Online Crop Inspiration

Back again today, but with something a bit different! Last week, the Paper Issues team sponsored an online crop, with various challenges. Normally, I just do my Project Life pages, and I thought I would just enter the challenges with my Project Life pages, but I was inspired to get back to my roots as a 12x12 scrapper! I did enter some of my PL pages, but here are the 12x12 pages I completed this week for the challenges.

The first challenge I knew I wanted to do was for a spot on the PI design team. The challenge was to scrap myself. Earlier in the week, Kelly from PI said to take a selfie and have it ready to scrap for the DT challenge. I tried, but I am horribly awful at taking selfies, it just is not my thing! I got out the big camera, and had Ellie snap a few pictures, and wow, did she do a great job! Here is my layout with that very picture:

I used a variety of products on this layout. The background paper is by Basic Grey, from their Urban Prairie line. I have had it in my paper bag for about 4 years  - it was time to use it! The pattern was a bit bold and distracting, so I toned it down with this vellum from American Crafts, from their DIY Shop line. The papers/cards behind my photo came from the Paper Issues March swag bag. I think most of them are from Simple Stories, I Am. I used ephemera from the Crate Paper Craft Market line, plus Simple Stories stickers from their I Am line. Everything else is from my stash. 

My next page was for Jen's Sketch Challenge. Here is the sketch:

And here is my take on it:

I had fun with this one! I have had this picture of Olivia for a couple of years. I was trying out Mpix for printing Instagram photos, so I just printed all of the ones I had on my phone. I loved them, but they were so tiny, I just did not know what to do with them! This was the perfect challenge for it. I had fun picking out cards from my stash. I went with cards from the Happy core kit. I also used my new Color Theory Blush Crush mini mist to add something to the plain white background.

My last challenge was Mary-Ann's Grid Challenge. I had pinned this sketch on Pinterest from Bella Blvd.

I had more of those tiny photos from Mpix, and this layout worked perfectly for them. I loved the rainbow and paint splatter cards I had received in my March swag bag, so that is where I started with my color inspiration. The other papers come from CTMH, the Lollydoodle, Dream Pop, and Free to Be Me kits.

I had so much fun participating in these challenges! It felt good to do some 12x12 pages - I might just start including a few in my Project Life albums!

Danica

Project Life 2015 Week 11

I am back again with another Project Life post - this time with my week 11. This was our spring break week, so we were busy, and it shows - I had to use TWO inserts! I also received my very first Studio Calico Project Life kit this week, so I had to use it for these pages! My title card is, as always, from the Project 52 kit. I entered this page on the Paper Issues Online crop for Devra's tic tac toe challenge. You can check out all of the awesome work on Facebook here: Devra's Tic Tac Toe Challenge. So here it is, week 11 left:

And the first insert:

I made this page for Lisa's Alphabet Soup Challenge.

The next two inserts, side by side:

These pages I did for two different places. For the online crop, I entered these for Jen's Pocket Page Challenge and they also work for the by the numbers link up on the Paper Issues blog! I was excited to document PI day, and when I saw that card with all the numbers on it in my Studio Calico Odyssey kit, I knew what I would use it for!

The last insert:

And the right hand page:

Whew! We had a busy week! I had so much fun scrapping with my friends last Saturday and participating in the Paper Issues online crop! Please let me know if you have any questions about products I used or my techniques!
Danica

Project Life 2014 - Weeks 6, 7, & 8

So I think I mentioned in a previous post that I was going to try working simultaneously on my 2014 and 2015 albums instead of always being a year behind. I have done a pretty good job of keeping to that idea, although I have been better about doing my 2015 album. My original plan was to do a week in 2015, then do the same week from 2014. I got a little excited to get caught up on 2015, and did weeks 6-10. I decided to go ahead and pull out my 2014 pics and get those caught up too. Yesterday, I worked on weeks 6, 7, & 8. I combined weeks 7 & 8 because I just did not have a lot of photos besides Valentine's Day. I really did not decide to commit to true weekly layouts until about April of last year, so I was not very good at making sure I was taking pictures most days. Anyways, on to the pages. Here is week 6:

I used a hodgepodge of cards and embellishments for these pages. I had some leftover cards from a Paper Issues swag bag, so I used some of those, and I still have cards from my Studio Calico double scoop kit. I have enjoyed getting a little more creative with my 2014 pages, because I am not committed to using one kit, like the Project 52 with my 2015 kit. I had a couple of extra pictures of the girls ice skating, so I used a flip flap to add those to the layout: 

  

Weeks 7 & 8:

These two pages came together in about 15 minutes. I had so many Valentine's Day pictures! I did realize that I forgot to journal about the bottom middle picture, so I did add a label and some journaling about that one. The cards for these pages came from the Happy core kit. 

That is all I have so far of my 2014 album, but I might sneak down into my craft room later today and work on some more of my 2014 pages since I am all caught up on 2015. Let me know if you have any questions about the products I used or my techniques!

Danica

Life Zesters March Challenge - Project Life 2015 - Week 10

If you have not had a chance to head over to the Life Zester's blog - you really should! This month's challenge is a color challenge, and when I printed my week 10 photos, I knew this was the week I would use for the challenge. My photos already had lots of pink, yellow and aqua, and the Week 10 title card just happened to be yellow - perfection!

