PROJECT LIFE | King Island

School holidays starts...NOW!

I am grateful that I am able to work from home over the September break.

A few weeks ago I started on selecting and editing photos from an afternoon at King Island. It sounds rather tropical because it's an "island" but really, it wasn't that exotic. That's not to say it wasn't an awesome afternoon with my three boys.

Starting with over 100 photos, I managed to cut it down to 23. There was little hope of fitting it all into 2 pages as originally planned. We were only there for 4 hours! 

Memory keeping lesson I learnt from this spread:
I don't need to obsess about the journalling. I need only journal if there is something I want to say, or if a story needs to be told. There's no need to journal just for the sake of filling up a journalling card. 

Today I'm sharing the first two pages:

Here's a close up:

Supplies: Goals stamp set from Kellie Stamps, Freebie "Adventure" card from Kelsey, Especially.

I like creating simple filler cards with stamps, and I'm a bit crazy for inspirational words words and quotes. I used two of the stamps from Kellie Stamps' Goals set here:

Photo from kelliestamps@bigcartel.com 

Thank you for having a look at my pages. I'll be back next week to share the rest!

In the meantime, enjoy your weekend! xx 

PROJECT LIFE | TL comes to visit

My bestie Tanyalee, author of the The Drawing Board, came to visit earlier in March this year. We had not seen each other for almost 10 years, even though we now text EVERY DAY!

I met TL about 16 years ago when we worked together at TAFE. Although it was only for a few short months, we became instant friends.

I loved going to work everyday because we got to hang out, and our most critical decision each day was where to have lunch! 

With family commitments, work changes and relocations, our conversations became less frequent and eventually, we went years without contact. Thanks to social media, we reconnected a few years ago and discovered our mutual love for crafting, memory keeping and Project Life.

On TL's visit, she met my youngest boy for the first time, and saw my eldest for the first time since he was born 10 years ago. We shopped, we ate, we talked..and we talked...and we even did some scrapping!  

Which brings me to the Project Life Challenge we set for ourselves. We decided to scrap exactly the same photos from her visit, but with NO CONSULTATION with each other during the entire creative process until our pages were finished.

This is a bit different from how we usually craft as I am used to sending progress photos to TL and vice versa. We normally know what the other is working on at any given point in time.

So here is my page from TL’s recent visit in March this year.

Yesterday, my husband calls me 10 minutes after he left for work to say he accidentally took my phone to work with him. No big deal if I wasn't having one of those days where i needed moral support. Sometimes you just need a friend who understands your illogical craziness.   

I consider TL part of my family - the sister I never had. She inspires and motivates me everyday. 

Friends are a treasure. Go on, tell a friend you love them!

Making cards with the boys

I've always followed the Chinese calendar for mum's birthday and that of my Grandparent's birthdays.

I cannot read or write Chinese, so working out their birthdays required a little guess work. I know the symbol for moon (month) and the numbers which was just enough to get me through.

This year, mum didn't have a spare Chinese calendar for me. Knowing that most years mum's birthday is in May, I phoned my brother early last week to ask what day mum's birthday falls on this year. He said matter-of-factly "Yeah...she's already had it. It was on Anzac Day." Nobody bothered to tell me! I was disappointed, as this is the first time I've missed mum's birthday. 

Thankfully, mum's birthday based the Gregorian calendar was Friday so I could still do something for her. 

The boys and I got busy and each made her a birthday card.

Here's the card I made using the diamond stamp from the Shapes stamp set by Kellie Stamps. I stamped it to create a flower shape, cut around it, and added a gem to the centre. 

The boys woke up early on Friday morning and got their craft on before school.

They go a little nuts with my old Stampin' Up! punches. Here's my eldest creating "raining gumballs".

I had the day off work so I spent the morning baking muffins (after I burnt the sushi rice, but that's another story) to take to mum's house. It was nice to just sit and talk with her, and just catch up. We rarely have the opportunity when we have little people with us busily making their own noisy fun.

The boys didn't finish their cards before school so they added the finishing touches when they came home from school.

This is the result of their card making efforts. I helped with the stamping, and they did the rest themselves. 

Stamps: Birthday stamp set by Kellie Stamps

There's something really special about watching the boys create. Although they start off unsure, once they let go of their own expectations of themselves, they always create something unique and beautiful. 

PROJECT LIFE | Boys' October 2013 pages

A quick post tonight to share the boys' monthly page.

As you may know, I have a family album where I have all the photos for the family, and then each month, the boys have a single page in their album where I include photos, stories and quotes pertaining to them.

So, back to the boys' individual albums. This is where I include photos of their drawings from school, or a screen shot of their favourite computer game, or their favourite food or toy.

Here's the page for my eldest.

