Summer Bucket List Mini Album (and Project Life Update)

Posted: August 11, 2012 | Author: momruncraft | Filed under: Bucket List, Project Life, Scrapbooking | 1 Comment

I have fallen woefully behind with my Project Life. Photos have been taken, printed, cut out, and placed; however, I sit down to journal and embellish…and nothing. I have bought my second album. No matter what I do, I can’t seem to fit an entire year into one album. I decided to divide the first half of the year into one, the second half into another. Unfortunately, both albums sit…sadly alone. I am hoping to find my Project Life chi again in the near future…

Sad, unadorned Project Life photos…love the look of cutting a big photo to fit multiple slots:

In an attempt to “make” something, I decided to try a summer mini album:

A fun way to document our attempts at fulfilling our summer bucket list. Really LOVING my new label maker and loving that the labels bring the entire album together: one thread of continuity.

Having fun with different shaped and sized pages:

A whirlwind of last days started our summer off: last day of school for Jake, last day for Ty…

Last tee-ball game:

First pair of flip flops…

Beginning to knock out bucket list items and including bits and pieces of our summer in the album:

I love how the postcard and book cover add more to our story than a simple photo or journaling of the same:

I have always loved the feel and look of book pages. I think it will be fun to look back on these in years to come…

A small 4 x 4 double-sided photo to change up the size of the pages:

I intend to put the same “bucket list” label on each photo documenting its completion…

It has been a busy kid filled summer. It felt really good to get some crafty goodness completed. I am about half way through the mini album. Looking forward to sharing the finished product…

Project Life 2012: Week Seventeen

Posted: May 29, 2012 | Author: momruncraft | Filed under: Project Life, Scrapbooking | 8 Comments

Still LOVING Project Life. Loving that it motivates me to take pictures and write down stories/silly things the boys say, most of all love the memories and stories that have been recorded to date…

Experimented with texture for this week’s title card. Super simple layering of two pieces of card stock. Also used my new washi tape stamps and absolutely LOVE them:

Included a photo out take this week, it makes me laugh every time I see it. I waited and waited for Ty to get a good pitch and hit the ball…and then totally missed the shot. Heh.

I am really liking the simplicity and look of the white backgrounds on the plain journal cards. I need to stock up on them, they are so versatile and fun to use:

One of my favorite parts of this week is probably the most simple: white card stock, two pieces of washi, a little transparency and some journaling…

Linking up at The Mom Creative, grateful for the push her PL Tuesdays give me!!

Choosing Joy: Smash Book Style

Posted: May 1, 2012 | Author: momruncraft | Filed under: Goals, Scrapbooking | 1 Comment

I bought the Smash Book a few months ago with intentions of keeping up with it daily and focusing on my “One Little Word”. Yeah, not so much. I was able to make the cover page and then it sat. Until recently. I like having a place to focus on my story, solely, completely. Not having to hold anything back. My goal for May: a daily gratitude picture and entry. Last month, I made an effort to take a picture a day, of something, anything that makes me smile. A few of the April entries/pages:

A smashy place to be feminine in a sea of boys. Finally, a chance to use up my girly embellies:

Happy moments from the first week of April, the boys’ Spring Break. They were truly partners in crime and completely inseparable. I, found joy in drive thru coffee. Why haven’t they made a drive thru everything for moms yet? Drive thru Trader Joes?

I like that the Smash book is forcing me to work with colors and papers out of my comfort zone. I had no idea what to do with this woodsy tree background. Stumped me for a few days. Ended up working out perfectly. Love the outdoors, love my boys’ love of the outdoors:

Yoga + running = my happy places:

My plan of attack: I made a collage of Instagram photos, printed it out at Costco, and plan to incorporate them into the book as a daily gratitude/smile journal. My April photos are printed, cut out and ready to go, just need to sit down and glue them in…loving the simplicity of the Smash book:

Onesie Cupcakes

Posted: February 9, 2012 | Author: momruncraft | Filed under: Scrapbooking | Leave a comment

The most fun I have had “making” cupcakes to date. The Pinterest version used receiving blankets around the onesie (which give a cleaner final product). Instead, I used two onesies per cupcake. So much fun to shop and wrap for GIRLS:

Project Life 2012: Week 3

Posted: February 9, 2012 | Author: momruncraft | Filed under: Project Life, Scrapbooking | 8 Comments

Left side: this week was all about reflection. How impossibly quick five years can go by. While I had plenty of actual daily photos, I wanted to include some of my favorite baby pictures and illustrate the “now” and “then”…looking back years from now, the journey from one to five will mean more than forcing daily pictures into the project. I haven’t really stressed about making Project Life a daily album, in fact, I don’t think I have yet to make a “weekly” layout that focuses on a picture a day. I typically focus on the main events/themes/milestones of the week.

Right side. This is actually the third rendering of the right side. I didn’t like the way it was coming together. It looked way too busy for my liking. I took out a few of the photos I had placed in the journaling section and added a couple of “simpler” cards to tone it down. I don’t usually try to do a color theme but managed to stick with the green/blue/yellow…

Baby pictures. Now and then. Love that PL is all about making it what you want to be:

Had fun incorporating a little bit of MY story into PL this week:

Title page:

Full week layout with additional inserts (mentioned in last week’s post):

Progress on week 4: a complete opposite sort of week, not photo heavy at all:

Project Life 2012: Week 2

Posted: February 1, 2012 | Author: momruncraft | Filed under: Project Life, Scrapbooking | 10 Comments

The one thing I love the most about Project Life is that you can never really fall too far behind. I am up to date photo wise, just haven’t had time to sit and journal…really trying to keep it simple this year.

