Scrapbooking Plans in 2014 plus a Baby Layout

With the new year, I think we all think about starting fresh and what little changes we want to make during this year. I have thought about this a lot in different aspects of my life, including scrapbooking. Last year, my goal was to average one layout a week - so 52 layouts. This was not including Project Life or card making. I ended up making around 80 layouts (I don't have the exact number with me but I did track it) and completed all but about 14 weeks of Project Life (which I still plan to finish). I also made quite a few cards. This was A LOT of crafting for me, and I really enjoyed it.

For this year, I definitely want to keep up my crafting but wanted to challenge myself a little differently. I started back to traditional scrapbooking around May of 2012. Since that time, I have purged a lot of my older supplies and "replenished" (to say the least!) my stash. One thing I really started doing was using the items I purchased right away. However, I would usually only make one or two layouts and then move on...so what I decided to do this year is make a list of lines or kits I have purchased but have not completely "used". Then each week, I want to make a layout from one of the lines/kits. I plan to do this for Project Life and card kits as well. Basically, this is my way of "using my stash".

Now as far as buying supplies goes, this is always a hot topic on scrapbooking message boards so the subject is definitely discussed a lot. I have thought a lot about what I have purchased, what I use, how much stash I like to have, etc. and what I have decided for 2014 is to really try and just buy the kits I purchase from Studio Calico and not try to buy much "regular" supplies beyond that. I will probably need an album or two and I would like to purchase a few more copics and maybe some basic manual dies but that is really it. I have to admit I do have a weakness for Thicker deals from TJ Maxx or Tuesday Morning or Marshall's..so I will probably end up purchasing some of those at some point but am trying to minimize it!

The reason I have decided to keep my kits is I really like getting new supplies each month and the challenge of using something I didn't necessarily pick out myself. That part definitely sparks my creativity! It also helps to know you have new supplies coming so you don't need to save a special embellishment, etc...You need to use it as you will be getting more the next month.

I plan to post my layouts that I make from the items in my stash on my blog each week so hopefully you can check it out and maybe get some ideas on using some of your stash. My hope is to do the posts on Wednesdays.

Now for a layout because what is a blog post without some sort of picture/layout??

This one started with the Sundries paper from the Modern Mercantile line by Lisa Dickinson for Jenni Bowlin Studio. I decided to cut the paper on the chevron lines and was planning to mount it on another piece of paper but couldn't find one that I thought worked well until I came across this handwritting paper in yellow from the Baby Edition paper pack from Becky Higgins. I loved how the two looked paired together. I actually then set it aside and didn't use it for awhile. I then saw the paper in my stash and thought, I need to do a baby layout of Eli with this paper so here it is. I used some other papers from my stash and some others from the Baby Edition paper pack as well. For the embellishments, I used some cameo cuts as well as the some die cuts and stick pins from Jillibean Soup. Here are a few close up pictures:

Definitely love and miss those chunky cheeks!

If you made it to the end of this lengthy post, thanks for reading and I hope it maybe sparked some ideas for you to use your stash this year. Thanks for stopping by!

Megan

Plans for 2014 Project Life

With the new year, a lot of those doing Project Life start contemplating how they will "do" Project Life this year. (If you are unfamiliar with PL, you can learn more about Project Life HERE.) I of course am like everyone else and have thought about it too. I have gotten behind this year mainly after both my grandmothers passed away and then Brian took a head coaching job and we were selling our house. I was busy during that time to say the least. I am slowly catching up. I have 14 weeks of PL left for 2013 (mainly in the middle of the year) and I hope to finish it up in January.

(My Volume 2 title page I quickly put together this morning. I used the Midnight Edition.)

Through this, I have come to find what works best for me. I do really like doing PL but I find that I like it the most when I get it finished quickly. To best accomplish this, I plan to use one side of a page protector for each week instead of a whole spread. This of course makes me have to weed out some photos, but I find that I cover enough and most importantly, it gets done. I am sure there will be some times where I have a full spread for a week - such as holiday weeks - but I am going to try and keep it to a minimum. Also, I have decided to change my weeks from Monday to Sunday to Saturday to Friday. I find that I typically like to work on PL on Saturday or Sunday so the week will be finished before I start working on it.

(Week 18 - which I worked on last night and finished this morning. This is using the Studio Calico Antiquary Project Life kit.)

The other issue I have had is the size. I am not a real fan of the size for my kids. They like to look at the pics but the 12x12 can be rather cumbersome for them to attempt to look at. I however do like creating the 12x12 size. So how am I going to solve this dilemma? Well I have decided to just print a few photos each month and put them in a Studio Calico Hanbook or possibly a Becky Higgins mini album. This way the kids can look at them, but I get to keep my 12x12 size that I enjoy doing.

