Project Life 2013....Week 22

Just found a bunch of Project Life weeks that I hadn't shared yet so here we go with Week 22.  I'll be skipping around my weeks but should be more on schedule after August.  

I was in catch up mode when working on this spread so I reached for lots of handmade journaling cards that I had in my stash.  Plus I had just gotten my first Gossamer Blue Life Pages stamps so I wanted to try them out. 

This was Memorial Day week and the girls were still in full swing with Summer League volleyball and basketball.  Plus I was just getting some porch planters filled.  

We had some beautiful scenery from Mother Nature this week and had a fun time at my niece's graduation party.  

Every single year we go to the Memorial Day service at our small cemetery.  Like clockwork the ceremony starts at 10:15 am.  I typed right onto the photo and added a date stamp and some stickers to note the week. 

Volleyball in full swing.  I used some stamps to add images directly to the photo.

Some trimmed out images from the first Gossamer Blue stamps from the August kits. I've been picking up like new stuffed animals for Charlie from the Good Will store.  He loves on them then tears their eyes out.

More stamps from the Gossamer Blue kits.  On the right one, I typed inside the stamp while the image was still on a larger sheet of patterned paper....then trimmed out the image.

My niece just graduated from paramedic school....and someone who is as short as Josey. :)

Some pork butts on the smoker and this hilarious photo of Charlie.  He will do anything for a snack..like wear Jordan's basketball headband.

I love these two pretty inserts.  I added chipboard and sequins and a little gold foil tag from the shop.

I love capturing photos like Eric's ketchup blobs.  The dude puts ketchup on everything and it irritates me to no end.  I set a nice home cooked meal in front of him and he slops ketchup on it before he even tires it.  I get creepy chills just looking at that photo.  On the right, I'm happy to have snapped this photo of Josey laying on the church pew, covered up with an old quilt.

Here I add a printed quote that I just love and am really taking to heart.  The hoarder in me has a hard time parting with things but each time I go to clean out an area, I think about this.  I give myself about 10 seconds to make a definite YES or NO choice.  I need to make this into a poster.

That's it for this week.  I'm looking forward to a busy weekend, kicking things off with a movie tonight then it's all about canning jalapeno jellies this weekend.  Josey is headed off to the lake with a friend.  We're all about enjoying these last two weeks before school starts.  I don't want Summer to end!

Note:  I know a few of you are anticipating my post about my new calendar system for Project Life.  I haven't forgot about it....but it just might have to wait until school starts so that I can spend time with my family.  I'm hoping to incorporate it into some posts that show my current Project Life work area, some organization and more.  So it won't be long.  :)

Project Life 2013..Week 26...the good, the bad & the ugly

Hello little friends.  I've been meaning to get a blog post up all day long but instead I've been sitting with Jordan as we designed a quilt together.  The kid is such a tomboy and loves the outdoors so naturally she wants a camo quilt.  Not my first choice for her room but I caved.  We picked out some pretty cool fabrics online and she's patiently waiting for me to figure the yardage so we can place an order.  She didn't spend hardly any money while on vacation so she's putting it towards this quilt.  Love her sense of adventure and "let's do this!" attitude.  

I'd also like to give a big shout out to those of you who comment so regularly.  Today I read an exciting comment from Debbie about how she's excited to start working with her first Gossamer Blue kit.  I clicked over to her blog and her fun life and family is definitely deserving of a Project Life album.  Go Debbie....and thanks for sharing with me!!

So here goes Week 26 of my Project Life.  This week's sketch includes the good, the bad and the ugly. I like to keep my real life photos in my albums so this week it's all about going to the movies, yummy Summer fruit, a storm that tore through and ripped apart my dad's barn and a photo of Josey's foot that is healing but turning green from bruising.  For some collected items I have some movie ticket stubs and a produce sticker from a watermelon. 

I decided to use journaling cards that I made using the July Gossamber Blue Fancy Pants items.  You can see all of my handmade inserts at this post. Here's my 2 page spread; no inserts this week. 

The left side....

The right side.....

Every single insert this week came from my stack of handmade cards.  I just reached for my packet of items and since I knew everything would coordinate it was a very quick session of picking out the cards. Here I used one of the pre-made 4 x 6 inserts for my weekly dated card.

Here are the 4 x 6 photos.  I used some apps from my iPhone to add some journaling.  I like to do this if I have a few spare minutes here and there.  It means that I don't have to add journaling when I sit down to scrap.  I added the watermelon sticker to my photo where there was a blank spot.

