Teacher Holiday Gifts 2014
Posted: December 9, 2014 Filed under: Holidays, Scrapbooking | Tags: me & my BIG ideas Leave a comment
For the first year, Tyson very much had an opinion about what he wanted to get his teachers and how he wanted to present the gifts. I found these black chalkboard bags at Hobby Lobby and they were the perfect backdrop for Ty’s personalized artwork. I added some me & my BIG ideas tags (found in the All That Glitters paper pad) at the top with a glitter letter sticker to finish them off. They earned his stamp of approval, as did the Bux gift cards.
December Calendar Page: me & my BIG ideas
Posted: December 2, 2014 Filed under: Holidays, Scrapbooking | Tags: me & my BIG ideas 1 Comment
I fell in love with the black and gold me & my BIG ideas Christmas paper pad the minute I saw it. Glittery accents, gorgeous fonts, gold foil…swoon. And then I came across this kraft colored blank calendar sheet at Hobby Lobby. Done. Having never completed my keepsaking of December 2013, I finally got it done:
I loosely drew in lines, they are crooked and perfectly imperfect…
The final product. I think I have found a new way of summarizing our month’s…quick, easy, fun. LOVING the calendar pages.
Happy December!!
December Daily 2014: Moments 11 through 20
Posted: November 30, 2014 Filed under: December Daily, Project Life, Scrapbooking 1 CommentMoment 11: Not sure what I’ll put here, but it will go inside or on top of the bag…loving the blue/gold/wood veneer combination.
Moment 12: will likely put cards/notes from my students in the bag or possibly a photo/journal card for a separate moment…lots of flexibility within the album.
Moments 13 and 14: I plan to add photos of the boys’ class parties…
Moment 15: the boys’ handwritten notes, drawings, and words really complete the album for me. I have incorporated cards in order to keepsake their thoughts/memories…
Moment 16: more of the boys’ artwork/words…
17: space to journal/add photos…not sure what will go here quite yet.
Moment 18: space to add a photo and journal what we are doing “currently”…
Really inspired to use my washi tape stash for this project and loving the outcome:
Moment 19: will likely use for the boys’ schoolwork and/or Santa Letter. You can also see the backside of the confetti pocket. I found it a lot easier to use an Exacto knife, slice along the top border, place the goodies inside, and use washi tape to close. Half the time it takes to hand stitch a pocket closed and almost the same final look.
Moment 20: entirely devoted to the boys’ artwork and words.
December Daily 2014: Moments 1 through 10
Posted: November 29, 2014 Filed under: December Daily, Project Life, Scrapbooking Leave a commentI thought I would take some time to share my December Daily foundation pages. For the most part, beyond the placement of the numbers and pocket pages, I have no real plan set in stone. Instead of daily moments, I will focus on overall moments throughout the month: if one day produces three moments, awesome, if another produces zero, that is okay as well.
My opening pages focus on my WHY of the project:
As you will see throughout the album, I am using a mixture of pre-made journal cards, the ones that came with the Ali Edwards December Daily Kit and handwritten, list/journal type pages. For the opening WHY page, I loosely made lines with a pencil. Journaled my why, erased the pencil lines, and added embellishments. Simple but love the outcome.
I started to list all of the items/photos/moments I hope to capture in December. As I was doing so, I decided to turn the list into a filler page. A fun, colorful, alphabet page followed…
Moment 1: will focus on our tree. Ty’s drawing will serve as a reminder to take a black and white photo of our set up. I will use the drawing in the album elsewhere in the end.
Moment 2: will focus on the boys’ multiple lists and letters to Santa. I will place them in the bag…
Moment 3: undecided. Will be receipts or tags maybe? They will go in the bag with possible journaling outside…
Moment 4: love how the boys’ wrap each other’s gifts. I plan to incorporate photos of their wrap jobs here.
Moment 5: a good example of the loosely penciled in lines. I didn’t want them perfect. I will journal and then erase them. I plan to list our favorite holiday shows and movies here.
Moment 6: undecided, but this year’s December Daily inspired me to finally use up some of my washi tape stash…
Moment 7: forgot to photography…will add later.
Moments 8 and 9 will focus on the boys’ basketball. The 9 is adhered to a clear Project Life page divider. Loved the hint of green it offered to keep with the blue/green/red color scheme of the double page layout.
Moment 10: another list, this time our favorite family holiday books.
Project Life 2014: Weeks 29, 30, and 31
Posted: November 19, 2014 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a commentWeek 29
One of my favorite kits: the Plus One Mini Kit combined with Simple Stories stickers. One color scheme, a couple different embellishments = a faster, more streamlined approach.
I don’t use a lot of alpha stickers, but the “DECLUTTER” card opened the alpha sticker food gates. You will be seeing a lot of them in the next few weeks.
