#30 Days of Thankful: My Detailed Plan

Happy Thursday! I am back today to share with you some items I have pulled and my plan for approaching a 30 Days of Thankful album. I hope this might give you some ideas, and inspire you to focus on gratitude next month.

I have documented 30 Days of Thankful the past three years. The first two were done on Facebook with daily messages. Last year, I documented gratitude every single day and posted corresponding photos on Instagram. I printed all of these photos into a large collage and made a corresponding layout last year.

In the journaling, I wrote down every single one of the things I was thankful for. I ended up with 

29 photos, because I inadvertently mentioned Project Life twice. I just made that a 

larger photo and moved on. I love how it turned out.

This year I will also be using my I-phone to take photos and posting those on Instagram using the hashtag #30DaysOfThankful. The difference is that this year I plan on making a mini album with all of my photos. I have a few of the Instagram albums, and I am just itching to use one already. Another of my Instagram albums will be used for a summer mini/ favorite things from 2014 (which I still haven't done, ahem, cough, cough, but I digress.....)

These are the supplies I have pulled together to make a 30 Days of Thankful Mini Album

1. Album: I have it narrowed down to two Instagram albums. I am not quite sure which way I am going to go, but either will work.

 Teresa Collins Gold Heart Instagram Album

We R Memory Keepers Instagram Album in Coral: 

Unfortunately this one is sold out, but there are many

 other cute Instagram albums in at Paper Issues.

2. Paper:

Fancy Pants True Friend 6x6 paper pad

3. Flair Badges from my Etsy Shop:

 Thirty Days of Thankful Flair Set

At the Patch Flair Set

Seattle Seahawks Flair Set

Sweater Weather Flair Set

Too Many Projects Flair Set

 Coffee Lover Flair Set

4. Other products pulled:

• Fancy Pants True Friend: Inseparable 12 x 12 paper, button set, ephemera pack. label stickers, and sequins.
• Lawn Fawn Sweater Weather Wood Leaves
• Elle's Studio Sycamore Lane: Grateful Stamp Set, Cork Shapes, Cut Outs, Bits and Pieces, and Word Labels
• Elle's Studio Good Cheer: Number's Stamp
• Amy Tangerine Stitched: Love Spun Embossing Folder and Hooked Kraft 12 x12 paper

I hope this post inspired you to think about taking on a 30 Days of Thankful album, scrapbook layout, or pocket page. I think this album will be one that my family and I flip through time and time again. I

If you are in the market for supplies for a fall project, album, or anything else pretty paper related. I have left links to all of the supplies I pulled above. If you shop at Paper Issues and use the code "TONI" you will receive 20% off of all of your items. Disclaimer: *I do receive a small compensation if you shop at Paper Issues and use my code. This is in the form of shop credit and is used for purchasing more scrappy products that I use for blogging. I genuinely love the store, and shopped there well before being on the Design Team, and for this reason I feel very comfortable recommending them to you. I will never advertise any company or product I do not personally use and highly recommend.*

Until next time....

Happy Scrappin'

xoxox

Toni

Hello Flash: A Layout using Gossamer Blue's On My Desk

Happy Wednesday! I have a layout to share with you today that I created for a Product Spotlight feature over on the Paper Issues blog. I used the Gossamer Blue On My Desk supplies I  had already ordered, and I had such a great time!

I am seriously in love with this collection. The papers, ephemera, labels, and puffy stickers are right up my alley. I also adore the package of 3x4 gold foil transparencies. All of these products will definitely be making a Project Life appearance as well, not to mention some more layouts I plan on making.

For today though, I focused on a single image of our new ferret. My husband has wanted a ferret since he was a child, and earlier this month he made that dream a reality. Flash is pretty darn cute and we are having a lot of fun playing with him.

Products used from Gossamer Blue On My Desk:

• Screensaver, Multitasker, and Stargazer  12 x 12 papers
• 3x4 gold foil transparencies
• Enamel Stars
• Puffy Stickers
• Days of the Week Label Stickers

Other products used:

• American Crafts white cardstock (trimmed down to 8.25x 10.75 inches
• American Crafts shadow cardstock (trimmed down to 8.5 x 11 inches
• American Crafts dot roller adhesive
• Versafine Ink in Onyx Black
• Pebbles date stamp
• Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher
• American Crafts colored staples (I used gold)
• Needle and Thread
• Printer used for journaling (American Typewriter font)

If you would like to see what my fellow Design Team members Sherry Funk, Amy Close, and Brenda Smith created using Gossamer Blue products, please check out THIS post over at the Paper Issues Blog. They all are seriously talented and really rocked Gossamer Blue this month!

