Game Plan for Project Life 2014

I really can't believe 2013 is over and I've actually completed an entire year of Project Life. I love having a scrapbook full of our adventures. It's so fun to look through it and remember all the fun we had this year. It's going to be awesome to look back at this album later in life!

But I've learned a lot about my personal scrapbooking this past year. I developed a game plan last year and stuck to parts of it. I guess for me, I never know exactly how I'm going to do something until I just start it!

So here's the plan for 2014. I'm trying to simplify some things (color choices!) and make more time for other things (embellishing!) We'll see if I stick to it :)

• I'm going to do weekly spreads with my weeks going from Monday to Sunday to keep the weekends together. I'll get creative with the dates again when we go on vacations or I don't have enough to fill up 2 pages. I did 1 page per week a couple of times last year and it worked just fine.

• I'm going to use the Coral kit as my foundation kit. Basically, I'm going to use this kit to help me narrow down color choices each week. I feel like my pages are more cohesive when I pick a limited color palette and go with it for the week.

• I just started a 6 month subscription to Studio Calico's Project Life kit. I'll be using those cards and others from my stash to break up the Coral kit just a little bit. I don't want to get bored.

• I will not be pre making my weekly title cards. Last year, I made them all horizontal and renumbered them, which caused me to feel constricted. I also want to be able to choose which color/pattern of card I want to use each week.

• Speaking of which - I hope to use a little more variety this year. I have a ton of assorted pocket pages. I want to break out of my "go to" Designs A and F.

• I'm really loving white borders around my photos. That's not to say I'll never put a photo on a PL card for a little pop of color.

• I hope to use more stamps this year!

• I'm going to continue printing my pictures at home - just got a Canon Selphy CP900 a few weeks ago and I'm loving it!

• I'll be getting another extra large Pioneer 3 ring scrapbook. I just have to decide which color. Last year, I bought a super cute American Crafts album... but it was too small to hold all 52 weeks. I don't do a ton of inserts, so I really couldn't fill up 2 albums. This Pioneer album from Archiver's is perfect for me!

So what about you? What are you going to do differently this year in Project Life? If you're just starting - what's your plan?

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Project Life Weeks 48 and 49

I'm a little behind in posting my Project Life, so I'm going to post 2 weeks at a time until I'm caught up for 2013. With the holidays, PL has fallen to the side a bit. I'm going to get back to doing PL every week in 2014. I think my pages are better when I do them within a week or two; I remember things more clearly. After all, to me PL is about documenting the little things in life.

Week 48 Full spread: I decided to try out white borders around photos and not rounding all the corners this week. I have to say, I like it a lot!

Left side: Thanksgiving! I used a couple of cards from Echo Park's "Oh so thankful" collection. Perfect colors for fall.

These embellishments were perfect for documenting our Thanksgiving meal!

After we ate, Joe and I stretched out on the couch in front of the fireplace. Yawn!

Right side: Snow, Salvation Army angels, and lots of "at home" time.

Do you know how much I love these Becky Higgins overlays from HSN?!

Week 49: Full spread: Mostly we decorated and got ready for Christmas this week. I had a week left of vacation, so my 10 days off started on Thursday evening!

Left side: Decorating our home. I want to leave those mini houses on the piano all year long. Wouldn't that be festive?

 I absolutely LOVE this tinsel I got at Target. Love!! I haven't bothered with tinsel or beads or any kind of garland for several years, but I'm so glad I took the time to put it on the tree this year.

Some hidden journaling about some not-so-pleasant work stuff (the only downer of the week).

Right side: Some everyday stuff and the first night of our 2-night mini vacation:

I finally got my hands on this Studio Calico stamp. Love it!

Are you into white borders on photos? Do you round all of your corners?

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December 30 Days of Lists - Days 15-21

Today I'm showing you Days 21-25 of the special December 30 Days of Lists challenge. I've made a simple tag style mini album (a first for me!) using the Project Life Winter theme pack. With all of the holiday happenings and magic, I've really enjoyed the simplicity of this project.

 

Day 15: I like to avoid:

Day 16: My favorite things to eat this time of year:

Day 17: I wish I had done more ______ this year:

Day 18: On my shopping list:

Day 19: Project I completed this year:

Day 20: I already posted this list since I got to host that day! Check it out here:

Day 21: Positive things from this week:

Hope your project is coming along nicely - the month is almost over!

