Asheville Vintage Market Days

My mom and aunt and I went to Asheville's Vintage Market Days and had an awesome day. We looked at Pyrex, antiques, decor, crafts, and more. Then we had lunch at a Mexican restaurant before driving home.

The theme of this particular Vintage Market Days was "A Day at the Farm" so I chose papers that had a farm or vintage sort of theme and color. I actually glued lots of 3x4 papers/Project Life cards onto the mason jar 12x12. You can see the mason jars up in the top right corner. I used red for a little bit of pop.

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Ikea or Bust!

I recently changed up a couple of rooms in my house, which gave me a bigger, brighter dedicated craft room. Previously, I had my craft supplies in my old office/craft room but had been outgrowing that space for years. I'll show my new room in a future post.

Mom and I went to the Charlotte Ikea and had an awesome time looking around the showroom and wishing we had good reasons to buy more stuff,

I bought a 5x5 Kallax for any craft supplies. I also got a 2x4 Kallax that I turned on its side to use as a TV stand with lots of storage. We had to put the front passenger seat all the way forward and fold it down a little bit to get the 5x5 Kallax in my small SUV. Mom had to ride behind me on the way home!

I used this fun sunburst paper from the Pink Paislee Oh My Heart collection. I used stickers from that collection along with other stickers from my stash to fill up the space. Love how it turned out!

Do you have a dedicated craft room?

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Is Anybody Out There?

Hey! Long time, no see. Again!

So in the past week, a couple of bloggers I follow posted opposite things n their blogs... one announced she was officially moving on from the blog, and the other said she thought it was time to begin again with her blog.

I go through spurts (ok, maybe the last 2-3 years) where I wonder if I should bother with this blog anymore. I do like it. But it can be quite a bit of work to promote it and get eyes on it. Yes, there are tools to help but this isn't a money thing for me, so I don't want to pay for some of those options.

I like having all of my projects in one place instead of having to scroll through Instagram to find them. I miss following so many craft blogs... it was easier to pin their posts for inspiration on Pinterest instead of saving it on Instagram. I don't really remember to go look at my Instagram collections.

I go back and forth all the time and often realize it's been a couple months since I posted anything. So if only for my own personal interest, I'll continue sharing here and pinning on Instagram.

What are your thoughts?

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Wowza!

When I went over to Mom and Dad's house on Mother's Day, I noticed the most GORGEOUS flowers ever on the back porch.

This layout came from a Scraplift Sunday at Paper Issues (I'll link if it goes up on their blog). 

The inspiration layout used a white background with stamped words. I didn't have a similar paper, so I used a gold text overlay/transparency sheet on top of white card stock.

Challenges like this and the monochromatic one make me consider storing my embellishments by color. I don't now, but it would make it faster! I kind of enjoy the hunt, though.

Have you ever seen a prettier plant?

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Project Life App 2018: Weeks 14 - 18

New layouts! I meant to hit "publish" on this post a while ago but forgot. This method of one page in the PL App every week is still working for me!

Week 14

Week 15  - I love the colors in this week!

I again did a quick recap of our Disney trip. We did so many fun things that it was more difficult to narrow down the pics this time! I did a few Instagram stories and used several in this layout - they already have the place and what we're doing so that cut down on journaling and allowed me to include more pics!

Week 16

Week 17 - really all we did was work and go to Busch Gardens!

Week 18 - Walmart Pickup came into my life. OMG. Please use my link and save yourself $10 (and gift me $10). You'll thank me later!! I was also invited to share my scrapbooking story over on Crafty Julie's blog!

That's about it. I'll be sharing May PL App pages soon!

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March and April Book Report

How's your reading life these days? I'm keeping up for the most part... to get to 60 books for the year, I need to read an average of 5 books per month. I just started book 19 so I'm doing well! I didn't listen to an audiobook for the past couple of months but I can make that up easily.

Artemis by Andy Weir - it was good, but a little bit (ok, a lot) too technical for me. It was good, though!

