Finish Er Up Friday - Life Book 2013 Progress...

I did better this week!  I actually finished TWO things!

Here we go...

Unfinished Project:  Life Book 2013
Finished this week:  Two Lessons
Still to go: 19 Lessons

Week 45: Graphite Feather w/Tam LaPorte...

 Mechanical pencil, neocolor II crayons

(6" x 9" - Done in my Documented Life Planner)

 Week 47: Ink Blot Butterfly with Kelly Hoernig...

This is how it looked the last time I shared my progress...

and here it is all finished...

(Acrylic paint, gesso, stencils, modeling paste, acrylic ink, deli paper, dictionary paper, pencil, address labels)

(9" x 12" - Done in my Book of Days Journal)

Have you been working on any unfinished Projects?  Let us know in the comments section so we can cheer each other on!

Thanks so much for visiting me here today!  I wish you a fabulous weekend!

Book of Days 2014...

I just realized I haven't done a Book of Days update, and we are almost into the second month!  Once again, I am loving my Book of Days process, and the fact that I'm not overloaded with classes this year, has given me the time to go a little deeper into the self-reflection part of the process, and I am loving that!

Here are my first four pages...

(background: masking tape, gesso, acrylic paint, clear gesso. heart: neocolor II crayons, gesso, permapaque, molotow, and uniball signo pens. portrait: pencil, neocolor II crayons, gesso, acrylic paint, pilot permaball and sharpie poster paint pens)

(background: masking tape, misc. scrapbook, text and sheet music papers, acrylic paint, gesso, stencils, spray ink, rubber stamps, stazon ink. words: gesso, acrylic paint, permaball pen. portrait: pitt pen, gesso, acrylic paint, neocolor II crayons, uniball signo and permaball pen.)

(background: masking tape and acrylic paint. words: permapaque marker, acrylic paint and acrylic ink. tree: modeling paste, stencil, molotow markers and permapaque marker)

(background: sheet music, spray ink, gesso, scrapbook paper. words: acrylic ink, sharpie poster paint pen, and permaball pen. photo: printed on matte photo paper and cut out)

I'll leave you with my latest pic of the Johnmeister, posing with his favorite mouse...

 I wish you a wonderful week my friends!  Thanks for stopping by!!!

Project Life 2014: Week Two - Trying to stay ahead of the game...

Hey there friends!  I finished my second week of Project Life this weekend, and I'm excited to share it with you! 

Week Two: January 6 - 12, 2014...

Left side detail...

 We went to the rainbow car wash on Saturday night.  As you can see the soap comes down your car in psychedelic colors and we loved it!  How's that for livin' large!  HA. 

Right side detail...

My favorite part of this week's layout is the quote from Michael.  We have to separate the cats when they eat (see the top right pic), because otherwise Johnny will steal Willie's food.  So, on this particular evening, I overheard Michael talking to the cats as he was preparing their dinner.  In case you can't read what the quote says, here it is:

"There will be two dining rooms open this evening for your enjoyment.  Johnny, you will be in the executive dining room.  Thank you for wearing your tuxedo (he's a tuxedo cat - always has one on - lol).  Willie, you will be in the promenade dining room..."  

OMG that man cracks me up sometimes.  Little things like that are what make Project Life special to me.  I will laugh every time I see that card.

What are you enjoying most about your Project Life this year?   Or, just life in general???

Finish 'er Up Friday: A little progress is better than none at all...

Hi there everyone!  It's time for another Finish 'er Up Friday post! 

This week was a really busy one for me.  Between work meetings, and trying to keep up with my current projects (Book of Days and my planner); I only made a little bit of progress on my unfinished projects.  Here's what I did...

Unfinished Project:  Life Book 2013
Progress this week:  1/2 of a lesson (Ink Blot Butterfly with Kelly Hoernig)

Still to go:  20.5 lessons

Here's how far I got...

To be fair, with the amount of time I put into this spread, I should be done with it.  As you can see, however, I'm far from it. LOL.  I loved making the ink blot butterfly!  I followed all the steps for the background, but didn't like the outcome because my butterfly blended in wayyyy too much.  So, I ended up gessoing over the background, and now you can see my butterfly, but I need to start over and build the background again.  Anyhoo, it's not done.  But that's okay with me because it's more than I had done last week, am I right??? 

It's fun to make progress, even if it's just a little bit!

How about you?  Did you make any progress on unfinished projects this week?  Leave a link in the comments and we can encourage each other!

One Little Word - Aspire...

It's the 15th, and that means it's time for the One Little Word Challenge for January!  This month's word is "Aspire!"

I took a bit of a reverse approach on this one, with a quote by Jodie Foster...

"Normal is not something to aspire to - It's something to get away from."  ~Jodie Foster

I've always felt like I am a bit different, so this quote spoke to me.  Back in junior and senior high, when the main goal was to fit in, being different was not a plus - ha.  But now, I love being exactly who I am, and wouldn't want it any other way!  The quote also reminds me of the bumper stickers I used to see on the cars of fellow deadheads back in my traveling days, that said "Why Be Normal?"  We were all a little different, and in that way, we DID fit in - with each other.

So, anyhoo, what does the word "aspire" make you think of?  Come on over to the One Little Word Challenge blog and see what the other design team members did - we hope you will want to play along!  This week our host - Jessica Sporn, is giving away one of her fab stencils to one lucky participant!  Click here to go to the challenge and check it out!

