living artfully

week in the life :: monday

With "Week in the Life" underway, I'm mostly focused on taking photos and writing notes to pull the album together. But I did take the time to put together Monday's pages in the album to get a sense of how the album is going to come together.

 

Last year's album was suuuuper time consuming to pull together. Lesson learned = if I make things too complicated, it may not get done. So as you may recall, the plan is for all hipstamatic pictures taken with my iPhone. For journaling, I'm doing a recap of each day, plus a spot for headline news. That's it!

 

 

My husband and I are NPR geeks; one of my favorite parts of last year's album is actually the news headlines so headlines are going on the back of the opening page for each day.

 

So far I haven't been gathering much paper memorabilia. A result of being at a cabin for two of the three days so far? Maybe? There are also more photos per day making their way into the album. So I guess this is the year of photos rather than memorabilia. I'm definitely okay with that.

Once the album is put together, I may go back and add some spray ink or more embellishment. But even if it stays as is, I do love how the photos and papers look together. So glad I decided to play along!

How is your week in the life project going?

hugs, sharyn

still lifting

Last week I mentioned that scraplifting helped get me back into the swing of making 12x12 layouts. Well I have a few more lifts to share with you! As I spend time catching up on my 2010 album, these scraplifts are helping me make quick pages, but still with designs that I love.

 
inspiration layout by Lisa Dickinson

 
inspiration layout by Nicole Harper

 
inspiration layout by Lisa Truesdell

The "28 Years" layout about my husband's birthday is seriously one of my most favorite layouts ever. I just love the colors and patterns in real life.

My scraplifting marathon has ended and I'm now in a stretch of layouts loosely inspired by sketches or dreamt up on my own. Gosh does it feel great to finally have some more layouts in my 2010 album!  Scraplifting has been good to me lately. I think I'll keep it in mind again for catching up on layouts!

PS - Today is the first day of Ali's Week in the Life. It's free to join and never too late to start documenting. So if you're thinking of playing along, you should! I've got my iPhone close by for lots of hipstamatic pictures and am excited to get started.

hugs, sharyn

do you lift?

It seems that scraplifting is a love/hate thing. Some swear by it; and for others it's just not their cup of tea. I usually fall into the latter half, but I find that sketches and scraplifting are a great way to jump back into scrapping and get out of a rut.

It's also a great way to get a tone of pages done fast. To get myself back into the swing of things, I've been on one long scraplifting marathon. And you know what? I love these layouts because of the memories. I'm glad to have these recorded and am not wasting time worrying that I wasn't creative enough.

 
inspiration layout by Kelly Purkey

 
inspiration layout by Geralyn Sy

 
inspiration layout by Celine Navarro

If you check out the originals, you'll see that I followed the inspiration layouts very closely. If I'm inspired by another layout, it's usually to try a technique or photo placement... not to all out scraplift it. This was an interesting change of pace for me. Just the jumpstart I needed!

What's your take on scraplifting? Love it or hate it?

hugs, sharyn

week in the life plans

I mentioned this yesterday, but I haven't been making layouts. Haven't been taking pictures regularly, either. It's been a scrapbooking drought over here! I was annoyed but generally okay with my lack of scrapping effort; I feel creativity comes in waves and knew it'd be back eventually. I had little intention of scrapping anytime soon... until I read the other day about Ali's plans for the 2011 Week in the Life. It hit me: I do not want to miss this. This album, this experience, this opportunity to document our unique daily perspective.

So I'm on board. And I'm already feeling thankful, and of course excited! Last year's album was complex and difficult to maintain. So this year I'm going for doable.

My biggest change of plans is that instead of standard photos, I'm going to do the album in hipstamatic pictures from my iPhone, which I seriously love. All the photos will be little square pictures with retro coloring. And square photos = a need for different page protectors. After some searching, I found two great styles.

 

I'll be using We R Memory Keepers 3x3-pocket & 6x12-pocket page protectors, probably for the opening of each day. And I'm envisioning the We R Memory Keepers 4x4-pocket page protectors to add more photos and memorabilia. All I'll have to do is resize my hipsta pictures before printing. No cropping or configuring into collages.

 

For the hipstamatic photos, I'll be using the Chunky lens and Ina's 1969 film. It's the same combo I used for the 700+ hipsta photos I took on our recent trip to NYC. Love the leaks of red/pink.

I'm loving the color scheme of the papers for my album:
 

I'm really excited for the direction I'm taking this album! It feels great to be easing back into scrapbooking; so happy to have that creative feeling again :)

Are you playing along with Ali's Week in the Life?

hugs, sharyn

unfinished projects

Raise your hand if you have unfinished scrapbooking projects. I'm over here, throwing both hands up in the air!

I think most crafters have unfinished layouts and projects... and that this can be an unfortunate source of guilt or embarrassment. It's not always fun to admit that you didn't complete a class or finish an album you started.

