... just Laura

2021 Reading Album: Books 31 - 40

I shared a bit more about my plans for this project in THIS POST. Since I'm following the same basic format, and using a lot of the same basic supplies, I won't be sharing too many details in these posts - so please refer back to that first post to find the main info on this album project :)

So, I realize I have that little blurb at the top of this post, linking to a post with my original plan for this album. But I did actually change up the album a while ago. 

I realized that I was only going to be able to fit a year and a half of books into one 6x8" album, and that got me thinking. I find myself thinking about the end result of a lot of projects (or on-going projects like this one). I've been scrapbooking/documents for well over 27 years, and the amount of albums that I have is a little insane. I knew I didn't want to end up with a ton of albums filled with books that I've read.

So I simplified my process and took out all of the filler cards and number cards for each book. I originally had a full page for each book - using a photo of the book, a journaling card, a filler card, and a card with the number (book __ for the year). Now, I simply have a photo of the book and the journaling card. This allows me to fit way more books into one album, and actually saves me a lot of time as well. 

I removed all of those other cards, and rearranged all of the pages to fit this new design. I will also be adding a title page for each year, as a way to seperate the books that go with each year.

My reading has slowed WAY down the last few months (I totally blame my work schedule), so I only have 2 additional books to add to the album for this year. I'll share that last page here once I get it done, and will continue to share my pages for books read in 2022.

Digital Project Share: 2020 / 2021 Shows

Hey everyone! I'm back to share a new project that I whipped up a few weeks ago. I actually started this several months ago. Right before the 2020/2021 TV season kicked off actually. 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 last year. Quick recap of this fun little project. 

This will be my fifth year documenting all of the shows I watch regularly. When I shared my 2019/2020 pages last year, I also shared links to my previous years pages as well. You can see that post HERE.

I also shared all of the details on how I approach this yearly project on THIS POST, where I shared my 2017/2018 pages. 

I keep an on-going list (jotted down in a notebook I keep in the family room) for all of the shows I watch during any given season. 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 ;) A lot of these shows run at different times of the year, or only run for half of a season, which is why I double check my lists from time to time. 

I approach this project the exact same way each year. Digital pages, using collage templates and a few digital patterned papers and digital stamps, which I print out on my photo printer. For this year's pages, I decided to use the Simply White 6x8 Life Pages templates by Tracy Larsen.

I used the 3x8" Everyday Layered Photo Template kit by In A Creative Bubble for the two 3x8" collages as well, tweaking them a little to create larger areas for my two photos. 

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 the past several year's 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.

To add the days of the week to each spread, I used the Messy Days Of The Week Boxes digital stamp kit by Ali Edwards (I can't find the kit on her site, as it's an older one, and may not be available anymore).

I used the Stories Of Life 3x8" template kit by Ali Edwards (can't seem to find a link for that one right now either) for the 3x8" collage to hold all of my Chicago shows - I wanted to put them all together on a little insert, just like I did last year. I ended up backing this collage with a 3x8" piece of digital patterned paper that I printed out to coordinate with the spread.

I always download images for each show in a variety of sizes and orientations - square, vertical, horizontal, etc. I love having lots of options, since I never know what orientation I will need, depending on what template I pick out for each day.

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 2021: August

I'm taking a monthly approach to my album this year, and I shared quite a few details about my plans in THIS POST, where I shared my January pages.

Here's the first spread for the month of August.

Here's the second spread for the month of August.

Here's the third spread for the month of August.

Here's the fourth spread for the month of August.

For more info on my Project Life process, please check out these posts I put together:
PL || Photos
PL || Filler Cards
PL || Journaling Cards

If you have any questions on anything specific within these pages, feel free to message me. I know I'm not sharing too many details, but my approach to my PL pages has been pretty much the same for the last several years.

Project Life 2021: July

I'm taking a monthly approach to my album this year, and I shared quite a few details about my plans in THIS POST, where I shared my January pages.

Here's the first spread for the month of July.

Here's the second spread for the month of July.

Here's the third spread for the month of July. 

Here's the fourth spread for the month of July, with a 6x12" insert on the right. 

Here's the fifth spread for the month of July, with a 6x12" insert on the left.

Here's the sixth spread for the month of July.

For more info on my Project Life process, please check out these posts I put together:
PL || Photos
PL || Filler Cards
PL || Journaling Cards

If you have any questions on anything specific within these pages, feel free to message me. I know I'm not sharing too many details, but my approach to my PL pages has been pretty much the same for the last several years.

Project Life 2021: June

I'm taking a monthly approach to my album this year, and I shared quite a few details about my plans in THIS POST, where I shared my January pages.

Here's the first spread for the month of June.

Here's the second spread for the month of June.

Here's the third spread for the month of June.

Here's the fourth spread for the month of June, with a 6x12" insert on the right.

Here's the fifth spread for the month of June, with a 6x12" insert on the left.

Here's the sixth spread for the month of June.

For more info on my Project Life process, please check out these posts I put together:
PL || Photos
PL || Filler Cards
PL || Journaling Cards

If you have any questions on anything specific within these pages, feel free to message me. I know I'm not sharing too many details, but my approach to my PL pages has been pretty much the same for the last several years.

Project Life 2021: May

I'm taking a monthly approach to my album this year, and I shared quite a few details about my plans in THIS POST, where I shared my January pages.

Here's the first spread for the month of May.

Here's the second spread for the month of May, with a 6x12" insert on the right.

Here's the third spread for the month of May, with a 6x12" insert on the left.

Here's the fourth spread for the month of May, with a 6x12" insert on the right.

Here's the fifth spread for the month of May, with a 6x12" insert on the left.

Here's the sixth spread for the month of May.

For more info on my Project Life process, please check out these posts I put together:
PL || Photos
PL || Filler Cards
PL || Journaling Cards

If you have any questions on anything specific within these pages, feel free to message me. I know I'm not sharing too many details, but my approach to my PL pages has been pretty much the same for the last several years.

Project Life 2021: April

I'm taking a monthly approach to my album this year, and I shared quite a few details about my plans in THIS POST, where I shared my January pages.

Here's the first spread for the month of April. 

Here's the second spread for the month of April, with a 6x12" insert on the right.

