... just Laura

Digital Project Share: 2018 / 2019 Shows

Hey everyone! I'm back to share a new project that I whipped up this week. With the new TV season in full swing, I thought it would be a great time to document my favorite shows from last season, to add to the album that I set up earlier this year. Quick recap of this fun little project ........

About five years ago, I created a 6x8" pocket page spread documenting a handful of my favorite TV shows from the 2014 / 2015 season (seen HERE).

About two years ago, I created a travelers notebook project, documenting my favorite TV shows from the 2016 / 2017 season (seen HERE). I actually ended up re-working those pages into the 6x8" format, once I had settled on the idea of doing an on-going themed album (seen HERE) in the 6x8" size.

Earlier this year, I went digital with this project, and created 6x8" digital pages documenting my favorite TV shows from the 2017/2018 season (seen HERE).

I had already written a list of my on-going shows for the 2018/2019 season earlier this year, and every now and then I would pull it out and add any additional shows that came out (or started back up) to that list. Keeping this on-going list throughout the year really helps for this type of project, so you're not wasting time, trying to remember what you've watched - or leaving any good shows off the list ;)

I should also add that not all of these shows are on at the same time. While Thursday has 17 shows, I wasn't actually recording/watching 17 shows every Thursday. A lot of these shows run at different times of the year, or only run for half of a season. 

I knew that I would approach this project the exact same way that I did last time. Digital pages, using collage templates and a few digital patterned papers and digital stamps, which I would print out on my photo printer. 

For my 2018/2019 pages, I decided to use Simply White 6x8 Life Pages templates by Tracy Larsen. A lot of the template designs are similar to templates I have purchased from other designers, but I like to stick to just one designer's templates when I work on projects like this. 

I also used a few digital stamps from In A Creative Bubble, specifically her Watch & Listen digital stamp set. The digital patterned papers that I used are from random kits that I've had forever. I actually ended up using several of the same patterned papers that I used for my 2017/2018 pages, just because they matched so well. I'm totally fine with using the same papers, since while I do own a TON of digital kits, I'm not familiar enough with those kits to know where to find additional paper choices. Lol.

I broke my pages down by days of the week. Excluding Saturday, since I've never had Saturday specific shows. I narrowed down my template choices for the left side of each spread - sticking to templates that had at least one larger area that would hold my day of the week, which was essentially my "title" for each spread. 

I added my go-to black chalkboard digital paper, which I use for backgrounds on digital projects quite often. I used a fun font called "Taco Tuesday" for the day of the week, and then added "night shows" below it. 

I thought about adding all of the info as to how I went about putting these pages together, but my blog post for my 2017/2018 pages has all of the details - all of which remained the same when I sat down to put the new pages together this week. You can find all of the details RIGHT HERE.

For my previous years, I used one single image for The Bachelor. But since I watch The Bachelor, The Bachelorette, and Bachelor In Paradise, I wanted to include images for all three shows. I like the additional images, since I could show specifically who the Bachelor and Bachelorette were for these seasons. I used the Stories Of Life 3x8" Layered Templates from Ali Edwards to create the collage, replacing the number next to each photo with a small digital black heart.

Kind of hard to tell from these photos, but the aqua and black patterned papers are in fact, patterned papers. They look more like solid cardstock here. I went with simple patterns, as there's a lot going on with the photos.

Wednesday is a night that has a lot of shows, so I added two 3x8" collages between the two main pages. I love that this allowed me to keep all three of the Chicago shows together, and I kept Suits and Pearson together on the flip side, as they tie into each other. 

I used the 3x8" Snapshots Layered Photo Templates kit for the collage on the left and the 3x8" Everyday Layered Photo Template kit for the collage on the right, both by In A Creative Bubble. I added "watchlist" along the top of the collage on the right, using a digital stamp, after removing the word that was originally on the template.

Thursday is by far the night with the most shows. I created two 3x8" collages to add in-between my main pages, which allowed me to add in an additional 8 shows/images. This worked really well for a lot of the half hour comedies that I watch. I used the 3x8" Snapshots Layered Photo Templates by In A Creative Bubble for these. 

