My Scrapping Goals for 2017

I am so excited for my scrapping to begin in 2017.  I am over the moon excited about 2 big announcements that I get to officially make today!  First I am joining Becky Higgin's Digital Project Life Creative Team!!!!  Yes you heard right - my long time idol Becky...one of my first inspirations in scrapping!  Although her style has changed since her original days at Creating Keepsakes mine has changed too!  I love the Project Life system for documenting the everyday happenings in my life.  I have been religiously documenting since Dec 2011 - 5 whole years... that is crazy!!  So much has changed in my life since then but I have all those things documented for me to remember - and maybe future generations too!! I am so excited to see how my style progresses in 2017 and the inspiration I will garner from this terrific group!

Becky's 2017 Creative Team

As I mentioned above my style has changed since I first started scrapping back in 1997 (yes that is almost 20 years now........). A few years ago I made the transition to digital scrapping.  I have talked about some of my reasons before.  I was instantly drawn to certain designers when I made that transition - but always at the top of my list was Just Jaimee from The Lilypad - there was something about her quirky fun and colorful designs that just blew me away with every.single.kit.  I stalked her every release (and bought most of them) - I love the work that her CT puts together every month - and now I will get to be part of that team too!!!

Here is her latest entry - the January Storyteller Kit, isn't it beautiful??

January Storyteller at The Lilypad

I can't believe I will get to work with 2 of my favorites in one year!! 2017 is looking up already! Since I will be busy scrapping a lot in 2017 (don't worry I have lots of older photos that can use some attention too!!) it will allow me to work on another one of my 2017 goals to improve my photography. I have lots to document in 2017 and I can't wait to get started! I will be a much more regular presence here on the blog and of course on Facebook and Instagram.

Hope you ring in the New Year filled with hope and enthusiasm - thanks for coming along!

Using GIANT Elements in your Project Life Album

I don't do weekly PL. So, I like to indicated the beginning of a new month. These giant wood monthly wood veneers are making a GIANT statement in my book....

Field Days! This is a fun week at school. Our school has an opening ceremony on the first day of school. Complete with a running of the torch to the theme song from Chariots of Fire. It's awesome. I'm using the May Take 10 Kits in this layout. 

AND, since it is my first page for June, I added this huge JUNE wood veneer from the set I bought from www.thestudio29designs.com (home to Take 10 Kits - also available as a subscription). These Jumbo Month Wood Veneers fit perfectly in a 4x6 pocket and it's a set of all 12 months. There are a few left if you didn't grab one when they first came out. I love these and all of the wood veneers produced by Sara Mitchell.

I love Sara's wood veneers because they are so thin!!

I've always strived to keep my Project Life albums to one volume per year, but the last two years have so many thick embellishments, they are two volumes each. I know this is common, but I really don't want that many albums!!

I put two coats of acrylic paint on my wood veneer. Eek! It curls up quite a bit, but don't worry. I did stand it up on it's end to dry so that the painted sides weren't touching my wax paper and could dry properly. The "Juicy Melon" paint was picked up from my Target Dollar Spot just last week. I was happy with it for this project.

It curls up but don't worry! After it dries, just put it between wax paper and stick it under a heavy book.

It flattened out within a couple hours.

The three musketeers! This was their first Field Day as Preschoolers last year. What fun it was to experience with them.

My daughter happened to be sitting by her wonderful teacher and I got a quick photo while the whole school was assembling on the field and settling in. We just had our field days this week again this year, so it was fun working on last years page to see what a difference a year makes.

Holly | www.paintedladiesjournal.com

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May PL app Roundup

I've been sharing this month all of my Week in the Life pages that I completed using ready made digi templates from Just Jaimee (you can go here, here and here to catch up) and now I'd like to show another way that I can keep up with documenting my memories.  As I have older children (really adults now but I am not that old so I will still call them children...) and I work full time I decided that I would do Project Life in a more monthly format.  I have been loving using the Project Life app to do some quick pages but also because I am constantly on the go for work or traveling for work (or traveling in a car to go visit one of said children) so I have a lot of time pulling out my laptop is not so easy!

