Project Life 2014 {the book}

I still haven't finish Project Life 2013,

but an unfinished project has never stopped me from moving on to the next one before,

so here I go.

 

I decided this year I would change things up a bit.

I'm still using my own handmade journal without the pockets/page protectors,

but this time instead of a PL core kit I will be receiving Studio Calico's monthly Project Life kit.

I'm interested to see if it makes a difference with time management.

 

 

As I said, I'm housing 2014 in a book I put together.

This is a yearbook I picked up, I think early last fall, at an antique mall.

{I've gone back to the yearbook plan after all.}

 

 

First I set about making the signatures and sewing them in.

That took some brain power.

The plan was to used the diamond x binding stitch Mary Ann taught in her Ticket to Venice class.

I quickly realized that it wasn't going to work, because I had five signatures and my spine just didn't have the width to handle that many holes in one line and create a good looking stitch.

So with some finagling, and a whole lot of juggling, I came up with this.

 

 

When I got to the cover I found myself flabbergasted.

It's orange.

Not a coral,

{oh, how I love the color coral}

but tomato orange.  Wait...  I picked that out??  I don't do orange.

What was I going to do with that??

Well once again my need to buy things solely because they are pretty and not because I have an actual need for them came in handy.

I cut the cover off a Rifle Paper Co. journal, glued it down and added some letter stickers to it.

Perfect.  And evidently I can do tomato orange.

 

 

Inside for the intro page I used a combination of Kaisercraft, Studio Calico and My Mind's Eye from my paper stash, a bit of washi tape and a photo of the #noblesthree.

 

 

Now to get myself on a printing schedule, because setting aside a chunk of time to print out photos is what slows me down the most.

 

Are you documenting 2014?

 



Project Life {Week 23}

I am almost certain all the gods of Olympus

were fighting against me last night.

 

It all started when I misplaced my brain.

I'm not even sure when I removed it from my head,

but evidently I did,

and y'all, I hadn't even started drinking at that point.

 

 

You see, I plugged my phone into my laptop

so I could go through the photos on it from June.

The plan was

{which never varies from month to month...  I do it the very same every time}

to choose which pics I would use and move the ones not to be used over to the computer.

From there I could then reformat the ones to be used on my phone for my little wireless printer.

Instead I moved the entire first week of June over.

{and I'm not talking seven photos.  I take a lot of pics.  Have you seen my Instagram??}

Thank goodness I only moved the first week!

 

 

Because once I finished having a fit over that mistake, it only got better.

{insert sarcasm}

I opened those photos up in Photoshop and spent a good amount of time processing

and resizing them.

From there I took my laptop to another room in the house

where the printer resides,

{why we haven't set it up for wireless I'm not quite sure

since the Farmboy is an IT genius}

plugged it in and printed my photos.

 

 

Only to have them come out RED.

{and I swear I did not drop a bagel chip into the printer this time}

I had hoped an ink change and cleaning the heads a gajillion times would have fixed that, but no.

It did not.

So smarty me thought I could beat it

and I changed all the photos to black and white.

Didn't change a thing.

 

And that's when I got the wine out.

And decided to just put the week together minus the photos.

They will have to wait until I get a chance to go get a new printer.

 

Can't thwart me, o ye gods of olde!

 



Project Life {May}

Another month down

and only 5 1/2 to go.

 

Here's a look at May.

 

Week 18

That blank "true story" card is waiting for a photo.

I've been pretty much using only phone photos throughout

and printing with the Canon Selphy CP900 makes this project move much faster for me.

The photo that goes here, however, is on the Farmboy's camera

and I need for him to be home longer than 10 minutes so he can process it.

He's been traveling a lot.

I'm starting to forget what he looks like.

 

Week 19

Mother's Day weekend.

Donuts, roses and champagne.

They treated me very well.

 

Week 20

One side is regular every day happenings

and the other is all about the travel day we had.

I'm exhausted just remembering it.

 

Now... no need to say anything... I know....

 

Week 21

Note to self: when choosing to hand write/hand cut a title be sure to give it ALL of your attention,

because when you give it only half and the other half to Captain Jack Harkness trying to catch a pterodactyl, this is what happens.

I really do know how to spell St. Croix... see?

