I am diligently plugging away at getting January "in the books"!! But so want to be done with February already too. If this is the pace that I am going to be taking for the New Year, so much for staying on top of things this year. Can't imagine what state I (or my PL) will be in by August. Yikes!
In the top pocket I documented a visit to a local café that we frequent quite often. The picture is of their business card, laid on a green napkin (which is the way the owner placed it on the counter when he was putting my order in a carrier bag) so I quickly took a snapshot. I thought rather than taking yet another picture of food, as I already take so many, I would capture the moment another way. Brilliant little Italian place but also does British style breakfast and rolls in the morning, plus a fab cup of Hot Chocolate or Ho Cho as we like to call it now! (check them out if you like http://www.eatatpalmieris.co.uk/)
The bottom pocket is pretty self explanatory, when life is horrible, there's always the hope that chocolate will fix it!! And peanut M&M's are my go-to chocolate!
SUPPLIES | Top Pocket - the "Every Little Thing" tag in upper right hand corner is by Simple Stories and the black & white polka dot background card is a Project Life card but I'm not sure which line I took it from, plus black & white Washi tape. Bottom Pocket - yellow background paper is a 6x6 pad by Dovecraft. The "Notes, Notes, Notes" card is a PL card from the Honey line. The peanut M&M stickers are from my stash and very old, believe they are by EK Success. The pink heart is a wood veneer from Studio Calico, coloured with a marker, from the Sugar Rush kit.
Again, using my Insta-apps to document my life! This is Insta-place (on the top)! More pics of Rupert and I enjoying our walks at Braywick Park.
SUPPLIES | Queen & Co brown and white polka dot washi tape. Top page: "currently" sticker is by Simple Stories. Bottom page: "Enjoy everyday" flag sticker is by Simple Stories, the "Play" sticker is by Studio Calico from American Crafts Accent Stickers and the "You&I" sticker is by Simple Stories Cardstock Stickers Everyday line.
As always, there's nothing better than a game of fetch or tug of war with a stick of the right length and width, carefully chosen by Rupert. Not just any old stick will do! Sometimes he will pick up 5 or 6 before he decides on the right one. On occasion, if he becomes obsessed with one of these sticks, I will take it home with us to bring it back next time. I'm a saddo really, but if it makes him happy!
In reading a lot of other blogs and also seeing other peoples Project Life online I've come to realise they seem to include a bit more of themselves in their PL. I suppose "not including myself" really isn't something new to me as I typically didn't make it a habit to include myself in my regular/traditional scrapbooking. So.... this is why I am trying to make a conscious effort to include more of myself, in small ways. Thought starting with something like my feet and legs would be easy, still bits of me. Sort of ease myself into it.
As my father was an avid photographer when I was growing up and considered himself to fall within the rankings of, say maybe David Bailey or Robert Frank or one of the many from National Geographic I constantly had a camera shoved in my face and as well, was put in many mock scenarios to create the right Kodak moment for him to 'candidly' capture it. Hence the reason that I now, as an adult, don't really like having my picture taken, but I'm still trying to change that.
SUPPLIES | The circular metal clip on the top of the page is very old and from my stash, not sure on brand as had it in one of those plastic sectioned boxes. All the washi tape is by Queen & Co. The polka dot strips above and below the black & white polka dot tape are simply trimmings from some paper I was using. The black & white chevron paper on the bottom pocket is by Studio Calico. The "Sunday" tab on the bottom pocket is actually the top of a PL 3x4 card from the Blush line. The circular pink & black brad is a funky brad by Dovecraft from their Rose Tinted Christmas line. The pink speech bubble card below is a PL card from the Blush line which I have just cut down to fit over the 3x4 pocket. The "selfie" (which I don't really like) is a photo altered with my FXCamera app.
Still need to include my journaling on the inside of the card, about how I need to start including myself more, it is my life I'm documenting after all. Take more "selfies"!
An artsy photo of Rupert in the top left pocket, using one of my photo editing apps (FXCamera). Mounted on SC chevron paper with a gold SC chipboard heart sticker.. On the right a screenshot of my FB status for January 23rd, where I was interviewing for various positions at a business park called Stockley Park near Heathrow. In the bottom pocket a photo taken through the windscreen of my car as I was driving through Burnham Beeches to IHG in Denham, which I altered with one of my editing apps.
SUPPLIES | The orange background paper is Bazzill with a PL 4x6 grid card on top of that. A plain large paper tag and then a small pink check tag (old American Crafts, from a kit) split in half, one on each side of the picture plus (2) pink SC chipboard stars. The letters at the top are rub-ons ("driving" & "IHG") from a random kit I received ages ago whereas the "to" letters are from the Typeset alphas by Simple Stories. The "status update" sticker is by Simple Stories.
This was an easy page, sometimes I think the photos can just speak for themselves and extra embellishments aren't necessary. Down the left hand side of the page is a photo strip I made using a few extra pictures from when Rupert & I were at Braywick Park. In the top pocket is a 4x4 photo using my Insta-place app. This pic is of our front hallway as we are now packing up our life! Chaos! Below that is a 4x4 picture using my Insta-food app, told you I was Insta-crazy! In all the chaos, running back and forth to the storage company for boxes, etc., packing up the house and trying to get round to house viewings my lunch wasn't the most nutritious, to say the least. I should really try to do better but sometimes I find myself just eating what is easiest. So shameful when there aren't really any nutritional benefits in stuff like this. I used one of the skins in Insta-Food and then added text to the bottom of the pic.
Leading into February....
(front)
I have added something new this year to my PL. I don't usually have dividers to separate the months of my PL. I know that you can purchase the Becky Higgins monthly dividers but as I am using the Simple Stories 6x8 album these wouldn't really work size wise. I was actually inspired to create these after reading a post by Kelly Xenos (which you can find here) a fellow SC'er and someone I follow on Bloglovin. I love her stuff! With her monthly dividers she did choose to continue along with the pocket pages but as I am trying to really work my way through my massive hoard & stash this year I decided to simply use up some scrap pink cardstock and some old pink love heart paper I have taking up space. Created a tab along the top and then ran the cardstock through my printer to print "February" on it.
(back)
Well that's it for me for January. Finally!! Hallelujah! I'm going to consider myself finished. There are actually other pictures I can add but as I need to feel like I'm moving forward, I'm going to call it finished for now. If I get the time and the creative inspiration I may come back and add more.
Thanks for stopping by to have a look!
Christine : )
Onwards and upwards!
