Friday, January 29, 2016

Class Review for Travel Scrapbooking with Amy Tan and GIVEAWAY!!!

I finished one of my 2016 goals today! (See all of my crafty goals in this post, here.) What better way to spend a cold , winter day when you are suffering from a sinus infection. I watched the last three lessons from this 7 lesson class  (with my hot tea and box of tissue). 


It has been a few years since I have done a full 12x12 layout yet I still gleaned a lot of good tips and tricks from this class. I could watch Amy Tan scrapbook the day away. And I almost did! 
Craftsy is an awesome resource for all sorts of crafty classes. And they have apps for your phone or tablet, which makes it super cozy for cuddling up with a warm beverage and snuggle blanket on the couch. Unless, you are trying to watercolor or paint along with the instructor. I don't advise attempting that from the couch. I'd probably accidentally drink the paint water....


The app is super slick. There is a button for a 30 second replay if you didn't quite catch something. There are several options for slowing down or speeding up the video. Amy Tan with a fast chimpmunk voice is always good fun!


Each lesson was divided into parts, so it was a easy to find any particular section again later. In this particular class, the two lessons on mini-albums and pocket pages were my favorite, but I loved them all. She always has a way of making me want the same tools she has! I immediately started applying some of the techniques I saw in my pocketpages. 


Another neat feature of these classes is that you can interact with the instructor! Amy Tan will respond to your questions!

If you are an Amy Tan fangirl (who isn't?!), you will love her class on Craftsy. I paid $15 for this class (sale price), and there are plenty of other options in the same price range. They go on sale once in awhile, too! 

(Links below ARE affiliate links) I only share things I have tried and love. 

Here is the Travel Scrapbooking with Amy Tan class link:

Travel Scrapbooking With Amy Tan

And RIGHT NOW through 1/31/2016 you can enter win 5 FREE CRAFTSY CLASSES!

5 CRAFTSY CLASSES GIVEAWAY

-Holly with Painted Ladies Journal

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Monday, January 25, 2016

A Day with My Daughter

Aw man, this January Take 10 Kit, guys! I love it. I took a layout from last March that needed cards, journaling and embellishing and turned it into this!! 

Did you get one? Don't miss out on these kits anymore by becoming a subscriber!! The Studio 29 Designs, LLC started a subscription service this month. Here's links right here:

Pocket Kit Subscription

Glam Bag Subscription

And now there is a referral program!! When someone puts your name in the comments upon check out when subscribing, YOU get a free 3x4 stamp. AND so does your friend!!! I saw it, it's awesome! So spread the word to all your scrappy friends! Find out more about it here

  

I love the coordinating cut-a-parts. See what I did here? I trimmed it down and put the date on that little label! There's the pocket kit stamp in action. This kit also included the whole set of Heidi Swapp Clear Words. These are awesome. Celebrate, indeed. I'm excited to use all of them!! I chose to staple my word to my kit card with my Tiny Attacher.

  
I, AGAIN, trimmed down a cut-apart label to do some layering on my journal card. Those string of hearts is a stamp I repeated 3x from the Donut Forget set. Good News, the stamp designer Nicole has this one in her shop if you NEED it (Hint: You do!)

www.mystylestamps.com

  
Another cut-apart here to match the 4x6 card I used, more heart stamps and Studio Calico foil alphas. They change color depending on the angle you look at them!! 

I hope you are enjoying this month's Take 10 Kit "Happy" as much as I am!

-Holly of www.paintedladiesjournal.com

Below are affiliate links to items I've used in this layout. Happy Shopping!

Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher - every scrapbooker needs one

Ruby Red Cat Eye Ink and Black StazOn that was used in this layout:

This is not the same Heidi Swapp Clear Word set I have, but close. Looks cute!

Studio Calico Foil Alphas

I print my photos at home! Do you ever print split photos like the one of my daughter on the monkey bars? It's much easier to do at home.

Sunday, January 24, 2016

#HashtagThisWeek : MOTIVATION

I was scrolling through my photos so far from January, trying to decide how I was going to use this week's prompt when I came upon a few silly selfies with my youngest. 

I thought about my word for the year, "Enjoy" and what motivated me to pick this word. Actually, I feel that it picked me, but then I became motivated to keep it!

 
I chose to scrap a 6x12 this week! Love it. It will be an insert in my annual Project Life album (which is 12x12). The photo overlays I used are from a new kit by The Teal Lime Press called "Companion". It is sublime. See a few other layout I did with the pocket cards and elements here

The Anne Lamott quote is perfect. I ran across it on Pinterest when searching "Enjoy" quotes. I highly recommend creating a board for your One Little Word I imagine that I will pull from these quotes that I found all year!

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-Holly

Have you seen #HashtagThisWeek? Go check out Turquoise Avenue every Sunday for a new prompt! It's great! 

