Project Life 2013 - the kit.

 

 Hi everyone and welcome to my first Project Life 2013 post. So Project Life is a back to basics way of recording and remembering your everyday life initiated by Becky Higgins. Becky says that all you need are a binder, page protectors and photos/memorabilia and notes to get started. What else you do to your story is up to you.

As this is the first I have decided to talk a bit about my kit which I have put together.

I didn't want to spend any money on new things, although I may need to but more page protectors and card to print on, and so I have primarily shopped my stash, of which there is ALOT!


I found a. 8.5 x 11 inch folder by American Crafts which is  D-ring album. I like these albums because they are easily available and you can get page protectors in a variety of styles to fit them. The album already has some normal size page protectors in it and I also found a pack of 6 x 12 inch page protectors which I will cut down. For variety I wanted some divided page protectors but couldn't find anything online until I searched on UK Scrappers and a lady there suggested some pages from WH Smith which are designed for trading cards. The packs are £6.99 so I bought one set to see how I get along with them first. Although if you can buy online they are half price.

I then went through my patterned papers and pulled out papers which I really liked, no distinctive colour scheme, style or design just things I loved. I also pulled out some plain cardstock in different colours and also some plain Kraft card. Next I hunted through my stash for a variety of different letter stickers. I have found lots of tiny letters in differing colours and some larger letters too. I also found some sticker sheets which phrases on them which you can see below..............

Next I decided to find some key stamp sets which would fit well into the journalling ideas. Here are the ones I have chosen....................

The top stamp set is a freeby from a magazine I found. The one next to it is by Elle's studios and features a numbered journalling block which is no longer in their shop I'm afraid. The one bottom right is by Ali Edwards for Technique Tuesday and features 2 journalling blocks and finally the Stamps Away set is called ''Journalling'' but again I can't find it online either.

I then went wild looking for embellishments which include some buttons, washi tapes, tags, brads, stickers, gems, glimmer mist, ribbon etc and the whole kit looks like this.............

The clear box is a 12 x 12 box which is about 4 inches deep which is full and then the clear bag is also packed full. I am putting everything together in a flash shopping bag so I know where everything is. I will of course be using punches and stamp paraphenalia too.

Finally I have made a Project Life Pinterest board which has all the ideas I've found and also products I will be using. You can find that here. There are lots of downloadable pieces online so if you're doing Project Life you may find the board useful. I have also joined the Project Life Community on Big Picture Classes. It is completely free to sign up and you can access the forum where loads of other Project Lifers give help and hints to fledgings like me. I have also been to Becky Higgin's site where again there are loads of tips and if you want to buy her products they are also there too.

Some well-known Project Lifers include Ali Edwards and Cathy Zielski who often give great hints, tips and downloads and tutorials too. Well worth a look.

I have also signed up to a free daily diary page called ''OhLife''. It is gr8 because they email you every evening to remind you to complete your journalling for that day. All you do is reply to the email and hit send and your diary is saved and stored ready for you to start writing up your journal cards in your album, how clever is that?

So my next plan is to decorate the front cover and make Week one and I hope to show those later this week. Hope this post has also helped you learn a bit more about Project Life and how you can get involved.

Week in the Life title page.

I have busily photographing things which I have done this week. It has been an interesting week so far.
The thing that has taken me ages to sort is the LO designs. In the end I have used 3 page designs from previous classes I completed at Big Picture Scrapbooking with Cathy Zielske and Ali Edwards. The titles page which I am sharing today was from the ''Me: the abridged version'' title page and I have used several pictures I though showed the week quite well. I used colours from the rose and the felt tip colouring in to make the colour colour blocks and circle which I liked.

 

From top left we have catching the train home on Monday, dustbin men on Wednesday, Pooh and Paddington bear on Monday, Anna's owl necklace (I so want to pinch this) on Friday, drawing and colouring in on Friday, Pickwicks for tea and cake on Thursday, reading everyday and roses in the gardens Thursday.

