Week 24: The Documented Life Project

June 8-14th, 2014 is one of my favorite weeks of this year. My kids were involved in our city's 100th year celebration, namely, in a community play. Very exciting.

And I want to boast about my spread: I love how this all turned out. The details, the colors, the content. 

I made a tip-in, shown on the right side in photo above. It was hard to get a good photo with proper lighting and accurate coloring today for some reason! This week's challenge was to fill your flap with hearts, so did that. A tower of hearts, let's say.

The flap opens to reveal the last half of the week .

Photo above is the back side of the flap: a scrapbook page! Felt so good working with photos again. :) I met a lady on Instagram who just could not stick to one type of scrapbooky art format, so she combined them all: art journals, traditional scrapbook pages, smashbooks and pocket scrapbooks. So, that's what I've got a bit going on here. :)

For placement of photos and elements, I used an idea sketch by PageMaps that matched the photo sizes and number of photos. If you are a scrapbooker and really struggle with where to place photos and embellish, I strongly recommend trying a map. There are hundreds to choose from. There are other companies that use maps too. Check it out! It totally revolutionized the design of my scrapbook layouts!

Will talk about the details of my pages, and will start with my week at a glance layout.

For this week's header, I filled in the background with Tim Holtz distress inks, using a baby wipe for blending. Then added doodling with a Sharpie and a few colors of Montana acrylic paint markers. Then, something I haven't done in a while, scrapbook paper! I was working on this page at my friend's scrapbook store when I spied this paper that just went absolutely perfect with my color scheme. Cute patterns of clouds and trees. :)

For the day strips of watercolor, I just used a few colors from a cheap brand of a watercolor pan set.

Now, just to warn you, the next set of photos you might find reduntant, but I could not just settle on which ones to include. I just love my flowers and doodles and colors here...

For the flowers, I used a punch set by Martha Stewart. One punch was the larger hydrangea flower, and the second punch was a set of three smaller ones. Decorated with my Montana acrylic pens, waterbrush filled with Dylusions ink and sharpie markers.

punched flowers out of old book paper (which was the DLP's challenge last week)...

neons mixed with retro pastel colors...

random dots make it so playful...

the second page: 

more flowers
some I punched out of Gelli-prints
others out of old book pages

some font play going on

The 13th was a rainy day, so added a cute little cloud with raindrops.

The little orange bird washi tape was a cheap set of three I found at Walmart. Thought it went well with the feel of this layout. This washi tape fastens the tip-in on the inside, so when you open and close it, everything will stay snug and intact. It bends well, but so decorative at the same time. Washi-tape, that is. :)

Now, for the scrapbook layout on the inside flap:

As seen in the photo of my photo grid, I could have placed another square photo beside the top middle, but I chose to go with a decorated square paper since I didn't have another photo to place there. Could have left it blank totally, but that didn't look quite right when I looked at my layout from a distance.

I used a simple index card for some of the embellishing, adding some journaling and doodles, cut out a piece from some patterned paper, punched more flowers out of Gelli-prints and old book paper, added doodles and dots, and last but not least, some watercoloring.

The background is an old Gelli-print I had laying around. Glued the whole thing to the flap with matte medium. 

Another little square of index card, doodles and flowers tucked in among the square photos which I printed off at www.prinkl.com

And now for the top of the flap: last week's challenge was to include text paper and this week's is to cover your flap with hearts. I did both here.

I think I bent one of the punches, trying to punch out some flowers of a triple layer of paper in the top left part of the page. LOL I was somewhat successful with the flowers, I like how you can see through to the other pages. :) 

I pinned this quote some time ago to my Words board on Pinterest, and since I am reading Mother Teresa's story right now to the kids in my homeschool, I figured it was timely and appropriate! The frame is from the same patterned paper set I got from the scrapbook store. It's Prima brand, but can't remember the name of the line. 

The bright yellow swirls were made using a cute set of Target watercolor gel crayons. You color with them, then wet them, creating a vivid design. LOVE! They are in the kids' section at Target! Only $4.50, or something like that!

Hot neon, two blues, white, and an orange Montana acrylic paint marker for the doodles.

 Stampin' Up punch of three different sized hearts. Use this punch A LOT! Very versatile! Again, I punched book paper, and doodled the edges. 