Keeping it simple, letting the pictures tell the story, and trying to journal more…
Week 30
If you know me well, you know that using pink, in this quantity, is a huge step outside of my comfort zone. I loved the bright colors in this kit…and embraced the presence of the pink.
Week 31
In an effort to catch up, I have started to place journal cards in pockets along with the photos in two week chunks. Allows me to keep the embellishments consistent and work across two spreads v changing up the whole routine each week. I may go back to my weekly change up next year, but for now, this process is working well for me…
Sometimes everything just comes together…capturing our happy place and sharing one of my favorite childhood memories with the boys. Love that our days at the Lake are becoming one of their favorite summer traditions:
Project Life 2014: Week 28 With me & my BIG ideas
Posted: November 18, 2014 Filed under: Project Life | Tags: me & my BIG ideas Leave a comment
This week’s Project Life layout was inspired by one of my favorite me & my BIG ideas paper pads. Combined with simple thick handwritten lines and journaling, it was a quick, fun layout to make.
Sometimes a weekly layout highlights one or two main events from the week. This week, both boys attended basketball camp: Tyson’s second year and Jake’s first. I wanted to capture both of their experiences and tell two different stories.
Carrying over a similar square + journal line theme to make the whole layout cohesive:
Love, love, love this paper pad…inspired to make more of my own pocket cards.
Project Life 2014 Week 27: Using Project Life to Document Our NYC Trip
Posted: November 17, 2014 Filed under: Project Life 1 Comment
During our week in NYC this past summer, I carried a large envelope in my travel bag. I used it to collect ticket stubs, flyers, receipts: anything that I thought would help make my Project Life layout more interesting. When I got home, I uploaded photos, took out all the collected goodies and went to work…I ended up with a regular weekly layout + 2 inserts.
I purposefully used a calendar as my weekly title card to help summarize/document our week. In trying to keep the inserts to a minimum, I knew I’d lose some photo space and all our activities may not make the final cut. However, the calendar card allowed me to capture everything in one spot.
Right side with inserts. A yellow pocket houses our game tickets and receipts from the boys’ souvenirs.
Right side without inserts. I tried to find one photo per day to capture our adventure. Lots of ticket stubs. I love ticket stubs: they tell a story all their own.
A close up of the calendar card. The preview photos from my Costco order were the perfect size:
Project Life 2014: Weeks 24, 25, and 26
Posted: November 16, 2014 Filed under: Project Life Leave a commentWeek 24
Used the new Heidi Swapp Project Life core kit this week. Loved the bright colors and fun fonts:
Tyson’s last week of school, Jake’s first week of summer break, and my last few days of the school year:
Keep those movie ticket stubs. One of my favorite non-photo additions to Project Life:
Week 25
Another Heidi Swapp Project Life kit, this time the gold and blue mini kit. Swoon. Love the colors and font so much. Our first official week of summer break: gym time, craft time, and lazy mornings…
Week 26
Prepping for our NYC trip, new chucks for me, ninja training for the boys…
A Grateful November with me & my BIG ideas
Posted: October 28, 2014 Filed under: Fun Activity, Holidays, Project Life, Scrapbooking | Tags: me & my BIG ideas Leave a comment
In the past, the boys and I have done Thankful Turkeys and Grateful Trees for the month of November. This year, I wanted to do something different and something with the whole family. I LOVED the me & my BIG ideas leaves the second I saw them. I also knew I wanted to something where each of us could write down a daily gratitude. We have used popsicle sticks and mason jar before with our Boredom Buster Jar, but I wanted to incorporate them into this project as well. I decided to use mini bags as the focal point, with the intention of trimming them down and transferring to my project life or making them into a gratitude mini album. One bag per person:
And a jar of popsicle sticks and Sharpie waiting for November 1. I love capturing the boys’ handwriting and look forward to having various pieces of their daily moments to keepsake…it can be one sentence, one word, one doodle. Ultimately, I am looking for one memory or gratitude a day from all of us.
Join me for a Grateful November!!
Halloween Fun with me & my BIG ideas
Posted: October 18, 2014 Filed under: Holidays, Scrapbooking | Tags: me & my BIG ideas 1 CommentHalloween has always been one of my favorite holidays, even more so since I have had the boys. Seeing the magic of Halloween through their eyes inspires me each year to come up with something fun and new. This year, I was inspired the second I saw the me & my BIG ideas Haunted Mambi Sheets paper pad. I have had this black tray sitting around the garage for months waiting for such an occasion:
This was such a fun way to use up old embellishments and pieces I have had lying around the house. All the paper in the background came from the me & my BIG ideas paper pad. Little jewels helped snazzy up the owl. I have had the spider jewel for years, with no idea what to do with him…until now. The little files each house black glitter. Pop dots were used on nearly all sticker elements to add extra depth. This project was so much fun.
Ribbon + stickers = a pumpkin that will likely last us until the Christmas decor goes up. I used foam pop dot stickers under each sticker to add a little extra dimension.
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!
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