Finally I am ready to share the long-promised Week 22 of my Project Life album! Grab a cup of coffee or tea and sit back comfortably, because this is going to be my longest post ever. 😉

It took me a long time to finish this week’s spread, and a long time to put together this post. But I did want to share it because I am really proud of getting it done. I included about 286 pictures in this week. I have multiple inserts, because it was our vacation week (my mom came to visit and we went on a road trip) and I wanted to document it all. As I walk you through the pages, I will also share a few important things I learned about how to make Project Life work for me. I used various sizes for the inserts, but all are smaller than 12 inches in width, so that at a glance you can easily see where the week ends. Here we go!

This is what the week looks like when you open the album.

I used my paper supplies for this week, because I knew I’d have many photos to print and didn’t want to  have to print more things. Plus, it’s good to use up the paper goodies I seem to be hoarding lately! 😉 I used mostly the Dear Lizzy Neapolitan line by American Crafts. I stamped the dates with the K&Company Smash Stamp and added a day of the week sticker from the Project Life Clementine kit (I’ve never used them before, but they are really cute, and the pink matched my color scheme perfectly!).

I wrote directly on my photos using the American Crafts Slick Writer, Fine Point, Black – perfect to add in more journaling in the white space of the photos. The numbers twenty and 2 for the title card were cut out from the Sunny Skip paper; the background paper is by Pebbles. I love the little Tile Letter Stickers. I used a few Dear Lizzy Neapolitan Large Tags for my journaling, along with some stamping accents and embellishments. I used pink ColorBox Pigment Ink for most of my stamping this week – as you can see it is a very bright and pretty color (not at all like the preview on Amazon, which looks purple!), almost neon. I also embossed a few embellishments, such as the car wood veneer here, using VersaMark clear ink and grapefruit Zing embossing powder. For stamping, I created a few titles using the little EK Success Image Tree typewriter alphabet, and I also used a sentiment combining two stamps from one of my favorite stamp sets – the Amy Tangerine Sketchbook Clear Acrylic Stamps. I stamped the latter directly on the photo with pigment ink, and it turned out great!

Here comes the first insert. It’s 6-Inch by 6-Inch Page Protector. In the front I made a collage of 16 instagram photos from DH’s Apple iPhone 4S, and in the back I splattered some white card stock with three pink watercolor hues using Crayola Washable Watercolors, Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink and Caran d’Ache Neocolor II Pastels. Then I used my sewing machine (this isn’t the same model I have, but it’s pretty close – I went for the cheapest model, and it works great for sewing on paper) to create a journaling grid, and added a lovely sticker from the Dear Lizzy Neapolitan Collection – Remarks – Sticker Sheet – Borders, Accents and Phrases.

Here comes the second insert. I used the Design G Photo Pocket Pages by Becky Higgins. I actually used a bunch of these because it was all I had available when I put together this week – but I have long since expanded my stash. 😉 The first pocket has a piece of Dear Lizzy Neapolitan vellum paper, layered with a clothes tag and some stickers (Dear Lizzy Neapolitan Remarks Stickers Book Accents and Phrases and Dear Lizzy Neapolitan Large Tags Embellishments). The “let the fun begin card” comes from the Cheerful Notes paper.

Turning this page, we see the back of this insert, and a peek at the following inserts.

The back of the insert has the back of the Cheerful Notes paper and of the vellum paper. I love that the highly rebated price shows up from the back of the clothing tag through the vellum – I was really proud of my $7 find! 😉 I included metro tickets in a pocket. I stamped a few Martha Stewart Butterflies with distress ink on my card to make it more interesting. The card in the bottom pocket comes from the Project Life Clementine kit.

And here comes the third insert. I used a 6 x 12 page protectors, which had just the right width to hold the museum brochure. I created a collage of instagrams from DH’s iPhone.

I also tucked the museum tickets in the protector. This is probably one of my favorite parts of Project Life: being able to find a place for all the memorabilia that I cannot get myself to throw out. 🙂 OK, let’s move on to insert #3. I used two journaling cards from the Project Life Clementine kit, embellished with stickers.

