively time.  

 The right page which features more everyday photos from the week.  Notice the photo of Jordan below.  When I ask for photos now, this is what she gives me.  I'll take it and I hope in 10-20 years her kids act the same way.

I love this main dated 4 x 6 insert. It's a great piece from the October Afternoon papers adorned with some embellished woodcuts and typewriter journaling.

 The 4 x 6 inserts.  Lots of little labels and tabs from October Afternoon.

 This is a 4 x 6 card from Elle's Studio.  Love how my nice loved her new dolly.  Don't let the sweet cheeks fool ya, that girl is a wild child.

 The day after Christmas.  Saying goodbye to the holiday season and the Christmas tree.  I took the ornaments off on the 26th because Charlie had mauled enough of them already.

 More of taking down the tree.  I do miss the mesmerizing lights though for a week or so.

 This photo just melts me.  We babysat for Stella, my sister's miniature wiener dog.  We were worried that Charlie might kill her by accident so we kept a close eye on these two.  They ran and played the entire time.  Charlie would get a little rough then Stella would take all of his big toys and run to her teeny bed and hide them.  Charlie was so polite though and just nudged into her little bed with big puppy dog eyes.

 The 3 x 4 inserts.  A shot of my parents' new puppy Molly + a week in review card.  That fun stamp is from BananaFishStudio.

 Never a dull moment.  Stella escaped while going potty, took a swim in the icy pond, nearly drowned...then my mom's old hair dryer blew fire while trying to dry her off.  It was a Christmas miracle this dog survived the day.  More like the Griswald's family Christmas at our house.

 A fun quote that I found since I love the jars so much. Plus a gift from Jordan, another beautiful cutting board.

 Putting the new stove to good use + a new list of groceries, banking and shopping to be done.

I had two inserts for this week.  First up is this one that I altered from a bigger page protector that had (4) 6 x 6 slots.  I used the XL tags from my shop as bases for journaling cards and some stamping.  I stitched the right side of the page protector edge so that the tags fit in nicely.  For the 6 x 6 inserts I cut cardstock to size and stitched on a grid where small photos could be placed.  Loved this look and will probably use it more in 2013.

 The back side of the insert was dedicated to Charlie. He was sweet but oh so ornery this holiday season.  He would ever so slyly take ornaments off the tree and then chew them to death.  Plus his big wagging tail broke so many ornaments from him just passing by the tree.

This insert was one that I pre-made also, using 2 clear pockets as slots to hold confetti, wood veneer, candy canes and a fun die cut piece from October Afternoon.

 The back side of the insert.  That middle piece is from October Afternoon and was used to make a flipper card.

This is the very page of this album and features New Year's Eve.  I didn't know how to wrap up the album so I thought a full page of New Year's Eve fun was suitable.  

 The 4 x 6 inserts were ones that I had pre-made.  I added another XL tag to this one and added stitching and smaller Instagram phtoos.

 Some 3 x 4 slots featuring Charlie playing in the snow + an embellished card using an Evalicious circle tag + some of my altered wood pieces.

 A little silver shine from the fun sticker letters and some Metal Rim Tags.  The top portion of the 4 x 6 insert uses a Medium White Parcel Tag, cut in half.

Whew, I made it!  I completed 52 weeks of Project Life for 2012.  365 days of our lives were recorded into 3 albums.  I didn't make it with just 2, but this is all the scrapbooking I did for the year so I think that's pretty darn good.  I loved every minute of it and was so glad I took the time to get caught up when I got behind a few months.  I have the 3 albums sitting out in our living room right now, for everyone to view.  We all take a little time to reminisce and laugh over funny photos and stories.

Now I'm on to Project Life 2013 and am caught up to Week 3.  I have a few new processes this year and I'm excited to share those with you starting in February.  It's gonna be a good year, I hope you'll join me!

Project Life 2012...Week 45 & Week 46

A little something for the card makers.  I shared these Christmas thank you cards over at the October Afternoon blog a while back.  Here's the link to that post in case you missed it.  

I also have have Week 45 ad Week 46 to share from my 2012 Project Life album. This is Week 45.  I used almost all pre-made journaling cards that I had created for my stash this week.  I was able to add lots of photos and type my journaling for some quick pages.

I added a few embellishments and a few found objects like this sticker from when I voted.

The pre-made journaling cards were very mixy matchy but so were my photos from this week so it all worked out just fine.

I used lots of typed labels to add some quick journaling.  I was gearing up for holiday mode so I knew I didn't want to take a lot of time on this simple week.