When I recently shared my completed December album, some of you shared that you weren't able to complete yours. I may have finished this project, but I have my own list of old projects that aren't quite done yet. Like my Project 365 from 2010. I started using Becky Higgins' Project Life kit, but didn't like the format as much as I had expected. At first I felt guilty for giving up on the album, especially because the kit wasn't cheap. But I've moved on from worrying about the unused kit and have decided on a different digital format for the photos from my 365. It will be a book that I can print through a printer like Shutterfly, and now it's something I can actually finish.

 

And my Week in the Life album from 2010. Well, it's not even close to being done. Turns out I'm not crazy about editing and resizing that many photos. When Ali Edwards announced earlier this week that she'll be repeating the project this summer, I honestly felt a little panic. But wait, I'm not done yet!! How can we be starting again?! Momentary panic aside, I realized it's so not a big deal. I love the album and want to finish it, so I will pick up bits and pieces when I'm feeling inspired to. When I look back on it years from now, it's not going to matter how quickly I finished the album.

 

 

There's also the high school album I want to make, inspired by Cathy Zielske's Me: The Abridged Version class. Paper has been purchased and I've started my journaling. And, well, that's it. As for classes, those are sometimes hard to finish, too. I signed up for Shimelle's True Stories class and never managed to participate. Thank goodness for "forever access!"

Sometimes a project takes a while; that's perfectly okay. As long as it's still something you want to do, take your time! If you're absolutely dreading the crafting project, maybe it's time to rethink if it's something you even want to complete. Rachel from Small Notebook recently shared a thought-provoking post on breaking  up with old hobbies and projects. The lesson: just because you started it, you don't have to finish it. It's a great read.

What are your thoughts on unfinished projects?

hugs, sharyn

december daily - journal your christmas: 17-31

The snow is just finally melting away here in Wisconsin. And as the last signs of the season disappear, I finished up my Journal Your Christmas album. There were a number of things I decided to change this year from my previous albums, like following JYC, keeping a consistent page size with flat embellishments, and including December 26th-31st in the album. The verdict? I loved it!

Here are my pages for December 17th through the 31st...

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I waited to bind the album until it was complete, so I could add photos and embellishments all the way to the inner edges. So glad I made that decision; I love the full page photos and couldn't have done this if the album had rings from the beginning.

 

 
click on any image for full-size
to see the full album, visit "dec daily / jyc: 2010"
for all december album posts, visit "december daily / jyc"

Is it crazy that I caught myself wishing for snow and Christmas again?!

hugs, sharyn

one little word check-in

We're nearly a quarter of the way into 2011! Where does the time go?! My one little word for the year is simplify.

 
 Studio Calico OLW challenge by Davinie Fiero

Some of my favorite ways this word is influencing me this year? The less is more philosophy has helped us to streamline a variety of things, from our purchases to our mealplans. We found a super-useful (and free!) online system for keeping track of our budget and savings goals. And we're meal planning with easier recipes, two weeks at a time. That planning time up-front equals less grocery trips, less obsessing over what to make at the last minute, and less time spent on preparing food. Love it!

We still have other changes in mind, like cleaning out our ca-raaaazy basement. And I'd love to change up our cleaning routine with simple homemade cleaners (that are hopefully more ecofriendly, too!). And of course just continuing to think about what we're bringing into the house and what we're committing to. The "simplify" approach is helping us focus on needs vs wants, and on whether something is worth our time and/or money.

How are you doing with your one little word?

december daily - journal your christmas: 12-16

Between the baking and holiday parties this weekend, I found a little time for my December album. The more I add to this album, the more I love it. I love flipping through the pages and seeing what they make as a whole. 

Here are my pages for December 12th through the 16th...

 

 

 

 

 
 
click on any image for full-size
to see the full album, visit "dec daily / jyc: 2010"

Fingers crossed that I can get in a little more crafting time tonight and tomorrow night!

 

december daily - journal your christmas: 07-11

Can you believe next Saturday is Christmas?! We're staying calm and festive around here. And I'm still very much enjoying my December album. This weekend I'm working on the pages from the past week. In the meantime, here are a few more completed pages...

 

 

 

 

 

click on any image for full-size
to see the full album, visit "dec daily / jyc: 2010"

Tonight, we are off to a party at one of my dear friend's houses. Each year she hosts an "ugly sweater party." It's always an excellent time and it's become a favorite tradition to find the ugliest Christmas sweater possible. Here's a little sneak at what I'll be wearing tonight ;)

 

Hope you are enjoying your pre-Christmas festivities!

 

december daily - journal your christmas: 02-06

Can I just say how much fun I'm having with Journal your Christmas?! I love how the prompts are helping me to approach each day in a new way. Don't get me wrong; I also love December Daily. I think the combo of the two has been the perfect blend of themes and daily memories. At first, I wasn't sure if I should sign up for JYC but I'm so glad I did.

Here are my latest pages for my album, December 2nd-6th. It's fun having a few pages already done to flip through...

 

 

 
 
 

 

click on any image for full-size
to see the full album, visit "dec daily / jyc: 2010"

How are things coming along with your December album? I hope that you've been enjoying the process so far!