It's staying.  I have neither the time, nor desire to fix it.

 

And...

 

Week 22

I think this layout is so different from any of the previous twenty-one weeks color-wise.

And I'm liking it.
Especially that lovely, little, Papaya! Art "Bonita."

Now all I need to do is get the next five and a half weeks whipped out plus my December Daily journal made.
hahahahahha... I make me laugh.

*********
Supplies used:
vintage ledger, Olive Edition core kit, Papaya! Art 2009 day planner,
paper pads from Crate Paper, Echo Park, We R Memory Keepers and My Mind's Eye & this one
and washi tape

 



Project Life {April + Color}

I've been back at it.
I had to take a little break from Project Life.  Every time I sat down to work on it, I just got too sad seeing all of the photos of Daisy.
But when my friend Cheryl asked me if I wanted to go with her to a scrapbook crop the other day, I decided it was time.
And I managed to finish all of April.

One of the aspects of doing this project that I have found to be both fun and interesting to watch is how the colorways develop with each week.

If you've been following along then you know I'm using the Olive Edition core kit,
plus a small hand full of pattern paper pads
{Crate Paper, Echo Park, We R Memory Keepers and My Mind's Eye & this one}
and a Papaya Art 2009 planner.

To keep it super simple I rotate through the kit cards, as well as, the paper pads.
And I'm using the art in the planner in the order they've already been put.
See, super simple.
And that's also what is making it fun.

Take week 15 up there...
I had the turquois and chartreuse cards out and the flower design {on the date card} from the planner.
So when it came to adding a pattern paper the pad that was next in rotation just so happened to have that red polka dot.
And that's pretty much how every week works itself out.
Serendipitous colorways.
Couldn't be anymore perfect if you ask me.




Project Life {Organization}

Before I started Project Life

I spent a bit of time

looking through Pintrest at the ways others organize their supplies.

There are some really cool ideas out there.

 

 

I decided the best way for me, would be in this old steamer trunk tray

that I already had.

 

 

Because I had to wait a bit before putting it all together,

due to the studio redo,

I had left the kit cards in the tray they came in.

That worked for me so when it came time to put everything into the trunk tray

I kept the cards in the plastic tray, but pulled it off the cardboard box.

 

 

While I was ripping things apart, I went ahead and pulled out the accordion file from

the Paypaya! Art planner I've been using.

I keep tags and labels, small paper scraps and the bits of life ephemera that will go onto the pages.

 

 

In the other side of the trunk tray I have a box of washi tapes, a container of alphabet and number stamps, a little box containing pencil, pens, scissors, etc., a few other tools

plus my Cannon Selphy printer.

 

 

I am so glad I had this trunk tray.

It is the perfect "caddy" for all of my PL stuff.

And the bonus is,

it's easily portable.

 



Project Life {Book Making}

With the finishing of the month of March,

in my Project Life journal,

I also finished the book.

So before starting April,

I needed to create a new journal.

{music & coffee- always important book making tools to have on hand}
 

I posted this picture on Instagram

the other day when I was gathering up my materials

and then decided I'd go ahead and write a blog post on my process

to share here.

 

If you've been following my Project Life, then you know I decided when going into this project that the standard album and page protectors would not work for me.

What I decided to use in their stead were old ledgers and day books.

{Seems to be a lot of deciding going on here.}

 

To start, I remove the original signature of paper

then cut the spine in half.

After covering the raw edges with tape,

I sew together three signatures of watercolor paper.

 

{When I decided to go down this album route I figured I would use a total of four books; three months per book.}

 

I glue the watercolor binding tapes down on the inside of the covers and then glue the first and last pages down on top of those.

 

 

My original plan was to use a different fabric for the decorative outer binding tapes,

but then I decided to use the same on all of the books. 

If I continue Project Life next year I'll use a different fabric, then I will be able to tell, at a glance, which year is which.

 

 

What I did decide to make different on each book

are the buttons and closure ribbons.

Blue for winter, pink for spring, green for summer and orange for fall.

Because I'm theme-y like that

and because they're the colors used in the Olive Edition core kit cards.

 

 

Now to get cracking on April.

I suppose being one month behind is better than two.

