THE REST OF MY DD

I was going to post my week one of Project Life, but light was really bad this morning. So instead, I'm sharing the rest of my December Daily.

 

 

I completed it towards the start of 2012, so you can see my sewing machine stitching really making an appearence (:

On another note it has been really challenging to take nice bright photos of my layouts at home, a combination due to my working hours and the gloomy weather here in the mornings.

Project Life is going well on track and for that I'm glad. It was not as challenging as I was worried it would be, mostly due to the fact that I'm taking a weekly approach to it, and being flexible to doing it per fortnight or monthly. And it is really fun to think in grids for this. Hope that you have been keeping on track with Project Life and I can't wait to see from all around the World Wide Web the life documentation that is taking place.

BADGES GALORE

***giveaway now closed***

To say that I am enamored by my badge making machine might be an understatement. My mind is flowing with ideas for badges, and I have tried my best to execute some of them. If you would like to purchase them, details can be found HERE

So here are just some pictures that I hope you enjoy!

Now to get back to my project life week 1. Will be back soon!

  

PROJECT LIFE ORGANISATION AND A GIVEAWAY

In order to be better organised for Project Life 2012, I have set up my "station" of PL goodies that I will head towards when filling in my pages. And of course whatever is on my desk is fair game to going into my 2012 album. The container is from IKEA for just $2, with it's original intent to be a drawer organiser.

Let me take you through my bits and how I have arranged all my things.

First up, washi/paper tape. A mixture of American Crafts, MT Tape and 7 Gypsies accquired over the years. I have a bigger stash then this but these are the colours that I think will work well with my "in my head" project life colour scheme.

 

Tags, PL cards and various miscellany that will fit into the 3x4 pockets. This is where having a stash "helped". The Jenni bowlin memo pads are from pretty long ago and the October Afternoon cards are from quite a while back and the snapshots with a camera card has my heart fully.

As I have been destashing, I also found papers that I knew I wouldn't use on a layout, because it was too busy, but would fit PL. So those have been cut down to size and prepared to be used. I also found Melissa Frances journaling tags which would work perfect. In front is the Smash datestamp as well as a normal office date stamp. All 4x6 cards and scraps will go here.

Some of the stamps that I assembled for PL as well as other bits. The stamps at the far back are Autumn Leaves, designed by Jenni Bowlin, with he said, she said on it, perfect for PL. Also the Tim Holtz Adage tickets will add perfect little touches.

Project Life is a line of products by Becky Higgins, and can be used for documentation of daily life or anything else you may want. I am using it to remember the year and take more photos of  my everyday. Follow my PL journey here. For those who live in Asia, you can get your PL supplies from Scraplicious.


If you have made it this far, you are in for a treat and this is why. I received a badge making machine during christmas, along with supplies to make 25mm size badges (yes we use the metric scale here in SG)  This is after someone saw my "obsession" with October Afternoon Tin Pins.  So I tried my hand at making some designs, things that would go with PL and scrapbooking.

Here's an upclose look : sayings and cameras (do excuse this slightly poor photography due to no light here at home, I was excited to share)

 

What do you think?

*****please note that giveaway is now closed*****
Well for a start to thank my blog followers, those who have been following my blog, drop me an email at piecedpapersATgmail.com and I will send you a couple. If there is any colour you would like in particular, let me know.

For everyone else, if you would like to get a set of these badges I have created (all the sayings and choice of two cameras), leave a comment below and suggest some phrases/icons which you think would be good, especially to document life. I'll draw a winner by 13 January.

If you would let me know if you think that there would be a commercial demand for this, let me know too, as support will be appreciated. I haven't decided what to do yet, but so far I'm just enjoying making them. Oh and you never know when I might do a giveaway to my followers as and when I get mojo to make a bunch.

STITCHED CHEVRONS

I finally had the sunlight needed to capture the stitched chevron layout that I have been working on as posted in my previous post.

Supplies: Studio Calico Brooklyn Flea: Pebbles, My Mind's Eye, October Afternoon, Crate Paper

As mentioned I was inspired by all the chevron that has been everywhere in design, and believe that this was inspired by an image  that I saw on Pinterest but never pinned down.

It seemed fitting to that I made the layout about clothes, the first online order that I made with Modcloth. It was during their recent sale on their sale items and shipping to Singapore was reasonable. I have been a long lover of the retro vibe that their cloths have and decided to take the plunge to order. And the results, I'm really pleased about it.

I left the strong some what messy strands of thread as I liked the homespun feel that it gave. I probably should have shown how I made the page, but my table is too messy to do something like that. That is probably something I should work on too : P

MY PROCESS | I got a piece of pattern paper I was planning to purge and drew using a ruler the starburst first and cut it up. Never being one that needs precision, I eyeballed the spacing, and pretty much most of the cutting and drawing I did. Hence some uneveness in the chevrons. You could probably draw it on the computer if you need precision, but for me that would be too much work.

I then did each starburst layer separately and by feel, the only thing I knew was that I wanted the strips to be pointing in different directions. After sticking it down with a tiny bit of adhesive, I went crazy with the sewing machine. First stitching the starburst, then individually stitching down each chevron. I probably did not need to stitch so much, but I really liked the effect.

My journalling is hidden as I didn't want it to take away from my background design. The cloth tag and sticker are from Modcloth and came with my order. I also loved the interior of the box, with swirls.

