30 Days of Thankful (Week 2)

 

Week 2:

 

Tuesdays with Barry (lunch with my dad)

Earth (making better choices)

Inspiration (reading magazines)

His love (my husband)

Her smile (Tater)

Friendships (sound of teen girl chatter in the home)

Happy Mail (Studio Calico monthly shipments)

 



 

Loving how simple this is, but gets me to think on a daily basis about all the little things in life that I am so grateful for.

Want more info about this project? Read about it here.

30 Days of Thankful

Wanna take 30 days to reflect on what is good about your life?

It's that simple.

Big things. Little things.

30 Days of Thankful.

Yep. I'm in.

I'll be playing along with Cathy Zielske. Click here for all the details.



I dug through my Sunshine and Seafoam Project Life kits and pulled out 30 60 3x4 cards (30 different designs). I used glue dots to adhere the matching cards back to back. I'll be punching a hole in the top left corner of each card and attaching them on a ring.

My plan is to take a photo for each day of the month, capturing something I'm thankful for in my life. The photo will go on the front of the card and a short explanation on the back.

Bam. Done.

Oh yeah. Check back here on Sundays to see weekly updates. It will help keep me accountable.

Cause sometimes I start a project and never complete it.......

Boston mini-book 2011

Yep. That title says 2011. I have a ton of unfinished projects around here (head nod, you know you do too). So I'm trying to tackle some of them. And today I finished the Boston album.

Last October, work wanted me to use some of my PTO (paid time off). So I thought I would visit my brother and his fiancee (now wife), But he has a life now, and a rather busy one, and the timing wasn't the best for them. So what's a girl to do with some approved PTO? Go visit her besties in Boston. By herself. Even though said girl (and her husband) were in Boston 4 months earlier for her Day of Love v.19.0.

So, for 4 days, I got to enjoy time with the boys (Freddie and Warren). And had a fabulous time.

Yes I did.

So here is a peek at some of the mini-book pagers:

Front cover (back cover same with map print). Album is actually a rectangle shape (see below).

Inside of front and back covers (paper with paint around edges).

Inside pages are black (book came that way). I added some bright pieces of paper to about half the pages. This is the only embellishment in the book, Otherwise just my awesome white gel pen sharing the stories.

 

I tore half the pages out of the book, then reattached them with that polka dot washi tape. That way, each page folded out for a bigger layout. So, when you flipped out both sides, it was really like looking at 4 pages at once. Pretty cool! (striped background is my desk, not part of the book)

Some pages have photos, others quotes.

And some just have journaling.

I like how this book came together. Simple, yet cute. And I have really been trying to work on the journaling part of my mini-books. To record some of the unique, little moments along with the bigger ones.

And in this book, I even included some research. Yes, I'm nerdy like that. I walked around Harvard when we went into Boston for the day, so I added some history of the school to one of my journaling pages.

Hope you enjoyed. Hope you are finding time this summer to document some of your favorite memories. Either fresh ones or even ones from your past. It's never too late!

Spring Break Mini Album

Hello everyone.  I know Spring Break was over 3 months ago, but I just now finished the mini album (started it yesterday). I even have some unfinished projects that are older (2011 December Daily would be one of them). So, I'm crazy about this album because it has lots of everything. Photos, receipts, brochures, journaling....but not lots of everything for every day. It just seems like the right balance for documenting the trip.

See all the bits and pieces sticking out? Love it!

I used a Smash book that I decorated before the trip. Just added random bits of paper and embellishments (Disneyland themed and colored) and stamps (ocean animals for the beach days). And I pulled a few things from my stash.

I packed a gallon size Ziploc bag in my purse to hold anything and everything I might want to save from the trip. I save everything that is flat and can be added to an album. Then I make decisions later as to what goes into the album and what gets tossed. This trip I saved extra copies of stuff to share with Chelsey, since she wanted to make her own album.

So, now we are back from the trip, photos are printed, and free time is available. I decorated the cover with a panda photo that was included in the photo pack I purchased at the San Diego Zoo. Didn't even know it was there until I was digging through my Ziploc bag! Out came the gel medium and I had an instant cover. I also added the Mickey key chain that I picked up while at Disneyland.

So here are a few of the pages out of the album.

Brochures and parking stubs for hotel.....

Simple pages...

pages with just journaling....

You can see that I used washi tape to layer photos again in the album. I like that I can fit so many photos on one page, but not have it so cluttered.

photo booth strips and entrance tickets to zoo....

Disneyland postcard (sent to my house before the trip) and my photo on the bottom...

lunch receipt and journaling...

Page documenting the trip cost.  I questioned doing this (do I want to share costs with other people that might see this album?), but in the end I wanted to include this because I have wanted to refer back to costs of previous trips before. And it will be fun to see what the costs are 10 years from now.

This is another first in a vacation mini album: the notes to self for future vacations. Sometimes the memories fade and I don't remember things that may be useful in the future. So now I have a place to note things.

I highly recommend these Smash books. They are just so fun and they come with the pen/glue stick attached to the book. The glue does not work great with photos, so I just use washi tape instead. The glue does work great with paper items though.

Have you used a Smash book yet? What project have you used your book for?