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Coffee Cup Gift Card holders

Just wanted to share a quick and easy gift card holder idea - I used this cut file on my Silhouette Cameo to make a little coffee cup. I resized mine to about 7" tall. I flipped the coffee sleeve pieces and switched the hearts to change up the look on each cup. The colors can be changed up to suit the occasion or the recipient's favorite colors.

I glued the sides and bottom of the coffee cup sleeve to form a pocket. Just add a gift card and a little note and you're done!

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Day 20 December 30 Days of Lists

Hey! Just in case you didn't know, I'm a sponsor of 30 Days of Lists this December - and I got to host a list! How cool is that??

Welcome to any new Listers that found me via the 30 Days of Lists private blog! And if you haven't joined yet, don't forget - #30lists doesn't have a deadline. You can join anytime! [affiliate]

I'm using a mini album made from the Winter themed Project Life cards - they're too cute! Check out my other December lists here and here.

My list was Day 20: With a day to myself, I would:

Sleep in a bit

Drink coffee

Catch up on reading blogs

Make something crafty

Read a good book

What would you do with a day to yourself?

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December 30 Lists - Days 8-14

Today I'm sharing another week's worth of lists from December's 30 Days of Lists. I've made a simple tag style mini album (a first for me!) using the Project Life Winter theme pack. This mini album is quick and simple, and makes it easy to stay caught up.

Day 8 - On my Movie watching List

Day 7 - My favorite clothes:

This isn't a list, but it's one of my favorite patterned cards that I'm sprinkling throughout the lists:

Day 10 - I was a friend this year by:

Day 11 - Without __________, I would probably ___________

Day 12 - Places I went this Year

Day 13 - I get excited when...

Day 14: Stocking Up On:

How's your project going along? Are you keeping caught up? Or are you saving this project until the end of the holidays? Either way works!

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Project Life Week 47

Week 47. Since I've been playing catch up, I've been mainly using one kit each week. And I kinda like it... this week I used the Flea Market mini kit.

Full week: I think every one of these pictures is from the weekend. Sometimes that happens. It's okay.

Left side: Joe got his Xbox One, and I got to work on my December Daily.

Right side: shopping at TJMaxx (I'm pretty sure we've gone there more in the last month than I had the entire year), we got a new safe at work, and I spent my Friday listening to the Becky Higgins live broadcast.

I used a black clear sticker on top of a Project Life card. Cute, huh?

I'm excited about this little tray. It's perfect!

Another white clear sticker. Swoon.

I linked up at The Mom Creative's Project Life Tuesday - a great source of inspiration!

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December 30 Days of Lists - Days 1-7

I'm going to be sharing my December #30lists every week or so...  I've made a simple tag style mini album (a first for me!) using the Project Life Winter theme pack. It has such pretty colors in it! I found 3 or 4 October Afternoon Mini Market alphas to use throughout the book.

Day 1:  By the end of the year I will...
(I just used some enamel dots on this page)

Day 2: Around my house:

Day 3: This is the only time of year that I...
(how cute is this little coffee cup stamp from Freckled Fawn? Love!)

 Day 4: I am happy to report:
(I kind of changed the title of the prompt because I liked the preprinted banner on this card - this is just one example of how you can make #30Lists work for you!)

Day 5: Traditions:

Day 6: On my reading list:

(I totally love that little fabric bow on the left - got it at Target! And the clear black overlay sticker is one of my new favorite embellishments. It's from MAMBI and I got them at Michael's. They come in white too. Stock up. You're gonna love them.)

Day 7: What I'm going to remember about today:

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Project Life Week 46

Here's week 46. I know it isn't much of a stretch for most people, but I used a Design D for the right side. It's a stretch for me because I always use Design A or a variation of A. I really prefer my title card to be horizontal in the upper left hand corner. But it's time to change it up!

Full week: I mostly used the Cut and Paste mini kit for this week. I added several stickers to dress up some of the cards.

Left side: I didn't use one of my pre made weekly title cards this week! I've been wanting to change it up a bit... this camera was on the back of the previous week, and I liked it so much - I figured this was the week to change it up!

Cold cold night! This is a screenshot from our Nest thermostat - I love that it captures the outside weather and temperature (upper right hand corner), along with what we have our inside temperature set to be.

Right side:

Flair from Chic Tags. This quote is from the Rhonna Designs app. I love it :)

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