I love the ease of the app - and the ability to have access to my full library of journaling and filler cards - or not... Either way I have the photos in one place with stories is the most important..  This month the schedule was crazy!!!! so easy is the name of the game.  I do my writing in either Phonto or in PSE 11. When they are all done I run Wendyzine's action (Studio Wendy) which adds a small drop shadow and resizes for Shutterfly (Last year I printed 10 X 10 books and will continue the same this year. It is the best combination of size and ease of handling!).  I will be creating a blog post about my whole process with the app, but in the meantime I wanted to share these...

Using the Just Add Color kit from the app - wanted to really highlight these panoramic photos

Using the Ready, Set, Go Value card kit from the app

Using the Just Add Color kit from the app.. Here I did add the text in PSE 11 because I wanted to really pack in a lot of information...

I had an afternoon free on a business trip to DC so I got a little museum viewing in at my two favorite museums!!

They had the most amazing nature photography exhibit - I could have had 6 pages worth - I loved every single one.  Using the Happiness Is edition kit in the app - and here I did do the writing in the app itself, adjusting the line spacing to get the  alignment I wanted.

Documenting another work trip in February, also using the Happiness Edition - however you could never tell that it is the same kit. Here I did the journaling in Phonto.

A third page using Happiness Is edition in the app, text in PSE 11 using the color of the background paper.

Hope you enjoyed my round up and can see some of the versatility in the app.  I'll highlighting a few more pages - using some cards from other kits, whether digi edition cards from Project Life or other digital designers to show off how you can document your memories on the go!

Week in the Life - Digitial version

Hi everyone, back here to show you my Week in the Life all done (well nearly so anyways...). I have loved how this album turned out using the Just Jaimee's Ready to Go templates at The Lilypad. It gives my pages a cohesive look plus with main kit there are lots ofother options for words and elements if the ones on the templates did not have the right fit!

Here is my first day of the week - Monday. I will be adding text on photos as well as seperate journaling pages so there will be plenty of space to capture all my stories - which is really the focus of my pages this year

Tuesday stayed at home while they did a few home improvement projects...

Capturing some of my everyday images at work and my routines

A few things about working in a big city and my life outside of work

A weekend full of activities with family and friends, including some images from son #1 at school and some of his everyday views around campus.  Since he is graduating its important to capture these now... I will get him to do some journaling to capture his thoughts as well!

Sunday was filled with volunteering and winding down for the week... and a reminder I will be adding my journaling on 1/2 pages between my daily spread. When I add these in my Shutterfly book - I center them on my page and cut them down to create a tabbed page. I usually add a piece of washi to use as a tab..

Thanks everyone for following along and checking out my process! As a digi gal there are so many options to choose from but for this project I really liked the "coordinated" look! It makes my architect/orderly heart happy....

Day in the Life Day 3 & 4 and completed Day 1

So today I'm going to share a few pics and stories from Day 3 & 4 but also the first day of my WITL all done.

First up the completed Day 1. This year I decided to use the Ready to Go Templates from Just Jaimee May's Storyteller collection at The Lilypad. I love how these are already done for you but with the main kit there are always lots of other word bits and elements you can change out if the pre-designed doesn't work for you. On this page no changes necessary!

I will try to use 1 page per day but if I don't have enough photos for the whole page I won't mind combining them if I need to, since I know that the weekend will have more than enough pictures. Anyways my  intention is really about the stories this year. I am also using Kristin Cronin Barrows 6x12 Stories Templates 5 where I will use some of the stacked cards or frames for a bit of decorating. Here I have lots of space to tell my stories as front and back will divide each page of my book.

See lots of room to write stories for my week!

Speaking of books I will combine 2 years in one Shutterfly book- I also did WITL in 2015. Or maybe 3 lets see how  many pages I get. As I've done in the past with my Shutterfly books I will trim down some intermediate pages and add a small washi tab just to add a bit of interest and break it up a bit. 

Now onto Day 3 & 4. The weather has not been cooperating with taking nice photos or even being in a good mood. Day 3 was super foggy and overcast all day! My usual commuter train in the am. I am so grateful that I can relax (and usually digi scrap) on my way to and from work every day!

My drawer full of shoes at work - match any outfit or almost every season plus "field" shoes

My view is amazing and I love that I captured my reflection in the glass.

The food truck frenzy is starting again in earnest. Luckily I stay away for the most part - too expensive and too many calories but I do love the people watching and the amazing smells that come from these little portable restaurants!

