Week Forty...

Kellie from Kellie stamps released three new sets this month and I have used two of them here in my Project Life spread.  This week didn't have many photos but just enough to capture our week.  Because there wasn't a lot of photos I just did a single page spread.  

The big thing for this week was me having my last Chemo session.    As my journaling says "grateful for the medical staff and the chemo medication but #thankful this is the last one".  Yet again our cat made it into our week but I just love the photo of my daughter with her cat that was taken for her work.  I just love it.

I have been thinking lots lately about how I am going to document 2018.  A few months back I decided that I wasn't going to do Project Life next year.  I have done it for 5 years and just felt that I needed to do something different.  But as the end of the year gets closer I realise that I think I would miss it too much.  So, yep, you guessed it, I will be doing project life again next year.  Some habits are just hard to break right!

How are you documenting next year?

Love me :-)

Week Thirty Nine...

"In The Books" is the new kit from Paislee Press by Liz Tamanaha and available now over at The Lily Pad.  I knew exactly what I was going to use the kit for and it was perfect to help me catch up on Project Life.  I think I will always be catching up on Project Life, it's just the way it seems to go.

Week Thirty Nine was a fairly quiet week so when I came to put this week together I was worried that I wouldn't be able to fill a double page spread.  I had too many photos for just one page but not quite enough for two, at least that's what I thought.  When I am browsing the internet or looking through Instagram I often see quotes etc that strike a cord within me.  I used to write them down but then I had piles of paper everywhere and I never ended up doing anything with them.  Now, thanks to my smartphone I take a screen shot.  Quotes etc are the perfect way to fill spots in your weekly PL spreads and it makes use of all those quotes etc that you collect.  I love looking back over past weeks of PL, because although the photos and words remind me of what was going on so do the quotes I include.  Its an instant reminder of how I was feeling and what was inspiring me at the time.  Its a little bit of history all of its own.

If you have any other good ideas about how to fill empty spots in your Project Life spread I would love to hear about them.

Hope your weekend was wonderful and I hope the next week is just as wonderful.

Love me :-)

Week 49 - Comfort & Joy...

As you all probably know by now that I am on the Creative Team for Feed Your Craft which I am so excited about I can't stop smiling.  My first project is using the new Comfort & Joy kit designed by Brandi Kincaid and you are going to love it.  I don't expect this kit will last long so make sure you get yours now.

When you purchase the kit you also get the cards and papers in digital format which means you can start playing straight away.  I did this whole spread using the digital cards and papers and when my kit arrived I just added a few of the embellishments to finish it off.  You know that I am a fan of digital files because it means you can alter them to suit your layout.  

For excample, the "joy" card is actually yellow but that wasn't go to work for my layout so I changed it to green.  And because its digital I could make sure that I chose the same green to match the green in the rest of the kit.

L

Thanks for stopping by and checking out my take on the Comfort and Joy kit.  This is such a fun kit to play with and I can't wait to show you more.  As always if you have any questions just leave them in the comments.

Love me :-)

Project Life - Week 28...

Once again I am trying to make a huge effort to get caught up on Project Life.  I am not going to say how far behind I am, but lets just say that I have a big job on my hands.

I was totally inspired to get documenting when I saw the new kit "catch your breath" from Feed Your Craft and Brandi Kincaid.  I totally love the colours of this kit and I love that you get a copy of the cards in digital format as soon as you order the kit.  So, that means I can start using the kit straight away.  To be completely honest I love the digital part so much.  It gives me so much more freedom when it comes to using the cards because I can change them to suit my layout/story.

Here are some examples of how I changed some of the cards.  The first one was a 4x6 card that I changed to a 3x4 and deleted some of the flower pots to leave me with just one.

For this next one I deleted the words coffee or tea and added my own wording to match my story.

...

I also used some of the new digital stamps from Kellie Stamps that will be available soon.  This months release includes a Birthday stamps set and for the cat and dog lovers out there, there are two new sets coming your.  All are available in clear and digital...

Here is a closer look at my Week 28...

Thanks for stopping by, have a great week and happy crafting.

Love me :-)

PL Week Four...

I am playing some serious catch up with Project Life, yes, again.

For some reason I just can't seem to keep up this year.  As you may know I had decided to tackle Project Life in digital form and then have it printed into a book.  While I still loved this idea and keeping up was way easier I found that I was missing the touch and feel of physical pages.  I spent weeks mulling over what to do, probably too much time really but in the end of have decided to go back to physical pages.

What am I going to do with my digital ones I hear your ask?  For most of the pages that I did I kept a digital copy of each 3x4 and 4x6 card/photos just in case I needed to make some changes.  So all I have to do is go back and print them out.  I am in no real hurry to do this as they are safe and sound in digital formal.  My main aim in to catch up on weeks that I have missed.

For Week four I used the new product from Paislee Press:

Pocket Guide No 8

Weekend Vibes

Weekend Vibes Journal cards

One week down only 10 weeks of catch up to go!

Love me :-)

Project life week 5...

Super, super excited to be a guest creative team member for One Little Bird for the month of February.  I was so excited to be offered this spot and in my birthday month too!

So far my journey into digital project life is going well.  I am loving the fact that it's so easy to put together a weekly spread.  

For my week 5 pages I have used "all things considered" digital kit and journal cards from One Little Bird.  I loved the soft subtle colours and the hint of florals.  I am not really a floral kind of girl but these are just too cute and I love the little bit of quirkiness about them.