Here's the third spread for the month of April, with a 6x12" insert on the left.

Here's the fourth spread for the month of April, with a 6x12" insert on the right.

Here's the fifth spread for the month of April, with a 6x12" insert on the left.

For more info on my Project Life process, please check out these posts I put together:
PL || Photos
PL || Filler Cards
PL || Journaling Cards

If you have any questions on anything specific within these pages, feel free to message me. I know I'm not sharing too many details, but my approach to my PL pages has been pretty much the same for the last several years.

Project Life 2021: March

I'm taking a monthly approach to my album this year, and I shared quite a few details about my plans in THIS POST, where I shared my January pages.

Here's the first spread for the month of March.

Here's the second spread for the month of March.

Here's the third spread for the month of March.

Here's the fourth spread for the month of March.

Here's the fifth spread for the month of March.

Here's the sixth spread for the month of March.

For more info on my Project Life process, please check out these posts I put together:
PL || Photos
PL || Filler Cards
PL || Journaling Cards

If you have any questions on anything specific within these pages, feel free to message me. I know I'm not sharing too many details, but my approach to my PL pages has been pretty much the same for the last several years.

Project Life 2021: February

Hey everyone! I'm back to share the month of February in my 2021 Project Life album. I'm taking a monthly approach to my album this year, and I shared quite a few details about my plans in THIS POST, where I shared my January pages.

Here's the first spread for the month of February.

Here's the second spread for the month of February.

Here's the third spread for the month of February.

Note - I love this "quarantine outfit" card, from Kelly Purkey (can't see it in her new shop, so I'm not sure it's still available). It's like it was made for the photo of Alyssa next to it. I'm saving it for Alyssa to fill out next time she comes to visit.

Here's the fourth spread for the month of February.

Here's the fifth spread for the month of February.

For more info on my Project Life process, please check out these posts I put together:
PL || Photos
PL || Filler Cards
PL || Journaling Cards

If you have any questions on anything specific within these pages, feel free to message me. I know I'm not sharing too many details, but my approach to my PL pages has been pretty much the same for the last several years.

2021 Reading Album: Books 21 - 30

I shared a bit more about my plans for this project in THIS POST. Since I'm following the same basic format, and using a lot of the same basic supplies, I won't be sharing too many details in these posts - so please refer back to that first post to find the main info on this album project :)

Book #21 || Charming Falls Apart by Angela Terry

Book #22 || The Last Goodbye by Fiona Lucas

Book #23 || The Flip Side by James Bailey

Book #24 || The Ever After by Sarah Pekkanen

Book #25 || Heart Bones by Colleen Hoover

Book #26 || Love Me Like A Love Song by Annmarie Boyle

Book #27 || For All She Knows by Jamie Beck

Book #28 || The Jake Ryan Complex by Bethany Crandell

Book #29 || It Happened One Summer by Tessa Bailey

Book #30 || Ugly Love by Colleen Hoover 

You can read previous posts on this project and see all of my reading pages RIGHT HERE.

Project Life 2021: January

Hey there! I'm still all about Project Life when it comes to documenting life these days. I find that it's the perfect fit for where my little family is at this point in life. It is the perfect solution for the random photos that we end up with, and the random little stories that go with them. 

Just like my previous 4 years, I'm continuing with the 9x12" size. I switched things up a bit last year, going with a monthly format rather than a weekly format, and loved it. I love that I'm not stuck with weeks of having too little photos, or too many photos. With the monthly format, I simply use however many pages I need to fit the photos/stories in. So I am going with the monthly format again for 2021. 

Here's the first spread for the month of January.

I always like to give a little summary to my approach when I share the first pages for the year. Honestly, my style and approach to my Project Life album hasn't changed much at all over the last few years. So some of what I'll be including in this post has been shared before ;)

I am not going to limit myself to just one or two spreads per month. I don't like to narrow down our photos too much. Since Project Life is my main way of documenting these days (I just don't do too many individual layouts anymore), I like to include as many photos/stories as I can within the album. This way, if I don't get around to making a single other project/layout during the year, I'll be totally ok with it, since everything is in my PL album. 

This year, I'm using the monthly title cards found HERE, by Designed by Soco. Last year, I created my own monthly title cards, using a digital stamp for the month, and using a colored background to coordinate with the colors of the spread. It was a pain in the butt, if I'm being honest. Lol. I much prefer the look of white title cards, with black text, and ones that are already done and ready to print ;)

I'm using the same 9x12" albums from Seven Paper (an off brand of Studio Calico several years ago) that I stocked up on years ago on a deals website. I have a huge collection of pocket pages for these albums, and one of the page configurations has the twelve 3x3" pockets. I finally started working those into my album last year, and am continuing to add at least one of the 3x3" pocket pages into each month.

Here's the second spread for the month of January.

I love doing my individual journaling cards, which I've been doing for years (I did skip those in my 2019 album, since I fell super behind that year, and ended up going with a large 4x11" journaling card for each week). I do all of my journaling cards digitally, typing them up in Photoshop and printing them out on matte presentation paper. 

Here's the third spread for the month of January, with a 6x12" insert on the right.

I will also be using some of the digital journaling cards that I used in my previous Project Life albums. My go-to cards come mostly from Ali Edwards, Cathy Zielske, and In A Creative Bubble. 

And while I love the ease of pulling up a digital journaling card, and just adding my journaling, I create a lot of my own cards using a blank canvas and digital stamps. I simply type up my journaling on 3x3" or 3x4" canvas in Photoshop, and then add digital stamps along the top/bottom of the cards. My collection of digital stamps is HUGE and they're so easy to add and size to what I need. 

Here's the fourth spread for the month of January, with a 6x12" insert on the left.

I also love to add in 6x12 pocket pages here and there as well. A lot of times, it may be to fit in an extra 4x6" photo, as the pocket page formats that I use the most are the 3x4" and 3x3" pockets. 

Like I mentioned earlier, I always start out using one of the 3x3" pocket pages for each month, but some months I've ended up adding an additional page. Some months, I have a lot of photos that just work better as little square photos, and some months, I don't. These pages are also good for fitting more photos on the page. 

Here's the fifth spread for the month of January.

