December Daily 2013 Beginnings - with Reverse Confetti

It's the 8th of the month and I'm so excited to be playing along in another Blog Hop with the Reverse Confetti team! Last month's release was full of holiday magic, as well as some gorgeous everyday sentiments - the perfect combination to help me get started on my 2013 December Daily Album! Today I'll be sharing the first few documentation pages of my album, and I shared the "opening pages" (like the one pictured above) last month using more Reverse Confetti stamps - if you missed that post, you can see it HERE. While I'll be showing ways to incorporate these fun stamps into your December Daily album or other holiday memory keeping projects, the rest of the Confetti Crew and special guests will help you start thinking of those small gifts, tags, treats, or just sweet notes to spread the "Merry" this season!

The hop started over on the Reverse Confetti Blog, and you should have made it here from the fabulous Amy Sheffer's Blog. It would be worth your while to start at the beginning, so you don't miss a thing! And don't forget to leave a little love along the way for a chance to win some Reverse Confetti goodies of your own!

Now, on to my December Daily Album. If you're not familiar with December Daily, it's an album project - conceptualized by Ali Edwards - that documents the 25 days leading up to Christmas (some people start their documentation earlier and many people go longer). This will be my 3rd year creating a December Daily Album and I absolutely love both the process and the final outcome. However, this year I decided to do something a little different. Instead of documenting my month on a true DAILY basis (photo-a-day style), I decided to be more laid back and just create more of a Holiday themed mini-album. I won't do a page per day, but will rather just capture an overview of our holiday memories for the month. So some days may have several pages of documentation and then there will be several days without any documentation. We'll see how this goes this year and then I'll decide which format I prefer going forward. 

The first page of documentation this year highlights the arrival of our family's Elf on the Shelf, Scout. (For all of the following photos, you should be able to click on them to pull up an enlargement to see them a little closer if you want to see any of the detail).

Scout usually brings Dean a special gift (a Lego Advent Calendar) along with a letter basically telling him to be good, or else. I used some fun digital goodies by Emily Merritt on this page, which paired perfectly with that "Special Delivery from the North Pole" stamp from the Reverse Confetti Tinsel 'n Trim set. I stamped that sentiment in Versamark ink and embossed it with silver glittery Zing embossing powder. It looks so fun! I added a few other embellishments and it was done!

The next page features an enlarged photo of Dean at the end of a long day of decorating, when I made him put on those elf ears and take a picture in front of the tree. He refused to smile. The "Don't get your tinsel in a tangle" sentiment from Tinsel 'n Trim seemed fitting! The facing page has four 3x4 pockets. I stamped the "Joy" sentiment inside the red star of an Emily Merritt printable and added the "Ho. Ho. Ho." sentiment to the top of a printable journal card and journaled about the photo of Dean in the elf ears. Both the "Joy" and "Ho. Ho. Ho." sentiments are from Tinsel 'n Trim as well. I added a few wood veneer speech bubble words to the top right pocket and sewed it closed, then added an instagram photo of Dean decorating the tree to a journal card and created the hashtag awesome sentiment with the Arrows 'n Elements set.

And the last layout I'm sharing today continues with our Tree Trimming. I created a simple and fun 3x4 journal card by adding the red diagonal stripes from the So Stripey set to the top of a preprinted "Who, What, When, Where, Why" card by Becky Higgins (it's hard to see in the photo, but those words are along the left side of the card), then filled it in. I also stamped the Picture Perfect sentiment from Tinsel 'n Trim onto another Emily Merritt printable to create a quick & easy filler card. And finally, I enlarged a photo of Dean and I putting some finishing touches on the tree (with a photo bomb from one of our cats - do you see her? LOL) and added a few simple embellishments along with the "bring on the Merry" sentiment I created using the Bring on the Merry set.

And that's it from me today. Now head on over to Sarah Gough's blog. And remember, leave a comment on each stop for a chance to win a $15 gift certificate to Reverse Confetti. Comments are open until Tuesday, December 10th at 2pm CST, and the winner will be announced on the "Wednesday in the Works" post over on the Reverse Confetti blog!

Thanks for hopping along!