Back from a meeting in one of my pairs of shoes. Love this green rain coat from Target!!

I have made dinner 2 nights in a row - that has not happened in a long while. Tonight marinaded chicken on the grill with grilled zuchini, my favorite white rice and cuban style black beans.

We started back dancing in the fall and I really, really like this group of crazies!!

On Day 4 the sun finally, finally came out!!

But not until after the morning and mid day rain!! McDonald's fountain Diet Coke is my vice... I am trying to do with less but it is hard... especially when the sky is so grey!

Happiness in a 32 oz cup!

Speaking of happy - look at what I pulled out the other day - must use these at work!!

Food trucks and warm weather bring out the patio goers!

On my way home and the sun is shining.. can't be a bad day

Practicing the "Deep Dish" with our long time instructor Elise - she always makes us laugh!!

Finishing up Week in the Life 2015...just in time for 2016

So last year I completed the photos and set up for Ali Edwards Week in the Life (direct link to her blog with lots of resources and tips). I had a great kit and I was using the Project Life App for the actual photo taking. I even kept up to date on the all the blog posts!! But somehow the last little bit - adding the final embellishments and journaling did not happen....fast forward almost 9 months and I finally finished my 2015 album today!!

Without further ado here is my 2015 album and my process...

Here is my cover for the Album.  As I mentioned I used the Project Life app to do all of my documenting....I took all my photos on my cellphone. I love my photos that I take on DSLR but I knew that with work it was too difficult to lug around my big camera at work all week. This year I will do the same since it is also a work week and I cannot carry around a DSLR - people at work already think that I am a bit of a crazy photo geek!  

I used the Memory Pocket Monthly Almanac kit from The Lilypad as my kit for the week.  I am VERY definitely a kit scrapper. I just can't wrap my arms around multiple kits on a single page unless I am just looking for a staple or something small! 

I loaded all of my journaling cards onto my phone using Dropbox so that they were all available to review all of them at once. I picked one font for consistency. This year I might use Just Jaimee's Ready to Go Templates. I really like the May ones. She lets her subscribers pick the color palette each month and in May they picked Black/White/Yellow. 

It's very, very neutral but I think it would be nice to do all Black and White photos.. I will have to see how it looks. Maybe I will keep them in color. We will have to wait and see. 

The one other element I used was Ali's date stamp for 2015. The version had both dated (with 2015's dates) and undated. I will definitely use the same date stamp for the 2016 album. My thought would be to have multiple years in a single week in the life album. In 2015  I started printing in Shutterfly 10x10 hard cover photo books and I am very pleased with the size and portability. 

The only part of my plan that didn't work as I originally hoped was doing the text in a phone app like Phonto. There was too much text and special spacing due to the  journaling cards included in the kit. PS I also used the Sara Gleason Story Cards No. 1 that coordinated with the Almanac kit that were perfect for the Week In the Life theme!

Only 1 of my sons was home at the time as the other had already gone back to college. I got both to take photos for me and my hubby took a selfie even! It was great to have them all involved. This time around it will be the opposite so I will be asking them to take more photos for Mom! Since its Mother's Day I am hoping to get full cooperation...

Obviously any week in the life will need to include lots and lots of food pictures... and I love the current events cards - I had to look up these items and I was very surprised what showed up on the internet....

As you see I have several pages that are in the Design G format...In the Shutterfly books I often add in the smaller size pages so that I can trim the edge and put a little tab.  If I was doing a physical book I loved to mix in several sizes I will do this again with my 2016 book - saving the smaller size pages for the longer journaling since there is not a good option for that on the Just Jaimee's templates..

The highlight of my week was attending the Scrap Expo in Chicago and meeting my idol Becky Higgins!!!! Plus as a bonus her outfit matched my page kit...it was so much fun chatting with her and her team - they were all super, duper nice!

On the last day of the week we had lots of activities including walking around the Botanic Gardens, visiting with my grandmother and mother in law and a BBQ at my sister's house with my little great niece.. it was a perfect way to end a perfect week. I am so glad I followed along this year and can't wait to get started again this year!

My plan for 2016 will also include working on my pages more real time so that I can actually get done in less than 10 months!

Until next time!