Friday is my slowest night, as far as my shows go. And it wasn't until I went to photograph my pages, that I realized that Younger wasn't even a Friday show - it was a Tuesday or Wednesday night show (I can't even remember which night right now). Not that it matters in the grand scheme of things, but I try to get my shows listed on the right days. 

Once I had all of my collages finished, I printed them out on photo paper, trimmed them, and slipped them into my album. This might seem like a silly little album to some (and proof that I watch way too much TV), but I just love it :)

Project Life 2019: July | Weeks 27-30

Welcome back to another Project Life share post. I'm going to be sharing a full month's worth of weekly spreads from my 2019 Project Life album at a time. Since there won't be many details to share - seeing as how I'm using the same, single journaling card, same weekly title cards, and filler cards printed from the PL app - I'm going to keep these posts short and sweet. 

For a recap of how I'm approaching this year's album, check out THIS POST for all of the details.

Week Twenty-Seven

Week Twenty-Eight

Week Twenty-Nine

Week Thirty

As always, if you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment below or send me an email :)

Kerri Bradford Studio: Christmas Gift Giving

 

Hey everyone! We've been doing a little early Christmas and Thanksgiving celebrating over at Kerri Bradford Studio this week, and the festivities will continue throughout the month. We're focusing on gift giving, sharing creative ideas using Kerri's new stamps, along with her other fabulous products.

 

 

When I think of handmade gift packaging, I think of tiny little packages - gift boxes, little treat bags, and envelopes. We don't exchange too many gifts in my family, but I do find myself gifting gift cards to quite a few people, and these small packages make gifting gift cards so much more fun. 

 

 

Kerri has so many awesome cut files for boxes, bags, and envelopes. I started by picking out 3 designs to focus on - Envelope: Tabbed, The Paper Bag, and Gift Box [Square] - and used my Silhouette to die cut each design from patterned paper.

 

 

Before I assembled them, I used Kerri's Inked stamp set to add some black ink splatters to my envelope and paper bag. Next, I assembled my little trio of packages. These are all so easy to assemble - just a few folds and a little bit of adhesive. 

 

 

I have several sheets of labels that I've printed using the Label kit, so I pulled out the black labels and added the "to you from me" phrase to several labels using the Looks Like Christmas stamp set.

 

 

I also pulled out some older vellum metal rimmed tags from my stash, and added a stamped sentiment/image to three tags - using the Looks Like Christmas stamp set and the Peace On earth stamp set - picking out sizes that would work on my packages. 

 

 

I added a stamped vellum tag to each package, along with a stamped label. I found some older Christmas themed embellishments - metal tags and a velvety leaf - and used them to add a little something extra to each package. 

 

 

 

Make sure to stop by Kerri's blog, and check out her October stamp release. It's a good one! The design team, along with some talented special guests, are sharing projects this week and into the month - and you don't want to miss all of the gorgeous projects they've created ;)

 

Project Life 2019: June | Weeks 23-26

Hey again! I'm finally ready to share a look at my 2019 Project Life album. Yesterday, I shared some info about how I'm approaching this year's album (post HERE). And today, I'm going to give you a look at how the weekly spreads are coming together, with the simple changes I'm making. 

I'm going to be sharing a full month's worth of weekly spreads at a time. Since there won't be many details to share - seeing as how I'm using the same single journaling card, same weekly title cards, and filler cards from the Project Life app - I'm going to keep these posts short and sweet. 

Week Twenty-Three

Week Twenty-Four

Week Twenty-Five - This week had more photos than usual, so I added a 6x12" pocket page insert. 

First half of the weekly spread, with the 6x12" insert on the right.

Second half of the weekly spread, with the 6x12" insert on the left.

Week Twenty-Six

If you have any questions at all, feel free to leave me a comment or message me ;)

Project Life 2019: Plan of Attack

Hey all. I've for sure been quiet on this little blog of mine lately. I just haven't had many projects to share, so with that, there's less blogging happening. It's been almost 3 months since I shared that I had completely finished my 2018 Project Life album. Once I got that album all wrapped up, I was finally ready to start playing catch up in my 2019 album. I thought I'd share my plans for this year's album, before I start to share my actual weekly spreads.