December Daily 2012 Finished Pages - Part 1

Well, since it's almost time to start sharing my 2013 December Daily, I thought I'd go ahead and do a couple of quick posts to finally share my finished 2012 December Daily Album, since I never got around to doing that last year! I'll break this into 2 (VERY photo-heavy) posts over the next few days, keep the jibber jabber to a minimum and just let the photos speak for themselves. If anyone has any questions about products used, please leave a comment and I'll add the answers to the end of the post. For some reason, blogger is not letting me reply to comments and lately I haven't been able to send e-mail responses to comments either (I'm not sure if this is a new blogger feature or what, but I haven't been able to figure out any changes in my settings, so if you've asked me a questions recently - I haven't been ignoring you - I just can't figure out a way to respond! My e-mail address is in my profile, please feel free to e-mail me directly). Ok, here goes...

The photos aren't the best quality, but because of time constraints I'm not going to spend time editing them and trying to get the best shots. I think they're good enough for you to get the idea.

I did order the Studio Calico kit last year and used printables by Ali Edwards (available through Designer Digitals). I also used printables by Geralyn Sy (her shop is called In a Creative Bubble), lots of washi tape and random stuff from my stash.

Cover:

 

 

The past 2 years I've used one of these calendar grids to document the "bigger events" of the month:

It's also become tradition to start my album with a "bucket list" of sorts. Just before the month begins, we sit down as a family and come up with a list of all the things we want to do leading up to Christmas. Most of them end up being holiday-themed activities, but not all. (and yes, I realized later that some things accidentally got listed twice. That's OK).

And then the daily documentation begins. I think most of this is pretty self explanatory...

 

 So there you have the first 12 days of my 2012 December Daily Album! I'll be back sometime this weekend to share the last half of the album, and then look for a post in about a week where I'll be sharing the progress of my 2013 album!

Project Life 2013, Week 42

Week 42: October 13 - October 19, 2013

Around here, we were busy but I didn't take a ton of photos during the week. Dean worked very hard on a big Homework Project and did a fantastic job. Yes, I helped him a bit, but most of it was his own work. We used my Silhouette to cut out some of the shapes and the words, but other than that, it was all Dean! (But I'm glad we started early, because it took him FOREVER to get this project done and he lost steam frequently, but he persevered and it turned out great! Go Dean!). Joel and I enjoyed a Date Night while doing some amazing and meaningful volunteer work.  Dean and I went on a beautiful hike together Saturday morning while Joel watched football alone (it was too beautiful a morning to stay cooped up inside). And because I had a glaring hole, I took the opportunity to document that gas prices on Maui have dropped by about 30 to 40 cents over the past several weeks - down to about $4.35/gallon! yay! (that's the lowest we've been in a long long time!)

I stuck with my standard Seafoam core kit and mixed in a fun List of Favorite Books card that I had Dean fill out (from the Wellington Childhood Mini Kit). I also used LOTS of fun Emily Merritt products this week. I used one of her Transparency overlays on the far left 3x4 photo and love the way that looks! Her Speak No. 1 hand-drawn words made a few appearances ("The Adventure Begins" and "very favorite" on the hiking photos). And I also mixed in various cards and printables from Water Play, Shine, Beautiful You, and True Statement Cards No. 2.

And that's it for Week 42!

I will be sharing a link to this post on The Mom Creative blog.

Project Life 2013, Week 41

Week 41: October 6 - October 12, 2013

This was a great week. I really tried to force fall, even though on Maui that's sometimes hard to do. Joel and Dean spent their Daddy/Dean time at the beach Sunday morning. Dean was super excited to get a Rainbow Loom, although it's still a little hard for his 6-yr-old fingers to master alone. Dean and I spent Friday in Lahaina (he was out of school for Fall Break), picking up some Lush on Front Street (and stopping for some delicious pre-lunch Ululani's Shave Ice) and hanging out at Barnes & Noble. Saturday we all headed Upcountry to the Kula Country Farms Pumpkin Patch, which has become a yearly tradition for us. But my very favorite thing this whole week? The photo Joel took of Dean and his friend Rylee Monday afternoon sitting at the dining room table looking through a Project Life Album. So, so precious! That right there, folks, is why I do this.