Once I start to get journaling cards added in, I work filler cards in here and there was well. Since I do like to include a little journaling for almost every photo, I will sometimes only need 2-3 filler cards for each spread. While I would love to add in more filler cards at times, my goal is to get as many little everyday stories in the album as possible.

I also decided to simplify my font choices for the year. I'm using one main journaling font, which is Rad Notebook by Rad & Happy. I also have one other font that I use here and there (called Miserably Lose), mostly for when I add a date or something to the bottom of a journaling card. 

Here's the sixth, and final, spread for the month of January.

One thing I decided to add to the monthly spreads this year is a "book stack" photo, which is a photo I've been taking at the end of each month showing all of the books that I read that month. I also created my own 3x4" filler cards for each month, to go along with my book stack photos, using the Monthly Book Circle digital download that Ali Edwards offered as a freebie on her blog. 

And yes, I do realize it's September, and I'm just getting around to sharing any pages from my 2021 album. What can I say? Things got away from me this year. Lol. It wasn't until the first part of June that I managed to get my photos added into the album for the first 4 months of the year. It wasn't until the middle of July that I managed to get my May and June photos added into the album. 

That's when I decided to devote some serious time to catching up in my album. I had the last week of July off work (I took a vacation week), and spent a lot of time that week working on my album. And I also put reading on the backburner during the month of August, using what would be my reading time for typing up journaling cards and such. By the 3rd week of August, I had officially finished up January through April - meaning those months were totally and completely done. I have my May, June, and July photos all worked into the album and am about halfway done with those months as well. 

While my PL style has stayed the same (for the most part) over the years, it's a simple and easy style that makes it easy to get-it-done. So even when I do fall behind, I never worry that I won't be able to catch back up. 

For more info on my Project Life process, please check out these posts I put together:
PL || Photos
PL || Filler Cards
PL || Journaling Cards

Project Life: Journaling Cards

I'm finally ready to share a few months of my 2021 Project Life album. But before I do, I thought I would do a few short blog posts sharing a bit about the three main things that go into my albums - filler cards, photos, and journaling cards.  

Anyways. Let's talk about digital journaling cards. 

As much as I love color, I'm drawn to all black and white journaling cards. It's just simple and easy, and they look good paired up with the monthly title cards (which are also black and white). I don't even have to worry about a journaling card matching my photos, so that saves me a ton of time. Once I get all of my photos added in for the month, I move on to the next step. I tackle the journaling cards next, and then once those are in, I work on adding any filler cards.

I simply flip thru the pages in my PL album and start typing up journaling cards. I don't necessarily do them in order, or one spread at a time. I might type up and print just a few for one month, and a few for another month. I slip them into the pockets, even if they might need something added to them later. From there, it's easy to see where else I'll need journaling cards, and where I want to put my 2-3 filler cards for the spread. 

I use Photoshop to open up the journaling cards and type in my journaling. I create a huge majority of my journaling cards simply using digital brushes, stamps, or even PNG images of cut files. But I also use lots of digital journaling cards from In A Creative Bubble (I love her Recorded series of black and white cards), Ali Edwards, etc. 

I do a LOT of copying and pasting when it comes to my journaling. So many of my photos are ones that I've shared on Instagram, so I can pull my journaling from there. I simply open up Instagram on my laptop, and copy the text from there, paste it onto my digital card, and edit/format it as needed to fit the space. 

Once I finish a journaling card, I save it as a PSD file. Just in case I need to go back to it. Because belief me, I've had too ;) There's nothing worse than having to start all over, so always save your working files as you go. All of these digital cards are sized to print as 3x4's, so you don't have to worry about sizing them. 

 

The one thing that I do, however, before adding them to my page to print, is I go in and add a small grey border around the edge of the card. Because if you put several white journaling cards on a full sheet and print them out, you'll have a hard time knowing where to cut to make them all 3x4", and have everything where it's supposed to be. I can fit 5 journaling cards on a sheet of 8.5x11" paper. I started using the Epson Premium Presentation Matte Paper to print journaling cards or anything digital on several years ago and have just stuck with it. 

So, I think that's about it. For me, this works great. I'm knowledge when it comes to Photoshop and working with digital products, so it comes easily to me. If you're new to Photoshop or working with digital products, there's a small learning curve - but it really is easy once you get the hang of it. Maybe I'll try and put together some sort of tutorial, walking you through doing a few of these cards. No promises, but I'll try if there's any interest.

If I missed anything, or if you have any other questions, feel free to ask in the comments :)

Project Life: Photos

I'm finally ready to share a few months of my 2021 Project Life album. But before I do, I thought I would do a few short blog posts sharing a bit about the three main things that go into my albums - filler cards, photos, and journaling cards.  

Next up, photos. In full disclosure, I copied and pasted (and then edited/added as needed) this from a blog post I did about 4 years ago). When it comes to creating layouts, my go-to method of photo printing is to print them myself on my photo printer. It's easier for me to print as needed, when it comes to layouts, since I never know what size/orientation I'll want my photos until I'm ready to create a page. Or I'll decide to use a photo collage, which means individual little photos would be of no use to me. 

However, when it comes to working on my Project Life albums, I go the other route and order my photos. I believe it's been about 4 years or so since I learned of the FreePrints app, and have been using them ever since. More on that below. I use 9x12" album for my PL albums - the pocket page protectors hold 3x3", 3x4", and 4x6" photos. 

I use my iPhone for 95% of my photo taking these days. I also edit my photos on my phone, using the PicTapGo app. I am pretty good about editing photos as I take them, and I'm also pretty good at deleting any photos I don't need on a daily basis.  

So what I've been doing for the last several years (basically since I started back up doing PL) is ordering my photos at the end of each month. I wait till the end of the month, and then do one big photo order. This is also when I ask both my girls to send me any photos they have for the month, so I can add those into my order as well. 

I had tried a few different app/sites, as far as ordering photos straight from my phone. I was most happy with the FreePrints app. You can get up to 85 prints a month for free, and all you pay is shipping. The shipping isn't super cheap (it never goes above $9.99, even if you add on more photos - which btw, are only 10 cents each and a great deal!), but it still worked out to less than I would pay for those prints if ordering from a lot of other sites. Plus, it was super easy to use and it's a great way to get those photos off your phone and printed. 