Here I used two 3 x 4 journaling cards side by side in a 4 x 6 slot.  I adhere the 2 cards onto a 4 x 6 grid journaling card to keep them from floating around in the pocket.  On the left is Josey's green foot and on the right are the new ankle braces that the girls despise.

Here I used the Diptic app on my iPhone to create a collage of our Braum's road trip. Terrible photos but worthy of scrapbooking none the less.  

More bad.....the second rattle snake that we found slithering 2' from out garage door.  He got the shovel treatment real quick like.

Two small instagrams where used in these 2 slots.  I slapped them on some pre-made cards then added some journaling and date stamps.

More of the same here with a weather insert and the photo of my dad's barn all blown away by the storm.

Here I used one of the fun vellum pockets with a tag insert.  I typed on the tag then slipped in our movie tickets.  Love these little interactive spots.

That was a pretty easy week to finish up.  I'm about four weeks behind now and I'm so looking forward to being current for one main reason.  I really like to journal the stories that go along with the photos and when I am current on my weeks, it all just comes together so much more quickly.  I'm hoping to finish up at least one more week over the weekend and hopefully be caught up by the time the girls start school.  I have lots of vacation photos so I'll need to be thinking about how to handle those too.  

How about you, I'd love to hear where you're at right now with your Project Life.  Did you get your first Gossamer Blue Life Pages kit?  Do you have kids heading back to school?  If so are you planning some time to work more on your albums?  Or does that just make it even busier for you?  

August Gossamer Blue.....road trip cards

I was so excited when I saw that the full 12 x 12 sheet of this October Afternoon paper was going to in a Gossamer Blue kit this month.  I just love that vintage topped with the cute luggage.  I saved the paper just for some cards.  I reached for a die and cut the cars out into oval shapes. 

I then trimmed patterned paper from this month's kits to fit my card fronts.  I used an index card for a nice, neutral background for another layer. 

When I think about designing the concepts for a Gossamer Blue stamp set, I always have card making in the back of my mind.  The set for the Life Pages kit is perfect for cards as well as scrapbooking.  Here I stamped the banner shape onto a lined piece of patterned paper from a kit and then stamped the road trip sentiment.  

I created these cards after completing a lot of Project Life pages so I reached for all my leftover bits and pieces to see what I could use on my cards. That's another reason why I love the kits so much for card makers too.  It's full to challenge myself to see how I can incorporate the embellishments and papers onto cards. 

Here's my finished cards.  I think they're pretty and will be perfect to send to someone you might be taking a trip with....or maybe to someone you'd like to get away with.  

I used the fun, flat sequins along with the smaller sequins for a unique accent.  The washi tape stickers and small little dots were fun to use on my cards too. 

I cut apart the plastic arrow piece and used it on all four cards.  Just a simple staple to hold the piece in place.  See the little splatters at the back of the car?  I wanted those to resemble puffs of smoke coming from the muffler.  You can see them better on the photo with all four cards showing 

I took some October Afternoon mist and a scrap of cardstock that had some holes punched to use as a mask.  I splattered over the hole right where I wanted my muffler smoke. Just a fun finishing touch. 

Hope all the card makers out there enjoy my cards! I have really had a lot of fun discovering how handy the kits are when it's time to sit down and create cards.  Maybe for those of you who scrapbook and haven't dabbled in card making.....perhaps you'll want to try out a few cards with your leftover kit contents.  Thanks for stopping by today. 

Project Life 2013...Week 25 using the Gossamer Blue LIfe Pages Kit

Edit:  Text has been added to this post now that I'm back home from vacation.  

Today I'm sharing Week 25 of my Project Life album which features all products from the brand new Gossamer Blue Life Pages kit.  The kit sold out rather quickly and I'm so happy that many of you are going to try out the kit......and I'm just sayin' but I just got a peek at September's Life Pages kit and it's so awesome.  Seriously, you should just subscribe now so that you can get one and shop early for other Gossamer Blue kits that coordinate.  Even if I wasn't on the Design Team, I'd be giving a shout out to next month's kits.  I'm so excited about it.  

Okay, here's a little shot of the beginning of my week.  I think it's kind of fun to see the work in progress photos from other Project Lifers so I'm sharing too.  I've got my photos printed, my sketch nearby and my Gossamer Blue Life Pages kit ready to go. 

This is the 2 page spread which has a 6 x 12 insert also.  

This is the 2 page spread without the insert.  

For this week's spread all of the journaling cards and embellishments, except the chipboard letters on the main date card, are from the Gossamer Blue Life Pages kit.  The kit takes up a small amount of space but boy does it go a long way.  I think I finished 3 full weeks and some inserts and still have some pieces leftover from the kit that will go into my stash. 

