Friday, August 31, 2012

The Story of me

So, I tried to start some "everyday" pages in PL but just wasn't ready.  I think I need to look at some more online material to get some ideas for WHAT to include.  Cause I know my weeks are pretty much the same as the previous one and the same as what the next one will be. 
I decided that the whole idea was to focus on me...and what better way to do that than tell 'The story of me'.  I've always had old photos of me, my friends etc in a photo drawer (they were in an album until that album started looking shabby) so i thought I would start at the beginning....these photos were taken when I was 6 weeks old and are the earliest ones my parent had of me.
 
 
 Followed by some photos 'when i was a young girl'.  As you can see, these make a double page....which is how the large majority of my traditional scrapping is done. The 70s have a lot to answer for in terms of clothing, hairstyles etc.


For some favourite photos from my early teenage (ie high school and start of uni) I wanted some bright cheerful colours and again, these are a double page in the album.

Next up.......some fav shots of my parents on the left hand page, and me on the other.....my first trip to Oz (this was Newcastle), studying was a big part of life as well. 
And then the 'difficult years'.....I had the red dress made for my 21st.....loved it! The other photos are from my first few years living in Oz....photos with my first hubby....prefer not to include them but I love me in the photos....and that part of my life won't be erased...and I wouldnt have taken the paths that I have taken if that hadn't been what it was.


So, that't the first 23 years of my life covered........lots more to come!













Monday, August 13, 2012

My First PL Pages.....

Well, it was a bit harder than I thought putting my first pages together.  I knew what I wanted, thought it would be pretty quick...but it wasn't.
I started with the title page....first go the title upper left was too plain...then I didn't know what photos but eventually this was what I finished with.
Next page was about receiving the PL goodies......
an extra photo, a PL title card and the addition of some SU paper, a butterfly and some pearls....moving away from straight PL already!
Next up was a page about Me....after all, this is what I want to use PL for..my story rather than pages just focusing on my boys and family.
As you can see....I have used two PL journalling cards which I stuck onto SU papers, and the rest is SU, thickers for the title, ribbons and pearls plus another butterfly to tie the two pages together as they open up together.  (i was a little disappointed there were no landscape journalling cards in the core kit and didnt want to use blank ones, hence why i have journalled the way I have and added a stamped quote and a rub on statement in the smaller pockets).
And then on to the next double pages....my craft room before and after.  Again, this was something I did so that I could do my PL stuff in a relatively small space......well, sometimes anyway!
And as you can see.....pages 4 and 5 not a PL item in sight!  As I wanted to tie in and emphasis the papers I used on my OTP items it was easy enough to make up all my cards using leftovers in the same range.
Sorry if the photos are a bit blurry, using the compact camera at night so I can get this done...never the same quality!.
Thanks for stopping by,
Amanda



Friday, August 10, 2012

The Project Life Core Kit

So, I was pretty excited to get the two Becky Higgins Project Life Core kits and couldn't wait to open them and see all the lovely items inside.
But then I opened them......and, hate to say this, but I was a little underwhelmed and disappointed.
When I read about what you get in the kits, and the whole rationale behind Project Life I thought it would be a great way to supplement my "traditional" scrapping...which take a lot of time and really focuses on the creative side of things rather than journalling.
Maybe it's just me......maybe its because I have been lucky enough in my scrapping to date to be able to use a lot of different products.....but I just expected more variety I think.
Here's what I got in the Clementine core kit (note that I have the 'older' style of core kit.....not sure if the newer ones are any different)...
There were some things I loved.....the title cards (4 "first" page and 4 "last" page in each of 4x6 and 3x4 sizes)....although they indicate for start and end of an album...so why do you need more than 2?  I will be happy enough to ignore the fact they are "first" and "last" page and use them where I please.
The sticker sheets.....arrows, numbers, days, colour and clear.....(I think these are removed from new kits)....although would have been nice to have more variety in the colour of the arrows!

The grid journal cards.....these are great cause you can use as they are or add your own decoration to them.
The 'fold over journalling cards'....these are 4x6, but with a fold down the middle so that you can write lots and then put the card into a 3x4 space. Decorated on both sides........you get 8 of each design...and thats where I start to get disappointed.  I'm not a fan of duplication in my scrapping.
Title cards....you get 6 each of 10 designs in 4x6 size....i guess to use for each layout if you are doing week by week with some spares......again....duplication!


