Project Life Update....

Project Life...Week of July 31-August 6

Lots going on this week.....summer canning, school shopping, Jordan got her iPad2, and prepping for our summer vacation.

Here's the two page spread. This week I used lots of papers from the My Mind's Eye 6 x 6 paper pads. I can see that 6 x 6 pads are going to become a staple for my Project Life. Perfectly scaled patterns, takes up less storage space, very easy to mix and match with my other supplies. I also used Studio Calico sticky notes, Elle's Studio tags, Ali Edwards Technique Tuesday stamps and Papertrey's Road Trip stamp set.
Here's the left layout. I usually pick 1 or 2 photos in the weekly lineup which will decide the color/theme of my chosen supplies. The pretty jars of peach jam was my highlight inspiration photo this week. All of my papers have a warm feel to them + I also used some aqua blues to match my small suitcase, Jordan's shirt and the blue sky from some other photos. Suitcase sticker is from the American Crafts Amy Tangerine line. All journaling this week was done with my vintage typewriter.
Here's the right layout. A common theme this week was to use a strip of patterned paper on the left side of a journaling card.
Here's my dated insert. I used patterned paper, stickers, a punched circle for the dates and an Elle's Studio large circle accent. See the end of my post for a fun tip..
Here I used the *road trip* phrase from Papertrey's Road Trip stamp set. It's stamped on a Studio Calico sticky note. Love those little things.
More SC sticky notes + a little snippet from Elle's Studio for the date. Cloud chipboard piece is from Studio Calico. Used my Tiny Tim stapler to keep it secured.
Here I used my Bic Mark-its to create the *she loves it* title. Vintage Buttons tied with Rustic Cream twine add a little bit of interest to the white space on the right journaling card.
Here I used a Smash Book journaling sheet to type my journaling + I added a punched circle that has been stamped with Ali's Technique Tuesday stamps. On the right is one of my favorite journaling cards....I used a Fabrip piece from Studio Calico plus a piece of My Mind's Eye patterned paper to create two vertical, notched banners. Sticky note is from Studio Calico.
And now for a tip: I used one of the foldable journaling insert cards from the Project Life kit to create my main dated insert. I left it unfolded, stitched on some patterned paper, used a 1-3/4" circle punch to fill in the raised circle area + added some sticker letters to an Elle's Studio large circle tag. Very easy to transform cards that may not match otherwise.
Okay, so how are we doing on our Project Life pages? Are you caught up? Me...no. But I'm getting there and am enjoying the process. I also love to see what others are doing with their Project Life pages.....so please post links in the comment section. :) And who else is excited about the new Project Life kits coming soon? Meeeeee.

Mish Mash Monday.....signs of Fall

We are well into October and our Kansas temperatures are still nearing the 80's. I'm loving that the temps are staying up there, but there are definitely signs of Fall all around us.

Nothing quite says Fall like a Homecoming parade. This is Josey's Freshman class float.

And some of her besties throwing out candy. I can remember all those years ago when Eric and I road on floats down this same small town street. Next year Jordy will be on her class float. Good times.
I've been taking a few photos of our beautiful maple tree in the back yard. Rosie's keeping it company these days.
It's turned from green to bright orange to a deep red color. So beautiful to watch the trees change. In our area we don't have a lot of maples or oaks out in the country. We usually get a full display of yellows and that's about it. So to have this blazing maple is a real treat. She's suffered through many a deer antler but she's standing tall and proud.
We had a nice rain last night so this morning it was nice and cool outside. I took my flower snips and gathered up quite a few flowers that are still hanging on. From deep reds, yellows and oranges....to soft yellow, pink and purple. All this pretty little bouquet needed was an old time canning jar.
Just look at the rainbow of colors. So vibrant!
Lots of little pumpkins and gourds from the vining garden this year.
And a few beautiful leaves from the maple.
What Fall images have you captured on your camera this year? My sister went to her home in Colorado to shoot photos of the yellow Aspens....but this is what she got instead. Snow already!!

Whatever your weather, I hope you're getting outside to enjoy the seasons.

Holiday Journal Kit Sneak Peek

THE KITS ARE NOW SOLD OUT FOR THIS YEAR. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR ORDERS.

Etsy shop update: Holiday Journals will be going up in the shop shortly in very limited quantities. Kits will ship late October.....once the kits are gone, that's it for this year's Holiday Journal. :) Please check out the new bags and coordinating tags in my first post today. Lots of goodies to help you with your packaging needs.