The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah - AMAZING! UN-PUT-DOWN-ABLE (that's a word, right?)

Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer - I read this because I saw am movie preview for it... It was weird but good. It's the first of a trilogy but I haven't read the other 2.

Sleeping Beauties by Stephen King and Owen King - It took me a while to get through this one, but overall it was good. I thought the ending was disappointing.

Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman - I'm ready to read everything Alice Hoffman ever wrote. I can't put her books down.

Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate - I (still) have a hard time believing this book even though it's based off real events. Wow!

The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn was really good - the chapters are super short and I couldn't put it down! It keeps me guessing all the way to the end.

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Project Life App 2018: Weeks 9-13

I've got weeks 9-13 to show you today. I just had several weeks printed (I always order from Persnickety Prints) and put them in my album today.

I'm continuing to add a monthly recap of the books I've read each month and love keeping up with it this week (vs. doing a card each week). I used a few Amy Tangerine cards on this layout.

This week turned out bright and pretty and I used some screenshots to document the week.

We spent the weekend in Gatlinburg, TN for our 7th anniversary. We stayed at hotel within walking distance of downtown Gatlinburg. We went to some Ripley's attractions and to the Melting Pot restaurant.

And this is the week I downloaded the Oh My Heart All-in-One card kit. Be prepared for it to take over the rest of my 2018 album (just kidding... sort of ha!). I also used the Project 12 March kit.

I mean, seriously - could the Oh My Heart all-in-one kit be any prettier?!

This was the game changing week for me - the week that freeform text came to the app! OMG! I LOVE IT! I added words to the "make a wish" card and "happy Easter" to the Easter egg card. I used an Instagram stories screenshot to document our day trip to Dollywood,

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February Book Report

I'm at 11 books out of 60 so far and am charting my progress on Goodreads.

My Absolute Darling by Gabriel Tallent - UGH. I liked it and yet I didn't. It was disturbing.

The Weekenders by Mary Kay Andrews - I needed something quick and light after the previous book, and this fit the bill.

The Universe Has Your Back by Gabby Bernstein - this was my Audiobook listen this month. It was good and I'd like to listen to it again. I prefer self help and nonfiction books on Audiobook.

Future Home of the Living God by Louise Erdrich - This book was good/weird/interesting...

Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult - SO GOOD!

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Artful Epcot

We were able to attend the Festival of the Arts at Epcot this February and it was nice! I think it's the second year of the festival, but we missed it last year. One activity we participated in was painting the weekly mural at the entrance to the World Showcase in Epcot.

I love these cute pom pom frames from the Crate Paper "Good Vibes" collection.

I was happy to be able to use these Thickers - I'm at a critical low on this font!

These embellishments (and the background paper) are from My Mind's Eye "Jubilee" collection.

This journaling spot is from Heidi Swapp's Favorite Things Project Life kit.

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Project Life App 2018: Weeks 5-8

Still up to date (woo hoo!) with Project Life for 2018. I'm doing a weekly page with inserts and random 12x12s as I want to make them.

Week 5: I'm going to include a monthly reading list at the end of each month and plan to use this "Currently Reading" journaling card each time.

We took advantage of some time off work to go to our second home (haha). As I've mentioned before, I will also create 12x12s for my Disney album. Last year I started doing quick recaps of these trips in my Project Life and it's still working for me.

Disney: 

Universal:

Week 6:

Week 7:

Week 8:

How are you documenting 2018?

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January Book Report

So my goal is to read 60 books this year. That's just slightly over 1 book per week and as long as I can read an average of 5 books per month, I'll meet my goal. You can keep up with my progress on Goodreads and I'd love to be friends if you are on there!

The 5 Second Rule by Mel Robbins - I actually listened to this one on Audible and loved it. It's a great kick in the butt to get stuff done.

Rich People Problems by Kevin Kwan - This was the third book in the Asian series by Kevin Kwan. Fast paced, fluff reading at its finest.

Fellside by M.R. Carey - I didn't love this book as much as I loved The Girl With All the Gifts by the same author, but it was still very very good!