 

 

Project Life {March}

Here's a look at March in my Project Daisy,

huh-hum excuse me,

my Project Life

 

Week 10

I had lots of photos and lots to say...

 



 

so there are lots of journal cards that open.

{the weather card opens to a pic and the one that says "open" has an envelope with more pics}

 

 

Week 11

I think this may be my favorite spread in the whole book.

 

 

 

Week 12

{the reality of it all}

 

 

 

Week 13

{gave me fits, but I persevered}

 

 

 

And with week 13, this book is officially full

and I'm patting myself on the back.

 

 

Time to make book two.

 



Project Life {February}

Here's a look at February in my Project Life journal.

 

The 1st of Feb. was on a Friday, which I included in Week 5,

so Week 6 started on the 4th for me.

I sewed a little fabric tab onto the week card to indicate a new month.

{I did this back on January's too}

 

I used some of the valentine goodies I got from the dollar spot at Target.

That card on the left that I stamped Sunday wrong on has "who, what, where, when" printed on it-
it's just hard to see in this photo.
{so no, I wasn't randomly stamping words... though it wouldn't surprise me if I had}
 

I could tell you a little story involving the epic 1982 movie The Beastmaster,

a jealousy that spans more than 30 years and my brother's little finger. 

But I'll save that for another time.

 

Week 7 was Valentine's week-

hence the over abundance of hearts and sugary love.

 

Week 8-

I thought I was going to continue the heart/love theme throughout the whole month,

but it turns out I had other plans.
{not a heart in sight}

 

Week 9 actually only documents one day.

And it wasn't even February anymore.

 

We spent that Saturday at the North Texas Irish Festival.

It is always greatly anticipated in our home.

A day shrouded in Irish music and Wolfhounds.

Something for everyone.

 

I'm still getting caught up on March,

but as soon as I have it finished

I'll share.

 



Project Life {January Details}

I am so loving this project!

I'm shocked at how much I'm enjoying it, in fact.

When I finish up a week and am all caught up

{which is really saying something in itself}

I get all antsy and can't wait for the current week to end so I can get back at it.

 

I seriously doubt anyone is that interested in knowing what we do around here

every single week,

so I thought I would just share some little details of the book each month.

 

It's taken me all month to find my rhythm and workout how I want things to flow,

but I think I'm just about there.

 

When I decided to start this I knew I had to keep it relatively simple

or I would let it go to the wayside,

so I started out with using just four supplies:

the Olive Edition core kit, washi tape, stamps/ink and the ledger pages that were originally in the book.

I quickly realized it wasn't going to be enough.

So I dug around {pre-emptying of the studio}

and decided to use an old PAPAYA! Art weekly planner from 2009

that I couldn't bring myself to trash because Anahata's art is so delicious!

{I won't mention that if I decide to continue PL for the next four years I can continue to use a planner each year, as I have purchased one every year for the last 5 years,

but I won't mention that.}

 

When I ran out of photo paper

{so far I'm printing my own photos and using only phone pics}

and went to get more I ended up on Martha's aisle

{I had resisted for sooo long}

and realized I would probably need some labels.

 

Then...

I ran out of tape.

So I had to go to Hobby Lobby.

I don't have any idea how I got there,

but I ended up on the scrapbook paper aisle.

{I hadn't been down that aisle in a very long time}

I left the store with five paper pads.
Five.

In addition to those few supplies, I'm using small glassine envelopes to hold ticket and receipts and such, a Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher stapler, paper clips, a corner rounder and my favorite black Sharpie pen.

But that's it.

I probably won't add anything else, supply wise,

to this project.

 

I started to go back and tweak the first two week,

because I don't really like them,

but finally decided to just leave them be.

{I'll admit, that decision makes me twitch a little.}

So there you have it.
My first month of Project Life.

Have a great Monday!
 

 



On My Worktable

Which happens to be the dining room table at the moment

and has limited supplies

due to a studio redo.

 

 

Project Life

{still loving this}

 

 

Ice Skating Afternoon Ornament Pattern

{I have 4 of these kits.  Someday I'll actually finish them.}

 

 

Valentine Stitching

{percolating}

 

 

Lettering Practice Journal

{awaiting a watercolor paper order to arrive}

 

What are you working on?