Really love the washi tape edges of this project! Art to the 5th ladies, you are brilliant! :)

The background is another Gelli-print I found that matched my colors so perfectly. You should see my stack of prints! Kinda embarrassing actually. LOL!

Well, finally the end of a very long post! Had such a great time creating these pages. Worked on it really early in the morning, some in the afternoon, some in the evening, and long into the night sometimes...work of love, it is!

Like Ms. Teresa said, 

Spread love wherever you go. Let no one ever come to you without leaving happier. 

Anna

P.S. Do check out her biography. You won't be disappointed, as she's a very inspiring lady. This is the book I'm reading to my family:

Teresa of Calcutta: Serving the Poorest of the Poor

FotoFusion Template No.23

Back in 2008, Amanda Probst wrote a monthly column in the Creating Keepsakes Magazine called Album in a Year. Every month she suggested a topic for you to scrapbook, capturing and documenting specific things every month. So, for January, she had you come up with predictions for January of the following year, and snapping photos or find some in your stash that would suit that topic. I was instantly hooked on the idea of creating one layout a month. For a (almost) complete list of her monthly topics, go here.

My daughter and I are working on this project for 2012. I figured this would be a great way for her to practice writing. I am a little late with this of course, like I often am, so my predictions weren't made until May. LOL

I chose to predict four things, and found a picture that would suit each one:

Prediction #1. determined: I will have more determination to achieve things.  Okay, now writing this for my blog, it sounds a little vague and wordy. Sorry. :) Maybe more specifically, focus on my goals more? The photo is of me cleaning, cleaning, cleaning. I get bogged down easily when the task is unpleasant or hard or when I'm not sure how to do it... Maybe just a nice way of saying I'm lazy? :) I am not picky when it comes to cleanliness, so it's hard to be motivated.

Prediction #2. captivate: I will have a more servant heart toward my husband. Like I mentioned earlier, cleaning, doing something for my husband that he really appreciates. I can be selfish, thinking of only my wants and needs, I want to love and respect my husband. Jesus my Saviour was King of Kings, but instead of wearing his royal robes, he chose a towel to show his love! I want inward beauty. See John 13:4 and 1 Peter 3:4 The photo is of a layout I made after being inspired by a lovely lady to be more captivating. I sewed and painted like crazy on this layout. I really like it.

Prediction #3 read: Levi will start reading independently on a more regular basis. He knows how to read, but it's still difficult for him. I aim to be more consistent in coaching him in this. Find books that are more up his ally, perhaps Captain Underpants stories, Sigmund Brouwer books, etc. You know, boy books. The picture I chose is a close-up of a sight-word game I play with him. I actually made those cards myself. Teehee

Prediction #4 play: We will live on an acreage. We are working toward that goal right now. There are many reasons we want to live in the country, one being I want my kids to be able to climb trees with abandon, not being yelled at for breaking off branches! The photo is taken at a local park, in the city. Thought that was fitting. :)

So, here is the preview of the template I created for this project, based on the sketches by Amanda. I made versions of the layout in 11x8.5 and 8.5x11 as well.

This is the 8.5x11 version:

I like the 11x8.5 version better than the 8.5x11, I think. :)

Notice the small leaves? They are one of the mattes that FotoFusion has. I really like it! Love that you can color them whatever you want to. :) So, when you download the template, they will be included in the package automatically, but you won't need to keep the matte, since you will already have it.

Note: These templates only work in FotoFusion, as they are .SCRAP files.

I had a great time making these templates, even though I did spend countless hours on them. LOL I am a crazy perfectionist when it comes to certain things. If you find a problem with these templates, please let me know, so I can fix it. Enjoy!

Here are the download links.

Products Used:

Papers: Michelle Underwood Feb Two Peas Soup

Candy Flowers by Sahlin Studio

Houndstooth button and leaf by Sahlin Studio: Precocious

Stitches: Stitched by Anna No.07 by Anna Aspens

White splatter paint and white doily by AWCAL Designs 

Journaling fonts: John HancockCP, Century Gothic, Cheri Liney, Mel's Type A Personality

The title font is AWCAL Designs 

♥Enjoy your day! ♥

Template No.22

Some of you like 11x8.5 sized layouts, so for layout No.22, I've created both. The 12x12, shown below has more elements and more papers, with the center the same as the 11x8.5.