Step One | Photos

The one thing that I've been good about is doing my photo orders each month, and getting my photos into my Project Life album. That's a huge win in my book. I order my photos a month at a time, still using the Freeprints app, just like I've been doing for the last two years. I sort them out into the weeks, and slip them into the pocket pages. 

Step Two | Weekly Title Cards

I also had all of my weekly title cards added in. For the last few years, I've used digital kits that I've purchased for my weekly title cards. For my 2019 album, I searched for 2019 weekly title card digital kits, but didn't find many options - and what I did find didn't interest me. So, I created my own cards, which I print along with my photo order each month.  

I used a black chalkboard digital patterned paper for the background. I've used white cards with black text for the last two years, so I thought the black with white text would be a nice change. I spent more time then I should have settling on a few fonts to use, making sure the brush script font that I picked (I had a few options that I tried) would fit no matter what week it was - a short week like "one" or a longer week like "twenty-three". The font is called Butterfly, and came in a font package that I purchased a while back (not even sure where I found it). 

Step Three | Journaling Cards

Somehow, I ended up a good 7 months into the year before I gave any thought to working on adding journaling into my album. I knew that I needed to approach this year's album a little differently, if I was going to successfully catch myself up and get back on track. 

I tossed around several ideas involving my usual digital 3x4" journaling cards - ways to do them quicker, make them simpler, etc. But even 4-5 journaling cards per week takes times. And I wanted something simpler. 

Then I got the idea to do a single journaling card per week. A larger journaling card, that I could essentially add in-between the pages of each weekly spread. 

To help create my journaling pages, I started with a template from Ali Edward's 6x12 Words & Photos Layered Template Vol 2 kit. I ended up tweaking it quite a bit to make it work. I eliminated the photo part of the template, changed it from two columns to one column of text, and changed it from a 6x12" template to a 4x11" template. 

I also used Kerri Bradford's Simple Staples kit to add a black and white diagonal striped border along the top of the template. I like consistency in projects, and the black and white will tie in nicely throughout the entire year. 

I decided to just do bullet-point style journaling on this one "journaling card". I suppose I could have numbered my journaling, and maybe added little numbers to the photos that matched to each journaling tidbit. But that would take more time. Honestly, I feel like it's easy enough to match up the facts/stories with the photos they go too. If 20 years down the road, we can't figure it out, it will be a fun guessing game ;)

I added the week along the top of the card, and then started adding my journaling. A lot of my text is simply copied and pasted from my Instagram, since a lot of the photos/stories are ones that I've shared there. For any photos that weren't ones that I've shared, I typed up some facts or asked the girls for info if they were their photos. 

Some weeks, I filled up the 4x11" card, and some weeks I didn't quite have as much to say, leaving more empty space on the bottom of the card. But I'm ok with that. For about 2 seconds, I debated adding a piece of patterned paper on the backside of these cards, but then decided to leave them as-is. If I ever have a week where I have a TON to write about, I can always extend my journaling to the other side of the card.  

The template had the "oh yes, this is life" phrase along the bottom, and I decided to just keep it the same for each week. Keeping things simple and easy.

I was able to print two of these 4x11" cards on a single sheet of 8.5x11" cardstock. I then slipped them into 8.5x11" page protectors, which customized to fit my cards. I machine stitched along the edge of the cards, and then trimmed off the excess - creating a custom made 4x11" page protector. 

Creating just one single journaling card/page for each week really simplified the PL process for me. I've already finished up 3 full months, in very little time. I figure if this is the change I need in order to get this year's album on track (and hopefully keep up-to-date), then it's a good change. 

Step Four | Filler Cards

Just like my 2018 album, I plan on keeping this year's album very simple. Photos, journaling cards, and filler cards. No extra embellishing, no stickers, no chipboard - basically, no extras at all. Last year, I ended up using filler cards from the Project Life app for about 80% of my album (I started using them exclusively about 4-5 weeks into the year). It somehow just worked for me, and simplified the process. 

I think I'm doing the same thing for this year's album. I still have a ton of the filler cards that I've printed off of the Project Life app. I set them up using the PL app, adding two 3x4" filler cards to a 4x6" print. And then I upload them to my photo order, and have them printed as photos, and then simply trim them in half when I get my order. 

