Week 32 was pretty easy to put together.  As time goes on and I’ve made lots of Project Life spreads, I’m finding that I like to keep it simple.  Photos, cards and some journaling.  I sometimes embellish but often feel like the cards are “enough” for me and I like the flat, simple look.  When I do embellish, I like things that are flat like die cuts and stickers.

This week I took on another one of Marcy Penner’s Jumpstart Challenges to cut up a journaling card and include it in my Project Life spread.  This challenge was perfect for me since I like the “flat” look but I don’t usually think to cut up my cards.  I was looking for something to fill in the white space of the yellow starburst card and didn’t want to journal in there so I thought it was the perfect space to take on Marcy’s challenge.  I found a 4×6 Elle’s Studio card in my stash with colors that coordinated with the rest of my page.  The “love life” title was positioned vertically on the left hand side of the card and I decided to cut it out and use it horizontally on my starburst card.  Easy peasy and it finished off this spread perfectly!

Do you ever cut up journaling cards and use them as embellishments?  I was always afraid to “ruin” the cards by cutting into them but once I got over that fear, it actually makes many of my cards more versatile.  Thanks for the challenge, Marcy!  I love trying new ways of doing things and these challenges are the perfect opportunity to do so.  🙂

Earlier this summer I shared some photos of what’s inside my IKEA Alex drawers here and here.  Today I’m back to share what’s inside the last two drawers that I didn’t previously share.  I’ve been inspired to reorganize my room by the Workspace class I’m taking at Studio Calico and this week I finally tackled those last two drawers.

As I’m sure you know by now, I love the 3 compartment clear plastic trays from Target to organize my embellishments.  Recently, Michelle commented on my blog that Target also has a 6 compartment larger tray that fits perfectly in the drawers and can hold some larger embellishments which I hadn’t found a solution for yet.  She also mentioned that I could fit two of the larger trays along with 2 of the smaller trays in one drawer.  (This was such a great suggestion and I very much appreciate the comment and recommendation – thank you, Michelle!)  So, I went on the hunt for these trays and found them earlier this week.  I love how many different types of items I can fit in these trays and I arranged them just as Michelle suggested.  Two larger ones in the back of the drawer and two of the smaller ones in the front.  I put larger items (chipboard and fabric frames, etc.) in the larger compartments and added smaller items in the smaller compartments.  Here’s a peek at what’s inside:

The bottom drawer in my Alex cart holds all of my Silhouette Cameo supplies (extra mats, speciality papers and supplies, extra blades, etc.) along with my piercing mat and some Cut-n-Dry foam.  I previously had these items scattered in different places but am happy that my Cameo stuff is all in one place now.What do you have inside your Alex drawers?  I love seeing how other people organize their supplies and get lots of great ideas that way.  Hope you’ll share!  🙂

I’m just about caught up on my Project Life album.  I ordered last week’s pictures earlier this week and am waiting for them to arrive.  I think this is the closest I’ve ever been to being caught up and it feels great!

Once again, I was low on photos for Weeks 29 and 30 so I just did a one page spread for each week.  It was fun to use lots of cards from my recent Studio Calico kits and add little bits here and there from past kits.  Here are Weeks 29 and 30:

When I looked on my phone for photos from Week 31, I literally found like 3 photos.  Not really enough to do a full spread so I made do with what I had and created the spread below.  Filler cards are my best friend in these situations and honestly it’s kind of nice to include some colorful cards just for fun.  I also knew that I had enough photos for a two page spread for the following week so I had to figure out what to do with the right side of this spread.  And then that pink piece of paper arrived in my recent Studio Calico kit and the idea popped into my head to just cut it up and use it on the right side of this layout.  I had no idea how I would scrapbook with it otherwise so this worked out perfectly!

And that’s it!  Simple, colorful and done!!  How’s it going with all of your Project Life albums?  Do you like to stay caught up or do you work in batches at a later date?  I’d love to hear about your process!  🙂

My scrapbook room is a constantly evolving space.  Over the years, I’ve added things and taken things away to try and make the space most effective for the way I work.  A few months ago, I saw that Ali Edwards posted the new tables she bought for her room from IKEA and while I really liked the the table, I was blown away by the drawers and how much stuff she fit in there!  So, I thought about it for a while and kept finding myself going back to her blog post to check out her tables.  And I dreamed of all the things I could put in those drawers and how much less of a mess my room would be if I had that space underneath the table top to put my things.  I’m usually not an impulsive shopper so when I found myself thinking about it that much, I knew was time to take a trip to IKEA.  My husband was so sweet and helped me load it into our car (it was three heavy boxes) and then built it for me.  It’s been a while since we bought something from IKEA and we completely forgot that they don’t include written directions – just pictures!  So over the course of two evenings, “we” (meaning my husband) put together the table and I’ve been thrilled with it ever since.

While I initially filled the table with stuff right away, I still wanted to organize it better and the Workspace class I’m taking at Studio Calico this month has totally inspired me!  Over the past couple of days, I’ve been moving things around and reorganizing and here’s a little peek at my Varde table.  I thought it would be fun to share today as a “Workspace Wednesday” post similar to what many others share online each week.  I love that I now have a large workspace AND storage all in one piece so I can grab whatever I need easily without having to hunt all over my room.  (I still have plenty of stuff throughout the rest of my room but we’ll save that for another day!)

