Project 365 - Week 1 Layout

The first I've really known of Project 365 was from last January's Creating Keepsakes Magazine.  I'd heard the term batted around the web and then I came upon the magazine from some back issues I ordered off E-bay - a great way to stretch your educational dollars BTW.

To participate, you just take at least one photo per day for an entire year.  Then you scrapbook the photos by week, month or however you want. I'm doing weeks - Saturday through Friday.  That way I can scrap the previous week over a weekend - in theory anyway.

This project provides several benefits.  It encourages me to take photos of daily life - not just travel or special occasions.  I've been doing a lot more of that the last couple of years but I still look for the extraordinary moments and miss how we spend our normal days.  Also, I wanted to experiment with a lot of scrapbooking styles and techniques.  I'm not going to have a pattern to my pages other than to capture each week on a page or spread. 

"Daily life" this week was a little out of the ordinary as we were completing the bulk of our bathroom redecorating project.  Most of my photos related to the process plus a couple of other things like going out for the day.  I noticed as I took the photos that I had quite a bit of the color red repeating.  So I printed out all the photos with red in them in color and turned all the others to black and white.  Check off one new technique for me right there.

Also, I had an idea how I wanted to arrange the photos which of course got tweaked but it is basically what was in my head.  What I didn't plan on were papers.  I love designer paper.  Sometimes when I'm playing with stamping and inking techniques for cards I think that I ought to just buy more cardstock and do my own background pages.  Today I have a whole new appreciation for designer paper and why it works for me.

Since I had papers pulled out for Valentines, it was easy to see what I had in reds and it wasn't that much to go with these photos.  So then I pulled out some inks and here is my first effort at background paper...

I distressed the paper with 3 SU colors.  It's actually pretty.  However, it does nothing at all for these photos.  The color scheme is too soft.  And that red frame I was planning to use on the photo?  Forget it.  I stared at this a long time before I finally let the idea go.

The real irony is that I initially regretted buying wallpaper for our bathroom.  I'd spent more than I intended and felt I "should" be able to faux finish the room myself with all the skills I've learned, the tools I have available to me.  Well, maybe I could have.  But I tell you, just doing 2 12x12 pages of distressing was tedious to me.  And my bathroom has about 400 square feet of wall space.  If I could hardly get through 2 square feet, where would I have gotten with 400?!!  Better use my talents on fabric and paper, leaving walls to the experts.

Anyway, sometimes you just have to go in the complete opposite direction.  Rather than start with white background paper, I got out some black and was amazed at the difference.  (Score another one for something different.) I still wouldn't say this is my favorite layout ever yet it is far closer to the message I was trying to get across for my first week of Project 365 and it lets the photos really tell the story.

The Cricut also got a workout on the easy border. More on that another time ...

Ingredients:  Stamps:  Snap Frame Alpha by Autumn Leaves 
Ink:  Versamark
Font:  Batang
Ribbon:  Stampin' Up!

Remembering '09 SAB

2010 Sale-a-bration (SAB) is on at Stampin' Up!  I've got my eye on the new border punch and one of the stamp sets.  I can earn either of these with a $50 purchase of SU products. 

This card celebrates the pretty things available in last year's SAB.  The envelope is made with the Cricut and I lined the little envelope in '09 SAB designer paper.   I didn't do a great job stamping my greeting so I went over it with a Zig marker.  It kinds of looks handwritten - but much neater than my real handwriting :-)

Ingredients:  Stamps:  Polka Dot Punches from Stampin'  Up!; Polka Dot Basics from Papertrey Ink; greeting from Inkadinkado

Cardstock and Ink colors:  So Saffron, Certainly Celery, Bashful Blue, Sahara Sand

Ribbon:  Certainly Celery from '09 SAB

Green Guy Cards

This week's color challenge at Splitcoaststampers is to use Bermuda Bay, Handsome Hunter and Certainly Celery.  I'm all for that as greens are my favorite colors. 

The branch is first stamped in Handsome Hunter.  Then I stamped again as a shadow in Certainly Celery. One ended up more over the original image than the other creating an actual change in color.  Not sure which I like best.

I love this combo so much I've got another card idea running around in my head.   The wallpaper hanger is here today; maybe I can sneak upstairs and get another quick card done...

Ingredients (all Stampin' Up!):  Stamps:  Kindred Spirits, Kind and Caring Thoughts, Itty Bitty Backgrounds
Ink:  Bermuda Bay, Handsome Hunter, Certainly Celery, Choc Chip
Cardstock:  Whisper White, Handsome Hunter, Certainly Celery
Ribbon:  Bermuda Bay

TIPsy Tuesday - Spacious Pockets

Putting pockets on scrapbook pages lets you store a lot of stuff related to your subject.  I almost always have one pocket page per trip when I scrapbook our travels.  The pocket will hold brochures, postcards, train schedules and other momentos that remind me of our trip yet I don't want to devote lots of scrapbooking real estate to them.

Another place I use pockets is for keeping extensive journaling.  This year's 2009 wrap up and 2010 resolutions are printed on several sheets of narrow white cardstock I've attached with binder clips, staples and other decorative fasteners.  I can pull out last year's summary to see what went on during the year or easily refer to my resolutions and objectives for 2010.

I find two challenges with pockets.  First is getting the pocket sturdy enough the adhesive doesn't come loose.  The two best options I find are to stitch the pocket with the sewing machine.  This can be decorative stitching or you can cover it over with other paper and embellishments.  When using adhesive, Creative Memories photo tape is my favorite.  Just be certain where you want it because it is immediately permanent.  I haven't tried the red sticky tape.