I'm loving the cohesiveness of the product I used this week. Several cards from the Seasons Edition PL Mini Kit, and a bit from Midnight as well. I also added some of the gray Project Life Alpha Stickers to several cards (so addicted to those!).

And that's it. I'll be back in a few days to share Week 42. Closer and closer to catching up with my Blog Posts!

I will be sharing a link to this post on The Mom Creative blog.
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links.

December Daily 2013 Foundation Pages with Reverse Confetti

 

I'm so excited to be joining the Reverse Confetti Design Team again for this month's New Release Blog Hop! I've used a few of the new Reverse Confetti stamps to help get started on a few of the foundation pages for my December Daily album this year. The rest of the Confetti Crew and special guests are using this month's release to inspire you in all sorts of amazing holiday cards and projects. Come and hop along as we share some creative ideas using all the new products from REVERSE CONFETTI, including five new trendy stamp sets and introducing CONFETTI CUTS. That’s right, Reverse Confetti now carries steel dies, and there are 2 sets to choose from this month. So exciting!

The hop started over on the Reverse Confetti blog, and you should have made it here from Stacey Schafer’s blog. It would be worth your while to start at the beginning of the hop, so you don’t miss a thing. We have tons of inspiration for you to see using all the new Reverse Confetti stamp sets! 

If you're not familiar with December Daily, it's an album project - conceptualized by Ali Edwards - that documents the 25 days leading up to Christmas (some people start their documentation earlier and many people go longer). This will be my 3rd year creating a December Daily Album and I absolutely love both the process and the final outcome. I'm excited to add these new Reverse Confetti stamps to my large stash of products that I'll be using throughout my album this year. I've found that it's helpful for me to create a few basic foundation pages that I tend to use each year before December begins to help get me both in the holiday spirit and get my mojo flowing. Below is what I've done so far. A few of these items were heavily influenced by Ali Edward's own foundation pages this year, but with my own twist using Reverse Confetti stamps.

For the "Title Page" of my album this year, I added gold glitter to a wood veneer "25", then stamped the adorable "Ho.Ho.Ho." sentiment from Tinsel 'N Trim to a strip of red cardstock to add underneath. I attached both of these to a piece of clear acetate and slipped it into the page protector. You'll notice I'm a fan of keeping some pockets of my album semi-open so you can see the fun elements in / on the next page peeking through.

The next page is just fun. It has a little Christmas Countdown card that I plan to let Dean check off each day as I work on my album (he's a fan of checking things off), then a few individual letters sewn into a pocket for each of our initials (Jennifer, Joel & Dean), and another filler card in the bottom right pocket. But the top right pocket is definitely my fave. I filled it with some sequins and sewed the top closed, then simply stapled what seemed like the perfect sentiment right to the outside of the page protector - "peace, love and sparkly stuff" from Tinsel 'N Trim.

My very first December Daily kit came with several of these fabulous Kraft blank calendar grids and I've used one at the beginning of each of my DD albums for a quick overview of our monthly activities - both Holiday and "normal". I cut down a 6x8 page protector and slipped the calendar in, then sewed up the bottom and side, leaving the top open to easily get it in and out for documenting throughout the month. I stamped the fun "dec. 25" circle from the Tinsel 'N Trim set in Versamark ink and heat embossed in red embossing powder on the 25th to highlight Christmas Day. 

Another DD tradition for me has been to include a "Bucket List" of Holiday-ish activities we plan to do throughout the month. Sometime before December 1, we'll sit down as a family and fill this page with a list of all the fun things we want to do leading up to Christmas this year. Yes, each year the list looks very similar to the previous year's list, but that's OK. We usually end up deleting a few things and adding a few new things. Having a list like this helps us stay focused and reminds us that for our family, the holidays are all about spending time together and spreading joy. I used several goodies from my stash and my Studio Calico December Daily kit along with the Bring on the Merry stamp set to create this blank page that's all ready to be filled in very soon. 

I also took some time to embellish a few blank journaling cards to have on hand to make putting together each day's documentation pages a bit easier during the month. I used different stamps from both the Tinsel 'N Trim and Bring on the Merry to create the cards above and will be making several more in the coming weeks. 