For Week 46, I reached for more of my pre-made journaling cards.  These all coordinated but I wanted to tie them all together in some way.  I used blue strips of patterned paper to do the trick.

I machine stitched the blue strips to all of my journaling cards so that it looked like I created them all specifically for this layout.

Here's the 2 page spread for Week 46.

The left page which uses 2 of the revamped journaling cards from above.

And the right right side which features another of the revamped journaling cards. I used some of the same patterned paper and colors for the rest of my inserts to tie everything together.

I love how that blue strip of patterned paper draws the eye to each insert.

A little more stitching and some Washi tape for further embellishing.

I typed right on the journaling cards + added date stamps.

This week also had a 6 x 12 divided insert.

I had made this recipe card previously of my mom's scalloped potatoes and weenies.  The original is in my recipe book but I took a photo of the recipe card and used it for my Project Life album.  I made several copies of this also to hand to friends and family.  I used one on a cookbook gift for my mother-in-law for Christmas.

The recipe card flips up.  I created a handmade page protector for it by trimming a page protector down and adding stitching.

This is the page with the recipe card flipped up.  The top photo is actually the back of the recipe card flipper portion.

I used more of the blue strips of patterned paper to tie this insert to the main Project Life pages.  Some stamping adds lots of embellishing but keeps the inserts flat.

Two more weeks in the books.  I'll be photographing and blogging the rest of my 2012 Project Life weeks all through February.  I'll be back tomorrow to share an October afternoon project with you.  Thanks for stopping by.

Note:  I'd love to hear from you......if you're doing Project Life this year, how are you going about it?  Strictly kits with simple journaling?  A mixed approach?  Digital?  Let me know what's working out for you this year.  :)

Project Life 2012....Week 43 & Week 44

I've got 2 weeks of Project Life 2012 to share today.  

Project Life 2012...Week 43

This was such a fun week to work on.  My sister had just purchased a lake house in a nearby town, my parents found an old Airstream camper to fix up and my niece came to visit with her two boys.  I love how a week from Project Life can throw you right back into those good times.  

Design wise it was a fun layout also.  I used a graphic approach by repeating the grid pattern chipboard letters, my all time favorite Washi tape, arrows and for a fun twist, I used orange thread in my sewing machine.  

Love that I was able to use 23 photos in this 2 page spread.  If I wanted to scrapbook all those photos the traditional way, I'd never ever ever get it all done.  Project Life is the way for me!

The 4 x 6 insert with the noted week.

Here I used the same patterned paper strip across (2) 4 x 6 cards with more of the same striped Washi and orange stitching + arrows.  Love the weather snap shots, still.

The Airstream. I'm so excited about this and can't wait for Spring to arrive so we can do some painting and sprucing up. I have big plans for this little tin can on wheels. The fun camper stamp was one I bought off Etsy that was hand carved.  Can't find the source though.

I love how the 3 x 4 insert below mixes the Washi tape with the chipboard letters and the typewriter journaling.  I double stitched over the word "boys" to add some extra orange color.  Loved having little boys here this week, so much fun.

Project Life 2012....Week 44

It was Halloween week but I didn't want the main pages to be overly themed with pumpkins and witches.  I used more neutral papers from October Afternoon's Witch Hazel line which includes the plaid and green papers + the stickers.  

The left page of the 2 page spread.  

The right page of the 2 page spread.

The main 4 x 6 week card.  Lots of layering, stickers, chipboard and stitching.

Our little witch Marlee.  Such a sweet little story that I'm so glad I documented about Marlee trying on one of Josey's old Halloween costumes.

The annual Fall dinner at my mother-in-law's church.  I like to capture close up photos like this with intentional "white space".  It leaves a great place to add journaling like my typed notebook labels + some chipboard letters.  No need to add another journaling card about this event.

The orangest insert ever.  There is so much orange here...all I can say is it's definitely Halloween week. Glad I captured Jordy carving the pumpkin.

The back side of the above insert.  I captured our family tradition of cutting wood as a family.  Totally makes me think of our ancestors who had to rough it.  I love getting back to nature.

Simple inserts, not overly done...my main goal was to get the memory in writing.

Two more weeks in the books.  Feels really good to flip back through my albums and see pages and pages of memories.  The design part is fun but it's the memories that matter the most.  

I'll be adding more of my 2012 throughout January then I'm gearing up to show you my first weeks of my 2013 Project Life in the first part of February.  I'm working on a new monthly Project Life feature that I think you'll love.  I'll be debuting that with my 2013 PL pages.  Stay tuned...