You can pick them from your camera roll, or even off your Instagram account, Facebook, and/or Dropbox account. I usually use up my free 85 prints just ordering my photos from the month. But since additional photos are only 10 cents each (and the shipping doesn't increase at all after the $9.99), I like to try and add on some extra pics for other album projects I have going on. 

The majority of my photos from each month are set up as 3x4" pics. I use Photoshop to combine two 3x4" photos onto a 4x6" print. I do this for ALL of my photos for the month, even if there are some I don't think I'll use. There are usually a few photos that are in landscape orientation, that can only work as 4x6" photos. But I will usually look for a few photos that can also be printed as 4x6" photos, in addition to being printed as 3x4" photos. I don't have a ton of 4x6" pockets to fill each month, but I do have a few, and I like to have options as far as the photos go. 

Each month I pretty much order any photos I took that month. I even order some of the photos I take of scrapping projects, since I have been known to use them here and there. I'd rather have ALL of my photos in front of me for the month, even if it means I pull some out and toss them. I tend to include the majority of our photos in my PL album, since it's my main way of documenting life these days. If I do have photos that I don't end up using, I will either toss them (if they're just not all that important or maybe they're duplicates) or save them in case I want to use them for another project. 

Once my order arrives (usually, in less than a week), I cut apart the prints with two photos on them. Back when I did PL in the weekly format, I would sort out the photos by weeks, using my phone as a guide to let me know when they were taken. Since I do a monthly format now, there's no need to sort anything out, since I order a month at a time.

All of those photos above are random photos I've taken of my desk over the last year or so when it's time to work my photos into my PL album. That's how I start. I spread out all of my photos for the month, keeping any of Sarah's and Alyssa's photos next to each other, and my photos together. 

In the photo above, you can see some of the 9x12" pocket pages spread out at the top, with a few photos added into them. I pull out a few to start out with, as I know the pocket page protector designs I always use - and then I'll pull out additional ones as needed, which always depends on how many photos I have to work with. I just start slipping my photos into pockets, playing around with placement on each "spread" within the month until it's to my liking. I have a good system for where my photos go, knowing that I'll add "this many" journaling cards to each spread and "this many" filler cards. 

Once I have all of my photos added in, I place all of my pages into my PL album. For me, it's always a huge win once the photos are in the album. Then I can pull out the album here and there, whenever I have time, and work on the journaling cards. 

Project Life: Filler Cards

I'm finally ready to share a few months of my 2021 Project Life album. But before I do, I thought I would do a few short blog posts sharing a bit about the three main things that go into my albums - filler cards, photos, and journaling cards.  

First up, filler cards. They're very important in my album, since they're the only additional thing I add into my album, other then the photos and journaling cards. I keep my PL albums very simple. Photos, journaling cards, and filler cards. No extra embellishing, no stickers, no chipboard - basically, no extras at all. Unless you count the random piece of washi that I will add to the bottom of a journaling card, here and there, that ends up with some blank space on it.

Back in 2018, I ended up using filler cards from the Project Life app for about 90% 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. While I have a collection of older Project Life cards (from kits by Becky Higgins, when they all had rounded corners), and random cards from different manufacturers, I found that sticking with the cards that I had printed from the app was really easy to do. 

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 print the majority of my photos using the Freeprints app, so they are printed on a thinner photo paper than when I print photos at home. But I don't mind these being on thinner paper, and I love the matte finish on these. 

I've been using a lot of these same Project Life app cards for years. I've used them in my albums the past 3 years, and I'm still using them in this year's album. A lot of them are basic patterns, tone-on-tone patterns, and lots of black and white patterns. I have no problem using some of the same cards year after year, or even using the same card a few times within the same year.

I know not everyone would be ok with doing it that way, and once they use something once or twice, they wouldn't want to use it again. But for me, I'm totally fine with it ;)

I just added another huge batch of these filler cards to my last photo order, which you see in the photo above. They just need to be trimmed in half. A lot of these are Project Life app cards 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. I also save these 4x6" prints (with two 3x4" cards on each) in folders on my laptop, so it's really easy to pull out the ones I want to re-print and add them to photo orders again. 

I have also been working in digital filler cards from other designers as well - I did this a little bit in my 2020 album, and am using more of them in my 2021 album. I use the same process as I do for the app cards, printing two 3x4" cards on a 4x6" print - I just use Photoshop to do this when it comes to using digital cards from my stash on my laptop. My main go-to sources are Ali Edwards, In A Creative Bubble, and Studio Calico, with others mixed in from other manufacturers.

I'll take the time to put together a ton of these every few months. I copy all of the cards that I want to print into a folder on my laptop, so that I can work from that one folder when it comes to putting them on the 4x6" prints in Photoshop. Once I have them all ready to go, I plop everything into my “to print” folder in Dropbox, along with any actual photos I need printed, and then I simply order the entire folder of photos in the Freeprints app (I've been printing my photos monthly with them for years). Super easy.

Once my order comes, I trim them all up, sort them by color, and add them in with my current cards. For any of the cards that aren't really one specific color, I keep those all together. I do find that there are certain colors that I don't have a ton of choices for - red and green specifically. Not sure why that is, but I just don't seem to find as many cards in those colors, yet I'm always wanting them. But overall, I always make it work using the filler cards that I have printed using the Project Life app and using my large collection of digital products. 

2021 Reading Album: Books 11 - 20

I shared a bit more about my plans for this project in THIS POST. Since I'm following the same basic format, and using a lot of the same basic supplies, I won't be sharing too many details in these posts - so please refer back to that first post to find the main info on this album project :)

Book #11 || Roomies by Christina Lauren

Book #12 || Regretting You by Colleen Hoover

Book #13 || The Proposal by Jasmine Guillory

Book #14 || Just My Luck by Adele Parks

Book #15 || Twice Shy by Sarah Hogle

Book #16 || Straight Talking by Jane Green

Book #17 || Confess by Colleen Hoover

Book #18 || The Perfect Neighbors by Sarah Pekkanen

Book #19 || Evvie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes

Book #20 || November 9 by Colleen Hoover

You can read previous posts on this project and see all of my reading pages RIGHT HERE.

