All Things Alicia

On the Crafty Horizon

just an update

 

I have a few projects I'm wanting to get to.  I'm trying out a new scheduling technique soon that will hopefully get me into my craft room more often to feed my soul.  I've been working a lot lately of self-talk and how crafting fits into my life.  I have this feeling like I can't craft unless I am done with all the 'important stuff'.  I'm working on that.  Crafting is good for me in so many ways and I need to treat it like the valuable part of my life that it is. It is part of the 'important stuff'.

 

So what's on my list for the coming months?

 

Quilts for my girls!  They moved into big girl bed a long time ago and they're still just using blankets from around the house.  I can't find anything I'd like to buy so I decided to make them quilts that match their bedroom.  I'll be shopping for fabric this week and hopefully can share a sketch/plan with you soon.

Project Life- I'm uploading pictures today and hope to get started on this year's PL soon.  I'd like to have January done by the end of next week.  That shouldn't be too hard because this year I've planned a lot more on combining weeks.

More scrapbooking- I have a stack of pages that I am ready to roll with, purchases done, pictures printed, etc...maybe I'll plan myself a little scrapbooking retreat in my office for a day.

Skirts and scrubs - I have an idea for my girls that involves bandannas to make skirts.  I might move this one up on the list because I just heard their school will be doing a 'dress like a cowboy/cowgirl' day sometime this spring.  They already have the boots, it'd be cute to make the skirts to go with them. 

Also, I'd like to try custom making my husband a pair of scrubs for work.  He has brands he loves but they always have one thing he'd like to change. I'd love to make him one pair that has all the features and fits he wants. 

So that's it right now.  There are, of course, a bazillion more things I want to make, but that's what I have narrowed it down to for the immediate future.

Oh!  I also need to start thinking about Teacher Appreciation Week!

What crafty projects do you have on your docket?

Project Life 2015 January

I know, it's really late to be getting started.  But I took really good notes so it's actually not as daunting as it sounds. 

One thing I wanted to do this year was combine a few more weeks together so that I'd have more room in the album.  I like keeping the year down to one album, and I've had no problem combining a few weeks here and there in the past, but this year I wanted to do it more often than not. I'm off to a good start. ;)

This post will mainly be pictures, not a whole lot of explanation.  If you want to know about a specific product, go ahead and ask in the comments and I'll see if I remember. ;)

Here's my intro page at the beginning of the album:

 

 I normally put my word for the year in the first week spread, but this time it went really well here.  The green you see under our stats part on the top left is actually green cork.  Love it. 

Week 1 Spread (I shoved the first few days of January into week 1 so it was 10 days):

Some close ups:

Olivia was so hoping her 'cheese heads' would get to go the Super Bowl.

And this was the first year my kids were really into the Rose Parade.  Rae especially was enamored.

Seeds catalogs are rolling in and they just beautiful!  And a coffee date with a friend highlighted my week.

Weeks 2-4 got combined onto one spread:

Some close ups of the left side:

The hubby prefers baked pumpkin doughnut holes for his birthday.

I created some yumilicious strawberry blood orange jam.

Dad an unusual homework assignment and needed some pics for a Power Point.  The kids were happy to help stage some medical scenarios.

I think I'll do a video walk through of each quarter as I finish it, so look for that as each 3 months gets posted.  I might do a little more explaining there.

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Project Life 2014 Week 50

 

This was a crazy week.  This was the last week of school before Christmas Break.  It was full of holiday parties, concerts, shopping, etc....I was at the school almost everyday this week...and this was the week that I came to terms with the fact that I don't have more time with all the kids in school.  I am just as busy, just in very different ways.  This was the week I was making a lot of notes for myself to reflect back on once the holiday craziness was over.  This was the week I realized I needed to prioritize (again) and say no more often.

Anyway, on the left side:

-title card

-pic of kids at a friend's house the last night of school before break.  We had popcorn and hot cocoa and pizza and watched the Veggie Tales Christmas movie.

- Some filler pretty cards, just to keep it from looking so jumbled

-the hubby took and passed a CNA test - he's in RN/NP school, just took the CNA test to work while in school

-The youngest daughter's Christmas concert.  Aren't they cute in reindeer antlers?!  We went back to the class afterward to make gingerbread houses

.

On the right:

-Pic of the teacher gift this year- hot cocoa trays.  Great idea for when you're on a budget.  My son's teacher told me she took her tray up to the mountains with her kids to play in the snow.  It made for fun memories.  Her husband was just laid off and it made an inexpensive but great family memory over the holiday break.  I LOVE stories like that!

