Project Life: Week Three

Posted on June 19, 2012 by elizabeth

Week Three and I’m loving it. I especially love how much stripey goodness I was able to incorporate this week, between the photos and the papers (many of which are the backs of cards/paper used last week). It’s colorful and just so fun to put together.

I sure do love those Martha Stewart+Avery labels.

This conversation between me and Dan as I flipped through my giant stack of wedding magazines had to be recorded for posterity. I surely won’t be letting him forget it, and as far as he knows, the dress I want most is the size of our coffee table in diameter, so…

The left striped card is an index card I’ve had forever, and the orange stripes were part of the Summer Kit I got from Elise’s shop. The envelope contains the story of my second wedding dress shopping trip, which was amazing and so much more happy… and it’s strange that I can’t really share if I want to keep my future dress a secret from Dan.

The right side is Friday and Saturday, which were both very busy, first with makeup trials for my sister’s upcoming wedding, then with ceremony-venue hunting with Dan and my parents. Both things needed to be documented.

I printed a song lyric that I’ve got stuck in my head instead of my usual reading/watching/listening card, and I foresee doing this again quite a lot as the weeks go by. The chevron envelope contains some before stats, since this week marks the beginning of what I hope is some serious weight loss.

I’m most excited about this card, I have to admit. I saved bottle caps from every type I drank on Saturday night, and hot glued cardboard to the back so I could mount them on an old Paper Source bag (more stripes). Bottle caps are hard to resist, but it’s hard to figure out what to do with them that doesn’t involve a ton of work. I’m so jazzed about how this turned out.

And a photo from late Saturday night, probably the only one we’ve taken when hanging out with Dan’s siblings, so I’m even more glad both to have it and to have a place to keep it.

Project Life: Week Two

Posted on June 10, 2012 by elizabeth

Week two of Project Life and it’s just so fun. And I didn’t realize how much I was missing crafty endeavors until I started something like this again. (I guess for me, crafts go a long way toward stress relief.) This week was pretty ho-hum Monday through Friday, which made it harder to come up with things to document, so I tried to focus on the bigger things (wedding dress shopping, all the beer I consumed…) and then leave lots of space for the weekend stuff. I’m pretty happy with the colors and how I was able to integrate some of this pretty paper I’ve been hoarding with the almost entirely cell phone photos.

This page covers Sunday through Wednesday, and I like how I got a bunch of sky shots to show how insane the weather was this week. The little teardrop stickers are from the Martha Stewart Avery line, and the THIS stamp is from Elise’s stamp shop, of course.

Wedding dress shopping was a pretty big step, so it seemed important to document it. The full story (of how much it really wasn’t so fun and prompted a whole lot of insecurities) is in the envelope… I made a collage of photos of dresses from the towering stack of bridal magazines in my living room.

The right side covers Thursday through the weekend, and I love the bright colors and stripes here. The usual suspects are here again, with what I’m reading/listening to/watching, as well as a brief list of what went on during the week.

Because it was such an insanely busy week at work, I included some of my everyday views: the giant and impressive company logo sign outside of our office building, and a view of my desk on a normal (busy) day, as well as some stats from the accounting department that I’m sure will be fun to see in a year or two. The chevron pocket has some more private journaling, and I love how cute it looks in the page protector.

Project Life: Week One!

Posted on June 4, 2012 by elizabeth

I first heard about this whole Project Life business back in December, and the idea of simplifying the scrapbooking process sounded fun but I didn’t think it was super necessary for me. The minibooks have been working so well for the past few years; 12×12 binders always seemed like overkill to me anyway. And then a few months went by and I still wasn’t crafting…. but I was reading posts written by awesome people like Jodi and Kelly and Elise, all who had jumped whole-hog into Project Life (and who are craft superstars I’d like to grow up to be one day), and I couldn’t get it out of my head. I figured I would start on my birthday, or maybe wait until January 2013 and document our first year of marriage… or something. When I hung out with Jodi and Kelly in Brooklyn they completely, 100% sold me on how fun, addictive and doable Project Life was, and the rest is history. Seeing Jodi’s book in person really sealed the deal; it was so cool seeing the weeks documented in such a tangible way, and the idea of filling in some of the pockets with pretty paper, or book covers really appealed to me. (And made it seem like less pressure.) Jodi convinced me that I wouldn’t fall apart if I started, say, in June. “Just pick a Sunday and start!!” she kept telling me. I knew I had a lot of fun stuff booked for Memorial Day weekend, and since I’ve always loved summer books (2009, 2010), I had my perfect solution. So here it is, my first week of Project Life: Summer.

