3×4 Project Life 2015 calendar (Sunday to Saturday or Monday to Sunday – you choose!)

NOTE: I’ve added a version of the Su to Sa doily calendar that uses the same font as the 2016 one.  See it here.

I had high hopes that I would get these done AND the tutorial that I have planned for them (which is why there are two borders) but I kept dithering and dithering about how best to make things as clear as possible for you.  It took me till I was photographing the process when I just completely changed things around, as I saw a simple way to make it easier.  But that meant all the photos I already took weren’t showing what you will be seeing when you look at the prints.

I really hate to do this, but it is just not going to get done today so I will reveal all tomorrow.  I hope the printables will make up for it.

Let’s start with two printables – portrait style, 4 months to a page.  Note it has 2 borders.  The inner (gray) one is where you would cut if you were going to use it for a Project Life album, as a 3 x 4 card. The OUTER (black) one I’ll explain tomorrow.

Grab the PDF HERE for Sunday to Saturday calendars

And here is something new – I made a version with a MONDAY start to the week.  Personally I use Sunday to Saturday but people have mentioned it in the past and as I was on a roll, I figured I might as well.  Here is a sample and you can see a few more of the colour choices:

Grab the PDF HERE for Monday to Sunday calendars

 

Hey Jack Kerouac! – Gelli book done

I was rereading On The Road recently, and had to look up  dingledodies – I’m pretty sure I had to look it up the first time I rad it, but NOT sure I found it, as that would have been before t’internet.  Also interesting to find Russell Howard has a comedy DVD using this in the title.  Who knew?

Anyway, t’internet tells me:

Dingledodies are those friends or acquaintances who you cannot help but be uplifted, enlightened or cheered up by – those people who put the light in your life. They are the special people who never fail to put a smile on your face, because of some series of strange habits or quirks unique only to them.

That works.

 

I started off thinking I would use this for the SDC, which is TAGS, but TAGS covered up too much of the Gelli print background, so I just went ahead and made it but didn’t submit it for the challenge.  I just stamped an array or creepy folk on some lighter Gelli prints and cut them out.  I actually like the effect it gives.

So here is the completed book:

and a flat shot:

the only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing…

 

but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars

Endless Summer printables for Project Life

NOTE:  If you came her from a link to these, you may like the NEW set called Spring Fling. Similar colours but more Spring-like text and additional colourways!

I’ve gotten into the habit of making a printable at some point over the weekend, and adding it Sunday, but this Sunday I was at the Newbury stamp show.  I didn’t buy a lot – it was smaller than last year – but I did stock up on nice cardstock in black, white and cream.  This year I took the time to check out the UKS sponsors prices before I went, so I knew if when buying something at the show if I was getting a good price.  Glad I did, because in a few cases I knew, even with there was P&P added on top, the priced was better online.  Anyway, my point is that by the time I got back, I had to spend the rest of the afternoon sorting the Homepage, and doing laundry.  I also have been tending to use images from The Graphics Fairy, but this week I learned a new trick in my program for adding texture and colour so had a good play with that.  The result is a sheet of printables I call Endless Summer.  Now The Endless Summer was a classic surf movie, and one I saw when I was a kid.  The 2000 Revisited version is in my queue, so the title was there before I ever started working on these. I’ve seen the ice-cream colours a few places lately, most notably on Lunch Lady Jan’s blog on her crochet blankie , so that was the colours sorted.  Yum Yum. And the text was easy too, as the colours just made them obvious.

The font is called Press Style, and I like that it looks rubber stamped, to the point you can see the background thru it. Possible best seen on Splish Splash?

I also printed the green block with no text on it so hopefully you can see the texture.  What I was going for was a plaster wall effect, sort of like the colourful  rough-plaster and painted houses I loved when in Florida.

Interesting that in all the shots above the colours are slightly different.  What can I say? Print them and see what you get with your printer.  Have fun with them!

 

 

WOYWW – Autumnal Mini – pages and printables

You’ll have to look back to yesterday to get the spine construction instructions, and follow on tomorrow for more! WOYWW folk, I’m in the car, taking DS back to Uni but will try to visit if I can.

The mini will consist of 6 bi-fold sections.

Collect a selection of cardstock that works with the wrapping paper spine.

Here is my selection:

Cut each sheet into 6 x 12 inch rectangles and score and crease in half.  These will form your pages.