What i call 'filler' cards.... 3x4 size, decorative only.....again 6 each of 10 designs...so more duplication.
3x4 decorative journalling cards....I guess the 'key' to it all....write about your photos, your life.  The kits I got have 380 of these cards, packed into 4 very cute card boxes....like a standard deck of cards.  BUT.....and this is a big BUT..... there are 19 each of 20 designs.....way too much duplication for me!

Yes, I know that these allow you to mix and match, and when you add photos and your journalling no two pages will look the same................but i will KNOW about the duplication.

So......what to do?  Well, a couple of things.  I have already made a couple of 'mini' kits containing some of each of the items in the core kit, and sold them off to other people about to start PL.....one, this deals with the current situation of everything being on pre-order and two, it lets them see what is in the core kits and decide if it's what they want.
And.....I have already had fun creating some filler and journalling cards of my own.  I did this initially because I knew that I wanted my page about re-organising my scrap space to be co-ordinated with the range of papers I used to decorate my OTP items.  But I have to say, it was pretty easy to do, so I am likely to do a lot of "make my own" items, as I know a lot of other PL people do.
Anyway, that's my opinion of the core kit.  What's yours?
 
Happy scrapping,
Amanda


Monday, August 6, 2012

Craft Space...The After Shots!

Friday afternoon I started re-arranging.....starting with pulling things off my desk, from under my desk etc and then moving the desk and the other furniture for my corner.  Out of the closet and into the room (for the last few months my son has had his bed in the guest room as well as the normal bed, so there was no room for me) I went........(oh, except the closet is much roomier and still has all my non SU papers, pnches, SU ink, other inks, embellishments, and lots of other tools I just 'had to have'....this weekend that space will be re-sorted hopefully) and all of the lovely Kaisercraft storage and OTP items I decorated over the Xmas holidays could finally find a proper home.  Here's the corner view..

And the desk....under the desk is just my stampin up 12x12 cardstock and papers... I will use them one day...
and here is my guilty pleasure......thickers....the folders on left are smaller alphas, to the right is SU A4 cardstock.... the rest are thickers arranged by colour...
and here are closer views of the rest of my OTP items, now on the wall where they belong...(oh, and the CD tower holds my SU stamp sets......most yet to be used, one or two sets well used already.
Hello Piglet......this is my bit of whimsy in my space....hubby bought me quite a few of these collectibles over the years.  Sadly all but this one, my fav, are in the hall cupboard at the moment...

So, that's how my space looks......time to scrap!

PL Delivery.....

Thursday was a very exciting day.....look what arrived....all the goodies from Jess from the FB PL group!

Even my son got excited....and who wouldn't when the boxes were this big! Look what they contained.....



Craft Space....Before....


The 'Before' photos......
Before I being on the PL journey, I think I need to sort all this stuff out!  This was how the walk in robe in the guest room looked on Thursday morning............2nd August.....not a very creative space.

Thursday, August 2, 2012

To PL or not to PL?

So, a few months ago I came across Becky Higgins Project Life. (I admit I was looking for Becky Fleck and clicked on a different link) In the 4 years I have been scrapping I have stuck to 12x12 layouts, cards and OTP projects.
But I have been following the PL work of some wonderfully talented ladies on a FB group and wondering whether I should give this a go.  As with any scrapping, you can use whatever supplies you want, but Becky Higgins produces her own line of PL supplies....to make things really easy for those starting out - well, that's what I've been told.  The only trouble with that is you have to order things from Craft House in NZ and......all the main items have been on back order for months.  Is that because most people do PL year by year...so why would you need anything mid year? Don't know.
But, on the FB page early Saturday morning (just towards the end of the Olympics opening ceremony) someone was selling some new supplies......so I took the plunge and purchased enough supplies to get me started (well, and keep me going for a couple of years).
Today I am sitting here waiting on the delivery....although knowing my luck they won't get here till tomorrow....or worse still while I am in the bathroom and don't hear the door......with my mind in a whirl about what I want to use PL for.  I'm thinking I will use it to document a year in my life, in a bit more detail than my 'decorative' scrapping.  And I'm not going to wait for Jan 1st to start....never put off till tomorrow what you can do today and all that.
And to try to keep me true to the goal....I'm going to try and blog it too.
Come join me on my journey.
Amanda