Thank you so much for stopping by today, I appreciate you being here. I will be back tomorrow with a look at my plan for making a #30DaysOfThankful mini album. I sure hope to see you back here.

xoxox

Toni

*Disclaimer: If you use my code over at the Paper Issues

store, I do receive a small commission that is used to 

purchase more crafting goodness at the shop.

Project Life 2014: Week 42

Happy Tuesday, and that means it's time for another Project Life share. It's hard to believe that it is almost November, and in just over two short months, it will be 2015. Crazy, isn't it? Time flies by fast, and that's just what I enjoy about Project Life. I love that Project Life allows me to look back on this past year, and reflect on the so many things I have to be grateful for. It is such a blessing in my life.

You might remember a few weeks back that I talked about switching things up to a Fall Handbook. I was so excited to try something new, but it just did not work for me. I found it very difficult to wrap my head around such a small size of album (after almost four years designing all of my pages in the 12 x 12 format.) I was spending hours trying to design pages and getting nowhere. That is never a fun feeling, so yes, I have gone back to 12 x12 and will be finishing up this year in that size. What about the two pages that were completed in the 6x8 size? Well if you were wondering, those will just be inserts now within week 39 (the first official week of Autumn.)

I am still behind in Project Life, and trying to switch up sizes, actually caused me to get further behind (instead of speeding up the process like I thought it would.)  I have discovered that focusing on the pictures and stories, and spending about 15-20 minutes (or less) embellishing is my happy place. That is exactly what I am doing going forward.

Here is where I am currently at for those that like following my crazy-bullet point lists.  :-) items higlighted and crossed off are complete.

• Week 28, July 7-13
• Week 29/ 30, July 14-17
• Week 31, July 28-August 3
• Week 32, August 4-10  
• Week 33, August 11-17 
• Week 34, August 18-24
• Week 35, August 25-31
• Week 36, September 1-7
• Week 37, September 8-14
• Week 38, September 15-21  
• Week 39 September 22-28: (Inserts completed in 6x8 size)
• Week 40, September 29-October 5
• Week 41, October 6-12
• Week 42, October 13-19
• Week 43, October 20-26

I am currently 9 weeks behind (including the week that just finished up on Sunday. Sigh. I had hoped to be caught up by now. Regardless I am still plugging ahead, and focusing on the 34 weeks that are completed and documented. I think the key is to focus on what you do have completed and be appreciative of that. I will eventually get all of this caught up. I have done it before, and I will do it again.  Stay tuned for that....

Today I am sharing week 42 with all of you. I focused largely on one big day for this week. The day we drove three hours to the Blue Ridge Mountain Parkway and essentially crossed off almost everything on our Fall Bucket list.

 I included Isabelle's individual soccer team photo on this page, even though it isn't a great 

photo, I still felt it was important to include. I journaled around the photo and am happy.

I think this Studio Calico Masking Tape might be my favorite item in the kit. So great! Sewn 

pocket will show through on both sides. I used sequins from my stash and Lawn Fawn 

Sweater Weather wood veneer leaves to create this, along with my sewing machine.

I used a 5x7 insert this week, for some extra photos I wanted to blow up to a larger size. 

This is a Becky Higgins 5x7 page protector (front side)

5x7 page protector (back side)

Supplies Used:

• Studio Calico The Underground Project Life Kit  (as of 10/28/14, kits are still available.)
• Cozy card set by Life, Love, Paper (sold out)
• Flair from my Etsy store: At the Patch and Sweater Weather Flair Sets
• Lawn Fawn Sweater Weather wood veneer leaves
• Basic supplies: Fiskars trimmer, Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher, Nake Berkus scissors, American Crafts dot to dot roller, assorted sequins from my stash, and my Brother sewing machine.