My cover page isn’t anywhere close to finished (I figure I’ll add photos and paper as the summer goes on), but I am pretty jazzed about the banner I made. (Even more that I’m still new to Photoshop Elements.)

I made weekly date cards, inspired by Jodi’s (but a little stripier); I figure I will change the color each month. I printed a copy of the Long Branch postcard that Mike and Ellyn used for their save the date, and the bicycle built for two is from their wedding ceremony program, which I loved; the beach photo and drink photo were instagrammed (and the “you’re my favorite” stamp is from Elise’s awesome stamp shop)

I had way more Cape Cod photos than slots left (the problem with squishing a holiday weekend in with my first week, I suppose), so I used a 6×12 insert and printed 3 photos for each side… except I didn’t realize I’d printed them 4″ wide instead of 6″, so I just trimmed the divider down to size.

I like the idea of having weekly space to jot things down, especially if some weeks become more photo-heavy (which I fully expect; I had a lot to say this week, as it seems); I also like being able to have a list of what I’m reading and watching each week.

And even funnier about including this awesome drawing from My Mets Journal is that I’d spent a looooong time on Friday night while Dan was stuck at work putting this together. Just when I’d finished for the night, with some spots left for Saturday’s funtimes, I happened to check twitter to learn that it was ABSOLUTELY time to turn the Mets game on, because Johan had a no hitter going into the 7th. After texting my brother and parents to make sure they were watching, I then got to enjoy the first no hitter in Mets history, and it was AMAZING and seriously the best ever. And it couldn’t have happened to a better guy, that’s for sure. So I had to include this to commemorate a night in baseball history that I certainly won’t forget, but also as a nod to the fact that I almost missed it…because of Project Life. 🙂

All in all, this project is exactly as fun as everyone said it would be… and I can’t wait to start working on week two.

Completed: Fall Minibook

Posted on May 15, 2012 by elizabeth

I bought a fall minibook kit from Elise’s shop at the end of the summer, because I can’t ever resist fall colors mixed together that way. I kept notes and printed photos months ago, but somehow never got around to putting it together. But an afternoon of chatting minibooks and Project Life with Jodi and Kelly last weekend got my papercraft-inspiration-juices flowing, and I just sat down to make this book on a weeknight and finished it in a few days. And it felt really, really good. It’s simple, mostly photos and date stamps, but six months late is better than never, as far as I’m concerned.

fall.1

297.365 :: six months late

fall3

fall4

fall5

fall6

fall7

fall8

fall9

(This also counts for week 47 of Handmade52!)

Completed: 30 Before 30 Minibook

Posted on January 26, 2012 by elizabeth

So I turned 30 back in July, and meant to get this book done soon after. (Back when I finished my 27 Things Before I turned 27 list, I finished the book BY my birthday, which seems crazy looking back. The 28 Things While I’m 28 book was only shortly after my birthday.)

Things were a little crazy just after my birthday, what with moving a week after, and starting a new job a month and a half after that. I was busy, and honestly? I pretty much lost my crafty mojo there for a while. I have this awesome craft room now and haven’t really used it. But a few weeks ago, I finally got the room organized and tidied up so that I could actually get some crafts done in there. I haven’t always felt like working on this, now that it’s so far past my birthday and some things have changed even since the list, but I pushed through, knowing how much I wanted to have the book completed, mostly to be able to come back and see it in a few years. It’s not my favorite minibook, but that’s not to say that I don’t love it and the things it contains. This list was my favorite of all the birthday lists, and I think I got some pretty major things done this year thanks to it.

Best Bet Ever?