I sorted through all of my Project 52 cards, pulling the cards with yellow, pink, and aqua. Next, I went through my embellishments and pulled the matching colors. I also wanted to add a touch of gold to these pages, so those embellishments were also added to my tray. I love how the pages turned out! Week 10, left: 

And Week 10, right:

And the two pages together:

                                          

I had so much fun participating in this challenge! I am a little sad that our spring break is almost over, I really did get a lot of crafting done, but I do have two Saturday crops coming up! Let me know if you have any questions about the products I used or my techniques!

Danica

Finally getting started on my Disney album!

My scrap weekend with my gal pals was a productive one. I got caught up on my 2015 album, and got a great start on my Disney album from our 2013 trip. I have decided to do this album primarily Project Life style, with a few traditional layouts here and there. This was a big trip for us, 11 days, so I have lots and lots of pics (2400 to be exact - eek!), and I knew there was no way I could scrap this traditionally. It took me forever to finish the album from our 2010 trip, and it was only a three day trip! Before we even left, I purchased some of the Say Cheese line from Simple Stories, and stumbled upon Project Mouse. I purchased some of their printables, and I have been working on having those printed at Office Depot. Of course, Simple Stories just released Say Cheese II, so I did get a few things from that line. It would be so easy to get it all, but I think I have enough now to scrap two or three more trips! 

On to the pages. Warning: This post is picture heavy - I got 11 pages done! Here is my title page:

I am trying to decide if I should add the dates to this page, maybe with my date stamp in the blank white circle on the bottom right??

A close-up of the Disney title. I have had this sticker in my stash since 2010, I just never used it for that album. The 2013 is from a pack of Thickers. Everything else is either Say Cheese or Say Cheese II.

The first part of my album is all pre-trip stuff. Booking, planning, counting down, etc. I started the planning for this trip in June of 2012, one full year before our trip. It was a bit of an obsession, but it was all worth it!

I added my little notebook that I took notes in during the planning phase:

I had many crafty projects that kept me busy during the year of planning:

And then the countdown. I started at 30 days. The Mickey bar, Pluto, Goofy, etc. cards were images Disney put out for people to use on Facebook. I loved them so much, I saved them to my computer, and had them printed to use in my book!

That is what I have done so far! Next, I will move on to the actual trip! I am almost done printing the cards, and have been working on organizing them. I plan to organize the album by days, keeping things in chronological order. Sahlin Studio (Project Mouse) had some super cute day cards that I purchased for this purpose. 

I will be using the chevron cards this time, but I really liked the simplicity of the black and white cards - maybe for a future trip album?!

Please let me know if you have any questions about these pages or the products I used!

Danica

Project Life 2015 Weeks 8 and 9

Spring break is here, and I am excited to have some time to get back to my crafting. Today, I worked on weeks 8 and 9. For both layouts, I used the Project 52 core kit and pieces from my stash. Here is week 8, left:

And week 8, right:

 I think one of my favorite things about this layout was the fact that the weekly card color and my typewriter matched - LOL! 

And on to week 9, left:

I was excited to use my typewriter again, it was great for the week in review card - I never could have written that small!

Week 9, right:

Oh, that dress! It caused a lot of strife this week! Originally, I saw the white and gold, but eventually it started to change to more of a periwinkle and brown. Both of my girls saw the black and blue, and Matt saw the white/gold. So strange! I hope you enjoyed these pages, now I need to get to work on week 10 and my Disney album!

Danica

Project Life 2015 Weeks 6 and 7

Well, it has been a really busy couple of weeks. I am still trying to get used to working full time, and my crafting has really been lacking as of late! Some of my friends and I got together this weekend to scrap, and I got a lot done! I finished up weeks 6 and 7, and got a good start on my 2013 Disney trip album - I will save that for a separate post!

For Week 6, I used my Project 52 core kit again, and the embellishments are from my stash. The most exciting part was using my new typewriter!!!! I have been searching for a good, vintage typewriter for the last few months. I needed something that would fit on my desk, so the search has not been easy!          

I have to thank my friend Alison for finding this for me on a local sale site. I picked it up 15 minutes after I said "in line!" I will not completely stop using my own handwriting, but this will be good when I have a lot to say! 

On to the pages! Here is Week 6, left, plus an insert.

And Week 6 right, with the other side of the insert - we had a busy week!

I took a lot of pictures when the girls were ice skating, so I added a flip flap for the extras:

And now, Week 7! I used Project 52 for the Week card, but the rest of the cards and the embellishments are from my Paper Issues February swag bag. The "heart & soul" card is from Elle's Studio, which came in the January swag bag. This was an exciting week for me. I received my provisional teaching certificate, and officially became a 4th grade teacher! I took my class on a field trip to Heritage School, which was a really cool experience. Week 7, left:

Week 7, right:

I had two extra pictures, so I used a 3x4 flip flap to add those to the layout:

I had so much fun scrapping with my friends, and feel like I got so much done! I just wish I had my Week 8 pictures printed so I could have gotten that done too! Let me know if you have any questions!

Danica