Hi there. I'm adding on to my original post about my Holiday Journal Kits. I have two more sneak peeks for you today. This photo features some of the little tags, stamped pieces, Washi tape, a skein of embroidery floss, a cute chevron bag + more of the Crate Paper pages, etc. I'm still creating and adding new items to the kit daily. You'll receive a nice selection of goodies to embellish your pages with. Album size will be 6 x 6 with two binder rings. Album will not come with hard covers so that's something you might want to think about, and I'll try to remember to show you my simple solution in an upcoming blog post.
And here you can see a sampling of the wonderful Elle's Studio products that you'll be receiving. You'll get a full sheet of numbers (1-31) so you can easily do a December Daily countdown for each page. Plus you'll receive 2 Christmas Lil' Snippets sheets + more round journaling tags + Christmas strips. Lots of Elle's goodies in this kit!
Blog posts to come: I've gone back and forth on how much to assemble on the journal pieces. I've decided to keep all the pieces and parts separated so that you can have as much creative freedom as you need when putting your albums together. We all have our different design styles and sizes and qty of photos we like to use so I wanted you to be able to assemble your journal as you wish. I'll be updating my Holiday Journal weekly and will be doing blog posts showing you tips on how to use different pages/elements from the kit. Please join me for a month of fun, starting in December. I'll have a blog post before then showing you my ideas for basic assembly, photo ideas and more. :)

My previous post:

Tis the season for thinking ahead to the holidays. With my recent love of creating mini albums, I've a got a Holiday Journal in the works that will be perfect for documenting your holiday season this year. The journal will be just the ticket if you follow along with Ali Edwards' December Daily event.

I wanted to create a Holiday Journal that would be holiday-like in style...but I didn't want it to scream Christmas red & green. So I searched until I came up Crate Paper's Peppermint Collection of patterned papers and accents. The colors and patterns were just what I was looking for. They definitely say holiday but the mixy matchy colors and paper patterns are generic enough in nature to work with every day events that happen in December also. To get a better view of the wonderful papers I'll be using, click on this link.

(image from Crate Paper)

So here's some sneak peeks of the kit contents so far. These photos show only a snippet of the kit contents. I'm working on lots more embellishments, all with a homespun flair. There will also be lots of tags and such from my Etsy shop + those new bags I had in my shop recently + lots of my ledger paper love + stamped goodies using Papertrey + Ali Edwards stamps.

Sneak peeks of Holiday Journal:

Ledger paper + airmail envelope + skein of embroidery floss for hand stitching + paper doily + assorted Crate Paper stickers.
More 6 x 6 patterned papers + stamped embellishments + vintage playing card + sampling of Washi tape.
Crate Paper journaling card + tags + trims.
Homespun garland embellishment + more tags + stickers.
Stitched notepaper bag pocket + stamped index card.
Sheet music + index dividers with tags + hand stamped embellishment + clips.
Cute, red chevron bag + small tags.
Misted envelope + stamped tickets + metal rimmed tag.
Coin envelopes + stamped embellishment + stamped index card with dates.
More Crate patterned paper + misted envelope using Studio Calico mask + snippet of Studio Calico fabRips.
An entire sheet of Elle's Studio Layered Number Cut Outs + more of Elle's Christmas Tags.

(image from Elle's Studio)

There's lots more to come as I will continue to work on the Holiday Journals within the next few weeks. :)

Pre-order details:

-6 x 6 album kit includes pre-punched pages + metal binder rings + embellishments

-also includes number sheet (1-31) to identify each countdown day in December

-full kit photos to be revealed on my blog at a later day

-Holiday Journal kit + any other items ordered as a pre-order will NOT ship until late October; please order shop items separately if you want something sooner.

-Holiday Journal kits will ship at the end of October; specific date will be announced on my blog at a later date

-to order a kit, purchase as a regular Etsy item from my shop.

-price of pre-order kit includes price of kit plus shipping at check out; I will keep track of your orders as soon as they come in

-please ask questions in the comments section or send me a note via an Etsy conversation

Bags + Tags...

Hi there friends. Lots going on today so I will have two posts today....this one featuring bags + tags, plus another one to come shortly after about the Holiday Journal pre-orders.