As I'm typing up this post, I'm realizing that I never got around to sharing my completed 2011 or 2012 albums on my blog. If you interested, you can see the cover of my 2012 album HERE and the cover and a few foundation pages of my 2011 album HERE. If there's any interested in seeing some photos of the completed album pages of these albums, please let me know and I'll try to do a blog post sometime in the next few weeks. I do definitely plan to share my 2013 album progress throughout the month of December here on my blog (I find that I usually put the finishing touches on my DD album sometime in mid-January).

So that's it for my project today. I hope you’ve enjoyed hopping with us today. Be sure and hop with the Confetti Crew on the 8th of EVERY MONTH for more REVERSE CONFETTI inspiration! Now it’s time to hop on over to Laurie Schmidlin’s blog. If you get lost along the way, you can find the hop order and list of all the participating designers over on the Reverse Confetti blog.

Project Life 2013, Week 39

Week 39: September 22 - September 28, 2013

Our life this week was a perfect example of ordinary. I love that Project Life helps me capture the ordinary! There's really nothing special I need to talk about, it's all pretty self explanatory in the layout I think.

This was the first week I used the new Sunshine Core Kit and I have to say that I love it a lot more than I thought I would! I think I'm really going to like mixing in those bright vibrant colors here and there!  Are you sick of seeing those Arrow Paperclips yet? I'm totally addicted to them and think I've ordered them in just about every color!

And that's it for Week 39. I spent a little time this weekend starting to put together some foundation pages for my 2013 December Daily Album and will be sharing some of that with you this Friday so stay tuned! I also have a few more weeks of Project Life layouts photographed and ready to blog so I'll try to get those posted in the near future. Slowly but surely I'm catching up on my blogging!

I will be sharing a link to this post on The Mom Creative blog.
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links.

Project Life 2013, Week 38

Week 38: September 15 - September 31, 2013

Photo heavy post today because I wanted to show how I sometimes include my son's artwork and / or larger pieces of work in extra inserts. The photo above shows the full layout including the extra insert while the photo below shows the layout with the insert removed (I show closer shots of the front and back of the insert itself later in the post).

Around here, it was a busy week with both normal everyday life thrown into the mix as well as exciting, newspaper-worthy big events going on. The left side of the layout mostly covers the "normal" and is pretty self-explanatory I think. On the right I highlighted the bigger events. At work, we moved into a new clinic (I am a Physical Therapist at Kaiser) and it is a BEAUTIFUL facility. We held the traditional Hawaiian blessing ceremony complete with hula on Monday (it was an amazing ceremony and so moving). Also this week - my Mom and I started a 6-week pottery / handbuilding in clay class at the Hui and a new Grocery Store opened just a few miles from our house (this was very exciting because now we don't have to drive all the way into "town" to go to the store!! For people in Hawaii, anywhere more than a few miles, we think it's SO FAR! lol).

As for products used, of course you'll find my usual Seafoam Core Kit as well as a 3x4 Jade Textured Card. I also used several printable cards by Emily Merritt, including cards from the following kits: My Inventory, Make Today Amazing, and Hashtags No. 1. I also included some bits and pieces from Elle's Studio as extra embellishments.

My son created this super awesome watercolor on Sunday afternoon. I saved the actual watercolor for framing, but wanted to include it in my Project Life album as well. So I simply took a photo of the work and printed it out as a 5x7 (cropping the photo in as close as possible). I slipped it into a Project Life 5x7 Horizontal Page Protector and added it right to the album. When I add extra inserts to my albums, I often attach a simple Self Adhesive Index Tab to make it easy to grab the page protector to flip it over to see the back side.

Also on Sunday afternoon, my son REALLY wanted to make pizza for dinner. He was working quietly in his room and came out and handed Joel this absolutely adorable poem. Just might be one of my favorite things to make it into Project Life so far this year! And it was the perfect thing to slip into the page protector behind his watercolor photo. I love having a place to save things like this!! 

And now some stats, because I think it's fun when Elise Cripe does this, so here ya go:

Ratio of photos taken by Jen to photos taken by Joel: 7 to 2 (and 1 taken by a coworker)
Ratio of Galaxy S4 Phone Photos to "real camera" photos: 10 to 0

I will be sharing a link to this post on The Mom Creative blog.
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links.