This week was just a jumble of events....photos of the pets, our first garden picking of onions, deciding on some furniture placement, lunch out with the girls, and Eric's shorts flying out the window.  You know, typical family stuff.  Notice the smiling photos of the girls right below.  Sweet, aren't they....I'll show you out takes at the end of this post.

This features my main 4 x 6 dated insert.  The Gossamer Blue Life Pages kits come with plenty of 4 x 6 and 3 x 4 inserts.  They are printed on both sides so that you can orient them vertical or horizontal.  Love that.

I used a strip of patterned paper here to give division on a photo.

Here I used a die cut portion of the beautiful gold letterpress cards.  I adhered this on the outside of the page protector then added an ampersand and the small bead.

Here I used a 4 x 6 card for my base then added photos of Eric and me having a margarita.  I used the exclusive stamps , some wood veneer and some Washi tape too.  If you purchased other kits, you'll notice that the exclusive Gossamer Blue items in the Life Pages kits coordinate with other kits.  In this case, the colors coordinate with all of the October Afternoon Travel Girl papers and embellishments.  I love that feature that Lori has taken into consideration.  It makes perfect sense to have all the kits coordinate.  They stand alone by themselves too so if you just get one kit, you're still good to go.

These are two of the GB 3 x 4 cards.  All of the journaling cards will have square corners so you can have the choice to round them or leave them square.  Since I print all my photos with a white squared border, I love leaving them squared.  It really adds a nice touch to my album.  I will still mix in cards from other companies that are rounded, it doesn't bother me at all. 

The GB cards bit into the pockets very nicely with a little room to spare & are all evenly cut.

Some of the cards will have white space to add photos or journaling and some of the cards will be more like filler cards that have a full design.

Here I added a photo to the journaling card on the left.  I used the letterpress card to add some embellishments, stitching and journaling that was first typed onto vellum.  The letterpress cards are hard to fit through a typewriter so the vellum is an easy fix to add journaling if you don't care to hand write it.

Here is the 6 x 12 insert that I added for this week.  This side features photos of flowers from my flower beds.  They were so pretty.....before the weeds took over that is.

This is the back side which features the new swimming pools we got this year.  One for us and one for Charlie.  I used 2 of the Gossamer Blue journaling cards with stamping added from the exclusive Elle's Studio stamp set designed for GB.

I love working with Elle and Lori when developing the concepts for the stamps.  Many times we are going to try to have the stamp set coordinate with the theme or feel of the kits for that particular month.  I think you'll really enjoy the stamps.  There will be typically be a 3 x 4 stamp set for the Life Pages kit and smaller stamp set for another Gossamer Blue kit.  The 2 stamp sets will be designed so that they can interact with each other.  Many of the sentiments and shapes will fit into the other stamps designs.  So if you like to purchase both of the kits that have the stamps, you'll be pleased that you get lots of options when stamping.  The stamps are great quality too, made right here in the USA.

Okay, that's it for today's post but before I go I wanted to share with you some out take photos from a lunch date with the girls.  Many times we look at other people's Project Life pages and we are given the impression that perhaps our photos don't compare...that maybe we don't take good enough photos...or maybe we should have more perfectly posed photos.  If that is what you are striving for, I say go for it.  But for me, I want my album to reflect our daily lives.  I want to see the goofy photos, I don't care about the messy stuff in the background, I don't care if my pages have 10 different things going on.  That's my life and that's exactly how I want to remember it.  :)

Case in point is the many photos we sometimes have to take to get a good shot.  This is ALWAYS the case with my girls.  They get really tired of me taking photos but they know the routine....smile and then you're done.  Torture, isn't it?  To get that one cute photo that you see on the top right page up above, I had 3-4 other photos first.  Like this one where the girls are giving me that, "can't we just eat our hamburgers in peace, Mom?" Answer...."No you can't". 

And this one where they go about eating but I can tell they're about to cave in.

Here we go, jackpot!  They know that Mom won't quit until she gets that good shot.  I usually make them laugh and they cooperate.

And whaddya know, the girls then love to look at the photos and ask me to email them or put them on Facebook so they can tag themselves.  I sometimes like to print out these goofy photos because they really show the real us.  

With that said, I think there's a definite time to just  put the camera away and enjoy the moment.  Sometimes just being in the moment is better than capturing a photo.  I remind myself of this quite often and slip the iPhone back into my purse.  

Hope you enjoyed today's post.  Thanks for stopping by.....and I hope you enjoy your first Gossamer Blue Life Pages kit if you purchased one this month.  :)