#goals

I almost feel as though my documenting comes and goes with the changing seasons. Like now, now I'm hustling to get fall done so I can focus on the upcoming winter season. I never feel like going backwards once a new season has arrived so if I don't get Sept/Oct done now, I never will. 

I haven't shown much of my documenting mainly because it's not really show worthy.  A lot of spreads are super basic. Photos, a little journaling. Done. As long as they're in pockets, I'm good. No fuss (embellishments) not frills (kit contents) just the basics. It's good. It keeps me moving forward.

While working on my fall spreads, I created a few things for myself that I thought I'd share with all of you. 

Yay! Freebie! 

Free things are good (most of the time) and I hope you enjoy this one. It's a straightforward 8 1/2 x 11 pdf that holds 4- 3x4 cards. Just print and cut! 

Download H E R E

Here's a list of past LifeLovePaper freebies.

December Friday Freebie

August Friday Freebie

July Friday Freebie

Week End brushes

xot

Studio Calico Galileo Reveal

I wasn't quite sure about that large acrylic wording in the main Galileo Project Life kit. I'm not one to put such thick pieces of embellishing in my own Project Life but after placing it on a 6x8 photo, my doubt quickly faded. The cork die cut numbers were my very favorite item…you'll notice I used in several places. 

That photo of the 3 of us, working together is one of my favorites. They make the best office mates. :) 

Donuts and moons and ice cream….all the things I love. That little rabbit holding an ice cream cone illustrated by Lizzie Mackay is so damn cute I can't stand it. 

I had the pleasure of designing a few pieces for the main kit including the donut sticky note pad shown on the moon card. This accompanied a little journaling and a some photos about my new morning routine. 

Here's a more subtle color palette compared to the spread I did with the main kit. My photos were all pretty neutral with dark browns, creams and whites so I complimented them with matching journal cards and artwork. For me, cards should always compliment, not compete.

I finally got my hands on the Uni-Ball gel pen in white. I had really bad luck with white gel pens in the past so I was a bit reluctant on purchasing but alas! A white pen that actually works! You can see how I used it on the black heart journal card. 

EGGS! I do love a good runny egg with lot's of pepper served with buttery toast. My mouth is watering just thinking about it. You can see how I translated my egg obsession with the card above. I chose to stamp the egg doodle from the Food No-No's stamp set designed by Hello Forever onto a journal card from the Shooting Star add on that had a sprinkling of tiny black dots (pepper!). I used the Onyx Versafine + Color theory ink pad in Lemon Zest and paired the pattern with the EATING stamp from the Venus foodie inspired add on.

How do you choose to coordinate your photos with journal cards? Does the photo dictate the direction you'll go or is it the design of a particular journal card? 

Portland 2015 | Almost there!

I know, Portland this and Portland that. I'm fully aware of my obsession with this city. It's become my home away from home. :) 

I'm about 90% done with documenting my trip with Kelly and Jamaica. It's taken some time but it's been fun to look at all my photos and reminisce. Isn't that one of the better parts of putting together a travel album? 

So here is what I have done so far. I will also note that I loosely stuck to the order of days but I didn't stress over it. It was all about the feel and grouping of photos. I also haven't done a lot of journaling since I did most of that in my travel journal. 

Sometimes after I photograph a layout, I either want to add something or change it completely. I've been wanting to paint a map of the area we explored…I think that pink paper will be perfect for that. 

Same with this page. I liked the plain patterned paper but now it looks a little too plain for me. I may add in something and make a layout.

Just a few more pages and it'll be DONE. I'm itching to get to my trip from last year! 

Supplies | Studio Calico 9x12 album, Studio Calico 9x12 page protectors, Studio Calico Sammy add on, Studio Calico Carolina Moon PL kit, ABM 9x12 album dividers, ABM Messy Box, Kelly Purkey Take me away kit (unavailable), Jamaica Makes Duly Noted faves, Paislee Press Picture + Words no 18, Let's Go journal cards.

Happy Friday!

I've been working on my beginning pages for PL14 this past week. It's been nice to leave my book open and add in things here and there as I walk by my table. That's something I think I'll do differently this year, not put it away where it's out of site out of mind. Keeping with the managble size of the 6x8 Handbook makes this doable in my household. Still working on our dining room table. Should just call it what it is at this point.

End of week Currents// time: 6:20am weather: 27 degrees. Hubby says it's almost like summer. ha.ha. drinking: coffee, black. not on purpose...ran out of creamer. not bad though. eating: nibbling on these muffins I made last night. thinking: of the tasks that need to be done today wondering: if I can sneak in some thrifting today. loving: waking up to my son snuggled against my body. He's been sneaking into our bed a few hours before we wake up. loathing: constantly forgetting things like said creamer. I was just at the store!! enjoying: FRIDAY possiblities. making: week 1 of my PL, some script work for Kal's upcoming class, next LLP print pack

Happy Friday! xot

*the calendar page is by Jasmine Dowling. It's a FREE download. You can find it here

JUNE//DONE

In order to not fall too behind on my PL, I decided to work backwards. The idea of starting where I left off was in no way motivating. So I started where I wanted which was June. I indulged in nothing but PL for a whole weekend. So nice. And now I'm starting in on July and will go back to April + May when I get around to it. Not going to sweat it.

xot

Create your transparencies

Happy Wednesday yo! The sun is finally out after weeks and weeks of rain, gray clouds, fog and snow. Yes, snow. It was gone within a few days but still, snow in September? Not cool.This marks the "get my sh*t together for the long winter" rush. I'm out and about trying to find the perfect jacket and boots when really I should be getting my snow tires on. My priorities seem to be off at times people, I'm fully aware of this. At least I've got the kiddo's winter gear, that was simple. They make such cute stuff for little people.

Besides moaning and groaning about the upcoming winter, I've been busy with projects and deadlines. You know, the yoush. (how the eff do you spell that? short for usual) I've got a cool tutorial on the Studio Calico blog today. I work a lot with transparencies since I use them to burn my screens for printing. I made a batch of these years ago for a Dare swap and never thought twice about making them for my Project Life album until I started messing around the SC digital brush stamps. They're fun to create and trust me, they get addicting. My advice to you is to fill up that sheet as much as possible because they're not cheap. They run about $60-$80 for a pack at my local office supply store up here. I found a great source online through Amazon because I use them so often. You can find them here. Of course you may not need 100 of them but still, you can't beat the cost.

Hey look, an actual PL page! And you thought it was a myth. Ha! (Girl print by Jamaicamakes & Gold amp on chipboard by Life.Love.Paper)

My PL is boring compared to what I see out there and I'm totally fine with that. I lost site of what this project was suppose to be about and now I've simplified it even further. I just grab a precut card, staple a journal spot, sometimes date it and insert it in a pocket. Done. Then I print photos at the end of the week and insert those. I'm not going to worry about exact dates or completing full weeks. I'm still pondering on doing this for 2013. If I do, it'll definitely be smaller. I'm not into this huge 12x12 binder. I need something more portable like the new SC Handbook.

Well, I've got some finger painting to do with the little man. XOT