Project Life 2014, Week 1 - My approach...

It's so much fun starting a new year of Project Life! 

This year I'm using the PL Sunshine Edition, along with the Gossamer Blue and Studio Calico kits. I may cancel one of the kit subscriptions at some point, we shall see.

I'm approaching Project Life in a more organized fashion this year, as opposed to the free-flowing version I did last year.  I'm breaking it up by weeks (week 1, week 2, etc), although each week may have any number of pages.  I plan to stay consistent by using the Sunshine Edition title cards to announce the beginning of each week.

Here's my first week - January 1 - 5...

How FUN are the Sunshine Edition Dividers?!!!  I just love them - so bright and colorful, and each one is very different!


Left side detail...

Ephemera included: The pink lotus flower on the title card was a hang-tag from a Papaya Art purchase, and I also included a wrapper from a sucker.
Process Notes: I took the photo of Willie out of the pocket and laid it on top to take the photo of the page - a good way to get rid of glare from the 3D embellishment. Also, since I'm going with a weekly approach, I'm focusing more on labeling the pockets with the day of the week, and keeping the date as the less prominent feature.


Right side detail...

Process notes: The writing on the slipper sox photo was done with a molotow paint marker and outlined with a permaball pen.  The owl calendar is a free printable from Owl Barn. 

How's your Project Life going?  Are you doing anything different for the new year?

Finish 'er Up Friday...

Oh my goodness, I almost completely missed this post!  There's only a half-hour left of Friday here in Minnesota, but here I am, just in the nick of time.

So, how did you do this week?  Did you work on any unfinished projects?  I made great progress on my 2013 Project Life this week!  Here's what I got done...

Unfinished Project:  2013 Project Life
Progress This week:  3.5 Spreads
Still to go: Title page, October 5 - 31, November 1 - 5 & 11 - 30.

(I apologize for the horrific photos)...

All of these are from December 16 - 30.  I didn't separate by week...

1st spread...

Left side detail...

Right side detail...

2nd Spread...

Left side detail...

Right side detail...

 

 3rd Spread...

Left side detail...

Right side detail...

And the back page for 2013...

December is done!  Yeayyy! 

If you have worked on any unfinished projects this week, link us up in the comments so we can cheer each other on!

The Documented Life Project is awesome...!!!

The Documented Life Project now has over 3,000 members!  Can you believe it?  There is a very enthusiastic and inspiring feeling in the facebook group, and I'm loving being a part of it! 

I'm really having fun blending the No Excuses program with the Documented Life Project, stirring them up and coming up with my own custom planner project!

Here's my first week's pages...

 

 I've been doing a monthly mindmap of my goals for a long time now.  It works better for my non-linear brain than a list...

Here's my page for the second Documented Life Challenge, which was to include a selfie, and use your word of the year.  I changed my mind about my word of the year.  It was going to be vibrancy, but now I'm going with a phrase:  Love, faith and joy...

 If you would like more info on the No Excuses workshop, click here.
If you would like more info on the Document Your Life free Challenge, click here.

Thanks so much for visiting!  I will see you again soon!

Finish 'er Up Friday - are you in...?

When I announced awhile back that my goal for 2014 is to focus on finishing all my half-done projects; a number of you told me that you were interested in doing the same thing.  That got me thinking; and I came up with an idea!  What about having a weekly blog series called "Finish 'er Up Friday?"  I could post my progress on finishing things, and invite you all to link up to your unfinished project progress too!



Here's my progress for the first week...

I finished Lesson 26 of my Life Book 2013 workshop - "Stencils, Masks and More, with Joann Loftus."  Here's how it turned out...

 The right side of the spread is the lesson part.  I added the collage on the left side because I wanted to make it into a two-page spread.  The stencil I used is called Large Optical by Coffee Break Designs.  I also used the Balzer designs clouds stencil in the background.  It's hard to see in the photo because it's tone on tone, but I love the texture it added to the piece.

One Life Book 2013 lesson down - 21 left to go!  That's progress!

What do you think?  Would you be interested in participating with me?  Let me know in the comments.

Did you make progress on any unfinished projects this week?  Link us up to your blogpost, so we can cheer each other on!

Happy 2014! New Planner fun...

Hi everyone and happy new year!  New Year's Eve and New Year's Day are my two favorite holidays.  I love the feeling of a fresh start; and I always have new projects to go with the new year.

This year I am combining the No Excuses workshop with the Documented Life Challenge, to create one super-fun planner/journal project for 2014! 

Here's what I've got so far...

I'm using an XL Moleskine Weekly Planner.  I glued paper towel onto the cover and then followed the process demonstrated in the Plan. Journal. Play. workshop to come up with this altered cover...

 This is my intro page.  It is my response to the first weekly challenge at the Documented Life Project, which is to represent your front door...

and here's the January envelope collage, inspired by the January No Excuses theme - "Discovery..."

I put one envelope like this into the planner at the beginning of each month, to catch things like receipts, images, and the No Excuses lesson plan for the month.

I'm really looking forward to watching my planner grow as the year progresses!

If you would like more info on the No Excuses workshop, click here.
If you would like more info on the Document Your Life free Challenge, click here.

Thanks so much for visiting!  I will see you again soon!