Next, is the 11x8.5. As you can see, this is exactly like the one above, minus the outer area.

Below is the layout I made templates from.

I home educate, so my kids don't get the yearly school photo, so I have fun taking my own. I am happy with how Liam's photos turned out this year. Often I get the eyes in shadow so you can't see their color, but this time it was much better. :)

I love the paint splats.

But most specially, I LOVE the subject: dear Liam. Happy-Go-Lucky, content Liam. Liam who is just proud to be himself. No hurry to be someone he's not. No hurry to talk, no hurry to read, heck, no hurry to even memorize his ABCs. He's so very different from his older siblings. I love him to pieces. Oh, did I mention he loves cuddling? His favorite things are Cars, Nathaniel, Daddy, sleeping in late and chocolate. :) Oh, and he loves to cuddle. :)

Products Used:
Papers, and brads, washer, bracket, number, paint "mess": Michelle Martin Mischief Maker
White paint below picture: Michelle Martin Little Boy Blue
Fonts: Cheri, Bodini Poster and Century
Templates: my own: AWCAL Template No.22

 I actually started the layout by creating an 11x8.5 layout, saving it as a JPEG, and then dragging it onto a 12x12 canvas, and adding a few elements. Here is the layout using the11x8.5 template:

One neat trick/tool in FotoFusion I like to use is the Frame Splitter. See THIS TUTORIALhttps://artfulstories.blogspot.ca/p/splitting-tool.html to see how I do that. Works great to quickly add more spots for more photos, perfectly alligned. So, instead of using just one photo, I can use several, lickety "split". Here's that version:

For the 12x12 Template, click on the link below:

For the 11x8.5 Template, click on this one:

For both sizes, click on this last one:

Hope you enjoy these templates. Please let me know if you encounter any problems. I love to see your layouts! Leave a comment with a link to your page. Happy Spring! (Though, in my area, we got inches of snow today!)

Custom T-Shirt of Pet

My son had to give up his pet snake. I figured a shirt in memory of it would be sweet. I just changed the background papers to a brushed look, then created a transparent background of the layout of his pet that I had done previously. Then you upload it to the site where you order the shirt. I will use CafePress, I think. Christmas gift, here I come! Here is the original layout:

Project Overload!

I have not updated in a while, as you probably know by now.
:(
Even my twin stopped visiting me here, since nothin's new around these parts! It seems this way, I know, but in actual fact, I've done lots of stuff.
Project after project!
And maybe completed one or two.
:(
Let me count the ways!

1. Have sorted, edited, organized, copied, printed, and other essential things you do with photos. In particular, I did one project for my sister-in-law, who lost her sweet Tomas in September of 2010. The project is unfinished at this point, as I want to put all 176 photos I "stole" from Kathy into a regular photo album. A surprise package like that in the mail would be nice, wouldn't it?

2. I designed two logos for our church's women's ministry. I really enjoyed doing that!

3. Have tried my hand at "photoshopping" a photo of my huge family. I tried to combine several photos into one, so that at least most of us looked half decent. LOL I posted the pic on facebook, not realized I had started something. (Sure glad I did!) My balding brother wanted me to draw hair on his head, but that request went a little tooo far. :)

(Okay, I guess that last part wasn't entirely accurate, but it sounded good. )

Here's my caption under the photo on Facebook: (heehee)

I'm photoshopping this picture using all the versions I have of this get-up:
I've given Grandma a new face.
Replaced all of Hannah with a different Hannah, which still needs some work.
I might cut out Ben and add one where we can see his whole face, Luke and David W, as well....any other requests?
LOL
For those of you who want to be eliminated from this photo, or you want me to remove someone you have a personal vandetta against, sorry! I don't carry out those requests. LOL

And maybe I'll make Henry taller, Elijah happier, me skinnier....LOL

And here are the comments: They crack me up EVERY TIME!

I LOVE my family! I will have to scrapbook the photo and include the comments! 

I've lost focus on my blog post. :) Well, I might share more tomorrow,who knows. Have a lovely day, and remember to create more moments than photos/pages! ♥