2014 Project Life

 Finally decided to stick with Becky Higgins' Project Life products for my 2014 Project Life Album.  

I chose the Honey Album and Core Kit that you see here.  

I had thought about going smaller and use a Simple Stories 6 x 8 but decided to stay with the Becky Higgins line.  This will be my fourth or fifth year now doing Project Life.
Do you do Project Life, Project 365 or similar scrapbooking project?  What are doing in 2014?

Holiday Album divider page

 So back to the Holiday Album I showed you a few posts back.  I painted one of the Simple Stories album page dividers white.  Then using white flocking material I created a snowbank along the bottom.  I painted some decorative wood trees green and used Liquid Pearls to decorate them.  I used yellow glitter glue for the top fo the tree.  For the background above the "snowbank" I used silver glitter paint in an attempt to make it look like it was snowing.  It looks better in person than in the photo. I had the red glitter snowflakes and added those to the "sky".

A closer look at the snowbank.

It didn't turn out quite as I envisioned it but I am happy with it overall and learned a few things along the way.  Now I need to figure out what I am doing with the back of this divider page!

Finishing 30 Days of Thankful

 I rarely get into my craft room during the week so this project has taken longer than I would like.  I'm happy to have a complete album!

 I had it all finished except for adhering some photos so I got that finished today.  I had two photos from Thanksgiving that

I wanted to include so I got these Flip Flop fasteners out.  I adhered the two photos together back to back.

 There are quite a few Flip Flops on a sheet (2 sheets to a package).  I'm not sure if you can see them in the photos as they are clear.

 

 I adhered the Flip Flop the photo on the back of the photo I wanted to show first.  Fold the Flip Flop back on itself & position the photo.

 I used the Flip Flops here too.  Lots of snow photos this year.

Done.  I do plan to go back and add embellishments. But the album can stand on it's own if I never get back to it for which I am very happy!
Notes for next year:
Print Cathy Zielske's templates per instructions for a 6 x 6 album.  I did find out though that I did enjoy working in an 8 x 8 album size which I may choose for other future projects. 
Have pages ready to go before November 1st.
Gather possible embellishments through the year.
There are some things I am going to be grateful for each and every year and are a given.  I plan to take photos or gather photos of those topics prior to November.  Photo printing slowed the project way down so I'd like to have a head start on those even if I don't end up using the photos for the project. The writing is what gives the album the voice of what I am thinking at feeling on that day.
I also plan to add one of the projects that I shared through the month to next year's preparation for Thanksgiving.  I like being so much more intentional and thoughtful about Thanksgiving.  It's carried over into December and I like that.
I hope to be back shortly with an update on my Holiday Album.
How are your Christmas preparations coming? 

Journal Your Christmas

 Here is a look at my Journal Your Christmas album. 

The numbers are flat number
stickers that I used Glossy
Accents on to make them
look raised.

 
I used the Glossy Accents on the diamond shapes in the patterned card and on the berries too.  I used pop-dots to have the banner card and holly & berries stand-out.  Ribbon from my stash and December Documented from Simple Stories are the other products used.  The silver reindeer shown in the first photo ended up on the inside of the back cover.  See yesterday's post for details on the painting of the album. Links to the Simple Stories December Documented products I am using this year can be found on the right.  

Journal Your Christmas 2013

 This last week I put aside my 30 Days of Thankful project to begin preparing my album for Journal Your Christmas.

I started with a basic Simple Stories album and painted the brown chipboard part black.  I just used an acrylic paint from Michaels.  

I then use Martha Stewart's silver glitter paint to cover the front of the album .  Let that dry I started on the divider pages.  

I haven't quite figured out how I'm breaking out the topics. 
I'm thinking preparation, every-day and Christmas day but that could change as I go on.  I've also considered a memories section but I'm not sure if I'll have a lot of time to work on that.  As you can see from the photo above the divider pages began to curl but they flattened out as they dried.  
I've done December Daily for the last 2 years and decided to use Shimelle's Journal Your Christmas this year.  With December Daily I felt like I was forcing my story into someone else's formula so I'm hoping this feels more authentic.  I hope too that I have time to build it on a daily basis.  I liked having the album ready by December 1st with December Daily but it did not leave room for changes in plans, life getting busy, etc.  
I'm looking to have less filler and more content.  
Do you have any plans for documenting your Christmas?

Three more Thankful pages

Three more pages of Thankful.  Isn't my grandson adorable?  I can't believe how well he posed - he's only two!

End of vacation week

My vacation week is coming to an end.  I head back to work in the morning. So while I've not been posting my 30 Days of Thankful pages on a a daily basis like I had hoped to, I have been very aware of the many things each day I have to be thankful for.  I think, too, it's important to live your life first and document it, second.  So I've been living and creating this last week.  Now to show you some of my finished pages for my 30 Days of Thankful album. 

 I've been having a lot of fun with Pinterest this year and actually creating/doing several of the ideas I've pinned!

Day 20 - thankful for Pinterest  




Day 21-thankful for Pumpkin (our youngest cat)

Day 22 - thankful for Patch (our oldest cat)

Day 23 - thankful for weather alerts
We've had some snowy weather (a foot of snow one day!) and some really cold temperatures so it's good to be prepared!