Project Life 2014...Week 6

Today I'm sharing Week 6 of my Project Life 2014.  I've got a 2 page spread using Gossamer Blue kits.

 The left page...with lots of cold temperatures and snow.

 The right page...lots of family photos.

 Still love creating a dated, week # insert if space allows.

Charlie photo bombing the pretty pose by the kitties.

 My awesome lazy Susan that Jordan made for me in shop.  I used embellishments from the kits + a Grid Label for typed journaling.

 Workspace Wednesday photos are becoming a nice addition to my albums.

 Cold this week..

 I also had an insert, here with the kids and some sledding.

 A little journaling with sticker words.

 The back side of the insert featuring Josey's power lifting meet.  Girls got some guns and won three medals at her first meet.

This week.....printing photos, designing weekly spreads...hoping to catch up and make some major progress with my Project Life. 

Workspace Wednesday.....Vintage Typewriter

I am so excited for today's Workspace Wednesday post.  I've gotten great response to this new blog series and today I'm featuring one of my favorite scrapbooking tools ever.....and it's something I've gotten tons of emails about.  Let's not hesitate, here's my vintage typewriter:

Isn't she a beauty? You all know I love vintage finds and this one was quite the score.  That I'm able to use it every time I work on a project just makes me all the more happy.  

Here's the details that I know about my typewriter:

Make and Model: 

My typewriter is an Olivetti Underwood Studio 44 manufactured in 1965. There's a great review about this model at this link.  Part of the review says this:"At first glance, you notice the size. For a portable typewriter, it’s rather large. But once you get it on the desk, the sleek lines make it appear more accessible. Olivetti’s are known for their great curves and design. The Studio 44 is no exception. Even the name “studio” suggests an artist at work. This is not your standard office typewriter, but it has the solid mechanicals required for doing work, lots of work."

Manufactured:

Hispano Olivetti Plant in Barcelona, Spain.  Here's another fun article from an Olivetti collector, with a fun photo of the typewriters in a showroom in Italy.  The article says, "Designed by Italian architect Marcello Nizzoli in collaboration with engineer Guiseppe Beccio, the Studio 44's special feel, a perfectly calibrated "resistance" that marks the typing action; not to mention a stability that's close to what you'd get from a standard, are qualities that are pretty hard to beat.  And as an exemplar of Nizzoli's architectural/sculptural stylistic signature, the Studio 44 is a remarkable mod design statement."

I took the photo below of the inside of my typewriter case.  Mine came with the original manual and it's so graphically detailed.  You can tell that an architect designed it. 

Price Point:

This is a hard one because you never know where a typewriter might pop up.  You  might find one at a garage sale for $10 bucks.  A friend called me from a Good Will store and after I said, "Yes I want it!", she paid under $15 bucks for mine, in mint condition.  I see them on Etsy and Ebay starting at $100 or more.  My best advice is to scour the thrift shops often and check online sites every week if you are in the market. Be sure to inquire or test the keys.  I would insist that every key work and not stick if you're looking to use the typewriter for actual typing.  Or make sure that the imperfections can be fixed for a reasonable price by someone who works on them. 

Replacement Ribbons:

Before I knew that vintage typewriter ribbons could be purchased online, I took my ribbon spools to a local office supply store.  When I got them home, the new ribbon spools didn't fit.  So I unwound the old ribbon and wound the new ribbon onto the old spools. A few inky fingers but it worked.  I've used that spool for about 2 years now and am finding I need a replacement.  A quick google search with the make and model of your typewriter will hook you up with lots of results.  I've seen the ribbon I need for less than $10 bucks.  

Now for the fun stuff.  I use my vintage typewriter to do a lot of my journaling for my Project Life.  

Here's some of the products I use, below.

All kinds of labels:

Grid Paper Labels and Notebook Paper Labels are my most used items because they fit easily into my typewriter and are sticky on the back.  I type my journaling then stick them onto my Project Life inserts or photos. I also carry Grid Paper US Map Labels, Notebook Paper Quote Bubble Labels, Grid Paper Arrow Labels, Starburst Grid Paper Labels and Notebook Paper Heart Labels.  You can find them all in my shop. 

All colors and shapes of tags:
Tags are another staple item that I keep handy for my Project Life, cards and gift wrap.  Some of my most used tags are the Medium Manila Parcel Tags and Small White Parcel Tags. I carry lots of sizes int the white and manila tags + I stock a Small Kraft Tag, Small and Medium Gray Parcel Tags and some speciality tag in smaller sizes.  These are all available in my shop as well.