2021 Reading Album: Books 1 - 10

Hey everyone! Some of you may remember the reading album that I created last year, which held all of the books that I read in 2020. I've been consistently keeping up with adding in my 2021 books this year, and have been totally up-to-date with adding in photos and journaling cards. I finally took the time this week to create my number cards and pick out filler cards. 

Since this is the first look at my 2021 reading album pages, I wanted to do a quick recap of how I'm approaching this album project and what, if anything, is changing with this year's album. Not much has changed from last year, and I'm fine with that. I was happy with how last year's pages turned out, and went with the same basic ideas for this year as well. 

I knew I wanted to create an on-going album to document the books I read - an album that I can easily add to as I finish new books. I brainstormed quite a bit on what format and album size I wanted to do. I figured a 6x8" album would be the best fit.

I decided to do a card to go along with each book that has the book number for the year. I used a label from Kerri Bradford Studio's Label kit, and a digital stamp from Studio Calico's On The Shelf stamp set, to create the "book" label for the upper corner of the number card. Once I had one label ready, size-wise, I copy and pasted it to fill an entire page, and then printed it out. I now have plenty of "book" labels on hand and ready to go. 

Last year, I used patterned filler cards for the number card, and this year I'm using white textured cardstock which I ran through an embossing folder to add a little texture. 

Last year, I stamped the numbers, using different colored inks to coordinate with the filler cards/number cards on the page. I then fussy cut the stamped numbers out and adhered them to the number card. This year, I decided to go a simpler route and I did cut my numbers from black textured cardstock using my Cameo and Kerri Bradford's Weathered Door Alphabet kit.

I will be adding a digital journaling card to go with each book, like the one above. I wish I had it in me to do an actual review of each book - but I'm really not that deep. Lol. So this journaling will most likely be short and sweet, and somehow related to how I enjoyed the book (or didn't), why I picked it, etc. 

For my journaling cards, I went with a single design. I did the same thing in my 2020 album. I have a ton of digital reading themed stamps and cards, but I found last year that I was having a harder time trying to use different designs on each card. So I came up with a single card that I'm using for each book this year. 

I ended up tweaking a journaling card from In A Creative Bubble's Read Journaling Card kit, deleting certain parts of the card and adding in a few different digital stamps - the row of books and the "pages read" at the bottom. I thought the "pages read" would be a fun addition, and it will be fun to see not only how many books I've read at the end of the year, but how many pages as well.

For the filler cards, I mostly just pull from the collection of cards I've had printed along with my photo orders each month. A huge majority of them are right from the Project Life app, but I also add in cards from other digital kits here and there. These filler cards are all printed on photo paper.

By keeping with a super simple, and repetitive, design, it's an album project that I can easily keep up with. One thing that's really helped me this year, is that I've been typing up my journaling cards right after I finish each book. Last year, I fell behind a little and found myself trying to remember what some of the books were about or what stood out to me about each one. 

I'll be back to share more pages from this album next week. Last year, I set a goal of 25 books for the year, and I finished the year reading 29 books. This year I have a goal of reading 50 books, and as of today, I've read 33 books. 

Project Life 2020: Title Page

Hey everyone! I'm getting ready to share the first few months of my 2021 Project Life album, but before I do, I wanted to share the quick title page that I put together for my 2020 album. 

Honestly, the title pages are pretty much the last thing that I do in my Project Life albums. I even have a few years where the title page isn't completed. It may just have a few random 3x4" cards that I came across and thought might be good for a title page. 

If I find a card that seems like a good title page card, I'll slip it in the pocket on that first page just so I don't forget about it. I may change my mind later, and switch it out. The two black and white cards on this page have been there since I started my 2020 album, and I added the blue "living through a pandemic" card at the last minute. 

I had purchased these pandemic themed shirts of Etsy at the beginning of the pandemic, thinking they'd be fun little reminders of the weird year. At the end of the year, I thought it would be fun to take photos in these shirts for a holiday card. And a few weeks ago, I was trying to think of photos to add to the title page of our 2020 album, and I realized the photos of us in our shirts would be the perfect choice.

I added the photos to the photo order I was putting together when I had the idea, and slipped them into the pockets once I received them. 

I had the 4x6" pockets to fill, and it dawned on me that I could use the text that I had added to our holiday card, since it was just a quick summary of our year. I opened up my working file for the holiday card in Photoshop, and simply cropped that part off the card and into a 4x6" sized block. I did change the background to white, with black text - since on our holiday card I had a chalkboard background, with white text. 

I didn't even think about that last sentence until I was editing the photos I took of the title page. I guess I should have deleted that last part, wishing everyone a happy holiday season. Lol. I could easily go back and fix it. But in all honesty, I probably won't. Lol. 

I love when I can fit an entire year of Project Life into one album. This was my first year doing a monthly format, and I loved it. I also tossed in some monthly dividers that I found in my stash, from a super old Becky Higgins kit. 

I do still need to go back and see if I can complete all of the Coronavirus spreads that I created for each month, as I only actually finished the one for March. Lol. And I will get to that. I'm just excited to have the main part of my album totally finished - title page included!

Kerri Bradford Studio: End Of An Era

This isn't new news by any means, but I wanted to document it on the blog. I'm not the best blogger these days, but anything and everything that I DO create, I share here. I like that it's MY space, and a spot all my own to hold my projects, creations, thoughts, etc. Anyways.

I still remember when I got an email from Kerri Bradford, asking me if I would like to make a project for her one year anniversary celebration of launching her own designs/store. It was just what I needed to force myself to open up my brand new Silhouette that had been sitting in the box for months.

That was almost 10 years ago (it would be 10 years this month, as I waited over 2 months to actually post this), and I’ve been designing for Kerri ever since! I can honestly say that being a part of Kerri’s team has been, by far, the best team that I’ve been a part of over the years.

Kerri is amazing to work with/for, and it’s just been a true pleasure to stick with her all these years.

Back in May, I made the hard decision to step down from Kerri’s team. It felt especially hard, being that it was literally the one thing I was still a part of in the “industry”, design wise, after 15 years.

Life has been a little hard this past year, and there’s so much life “stuff” that has really messed with my creativity, my focus, and my motivation.