- The son practicing cello religiously like a champ

-pic of the middle kid at her cookie decorating party/pajama day

-week in review

-The hubby and I had 1 day to shop together for the kids this year, and I found this totally hilarious calendar of the cows doing yoga.  I wish I had a reason to buy it, but I didn't, so I took a picture of it to remember it by and laugh at during future weeks.

-On the bottom are two pics of the middle daughter at her Christmas concert.  I used the branding strip from some patterned paper to embellish her pic a bit.

The papers in this spread are mostly old from my stash.  The exception was the red and kraft reindeer paper which was from a haul video I put on Youtube during this season.  The glitter snowflakes are Michael's Recollections line, and the puffy pine cone was a Jolie sticker from the previously mentioned haul.

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These two weeks cover right after Thanksgiving to mid December.  I went mostly with neutral Christmas patterns to fit all the daily life and Christmas color stuff in but also pay homage to the season.  I get a little more Christmas festive in my December Daily album.  Here's I try to include the main seasonal events but also document the non seasonal everyday life.

 Here's the two page spread:

On the left:

-title card

-family picture from our photo shoot - we won free photos!

-My youngest thinks it's fun to copy Leviticus right out of the Bible into her notebook.

- A couple of pretty spaces.  The wood tree is from Recollections, the red snowflake as well.  The snow globe was from a cut apart sheet.  It MIGHT have been the Webster's Pages ones.

- The weeks in review

- Notes my husband put in the kids lunch boxes while I was gone at the National Science Teacher's Association conference in Long Beach for a few days in December

- and lastly a picture of the view out the conference center window

 

On the right we have:

-A pic from a local church's Christmas Encounter we go to every year...I never tire of the scene with the angels singing and the sheep hanging out grazing.

-shopping for a Christmas tree - I journaled right onto the picture with a white Signo gel pen

- a couple more items from the Christmas encounter

- a pretty space with paper and more glittered snowflakes from Recollections

-the middle kid getting Student of the Month ;)

- my youngest using a Wendy's toy to 'crack a code' - she was enamored with the coded message thing

-another shot of the student of the month group

I'm putting final touches on the last of the pages of 2014 (hopefully tomorrow) and getting started on 2015.

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This was the week of Thanksgiving and my middle kid's birthday (on Thanksgiving).  I actually forgot to take pics during the meal, of the meal spread out, guests, etc... And I know somewhere I have pictures of taking my daughter to the art museum, but I can't find them. That's unusual for me.

 

On the left:

-title card

-week in review

-deep frying turkey

-I wrote the menu and people on one card since I had no pics

-the gold leaves are from the place settings

-A pic of a place setting this year

 

On the right:

-the day after Thanksgiving we went to lighting of a local inn

-ants came in the mail for an ant farm a family friend gave us

-the hubby and I went to see the LA Galaxy in a playoff game against the Seattle Sounders

-My youngest is doing her own hair these days, odd style, but she likes it

-1 pic from Rae's birthday, we celebrated 1 day early so she wouldn't have to compete with Thanksgiving (and for my ow sanity)

-my son using birthday balloons as muscles.

More birthday pics and the missing museum pics will go on her birthday scrapbook page when I get around to that. Since I have Project Life I am not so worried about 'keeping up' with those pages.  I get them done when I feel like it and I am truly happy with that.  By the way, the art museum was her request.

Almost done with PL 2014.  It's amazing how I've learned over the past two years to really not feel behind, to enjoy the process, and to love scrapbooking. 

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Week 46 was the week before Thanksgiving and the holiday season busy-ness was in full swing.  There was a lot going on at the kids school in addition to my son's soccer playoffs.

I scrapped this one from my stash.

On the left:

-title card

-an ultrasound order for my knee to show I went and got one (didn't take a pic)

-a jag-a-thon at school- I included all the kids lapsheets even though I only had pics of one of my kids

-Thanksgiving outfit on my youngest in kinder

-a pic of my daughter's kinder teacher- I went in my normal work day at school and found a pilgrim teaching. :)  I'll be putting this one in the kid's school yearbook

-week in review

On the right:

-pics of my kids "camping" on the trampoline in their sleeping bags

-my son's end of season soccer party at the bowling alley

-youngest daughter snuggling under my coat during a cold playoff game

- pics from the soccer playoff final game, including kicks to end the tie

- an egg experiment my kids wanted to do using salt water and fresh water - thanks Bill Nye app

I did most of my journaling this week straight onto the photos with either a sigma white gel pen or a black very fine point Sharpie.  

 

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I combined two fall weeks in this spread.

The title card has thickers with a wood grain.  Love me some wood grain.  ;)

Left side:

- I have a selfie from my birthday and a journal card about changes over the past few years. 

