Project Life | Week 44...

 Hello Friends!  Welcome to Project Life Monday.  Today I am sharing Week 44 | October 27 - November 2.  As we approach the end of the year and the busier we get, I am more and more determined to get my PL 2014 documented! Even if it is in the most simplest of forms and using leftover bits and pieces from many different collections!  Can you tell I am getting eager to document November just so I can play with the new Sassy December Project Life kit???  Check it out!  

  However, getting back to Week 44, I have continued to play with more Heidi Swapp September Skies and added touches of Crate Paper Notes & Things.  Two of my favourite collections!  

This week I have included the basics (journaling and photos) and applied my go-to colour theory to complement the entire spread.  I started with photo placement and then chose my initial patterned paper - the top floral paper, Alpine Rose from the Heidi Swapp collection. From there I let the pink hues direct me.

With this paper, I also love that there is a hint of navy in what is essentially a feminine pattern and therefore I have no qualms about using it with my boys featuring on this page.  *grin*  Besides, there's a fair chunk of navy/black & blue in their clothing to help create visual movement across the page.

There was also a phenomenally hot day during this week and the kids all felt it while at school.  Welcome to the first real heat wave of the season!!  LOL!  They were quite pink/red in the face by the time they got home from school.  The pink hues subliminally relay the reminder along with the words.

The easiest way to document this event was with screen shots of my iPhone weather app.  However, I didn't want to fill three pockets with three different screen shots but I still wanted to show the rapid jump in temperature in a span of 3 hours.  I opened each image in Photoshop and shrunk each to fit onto a 4x6" layer.

I then used this opportunity in Photoshop to add some text below.  The electric fan die cut, from the Heidi Swapp ephemera pack, was the. most. perfect. embellishment!

Fortunately, time indoors due to weather, also promotes artistic endeavours.  I adore my children's artwork and really wish I could keep every single piece.  I gave my youngest a 3x4" sheet of cardstock, some pens and let him draw whatever he wanted.  I love that the colours in his artwork ties in perfectly with this week's PL.

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On Page two I chose softer colours, white space and four essential photos to tell the story of this week.

My crusade to get my Project Life documented had me sifting through my Becky Higgins Project Life journaling cards.  Above I have typed on the lower half of a card and trimmed it to fit the photo.  Below, I have used a card as a background to help highlight the Heidi Swapp September Skies transparency.

To add the white space between the photo stories, I created my own filler card with some of my leftover Teresa Collins Nine & Co.  A simple label sticker from Studio Calico, grounds the word strip, chipboard heart and fussy cut bird image.

I have finished off my spread with another Becky Higgins journaling card which was fed directly through my typewriter.  It has been teamed with the Echo Park "Currently" Element stickers to fill out my journaling for the week.

      Using leftovers can be the quickest and easiest method when creating PL spreads.  However, for a cohesive look, try to keep the colour story consistent throughout the pages, especially if you're going to combine several different collections.  Thanks for visiting..x              

Project Life | Week 38...

Hey Everyone!! It's Leanne here today to help you celebrate Project Life Monday.  This week I am sharing Week 38 | September 15 - 21.   This week was the last week of the school term 3 for my three older children and usually at this point of the year, they are all feeling rather tired.  We were definitely looking forward to the upcoming school holidays, but before that occurred, we had a few things to get done during week 38!  

 

Today's spread has been created with more of the gorgeous Teresa Collins Design Nine & Co, and Crate Paper's Notes & Things.

 

 

My Week 38 title pocket card was created using the reverse side of the Nine & Co Hearts paper, layered with an horizontal 3x4 cut apart from the Nine & Co Cards paper.  I also added a Studio Calico Label Sticker for the placement of the Kaisercraft Coral Alpha numbers and tucked in a hashtag "wk" from the Studio Calico Essential Alpha Stickers.  I finished the pocket card with a butterfly sticker and a gold foil circle sticker.

 

 

The pocket next to the title card contains a label sticker.  I wanted this label to run over the edge of the photo, but instead of discarding the excess, I adhered the leftover part to the adjacent card.  The leftover piece of sticker doesn't distract from the title card but rather connects it to the pocket it sits next to.

 

 

I have played with stickers quite a bit over the last few weeks.  Most of the time they have helped create clusters and layers, but sometimes a sticker on it's own can make quite the statement.  The deer head was too beautiful not to be used with these two collections.  This pocket hasn't been overly embellished and symbolically, it reminds me of my own two young "bucks" - Liam & Ethan.  If you note from the main photo of page one, I have even included a number "2" next to the deer head.  *grin* Sometimes there is method to my madness!

 

 

Other elements on page one include a little tag pocket, created from the Crate Paper Memo paper.