Posted on December 18, 2011 by elizabeth

Dan and I are in the same fantasy football league, although this is my first year having my own team. Each time our teams play, we’ve set up side bets to make things more interesting. For the first matchup, if I had won, Dan would have had to take me to a restaurant I’ve always loved but he had no interest in, but if he won, I would have to not eat cheese for a whole week. He won, and I was not happy. But the second time we played each other (and by this point my team had established itself as pretty solid, thanks to Aaron Rodgers), we raised the stakes. Or, I did. If Dan won, I would have had to take him to see the Immortals. But if I won, he would have to go with me to a paint your own pottery place for an afternoon of craftiness. I wouldn’t be writing a whole post about it if he won, so clearly I won. Dan fought tooth and nail, and I twisted the knife by giving him the impression that it’d be HOURS of painting (as opposed to one, since you pay by the hour).

We went a few weeks ago on a Saturday afternoon, and going during the Christmas season was the best thing, just because owning crappily painted Christmas decorations somehow makes more sense than attempting to paint something you’d actually use. (Although I do still use the toothbrush holder that I painted back in 2002.) Dan was pretty obviously unhappy when we got there, and the clerk at the store could totally tell that he’d been dragged there. He made sure to tell her that he lost a bet. I had a hard time, as usual, deciding what to paint, knowing I wanted to paint stripes, but also knowing how much imperfectly painted stripes would annoy me.

Dan picked a wizard-ish Santa figurine after I pointed out that it would be awfully funny to bring it out every year and remember how he had to paint it because he lost a bet. I went with a giant mug, since I somehow only own one Christmas mug.

It was so much fun, and although he’d never admit it, I’m pretty sure Dan didn’t hate it anywhere near as much as he expected he would. Not that he’s clamoring to go again anytime soon, or, you know, EVER… but it was really fun and different and if winning a bet is the only way I’d get him to go with me, I’ll totally take it.

Week 42: Christmas Stockings!

Posted on December 7, 2011 by elizabeth

I’ve been in love with Crochet Today’s Stuffable Stockings ever since Erin made her red and white ones a few years ago. I never felt a strong desire to make a stocking for myself when I lived alone, though, because the ones my grandmother made for me and my siblings way back when are pretty much the most perfect ones ever.

But once I moved in with Dan this summer, having our own stockings seemed a lot more important. I originally planned to knit striped ones, since the idea is to knit the fair isle ones for future children, and I like when the mom and dad stockings don’t match perfectly with the kids’ ones. (I overthink things a bit. Just a tiny bit.) ANYWAY. I couldn’t pick one, and wasn’t sure about my knitting abilities.. and really, I just wanted to crochet. Hexagons and the contrast with the white borders just seemed so perfect.

Making the hexagons was really easy, and I ended up going with a forest green and lime for Dan’s stocking (he asked that the forest green be the dominant color) and maroon and bright red for mine, just so they’d go with each other.

Stitching them all together, six sides times seventeen hexagons, was not really all that fun. For the red one, which I made second, I was completely flummoxed by the diagram (even though I had already done it successfully with the green one). I finally figured it out, of course, and hung them on the mantle-less fireplace on Monday night.

I think they turned out pretty fantastically.

Week 39: Halloween Wreath

Posted on October 23, 2011 by elizabeth

So uh… it’s been a while since I have made or cooked anything, that much is obvious. I have made peace with the fact that this 52 week project may take longer than a calendar year, and I suppose that’s okay, even if it kills me a little inside. And I can’t promise I won’t come up with a lot of quick holiday crafts as the year draws to a close to try to get as close as I can. I never said I wasn’t a little crazy in my attempts to avoid breaking my own rules.

I think the mini books I should be making (the long-overdue 30 before 30 book, and the fall book, neither of which I have started, although I have made meaningful piles on my craft table) are hanging over my head in a way that has so far prevented me from starting anything else. I subscribe to a few yarn branded newsletters, and often save them in my inbox because the free patterns they offer look SO good. I rarely follow through, but when my newsletter included a photo of this Halloween wreath from Lion Brand Yarn? I absolutely could not resist. I didn’t even need to buy yarn, just a wreath form and some glue.