-my kids at Aunt JoAnn and Uncle DeWayne's 50th anniversary party

-A screen shot of a text conversation with my son.  He's started texting me with dad's phone on their way home from soccer practice.  I just wanted to capture the beginning of his texting life and excitement.  Especially since he doesn't have anything to text about so he just tells me how awesome I am. ;)

-A text I woke up to from my husbad

-my daughter practicing french braids on my hair

-My middle kid eating lunch with a monkey on her back

Here's a closer up of the birthday journaling:

On the right side:

- Weeks in review

-my hubby let my daughter paint his toes

-an eye injury during soccer practice - black eye for hubby

-a lunch date with the husband after a doctor's appointment for my bum knee

-my youngest daughter wore unmatching shoes to the soccer game, on purpose

-the oldest orders (and loves) oolong chilean sea bass at my birthday dinner out at PF Changs

-middle kid soccer party

-birthday flowers

Almost done with the year.  During this, my second year of doing Project Life, I've really learned to let go of staying on time, capture the memories, and enjoy the process in a more relaxed manner.  I don't get stressed about getting behind, because I know my notes are adequate.  I also have been able to keep things in 1 album again because I combine some weeks where I wrote less notes.  And I'm ok with that.

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This was the week of Halloween.  I used a lot of Simple Stories papers and stuff from my stash.

My kids wore two different outfits between Halloween trick or treating and the parade at school.  My son and youngest used stuff from their costume drawer at home for the school parade.

We also made pumpkin spice cookies with maple glaze.  The left side also has a shot of my youngest falling asleep in the car.  That hasn't happened in forever.  My oldest and youngest also got Student of the Month.

On the right side:

This side has the school parade, the week in review, Dia de los Muertos at school, and the baggie has a receipt for a cello fix.  My son broke a knob on his cello the first day home. :(  It was perfect for the music washi I had in my stash.

The rest of this year is almost done.  I had to break because I ran out of the Design A page protectors and no one had them.  I'll be finishing them this week hopefully. 

I'm also working on December Daily now that I'm back into my craft room and I'll be sharing a big clean out with you as well.

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There was a lot of day-to-day in these weeks.  Even though I'm a fan of documenting the day to day, there are only so many times you can write your daily routine or show your fall back dinner.  ;)  Hence, 3 combined weeks. 

On the left we have:

-title card with a pic of my husband and two daughters at a school fundraiser

-daughters and hubby snuggling

-son got his cello from school!

-certificate from son's teacher

-program and tickets from a play my hubby and I took my dad to see at our university while my dad was in town.

On the right we have:

- soccer pics from 3 games each of my two kids who play

-week in review

-fall potpouri simmering on the stove- because I'm still pretending it feels like fall here and isn't in the nineties and even over 100 some days.

There's also a note in the week in review of not pictured events - like needing a new car battery and having to repair that cello right after my son got it.

Also going on around here...

Getting geared up for next year:

- I haven't gotten an album yet for next year's PL but I will definitely be doing it. 

-Waiting until after Christmas to finish out this years pages and prep next year's album and also to do my December Daily.

-I have jury duty the week after Christmas so I'm not sure how I'm going to get the above mentioned items done. ;)

-Thinking about my One Little Word: embrace has served me well this year (though there's always room for more growth), and I find myself unsure of a word for the first time ever.  The one I'm leaning towards I feel weird about for totally ridiculous reasons, yet I can't get over them.

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So these two weeks were in the middle of soccer season, and what was supposed to be fall.  It was triple digits out, but we went apple picking anyway. ;)

On the left we have a title card, made with a newly bought Project Life mini kit thing I got at JoAnn.  I think I showed it in a haul video on Youtube.  There's also a tooth accident with my daughter. Thankfully the tooth knocked loose was a baby. 

In the middle row is a pic from family movie night at school, the youngest getting her first purple star at school (that's a management thing), and official soccer photos taken by the league.

On the bottom of this side is the birth of our friend's baby, and a pic a friend snapped of my son reading at the school book fair.  He's such a reader.  I'll make a scrapbook page dedicated to his reading one day.  Sharing the 4x6 with my son is the chipper my husband got me for our anniversary/my birthday.  So excited!!!

On the right side we have:

- a squirrel lounging on our back wall.  Love this!

-pics from this week's soccer games

-apple picking stuff.  My son cutting apples to make applesauce, us picking, etc... I didn't want to cut my daughter straining to pick an apple to I just made the rectangle the size of all three of those pockets and adhered it over the top of them after I made the layout that goes behind this one (so i could access the pockets).

I cut the map they gave us at the farm to use as a background, and I the sticker from our bag.

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