I have used the Jade kit and the Favourite Mini Stamp Set from Kellie Stamps was perfect for this page. I can see this set being well used in the boys' individual pages.

I like being able to include the screen shot of my son's Club Penguin character in his album. It's a good memory to capture because it is one of his favourite games right now.

Here's a few close up photos.

Kellie Stamps: Favourite Mini

Kellie Stamps: Favourite Mini, Monday-Friday

This calendar card from Paislee Press features in every monthly page for the boys so far. I love it. However, I have altered it again by replacing the "O" with the OCT stamp from the Monday-Friday stamp set.

That's it from me this evening. And that completes my October 2013 pages! 

I am working backwards from the end of 2013 and am now half way through August so I really feel like I am getting somewhere! 

Enjoy the rest of your week. We have a short working week so only 2 more days until the long weekend! xx

PROJECT LIFE | 6th Birthday layout

Life around here has been crazy. I find myself saying this often so maybe this is just my kind of normal. I really do love it.

Today, I'm sharing some details from a spread I did for my youngest for his 6th birthday last year. 

It's hard to believe my baby will be seven this year. On Friday night, he raced over to me bursting with excitement over his first wobbly tooth. This will be the last first wobbly tooth in this little household, and for that I feel a little sad. My baby is growing up fast.

I used the Jade and Midnight core kits.

I used my old Stampin' Up number die to make the "6" from one of the Jade edition filler cards. The wood veneer alphas and orange opaque gem are from Polka Dot Creative. 

I haven't used alphabets stickers for a while and an impulse purchase from The Stamp Spot has reminded me how much I love them. I used Basic Grey Micro Mini Alphas and they come in some amazing colours. 

The "favourite" stamp is from Kellie Stamps -- soon to be released mini stamp set that is a must-have. 

Kellie Stamps: Favourite

It has been a productive weekend. I had some crafting time, did a few loads of washing (*yawn*), baked a batch of muffins yesterday, homemade chicken soup simmering away on the stove right now, and hoping to squeeze an hour of Project Life in before the night time routine.

Hope you had a wonderful weekend so far, and wishing you an amazing week! xx

TUTORIAL | Use a cello bag to position your stamps

Oh dear me. 

I believe my last post was over a week ago... the night before the first day of the school year. 

I have not crafted for maybe two weeks, and I am going a little crazy because that's all I have been thinking about! All in good time.

With school starting, I'm getting used to the school and work routine, impromptu after school errands, and dinner/homework duties.

Who knew that it would be such a challenge to just get myself and the children to bed earlier. And to drink more water. And to eat three meals a day. And to stay cool and calm.

Enough of my ramblings. I'm just popping in to share a little trick I use when I'm feeling unsure how a stamp/s will look on a filler card or photo.

Many of you (if not all!) may do this already or have done so in the past. I tried it out one night when I was too scared to stamp directly on a photo without knowing what it would look like. I'm not great at "visualising" stuff like this.


GATHER YOUR SUPPLIES:
- a cello bag (sometimes called Polypropylene Bags)
- ink 
- stamp/s of your choice (i used stamps from Kellie Stamps)
- filler card or photo of your choice (whatever you want to stamp on!) 


STEP 1:
Open up your cello bag by tearing along the seams. You can use scissors, but i find it easy to just tear. Then you can cut down the middle to make it easier to work with.

STEP 2:
Position the cello sheet over your filler card or photo. 

Ink up and stamp your images onto the cello sheet. This will give you a good idea how the images will look on your filler card or photo without having to waste a filler card/photo whilst you decide stamp placement etc.

I find Stazon ink very good to minimise the risk of smudging the ink onto your fingers and then onto your cards or photos (done that many many times!)

Step 3:
Remove the cello sheet and stamp directly onto your card if you like how it looked when you did your test stamp. If not, repeat step 2 until you get the look you want!

Remember to keep the stamped cello sheets away from your good cards and photos, especially if you have used ink that is not quick drying or smudges to avoid unwanted ink marks.

So that's it! Love a bit of cello bag stamping when I'm feeling undecided and want to experiment. 

Hope to have some layouts to share with you very very soon xx

My Project Life Process right now.

I know, I know! It's January 2014 and I've only just completed November 2013. 

But don't get excited, because that's the only month I have completed for 2013!

Now moving onto September 2013...here's what it looks like so far.

I am happy to report my Project Life process has been reviewed, revised and refined...and repeat.

Today I'm sharing my process (read: strategy) to complete 2013 by the end of February. That's my aim. I will keep you posted on how it pans out.

Those of you who are regular visitors to my blog (thank you!!) will know I have been working on layouts of my boys as babies. That is still rolling along but my focus for Jan/Feb is completing 2013. And you may also know I primarily do monthly or event spreads.

