Hi there peoples!

I am here today to share with you the new mood board for this month at Jot Magazine and the layout I created inspired by it.
FIRST MOOD BOARD OF 2017 - and it was chosen by...MOI :-)

The biggest attraction for me was that blue shade and the bold print duvet cover!
So that is what I drew inspiration from for my layout...


SUPPLIES:
- KaiserCraft stencil
- paint
- patterned paper from my scrap paper stash
- Flutterby Designs wood word
- doily
- date stamp
- shipping tag
- handcut leafy stems
- wooden circle sticker
- chipboard arrow
- washi tape
- enamel heart stickers
- ink mists

If you would like to get creative and join in on the mood board fun - please head over to the JOT BLOG and get all the deets AND you can check out all the Jot Girl inspiration while your at it ;-)

Happy Creating!!

Honestly, I have struggled ALL YEAR LONG with how quickly the year has sped along. It's the first year that I have not been able to keep up, catch up or cope with its speed!

However fast it has seemed for me though, I can also look back and see how jam-packed it has been. It's been a year of ups and downs. The good times I'll cherish, but it's the not-so-good, challenging times that are making it a whole lot easier to say goodbye to 2015 and move right along into a new year. A time that allows renewed hope, a fresh start, and is full of promise.

BRING ON 2016!

I don't want to focus on the negatives, so I'm just going to move right along and share the positive things I have to look forward to for the new year and what I have planned so far!

1. CAMPING/VAC SWIM -- Every January, four families from our street in our little town enroll our children in the Vac Swim holiday program for two weeks worth of swimming lessons at the beach in town. We pack up our caravans/campers/tents and set up camp for this time and have a great time all together just kicking back and holidaying together. We look forward to it every year!

2. BESTIE MOVING CLOSER -- I was so excited to find out that my bestie from Tassie is closing the gap between us by HALF and moving to South Australia for 6 months. Her hubby has a job lined up in the Riverland region and I'm hoping that we might be able to work in a ROADTRIP to meet up sometime!!

Exciting times!

3. ONE LITTLE WORD with Ali Edwards -- Every year I choose a word that creates a banner over my life for that year...and for the last few years, I have joined Ali in her highly acclaimed One Little Word workshop. It's all about supporting others who are doing the same and she posts prompts every month to help us along with living out our words and also to creatively express ourselves as we walk with our word too.

This year my word is...

I'm excited!!!

I always am when it comes to anything memory-keeping and definitely anything Jot and Kim Archer related!

And what am I excited about??

JOT POCKETS!!!

The up and coming new workshop created by Kim Archer herself!!

You most likely would have heard of Project Life - a pocket style approach to memory-keeping designed and created by Becky Higgins. And it has just gone off with a bang! Many people have tapped into this method for its ease and simplicity.

But, for some, there may be some confusion, and it may all seem a little overwhelming to get started.

THAT'S WHERE THIS WORKSHOP COMES IN!

Designed for the purpose of relieving any tensions, doubts or overwhelm for pocket style scrapping - this workshop will have you started and well on your way creating pages of memories with ease!

Class officially kicks off Sunday 6th July but there is already some pre-class tasks up and ready to go for you to join in on if you so choose! I had loads of fun creating a couple of pages with these pre-class projects...

And you can too!!

Find out more deets and REGISTER HERE!

There is just one more week until registration closes and class starts - OH YES!! This is gonna be a whole lotta awesome fun :-)

See ya there!

With Sprinkles of Sunshine...

Anna

HELLO!!!

Today I am here to show you the beginnings of my 2014 Project Life album. I am hoping this will become a weekly segment as I keep up with documenting our life each week.

I am very pleased to say that I had my cover page and week 1 spread completed a week ago but I have had some trouble photographing it - something I hope to work on and improve over the course of the year! 

However, for now, please excuse the quality of these images - at least it is captured ;-)

My aim this year with my album is to keep with a double page spread per week. I think, or rather I KNOW, that my problem last year was that I tried to fit in too many photos therefore I got behind with journalling - and in the end, it still sits there with half the year undone and the first half partly completed! I have every intention of completing last years album but it will be done in dribs and drabs when I have some spare time.

Anyway...

Onto THIS years album!

Here is my coverpage...

Okay, so what I have done here is that on Jan 1, I went around each member of the family and took a photo of them, deliberately positioning them to one side of the shot so I could add text to the image. I took these on my iPhone, edited in the app Camera+ (which is what I use for taking ALL my phone photos - love this app!) - and then I uploaded each image into another app called Phonto to add the text! For the Mr and me, I used the phrase 'I want 2014 to be a year of...' and we added our word. I'm quite certain that no matter what year it is, my man will always say something about being awesome or awesomeness!! Hahaha!

The girls I started with 'In 2014, I WILL...' - Miss J came up with her own goals, and I wrote Miss K's. The biggest goal being to potty train!! Aaaarrrgggh - that is a WHOLE other story!!! ;-) 

I have used the pocket page type A for this, and added the photos into the 6x4" pockets.

