Project Life 2016 | Beach Vacation

Settle in for a marathon post peeps! Today I'm sharing a week in my Project Life album that documents our beach vacation from earlier this summer. I constantly see people question how to document a big event, like a vacation, within their Project Life album. Or if they even SHOULD. Personally, I'd never want to leave a big hole in what is otherwise a summary of our year, so I always include it. I just add smaller inserts as needed.

For this layout I gathered supplies with a fun tropical color scheme. I started with the Simple Stories "You Are Here" collection and purchased the 6x6 paper pad, card pack (which includes some die cut pieces), wood veneer and cardstock sticker sheet from that collection. I also purchased a handful of acrylic pieces from Color Cast Designs, from their May release. The colors and theme were just PERFECT! As I went along, I also pulled in a few things from my stash- alpha stickers, washi, enamel dots and some additional acrylic pieces.

So without further ado, here's our 2016 beach vacation. This spread includes a traditional Design A left and right page as my "bookends" to the week, plus 5 inserts to summarize each day.

Here's the full left page, which documents our travel and arrival in Myrtle Beach. The title card here was simple, layering some cardstock stickers from the Simple Stories collection, a strip of washi and an acrylic piece from Color Cast Designs. The wood veneer alpha stickers are from Bo Bunny.

Below, a small photo I grabbed off my daughter's Snapchat, and on the right, a simple strip of gold vellum and wood veneer hold our room key. I think that veneer disc is from an old Citrus Twist kit.

As I mentioned, this layout includes a bunch of inserts... 5 to be exact. I used 3" square pocket pages for all of the inserts. To the edge of each, I added a tab (punched from the Simple Stories), labeled with a day of the week roller stamp from Studio Calico. Each day of our vacation is documented on the front of an insert, with our evening activities on the back side. I love how these look stacked up in the album!

Insert #1 front (Sunday daytime)...

I also added a white circle acrylic piece to indicate each day of the week. Those pieces are from Elle's Studio, and can be found here.

Below, one of the many acrylic pieces from Color Cast Designs, I've used throughout the layout...

Insert #1 back (Sunday evening)...

I used a few of the Simple Stories wood veneer pieces throughout the layout. For each piece, I used a wood stain marker to stain the wood to a deeper tone. These pens can be found at Home Depot type stores, and are used to "touch-up" scratches in wood cabinetry or furniture. I love the deep, rich color the wood veneer has once it is stained!

Insert #2 front (Monday daytime)...

My favorite element from this insert is this little pocket...

I saved a bit of sand from the beach along with some of the tiniest shells ever, and added them to one of the pockets, backed by a piece of vellum. I also added a couple of the super adorable acrylic fish from Color Cast Designs, and then sealed the pocket shut with my Fuse tool.

Insert #2 back (Monday evening)...

Insert #3 front (Tuesday daytime)...

Insert #3 back (Tuesday evening)...

Insert #4 front (Wednesday daytime)...

Below, another stained wood veneer piece. Most paper and cards used throughout the layout are from Simple Stories, but this one behind the flamingo is from Elle's Studio.

Insert #4 back (Wednesday evening)...

The card pack from Simple Stories included a handful of 2" square cards. I love these little journalling ones, in the card below, and used several throughout the layout, layered with washi, stickers, wood veneer and enamel dots.

Those sunset photos are some of my favorite from the week. The colors were just amazing, changing every few minutes! I really love the look of square pocket pages, but sometimes a photo just can't be cropped. When thay happens, I adjust the borders when I'm editing, so that I can stretch the photo over 2 squares!

Insert #5 front (Thursday daytime)...

Again, more acrylic from Color Cast Designs. I loved the "sun" "sand" and "surf" script pieces together, so I choose to use them all one 1 insert.

That wood veneer anchor is also from Color Cast Designs. I stained it just as I did the other pieces in the layout.

Insert #5 back (Thursday evening)...

And finally, here is the full right side page, which documents a few miscellaneous things that didn't fit in elsewhere, plus our departure and travel home.

The 3x4 card below is a leftover from a Citrus Twist kit.

I love the simplicity this full 4x6 photo with some alpha and acrylic. A great way to finish off the layout.

Here's a collage of all those inserts pages together!

And...Phew! That's about it for this layout!