The Rules of Magic by Alice Hoffman - Love love love this book! I made my mom read it too. I can't wait for more books in this series. And I definitely need to read more by this author. I liked this one too, but she has TONS of other books.

Be Frank With Me by Julia Claiborne Johnson - I honestly don't recommend this one. The whole time I was reading it, I kept asking myself "why are you reading this? Put it down." But then I didn't and before I knew it, I was 75% done and wanted to see how it ended. Lame.

The Whole Town's Talking by Fannie Flagg - cute story but not what I expected!

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Project Life App 2018: Weeks 1-4

I loved using the Project Life app last year so much that I'm continuing in the same manner this year. One page per week. I had time to do so many 12x12s last year because the app frees up a lot of time for me. Have you tried it yet?

This year I'm using the Everyday PL card collection for my title cards. UNLESS I like the Project 52 Rad collection ones better (whenever they get to the app. I haven't seen them so I don't know if I like them or not). Last year I used a collection with a grayer background and I like this white based kit much better.

The goal is to weed thru my pics every week and then make the page right then. So far, so good. I wasn't super diligent about this last year and got "behind".

When I have a lot to document during the week, I use a "round up" card... I have several things listed on the pink Agenda card on the bottom row.

How are you documenting every day life in 2018?

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Let's Stay Home

We rang in the new year at home and it was great. We had snacks and watched movies. Then we live streamed the Disney fireworks at midnight. We didn't even turn on the countdown or the ball drop.

I bought this super cute clock paper a month or two ago and had no idea what I would use it for... but I think this was perfect! It's from Dear Lizzy Stargazer collection.

I used paper from the Turn the Page collection (Pink Paislee) for layers behind the photo.  the ephemera pack and the 30-page sticker book and used bits and pieces for embellishment.

How did you ring in the new year?

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Let's talk Planners - and a freebie!

Happy New Year! I spent the day straightening up, finishing products, cleaning up my craft desk, and hanging out with hubby. I also made some Happy Planner stickers!

I started using the Happy Planner last year and I love that it's a disc bound system. That means I can add pages, remove them, add photos, and more. I'm not a big decorator but I do have a ridiculous sticker stash and I plan on using it a little more than I did last year. I need room to write, people! This is a functional planner.

So I'm using two planners this year and made stickers to go with each: a mini Shake it Up Happy Planner that I'm using for fitness (got it at Michael's). I made scale stickers and yoga stickers. I do a weekly weigh in and will add those stickers to the weekly pages. The yoga stickers will be put on the monthly pages on the days I do yoga. It will be neat to see those calendars at the end of the year!

My other planner is the classic Striped Floral Happy Planner for my every day stuff (it was a Hobby Lobby exclusive). I wanted a way to keep up with when I finished books so I'll add the book icon stickers to the bottom section of my planner on the days I finish a book. I've found that my week goes SO MUCH SMOOTHER when I make time to plan my week on Sundays... so I'll be adding these cute "Happy planner" stickers to my Sundays!

I made these stickers a couple of ways and thought I'd share in case you were inspired to make your own. In all cases, I opened the pictures of my planners in the design file so I could use the eye dropper tool to select colors from the planner. Then you have color coordinating stickers!

Scale: I bought some printable scale stickers on Etsy, copied and pasted one scale into Silhouette software, and traced it. I made the scale "no cut" and then drew a square around it for the cut lines.

Yoga: I took a regular cut file from the Silhouette store, made the lines "no cut" and then drew a circle around the yoga girl. I just had the circle lines as cut lines.

Book: same as the yoga girl except I made a square shape around it for the cut lines.

Happy Planner: I just drew this one out of basic shapes! I made a rectangle for the book, added a heart and drew little skinny rectangle boxes for the discs. Again I drew a shape around the whole thing for the cut line.

If you're like me and need a little reminder to schedule some planner time in, feel free to download the Happy Planner cut file for your Cameo! I left it editable so you can change the colors to match your planner if you want!

Do you use a Happy Planner?

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