I also used "weekly edition" journal cards and "shutterbug" elements, also from One Little Bird.

Thanks for stopping by.

Love me :-)

Kellie Stamps - January Release #3...

When Kellie from Kellie Stamps first designed the "Love your Body" stamp set, she designed it as a clear stamp set only - no digital version.  As you probably know I am doing Project Life digitally this year, so using physical stamps is not an option in the digital world - or is it.

Now I am no expert when it comes to Photoshop, infact most of what I know has purely come about by me playing and doing lots of classes.  When I say classes, I don't necessarily mean "digital scrapbooking" classes.  I have done lots of classes about, photo editing, doodling, water colour paints etc etc and it's while doing these classes that I have learnt little bits and pieces about photoshop and how sometimes, you can turn a physical thing into a digital thing.

(while we are talking about classes here are some that I recommend - Doodle 2 by Brandi Kincaid,  Paint & Pixels by Catherine Saunders, both of these classes gave  basic instruction on how to turn  the physical into the digital)

 I have listed below a very brief (and I mean brief) explanation on  how I added these physical stamps to my digital project life page:-

1. Stamp your image/images onto white cardstock using black ink

2.  You can scan these images however I find it easier to photograph my images.

3.  Edit the images either in photoshop itself or on your phone using your favourite photo editing app.  For this project I used "Colorstory" app.  Your aim here is to make the white as white as can be and the black as black as can be.  

4.  If you have done the editing on your phone you will need to upload it to your computer and open it up in photoshop.

5.  Using the "magic eraser tool" click on the white area somewhere.  You will then notice that you lose the white background and end up with just your black images.  

6.  At this point you can save this is a PNG file so that you can use it again and again.

7.  Now add your image to your digital project.

As you can see, the images are not perfect but I love how they look just like a stamped image - which is what I was going for.  I am so glad I tried this because now the possibilities are endless with what images I can add to my digital projects.

The Love your Body stamp set is now available in digital.

Note: some digital elements used are from Paislee Press and Sahin Designs.

Let me know if you try this and how you went.  If you have any questions, please leave them in the comments and I will do my best to help.

Have a great week

love me :-)

Project Life - Week One

Hello Project Life for 2017.  

I have been doing Project Life, in the physical format since it started and completely love everything that it stands for.  I love how it's made me document the everyday, rather than just the big things.  But as a crafter, and if you are a crafter yourself, you will understand what I say next - I needed to change things up a bit, needed something different, but WHAT?  I spent a very long time trying to figure out what direction I was going to go in 2017, and yes, I even thought about not doing it and taking a break, however, I knew that wouldn't work.

I did a photo book (for Paislee Press during my time as guest creative team member) of a holiday we had in Bali back in July 2016.  I loved the simplicity of it and I loved how easy it was go put together.  

In December I decided to a do a December Daily type project, but in digital form as a photo book (this project is still in progress) and totally loved the simplicity and ease again. 

Making it onto the Paislee Press Creative Team for 2017 and my two previous successes with photo books made my decision clear -I would attempt to do a photo book for Project Life for 2017.

Today I am sharing my Week One of our Album for 2017. 

Again, I can't tell you how much I love the simplicity of going digital.  Yes, some part of me misses the touch and feel of paper etc but I love how easy this is to do.  I still plan to do layouts, card making and travellers notebooks - so I will get my fix of paper etc there.

Liz from Paislee Press just released the 4x6 Photo templates Vol 6 which made doing Week One so so easy.  The best thing about these templates is how much you can change them to fit your layout or number of photos.

I am so looking forward to seeing where this project takes me.  Will it last it the biggest question I have.  My other major question is "how do I add ephemera?"  But, as I said I am keen to see where this new direction takes me.

How are you doing Project Life this year?

Love me :-)

Project Life cards - Christmas

The best thing about digital stamps is that I can make PL journal cards in just a few moments.  I can make some ahead of time or I can just whip a few out while doing my PL and stick them straight into my album.

For these journal cards I have used several digital sets from Kellie Stamps:

Merry Circle

Christmas traditions

& Merry Joy

One of my favourite things to do with both clear and digital stamps is to stamp an image multiple times in the form of a particular shape.  Here I have done a christmas tree using the fa lalala digital image. You can check out this post here and see how I have done the same thing using a clear stamp.

Please note: digital papers from Sahin Designs.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope that you are feeling a little inspired to try out the new digital or clear stamps from Kellie Stamps.

Happy stamping 

love me :-)

Week 22...

This month Kellie Stamps released a fun new product "stickers" and they are super fun.  I could quite easily sticker everything but at the same time I don't want to use them because, well, then I wouldn't have them anymore LOL!

For my Project Life spread for Week 22 I used a bunch of the new releases this month.  New Digital stamps called "obsessed", one of the new clear alpha stamps "slim jim" and of course those "word up" stickers.

I spent quite a bit of time this week waiting. Waiting to see the dermatologist (I waited over an hour), waited to pick my Son up (I don't know why I surprised when he was late) and waiting at the doctors again, this time for Josh to see if his finger was broken.  I am not the best at waiting, sometimes I don't know what I would do if I didn't have a phone that I could occupy myself with in these difficult times LOL!

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful week.

love me :-)