love letters...a mini album

i love mini albums.  a lot.

they are probably my favorite thing to make.

i made this sweet little album for the weekly challenge over at studio calico.  the challenge was to use their printables to create something.

as soon as i saw the heart card in the front row printable set i knew i wanted to use it for some type of mini.

after some thought, i decided to write little love letters to my family and document them in this book.

this came together so easily and i really loved having just a few products to work.

i used plain white cardstock cut to 5x5 for the album.  

for the cover, i stamped the cardstock with some shimmery puff paint to add a little more texture and depth.  i added a piece of crate paper's new line as the backing with a doily and the heart card printable from studio calico.

i created a confetti heart (you know i love confetti) using some clear packaging.  i sewed the majority of the heart and then poured in my confetti before sewing it up the rest of the way.

i stamped "love letters" onto the printable tag and attached it on the page with some cardstock from the 34th street scrapbook kit.

i used photoshop to alter the colors of the printables so i had a little more variety.  plus....what love album doesn't include pink, right?  :)

i created a little pocket page using vellum to hold a little "to" card and my "love letter".  i sewed on a little bit of ribbon at the top of the card so the card could be easily removed.

my letter is folded in half and glued onto the back of the card.

i used the front row printable tags to add some simple journaling on all the blank pages.

(this is my favorite page)

i even wrote a letter to myself, which was very insightful. i've never really done that before.

thanks so much for looking!

there's plenty of time before valentine's day if you want to make one for your loved ones!!

project life: week 4

four weeks in and, you guessed it....this project still rocks.  i thought i had taken tons of photos this week, but most of them ended up being repetitive activities of the kids so i just picked the best ones and went to work.

i found that "i love us" printable here and thought it was perfect for this week.

pretty simple.

pictures. journaling.

i sewed up a vellum pocket to hold a little tag with some journaling and some tickets from a basketball game we went to this weekend.

i love vellum.  i use it on everything.

for the journaling, i cut down a card from the studio calico january project life kit and adhered it to the back of the tag.  i love how it looks!

and this is the image of my sweet baby girls little ballet feet.  she loves these dirty old shoes and i'm so glad this memory is captured forever.

and in case you missed it yesterday...

i blogged about how i stay organized for project life.  check it out here.

you can see all my project life posts here.  and be sure to hop on over to the mom creative to see other inspiring project life spreads!! 

happy tuesday everyone.

my project life organization

i thought i would share a little about my project life organization.

i have one large desk in my craft room and a small dresser where i keep most of my supplies.  

i like to keep the things i use most out where i can see them rather than tucked away in a drawer.

my ocd-self would like them nicely put away, but i tend to forget about things that are hidden away.

i keep all of my tags, labels and little paper embellishments in this divided lazy susan.  it's great because, not only does it swivel, each compartment can be taken out and then replaced.  occasionally, i will rotate stuff around so i can remember what's on the bottom...rather than just looking through the top of the stacks all the time...

i keep my 6x6 notepads, paper i've cut down to 4x6 and some other little goodies in this basket on my desk.  it's handy for when i want to add something to my page or need a "filler".

i also keep my studio calico project life kit cards and other journaling cards in a little tin on my desk.  i've categorized the types of journaling cards by "theme" so that i can easily flip through and find what i need.

i store most of my cut files in this baseball card protector.  it's great because i can see exactly what i have and it keeps all the fragile pieces from getting torn or mishandled.

my lovely collection of washi tape is kept in a hurricane vase on my dresser.  it's quite beautiful to look at and the best part about using the glass vase is that i can see all the rolls...not just the ones on the top.

there you have it.  that's how i try to stay organized.  i'm pretty much a neat freak so i like everything put away at the end of the day.  having a place for everything to go definitely keeps me sane.

let me know if you have any questions and give yourself a great big pat on the back if you made it to the bottom of this post!!

xoxo,

stephanie

project life blog hop...

hi! and welcome to all of you who are enjoying this saturday morning project life blog hop!  i'm so excited you stopped by!!  i share lots of memory keeping on this little blog....project life, mini books, layouts, etc. feel free to look around for a while and be sure to leave me a comment so i can come check out your blogs! and once you're done here, be sure to head back over to michelle's blog to continue on the blog hop!! xoxo

in a moment...

our insta-moments this month.  still loving how convenient and fun it is to share photos on instagram.  i hope you will follow along with me!  my user name is stephaniebryan.