So two more days of photos to take and then work on completing the LOs begins. How's your week in the life going?

Me: the abridge version.

As I was up at 3.30 this morning, dont ask, I did some of my journalling for my words and phrases, here are a few examples for people who would like some ideas. They are by no means finished but I am liking the way my head was working at that time of the day:
 

ABBA

I first saw ABBA when they won the Eurovision song contest, there was something about the melodies and words which caught my attention and over the years, they have illustrated certain phases of my life. Certain songs envoke emotions which I never expected. My favourite song is Mamma Mia just for it’s exuberance and tunefulness and Eagles cos I dream I can spread my wings. Sad songs can also be a huge influence and certainly ‘’Slipping through my fingers’’ leaves me in a mess of tears and panic because I will never experience the feeling of being a mother and mostly I can deal with that but when this song comes back, the emotions flood back in and I am a wreck.

Naturally curly hair,

As a child I always had a short back and sides haircut and was unfortunate enough to have no air until I was one year old. Then I had a mass of blond ringlets which appeared to disappear once I hit school. For years I craved long, curly hair and I would make my mum put my hair into pin curls on Sunday nights so it would be curly on Monday for school. The pain and discomfort of sleeping on thick pins was worth it for the curls I had. Over the years I managed to grow my hair down to my waist but then by the time I got the age of 24 I needed a change. So I went to my mum’s hairdresser for a new do. ‘’You’ve got curly hair’’ she told me as she poofed and puffed. ‘’Sure’’ I thought as she had my head upside down and was diffusing the mass of locks over my face. Imagine my surprise when I sat up and in front of me was a young woman with Pre-Raphaelite ringlets.............................shocked was not the word. My mum cried, not because of the curls but because I’d cut it all off. And most surreal of all, my workmates didn’t even recognise me. I love having curly hair, people ask where I got my perm cos it’s so perfect, what a joke it’s genetic!!!!!! I have to use certain products to keep it in good nick but it’s worth it for the curl I craved as a child, and the agonising nights of pin curls in my hair.

Austen, Jane, see also The Cobb, Lyme Regis,

I have loved the classic authors since I was at school and Jane Austen is a firm favourite with her feisty heroines and passionate male characters. Mr Darcy  and Elizabeth courting around each other undecided on how to make the first move because of their pride and prejudice, Emma with her notion that she has the knack of making a good match for her friends and Fanny in Mansfield Park treated by her adoptive family like dirt and little realising the beautiful woman she has become and her centrality to their stability. However for me the key character is Anne from Persuasion. She reminds me of me. Thwarted by love, unable to express her true feelings for fear of rejection and worse still insulted by her own family in front of her paramour. Once she and her Captain come together in Bath all bets are off and the will they wont they begins. There is also the Link to the Cobb in Lyme Regis my favourite place. 

LSNED and Me: the abridged version...............

So today I am learning lessons in 2 different ways,

1. ........for LSNED
2. .....for Me the abridged version.

For LSNED I learned that even those people who profess to never celebrate their birthday go all gooey over flowers from their spouse and cakes made by colleagues.

Today sees the commencement of Me the abridged version by Cathy Zielske for Big Picture Scrapbooking. I have taken a class before with her which was fun and I learned loads. This class as it suggests is more about thinking about yourself in your scrapbooking and documenting the small things and big things in your life which make you the person you are. The pre-class material was to make a tag book and we had to document things in A-Z. I sat down and managed to get quite alot of ideas to write about. Now the process of journalling and making scrapbook pages begins in earnest. For example under A I have got so far.....

• ABBA
• Australia
• Amy
• Animals, I like
• Autumn, I love scuffing leaves in
• Apple and blackberry crumble
• Austen, Jane
• Alien........................

and another example, under U ............

• Uniform, my student nurse
• university

• underwear, I wear Bridget Jones knickers.

I am looking forward to actually writing the stories which go with each theme and remembering some of favourite things. Watch this space.

