Pennies from Heaven {day 2}

For the second year running the boys have been hand picked by the elves from the North Pole to take part in the North Pole Behaviour Department programme! Jack is very excited. Like last year, Noah couldn't care less but he's only two so we'll give him that.

The elves arrived on Sunday 30th November as they know the best time to visit is when we aren't all rushing off to work and school. Two good boys meant that the elves left two green 'good behaviour' cards and Christmas onsies as a special reward.

The number two card is from my stash of foundation cards that I created using The Stamp Spot's Documenting December 2014 gold kit. The journalling stickers and the gold doily are also from the kit. The other cards are from the Heidi Swapp Project Life Glitter Kit. The washi tape is My Mind's Eye.

I popped plain Project Life cards in where my photos will be and wrote a wee note to myself so I know which photo to order and in what size and orientation.

Thanks for stopping by.

Holidays are coming, holidays are coming... {foundation pages}

I'm super excited to be flying the flag for the UK as a member of The Stamp Spot's (Australia) Documenting December Design Team 2014. I am working with the shops main kit which is a very festive and in vogue - GOLD!

               

I'll be adding my December pages right into my existing Project Life album which is the Amy Tangerine Live the Life you Love, Love the Life you Live album. Although, this album is pretty full and I'm only up-to-date to September so I may split 2014 into two albums. Luckily I have a gold 12x12 WRMK album waiting in the wings.

A first for me this year is a bit of forward planning. I've been busy creating a stock of 4x6 and 3x4 cards that I can slip into my album during December. Everything you see in this blog post is from The Stamp Spot's main Documenting December 2014 kit.

This is my title card for December. I chopped three elements from the kit - the embossed bauble, the white doily and the gold tag to fit onto this 4x6 card. I added a piece of twine, ribbon, some alphas and that lovely Santa flair badge (the flair badges are actually made by the owner of The Stamp Spot - Michelle).

I'm storing my cards in a 12x12 divider so I can see them easily - right now I have a couple of page protectors that look like this.

 

I've kept my designs pretty simple, it's a busy time of year and keeping things simple helps me stay on track. When I decide on a design I like I run with it until I get bored. One design you'll see throughout the cards I have made so far is to cut a doily into four and use the pieces to mount the dates on. 

I've added some sequins to this doily to give it a little texture. Adding a doily quarter to my cards is really helpful as a starting point.

   

For more inspiration pop over to The Stamp Spot blog where other members of the design team are sharing their albums and preparations for documenting December.

To learn more about December Daily® please visit Ali Edwards.

Thanks for stopping by.

Project Life | 2013 | the one with the time machine

I spent ages working on my first few pages for my Project Life album but as I'm now working on a secret Christmas project that is going to take up a lot of my crafty time I need to step it up a notch. Where's that time machine when ya need it? AND I would really, really like to document Christmas as it happens rather than months behind like I am doing now. So I'd like to have my December Daily/PL/Journal your Christmas pages ready for December. Still stuck in PL July - I need to get my skates on to catch up. So I decided to do it quickly - so not too much over thinking it, a lot less embellishments and more grabbing the first thing that looks OK rather than trying EVERYTHING else first.

 

Finishing up on our Gruffalo hunt at the Botanic Gardens in Edinburgh I added some stickers that came with Jack's Gruffalo Trunki - he hasn't seen these pages yet but I think he'll be super excited when he sees that the Gruffalo was actually there! 

I've been struggling with keeping my photos in chronological order and fitting them into the photo pockets - one side works but the other side doesn't so I decided that as long as they are in roughly the right order I'm happy with that which means less time spent trying to figure out a way that works = more time for secret project!

  

These pages document the week Noah and I got hand, foot and mouth disease. I got tonsillitis (not just one virus at a time for me oh no). We placed a toy shop order to cheer ourselves up and Jack got his first pair of school shoes and Noah got his first pair of proper shoes ever! And that was July! Yay! Just August, September and October to do :)

Project Life | 2013 | The beginning (well almost)

I finally jumped on the Project Life bandwagon! I was feeling a little fed up of my 4x6 albums full of photos without stories or pretty embellies. With no time (or inclination!) to dedicate whole pages 12x12 to every photo I ever want to document, coupled with all the lovely Project Life products that are available now how could I resist.

I bought the Project Life core kits in Midnight and Honey along with the 12x12 papers, the textured cardstock and the dividers (I'm a sucker for things that match). So far I've only used Honey. As I was starting my album mid-year I decided to start with the birth of my niece on the 4th July 2013.

Firstly, I created a front page. This came together in seconds, although the embellishing took a lot longer. I guess this is the beauty of Project Life you can spend as little or as much time you have/wish on your album.

  

  

Along with the Project Life cards, I've added alpha's, stickers, and washi tape to my pages. I thought I'd make one list of all the stickers/collections I think matches the Honey core kit. I would love to hear of any products you have used on your pages?

~~Embellishments (I think) match Project Life Honey core kit~~

Sn@p Cardstock Sticker Sheets - Labels (and pretty much any of the core Sn@p products)

Sn@p Double Sided Quote Cards 4x6 Pad - Fill in the Blanks 

Sn@p Stickers - Letters (I use these A LOT)

Echo Park - Summer Days 

Little Yellow Bicycle - Hello Spring

Simple Stories - 100 Days of Summer

Bella Blvd. Daily Chevies and Everyday Bits 

Bella Blvd. - Playdate

Bella Blvd. - Birthday Boy - Chipboard Icons

Bella Blvd. Sand n Surf - 3x12 Miniature Stickers

Adornit Cardstock Mini Alphas - Tiny Halloween, Tiny Sunshine, Tiny Treasure

Some seriously old October Afternoon Farm Fresh Stickers

Washi tape - multicoloured dots, blue/orange/green zigzag and green/white polka dots.

  

I'm using the Project Life Honey Edition - Chevron album (the one on the right) for my first album. The red one is also from the Honey collection and is called Dots.