I just added another huge batch of these filler cards to my last photo order, which you see in the photo above. I still need to trim them apart. A lot of these are ones that I've already used at some point in last year's album, but I like them enough to use them again. I just look for designs/colors that I know I will use.

*****************

That's pretty much my plan of attack for this year's album. Keeping things simple, so that hopefully, I'll be able to catch up and stay caught up. I'll be sharing a full month's worth of weekly spreads tomorrow ;)

Kerri Bradford Studio + Color Cast: My Story TN Album

 

Hey everyone! I was so excited to hear that the Kerri Bradford Studio design team would be teaming up with the Color Cast design team, and I couldn't wait to play with some of their awesome products. Both teams are sharing projects all week long, and my completed project was up on Kerri's blog yesterday.

 

One of the items that I picked out was the gorgeous wood veneer "My Story" album cover. I tossed around a few ideas for what kind of album I wanted to create, while browsing thru Kerri's Travelers Templates kits.

 

 

I knew I wanted to include a collection of little stories in this album, so I looked for templates that had room for lots of journaling. When I came across a template in the Travelers Templates: Holiday Style kit that had room for a single photo, a good space for journaling, and had the option to add the months along the top, I knew exactly what I wanted to do.

 

 

It's been almost a year since we sold our house and moved into a smaller home, along with closing up my home daycare business and starting a new job outside the home. There's been a lot of emotions along the way, as we all adjust to these changes and how they trickle into big and little parts of our lives.

 

 

I wanted to focus on a few of those changes/emotions that I personally have dealt with over the last 12 months. I went thru my photos for each month, picking out a single photo for each month that could tell a story. 

 

 

I started by creating all of my photo/journaling pages, using the Travelers Templates: Holiday Style kit. I added my photos, selected the correlating month, and typed up my journaling before printing all of them out on photo paper. 

 

 

Next, I picked out a few patterned papers to pair up with white cardstock to create the second half of my pages. I die cut several rose clusters from white cardstock, using Kerri's Roses kit, as I thought they would tie in nicely with the wood veneer album cover. I adhered these die cut roses to several of the pages, tucking them under the top of the patterned papers.

 

 

I laid out all of my pages in order, so that I could work on embellishing them all at the same time. I've always been a fan of the acrylic pieces from Color Cast, and had picked out the "view from here" piece and the "this feeling" piece, and luckily, they worked within the theme of this album perfectly.

 

 

I started with those 2 pieces, as they went to specific photos/stories. I love the wood veneer frames, as they're super thin (and I love that they have adhesive on them!), and picked out which pages I wanted those on next.

 

 

The ginormous acrylic stars are awesome, and I added those to several pages, adhering them to white shipping tags. 

 

 

My last step was to add some stamped phrases to several of the pages, using Kerri's stamps - Gather Together, Thankful, One Fine Day, Long Story Short, Oh Yeah (no longer available). 

 

 

I gathered several of her stamp sets, and searched for words/phrases that tied in with my stories, adding them to the centers of the wood veneer frames, as well as stamping them onto the black labels that I printed out using Kerri's Label kit. 

 

 

The last step was to assemble the album. I adhered my photo pages to the backsides of the patterned paper/cardstock pages, making sure they all fell in the right order. I punched holes along the left edge of each page, to line up with the holes on the wood veneer album cover. I used metal rings to hold it all together - they're a little bigger than I need, but the only other ones I had on hand were too small. 

 

 

I love how this album came together, and love that I took the time to document some of the feelings and changes that I've gone thru over the last year. 

 

Kerri Bradford Studio: You Can Count On Me Cards

 

I have a few new cards up at Kerri Bradford Studio this week. I just love the large number cluster in the new A Numbered Account stamp set, and how it can work for so many card sentiments. For these two simple cards, I paired it up with the "you can count on me" from the same stamp set.

 

 

I stamped the number cluster onto white cardstock using black ink, trimmed it into a block, and distressed the edges using an edge scraper. I also stamped the number cluster on a scrap piece of cardstock and trimmed around the edges of the stamped image. I laid it over the top of the stamped image on my card, and used it as a mask when it came time to stamp my ink splatters, using the awesome Inked stamp set.

