let's go travel journal

This project was posted over at heidiswapp.com  yesterday.
There is not much more to add about this travel journal save to answer a few questions I have received regarding it.
As well as simply show off some larger photos.
oh...thanks for dropping in! I appreciate it so much.

I used several techniques taught in the Stencil Magic class.
That class has been such a great technique booster for me. I am not usually a techy girl...but that class has been so useful.

 The clear page used here is actually packaging. It is from the Wood Shadow Box Frame package. I would love to get my hands on some Bazzill acrylic paper...but I cannot find it local...and I guess I am just too lazy to order it online.

The seven is for us...our family. I seem to always throw a 7 in our travel albums. It's just a little tradition for me.

Any and all die cuts will work beautifully for the pocket pages. The pinked circle cut is from a Studio Calico class I took earlier in the year.

Had a question about the page protectors, and wanted to relay that they are included in the Chipboard Binder which is available at Michaels. There are 12 to the binder. Fabulous!

 Had several people mention to me that this must have taken me a long time to create...

I explain in my post of yesterday, that I come up with an idea for several pages, and then just repeat the main ideas over and over.
This is how I approach most of my mini albums.

I also include over there the order of my pages and how they worked together.

So for me, once I know how the book is going to flow, it's just a matter of pulling embellishments and paper together. And since I keep to specific colors, it really comes together pretty easily.

This book was a chance to play with technique, some new ideas, lots of layering, and just whatever made me smile. And trust me...I did a lot of smiling while I was creating this book. Found my groove and just went with it.
I. LOVE. IT. WHEN. THAT. HAPPENS.

 
 And yes...there is a wide cross over of many (if not all) of Heidi's collections used in here. Not to mention plenty of items from the Digital Shop. It's one of the many things about her product lines that is so great. So much of everything works right back into another collection.

This view is a good example of my above paragraph, as it includes:
Word Quotes
Sugar Chic
Color Magic Notes
Clear Stamps
Color Pop Tags

One of the emphasis for this journal was to focus on just that: JOURNAL.
It is becoming even more important to me that I write stuff down.
The little details.
Right now, at this point in my life...I have a senior,
and a freshman...
and other ones right behind those two...
life is flying by me.
So... I need to write it down. Now.

Thank you so much for the interest you showed in this album this week. It is my new favorite. I have loved this pre made travel journal format for many years now...
and so it makes me happy to share with you, well...what makes me happy.

now i just need someplace to go...(wink)

sweet memory file pt. 1

So happy to get some time to work on photos from CHA.
Taking a cue from my team mate, Jen, and working on it as I can...
as well as binding when it is all done so as to allow for the freedom for it to evolve as it will.

NOT to mention...
a chance to play with the Clear Pop Banners, Tags, some Color Pop Labels + Serendipity papers.

This album will end up being a version of a bound mini file album.
Two sizes of memory files...
lots of embellishments poking out.
Interactive pieces here and there...
like this interactive piece to the very front with pattern paper from the Serendipity line plus a Clear Pop tag stapled inside. When those hit stores, I highly suggest you grab when you see...have a feeling they will be going very fast. Basically this is a card made from pattern paper, and then adhered to the very front memory file (that I cut in half). Before adding to the cover the Clear Tag was stapled in place.

Went into So. Cal a day early to spend it with my girlfriend in Orange County. The first part of my album celebrates that day together eating a a favorite locale plus shopping a little. We always do the same when I am able to come in, but it is always such a wonderful time and deserves a place with the rest of these words + photos.

Made a little flip book for some extra photos simply by adding them to the file with washi tape.

The left side shows off some of the new Serendipity which I added to the back of the memory file from the front. This page shows off that first evening meeting the team and Heidi and Rebecca from Pink Paislee. It was such a great, great, never to forget time. What? a chance to create an album with some of the most amazing creatives not to mention have Heidi lead it like right there in front of you. DREAM. COME. TRUE.

And on the right I add in a regular Sugar Chic Memory File that I turned inside out so the turquoise side could complement the pattern from the other page. One of a few (just a few) team photos we took that weekend. Lots of layering plus a Clear Pop Tab over there on the very right that says 'best ever'. (love those so much!)