Prize.

I have just had an email from Ella Publishing who if you remember I won a prize from on their super scapbookers week a couple of weeks ago. I won via Cathy Z...............thanx again Cathy. Anyway this is what I have won,

Photo Editing: Good-to-Great Workflowby Jessica Sprague. I have done a few of her classes and learnt alot of my digital scrapbooking via her site. I am really excited about this class as her teaching videos are excellent and clear. You have permanent access to them and take them at your own pace. Jessica also gives you extra things to try out to improve your skills. Here is how she describes this class.......

''In this self-paced, video-based class, you'll learn how to make edits to your photos that will make your heart sing! Basic, global editing techniques for RAW and JPG photos, plus lots of extras!''

Having completed Shimelle's class in photography I have wanted to learn more about improving my pictures digitally too so this will be the perfect opportunity to give it a go.

Take the Quiz here!

 Oh and apparently I am this Jane Austen character!!!!!!!

Weekend catch up

So this weekend I went to our monthly crop in Brent Knoll. It was the last one until September so lovely to see everyone before they go off on holidays. I was really organised, which is not normally my best quality, however I completed 4 LOs for my mum's 70th birthday album. Here are the LOs I completed........

The top left picture is probably the first page as it has two older pictures of mum and some lovely papers I bought when I was at Scrapamia. The details of the trim under the baby picture are in the bottom right corner and the picture to the left. The red LO is strawberries and cream and some of the buffet lunch we had. Next to this is a picture of her balloons and some of her cards. I used a stamp from the Unity stamp company and some butterflies to maintain the motif from the invites. The final picture is all of our family together. The bunting is Maya road chipboard pieces covered in aptterned paper and strung on ribbon. It hangs free over the top of the photo.
I love going as it focuses on scrapbooking, I get to see my friends and enjoy a day out. I bought a few bits this time too. I got some Tim Holzt grungeboard, some grunge shapes and 2 of his new new distress inks. I also bought some lovely masks which are butterflies and dragonflies oh and a distressing tool cos I'm fed up with blunting my scissors all the time.
On the way home I came across these lovely ladies having siesta under the trees. I love driving across the Levels as you see so many birds and animals plus it's a relatively quiet journey.

Shimelle sent us a new digital class to do on Saturday and this was the result. It involved putting a blurred frame around the picture. I think this looks lovely. I also tried another one on some reeds I saw using a whirly style blur which I coloured blue and it turned out like this.........

Sadly Shimelle's class has now finished but she has sent some extra workbooks for us to play withand I have also made my tag book for Cathy Z's class for next month which I am having fun filling in.
In other news work is going brilliantly, I have Friday off this week as an annual leave day as I got alot of time to take. Now all I need to do is see if a blogfriend fancies having me to visit in October!!!!!!!!

Oh happy day, oh happy day.....................

So question, what happened today that made me happy? Can you guess?...................I'll give you some clues:

• it involved me jumping up and down and yes I know Snoopy dancing again,
• it involved me doing somethings I havent been able to do for a while,
• and it meant for once something was black!

Guessed yet, ok I got PAID!!!!!!!!1 My first proper pay packet since November last year. No more benefits, yey, no more worrying about where the next pound will come from, no more buying rubbish foods!
Hello, mozzarella cheese, blueberries, posh prawns, vegetables other than carrots, potatoes and broccoli and hello maybe a more healthy diet. Whoop for joy cos I've been paid.
So the sad news is I have to pay bills now, yuck, and yes there are alot to pay at the moment, so I think this pay packet wont last too long. Anyway I have treated myself to a train ticket to Sheffield for my friend Luke's 21st next month. I have also paid for and registered for Cathy Zielske's class Me: The abridged version starting in September which I really wanted to do. And now I can..................yippee.
Also today I had a beautiful email from the gorgeous Amy who is probably in bed right now being in Australia. I have loved her blog for ages and we do converse by email sometimes, although not as much as I should. Anyway ages ago she won a giveaway here on this very blog, and I sent it months ago, but as money was tight I send land mail ;-) Well it arrived safely today, I bet it could tell a few stories about the ways and means it got there by, maybe by camel, boaT, TRAIN, CAR, VAN, HORSE, OH GETTING ABIT OVEREXCITED NOW. Whoops.............back to lower case. So I think what I sent made her happy and I'm glad to make someone's day. It's lovely isn't it? Oh yes and fellow blogger and frined Lizzie has also won one of the fab prizes up for offer from the 10 fabulous scrapbookers decided by Ella Publishers. Congrats Lizzie.
So my question is what's made your day or week so far? I'd love to know.