So this is what I'm doing right now.

HOW I ORGANISE MY PHOTOS ON THE COMPUTER?

I have a folder for each month, and then sub-folders within those. The folders with day_month_year are from my camera, and then I have a folder for photos from my phone, and my husband's phone.


HOW I DECIDE WHAT LAYOUTS TO DO? 

Step 1: Events
Firstly, I will work on events from the month. For example, our afternoon at Bribie Island, or putting up the Christmas tree -- anything where I have taken a series of photos from the one day.

Step 2: Monthly Overview
Once the event/s for the month are accounted for, I move onto selecting the photos for my monthly spread/s. It could be 1 x double page layout, 2 x double page layouts, or just the one page. 

I prefer the flexibility of monthly spreads because I don't feel the pressure to have sufficient photos for every week, or to have a two page spread every single week.

Step 3: Individual page for the kiddies
Once I have completed the event and monthly overview pages, I work on the overprints and the "highly commended" photos.

The "overprints" are the photos that I have printed twice (mostly because the colour was out, or I forgot to print with a border). 

The "highly commended" photos are ones I really like of the boys which I was not able to include in the monthly overview spread. 

These handful of photos go into the boys' albums as a single page layout dedicated purely to them. Here I will include details of their school excursions, drawings they have done, quirky quotes and any other details I want to record.

Here's a look at what I've done for the pages in the boys' individual albums for the Nov 2013. 

The focus was on getting the photos into pockets and telling the story. 


Here's a close up of the journalling. 

STAMPS: Kellie Stamps (Photo Bomb). Dear Lizzy roller date stamp.

That's my process for now.  I'm happy to say it's proving productive, and I'm having fun -- no pressure, just keeping the documenting wheels in motion. 

What's your Project Life or memory keeping process right now? Would love to hear about it if you would like to leave a comment and share.

That's it from me today, thanks again for stopping by! xx

November 2013 layout

Here in sunny Queensland, Australia -- it is stinking HOT!

We are fortunate enough to have the air conditioner cranked, and another batch of the boys' favourite coconut mango ice-cream in the freezer (sorry, i know i go on about this, but it's really GOOOOD!).

I'm sharing my first completed monthly layout today. All my previous layouts have focussed on an event, so it was both fun and challenging to work with a bunch of photos that was a snapshot of our November 2013. 

Here's a look at the spread.

I used Amy Tangerine's Cut and Paste mini kit, Dear Lizzy's Polka Dot Party mini kit, and the Midnight Edition.

For my title card, I stamped "NOV" (Monday-Friday set, Kellie Stamps) on a 2013 Calendar Journaling Card (Paislee Press).

This "Love this moment" stamp is a rubber wood mount from Kellie Stamps. I think I will be using this one A LOT! 

Freckled Fawn wood veneer heart from The Stamp Spot on an Amy Tangerine Cut and Paste filler card in the next photo.

I love sweet potato gems! This is a bit of a treat in our household so the NOM NOM wood mount stamp (Kellie Stamps) was perfect for this photo.  I used Brilliance ink in Starlite Black and I am so impressed with how beautifully this ink stamps onto glossy photo paper.

A little bit blurry, but check out the Light Wood Veneer Flair (Kellie Stamps)! These flairs have really cute designs.



How crisp the above stamped image?! This was the first time I stamped onto glossy photo paper and I think it almost looks like it has been printed. 

I've use the quote stamp from the Best Friend's stamp set (currently on sale, Kellie Stamps) and the Brilliance Starlite Black ink again. Although the ink has "black" in the name, it's more of a shimmery dark charcoal colour which I love.

Finally, remember you still have time to win this awesome prize pack simply by commenting on all the blogs participating in the Kellie Stamps January Release blog hop. Competition closes midnight (AET) 5 January.

Good luck everyone, it's an awesome prize! And thanks for stopping by xx

My Christmas cards for 2013

I'm here with a quick post tonight to share the Christmas cards I made today.

I used the Christmas Tradition and Christmas 2013 stamp sets from Kellie Stamps.

My initial thought was to use Christmas patterned papers and a few stamps. Maybe even some embossing. Well...that didn't really happen. 

When I looked at Kellie's stamps, there were so many phrase stamps that I loved, and it was very hard to just use ONE greeting.

So this is what I came up with.

Here's a close up.

I am really happy with how quickly I could make these. I made these in under an hour which for me is fast in terms of my card making.

Don't you just love the JOY stamp? I love it so much. It makes me happy looking at it :-)

Hope your preparations for the festive season are coming together nicely and according to plan. 

As for my preparations... let's just say we are desperately trying to break the "tradition" of being up until 3am wrapping presents!