The second challenge is space.  If you are just slipping a couple of flat items into a pocket, no big deal.  However, if you have many pages as I did here, you need a little extra space.  To get a little extra room:

1.  First, adhere the bottom of the pocket to your layout within one inch on each end.  

2.  Place the pocket paper (in this case my photos printed on matte paper) over a spacer.  I used a couple of pieces of folded felt since I had some handy.  (One would have probably been enough here.) You could also use a thin notepad.

3.  Add adhesive to the sides carefully smoothing the paper down.

Note: If you are working with a striped background, your edges are not going to look lined up.  You may want to plan on covering the edges of your pocket with more paper, flowers or other embellishments.

4.  Remove your spacer and you'll have lots of room for what the pocket is meant to hold.

Ingredients:  Designer Papers Fancy Pants Delight and Daily Grind collections

Binder Clips, mini folders, book plate, brads:  Fancy Pants Daily Grind collection

polka dot brads by Oriental Trading

Ribbon:  Polka Dot in Dusty Durango by Stampin' Up!

Braces Border

I'll have the full view of this layout in tomorrow's TIPsy Tuesday post about pockets.  Here is a little peek at the border for the pocket.  Most of the supplies are from Fancy Pants and I got the idea for this from one of the journaling tags in the collection.  It had a row of braces {} turned sides ways - one up, one down going through the middle of the tag. 

For this border, I cut braces uses the Plantin Schoolbook cartridge on the Cricut.  The Tempting Turqoise ones are cut with the Rolly Polly option and the others from a piece of designer paper are just the regular braces.  I layered mine on top of each other rather than end to end to cover all of my paper at the top of the pocket and also to get one centered over the rising "2010." 

It was a really fast and cheap border for this page.  I just love the Cricut!  (No kidding, right?)

Ingredients:  Designer Paper and embellishments: Fancy Pants Delight and Daily Grind collections
Ribbon:  SU! Dusty Durango
Cardstock:  Tempting Turquoise by SU!

Revisiting the Recap

I just finished my 2009 Summary/2010 Plans page.  I've scrapbooked my summary and objectives for the last three years.  I'll post this latest page on Tuesday because I have a tip to share that goes with doing pockets.

When you see it, you'll notice that it is a bit busy. I seem to put a lot on these year-end summary pages.  For some reason I usually do Our scrapbook pages as 2 page spreads and the ones for My album as singles. 

Here is my page from 2007/2008.  I said "good riddance" to 2007 for my own personal reasons.  Little did I know then what would be happening with the economy and that I should have been more grateful for the full employment I, my friends and family enjoyed.  Nevertheless, there were challenges I was glad to overcome.

Each section is under a "tab" made from a scalloped circle.  Lots of Creative Memories photo tape keeps the pages bound on the right.

The thing I enjoy most about this process is writing the "In Addition To" section where I list all kinds of things that weren't really planned but were accomplished anyway.  It makes me feel good to see that I really did get a lot of valuable things done.  If you ever feel low, pull out a sheet of paper or start a new document in your word processor and start brainstorming all the things you've done outside of your everyday work responsibilities in the last month or year.  You'll be amazed.

I put a lot of time and resources into these pages.  I imagine these to be ones I'll spend a lot of time looking at someday wondering why I obsessed about certain things and what I really did that was important to me and to others.

Ingredients:  I don't remember where all these supplies came from but I do know that:
the stamps are Big Flowers from Stampin' Up!  The ink is SU! also.
Background paper is DCWV.

After tree "un"trimming and lots of painting, I was ready yesterday for something creative but nothing too time consuming.  Rub-on's are the perfect ingredient for a quick card.  Everything here except the button is Stampin' Up!  For the button, I used an SU! rub-on on this plain light teal button.

The Basic Grey rub-on roller is a neat accessory for applying rub-ons.  I've also used that little scrapper that comes with Pampered Chef stones.  It does a nice job, too.

Ingredients:  DSP:  Western Sky by Stampin' Up!
Ribbon:  Baja Breeze, Whisper White grosgrain

Happy New Decade!

Butterflies signify life so this card seemed like a good one for the new year and new decade.

Where were you when the last decade rolled in? We actually went to bed early on December 31, 1999 with an alarm set so we would wake up and be awake for those few minutes before midnight. We got up about 11:45 p.m. and saw in the new millennium. The world didn’t come to an end, so we went back to bed.

Can you believe it has been 10 years since we celebrated – or slept our way into - the new millennium. Amazing things – both marvelous and horrifying - have happened. Many wonderful things have happened in my life. I got married, had my most (and least) lucrative years career wise, tried different careers, acquired a design certificate, learned new hobbies, traveled to Australia and several other fun places, helped my oldest stepdaughter with her wedding, became a step-step-grandmother, and threw my parents a fabulous golden anniversary party. I also lost some really dear people in my life this decade that I miss every day. I’m thankful for all those who are still here to usher in 2010. May the 20-teens be the best ever!

And now, back to those resolutions I was yammering on about yesterday. I like to keep my objectives private but here is one of my New Year’s Resolutions. I’m trying three again this year. If I made it through 2 last year, maybe I can make all of them this year.

"I will complete Project 365."

Are you familiar with Project 365? You commit to taking at least one photo every day and scrapbooking photos weekly. I’ll talk more about what I want to do with the scrapbooking part of this in a later post.

So that is one of my resolutions and probably the most time consuming. I've really been looking forward to this projecct and have lots of ideas.  What are you committing to this year?