Journaling cards:
Of course I love to use all kinds of 3 x 4 and 4 x 6 journaling cards in my vintage typewriter. Because my handwriting is rather large and loopy, I like to use typewriter journaling because I can tell more of the story due to the smaller typewriter font. I think it looks clean with just a hint of vintage too.  I have a whole stash of journaling cards from various companies.  I design for Gossamer Blue and you can find some of their cards from various kits at this link. I recently helped with the concept design for Gossamer Blue's new Basics Journaling Cards.  Neutral colors with fun lines, grids, dots, ledger patterns, etc. You definitely need these in your stash for Project Life.  I also use them as a fun layer on greeting cards.

How about seeing some of the typewriter journaling in action?  Here's a fun group of photos I compiled that show examples of my typewriter journaling + products I discussed.  

For those that love Instagram or square photos, the Grid Paper Labels fit perfectly below them.  

Here I placed a Notebook Paper Label with typewriter journaling + a date stamp directly onto my photo.  

Here I divided one label to use on two separate photos, in two separate photo slots.  

I used a Grid Paper Label over a photo with some stamping overlapping my journaling.

Here's one of the fun shape labels I offer, the Grid Paper Arrow Label.  If you leave some blank space when you take photos, the labels fit in perfectly.

Perfect for a Valentine themed week, I used a Notebook Paper Heart Label layered with a sticker and enamel dots. 

On to the tags, I used a Medium Manila Parcel tag here with typed journaling + various stickers.  This was stitched on a 3 x 4 journaling card for my 2013 December Memories album. 

Here I used an XL Manila Parcel Tag to fit right into a 3 x 4 journaling slot.  I just trimmed some length off the card, typed my journaling and added a square photo.

A Small Manila Parcel Tag was used on a photo with typed journaling, a date stamp + a piece of a sticker border stamp.  Love this, gosh I need to revisit my past Project Life pages.  I'm finding oodles of inspiration by just going through my albums.

Here was something fun I did with a collage of three photos onto one 4 x 6 sheet of photo paper.  I used the blank area to staple on a Small Gray Parcel Tag with typed journaling + a date stamp.

I love creating a main, dated 4 x 6 insert for my Project Life weeks.  This was a creative one I did with the addition of a "week in review" tag, using a Medium Manila Parcel Tag. Need to do this again because I LOVE it.

Let's not forget good ol' journaling cards of all kinds.  I like ones with lots of blank space because I tend to write a small story of journaling instead of just the who, what, where when.  You can see a little snippet of a Small Manila Parcel Tag stitched to the top too.  You don't have to use the entire tag.  Tuck them in behind photos, trim them down, cut in half..it's all good....and creative too.

Here's a beautiful example of the vintage typewriter journaling.  I love that you can slip a card into the typewriter and you can see right where you are typing.  If I tried to do this on my computer and run it through my printer, it would be one hot mess....and a ruined journaling card most likely.  You'll see the weekly spread that this card belongs to very soon on the blog. 

One more thing...I love to use my typewriter now for easy card and gift packaging sentiments.  It's so easy to slip in scrap cardstock and just type away.  Instead of just the plain "Happy Birthday" sentiment, I can totally get wild and crazy and type something like "Geez Dude, you're getting up there".  People always love those kinds of cards.  Below, I was tame and just typed "Happy Valentines Day".

So that's what I know about vintage typewriters.  I've had lots of emails and questions since I started using my vintage typewriter.  Now's your time to ask questions...I'll update this post with questions and answers.  

Oh, I almost forgot about these...Mini Typewriter Instagrams with "clickety clack clack" sentiments on them.  Fun for cards, packaging, etc.  They were inspired by my daugher Josey.  She heard me typing away one day and yelled downstairs, "clickety clack clack".  She knows how much I enjoy typing away on my typewriter.  I hope you enjoyed today's Workspace Wednesday.  Feel free to link up your workspace in the comments or on Twitter using #workspacewednesday or #hfworkspacewednesday for Marcy Penner's tweets. 

December Memories 2013...Page 1-2, Envelope,Calendar & Bucket List

So excited to be sharing the first of my completed December Memories 2013 pages with you.  Most of my pages were pre-made ahead of time using the Gossamer Blue 2013 December Memories Kit.  It was a breeze to assemble my pages today.  I just reached for a few items from the kit, added some typewriter journaling, a few embellishments, did a little stitching, added date stamps and I was done.  So happy I took the time to complete my base pages ahead of time.  Okay, I know there is a ton of inspiration out there right now for DD albums so I'll keep my ramblings short.