Saturday, January 23, 2016

Week in the Life - with the Project Life app

I am hear to talk about my process and results for completing Ali Edward's Week In the Life.  Here is is a blog post that explains more about it Ali's ideas for this yearly project.  So following up with my One Little Word  (another one of Ali's great project ideas) for 2015 - "Finish" I finally got my Week in the Life finished for 2015.  This year Ali Edwards chose August 17-23, 2015 to document her entire week.  Since I am 100% digital I was looking for a way to make this project easier.  I also work full time so carrying my big DSLR was not realistic - I couldn't take it client meetings etc. So I knew that my iPhone pictures were gong to be the majority of my documentation for the week...

I chose to upload my cards through Dropbox so that I could have a larger variety of cards to pick from. I chose the Memory Pockets Monthly kit for August 2015  - Almanac at The Lilypad. It was perfect for documenting Week in the Life.  Using Dropbox is easy in the Project Life app - you just upload the cards you want and can pick the cards directly in the app.  To save on data charges (I do have 2 teenagers who don't know how to turn off the phone for 5 minutes...) I download the primary ones that I wanted to use on my phone


To get the cards directly from Dropbox select the option  - you have to act as if you are adding a photo - not a journal card.

From there you can add text in Phonto or various options like Over or even Rhonna Designs. You can add elements in Phonto as well (without shadows) or even in Over with Shadows.

So here is the finished project... I love that there are so many options with the templates within the app . I do like to use the Design G option and then I trim the edge and use washi tape  on the cut edge within the Shutterfly book - its as close as I can get to the mixed page protectors I can use in the traditional binders.






I even got to see my IDOL  this week since Becky Higgins was at the Scrapbook Expo...it was definitely a excellent way to end the week!!




I also started using Wendyzine new action for adding the correct border for Shutterfly printing with just one click - game changer!!  Here is the Project Life border action at Wendy's shop.

So the only decision I have still to make is do I include all the pages in my regular Project Life... but i can do that before I order my next book.. there is a coupon for Shutterfly for 50% off that expires this week ( affliate link if you want to order - at no extra cost for you. Shutterfly )


Friday, January 22, 2016

Happy Anniversary to Me and Mine!

I have a fun announcement to make! Well, for one I've reached my 12th anniversary with my husband, but I'm really excited to tell you I am now a Creative Team member for The Teal Lime Press!!! I'm so excited to start creating and sharing her lovely product. 

"Companion" was just released yesterday and I'm sharing a few hybrid layouts I created with this set. There is a post that shows the whole kit and also tells you how to get 30% off, here.

 

This set is all about that special guy in your life. Your spouse, or that little guy! Since our anniversary just passed, I chose to focus on that.


I grabbed some of the professional photos from the session we did last summer by Melissa Hansen Photography. If you are in Chicago or the surrounding suburbs, she is fantastic! She's super friendly and easy to work with. We chose a local Nature Preserve for our location. I love shooting family pictures on location. And it's usually the candids I love best! Spend an hour with her, and you will be amazed with what she catches from her perspective. These photos rarely go into my Project Life albums since they are what I frame for the walls and make annual Shutterfly books with. So, it was fun including them here. 




Two quick layouts! I love it.  Thanks for stopping by. All photos in these layouts have Photo Credits due to Melissa Hansen Photography!

-Holly 

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Wednesday, January 20, 2016

Holly's 2016 Crafty Goals!

Please note that most of the product/service links throughout this post are affiliate links. Our blog makes a small amount of you click through and decide to purchase something, at no added cost to you. We thank you for supporting us!!

Luly and I are sharing our Memory Keeping Goals. It's January! Seems like a good time to re-evaluate and focus. Luly posted her goals hereMy turn! 

So, first, I went back and looked at last year's post on goals. Wow, we are going to hit our ONE YEAR BLOGIVERSARY next month! So my goals last year kind of evolved. I won't say I failed, they just changed as my year unfolded and I learned new things. 

 Update on 2015 Goals: 

 Ok, I do need to improve upon the "Organizing my Stash" goal. I did pull stuff and put them in some awesome IRIS containers, (image link below to a bundle of 4, I have 2 bundles!) but I feel like I just moved stuff around and still have too much stuff that I don't use. So, I'm going to re-do this goal. I'm going to go box by box and drawer by drawer (in my fave IKEA furniture above) and be ruthless! Anybody here a Konmari fan? If it doesn't spark JOY, tell it thank you for serving its purpose and get rid of it/give it away. Well, most of my stash sparks joy, so this may be difficult. 😂

I will be doing a post soon on how I used these boxes, so stayed tuned!