The bottom left pocket is a piece of a placemat – I asked for an extra at the restaurant, just to be able to add it to my album. 😉 Turning page, here’s what you see:

On the left, the back of insert #3, with plenty of pictures, journaling, and some business cards.

Next up, insert #4 has two of my favorite inserts ever! Both include stamping and stickers. The Amazing stamps by Ali Edwards are a small set that comes incredibly handy – and they’re really cheap too! The “best ever” stamp is from a retired Studio Calico set, and I added the Tile Letter Stickers to create the title. The “better together” sticker came from the Dear Lizzy Neapolitan Remarks Stickers Book Accents and Phrases, and it originally had three pair of feet – I cut the third one out because I was referring to only 2 people. 🙂 I think it turned out cute! The paper in the bottom right corner is from the Dear Lizzy Neapolitan 6X6 Paper Pad, which is a really pretty paper pad (the patterns are shrunk down from the 12×12 versions, and the sheets are one sided).

OK, let’s turn page! On the left you can see the back of insert #4, and on the right is the front of insert 5 – once again a Design G page.

Here’s a closer look to the left page. In the top left pocket, I used a leftover strip of paper from the Dear Lizzy Neapolitan 6X6 Paper Pad, and included some memorabilia, along with washi tape. In the 3″x4″ pocket, I embellished a grid card with stickers and a mistable butterfly misted with Mister Huey’s Color Mist – Cameo. At the bottom, I used another one of the Dear Lizzy Neapolitan Large Tags with a retired Studio Calico stamp stamped with pink ColorBox Pigment Ink.

And here’s a closer look to the right page. I used some of my newer stamps on this page, the Buttercup Clear Stamps (Lily Bee Designs): it’s such a cute little set! I used the chevron stamp on the journaling card on the left and on the mistable sun element, as well as the flower stamped. Both are stamped with Prima chalk inks – respectively with Coldfoot Stemens (yellow) and Old Rose. I love these little ink pads, they are so affordable! The “what a view” phrase uses an exclusive Studio Calico set, which I also used to stamp on the photo (“love this”) with the red ink from the Clearsnap ColorBox Pigment Petal. For the bottom right pocket, I used the pass from the National Park and created journaling lines using the dashed line stamp from the Amy Tangerine Love Struck Stamp(one of my favorite stamp sets ever!). I also embellished it with a sticker from the Dear Lizzy Neapolitan Remarks Stickers Book Accents and Phrases.

OK, turning page once again, we can see the back of insert 5 on the left, and insert 6 on the right. Insert 6 is just a simple 8.5×11 page protector into which I stuffed some maps and brochures.

Closer look to the back of insert 5:

I used my Silhouette Electronic Cutting Tool to cut the orange frame I designed – isn’t it pretty? 🙂 I layered it with a sticker and a wood veneer heart colored with chalk ink. The other journaling card was also embellished with stickers, and I used another tag at the bottom.
Next, insert 7 – I used a new Design H photo pocket page for it, and here is the front and back:

The card on the left is from the Clementine kit, while I embellished the card on the right by stamping a Tim Holtz stamp with distress ink and adding a paper strip from a paper in the Cosmo Cricket Twenty Three 6×6 paper pad. I included a clipping from a magazine in the bottom pocket. OK.. we’re nearing the end! Here is what you see when you turn insert 7: you see the final page, which is a Design A photo pocket page.

Here’s a close up. The backgrounds are white card stock with stamps from TPC Studio Let’s Eat, Buttercup Clear Stamps (Lily Bee Designs, and Dear Lizzy Neapolitan Camera Clear Acrylic Stamp.

For the photo collages throughout this page, I used many of the awesome templates by Designs by Lily at The Lilypad: 4×6 Photo Collages, 4×6 Photo Collages no. 2, Photo Collages no. 3,  6″ Photo Strips

Phew! Thanks for staying until the end! 😉 What do you think? Leave me a comment if you made it this far! 🙂

Here’s my long overdue Project Life update. I got behind when I went on a 1-week business trip, followed by my mom’s 2-week visit, but the sad fact is that even after that, I’ve kept getting more behind. But I do have hopes that my life will miraculously settle down (I’m having an awfully busy summer at work :-() and I can get caught up. I am not giving up, that’s for sure! Anyway, here are the last three weeks I completed.

