More Life. Documented.

A few more pages from my scraptastic Thanksgiving break...Again with the iPhone at night.  Forgive the quality.

A wonderful week of new beginnings

 So excited that I got to incorporate Katie's invitation into my page about her wedding.  The Stampin' Up! patterned paper also coordinates with many of her colors for her big day.

This shows the flipside of the invitation flap.

I was itching to incorporate some of the chalkboard trend with this layout.

I love using iPhone screenshots to encapsulate what is going on in texts and personal electronic messages.

Not sure if this is too visible, but I included a piece of poetry encouraged by Ali Edwards' class through Big Picture Scrapbooking.  Oh my.  This was a great summation of my current work attitude.
Here is a closer look since the bigger version is a bit blurred.  Click on the image for a larger view.

I journaled a bit about how I needed to change.

Big week.  I walked away from a HUGE commitment because it was overpowering my life.  A good, but sad, decision.  I wrote on the chalkboard pages with the Stampin' Up chalk marker.  LOVE IT and its imperfections.

Project Life --> August

Just me, keeping it real.  I have photos...lots of photos, but I just now sat down to treat/process/journal them.  That is what school does in the life of a teacher.  Most days, I am wiped.  In fact, I almost stopped a couple times today.  But something in me longed for the creative process.  So, here are some completed August layouts.  Sorry for the iPhone quality of pics.

 I so love the Kraft Edition.  I cannot even BEGIN to relay my love for it...

Thanks, Karen, for adding these to my stash.  I put the 2.875 x 4s to good use!

Adore this chevron patterned paper.  Funny thing: This was where I had stopped for a looooong time, so I had not realized that I used "Here We Go" to start the page before this one.  Ha!

Onward!  I have many, many pics and weeks to document.  It's all good. :)

So, what's been up?

Hello, little blog.  Sorry to have been gone for so long.  Here's a partial update.

I bought a Rainbow Loom.  Need I say more?  Here's a little tour:

This is my 8-year-old son making his first Rainbow Loom bracelet.

I am fairly "behind" in Project Life, but I plan to catch up over Thanksgiving break (next week!).  I also want to try to add some beads and/or charms to some of my future loom creations.  Can't wait!

Happy World Cardmaking Day!

Hello to my dusty ol' blog.  Yes, school started again for this Teacher Mama.  Slowly and infrequently to the craft room I go.  So, here are a couple of cards I have made in the past few weeks.

First, a birthday card for a Lego-lovin' nine year old.

Inspired by these Pinterest cards

Papertrey Ink Stamp

Fiskars hole punch

Next a card for a buddy who had beautiful baby girl #3.  (Overcast day = not great photo)

Inspired by this Splitcoast stamper's shower idea

Silhouette file for the bow (love!)

Fancy Pants patterned paper

Spellbinders oval scallop

Love using the SU! chalk marker to decorate the envelope.

Envelope by Hero Arts

Happy World Cardmaking Day, my crafting friends!

Pretty Crafty for the Saturday Before School Starts

I did a great deal of crafty goodness for today.  It started with a bout of insomnia getting me up at 4 AM.  That prompted the creation for Ali Edwards Hello Story challenge for this week: Six Word Stories. She also presented the technique of using words over pictures.  So, for this week's Project Life, this will be used.

Then, came some fun thank you cards after breakfast.

And wrapping up my evening, my buddy Kim came over and made this card, with my guidance.

Not a bad way to spend the day!

Project Life Week 18 and Some Observations

Today, I got to craft.  And it's my birthday.  Woot!  Happy birthday to me!

OBSERVATIONS: From afar, Project Life seems fairly restrictive.  However, I have allowed myself some free reign in layouts that I did not think I would, such as using different sized page protectors in one layout.  Enter, this week.  Finally, after 18 weeks, I decided to let pictures drive the layouts instead of page protectors.  I felt that freedom that I would print what I wanted and figure out placement later.  And that actually worked.  No one is more surprised than I.  Here is this week's DPS using a 12 x 12 page protector with, well, one that isn't 12 inches wide.

Crazy cropping for a crazy nighttime shot.  One of these days, I will patiently await natural lighting when I take my photo.

I purchased some wood veneers from Studio Calico as well as stickers that match the sizes.  Hexagon joy!  Getting a lot of mileage with my Pebbles alpha stickers as well.

Yep, I am totally in love with the Project Life Kraft edition.  No joke.  And this blue?  Ah!  I am also in love with using my phone together with Photoshop and RadLab.  This trifecta of awesome has totally changed my picture capturing abilities.

Now, some honesty:

This is what my craft table looks like right now.  No doubt that it is well used, as opposed to my cobwebs of last summer.

This is my PL album after 18 of 52 weeks!  I am thinking another album will be needed before the year is up.

I am caught up!  Just in time for school to crash its way in.

Project Life Week 17: Disney

I think Project Life in a Picture of the Day format forced me to archive our Disney trip far sooner than I would "normally" have done.  I use a variety of page protectors and picture sizes for the several pages of this layout.  Throughout most of the trip, I shared pictures via Instagram and Facebook.  I just love that little app!

I purchased some Disney digital cards from Etsy, but tried not to overuse them.  I also used a great deal of washi tape for journaling, as I wanted photos to take precedence this week.  Whenever I could, I used "artifacts" from the actual trip.

Loved using the 4 x 12 page protectors for Instagram shots.

How the 4 x 12s fit in to the overall layout.

 Also used some 8.5 x 11 page protectors.

Used the Ali Edwards Hello Story journaling cards with the boys and me.  Max drew a picture of a storm that included some VERY close lightning!

It was quite hard not to add some additional embellishments, but I wanted to stay pure to the pictures as much as I possibly could and not allow the other stuff to get in the way of the story they tell.  Took all pics (except Space Mountain...we bought the digital download of that) with my iPhone.  i took my Nikon, but did not use it.  Just too cumbersome.

Project Life Week 16

Slowly enjoying putting vacation pages together.  Used my new Kraft core kit as well as some new Studio Calico wood veneers and Pebbles alphabet stickers.  I also used some Memory Flaps from CTMH to include multiple fill in the blank cards from the family members as well as a way to tie in the strip of 4 x 4 Instagram shots.

You can send your Instragram shots straight to Walgreens photo using your phone app.  They will print as 4 x 4.  Mine came as matte finish, but I am sure you can change that and I was not paying attention.  Regardless....so much easier that the way I was printing them, which required placing them on a 4 x 6 layer in Photoshop and saving them after cropping, filtering, etc.

These journaling fill in the blank cards are part of ALi Edwards' Hello Story class as a way of journaling that is quick and easy, yet meaningful.

On to Disney!