I was struggling to keep up with a single monthly deadline, and I finally admitted to myself that it was time to take that monthly pressure off my plate.

I thought it would be fun to share some of my favorite projects that I created for Kerri over the years, so I went thru 10 years of blog posts today (that “Kerri Bradford Studio” category really helped).

I realized that I created a LOT of two page layouts for her, which aren’t as easy to put into a square (I included some here that are just one half of a two pager). 

I realized that my style has pretty much stayed the same over those 10 years. And I also realized that I sort of miss making layouts like these.

The great thing about Kerri, is that she pretty much let us create whatever we wanted to make. Which means my layouts always meant something, and I genuinely wanted to create them. No fluff layouts for her.

Thank you Kerri for being so amazing, so kind, such a good listener and a great friend, and for keeping me around for close to a decade.

Project Life 2020: December Memories

Hey again! I'm back to share the month of December in my 2020 Project Life album! I did it! I finished all of 2020. I do still need to go back and see if I can complete all of the Coronavirus spreads that I created for each month, as I only actually finished the one for March. Lol. And I will get to that. I'm just excited to have the main part of my album totally finished. 

I'm taking a monthly approach to my album this year, and I shared quite a few details about my plans in THIS post, where I shared my January pages.

I've been using the One Little Word 2019 Digital Monthly Stories stamp set, from Ali Edwards, to create a lot of my monthly title cards. I just add the digital stamp to a blank canvas, and pick a coordinating color for the background. I'm working at least one of the 3x3" configured pocket page protectors into my album each month (but will use a second if it works with my photos). So many of our photos work well as squares, and I can simply trim the 3x4" photos down to the 3x3" size without having to re-print them. 

** The spread after this page will be dedicated to Coronavirus related things - some factual, some funny, and some personal stories. I started this with my March monthly pages, and have continued to make a spread like that for all of the months following. I just don't happen to have those pages totally finished yet. So I will share those once I have them done. 

Here's the second spread for the month of December.

Here's the third spread for the month of December.

Here's the fourth spread for the month of December.

Here's the fifth spread for the month of December.

Here's the sixth spread for the month of December.

And a really poor image of the last page in our 2020 album!

If you have any questions on anything specific within these pages, feel free to message me. I know I'm not sharing too many details, but my approach to my PL pages has been pretty much the same for the last several years.

Project Life 2020: November Memories

Hey everyone! I know I don't really blog all that much anymore, and I'm not even sure if anyone reads it - but I wanted to share a peek at my November 2020 pages in my 2020 Project Life album. I'm taking a monthly approach to my album this year, and I shared quite a few details about my plans in THIS post, where I shared my January pages.

I've been using the One Little Word 2019 Digital Monthly Stories stamp set, from Ali Edwards, to create a lot of my monthly title cards. I just add the digital stamp to a blank canvas, and pick a coordinating color for the background. I'm working at least one of the 3x3" configured pocket page protectors into my album each month (but will use a second if it works with my photos). So many of our photos work well as squares, and I can simply trim the 3x4" photos down to the 3x3" size without having to re-print them. 

** The spread after this page will be dedicated to Coronavirus related things - some factual, some funny, and some personal stories. I started this with my March monthly pages, and have continued to make a spread like that for all of the months following. I just don't happen to have those pages totally finished yet. So I will share those once I have them done. 

Here's the second spread for the month of November, with a 6x12" insert on the right.

Here's the second spread for the month of November, with a 6x12" insert on the right.

Here's the third spread for the month of November.

Here's the fourth spread for the month of November. 

Here's the fifth spread for the month of November.

If you have any questions on anything specific within these pages, feel free to message me. I know I'm not sharing too many details, but my approach to my PL pages has been pretty much the same for the last several years.

Project Life 2020: October Memories

Just popping in super quick to share a peek at my October 2020 pages in my 2020 Project Life album. I'm taking a monthly approach to my album this year, and I shared quite a few details about my plans in THIS post, where I shared my January pages.

I've been using the One Little Word 2019 Digital Monthly Stories stamp set, from Ali Edwards, to create a lot of my monthly title cards. I just add the digital stamp to a blank canvas, and pick a coordinating color for the background. I'm working at least one of the 3x3" configured pocket page protectors into my album each month (but will use a second if it works with my photos). So many of our photos work well as squares, and I can simply trim the 3x4" photos down to the 3x3" size without having to re-print them. 

** The spread after this page will be dedicated to Coronavirus related things - some factual, some funny, and some personal stories. I started this with my March monthly pages, and have continued to make a spread like that for all of the months following. I just don't happen to have those pages totally finished yet. So I will share those once I have them done. 

Here's the second spread for the month of October.

Here's the third spread for the month of October, with a 6x12" insert on the right.

Here's the third spread for the month of October, with a 6x12" insert on the left.

Here's the fourth spread for the month of October. 

If you have any questions on anything specific within these pages, feel free to message me. I know I'm not sharing too many details, but my approach to my PL pages has been pretty much the same for the last several years.

Project Life 2020: September Memories

Just popping in super quick to share a peek at my September 2020 pages in my 2020 Project Life album. I'm taking a monthly approach to my album this year, and I shared quite a few details about my plans in THIS post, where I shared my January pages.

I'm working at least one of the 3x3" configured pocket page protectors into my album each month (but will use a second if it works with my photos). So many of our photos work well as squares, and I can simply trim the 3x4" photos down to the 3x3" size without having to re-print them. 

** The spread after this page will be dedicated to Coronavirus related things - some factual, some funny, and some personal stories. I started this with my March monthly pages, and have continued to make a spread like that for all of the months following. I just don't happen to have those pages totally finished yet. So I will share those once I have them done. 

Here's the second spread for the month of September.

Here's the third spread for the month of September, with a 6x12" insert on the right.

Here's the third spread for the month of September, with a 6x12" insert on the left.

Here's the fourth spread for the month of September. 

If you have any questions on anything specific within these pages, feel free to message me. I know I'm not sharing too many details, but my approach to my PL pages has been pretty much the same for the last several years.

Project Life 2020: August Memories

I'm back to share my August pages in my 2020 Project Life album! I'm taking a monthly approach to my album this year, and I shared quite a few details about my plans in THIS post, where I shared my January pages.