  

Goal #2 was working on 2 years at once. 2014 and 2015. I did kind of do this, but not in the way I originally intended. Since that post I have had the amazing opportunity to be on the Take 10 Kits Creative Team for The Studio 29 Designs, LLC. It's a dream! I love it! It keeps me scrapbooking on a weekly schedule! I found that having all of my 2014 not done became a very positive thing. It was much easier to look at the current month from a year ago and pick photos to create my layouts/projects each week. A whole month of photos to work with that work with that month's kit! So, I completed a lot of 2014, but also did the occasional 2015 layout if it made sense. And I will continue the same way this year. I put my pages in chronological order, but have also given myself the freedom to skip around between the current and previous year! It's liberating! 

Goal #3 was doing more pre-planning for Project Life. I do this, but my approach changed! I mainly use the Project Life App to record which photos and write out the journaling. I did a post on that last year, find it here. I only use the PL App now for planning! It's great. I should do an updated post on my process! Because, it's evolved...

New Goals for 2016: I'm gonna get a lot more specific here.

  1. Finish DD2015 (so close!!!)   
  2. Put together Shutterfly Photobooks for previous year's professional family photos. I want to go back to the year my oldest was born, so that is 2009, 2010 and 2011 that I need to create. And make some Christmas Card books, like Luly has been doing! Here's a Shutterfly link, I'd love if you used on your next order.
  3. DONE! I did a review of Amy Tan's class hereFinish my Craftsy Online Classes! I've started one with Amy Tangerine. I love her tips and style. I immediately had new ideas to use. And next up is a Mixed Media class with Olya Schmidt (Paint Paper Studio!). Right now all new classes are on sale! Sign up here.  
  4. Set up and make current my kid's School Albums! I plan on doing a post to share more about what I'm doing there. My oldest is only in First Grade, so if I can do it this year, I think it's totally manageable. I have been hunting for 2 each of solid color leather 12x12 albums! I'm 2/3rd  of the way there. 
  5. Finish my #LoveWhereYouLive album that I did withLittle Paper Projects. If you sign up for any classes with them, tell them Holly Genc or Painted Ladies Journal sent you! They have a nice affiliate program. 
  6. Finish my Midori Traveler's Notebook I started for our Oregon trip. I got a new brown leather Midori I found  one that is beautiful. I just love it! Go here for a post I did on this book! And here's the Midori I purchased:
  7. And lastly, I want to try out the Shotbox that Luly got. It's just awesome and I might need my own. She just did a review on it. Go see what she says, here!

Ok, I could keep listing things, but I'm gonna start with these!! What do you hope to accomplish this year?

Holly 

Tuesday, January 19, 2016

One Little Word, January Prompt

Who has a One Little Word with Ali this year? I've heard about this idea for years but this is my first year trying it.
In my last post I talked about using the rest of my December Kit for the January prompt. I was seeing a lot of the same themes (More of this/Less of that, etc), so I just knew I could incorporate these cards!  
 

I kept it pretty simple. I had planned on just having the plain white cards, just like Ali. I do like that clean look. However, my laptop decided to finally die (the horror), so printing the digital files became harder. I learned that I can't tell the printer to print at full size from my phone, so my 3x4 cards were a tad smaller. So, I just mounted them on 3x4 cards.   




For the title page, I printed the OLW logo on a 4x6 and added a little puffy heart. I put this in a 4x6 Sn@p! flip, which  I cut the top sticky strip off of. Then, I used my favorites - those little attachers! I also added a little office supply tab that I had in my stash.  
 
I'm really enjoying this project! I'm so glad that I'm doing it this year. There is a card from the December Take 10 Kit and I used the Studio Calico gold alphas to spell out my word. The alphas are in the glam bag, still available here.
 
 

I used the "Resolutions" card to highlight my four main uses of my word. In addition to my Take 10 Kit cards, I use some neutral cards from my MAMBI stash, also. 
 
 
 
As you can see, I have a few prompt cards that are still blank. I felt like I needed to "grow with my word" before journaling these cards.
ENJOY!
Holly
The following are affiliate links to most everything I am using for this project (click right on the photo, if you don't see a link):

Puffy Hearts!!


Attachers


I couldn't find the exact ones, but this is what I plan on ordering when I need more:

4x6 Flips by Sn@p!

   
I love this set of neutral cards, and next time you attend a wedding, you have some cards for that, too! 


I cut down white cardstock to 4x6 for printing cards on my Canon Pixma! Or print digital cards that usually come on an 8.5 X 11 pdf. I actually bought the 90 lb, but it's a little thin, so I'd recommend this:



I like to buy this box of 400 4x6 photo paper for my Canon Pixma:
 
My new printer!!!:


My favorite tape runner:




This is the exact 6x8 album I am using. It a little brighter aqua blue than shows in this image:

The Simple Stories page protectors are the same size as Becky Higgins!

If you chose to click on any links, I truly appreciate it. I get a small kick-back from Amazon and it's no additional cost to you!