 

I love to use my misting sprays, but you just never know where those sprays are going to go. Lol. I love that with the Inked stamps, you have full control over where you put your ink splatters. 

 

 

I used Kerri's Label kit to print out the black labels, and stamped my sentiment onto the one that fit the best size-wise. After assembling my patterned papers (all from the Crafty Girl collection from Simple Stories) on the base of the card, I adhered my number cluster block using dimensional adhesive and adhered my sentiment label below. 

 

I think I'll use this same design to create a handful of birthday cards next :)

 

Kerri Bradford Studio: The Countdown Is On

 

Hey everyone! I have a new layout up at Kerri Bradford Studio this week. I know that Travelers Notebooks have been all the rage for quite a while now, but I have yet to figure out how to work them into the way that I document. So when I saw the Life Crafted albums from Citrus Twist, I knew it would be the perfect solution for me. I can create the smaller TN sized pages/spreads as individual pages - and have the freedom to put them in small albums and move them around as needed. 

 

 

For my first ever TN sized spread, I pulled together a few photos that I've taken before heading into work. I thought they would work for the small story that came to mind when I saw the "the countdown is on" stamp in Kerri's new A Numbered Account stamp set. I get myself very fixated on time, especially on days that I work. How much time I have to do this, how much time I have to do that, how much time before I have to leave for work, and how much I want to get done in the time I have before I leave, etc, etc. 

 

 

I arranged several photos in a collage using a template from the Travelers Templates: Wander kit, and typed in my journaling before printing the page out. The template had a little phrase above the journaling, which I took out before printing. In it's place, I stamped the "the countdown is on" onto a piece of cardstock, trimmed it down, and adhered it above my journaling. 

 

 

On the opposite page, I stamped the large number cluster (from the A Numbered Account stamp set) along the top of the page, and also stamped it on a scrap piece of cardstock. I trimmed around the stamped image on the scrap paper, and used it as a mask when it came time to stamp my ink splatters, using the awesome Inked stamp set. I love how easy the smaller sized spreads are to put together, and can't wait to create more of them.

 

Kerri Bradford Studio: Everyday Cards

Hey everyone! I had a new set of cards up at Kerri Bradford Studio last week, and wanted to share them here with you all. I'm still working on upping my card stash these days, as I love having cards on hand for any and all occasions. When I first saw Kerri's Label kit, I knew all of those little labels would be awesome for holding my stamped sentiments for cards. 

I'm definitely a simple card maker, and usually aim to keep my cards fairly flat for easy mailing. While my design is basic - a piece of patterned paper on top, a stamped background pattern on the bottom, and a label holding a stamped sentiment in the middle - it's one that is easy to duplicate and mass produce, which is something I love to do when making cards. 

I printed the sheet of the navy labels, and stamped three different sentiments using the Happy Mail #1 and Happy Mail #2 stamp sets in black ink before trimming them apart.

I then picked out a few patterned papers that coordinated with the navy and added them to the tops of my card bases. All three of my patterned papers are from the Turn The Page collection by Paige Evans, for Pink Paislee.

I used Kerri's new Spot On background stamp for the bottom part of my cards, stamping it in coordinating colors onto white textured cardstock, which I then cut down and adhered to my card bases. 

I actually meant to use two of Kerri's other background stamps, but once I got stamping with the dots, I totally forgot and stamped all of them with the same background stamp. Lol.

I think this would be the perfect design to mass produce, and have sentiments for all different occasions. I can picture turning them into sets to give as gifts too. Hmmmm. Might just have to do that ;)

Kerri Bradford Studio: One More Cuddle

 

Hey everyone! I've got a new 6x8" spread up at Kerri Bradford Studio. As soon as I saw Kerri's new Hey Kiddo stamp set, I knew that it would be perfect for so many photos and stories that I still have to document. Late last year, I closed up my home daycare business after 17 years. While my daycare kiddos have moved on and are spending their days with new daycare providers and new friends, I still have some stories that I want to get down from my time with them. 