 

 

And journaling typed directly onto another Nine & Co Cards cut apart.

 

 

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Page two is a little more subtle.  Not so many bold colours and more journaling has been included.  This last week of school before school holidays started was one of celebrating, creating and some waiting...

 

 

This week, DD was on crutches.  She could have chosen her timing much better to injure herself (!!) because this week she was participating in a leadership camp with her school.  Three days and two nights of camping (in a tent, not a cabin) with crutches!  Oh the memories!!  LOL!

 

 

There was a little drama however, in leading up to her ability to go to camp, so of course what else could I do but document it!  And we had plenty of waiting time in waiting rooms to think about what I was going to write!

 

 

The celebration part of the week was much more fun!  Necklace making and finger painting! Yay!

 

 

Finally, as the week wound down for us, I went on a Pride & Prejudice binge.  I watched, not only my all time favourite movie but also the BBC tv series of the same name.  It's not often I get a chance to spend the entire day experiencing a movie marathon.  In fact, with four children, it's completely rare that I get to sit down at all!  *grin*  SO for this reason alone, I needed to include this part of my week in my PL spread.

 

   To document my love of Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice,  I went to Pinterest and searched for movie posters/quotes.  I saved a copy of the Pin I loved the most to my computer and then transferred it to my photo files to be printed out with the rest of my weekly snapshots.   I hope I have inspired you this week to use a few more stickers on your pages or even add a section about your favourite movie.  Thanks for visiting...x                

Project Life | Week 36...

Hi Sassy Friends!  It's Leanne here today with another instalment of Project Life.  This week I am sharing Week 36 | September 1 - 7.     Hello Spring.  Finally the weather is warming up, we are shedding our Winter woollies and enjoying more outdoor activities.  I have to admit however, things are becoming a blur and this week I've made a silly mistake. I haven't been as organised as I'd like with my photos.. (and who wants to be on the computer when there's glorious sunshine outside!! LOL).    I've missed including some photos and events that should have been recorded in last week's spread.  And in the process I've muddled up Week 36.  I was initially distressed.  How could I forget Father's Day was on the 7th and not the upcoming 14th.  The dates and photos just weren't adding up! I wasn't sure how to fix this mistake without having to re-do two entire spreads (and possibly mess with Week 37).  But in truth, I took a deep breath and figured re-writing our family history on a week by week basis, was a bit drastic to just realign some photos. So I decided to forgive myself and move on!   

 

Instead of continuing along the road to try and achieve PL perfection, I've noted in my journaling, two lots of weekend activities. An extension of notes from Week 35  as well as the current happenings of Week 36.  In years to come, looking back through these pages, it won't matter if my boys won their grand final hockey game in Week 35 or Week 36.  It will matter that I've documented it.  It won't matter if we celebrated Spring with fresh watermelon on a Thursday or a Friday.  It's in my PL to document our daily happenings.

Mistakes are clearly going to happen and I did promise myself to become a more active participant for my PL rather than an observer.  So here I am smoothing things over with myself, and moving on.  *grin*

 

This week I have once again used the gorgeous Crate Paper: Notes & Things and Teresa Collins Designs: Nine & Co.  I love to mix collections and add layers to my PL cards.  Week 36 has highlighted touches of gold and mint to interact with the colours in my photos.

 

 

I also had a few video files I wanted to include this week.  My daughter was involved in the Ice Bucket challenge, which ultimately led back to me being involved!  These moments were captured on video and I have created QR Codes to keep them with my memory keeping notes of PL.  To create your own QR Codes, revisit my step by step here.

 

 

When it came down to defining and fixing my mistakes, I Photoshopped  the words 'Saturday' and 'Sunday' to the images below.  It's a small step to help remind me in the future, of the correct events for the correct days.

 

 

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This spread has used a number of the Crate Paper: Notes & Things journaling cards.  They come already beautifully embellished with stitching and layers. 

 

The filler card below (included in the collection), is a vellum envelope that fits perfectly into a 3x4 pocket space.  The mint sentiment was added to the outside of the vellum and I left the glitter circles to fall freely within the folded down envelope.  I've layered with a yellow label sticker attached to a toothpick to create a flag.  The touch of yellow is needed to create a visual triangle when the two PL pages are side by side.

 

  The gold glitter alphas are the perfect finishing touch and fill a blank space without overwhelming the details in the pocket above.  The photo, QR Codes and title don't relate directly to each other but at this point for me, it's about fitting it all in without creating clutter.   Mistakes are bound to happen.  A spelling mistake will appear, text misalignment will happen or a crazy mix up like mine might occur every now and then!  The trick is to remember to keep moving forward.  The end result is to document our lives.  And if mistakes enter into the mix, it reminds us that we are all human!  LOL!  Thanks for visiting..x