I follow an amazing scrapbooker named ALI EDWARDS. I have for a long time. I have even purchased several classes from her.
So, one of the things she does is A WEEK IN THE LIFE album every year. She chooses a week every year and documents the "reality" of the whole week. The food, the mundane, the shopping, the tantrums, the house, the yard, the whole shebang. She offers a new line of products every year to go with the process she does very publicly on her blog. I haven't purchased the WEEK IN THE LIFE products (or class I don't think) but, I've followed her process and started it for 2 years! I did (some of) the journaling, I took all the pictures, but never got them into an album.
My first project to finish while I am off this summer is my 2017 WEEK IN THE LIFE album. I started with corralling the pictures on my computer into one place. As organized as I thought I was ... this was enlightening! I have some work to do on cleaning out my computer's memory. (later!)
I printed the pictures I wanted after I decided I was going to use just a few 4X6 photos and mostly 3X4 photos. I chose background CARD STOCK ( I have a bunch of retired I would like to get used up - another goal!) I then pulled a limited supply of embellishments, PROJECT LIFE cards (I have a bunch of these from before CTMH made pocket cards) stamps, and inks. I find that looking for things as I go and adding things all the time slows me down and overwhelms my creativity.
So, with my supplies out, I started on Tuesday afternoon. I started with a 'loose' plan.
1) a title page for each day
2) a 'day' pocket for each day and
3) and an 'initial' card for each day.
With my goals and my loose plan in mind I filled the pages for the week with my pictures first. Then I added the CARD STOCK pages and pocket cards, then the PROJECT LIFE cards.
And now, the fun part begins! Decorating the pages. At this point, I didn't understand how ALI EDWARDS and most of the other people who have done this project needed a whole album for this! It was crazy! I was gonna put 2 years in one album, not 'waste' a whole album. Then ... I started decorating.
I love my title page! I used a BECKY HIGGINS PL card. I love that camera (and i just realized I need to put bling on the flash!) The frame is an old RECOLLECTIONS piece I believe. I used CTMH 'Marker Alphabet' #E1034 for my title, with BLACK INK and 'Week in the Life' is from the CTMH RETIRED stamp set Notice the Details #D1378. I haven't used this set much for as much as I loved it when I bought it, but I will, just wait, I will!
The pocket pages were next. And they are so fun to decorate! Remember I told you I was making CARD STOCK day pages? Here is the first one.
Just retired OCEAN card stock I hoarded. I stamped 'MONDAY' in BLACK ink with the CTMH stamp set 'My Life' #D1572. I used the days of the week from this set for the WHOLE book. The font is different for every day, which I LOVE! I am a bit of a font freak. LOL The embellishments are old RECOLLECTIONS pieces, except for the yellow flower which is from a very old CTMH paper kit. I looked for the name, so I could tell you, but can't find it. The embellishments were very bulky for that kit and I didn't use them in my big albums because of that. And, other than for the workshop, I didn't use them on cards because I didn't feel that they would mail easily.
I love the wood veneer 'hello'! The adhesive was crap, but I love the look of it. Wood embellishments are soooo cute in these small albums. Personally, I don't like the bulk in my big albums.
The other consistent detail I wanted in my album was the initial for every day. On Monday I used a camera PL card (I love camera accents in anything!!) I think this is such a nice little detail in the album. I'm really glad I made this choice.
Once again, I used the Marker Alphabet set from CTMH. Using up some old embellishments and bling as I go.
Just a little more information before I leave you today. I am using SIMPLE STORIES page protectors and album for this project. (cleaning out my stash). 2 years ago, when I made my grand daughter's albums for family, I DOUBLE ORDERED page protectors!! WHO DOES THAT??
Well, me apparently. So, I have a ton of page protectors and 1 album. Now 0 albums, and still a ton of protectors. I will be shopping for a couple more albums so I can use up the page protectors. It's OK though. I love mini albums. They mean FINISHED projects.
Have an amazing day and a scrappy weekend!
C