Thanks for reading and hope you liked this particular layout and reading how I did it.

Next up, taking pictures of my completed (yay!) December Daily album.

HELLO 2012

Happy 2012 everyone!

It's here the new year and it's a mixed bag of emotions to have to dig through.

I have also done my Project Life cover for 2012. I really can't wait to document how 2012 looks. And  my machine stitching made an appearance.

Supplies: Project Life Clementine Kit, Elle's Studio, Jenni Bowlin, American Crafts

Love that I managed to include elements that are me. Doilies, butterflies, black and white, patterns and stars, as well as my faith.

As mentioned previously, the lack of availability of the products in Asia was the main stumbling block towards this endeavor that I had wanted to take part in previously. But with a good community over at Studio Calico as well as having the products in my hands, I believe that I will be able to keep up with this "monster" of a project, in a good way of course.

As I was packing my room, I stumbled across old photos and diary entries and was amazed by the thoughts taht I had in my head then. And also the type of memorabilia that I saved. Over the last few years, this has decreased, though I am documenting through scrapbooking, which gives me my creative fix too. So this album will be where I keep all those little knick knacks. And any other additions will go into my Smashbook. So i'm excited that all the little bits of life will have somewhere to go.

And for everyone in this journey to document the everyday, here's to 2012 being a year of documentation of the everyday.

Project Life is a line of products by Becky Higgins, and can be used for documentation of daily life or anything else you may want. I am using it to remember the year and take more photos of  my everyday. Follow my PL journey here. For those who live in Asia, you can get your PL supplies from Scraplicious.

Aside from Project Life, I have been having fun with the last purchase of the year that I made and am extremely pleased about- a sewing machine. I have always liked the homespun look and have tried replicating it with handstitching. While as great as handstitching is, the machine stitching has a different type of feel and of course is neater and quicker if you get it right.

So after having an appointment cancelled on me, I decided to get a machine. It was a weighed out decision and I had initially thought of getting a smaller one, but then decided to plunge in headfirst with the normal sized one, especially since I have an extremely large fabric stash. And since then I have been a sewing machine freak, for lack of a better way of phrasing it.

And here is my Brother LS 2125 and a layout I worked on, inspired by all the chevron that has been trendy everywhere as well as the starburst shaped design. Done with the Studio Calico December Brooklyn Flea Kit.

Definitely a layout that could have been done without the machine, but looks so much better with it (:

CATCHING UP WITH DECEMBER

Here's more of my album to share, though it has been really hard to get good photos as it has been dreary rainy weather here in Singapore and I am often out of the house before sunrise and only back after sunset:

 

                 

I still have more pages to add, but I think so far so good.

A couple of notes about what worked for me and what didn't:
1. Jot down the memory that you have for each day so that decision making is hastened. Less time spent fussing, more time spent crafting.
2. Though it would be ideal to work on it s each day passes, it doesn't work for me and I work better with doing a few days in a row, both printing and creativity wise
3. Snowflakes were cut by my silhouette and helped add a "christmas" atmosphere
4. To use a good mix of typewriter and handwritten notes is just right for me.
5. Label stickers are a go to asset for several reasons: it provides a place for journaling and helps it to pop out when the page/background is exceptionally busy.
6. I realised that I am really really picky when it comes to the fonts that I choose to showcase in a mini album. I only like specific fonts and not much of others and I like consistency and more graphic type designs.
7. I like the glossiness and pop that the tin pins gave. So much so that I have plans for that for 2012 that I will shall when it is ready.
8. Used a photo template for the first time. Will experiment more for sure to use it more often next year especially for event type pages/photos.

I feel more prepared for project life and tackling it next year. My binder, my page protectors and core kit are ready to be exercised. Must remind myself to not stress over filling it but just to document things from my life now. Especially since it seems to be one full of travel at the moment. And I will be posting here, hopefully regularly so check in for my take on project life. *fingers crossed that I keep up with it and take enough photos from life to fill it up nicely*

CHRISTMAS ISN'T CHRISTMAS TILL IT HAPPENS IN YOUR HEART

Christmas week has come and gone, though its remnants are still around (:

I have been busy finishing my "cup-dom" of christmas gifts. Let me explain cup-dom which comprised of a kingdom that spanned more than 100 cups.

So this year I discovered the joy of vinyl and decided to spread it all around, giving vinyl decorated cups. I special ordered chalkboard vinyl and used my silhouette to cut vinyl like a mad woman. Chalk is somewhat a rare commodity nowadays, being somewhat of a novel thing especially for children. This is as schools here now use whiteboards and eraseable markers unlike the yesteryears.

And this was the result (front and back):

The chalk was placed inside the chalk, giving it a tinkling sound as it clanged against the cups.

Giving a hundred of these meant:
- coming back from ikea with 3 big boxes stacked with the cups
- countless repetitive actions of remove the three stickers that were on the cup (though I do not understand why there is a need for THREE stickers), clean with nail polish remover, peel vinyl, center it, and smooth it out with a scraper.

While I have been doing that, I have been keeping up with my DD.



Here it is, looking nice and fat, the rings are about to burst, but I think it makes it look well-loved

Just some pages to share, will be back to share more of it in due time.

Hope that you are having a lovely christmas with all your loved ones.