Project Life: Week 3

Week Three of Derek's album.  Includes his first visit with Grandma and Grandpa and playtime on his playmat.  I used more manila shipping tags, an item that is quick and easy and will be a staple throughout this album.  I also used one of the printable quotes I designed :)

 

New 365 Printable/ Digital Files

Now that I am home during the day I am busy working away on new printable/ digital files for my Etsy shop when I get free moments here and there :)  Here is the latest and greatest just in time for Summer!  Great for scrapbooking, project life, invitations, birthday party decor, cards you name it!

Each set is only $1.95 and includes printable and digital files.  Expect the papers which are just digital files but can be printed onto 8 x 11.5 paper.

Enjoy!

Project Life: Week 2

The next week in the life of little Derek :)

Project Life: Week 2

Here is a look at his first week home.  Looking at this now it seems so long ago...none of the clothes in the pictures even fit him now :) 

I just realized it may be confusing cause I titled this 'Week 2' and the actual page says 'Week 1'.  I started counting with the first week he was home in his album so I will match the titles from now on to make it less confusing :)

Project Life: Week One

I am finally ready to start sharing pages from Project Life/ Derek's baby book!!  Each week is a two page layout.  I upload the pics a month at a time to Shutterfly ( which is the only place I have found to print photos that are close in color and quality to what I am actually shooting!) and write down notes and stories in a notebook I keep handy, then match them up when I am putting the pages together.  I also take a lot more pictures with my phone, and just upload those too.   I am loving this type of scrapbooking and it is now part of my routine :)  More layouts to come this week.

Here is a look at the week he was born!!

 

Project Life: Intro Page

Hello everyone :) It is good to be back! I am slowly working things from my pre-baby routine back into my new life as a Mama and this is was an easy an obvious choice.  I was also excited to share the first page of Project Life!!  I completed this page shortly before the arrival of my little man, and just didn't get a chance to  post it up here. 

While the rest of the album will follow a weekly format, I wanted the first page to act as an intro and briefly touch upon what led up to Derek's first week of life.  I am super happy with how it turned out and it makes me anxious to get working on the pages for the last couple weeks! 

Check back soon, I am working on a post about how great (and CRAZY!) it is to be a new Mom and have more pictures of the little one to share :)

prepping for project life.

As the arrival of our little bundle nears I am gearing up to start Project Life, documenting the first year of baby boys life :)  Here are some general thoughts I have been having.

--I was originally going to start with the week he was born but thought it might be cool to include what's going on the couple weeks leading up to the big day.

--I also think this will give me a chance to get a feel for the project and how I want to organize stuff and put it all together.

--This includes getting in the habit of taking my camera with me and actually taking more pictures with it.

--This also includes jotting down happenings and stories as the week goes on. I love post-its and a little notebook I carry in my purse.

--I am not someone who prints photos at home, however this may change once the baby comes and I get color ink for the printer. But, for now there is a Rite Aid around the corner from the house which is where I will upload and pick up (or have the hubby pick up) my weekly photos.

--Keeping random paper tidbits from the week in a pocket I taped to my wall by my desk.




--The story of the green album:  I purchased this green polka dot American Crafts album a few months ago with the intention of using it as Baby G's album.  It was on sale and I actually think I bought it before we knew he was a boy, so it was also gender neutral.  Anyhow, when I got it in the mail it was WAY brighter green than the photo had led on (the picture above doesn't do the brightness justice).  But, I figured, oh well I will get over that ( still haven't just for the record.)  Then a month or so ago I decided I wanted to embark on  Project Life for documenting his first year and our first year as parents.  Well this album is post bound, not a 3-ring binder, but I also thought, no biggie I can make that work.  But here we are and I am about to embark on this project and I hate this album.  So, needless to say, I think I am going to purchase a new one. Now I just have to figure out a use for this one.  I do have a LOT of layouts laying around with no home, so I might just make this another random life album.  It is a silly thing to feel guilty about but I do since I spent money on it and now will be spending money on a new one, for purely cosmetic reasons.  But as of now, I am saying f it and letting it go :)

-- I am going to use my planner as another way to keep track of what happens week to week, as far as appointments and to-dos and other various notes.

I vow

This page of our album is feels very bright, springy, and cheerful :) Must be those winter blahs that are making me reach for pink florals and spring greens.  Again using more pink throughout the album than I originally anticipated, but liking it!

 I am thinking of making these tiny painted hearts a recurring theme throughout other pages in the album.

This little envelope holds our vows written out by my sister on pieces of notebook paper that we read from during the ceremony. So happy I kept them :) 

               

Project Life: Baby's First Year

I am so so so so excited to start this project and share it with you!!!  I have decided to be a part of the Project Life movement that is going on in the scrapbooking world right now.It was started by Becky Higgins a couple years ago and has really caught on and taken on a life of it's own.