 

But first up, I decided to get some current feelings down on a page, about how much I miss them. In all honesty, I don't miss the job itself. But I most definitely miss those cute little humans! I used the digital Hey Kiddo stamp set to create a 6x8" spread digitally in Photoshop and then printed it out to add into my album. 

 

 

I used an enlarged 6x8" photo for the left side of the spread, picking out one of my favorite photos that sums up the cuddles that I miss from all of those kiddos. I used the digital "cuddle" stamp for my title, along with the heart stamp, changing them both to white and adding a drop shadow to help them stand out a little more. I also lowered the opacity on the heart to make it a bit more subtle, as to not distract from the title. 

 

 

I created a large "journaling card" for the right side of my spread, starting with Kerri's Journaling Template, which I cropped to a 6x8" size. I added a black and white diagonal stripe border across the top, using the Simple Staples kit. Then I got to work on my journaling, keeping in mind some of the Hey Kiddos digital stamp words/phrases that I wanted to work into my journaling.

 

 

I love how easy it is to tweak digital elements to fit your needs - like how I added an extra "s" to the "cutest human ever" phrase to have it read "cutest humans ever" (because I watched a lot of little humans!). 

 

 

I changed the colors on my digital stamps so that the words would stand out more, pulling the green and burgundy from my photo.

 

 

Once I had everything done to my liking, I printed the left page (my enlarged photo) on photo paper, and the right page (my journaling) on textured cardstock. Once trimmed, I simply slipped them into my 6x8" album. So happy to have documented some current feelings that have been on my mind!

 

Kerri Bradford Studio: Happy Birthday Cards

 

Hey! I had some new cards go up at Kerri Bradford Studio a while ago and I'm finally getting around to sharing them here.  

 

 

When I saw the flowers on the new Plant Life stamp set, my first thought was that it would be fun to create my own "patterned paper" using the digital version of the set.

 

 

I used two digital flower stamps to fill a small canvas within Photoshop, varying the sizes and orientation of the flowers so that they didn't all look the exact same.

 

 

My plan was to use this floral "patterned paper" as the background for cards, so I created the canvas in the exact size that I needed for my cards. 

 

 

I decided to keep the flowers black, although it would be fun to add color to them as well. Once I was happy with the design, I printed them out onto white cardstock. I wanted to soften the look a little, so I also layered a dry embossed piece of vellum over the top of the floral "patterned paper". 

 

 

I used Kerri's Happy Mail #2 stamp set to create my "happy birthday" tags, matching the ink colors for each stamped sentiment to the colored cardstock die cut frame that I used on each card.

 

 

Simple metal brads in each corner helped secure the vellum to the card, and a coordinating piece of ribbon helped embellish the sentiment tags. 

 

 

 

Project Life 2018: Week Fifty Two

Hey everyone! So I guess I didn't come back last Friday, as promised, to share the last week in my 2018 Project Life album. I got caught up in a huge house project (involving my scrapbook room), and just sort of forgot about everything else that day. Although I also haven't done anything crafty in well over three weeks, so it's not like I have much else to share. Might as well spread these last few projects out until I have a chance to make something new. 

So, here it is. The last and final weekly spread in my 2018 album. It was Christmas week, and my sister was in town for the week, so we had a few extra activities going on that I wanted to include. So week fifty two includes a 6x12" insert, as well as a full extra 9x12" page on it's own. Which made sense, as it was the end of the album and I needed to do something with the backside of the last page. 

Here's a look at the second half of the spread, with the 6x12" insert on the left.

I don't seem to take many photos at Christmas get together's anymore. I used to take tons, and now I'm lucky if I snap a few. I pretty much included all of the photos that I took that day.

Here's a look at the last page of the album, and the last part of week fifty two.

I can't lie. I am so proud of myself for completing my entire 2018 album! It feels so good to have it completely done. 

Just don't ask to see the end of my 2017 album, which I still need to finish. Or my 2019 album, which I still need to start ;)

 

Project Life 2018: Week Nineteen

Hey everyone! I'm pretty sure that it was about two weeks ago, when I stated that I would be sharing the last two weeks in my 2018 Project Life album that same week. I guess I got distracted with other things, because I've had these two weeks finished and laying around just waiting for me to sit down and type up a few quick posts. 