I made this over the course of a few afternoons, since the glue needed to dry in between, and since wrapping yarn around a wreath is more painstaking and annoying than I expected. Not that it’ll prevent me from doing this again, all the time. The crocheted roses are without a doubt my favorite part, and I definitely will be making more in pretty colors to turn into pins and little barrettes for my hair. Or to give to other people.

I hung this on the inside of our front door, and I love having something so pretty-yet-spooky to get things feeling a little more Halloweeny around here.

Week 38: The Craft Room!

Posted on September 28, 2011 by elizabeth

Confession time: this is what the second bedroom has looked like since we moved in two and a half months ago. This was arguably the part of our new place that I was most excited about (other than finally living with Dan, I guess), but somehow, with moving, and then our birthdays, and then a trip to Cape Cod, and then changing jobs, and then being so busy I don’t have time to text at my new job, I just couldn’t ever muster up the energy to do this the right way.

See, for my 30th birthday, my parents bought me an amazing piece of furniture, namely a wooden cart with EIGHT drawers in which to organize my crafty stuff. It didn’t arrive until a few weeks after my birthday, so ostensibly I was delaying setting up the craft room because of that, and then delaying because I wanted to come up with the MOST PERFECT way to allocate the drawers, and MOST PERFECT is kind of overwhelming sometimes.

Anyway! It was getting hard to do any crafts at all with the room looking like that, not to mention kind of hazardous to get anything from there. Dan’s parents were coming over this past weekend to see the new place, so I finally unpacked and got everything put away just so a few hours before they arrived.

And it is SO GREAT in there now. I have light, space to work, and everything is organized in a way that I can rifle through it without making a giant mess that’s overwhelming to clean up. I can even wheel the whole cart over to the table if I want. I’m jazzed. I know I say that every week of Handmade 52, but this? This is what it’s all about, dudes.

this may have been the kitchen table once a long time ago, but it’s the perfect craft desk.

the super coolest piece of furniture EVER.

crochet/knitting magazines, minibooks, and composition books and blank notebooks

washi tape, embellishments, binder rings

glue and things that stick things

scissors and things that cut

stamps and ink pads

paper scraps

paint and paint brushes

cards and blank paper already cut small

bigger things, crayons, buttons, etc.

Week 37: Geometric Paintings

Posted on September 26, 2011 by elizabeth

One of the things I wanted to get right in our new place was decorating, in the living room, especially. I had a lot of posters and things that I liked in my old place, and I wanted to keep them, but not necessarily in the same configuration, just so the new place felt like “our place” instead of just everything from my old place but with Dan now.

So I knew I wanted to hang my Keep Calm and Carry On poster above the couch, but I had a lot of trouble figuring out what to hang with it. At first I thought I’d buy prints from etsy or somewhere, but that got overwhelming really fast. I have a bunch of frames that I like but never knew how to use, including two worn-in white frames from my parents’ old bathroom. And then I realized that I could just make something to put in those frames, duh, and that I could then make sure the colors coordinated but didn’t match too twee-lee.

I bought a bunch of craft paint at AC Moore, and just used some extra white cardstock, cut down to 8×10 to fit into the frames. This was my first major hurricane project, done sitting on the floor next to the big glass doors out to our patio. Dan helped me pick the designs and the colors, so that made it feel much more “us” instead of just me.

I painstakingly cut painters tape into strips, the chevron being WAY TOO FUSSY I should have just used washi tape instead of paint why did I think this would be so easy and straightforward? Ugh.

Ahem. The stripes were easier, but I still cut the painters tape into narrow strips, trying to paint in a not-too perfect pattern.

The cardstock became clearly the wrong paper for the painters tape (washi tape would probably have been better, even for the same purpose) as it ripped the paper in some spots when I pulled it up. I tried not to be too much of a perfectionist about it, trying to convince myself that the sort of fuzzy lines go with the weathered frames just fine.

I finally hung them up this past weekend, in preparation for Dan’s parents coming over to see the new apartment for the first time, and added my old beer bottle cap wreath to balance it out. I’m so happy with how it looks now, and it’s such a nice sight to see as I come in to the apartment, and the colors obviously are super matchy with the afghan that I assume I’ll finish one day, and I couldn’t be happier. Except if the painters tape hadn’t torn the paper but… we’re not talking about that.