I started posting You Tube process videos to my account a little over a month ago and the response has been fantastic. I really appreciate you following me along there and leaving comments. It has been really fun making these. I will have a new process video posted later today or tomorrow to You Tube. This one will be on the layout that you see above. I hope you like it. If you are interested in following my You Tube channel and don't want to miss any of my process videos, please make sure you are following along. You can find a direct link to my You Tube channel HERE.

*Edited to add: The direct link to this Project Life process video can be found HERE.

Thanks so much for stopping by today. I will be back tomorrow with a new layout to share using Gossamer Blue products. I hope to see you back, and until then...

Happy Scrappin'

xoxox

Toni

Halloween Cards for 2014

Yes. I do send Halloween cards. It's such a fun holiday and the paper products are so darn whimsical and fun, it's hard not to. I have three cards to share with you today that I made using a couple of things I picked up at Target. Yup, Target. My favorite store. They even have really cool AC products that are not released to scrapbook stores. 

All three cards took less than 40 minutes to create and largely involved cutting strips or boxes of paper and playing around with them until I liked the arrangement. I really like how they turned out though and can't wait to mail them to family and friends near and far.

Products Used:

• 6x6 AC Halloween paper pad
• AC Halloween cork embellishments
• Jillibean Soup enamel stars
• Trick or Treat Flair Set from my shop
• Vintage 89 cents price tag from a Jenni Bowlin booth years ago

Thanks so much for stopping by today, I have a lot more coming up this week to the blog, and I sure hope to see you back. Here's what is coming up at Toni From Designs this week:

• Tuesday I  have a PL layout to share and that video will go up on my You Tube channel tomorrow afternoon. 
• Wednesday I am sharing a layout using some awesome Gossamer Blue products from the On My Desk collection
• Thursday I will be sharing my products pulled and my plan for approaching #30DaysOfThankful. I will be making a mini album to document thankfulness for the entire month of November.
• Friday I will have some more paper goodness to share

Until next time....

Happy Scrappin'

xoxox

Toni

Paper Issues: Witchin' You a Happy Halloween

Happy Monday! I have a layout to share with you today that was created for the new "Issue" over at Paper Issues entitled, "Witchin' You a Happy Halloween." SRM has graciously sponsored this issue and we will be giving away a goodie bag of SRM products to the lucky winner.

To enter simple link up any paper project (new or old) that matches our "Witching You a Happy Halloween" theme. Possible project suggestions for this link up might include; anything related to Halloween, including; spooky pictures and photos, spider webs, scary backgrounds, or flip this challenge the other way and document things that make you happy, such as; chocolate, coffee, family, your planner, paper crafting, and anything else you might think of that fits this theme. Another option would be to use any SRM products you might have in your stash. You can link your projects follow THIS link.

I had fun working with the SRM Halloween goodies and muslim bag they sent over. They went perfectly with a picture of our guinea pigs in their Halloween costumes. This was a really fun project to create, and the Halloween stickers were the perfect finishing touch!

SRM products Used:

• Stickers By The Dozen, Take 2 #69005 Halloween
• We've Got Your Border #57005 Halloween
• We've Got Your Sticker #53005 Treats
• Medium Muslin Bag

I also used some papers and labels from the Bella Blvd Halloween Magic collection in the Paper Issues shop.

Thank you for stopping by Toni From Designs today, I appreciate you being here. If this layout has inspired you to get creative, don't forget to head over to the SRM shop to stock up on some stickers, and if paper is more what you are after, why not head over to the Paper Issue shop. If you use my discount code "TONI" you will save 20% off your entire order. Until next time fellow crafters...

xoxox

Toni

*Disclaimer: If you use my code over at the Paper Issues

store, I do receive a small commission that is used to 

purchase more crafting goodness at the shop.

Week in the Life Organization

I can't believe that in only four days, Week in the Life will be starting up again. I am so excited! I don't know about you, but I am always super inspired by the photographs and words that others include in this project. I love searching Instagram and online for photos using the hashtag #weekinthelife and of course Ali Edwards site is just fabulous for inspiration.