I haven’t finished the layout for week 3 yet, but I have finished the additional inserts for big bit’s fifth birthday:

A simple copy of the birthday letter I wrote him and “I ❤ u” print that I love:

One of my favorite “layouts” to date: a compilation of all his favorite things/all about him at age 5:

I especially love “how he write’s his name”…

Back side. Wanted bits and pieces of things he loves. I think it will be fun to watch the packaging change over the years, the toys evolve, and the shoes grow…

Class Valentine’s Day Goodies

Posted: January 31, 2012 | Author: momruncraft | Filed under: Arts and Crafts, Holidays, Scrapbooking | Leave a comment

I made these last year for Ty’s class and was excited to make them this year for Jake’s class.

“I Spy” Can You Find? Cards:

Super easy. All you need is a white piece of paper, pen, and collection of your kiddo’s red toys:

Write “Can You Find?” on the piece of paper. Lay out a few of the goods to be found:

Arrange all the toys:

Simple as that. I had the photos processed at Costco in wallet size. For less than $5 you get this:

For big bit’s class, pirate valentine’s (free printable) with a heart eraser (Target Dollar Spot):

Project Life 2012: Cover Page

Posted: January 17, 2012 | Author: momruncraft | Filed under: Project Life, Scrapbooking | 10 Comments

Have always LOVED the blue and brown color combination. Love how the black makes it pop. Used bits and pieces of burlap left over from my holiday crafty endeavors:

Lesson learned from Project Life 2011: keep dimensional embellies towards the front, they leave the back pages indented and warp the pictures. Unfortunately.

Had to make photocopies of family pictures. We WILL take new family pictures this year. Definitely want one of the boys, all of them, together. I am severely outnumbered in this house:

Love the “In This House” print out. Describes my goals for our family life perfectly:

Project Life 2012

Posted: January 11, 2012 | Author: momruncraft | Filed under: Project Life, Scrapbooking | Tags: nurture: creativity, nurture: organization | 1 Comment

As I get ready to finish up Project Life 2011, I am immensely grateful for all the memories, keepsakes, and photographs housed within its pages. Having lost all the photographs of my kids from their infancy to now stored on our old computer, a devastating loss, the only photos I have of the last year are those printed and inserted into Project Life. A simple system of memory keeping: take pictures, print out, insert, journal. Repeat. It has singlehandedly changed the way I look at daily life: I have learned to see the joy in seemingly mundane daily tasks, I have learned that those small, everyday moments really do make up the fabric of our memories, our lives. I have become much more motivated to carry my camera around and USE it. I have found myself in situations where I think: “that is SO project life-able”. I cherish my kids’ artwork and love that it can easily be included. By far the biggest “gift” of Project Life: instead of a pile of photographs, collection of scrapbook papers and embellishments, and mental notes as to what to do with it all, I have a completed album of pictures, journaling, and memories. Done. Absolutely, wholeheartedly LOVE Project Life:

Included my goal for Project Life 2011 in the title page: “Document more, forget less, and cherish it all.” Done.

Before embarking on Project Life 2012, I needed to de-clutter, organize, and rethink my approach. While I would love to have a dedicated crafty magic space in the house (aka. an office), it’s just not feasible. Most of my paper goodness lives in the garage, along with a table that lies unused. While I appreciate the space in the garage, it’s not the most user-friendly, happy space in the house and it’s hard to craft in the garage while the boys run around inside the house, destroying everything in their path. As a result, I do much of my crafting IN the house at the kitchen table or in the dining room. And our dining room currently looks like this:

And my kitchen counter looks like this:

Determined to organize the goods, purge the things that have gone unused for months, and in some cases years, and develop a system that allows me to easily transport goods from room to room, I bought these bad boys from the dollar section at Target. And some clothes pins after seeing the amazing, fantabulous Mish Mash Blog. Goal: to streamline and organize the above chaos and madness.

Voila: the end result. You can SEE the actual dining room table. First time in months. The bare essentials.

White tub. Journal spots and labels of many different varieties:

Red tub. Letter stickers, embellishment stickers, and cup of pens/scissors/etc:

Smash book tub. I plan to use the Smash book for One Little Word, as well as incorporate the embellishments into Project Life. Everything needed in one spot:

Revamped, organized Project Life station on kitchen counter. Bring it. Ready to go…

Christmas Card Mini-book

Posted: January 9, 2012 | Author: momruncraft | Filed under: Goals, Holidays, Scrapbooking | Tags: nurture: creativity, nurture: organization | Leave a comment

Super simple solution to make all the photo cards we received this Christmas into a keepsake booklet. Just punch holes, add binder rings, voila – done. I added a piece of thin cardboard to the back and a clear plastic page for the front for stability.

Last year I consolidated cards into a 12 x 12 scrapbook page but ended up losing a lot of actual card/photo. I love that the booklet keeps them all intact and doesn’t take up much space.