Anyways. I'm going to knock these out this week. I'm backtracking a bit, and sharing week nineteen first. I always work on my album in order. I never skip around. But I did totally skip week nineteen, for a few reasons. 

The first reason was that this particular week in May was the same week that I participated in my first Week In The Life project. And I took TONS of photos that week, for that project. 

I knew that I wanted to include at least a few of those photos into my PL weekly spread, and I just wasn't ready to weed thru them all and narrow it down to just a few photos. 

Side note. One of Alyssa's photos from this week was from the Khalid concert that her and a friend went too. Since I had a little blurb about the concert on the photo above this photo, I grabbed a promo photo from the concert (that included all of the dates and venues) off Google and sized it to 3x4". 

I ended up splitting week nineteen into two full page spreads. 

The second reason that I sort of skipped over week nineteen was that it was the week that Alyssa graduated from college! And I knew that I really wanted to include a variety of photos from that special day.

I devoted the second full page spread for the week to graduation day, and I think it worked out perfectly.

Another side note. I've tossed around ideas of actually documenting graduation and everything surrounding it. One of these days, I'll settle on how I want to go about that and get to work on it.

Hard to believe this was a year ago. Or a little over a year ago I guess. 

I'll be back tomorrow to share the very last week in my 2018 album! 

Kerri Bradford Studio: Wild and Leafy Trees

Hey there! It's been a while since I've shared a layout, hasn't it? I had a new layout go up at Kerri Bradford Studio late last week and am finally getting around to sharing it here with you all today.

While I love physical stamps, I find that I tend to use digital stamps way more often in my projects. At first glance, I wasn't sure how I would use Kerri's new Homegrown and Plant Life stamp sets, as we're not big gardening people and we don't have many flowers in our yard and not a single plant in our house. But what we do have is lots of leaves! 

I was reminded of several photos I had taken shortly after moving into our new house last fall, and I knew I could incorporate some of the new stamps into a layout documenting our wild and leafy tree (and leafy neighborhood!).

I started this project with the intention of doing a 6x12" pocket page spread, so I set out to create 3x4" and 4x6" cards to slip into the pockets along with my photos. I eventually decided to turn it into a layout instead, which was so easy to do using these same cards. 

I created a title card by pairing up "wild", from the Plant Life digital stamp set, with "leafy trees", taken from a phrase in the Hello Summer digital stamp set. I used several printable cards from Kerri's older Hello November kit, so I matched the colors for my digital stamps with the colors on those printable cards using the color sampler tool in Photoshop. I added the diagonal striped border along the bottom of the card, by copying it from one of the 3x4" printable cards, and added a few leaves along the left side of the card using the Gather Together digital stamp set. 

I thought the tree stamp in the Hello Summer digital stamp set would tie in nicely with the theme of my page, so I added it to one of the printable cards (after I removed the phrase that was on the center of that card), sizing it to fit between the middle three striped rows.

I also tweaked the polka dotted printable card, so that I could fit a digital stamped phrase along the top of the card. I used the "how does your garden grow?" digital stamp from the Plant Life set, but took out the word "garden", and replaced it with 'leaf pile". 

I realize that this layout is so, so, so much like the last layout that I created for Kerri (seen HERE). What can I say? If it works, it works. And this style works for me ;)

Project Life 2018: Week Fifty One

Hey everyone! I'm back to share week fifty one in my 2018 Project Life album. FIFTY ONE. That means I only have one more week to share. Well, actually, I have two more weeks, since there was one week way back in May that I had skipped for a few reasons. Anyways, I'll be tossing these up without many details added in. Like I've said in the last few posts, I've run out of things to add about most of these weeks. 

I did have more photos/stories for this week, so I added a 6x12" insert. Here's a look at the first half of the weekly spread, with the 6x12" insert on the right.

I added very few embellishments to my 2018 album. In fact, I can probably count the times I added something extra on one hand. Maybe two. But that purple filler card needed a little something, so I added a simple puffy star sticker.

Here's a look at the second half of the weekly spread, with the 6x12" insert on the left.

Yep, I kept that post super short and sweet. Lol. I'll be back to share the last two weeks later this week ;)