Cut two 6 x 6 pieces of matboard or cardboard for the covers.

There are two versions of the printables, Black and Brown.  Either one will do for this step – cut out the curved rectangle and use it as a template to cut one side of THREE of the folded pages. Leave the other three as full pages.

You can reverse the template, so the curves alternate low to high, and cut left side or right side of the page sections. Save the curves you cut off – you will use them later, if you like!

Tomorrow, we’ll put the book together!

WOYWW 133 – beginnings of a project

Aaahh WOYWW – how I’ve missed your inspiration….

After spending the past week so painfully prone, resting my back, I have been ultra careful in all things.  Moving gingerly, not sitting too long in one position, absolutely NO LIFTING or PULLING of anything,  I really cannot risk re-injury.

Most years, I do the wrapping on the floor, and get up in pain from being all twisted and reaching out for stuff.  This year I sat nicely on the sofa and worked on a proper-height table. At the end of a marathon wrapping session (I mean HOURS) I didn’t hurt at all. Huh.  Maybe I should have done that all among.

The turkey is ordered, other ordered stuff is arriving – like pumpkin puree, and Bordens Egg Nog – and things are in process for the big 3-days (eve, day, and day after) and I am looking forward to a fairly laid-back weekend.  No guests due, no place to be, no pressure over the meal, just our little family unit all together.  Bliss.

And I am dithering over adding a new recipe to the mix.  I so want to make this:

Brownie Peppermint Trifle.  An adapted recipe from one by Martha (and if the comments are true, better than the original) but not 100% sure what to use for Cool Whip.  Whipped Cream may not have the same airiness-that-stays, like Cool Whip, and Angel Delight is just foul.  I’ll dither on.

I am working on the construction of a mini-book – actually a 2 volume book, The A to Z of Me, for…wait for it…. ME!  Yes a book about me, by me, for me.  Shocking during this time of giving, but there you go.

I managed to squeeze out one more photo before the battery totally died.  Must make sure DH sorts that charger or I won’t even have the usual rubbish photos of Christmas this year LOL! An interesting spine, I think, but still some refining.  It’s now probably get shelved till after the first of the year, because there is lots of UKS work to be getting on with next week and in to early January.  Then DS turns 19 (!) and heads back to Uni, DD back to school, DH back to work, and I may just get a little crafting time.  Till then…..

Happy Holidays!

Life is so daily mini-book

I’ve sorted out what I want to do with the inserts so I thought I would quickly share them.  I think I should finish it at my crop tomorrow, providing my back holds out.

I am printing a series of quotes on paper.  I am choosing plain paper, with just and inked edge because I am looking for maximum readability and my handwriting is pretty rubbish.

On the flip side of each I am writing my own thoughts on the quote.

The ends of each slip will get a black circle and a smaller circle on the front, plain black circle on the back – the reason for this is so DS can take out a slip, read it, and then slip it back in, reversed.  This will be an indicator to himself that he has already read it. Clever, hummm?

The other benefit is I can easily make additional strips at any time and will not need more of the paper to do so.  He can collect a new set, or I can mail them to him, at any time so there will always be words from Mom for him to dip in to  – yeah, like that’ll happen…

Anyway, I titled the book Life is so Daily (which is a quote from Inez Turley) and the cover will look something like this – not quite done, but close.

I avoided loads of dimensional elements as it’s for DS so kept it quite grungy and graffiti in style, which will appeal to him more than lots of pretty touches – I’ll save that for DD.

The back of each envelope will have a family photo, ones that I think will make him smile.

I am loving it and enjoying the process – I just hope he does as well. Anxious to finifh it up now to make sure the final construction works. I’ll update on that next week.  Off to crop tomorrow.  Hope you are doing something crafty with your weekend!

Orange

Went to my crop on Saturday, had a blast, as ever, but got not one iota of scrapping done.  I had something to work on that needed working out, but it took most of the day and sharing will have to wait.

But one of my crop mates asked my advice about a layout (well, to be honest I think it was suggested to her to ask me, and I heard the suggestion and rather forced my opinion on her LOL!)  And after commenting on a colour choice that I thought just looked wrong, and then agonizing for ages that I had seriously offended her by doing so, I spent some time trying to explain why it didn’t work for me, and what I thought she might do differently and why I thought THAT would work better. I usually don’t do that, fully aware that MY taste is not everyone’s taste, and recalling asking someone at a crop what they thought I should do with a particular photo, KNOWING the advice was HER style and not even remotely mine, feeling the pressure to take the advice, doing it, and hating the results, and still hating the layout every time I come across it in my album.  We joked quite a bit about the whole situation so I hope it’s all good and she isn’t feeling like I did all those years ago.

