Monday, August 14, 2017

31 Things.......Phase 2

This past week I have continued my work on my 31 Things project.  First up was making a title page.


I've also been taking my notes and writing them up into journalling posts.  I had already cut 31 cards to 3"x8" for this purpose.
I also finished making notes for all the headings on the way to and from work.


On the journalling cards I added some thin glitter washi tape to the bottom of each card, to co-ordinate with the page the card will go on.  I also made sure I left enough room at the top of each card to add a small stamp.

I also made notes of what photos I wanted to use, and which ones I still need to take.  For those I already had, I printed those off, ready to use.


I have put the first few pages together - to get the measurements correct - so should be finished this project by the end of the coming week.

Am loving getting these stories completed.


Saturday, August 5, 2017

31 Things - Phase 1

Ali Edwards offered the 31 Things class a few years ago, and it is now available as a 'self paced' class.  The great thing about that is you can work on it as quickly or as slowly as you want, without the guilt of "being behind".

I signed up for the course about a month ago.  This course isn't about being creative, or stressing over which paper, embellishments and design to use.  Ali had a repeatable process for each prompt - a 6x4 horizontal photo at the top of a 6x12 page, a strip border below the photo and the rest of the 6x12 page holds the story, done on the computer.

That wasn't for me - I spend so much time on the computer as it is, so was keen not to do the story and print it out.  

So......I decided that I wanted to use up some of my supplies and put these stories in a dedicated 12x12 album.  A formula was required.  
I settled on each double page having the same 12x12 plain cardstock as the base, with an 11x11 patterned paper inside that - but each page would be a different pattern that co-ordinated with the other and the cardstock.  I did all of the 31 pages I would need over one weekend.  It actually took longer than I expected to get this done!

During the past 4 weeks I have been journalling notes for each prompt in a dedicated little notebook - sometimes on the train to and from work, sometimes after dinner and before bedtime.  And not in order - just as I felt like working on each prompt.

My next step in "Phase 1" was to add a title to each page for that prompt.  I love alpha stickers.  I have them in so many colours and styles.  I recently sold a lot off, which helped as I had fewer to select from.  Again, there was a formula for this - I used the same style and size alphas for just about every page, the same colour alphas for each of the double pages for most of them, and the same location on the page for each side.  Obviously I plan on putting the photo and the journalling card in the same place on each page too.

I'm almost ready for 'Phase 2' - transferring my journalling onto the journalling cards and adding the photos.  Here is what the pages look like so far - nice and simple.

A new start.....


Wow, can't believe it has been 4 years since I posted anything here.  Just goes to show how busy life has been.  That includes returning to work full time, which often involved 6 day weeks and periods of intense travel between Melbourne and Sydney.

On the positive side, I can report that I still managed to find time to keep my PL up to date.

The biggest change in my approach to scrapbooking over the last four years is I tried out more of Ali Edwards classes and some of her smaller projects - December Daily, Week In The Life and Day In the Life.  I have also taken her "One Little Word" project last year and this year.

This week brought with it confirmation of another big change in my and my families lives.  I have been a contractor working on various projects at NAB since June 2009, and my current contract is due to expire at the end of September this year.  But things have been difficult the past 2 years, more so the last 8 months, and so hubby and I decided that the time is right for me to take some time off.

From last week I will only be working 3 days a week and this will run through to the end of August. And then I am taking time off - the plan is that I will return to work somewhere in February 2018.

The main driver is so that I can spend more time with my boys (14 and 10).  So that means I will do all the household stuff during school hours, allowing me to really be available to them when they are home.

Of course, there are other benefits to this time off.  Like being able to spend some time looking after me.  I have just changed gyms to one that has a big variety of classes to go to.  I am going to sit and read more.

And of course I am going to scrapbook more.  I have a list of projects I want to finish and even start.  And sometimes knowing those things are there to be done puts pressure on ourselves.
So I am going to tackle that list with gusto!  I have already started - i bought some older December Daily albums from Ali Edwards in her last sale and created albums using the content I had put into my normal PL albums for 2012, 2013 and 2014.  And it feels great!

And I created a 6x8 album for my 50th birthday party (which I might share at some stage here).

I want to keep track of all the projects I am tackling and completing, so am going to use this blog to do that.

I hope you can pop by sometimes and check out my progress.

Amanda