For the 3x4" pockets, I have used a scripted word card from a past Project Life kit by Studio Calico. I subscribed to this kit at the beginning of 2013. I was going to cancel my subscription for this year BUT at this stage I am going to continue - for a little while anyhow. I do love them.

The other cards are from the Sunshine Core Kit which I am using throughout this album. I never really stick to just one kit. I always mix and match abit but I will keep coming back to this kit. It was designed by Elsie and Emma of A Beautiful Mess and it's ultra funky. Love it.

As you can see, I used some chipboard letters to create the year title on one card. The next card, I used an overlay with 'ADVENTURE' written on it (again from a previous SC PL kit) and stuck some mini black letters over it spelling our surname and popped it over the card. The third card, I cut down a gold paint swatch from Bunnings (yep, again. Love these.) and printed off our names from the computer, trimmed them up and stapled on to the gold swatch. I used a title tag from the Maggie Holmes 'Flea Market' ephemera pack (purchased from Polka Dot Creative) and wrote 'This is OUR story...' on it.

Pretty simple really but says all I wanna say to take us into the year.

Okay! Onto Week 1!

Here it is in as the double spread (again I ask, please excuse the quality of this image!)...

I always like to start the first pocket off with the week title. And this year, I would also like to be able to add a fave quote or phrase one of us has said throughout the week to feature on this intro card to the week. Week 1 was from Miss J - 'Mum means LOVE'. Awwww :-)

So just a little close-up and explanation about the first page.

I used some photo overlays (purchased from Craft House) on the beach and figs photos. I used stickers to create the text for the images ON the actual overlay. On the beach photo, I used a Precision pen from American Crafts to write the word 'wonder' and popped the overlay with the stickers writing 'Wide Open' on it and put them all together  - love the effect. Will be using these again. I have just learnt that there is a film that can be removed from the back of the overlay which aids in higher clarity - haven't done this as yet in these photos but will be doing that in future :-)

I included all photos I wanted but didn't have much space for journalling a few thoughts from the week so I stuck on a journal card with washi tape to the page protector over a photo that didn't really suit the colouring of all the rest of the page images. You lift up the card and can see the image of a lentil dish I made up one night for dinner. 

The second page included another two little flappy pockets as well. This just helps to include more photos and add more of the story. And it enables me to be able to use more of what I want to include without exceeding the double page spread ;-)

In one pocket, I used two shipping tags and tied together with twine and then added photos and journalling. I attached the bottom tag to a 3x4" grid card for stability in the pocket. The other card I cut some white cardstock to size (3x8") and scored along the 4" mark to create a 'lift-up' element to the pocket card.

JUST A LITTLE TIP: You can see that I've used some wood veneer and flair embellishments. These do add bulk to photos so what I have done is decorated the card first, popped it into the pocket and then attached the selected embellishment onto the actual page protector. This just stops the pocket from bulging and helps keep a flat look to the pocket when photographing too.

On the first page, I used an icecream flair from A Piece of Cake Designs. I also used some wood veneer from Think Spring on Etsy.

On the second page, I used a couple of mini flairs from an SC PL kit.

I have fallen in love with this style of memory-keeping all over again. I am determined to keep up with it.

I have my second week photos printed and ready to go. Must get into the studio to put it all together. 

I hope to be back within the next week with my Week 2.

Thanks for popping by.

Take care.

With Sprinkles of Sunshine...

Anna

Well, if you have been over at the Jot blog today (Thursday), you will have seen the projects I created for this little challenge of sorts. I submitted one layout and one set of journalling cards for the special blog post but I did manage to create more.

 

If you follow me on Instagram, you will have seen this little sneak peak...

 

 

Craft House are a major sponsor for Jot Magazine and for being a part of the Jot Team, they sent each of us team members a prize pack. Part of this consisted of a mixed pack of journalling cards. Part of the challenge put before us for this special project was to pick out some of these cards and decorate them. Well you would of seen one of my sets but I would like to fully reveal the other set.

 

Due to the cards being mixed up, I am unsure which kits all of these come from exactly but the top corner with Mr Awesome on it, is a  plain card from a textured 3x4 card set called COBALT.

 

I was going through my old photos stashed away in boxes (in my attempt to get my studio organised, all the boxes unpacked, etc etc) and found a few photos of Mr Awesome and I's first official date. THIS is an important story to document!!! And because I only had a few photos, using the journal cards was a perfect way to get it recorded in a quick, easy but effective way.

I am unsure whether these will go into a pocket-style album or if I will arrange these onto a cardstock background as a layout - at the moment they are just sitting aside in a nice neat pile and I am just happy that this part of our life story is recorded!!

 

My favourite bits...??

 

Well - *I like the effect that punched out half circle makes in the top middle card. And you will see that I turned it around and used the underside pattern on the card as well :-)

 

*Incorporporating your own writing into a layout or into your albums and pages always personalises things abit for me. I thought that including (what we can recall) what we were thinking on that day -  quite some time ago now - about each other. I love that my man 'came to the party' and actually wrote something for this on the card in the top right side. And yes - let's hear it...