(above template is from ali edwards.  it can be found here)

currently...

time: 8:27 am

location: in the kitchen

mood: sleepy, tired, blah

eating: blueberry oatmeal

drinking: the worst cup of keurig coffee ever.  missing scott's morning lattes

listening: anna talking on her pretend phone and drew playing with his cars in the playroom

reading: Fifty Shades of Grey series....I’m addicted

loving: project life and my project 52

learning: to have more patience and find more joy in the day to day routine

thinking: that I’m really glad scott is coming home a day early

wishing: i could go back to sleep until noon

awesome now...

i'm in some type of trance because these layouts just seem to keep rolling out.  i'm well on my way to easily completing project 52 by march at this pace.  we'll see...

this layout was inspired by that "awesome" tag from a studio calico digital file.  from there, i layered my picture on, used some wash, did some random stamping, stitching and journaling.  

keeping with my style...it's pretty simple...

project life: week 3

on to week 3 we go.

and i'm still loving this, as always.

most of our weeks are pretty much the same...preschool, library, playgrounds, so i'm having fun playing around with our photos to try to capture our lives in a different way.

i used my silhouette to cut out "snow" in the picture in the top right hand corner, and also to cut out anna's quote from our movie night.  "snuggle on"....what three year old says that?  love her!

are you caught up with your project life?  how's it going? 

you can check out my weeks 1 & 2 here.

confused about project life?

project life is a produce and system created by becky higgins.

thanks so much for checking out our week!  

i'm linking up over at the mom creative. be sure to check out all the awesome project life spreads!

xoxo

right here, right now...

continuing on with my project 52.

loving having a project to do.

loving using my supplies to create.  (sometimes i tend to hoard).

this layout i created using studio calico's block party scrapbooking kit.

this kit has lots of muted colors and some fun pops of color!  it's pretty awesome.

i decided to use a large photo for the majority of the layout and then layer in some pops of color to make it really stand out.

i embossed the "right here, right now" on vellum and also typed up my journaling on vellum.  i love using vellum.  i love how it gives you little peaks into what's underneath.  lots of stitching, as always and lots of fun!!

be still my heart...

over the weekend, during the cha fun, i participated in some of the cha challenges at studio calico. this layout was for one of them.

the challenge was to do a bold title, which is a little out of my comfort zone so i thought i would give it a try.  

and i love it.  go figure.  :)

like my "style", it's still pretty simple, but that large title tells the story.  

and that boy right down there, well...he stole the rest of my heart.

i welded and cut the title with my silhouette.  love that machine.

then i just added some simple tags, papers, doily, stitching, splatters to try to dress it up.

nothing fancy, but it's another layout in my project 52.

project life: week 2

and....

week 2 is done and the page is turned.

still love every bit of this project.  

i love how i remember to take photos of those special moments.  like drew lying in his crib with all his pacifiers or the way anna throws her hand out to the side while she walks.  those moments will fade, but i will always have the memory captured.

that's why i love this project.

and because it keeps me sane.

here's my week 2.

confused about project life?

project life is a product and system created by becky higgins.

love...a mini album

i feel in "love" with the amy tangerine "kraft love" paper as soon as i saw it.  i bought all the sheets our archivers had and then i hoarded them forever.  and then i decided to use them.

and this is what i made....

a simple album with pretty papers, fabric, ribbons, doilies and embellishments.  

thanks so much for looking!