First up, I've got my final project to show you featuring items from the sold out Happy Halloween kit. If you purchased a kit, this little project will be perfect for adding in a little note tag plus a few Halloween treats.
It features one of the popular Chevron Sacks from my Etsy shop + an Orange Medium Manila Tag. It's topped with a Fall leaf, Elle's Studio snippet, tied buttons and a black paperclip with ribbon. I just love seeing that black and orange together. Add in a yellow tag and you've got yourself a candy corn looking treat sack.
Here's a little journaling pocket using a Black Chevron Sack for Project Life. I love how the journaling cards fit inside all my new sacks. Great discovery. Check out Lisa Truesdell's Project Life post here, where she used a Notebook Paper Sack to hold a journaling card. I must try the photo on top look. Love it Lisa and thank you for the shout out yesterday.
I wanted to share this photo of some tags + bags sitting side by side. All sizes of my tags from the shop, including Small, Medium and Large Parcel Tags fit inside the Chevron, Notebook Paper and Grid Paper Sacks. The medium size tags come in colors + the plain manila. The small tags come in manila + white + red + dark green + gray. The large tags are only in manila at this time but I may add colors to the large size in the future.

I've set a tag beside each bag so you can see the color matches. Not perfect but they definitely coordinate well together. And white, gray or manila goes with any color sack.
Right now, I'm particularly fond of the candy corn look of the orange, yellow and black.....the gray and white look good too. And coming up for the Christmas season, the red and green combos will be just dandy.
I will be adding a limited quantity of the small chevron, grid and notebook paper sacks to the shop shortly. ALL size of sacks will be re-stocked in about a week so look for them in the shop soon. I've had requests for sample ideas using the sacks...I'll be working on that soon too. You guys are such great customers, you keep me hoppin'! Thank you so much to everyone who patronizes my shop + leaves me nice comments here on the blog. I truly appreciate you!

Stay tuned for my second post that will tell you all about pre-ordering the remaining Holiday Journals. I'll snap a few more photos of the kit contents and will let you know how I'll go about doing some blog posts about my thoughts on how to assemble your journal. :)

Happy Halloween Kit....brown paper sack

Please note: Big announcement at the bottom of this post regarding Holiday Journals.

Hi there, back today with another Halloween goody sack made from my Happy Halloween Kit. (The kit is now sold out but I wanted to show you some fun projects for those of you who purchased the kit...plus many of the items used in my project today are still available separately in my Etsy shop.) Yesterday I showed you a fun Halloween card and today I have an embellished sack that would be perfect for packaging up a few Fall/Halloween cards. Give the gift a little early so that the recipient can send out their cards in time for Halloween. Or you could easily fill the sack with treats, a decorated notepad, fun fabric swatches, crafting goodies, a book, etc.

I used a brown paper sack for the base, then layered on strips of patterned paper from My Mind's Eye Mischievous collection. On top of that I have an embellished Medium Gray Parcel Tag embellished with an Elle's Studio cut out tag, a fun bat embellishment, tied buttons and a stamped Small White Tag. The tag was clipped to baker's twine with a Mini Clothespin.

Please note: All kit items come unassembled. The samples I'm showing this week are ideas as to how you can create a finished product. Some items shown on my projects are not included in the kit....please see photo and description of kit contents under the listing in my Etsy shop. (The kit is now sold out).\

Holiday Journals....the remaining pre-order kits for the Holiday Journals will be going up in my Etsy shop tomorrow(October 6th) between 8am-10am Central Time. Kits will be limited in quantity. When the kits are gone from the shop, there will not be more this year. Any items ordered with the Holiday Journal Kits will not ship out until the kits ship in late October. You will be charged at checkout time for the kit + any other items you order + a shipping charge. Sorry, I am not able to hold kits in advance. More information on kit contents & blog posts featuring the Holiday Journal in tomorrow's blog post. :)

Happy Halloween Kit...card

Hi there. I'm back today with a another project made from the Happy Halloween Kit contents. The kits are now sold out, thank you for your orders! They will be shipping out tomorrow. :)

It's a sweet Halloween card for today's project. I started with a Rustic White Cardstock base from Papertrey layered with My Mind's Eye Mischievous patterned paper.
All of my embellishments were layered onto an Elle's Studio Lil' Snippets: Labeled-Halloween piece which was included in the kit. I love that there are flat design elements to layer upon. Cool stuff indeed. I splashed the piece with Mister Huey spray mist then layered on some pieces from the kit + a punched patterned paper circle + a punched circle stamped with a pumpkin from Papertrey's 2009 Halloween Tags. I stitched right down the journaling card piece using orange thread....right over the circle with punched bat...and giving the Vintage Buttons a place to line up.
Buttons and card were tied with Halloween twine which was included in the Happy Halloween Kit. The little *Halloween* pop up sentiment is also from the 2009 Halloween Tags set.
Stay tuned tomorrow as I show you a cute paper sack idea to package up some Halloween/Fall cards....using more items from the kit.