That is all I shall share today...this is part 1 of this album. Part 2 will be posted on Friday plus a sketch for a memory file that I will incorporate in the next part of this album to be.

Hope you will stop by then.

In the mean time...
go...
gather those photos from a few months back...
and show them off in an amazing way.

hello mini

Do you ever find a project that simply flows for you?
As you start to work it with photos, paper, and embellishments...the process begins to take over and you are merely following an unspoken inspiration.

That is how this 'hello' mini became.
And I found myself smiling while in the zone.

I knew I wanted to make a mini for a gift for a friend who is always so dear to my children.
I knew I wanted to use the back to back binding technique that I first learned from Heidi Swapp.
I knew I wanted to use the Heyday Collection from Studio Calico.
And so the crazy activity of putting it all together began.

And I have to give all credit to the Heyday collection and the beautiful soft yet graphic feel of this line. The colors are so invoking and everything works beautifully back into itself. I love when a collection of papers and embellishments do that for you.
Bear with me as this post is photo heavy, and as I endeavor to point out several aspects that make me love. love. this mini. (so much the so that I am not looking forward to giving it away.).
Let me add again, my mini's always follow a simple template of order. This one includes a photo on each of the larger sides, with a glassine pocket on the opposite that holds a journaling card.
The photo side is embellished uniquely with Cameo cuts, butterfly stickers, self made banners and flags, tags, arrows...and just what ever came to my hands as I worked it.

The glassine pockets all had a word phrase sticker with a simple pendant and the initial of that particular child. I had previously cut the hello words from a file that was included in the Trendspotting class over at Studio Calico on a dark woodgrain paper...and I loved how that dark accented pattern held it's own against the soft pastel of the Heyday patterns.

Continuing to experiment with the new Cameo and RhonnaDesigns...you may spy the quatrefoil cut on this page, and there are a few other throughout the mini, including the turquoise cardstock cut on the opening page.

Trying not to play favorites here, but this is a favorite page. It is so soft and subtle and simply brings a smile. Seam binding continues to play an accent roll in my current projects. Loving to combine different colors to get a unique look.

Notice on the little mr.'s page...his embellishments are not too different from his older brother's first page. See...I really do not make it brand new every time, yet the different elements or colors and icons used always freshen up a new page. This is such an important technique to me currently.

These photos are here for my benefit, so I can remember what details I laid out on each of the photo pages. Thank you for indulging me.

supplies: patterned paper- Studio Calico (Heyday) October Afternoon (woodgrain); stickers- StudioCalico (butterflies), CosmoCricket (phrase); letters- StudioCalico (thickers); mist- StudioCalico (cameo) (sherbert); clips- Kirkland (arrow); seam binding- ZipperStop (winter white)

inventory continued...

today is a look at the rest of yesterday's life book.

As I review these photos, I have not completed the answers on the tags or the journal prompts. But these are what led me to do each photo spread. We are blessed that my husband works for a major retailer, and is quick to help me stock my kitchen in the 'servants' that make life easier.

This page represents a little bit of our daily life. My mind is reeling with ideas for perhaps an entire mini along this theme. Life is so unique right now, I am afraid in our busy-ness I will forget what is making us buzz currently.

Life is full of challenges left and right, but it is indeed good. I have used this paper several times now in different projects. I am sure I will stock up on it again. Love it. Trish included a couple of mini-overlays in the project kit. Here I sewed it onto the page and used it as a pocket for this layout's tag and prompt. The yellow polka dot paper is not part of the kit, but rather some 7gypsies extra's from a previous WIP kit.

Abundance indeed. Again, forgot to fill this in...and while I am sure we do not have as many electronic devices as many others do, I know we have more than we need!

This pages includes a piece of Echo Park paper. I made a pocket of the left side page to house the tag for these photos. Our laptop's hard drive went bad last week, which has some photos on it which I could not get to (no worries, they are archived, I just don't have them on hand)...so there are a few other photos I had in mind for this.

Notice, like Trish's book, I did not include myself in the 'crazy' photos. I had plenty to chose from with this clan. Ah! So in love with that paper! And that clan!

The final page summed up with the main quote of the whole project...
(Another of the framed overlays from the kit. It too was sewn on and the quote tag added inside. I really like those mini-overlays.)

Thank you for visiting and sharing this with me today...
~j