I currently have two of the three drawers organized in a way that makes me happy but I’m struggling a bit with the third one so I’m hoping to get more inspiration from the Workspace class over the next couple of weeks.  Hope you enjoyed this peek and thanks for stopping by!  🙂

The summer has been pretty quiet around here and that’s definitely reflected in my Project Life album lately.  I haven’t had many photos so I’ve been doing one page spreads for these weeks.  Things seem to be picking up again so you’ll start to see more two page spreads pretty soon.  It’s nice to know I can mix things up and these one page spreads have been great to help me quickly catch up on my album when I’m behind.  I love how flexible this project is and how I can make it work for whatever is going on (or not going on) in my life at the time.

We’ve spent a lot of time just hanging out this summer.  It’s SO hot outside here in Florida so we spend a lot of time inside.  TV, movies, scrapbooking.  Just regular everyday stuff.  We had such a busy spring with lots of travel that it’s kind of nice to enjoy a quiet summer.  Below are Weeks 27 and 28.  I used the Becky Higgins Americana themed cards for this spread and a combination of Design A (left) and Design F (right) page protectors.  Thanks for stopping by!  🙂

Since I started Project Life, I’ve always done a two page spread for each week.  Right around Week 25 of this year, I found that I didn’t have many pictures and there really wasn’t enough for me to stretch my week into two pages.  So, for the first time ever, I did a one page spread for the week.  It kind of worked out because the same thing happened the following week (Week 26) so I designed both weeks to go together.  I have to say, these one page spreads are a great way to catch up quickly if you’re behind on your album.  I love that the week is documented (even though it’s minimal) and I can continue to move on with my album.

Below are Weeks 25 and 26.  I had surgery Week 25 so there wasn’t a whole lot going on besides that.  At the end of Week 26, I had the pleasure of meeting the super talented Celine Navarro and taking one of her mixed media layout classes at my local scrapbook store.  It was so much fun experimenting with different mediums and creating some fun layouts.  I was also so thrilled when Celine made me a card to include in my Project Life album.  Thank you so much, Celine!

We also went to an early 4th of July celebration over the weekend and saw some beautiful fireworks so I made sure to include them here too.  After creating this layout, I decided that I’m a big fan of these one-page spreads so I think you’ll be seeing a few more of these this year.  It’s always good to mix things up and try something new.  Who knows, I may even try another new page protector style soon!  😉

Week 24 was a continuation of our June road trip.  We spent the weekend in the Florida panhandle visiting Seaside and then on Monday (the start of Week 24), we continued our trip to Montgomery, Alabama.  We went there to visit my sister-in-law and her family and had a great week!  It was fun to spend time with our nephews and my sister-in-law took me to the Bruno Mars concert in Birmingham on Wednesday which was fantastic!  We had such a good time and it was really nice to spend time together.   This week also included Father’s Day and we were home in time to celebrate with my Dad.

Here’s Week 24.  I used several Elle’s Studio tags, printables from In A Creative Bubble and some Kelly Purkey journaling cards I got at Studio Calico.  Lots of fun summer colors to brighten up this spread!

I’m back today with 3 more weeks of my Project Life album.  These were all really fun to put together since I used so many different card sets.  I think my favorite part of this project is mixing and matching different kits to go along with my photos.

Week 21 uses cards from my Studio Calico kits along with some from the Midnight Edition Project Life core kit.  Love how well these go together!

Week 22 included my 40th birthday, lots of celebrating and the week I first started this blog.  I used a Becky Higgins mini Project Life kit since it seemed perfect with the birthday theme!

Week 23 is one of my favorite spreads.  It covers a road trip we took to Seaside, Florida and I included a Design F page protector on the right (instead of my standard Design A).  I love using more 3×4 cards and plan to use this style more often going forward.

Although it’s sometimes tough to get motivated to keep this album going, I still love this project and I especially love seeing completed pages in my album.  I’ll continue to share more pages next week so please stop by again to check them out.  Have a great weekend!  🙂

This month, I have been on a mission to catch up on my Project Life album.  I got really far behind but am happy to report that I completed 11 weeks in the month of July!  Over the next few days, I’ll share my spreads and will start today with Weeks 18 – 20.

Week 18 was filled with lots of friends and fun.  It was National Scrapbooking Day on Saturday and I was super excited to get the opportunity to hang out with the one and only Kelly Purkey at a weekend crop hosted by my local scrapbook store.  Kelly was so sweet and even made a cute card for me to include in my Project Life album this week:

Week 19 included more time with friends and family.  I also finally finished my 2013 December Daily album which was a huge accomplishment (especially since I’ve never finished one before!).  I used lots of Studio Calico and Dear Lizzy cards in this spread.

Week 20 involved a trip to Ikea to get a new table for my scrapbook room (which I absolutely LOVE!!!).  Used lots of Elle’s Studio cards here along with one card from a Studio Calico kit:

I’ll be back tomorrow with a few more spreads to share.  Once I get into a groove, I love to keep going and it’s been fun to make some big progress in my album this month.  Thanks for stopping by!

I’m back today with a new layout I created over the weekend.  I made this for last week’s Studio Calico Sunday Sketch Challenge and Marcy Penner’s Jumpstart 07 Challenge.  I loved all of the bits and pieces in last week’s sketch and the idea of adding fabric to my layout too (which I hardly ever do).  I had a big scrap of burlap lying around and thought it would be the perfect addition to this fall themed layout.  I cut it into a banner and also used a couple of small pieces on the bottom half of the page.  I loved these challenges because they got me to dig into my stash and use product I’ve had sitting around for a while.  I used patterned paper from the 6×6 Basic Grey Persimmon collection, stickers and flair from Kelly Purkey, wood veneer from Chic Tags, labels and Thickers from my Studio Calico Project Life kits and a couple of gold triangle sequins.  I had so much fun with these challenges and hope to participate in more in the future!