Snoopy dance and exciteable activity!!!!!!!!!!!

So there I am happily reading through all my favourite blogger sites when I come to Cathy Zielske's fab blogpost for today. She's been concentrating on recording her successful weightloss and running adventures over there in amongst her usual blend of wit and design and teaching. All in all a g8 blog if u have never been.
Anyway as you know Ella Publishing company have nominated 10 of their favourite scrapbooking icons for achievement this year

and amongst them are our lovely Shimelle, all hail, and of course Cathy. There are also other such luminaries as Jenni Bowlin, Stacey Julian, Jessica Sprague etc. This week all the winners are hosting giveaways on their blogs and guess what........................I won one, yes little me has won a prize from Cathy's blog yesterday Want proof?

Well here is what I wrote yesterday and this is where it says I won a prize

It's not exactly earth shattering but hey I took the time to post and there were 1,750 posts. So I have just emailed the wonderful Cathy, I did think she was wonderful before but even more now. I will let you know what my prize was when she contacts me. There were some g8 options................
A Really Big Giveaway!Today, I have 10 great prizes to give to giveaway, all coming from Ella and the honorees. They are:

• A $20 gift certificate from Ella Publishing Co.

• Two digital scrapbooking template packs (20 templates in all) from me (winner picks the size, 8.5 x 11 or 12 x 12)

• A six-month Paperclipping membership from Noell Hyman

• A "Play Date" product pack from Jenni Bowlin

• A seat in either a beginner photo-editing class or beginner digital scrapbooking class from Jessica Sprague.

• A seat in the "Beginner/Intermediate Online Photography Workshop" from Maggie Holmes

• "Paper Girl" and "On Holiday" product packs from Margie Romney-Aslett.

• A $50 gift certificate toward any class on reneepearson.com from Renee Pearson

• A place for you and a friend in both "Love Your Pictures, Love Your Pages" and "Journal Your Christmas" from Shimelle Laine

• A place in either Elizabeth Dillow's "Inspiration Defined" or Karen Grunberg's "Book of Stories" from Stacy Julian.

........................and there are more chances to win as each of the stars has a blog giveaway every day this week so give it a go you never know you could be a winner!!!!!! If you pop over to Cathy's blog today she has the links for 2 other sites where fab prizes are up for grabs. Good luck to you all and thanx for stopping by.

Just had email from Cathy to say she has forwarded my details onto Ella Publishing and that they will be in touch in a couple of days................ooh emails from Cathy, dont I sound like we're friends............not!!!!!! Thought you'd like to know.

I am 200!!!!!!!!

Yes it's true, I have reached the grand old blog number of 200 posts. Now many of u will say that's pitiful but to me that is a cool number. I feel the blog is hanging in their despite the recent Internet problems and I have developed from 0 followers to 28, and had over 1,800 visitors. Very exciting. So what shall we do to celebrate? I have already pampered Curlyscrapbooker with a facial and some Oil of Olay to keep her looking spick and span and I am looking for some new things to do. There might even be some cupcakes and beer later as it is so warm. The bunting and balloons are ready so come on in and take the weight off ur feet for a while.


I am having a hot air balloon look cos being 200 is pretty good these days!!!!!!!!