Like I said I enjoy PL, but I also enjoy scrapbooking 12x12 layouts and making cards so I find this plan should help me to have time to fit all 3 in as much as I can. What about you? What are your plans for your 2014 PL? I would love to hear!

Thanks for stopping by and Happy New Year!
Megan

Merry Christmas!

Hi all! Since it is Christmas Day, I thought I would share our Christmas card from this year. I used one of Becky Higgins' free templates. You can find them HERE. There were a lot of cute designs. I decided on this one mainly because I needed one that worked with a horizontal picture.

I hope you all have a Merry Christmas! Thanks for stopping by!
Megan

PL July 2012 - Part 1

Hi! I am sharing my first spread of my project life for July 2012 today. I am basically only sharing the first spread b/c that is all I have completed! I got the Jade Edition from the HSN sale awhile back and wanted to use it right away....so I dug out my July 2012 photos that were already printed and got started. I need to go back to it but trying to get caught up on 2013 first. Here is my spread:

PL Spread

Right Side - Design A Page Protector

Left Side-Design B Page Protector

Besides the core kit, I used some various items from Fancy Pants, Studio Calico, Glitz Designs, MME and others. If you have any questions about a specific item, let me know. Also, I have seen lots of pictures of core kits being bought at Hobby Lobby on instagram. I am going to check out a HL near me later today and will post back with what I find - if anything! Happy Thursday!

Megan

Project Life-Week 9 2013

I am sharing Week 9 of my Project Life today. I used Glitz Designs' Color Me Happy this week, as well as a lot of other products (I really did not realize how much different product I used until I started linking items!) The Color Me Happy line is such a bright and fun line! I also used sequins for one of the first times (I have used sequins on one or two 12x12 layouts before) and I pretty much fell in love with using them! Someone on the Studio Calico message boards wrote that they used them like enamel dots...This was kind of an "ah-ha" moment for me so I thought I would try it, and I loved the results...plus they are less expensive than enamel dots. I was able to find a huge pack of assorted sequins at my local Michael's. I think they were $2.99 but may have been $3.99. They were in the kids craft area in case anyone wants to look for them. I also used the sequins from Studio Calico's Atlantic collection - love that there is woodgrain sequins in the pack!

Week 9 Spread

Left Side

I tried to stamp more and use more die cuts from my silhouette cameo this week. My key to using the die cuts is to cut them out before hand. Usually when I am cutting one shape for a certain project, I go ahead and cut some other basic shapes or words that I know I will use later.

Right Side

I really like the woodgrain stars in the bottom left corner. They remind me of these stickers in the SC Main Scrapbook Kit-Spencer's. I used an old star punch and some wood grain paper. Then I stapled them with the tiny attacher...Super easy.

To see most of the products I used this week, here is a link to my project at Two Peas. Some of the items are not carried at Two Peas so here are links to some of those items:

-Studio Calico Labels (these change each month with the new kits that come out)

-Fave Journal Card from SC PL kit Neverland (If you like this card, you can buy a digital version to print - Link to Paislee Press card.)
-Rated Journal Card from SC PL Kit Spencer's
-Freckled Fawn Star Washi
-Freckled Fawn Woodgrain Washi
-Webster's Pages Sweet Note-Happy Day Stamp Set
-Webster's Pages Snap & Click Stamp Set
-Basic Grey Hey Boy Alpha
-Scraptastic Everyday is Like Sunday Stamp Set
-Becky Higgins Design A Page Protectors

I am linking up at The Mom Creative.


Thanks for stopping by!

Megan

Project Life - Baby Boy Scrapbook - Max

A week or so ago, Becky Higgins tweeted about a blog post by Katie at Sweet Rose Studio. She is doing Project Life and keeping it simple. Even though I like to add a lot to our weekly pages, I still thought it was great that she was advocating the "keep it simple" approach. I decided to follow along with her and use that method with my son, Max's baby scrapbook. Her first assignment was to complete 2 layouts last week. I completed that "assignment" with Max's scrapbook and am sharing that today.  I have to admit that I did add a few embellishments here and there but kept it simple for the most part.  Here are the pages I completed:

Your Arrival

 Your Arrival - Left side

 Your Arrival - Right Side

 The Day You Were Born

The Day You Were Born - Left side

 The Day You Were Born - Right Side

To keep with the simple approach, I am mainly going to use Design A Page Protectors. I am also sticking to the Baby Boy kit from Becky Higgins, along with the coordinating cardstock.  If you have any questions about any of the other embellishments I used, feel free to ask.

I am linking up at The Mom Creative -

Thanks for stopping by!

Megan