I was not all that inspired by Week 19, but hey, it’s one more week documented. 🙂

I did not have much to document this week.. I was home alone until the weekend.

I guess it’s the color scheme that stumped me.. I do like how the right side turned out though, with the journaling cards – it must be a record, I used three cards from the Project Life Clementine kit on one page! 😉 Seriously, I never use the kit anymore, but I was delighted to dig up three cards that matched my color scheme so well!

I love the patterned paper on the top right. And I think the birthday card I made looks pretty cool too! 🙂

But let’s move on. Week 20 was a good week for me. I was home alone, but I had a major achievement. I LOVE love love love how this week turned out. How is it that my hybrid intensive pages are almost my favorite ones? 🙂

It’s pretty obvious that I put together this spread after getting my new desk – the Silhouette-cut elements give it away easily! 🙂

Bright colors, cut outs, stamps, and glitter? No wonder I love how this week turned out! 😉

Here are some details. I used distress ink for the stamping (it was the only color I had that matched the color scheme..) so the details aren’t 100% clear, but I like the look anyway.

I covered the star left over from the cut out with glitter. 🙂

I tried using a strip of paper in my DYMO. It totally worked! 😉 I love the look!

A nice mix of stamps and printed digi elements. This spread turned out to be really thick, thanks to those flowers I added to it! My album is getting quite thick already – it will soon be time to switch to a new binder!

And here comes Week 21. I tried something new this week too (once again, thanks to the new craft space): embossing! 🙂 I love it!!

 

Do not fear, it’s not that I need to remind myself of my name… 😉 That one you see there was a name tag and I had to block out some personal details in these photos. 🙂

 

This week is packed with photos and journaling! It made me think whether I am documenting too much.. I like to think that one day I will care about having all these details recorded, but I am not sure..

 

That picture up there in the top right corner was taken with my iPhone from the plane – the quality is awful in this picture of a printed iPhone photo, but in person it looks quite cool, with the moon framed by the plane’s wing. But let’s move on to some details! Here are the embossing stamps I made.

 

DH and I were on opposite sides of the country this week, so I had the idea of documenting it using a map of the US and our initials. This was my first experiment with embossing, and it was a go! 🙂 So I added more embossed details throughout the spread.

I was almost done with this week – I was missing only the bottom left pocket on the right page – when I decided to use a stencil mask and spray paint to create a background. It turned out pretty cute, albeit a bit too white. But then, as I was about to clean out the stencil, I noticed there was a lot of paint on the stencil, so I used it as a stamp on another piece of cardstock. Bingo! 🙂 This reflection had just the right amount of red to balance my page.

 

The journaling on it is kind of hard to read though… and once again, too many words!

I included several instagram photos from DH. I love the look with the paper strip down the middle.

 

Phew, that was a long post! Here are the credits for these 3 weeks.


Week 19:
Credits:
Insta-frame Templates by Sahlin Studio
Photo Collages no. 3 by Designs by Lili
Kissing Booth papers by Basic Grey
Amy Tangerine Thickers – American Crafts

Week 20:
Credits:
Social Butterfly by Jenn Barrette and Allison Pennington, available at The Lilypad and at Sweet Shoppe Designs
Cutouts: Everyday vol. 2 and Happy and Healthy for Life by Jenn Barrette
Customizable Journal Cards No.2 by Designs by Lili
Stamps by Studio Calico
Washi tape from InTheClear
Smash date stamp K&C company
Martha Stewart glitter
Prima flowers

Week 21:
Credits:
Studio Calico (paper from Abroad, and Mr. Huey spray, transportation and arrow wood veneer )
Pebbles (grid paper, from Hip Hip Hooray)
washi tape by Cavallini & Co.
Zing embossing powder
Stamps by Tim Holtz (enjoy the journey + grid) and Studio Calico (alpha)
Stampendous alpha stamps
Anywhere Thickers by American Crafts
See and Stamp alpha stamps
Smash date stamp K&C company
Photo Collages no. 3 and 6″ Photo Strips by Designs by Lili
Insta-frame Templates by Sahlin Studio