PL Week 1 & some new buys!

Yey .. first week of the New Year accomplished and I feel like we started off on the right foot. I stayed on track and followed through with completing my title page for Project Life & documenting week one. My plan is to do 1 layout per week (front & back of a page). This worked out well for me .. so I am going to stick with that! I do intend to have little extras from time to time (such as 8x8 collages inserted!).

Okay, so on to what I have done so far ..

My title page. I am happy with it .. I love the colors, but I did the names & 'Family of Four' on printer paper and it just doesn't look very nice. So I am going to redo those parts onto cardstock and then I think I will be very happy. I used my 'Linen Closet' mat stack for my papers. Love love love that little mat tack with all of my heart.

(Please click to enlarge!)

& then here is my week 1 spread! It's pretty basic. I am a scrapbooking virgin so I am slowly building my embellishment stash. & with time I will probably spruce up my pages as I find embellishments that suit my layouts. I use my Amber Core Kit from BH for most of this .. although my 4x6 slots are matted with other papers because the core kit I have doesn't really have any plain 4x6 cards. I really like the look of matted pictures versus making the picture big enough to fit the slot perfectly. So, with that said . . I will obviously be mix matching between my core kit & my own papers. Some weeks I will probably also swap my layouts to be a totally different color scheme and use my own journaling cards too. I would like to see some of my layouts look more uniform & neutral .. and the Amber core kit is pretty loud.

(again , click to enlarge!)

I was feeling uneasy about putting my layout together at first .. but as the slots filled I felt much better. I am sure I will continue to develop more of a style & preference as I go. I have to learn to drop some of my habits of trying to make everything completely neat and uniform because that's not Project Life. I have to learn to love PL for what it is .. which is taking my life as it is and putting it in a book. Truth of the matter is .. my life with two toddlers is DEFINITELY NOT straight out of a magazine .. neat & uniform. I love that PL will be a tangible item that I can easily flip through and be forever reminded of all that we have been blessed with.


Okay .. so that aside, since like I said .. I am a scrapbooking newb, I also have never really had any scrapbooking storage. This past week . . my many trips to Hobby Lobby have been piling up around my bedroom, breakfast bar & dining table. Not good for my sanity, not good at all. Not to mention, I am pretty sure I lost my corner rounder about 8 times. That should not happen, lol. So another trip to Hobby Lobby today and I scored some 12x12 boxes for half off, woot!

For NOW , two is all I need. I have one with papers in it & the other I filled with stickers, my mat stacks, my glue stick (♥), my corner rounder, etc. It felt sooo good to go around my house picking up my piles and sorting them into these cute boxes. I instantly loved my box of goodies.

I also got a precious scrapbook kit today for 40% off at HL (duh). I love it! It came with really cute stickers, some little die cuts, and some really great double sided thick sheets of cardstock. These sheets will be so great for matting pics in PL because I can just make one cut & mat two pictures. I love that '10 things I love about everyday life' thing. So so cute.

& then just to share .. these two things are must haves for me. LOVE these little mat stacks oh so much. The size is awesome! One sheet makes one 4x6 card or two 3x4 journaling cards. So easy to cut & round .. and they are a great weight. Love them. I want bunches!



& also .. must have this glue stick. I just grabbed it the other night. I had no idea there was such a thing as restickable glue. (Told ya, I'm a newb.) It's so awesome! Easily move things around .. no damaging papers or pictures. Just love it.



& that about sums it up! I am hoping to be blogging my layout each week. :)


ETA! I forgot to show these {so cute} post its I scored in the $1 section at Target! The one on the right .. will be my PL post its. I can quickly jot things down and stick them in my album to document later. The otherrrrrrrr . . is for my beloved husband. Ha! So excited to put those bad boys to use. See how it gives you the three options at the bottom? I have a feeling I will be checking 'this very second' allllll the time. ;)