Anyway rather than do a giveaway or anything like that I thought I'd share some new information I have found about some free clesses coming up as pass the parcel pressies, and no you dont have to do any forfeits.
Firstly if you follow Cathy Zielske's blog you will know what an amazing teacher she is and she does digital/hybrid video tutorials. Today she has a fab video showing how to do exactly that with a digi-template and there are downloadable instructions to keep all for ZILCH!!!!
Secondly, Jessica Sprague is 3 years old, well her site is so she is holding a free class on digital development.
What I love about Jessica's classes are that not only is she a g8 teacher and explains everything clearly and simply, she uses videos and also supportive handouts to explain everything. The classes are available after u have finished for life so u can come back and watch the videos over and over. She also has the most amazing digital kits and gives you loads of freebies and wonderful ideas. Give it a go.
As you know Shimelle is doing a new class but she hasnt blogged about it yet today so watch this space. As of 10pm Shimelle has put up details of the new class.........photography at a reduced rate til the end of the week, plus another class for later on.
Abi from Creating Paper Dreams has finished her exams but informs us she needs to do 100 hours of intelligent reading over the hols to get a chance at Oxbridge!!!!!!! Scarey. Do u think crime thrillers count or children's books as I read alot of those.
I actually read Alice in Wonderland the other day in one sitting as I have never read it and wondered what all the fuss is about. I loved the Cheshire Cat.......................isnt he aWESOME! he can disappear, cool.

and the croquet match with flamingos and hedgehogs but most of it I have to admit I found quite silly. Shame on me I suppose. I also have Through the Looking Glass which I will add to the list. There is an awful lot of Alice around at the mo isnt there? Shimelle went to an Alice inspired party if u check out her blog. Are there any books u've wanted to read and then been disappointed? Do tell!

Anyway hope u have found some interesting places to visit and maybe sign up for a new class or just ruminate over one for the future. Thanx for following my blogging so far and please do come back again for more curlyscrapbooker blogs in the future.
Now go home with your party cupcake and enjoy.

So I thought Id upload the latest digital LOs from Cathy Zs class. These 2 are a double page spread featuring my friend's son Jonathin at his 6th Cowboy party. You have never seen a party organiser like my friend. She made a Mexican sweet holding thing out of papiere mache and a balloon and made up aload of cool cowboy games. I helped them all make cowboy/girl bookmarks, there were cowpat biscuits and sheriff star bicuits and a sherriff cake. Jonny had a fab time..............


The second layout is about having swine flu, need I say more!!!!
So today I signed on as I have to do every fortnight and then went to see the aged P's, that's parents for those not familiar with Dickens. My poor dad was in a right state, he actually cried. He is an Engineer and does training and consultancy work. He's been asked to do this lecture and it's really gotten on top of him. It keeps changing and so he has to alter all his presentation and he is not the best at IT so is wobbling abit under the strain. I felt really awful for him. Anyway we went on a little walk and I helped him by doing a precis of his life story for the big day.
Anyway, that's all for today, tired tonight as the fantastic twosome otherwise known as my 2 cats keep waking me up at an ungodly hour chasing around the flat and using me as a hurdle. I'm going to have to sit them on the naughty mat I think or get Jo Frost round with a sticker chart!!!!

You never know............

..........so today I woke up on the wrong side of the bed I think cos I felt really despondent about the whole-being unemployed- thing. I couldn't shake the feeling that someone had missed me off their mailing list of things to send out.
Anyway, this afternoon, I checked my emails and I've got a job interview on the 5th March for a job I applied for with NHS Direct in Bristol. Woop number 1.
Then Shimelle has been going on about a new class and has finally explained what it's about here



It's a class about using up all your stash, definately need to do that as have too much!!!!! She also is doing a giveaway of the new Pencil Lines sketches book. Her class is only 10 pounds for 3 weeks and they're always g8 fun and very informative, give it a go. I have treated myself.

Here is another LO from Cathy Z class, which is of my baby fluff Willow. Isn't she cute??