 

Awwwww.

 

LOL ;-)

 

*Another element I like here is cutting a photo down to fit a space on the card. Like, for example, on the bottom right card with the photo of me on the log.

Yes, I'm blond here. And skinny....-er than now. Hehe ;-)

Anyway, it kind of makes the photo look like it was actually part of the card.

Speccy!

 

So that's my journalling card set.

 

I also created another layout - which I actually did first - but I didn't submit it. I created the one that is in the Jot blog post as I (and I'm telling you this because I like to keep things real here in my little space!)...I botched the first one up. At the last minute.

 

And I really liked it before I wrecked it.

 

Grrrr!

 

So then I added a few more things to try and fix it. With a little improvement.

But it looked a tad cluttered then.

So Plan B happened. And I LOVE that one too.

 

Anyway.

I am going to be brave and show you the layout that I didn't submit.

Because there are actually lots of little parts of it that I really like!

 

Can you see where I made my Big Whoopsie?

I'm not gonna say ;-)

 

The colouring is a tad off in this shot. I have really struggled with taking the photos of layouts lately. Can't seem to find the right spot at our new place here in town that is best to capture things on camera!

 ^Some close-up details of the photo and journalling!

 

 

^And this part is probably my favourite bit of the layout. Two PL cards crossed over one another and the photo of my big girl sleeping as the centre piece. I love how the words on the PL card ('SNAPSHOT A Photo Speaks A Thousand Words') just sums it all up perfectly!!

 

All up - I used eight different journal cards from the stash on this layout!

Five layered in the top section, two (as mentioned above) in the bottom section, and one card I cut up to use as some of the text words - Laugh, Cherish, Love, Adore.

 

Some of my fave embellishments on this layout are those little stars, the sequins, rhinestone and cherry flair badge - all from 'A Piece of Cake Designs' kits :-)

 

Wow!

Abit of a lengthy post but I hope you have enjoyed it!! Well I defintiely enjoyed the creative process of it all for sure! Ya live and learn hey!?!

 

If you haven't, in fact, stopped over at Jot and checked out my other projects there - please do. You can find it HERE.

And make sure you take a peek at the other 3 gorgeous layouts already featured this week. And there will be much more coming over the rest of the week so keep going back for more inspiration and fun!!

 

With Sprinkles of Sunshine...

 

Anna



Yes, I am a Project Lifer :-)

Haven't heard of Project Life? Well I highly doubt it but just in case - you can find out more about it HERE from the creator herself! There is a lovely little video clip right there on the home page that explains EVERYTHING!

 

Well, my story is...

I purchased a couple of kits back in 2011 ready for putting together a Project Life album of family life in 2012. Also another personal album just for me.

 

It didn't happen.

 

But 2013 comes along. Determination sets in.

And I am up and away!

 

I have two albums underway.

The main one is a colourful, mismatched, quirky album documenting everyday life of us - the Allan's!

The other album is one I will add to each year as I participate in the One Little Word phenonemon created by Ali Edwards. But more on that in another post later on.

 

Today I thought I would give you a peak into my main album.

It's all still a work in progress.

I am up to date with photos but a tad behind in journalling and prettying up the pages.

Other things just pop up and take away my time but that's life hey!?!

 

So I will start with my cover page.

 

For the title of our family album I have used a 6 x 12 insert. I loved the doily cut paper so used that as a base for my title page and prettied it up with some coloured doilys and a 2013 badge. It sits over the page underneath still showing off the family photo and the journalling cards. I used a grid card and wrote all our names in a crossword style - it just so happened that our names all work together really well :-) I think it adds a nice touch  - one of my fave ideas I've had for my PL album so far!

Here is more of a close-up on that particular journal card.

 

And here are a few other pages I like...

 

 These individual shots of some journalling or photo pockets show how I've added my own little touch to the layouts. When writing on the photos, I've used Precision Pens by American Crafts (for sale in Spotlight which is where I got mine from!) I love this! It adds a whole new dimension to the photo that makes it so much more fun and snazzy to look at! And of course, you can't go wrong with stickers and washi tape to lift the look too :-)

 

I made these inserts by cutting some Kraft card into 3 x 4 inch cards. Using two of these, I adhered a paper doily to them (cutting in the middle to enable insertion into separate pockets) then the photo (again cutting down the middle for insertion into album pockets), and used up some other items in my stash - ribbon, washi tape, tag, wood bracket, lettering stickers, decorative badge etc.

 

I have a few other journalling cards in the making but will share them in another post :-)

 

For now, I will leave it there.

This is quite a hefty post but I hope you have enjoyed looking through some of my album.

There will be more as I get to complete and photograph them.

 

Thanks for popping by.

See you again soon :-)

 

With Sprinkles of Sunshine...

 

Anna