If you are contemplating documenting a vacation or big event of your own and feeling overwhelmed, check out this post, where I've previously shared my process.

Thanks for stopping by!

Project Life 2016 | May 23 - June 5

Greetings my crafty friends! Today I am sharing a layout I created for the Hip Kit Club Design Team call, using their gorgeous August Project Life kit that can be found here. I love the bright watercolor look to all the cards this month, perfect for the late spring/early summer photos I was working with!

Here is the overall spread...

And a close-up of the left page...

I picked out my favorite paper for the title card and kept the date simple to allow the pattern to shine thru. I absolutely adore the Pink Paislee mirror pieces that were included in the kit, but wasn't sure I would use all the words they provided. Then I realized I could spell "May" and "June" which was perfect for this week that overlapped into both months!

I love the journal cards from this kit... all the watercolor and colorful text make me swoon!! Some cards I kept pretty simple this week, just a bit of ink splatter and stitching.

Here is a close-up of the full right side page...

This card turned out to be a favorite...

Because I loved that rainbow title card so much, I wanted to somehow replicate it for the right side page. I created a sentiment with the mirror alpha and then decided to cluster some enamel dots and acrylic pieces around it to create bands of color similar to the watercolor card. The enamel dots were included in the Hip Kit. The acrylic stars all came from my stash. Most are from Color Cast Designs. The outline stars are adorable, right!?!? They were part of their July release.

Finally, a few more cards from the right side page. Nothing elaborate, just a little detail added to each... stitched washi stickers, mirrors, ink splatter and enamel dots.

Below, I added a few of the Pink Paislee painted wood veneer (LOVE them!!) along the bottom of a full 4x6 photo and stitched for some extra interest.

And.. that's it! Thanks for stopping by!

Project Life 2016 | August 8-14

Hello all! Today I'm sharing a layout using the July Project Life kit from Hip Kit Club. I just LOVE the colors in this kit... so bright and summery! And lots of crisp white backgrounds, so they really POP!

Here's the overall layout...

And a close-up of the full left page...

I was so inspired by the colors in this kit that I wanted to replicate them on my title card. I hand-stitched the "hello" on this card in changing colors from pink to orange to yellow, to emulate the watercolor tones in the kit.

I added a black ink splatter to most of the cards this week, along with clusters of the Amy Tangerine hearts and a few Project Life chipboard pieces that were provided in the kit. I had some ink-smearing issues on this layout, so forgive the imperfect smudges here and there! :)

The 4x6 card above was an exclusive journal card from the the kit. I just added a bit of ink splatter and some Hip Kit vellum washi strips. Pretty simple, but I love the colors!

I had recently picked up some watercolor washi from Michaels and a couple of them were just perfect for this layout! The pinky-orange "Hello Sunshine" above is from that set. I layered the photo and washi on some basic white cardstock that I applied an ink background to, which helps to balance the other water color and lime green accents throughout the layout.

I traced the outline of the "summer" and "story" words in the pink filler card, to replicate the font of the chipboard piece in the bottom card. It helps the words pop a bit more.

Here is the full right side page...

Pokemon Go has been a big thing around here, so I had to document that with the card below. The 3x4 "Explore the World" card from the kit was kinda perfect, but the size wasn't... so I just mounted it to a larger 4x6, along with some ink splatter and a strip of the exclusive vellum washi for a pop of color.

We hosted a 1st birthday party for my cousin on Saturday of this week so the rest of the layout side is photos from that event.

Again, more of that Michaels washi on the card above. And how cute is my little cousin, Ashlyn!?!

The wood veneer disc on the card above is from Color Cast Designs.

This layout also includes an insert of "photo booth" pics from the party. I made a handful of Mickey and Minnie props for the party and oh, what fun we all had with them! We ended up with so many great pictures, I wanted to include them ALL, so I trimmed down a Design V page protector to hold lots of extra 3x4 photos.

The insert also includes a fun little confetti pocket. I cut word strips from one of the journal cards in the kit, added some white and gold confetti (from the Target dollar bins around Christmas time), another wood veneer from Color Cast Designs, and a few acrylic Mickey heads (not sure where those originally came from). I sealed the pocket closed with my Fuse tool. I also stitched a paper tab along the edge.

And finally, here is how the insert looks in the album...

That's about it for today. Thanks for stopping by!