I'm working at least one of the 3x3" configured pocket page protectors into my album each month (but will use a second if it works with my photos). So many of our photos work well as squares, and I can simply trim the 3x4" photos down to the 3x3" size without having to re-print them. 

** The spread after this page will be dedicated to Coronavirus related things - some factual, some funny, and some personal stories. I started this with my March monthly pages, and have continued to make a spread like that for all of the months following. I just don't happen to have those pages totally finished yet. So I will share those once I have them done. 

Here's the second spread for the month of August. 

Here's the third spread for the month of August, with a 6x12" insert on the right.

Here's the third spread for the month of August, with a 6x12" insert on the left.

Here's the fourth spread for the month of August.

If you have any questions on anything specific within these pages, feel free to message me. I know I'm not sharing too many details, but my approach to my PL pages has been pretty much the same for the last several years.

Project Life 2020: July Memories

Hey everyone! It's been over six months since I last shared any of my 2020 Project Life album, which is when I shared the month of June. I actually had the month of July finished at the same time, but I just never got around to editing the photos and sharing them. I've been hard at work finishing up my 2020 pages, so that I can get started on my 2021 album (seeing as how we're halfway thru the year!). I'll be sharing several months worth with you all this week. I'm taking a monthly approach to my album this year, and I shared quite a few details about my plans in THIS post, where I shared my January pages.

I'm working at least one of the 3x3" configured pocket page protectors into my album each month (but will use a second if it works with my photos). So many of our photos work well as squares, and I can simply trim the 3x4" photos down to the 3x3" size without having to re-print them. 

** The spread after this page will be dedicated to Coronavirus related things - some factual, some funny, and some personal stories. I started this with my March monthly pages, and have continued to make a spread like that for all of the months following. I just don't happen to have those pages totally finished yet. So I will share those once I have them done. 

Here's the second spread for the month of July, with a 6x12" insert on the right.

Here's the second spread for the month of July, with a 6x12" insert on the left.

Here's the third spread for the month of July, with a 6x12" insert on the right.

Here's the third spread for the month of July, with a 6x12" insert on the left.

Here's the fourth spread for the month of July, with a 6x12" insert on the right.

Here's the fourth spread for the month of July, with a 6x12" insert on the left.

If you have any questions on anything specific within these pages, feel free to message me. I know I'm not sharing too many details, but my approach to my PL pages has been pretty much the same for the last several years.

Kerri Bradford Studio: Isabella Framed Project

 

Hey everyone! I'm really late in sharing this project that I created for Kerri Bradford Studio. I created this almost two months ago, and Kerri shared it over a month ago. This was part of Kerri's iNSD celebration, which is always such a fun, and super inspiring, time of the year! When Kerri mentioned focusing on doing something creative with alphabet stamps, I knew exactly what I wanted to make. 

 

My niece is expecting her first baby next month (and seeing as how I typed this up almost two months ago, she has since delivered her baby girl several weeks ago) and I wanted to make her a little something to hang in the nursery highlighting the name they picked out for their little girl - Isabella. I went with a chunky black frame that has an 11x14" opening. Since I didn't have any cardstock larger than 12x12" in size, I lined up strips of white cardstock to complete my 11x14" background, and then spritzed on a little black misting spray.

 

 

I knew the nursery colors were light pink and grey, and that the bedding they picked out had soft roses/flowers on it, so I used that as the inspiration for my design. I started by creating the block that would go in the center of the frame, with the baby's name. I used Kerri's new Headline Upper Outline stamp set, pairing it up with the Headline Upper stamp set, to stamp out the name "Isabella" several times.

 

 

I intended to do an ombre look, using a few different pinks, but it turns out, I didn't even have two pink ink colors that worked nicely together. So I decided to go with grey letters in the center, and then a row of white and pink both above and below the row of grey. 

 

 

I stamped the Headline Upper alphabet stamps in both grey and pink, and then stamped the Headline Upper Outline stamps on top of each letter. For the white letters, I simply stamped the Headline Upper Outline alphabet stamps onto white cardstock. Once all of my letters were stamped, I fussy cut each letter out individually. I adhered each "Isabella" name in rows onto a piece of white textured cardstock, which I then matted onto pink patterned paper and black cardstock. 

 

 

I used Kerri's Roses kit to die-cut a ton of roses from grey patterned papers using my Silhouette Cameo. I adhered them around the edges of my 11x14" background, layering them over one another to fill the space. Once all of my roses were in place, I adhered my "Isabella" piece in the center using thin pop dots. I added a few pink enamel dots to the background to finish it off. 

 

 

I love that I have the ability to create customized wall art, using basic supplies that I have on hand - paper, stamps, and inks. You can never have too many alphabet stamps sets, if you ask me. It's always nice to have a variety of fonts and sizes, so you can find the perfect fit for whatever project you are looking to create!

 

Kerri Bradford Studio: Even Better Here With You

 

Hey everyone! I'm back with another puppy themed project that I created for Kerri Bradford Studio. We have only had our new little puppy for a few months now, but the camera roll on my phone is filled with photos of him.

 

 

I wanted to pick out a few of my favorite photos to create a photo collage, to use as part of a travelers notebook sized spread. I picked out a template from Kerri's Travelers Templates: Wander kit, and got to work adding my photos. 

 

 

I then had the idea to add a few digital stamps to one or two of the openings on the template, using the new Blocks of Togetherness digital stamp kit. Digital stamps are great, since you can size the stamps to fit your exact needs.

 

 

I don't have many pet themed scrapbook products, but I remembered Kerri's older A Dog's Life cut file kit (no longer available), and I knew I could use the PNG files digitally to add "embellishments" to my page. 

 

 

I had full intentions of having a full page photo collage on one side of the spread, and a title/journaling combo on the opposite page. But once I got going, I decided to use the same collage template for both sides of the spread.

 

 

I rotated the template 180 degrees to create the second collage, kept filling up the template openings with a mix of photos, digital patterned papers, digital stamped phrases/words, PNG images for the embellishments, and my journaling. 

 

 

When I was happy with my collages, I printed them both out onto photo paper and trimmed them down. I added a single enamel heart to my otherwise all-digital spread. 