I've added some inserts into my album.  I just love looking at different sized inserts in an album.  That means there's lot of good stories and photos to sift though.  Here I used a 6 x 6 envelope pocket from Becky Higgins to keep in the very front of my album.  

 I added a journaling card that fits right into that slot on the front. I added a Small Manila Tag, typing, gold stitching and a big ol' rhinestone from the GB kit. I love having the space in this album to add more dimensional items. In this pocket I'll add extra photos, collected items, random receipts or anything that just doesn't quite find a spot in the album.  The holiday misfits, you might say.

 Next up I added a 5 x 7 printed December calendar that is a free download from Marie Lottermoser's blog called Stitch in Time.  You must visit Marie's blog simply for her DD album.  They are total masterpieces and just awesome eye candy.  The free calendar download link is here.  You can see how Marie used it on her Day 3 page here.  Thank you Marie for sharing the fun addition!

 I used my iPhoto editing program on my Mac to brighten up the calendar just a bit then printed it on glossy photo paper.  I used a fine Sharpie to write the dates.  I'll add in more as stuff happens. So cute, right? So sorry for the photo quality, it's so hard this time of year to get good, natural lighting.

 Here's my title page on the right that was pre-made some time ago. I added a Christmas Bucket List page on the left side (the back of the 5 x 7 calendar).

 This was a page torn from a vintage address book.  I sold a few of the holiday card pages in the shop earlier this season so this might give you some inspiration if you purchased those.  I saved a page with a "W" on it and typed the rest of our name at the top of the page.  Under Christmas I typed Bucket List Items (like a 3 year old at that).  I hand wrote our bucket list items and will check them as they/if they get completed.  I used a beautiful chipboard flower from Pink Paislee (my favorite item this year was this chipboard packet).  It creates a trio of these white flowers when you look at the two pages together.  I left the gold stitching ends uncut for some visual interest.

 On to Page 1 of my album.  I am still needing that family photo (see bucket list items).

 For the rest, I typed in my journaling, added the green sticker and a tied chipboard button.  The Grid Paper Labels are perfect for adding in typed journaling to the top of a journaling card that has square photos on them.  You'll notice that our first fire of the season was in November, not December, but I wanted to include the photo to get the bigger picture of our holiday season.

 Here I just dumped out all of the rhinestones and chipboard buttons that I cut apart.  I tied all the buttons early on so that plopping them on an insert would be easy.

Here is Page 2 which is all about setting up our tree and getting the lights on.  We typically aren't organized enough to get all the decorations on the same day so we save that for later.

 I simply added photos, typed journaling, the round tree label with staples here.

 I find that some of my photos just look more festive if I use the white vignette feature in iPhoto.

 Here I added another insert which is a page protector trimmed in half.

 It's all about a new tradition I'm starting...planting Paper Whites.  I think it will be fun to change the containers up and take photos each year.  I plan to take a photo each Friday in December to show the weekly progress.

 This is the back side of the insert.  On that last 3 x4 card I'll show the flowers in full bloom (if all goes well).

And here's a glance at what my album looks like right now.  These Studio Calico handbooks are nice and roomy.  I have plenty of space to add more inserts and some dimensional items.  Just wanted you to see what your album might look like as it fills up.

That's it for today.  Thanks for joining me and I'll be back soon with more Project Life weeks and the Holiday Planners that my friend and I plan to create tomorrow.

Project Life 2013....Week 35

Today I'm sharing Week 35 of my Project Life 2013.  I used the September Life Pages Kit from Gossamer Blue for most of the cards and embellishments.  

 The left page...

 The right page....

 Here are all of the 4 x 6 inserts.  This was a fun chalkboard card from the kit to use with some plastic letters to note the week #.

 Here I used a Medium White Parcel Tag along with stitched letters and a fabric embellished paper clip from my Pretty Paint & Paperclip Kit.  I love getting scrappy with my inserts that coordinate with photos of my projects in progress.

 More items from the GB kits...

 Here I used small phtos so the pretty floral border wouldn't be covered up.

 A shot of some texting and some flowers from my garden.

 Here I used the label stamp from the September Life Pages kit and a card cut from a 12 x 12 sheet of patterned paper. I stamped the label onto a Grid Paper Label, so easy to just stick to a photo.

 The weather for the week and some stamping on a 3 x 4 card.

 Lots of homework woes this week so I used some funny photos and a shot of Jordan's books she brought home one evening.

This week isn't too far behind us and I already feel like the girls have been in school forever.  So happy to have this week in the books.