Project Life: Working on an update today. I'll have some fun ideas to share with you about journaling cards.

Holiday Journal Kits: I hear Ali Edwards is getting ready for her Daily December posts. I'll be putting the remaining of my kits in the shop later this week. Plus I'll be putting the finishing details on the kit this month. Kits will ship late October. Just in time to get your album ready for the holidays. :)

Etsy shop items: I'll be ordering more sacks and will be gathering up NOEL Notions soon...so look for new items to come. Back in stock: Mini and Small Clothespins

Happy Halloween Kit....paper sack treat pocket

Edit #2: The pumpkins and most of the additional patterned papers I've used for my projects that I'll be showing this week are from My Mind's Eyes Mischievous Halloween line. Soooo adorably cute. I am still swooning over the card that Melissa made in this post which uses the chipboard accents from this line. Eeek, cuteness!

Edit: Happy Halloween Kits are now up in my Etsy shop at this listing.

Hi guys. Well, I'm back to a quiet house after having wonderful house guests + Jordan's birthday party this weekend. And here comes October with all it's beautiful Fall bounty and Halloween!! One of my favorite holidays to decorate and create treats and cards.

I'm kicking off the festivities with a Happy Halloween Kit that will be in my Etsy shop later today. The kit will feature unique treat sacks, stitched pockets, embellishments, clothespins, fun Halloween striped baker's twine, tags, buttons + cute items from Elle's Studio and more! All this week I'll be showing you sample projects created from the kit items. Tip: You'll be able to see all the projects when the kit goes lives in the shop today. Just scroll through all the photos on the kit link.

Today I'd like to show you an embellished, stitched pocket that I created with a striped bag. You can tuck all sorts of goodies inside the double pockets like candy bars, cookies packaged in glassine sacks, cards + more.
I embellished the pretty pocket with lots of layered items from the kit including an Elle's Studio flag, a metal rim tag with vintage book paper + baker's twine.
In the corner, I used an Elle's Studio cut out along with a punched star + tied buttons.
Use tissue paper or sewing machine patterns to tuck inside the pocket if you want to add a little filler. So cute and just the perfect gift for that someone special this Halloween.
Please note: All kit items come unassembled. The samples I'm showing this week are ideas as to how you can create a finished product. Some items shown on my projects are not included in the kit....please see photo and description of kit contents under the listing in my Etsy shop. Kits will ship out by Wednesday of this week. :)

birthday cards from scraps...

Hi there. Amidst all of the crazy fun of having my sister & nephew here since Wednesday and having 6 girls here for a birthday party this weekend, I managed to make a few cards this morning while everyone was occupied.

It's pretty easy to throw a few cards together if you just use up the scraps from a scrapbooking project. I've decided that I'm going to make a few cards from each of my weekly Project Life scraps. If you're a scrapbooker, you definitely need to try this. You'll have a great stash of cards in no time.

For my cards, I already had out the scraps of paper, a few Studio Calico chipboard butterflies + the little journaling sticky notes from this Project Life spread. I cut out a few more flowers from the Basic Grey paper too. To complete my cards, I grabbed my Birthday Bash Sentiments from Papertrey, some Rustic White cardstock, some black ink, rhinestones, Washi tape and black & white twine. I also used the card in the photo below as my inspiration piece. Having a sample card to look at or a cards sketch makes the work go even faster.
And here are my completed cards. So easy to assemble because most of the products were already out. These are not my normal colors but I think they'll make great birthday cards for the girls' teenage friends. Did I tell you I have TWO teenagers now? Good times, indeed.
Love these big & bold flowers that I cut from the Basic Grey paper.
The birthday sentiments were stamped on the round sticky notes + directly onto my base layer of patterned papers. A little Washi tape, some machine stitching + baker's twine tied up with the chipboard butterflies = some fun and easy cards.
Who knows, maybe I'll make this a regular feature here on the blog. It's sure an easy way to get a few cards cranked out. Here's a link to some previous cards I made from leftovers. And hey, did you do anything fun for World Card Making Day???? I'd love to hear.

This week:

Holiday Journal Mini Album Kits.....I'll be announcing the date that the remaining kits will be up for sale in the shop. Plus hopefully I'll be able to post a few photos of some updated items that will be in the kits.

Halloween treat packaging kits.....coming to the shop later this week. Look for a blog post for sample projects. Black + white striped pocket sacks, Elle's Studio goodness, twine, homemade goodness.......you won't want to miss these!