 

Kerri Bradford Studio: Milo & The Love

 

Hey everyone! I have a few new projects that I created for Kerri Bradford Studio that I've been meaning to share. We welcomed a new addition to our family several months ago - a cute little Maltipoo puppy named Milo - and I figured it was about time to start documenting his cute little self on paper. I decided to go with travelers notebook sized pages, which I will be adding to his own Life Crafted album (from Citrus Twist). 

 

 

For his first official layout, I kept it every simple. I used a full page photo on the left side of the spread, adding his name using Kerri's new Headline Lower XL stamps. I like stamping chunkier font alpha stamps individually, and fussy cutting them out. Not only does this give me more control over placement on my project (I'm not the straightest stamper!), but it also adds a little texture to my pages, since I like to keep them relatively flat. Since I stamped my letters using yellow ink, to match the yellow patterned paper on the opposite page, I used a fine tip pen to lightly outline each letter to help them stand out.

 

 

For the right side of the spread, I printed out my journaling (copied and pasted from an Instagram post), and added a few pieces of patterned paper. 

 

 

The second layout features a couple of cute photos that my youngest daughter, Sarah, took with Milo a few weeks after we got him. I printed the photos as 3x4's, adhering one on either page of the spread.

 

 

I stamped the word "love" using the Headline Lower XL stamp set, fussy cutting out each letter individually to adhere on the top half of the left page. I then stamped "the", taken from the same stamp set, directly to the page above "love" to complete my title.

 

 

I also stamped a few phrases from the new Blocks of Togetherness stamp set around the edges of the first photo. After adding a few stamped ink blotches to the white cardstock background, using Kerri's Inked stamp set, I finished off the spread with a few puffy star stickers and enamel dots.

 

 

I don't scrap in the travelers notebook size regularly, so I often forget how quick these little pages can go together. I think this size will be perfect for creating simple pages about our newest family member, and documenting his little stories.

 

Kerri Bradford Studio: Happy & Simple Habits Mini Album

 

Hey everyone! I had a new little project go up at Kerri Bradford Studio this week. I actually created this mini album way back at the end of October. It sort of slipped thru the cracks since then. I forgot about it, Kerri forgot about it, we both forgot about it again, etc. Lol. So this "write-up"/description was written about 4 months ago ;)

 

This has been a rough year for so many of us, am I right? I will fully admit that the last 7-8 months have been hard on me. And most of it isn't even related to the fact that we're all living thru a pandemic. Although that hasn't helped either. 

 

 

I realized that there are a handful of things that have been helping me thru the difficult times lately. Some are "habits" of sorts. Some are routines or things that I do on a daily basis without really thinking. When you get right down to it, they are all just simple little things that I've been doing to keep my mind off of the crappy parts of life, and allow myself to add a little sunshine into my days. 

 

 

I had the idea to create a quick and simple little mini album devoted to this hard time in life. I used an old 4x4" felt KI Memories mini album that I've had sitting around for years, and kept things super simple by not including photos at all. Just words and pretty papers. And a little stamping, of course ;)

 

 

 

I used Kerri's new Jordan Lower SM stamp set, along with some office tags, to create a tag for each "habit" that I wanted to document. To go along with my simple formula, I used the same color ink (navy blue) for all of my stamping.

 

 

I also used the new Jordan Numbers XL stamp set to help create my little title page, stamping "12" onto two tags, as I ended up with 12 "habits" that I included in the album. 

 

 

I simply adhered each tag onto a piece of patterned paper, adding a coordinating fiber (remember how they were all the rage years ago?) to each tag.

 

 

My patterned paper/tag combo went on the left side of each spread, and my journaling page went on the right side of each spread. For my journaling pages, I used a template from the Four By Four album set by CZ Design. 

 

 

I rarely make mini albums. But when I do, I usually follow the same design format throughout the entire album.

 

 

By sticking with this simple design, I was able to complete this entire little album in one sitting - which rarely happens with any of my projects ;)

 

Kerri Bradford Studio: Love These 2

 

Hey all! I have a new layout up at Kerri Bradford Studio. When I saw Kerri's new love themed stamps, I knew it was about time that I created a layout about Alyssa and her boyfriend, Andy.

 

 

I rounded up some of my favorite photos of the two of them and created a photo collage using Kerri's Snapshots #1 template kit. I decided to print the collage in black and white, which can be helpful when you have an assortment of photos with different colors and looks.

 

 

This also gives you unlimited options when it comes to picking patterned papers and colors for the page. My patterned papers are all from Dear Lizzy collections, as well as the two little stitched heart embellishments.

 

 

I found this fun diagonal patterned paper that I thought would work great down the left side of the page, adding a few other patterned papers above and below my photo collage. I stamped the little row of tiny hearts along my green patterned paper, using the Love Is Everywhere stamp set, and adhered my photo collage above the stamped border.

 

 

I stamped the word "love" from Kerri's So Much Love stamp set and fussy cut each letter, adhering them along one of the diagonal rows. To complete my title, I used the new Better Together stamp set, stamping each letter/number onto a scrap piece of white cardstock and trimming each letter/number into an individual block, adhering them below the word "love". 

 

 

I also used the script "I love you" stamp from the So Much Love stamp set, and stamped it along another diagonal row on my patterned paper. I also stamped a few of the striped hearts from the same set, and fussy cut them out to help embellish the page, adding them alongside buttons and paper hearts. 

 

 

While I had everything out, I stamped an extra "love" using the So Much Love stamp set, and using a scrap of my patterned paper, created a quick card to coordinate with my layout!

 

2020 Reading Album: Books 25 - 29

I shared a bit more about my plans for this project in THIS POST. Since I'm following the same basic format, and using a lot of the same basic supplies, I won't be sharing too many details in these posts - so please refer back to that first post to find the main info on this album project :)

Book #25 | Out With The Ex In With The New, by Sophie Ranald

Book #26 | A Match Made At Christmas, by Courtney Walsh

Book #27 | The Twelve Dates of Christmas, by Jenny Bayliss

Book #28 | In A Holidaze, by Christina Lauren

Book #29 | Christmas Shopaholic, by Sophie Kinsella

You can read previous posts on this project and see all of my reading pages RIGHT HERE.