This will be my third year documenting Week in the Life. In 2012 I added inserts to my Project Life album and in 2013 I took photos and used the 8.5 x 11 template sold by Ali Edwards. This also was put into my Project Life album. This will be my very first year putting Week in the Life into it's own mini album, and I am really looking forward to this project

For 2014, I decided to order the Week in the Life Kit from Ali Edwards. I loved everything about it, and finally, just could not wait any longer, and I snatched it up before they were sold out. As of 10/24 her site says there are still a few available. The Kit only is all that is left, but I would still highly recommend it.

Here is the gorgeous Ali Edward's Week in the Life Kit for 2014

Pulling it All Together

• Unpack your kit (or create your own kit)
• Get your album set up and put the page protectors inside and ready to go.
• Pull supplies from your stash that coordinate and that you want to include ( I recommend really trying to limit your supplies, focus on the photos and stories.)
• Put all of these items together and organize them in a way that inspires you to create.

How I Organize My Supplies

I love using white ceramic bowls and containers in my studio. Various bowls and whatnot sit out on my shelves and on my island everyday. I rotate what is kept inside, depending upon what projects I am currently working on. For Week in the Life, I decided to pull in a few supplies from my stash. Items include; wood veneer, a few patches, some more stars, labels in gold, navy, and black, some office tags, and of course flair from my shop.  :-)

 This is a ceramic egg holder, (but of course I never actually use it for eggs. ) I love to use this

to store a variety of little bits and pieces. It really holds a lot and it is one of my favorites.

All of my supplies are in one central area and items are grouped into small containers

This bowl is used for labels

This star shaped container is for chipboard, a veneer piece, and my date stamp

I also picked out flair sets from my shop to use for Week in the Life. 

They include these sets; A Week in My Life, Happy Halloween, 

& Trick or Treat. You can find all of them in my Etsy shop HERE.

*All Flair sets are currently 10% off using the code "ILOVEFALL." This coupon is good through Sunday October 26th.*

More Organization Ideas for Week in the Life

• If you look back through THIS, THIS, and THIS December Daily posts from last year you can get some more ideas for storing supplies for a project.
• Other storage ideas might include muffin tins, wooden trays or boxes, plastic containers, wicker boxes, and really the ideas are limitless.

Regardless of how you approach Week in the Life, or how you choose to store your supplies. I hope you have a great time documenting your lives this next week. I hope this post inspired you to start getting your supplies together and geared up for Week in the Life 2014!

If you have any ideas for Week in the Life organization, I would love to hear about it in the comments below. Anyone else super excited for Week in the Life?  What is your approach going to be this year? Mini album? Included in Project Life? Digital? I would love to hear any and all WITL talk below.

xoxox

Toni

Project Life 2014: Volume I

Good Morning from (it's starting to cool off, but still sunny) North Carolina. It's Tuesday and that means it's time to share some Project Life pages.

Today I am sharing all of the pages in my first album from 2014 which spans from January 1-June 30th. I also will have a You Tube video up later today on my channel with a walk through of this entire album (if you prefer looking at it that way.  :-) You can find my channel HERE if you are interested in following along. I would love it if you would subscribe, and that way you know you won't miss anything...including any possible future announcements or giveaways (cough, hint, hint, cough.) The direct link for this video can be found HERE.

Important to Note:

At the bottom of this blog post you will find links to a few helpful tutorials and information I have shared regarding Project Life. These include topics such as; digital brushes, using Photoshop Elements, my step by step process for Project Life, and thoughts and strategies for getting caught up. I hope you find these links useful. Now onto some pages....

Introduction 

Introduction (Concluded)

Week One

Week Two

Week Three

Week Four

Week Five

Week Six

Week Seven

Week Eight

Week Nine

Week Ten

Week Eleven

Week Twelve & Thirteen

Week Fourteen

Week Fifteen

Week Sixteen

Week Seventeen

Week Nineteen

 Week 20

Weeks 21 & 22

Weeks 23 & 24

Weeks 25 & 26

Back Page

Helpful Project Life Blog Posts

Making a basic collage in Photoshop Elements and adding digital stamps to photographs

My Step by Step Process for Putting Together a Project Life Layout

Tips for Catching Up in Project Life

I appreciate you being here and following me on this blog. I will be back later this week with a look at how I am organizing and preparing for Week in the Life. I can't wait! Can you believe it starts next Monday, October 27th? That sure went by fast. I hope to see you back here and until then...

Happy Scrappin'

xoxox

Toni