I also spent WA A A Y too much time fighting with that damn Do die (and oh at times I wished it WOULD die a horrible and painful death, mangled in any one of the cutting machines I used it in) but darn it I still like the font.

So, on the first I’ll say no more – as they say “what goes on at the crop stays at the crop!” I don’t even know if she makes a habit of reading my blog, but I do know some of the attendees do, so I’ll share this old project as a bit of a joke.  A little book from EONS ago sharing DSs love of orange and my loathing of it.

I still love the little pop-outs and looking back at it makes me want to do another one.

But not this week.  Taking some time to spend time with DD, who is finally out of school, taking in a movie with DS, getting them ready for a weekend at WOMAD, and attacking my box of scraps, which seems, entirely on it’s own mind you, to have morphed into a mountain of scraps, spilling out of the neat little bags and folders all OVER the floor.  You know it takes a lot for me to miss out on a WOYWW, but this week more pressing matters have been grabbing my attention.

 

WOYWW – Thanksgiving journal…still!

My desk is still in a state as I work further on my Thanksgiving mini.  I am trying to document it … well, I’m not really sure why.  It occurred to me that a lot of the stuff is only in my head, not in the recipe file or written down anyplace and it seemed a good time to try to collect all that up, while in the process of actually preparing for and making the feast.

You can see the cover here on the left, and some of the bits and bobs, but I would suggest hopping back a day or even two to see the progress.  And maybe grab the .png of the menu title cards.  No one has thus far said if they work or not, so maybe one of the WOYWW crowd will have time to give them a go! Here’s one but you can grab the whole set in yesterday’s post.

Happy WOYWW all! Pop over to Julia’s to see all the desks. Kudos to those who manage every desk.  I am in awe of you.

Thanksgiving Mini-book

I am making progress on my mini.  To start with I am constructing the album cover. I have a habit of keeping cardboard boxes from packaging, if for some reason they seem a good shape or size.  I had tucked away this FINISH dishwasher tablet box and dragged it out as it seemed the right sort of size for my album.

I opened it out and trimmed off the sides and top/bottom, except one – you can see why.  I want a tab the will tuck to the inside to help hold all I plan to put inside..inside!  You can see the side flap on the right, which I scored at just over 1/2 inch.  You’ll see more on that when I put it all together.

I distressed the front cover, as in the original from yesterday, just ripping back the top layer of cardboard to reveal the corrugated center

A little Distress ink, and bits and pieces from a single sheet of Graphic 45 paper ( with a bit of a Creative Imaginations sheet for the brown lined paper) and letters from Scenic Route and SEI and there you go:

And a little tip for you:  I love the postage edge look, and do have a pair of postage edged scissors, but the scissor edge doesn’t always “fit” the printed elements I want to cut out.  When that happens I simply use a tiny hole-punch to punch away the postage edge

You can do the same one any image, even one without a printed postage edge.

So far I have collected my internal papers and made the covers – the back cover is dead boring, just the cardboard, ripped and inked a bit, so I won’t bore you with it.  I have started collecting the info I want to include, like recipes, and will get double use out of it all as I have to shop for our Thanksgiving dinner later in the week.

Once I get THIS done I can get back to my other mini-book, started and abandoned when this one seemed a bit more pressing.

 

Surprise Saturday!

I usually don’t post on a Saturday but I am today.  One is a limited time thing – Chank has a new font, sooo cute, from a set of letterpress woodtype found at a flea market in Antwerp.  a unique letterpress style from 20th-century central Europe called MUSTACHIO.  It’s only free for a limited time (expires TODAY, the 20th November, so grab it quick!

 

Next is something I am setting aside the project from yesterday for – this week is Thanksgiving, and I realized that I have a wealth of info in my head that may never get passed on if I don;t take the time to make note of it.  When my MIL was here we looked back at the recipe box she gave me when DH and I got engaged – it included a bunch of his “favourite” meals.  I considered the traditional Thanksgiving meal I do every year and thought it would be a good year to document it.  I saw something that sparked me so I began today amassing some of what I need.

More on this as the week progresses!