Most people do one two page spread consisting of 4x6 and 3x4 pockets for photos, journaling, etc. for each week of the year, thus documenting their lives as they go along, as opposed to the traditional one-page-per-event/ topic scrapbooking style.  It is a great way to capture all the little bits of life and is more like a journal and scrapbook all in one.

Mine is going to be a little bit different in that instead of one spread for each week of the year, I will be documenting Baby G's first year of life.  I am still in debate of whether to start it with the week he is born, or sneak in a few of the weeks leading up to 1) because I am excited to start and 2) to share thoughts feelings and preparations for his arrival.  I am slightly hesitant to start early because I still have a lot I want to put into my pregnancy journal so we shall see.

I have started gathering supplies and prepping them to use in the album, by pre-cutting them, etc. Below is a glimpse at some of what I have collected so far.

I will also be adding my own take on some Project Life inspired products to my Etsy shop VERY soon, and using them in my album as well.

Below are some links to various sites explaining and illustrating this project for you to check out, all of which are very inspiring!!

           Project Life at TwoPeas
           365: Project Life by Ali Edwards
           Project Life by Becky Higgins
           Meet the BH PL Designers Here
           Elsie Blaha's Project Life 2013

I am not sure how many, if any scrappers read my blog, but if so is this something you would consider doing, have done, or just any thoughts on the project in general?

cravings, clothes, and due dates

More pages from the pregnancy journal and still so many more to go :)  Haha, I thought I would have this done by the time he gets here, but I am coming the realization that it just might not happen that way.  And you know what, that is OK! 

Baby G's first picture on what ended up looking like a background make of candy buttons and his due date which is one of my favorite pages from the album thus far. I think it's the negative space and bright aqua on the kraft paper.

This may be my favorite page so far!!  I love that the colors of the product labels all went together with these cute grocery stickers I had :)  I also used fabric paint out of one of the tubes with the skinny tip to write with for the first time and will definitely repeat this new technique!

I am collecting and stapling tags from all of his gear here (left).  The page on the right is a note that came with the blanket that Dave's grandma made for our future baby before she passed away.  I was thankful that Aunt Cathy sent it along with a nicely typed note explaining the story behind it that I could put here in his journal :)

One for my baby, and one for the road

 This page was created to be the final page of our wedding album.  I tend to work out of order, just using whatever photos/ story inspire me at the time.

One for My Baby, and One More for the Road by Frank Sinatra was the song we chose as our last song of the night and was our last dance that evening, so I thought it fitting to end the album :)

my pregnancy journal

 When I found out we were having a baby back in July, I wanted  a way to document my pregnancy and a place to keep my thoughts and things that I wanted to tell our future child.  Of course my first thought was a scrapbook, but then I decided I wanted something a little less formal and easier to put together, so  I settled on a journal.

Now, while I thought this would be a place filled with thoughts and tidbits of this journey called pregnancy, I must admit that I have been quite lazy in actually putting the information into the book.  Blame it on other projects, the pressure of not knowing what to say, thinking I had nine months to complete this little gem, who knows.  Anyhow, I do have a handful of pages done, and notes jotted down on various post-its for ones to complete. I also have a bunch of snippets shoved in there to use on said pages.  

I figured that in sharing it on the blog and the fact that I only have 7 weeks of pregnancy left might light a fire under my ass to put some other projects aside and work on this for a while. The journal will by no means be in chronological order, but I think down the road this won't matter.  I only get to be pregnant with our first child once, and want to be able to reflect back on my thoughts when I am 40 and forget what it was like :)

The cover of my journal that I made and left blank until I found out we were having a boy :) All my various post-its on things I want to include in the journal.  It looks like a daunting list right now, but I just need to take it one story at a time!

 This is the first page of the journal, I made this and then took 5 months to figure out what I wanted to say to him, and still don't feel like I could really put it into words.  This is the second page when I first felt him move at 16 weeks (yes it took THAT long to get to the second page :)

pure joy

One of the projects you will find under current projects on the left is my wedding album.  It has been 1 1/2 years since that day, which is hard to believe, and I have about 10-12 pages of this album completed :)  I started collecting supplies before the wedding even happened and continue to add bits and pieces to my stash.  I have found this method very effective in that I have a lot to choose from when I sit down to make a page, and I can spend in little bits. 

This was the first page I used a great deal of pink on, a color I wasn't really planning for in this album, but I liked the way it turned out so much that you sill see I have incorporated pink into quite a few other pages as well. 

I drew the color scheme from the fabric tag, and had the perfect Basic Grey paper to match.  The dangling flowers are handmade with paper bits, ink, and a brad in the center. I think the little heart stickers are my favorite though.

Oh and this may be my FAVORITE photo of us from that day :)