A Pocketful of Licorice

2015: December

So, December got a little weird. I was having a really hard time creating cohesive layouts in the usual format (12x12, style A pocket pages). When I'm feeling blocked like that, sometimes changing the format helps me to work through it. I ended up using a 6x12 pocket insert to document some holiday activities. 

I cut up my 2015 Studio Calico calendar to make the top card on this one. 

And this is the other side. The 6x12 page came together much more easily. 

I had a really hard time photographing these next two pages without glare, but they're also in a pocket page style I don't typically use. I used these black and white stickers from Studio Calico to tie the whole thing together. 

And here's the other side. Documenting holiday celebrations. This year, I'm going to try not to fall so far behind. We'll see how long that goal lasts.

Thanks for stopping by!

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2015: October and November

Hello! I'm officially finished with 2015 and on to 2016. Today I'm sharing a few spreads from October and November. October must have been slow (either that or I didn't take very many pictures) because I fit the entire month on one page. I'm pretty comfortable with my memory-keeping working out like that, though. Some months I have 5 pages, others only 1. 

I hand-stamped some Kurt Vile song lyrics for this one, to go with my pictures from the concert my friend and I went to. Other than that, this one is pretty simple. I used a gold overlay to create a pocket for my ticket stub. Other cards, bits, and pieces are from Studio Calico. 

On this one, I used some cards and papers by Ashley Goldberg for Studio Calico. I love the picture of my seniors all dressed up for class color day during spirit week. 

And this layout wraps up November. I used a couple of hand-stamped journaling cards, and included some silly notes my friend and I made while out one night. 

I did two 12x12 layouts covering Thanksgiving and a trip to the Christmas tree farm, but I'm not sure how I feel about them. It's been so long since I worked in that format that I'm out of practice and I don't love them. 

In a few days I'll share the layouts I did for December. It feels good to be more or less caught up!

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2015: August and September

Hi guys,

I have a few more pages to share today - from the end of last summer. 

I had the August card sitting on my desk, and it happened to end up near the moth card. I liked the way they looked together, so I saved them for this layout (mostly) about this weekend in Portland. 

I added an insert here. Stella died that month. Shortly after, I found a whisker lying around the house and for some reason couldn't bring myself to throw it away. So I taped it to a card, put it in a pocket, and stuck it in my scrapbook. That might be weird. At the time, I didn't have it in me to do a full page about Stelly, but I'm sure I will at some point. 

I really love forest green. It's been showing up in a lot of my layouts lately. 

I heat embossed the butterfly in gold to mirror the gold foil on the "let's do this" card (which is actually a page from Studio Calico's 2015 calendar that I cut into a journaling card).

This layout was built around the "hello" card and the leaf card. Again, they just happened to be next to each other on my desk and I liked the way they looked together. I feel like that happens to me a lot. Things come together by accident. I don't use oranges and yellows that often, so this is a nice change. 

Whelp. October and November are coming next week. 

Thanks for coming by!

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2015: July

Hello again. Time for my weekly blast from the past. This week I'm sharing layouts from July of 2015. 

I love the way this one turned out. Something about a little green and pink, and a good amount of white. The "yes" card was made with stamps from Studio Calico. 

Mainly Studio Calico cards here, with a wood accent from Heidi Swapp. I made the top photo black and white because it was a little too busy in color. 

The donut card (again from Studio Calico) was perfect. Not because I actually got to eat donuts, but because I was in the middle of my Whole 30 and couldn't stop fantasizing about donuts. Cake. Cheese. Cocktails. Everything. 

The words on the bottom right card are song lyrics. Truth by Alexander. I listened to it a lot last year. Nothing deeper than that, really. 

Another day with the nieces. I like these plastic fruit accents (Studio Calico, again) on this summery layout. 

This is another one that I was really happy with. The three geometric cards (Studio Calico) kind of provided the inspiration. I built the rest of the layout around them. 

And that's it for July. 

Thanks for visiting!

 

 

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2015: June

Good morning!

Apparently, I had a lot to say about June last year. Here's what I did that month. 

I added a pocket here to hold a bunch of notes and cards from students. I save them all. 

I think this is where I began a concerted effort to make pocket layouts that function as a cohesive whole. Also, there is so much stamping on this one. I think I was having trouble finding exactly what I wanted, so I ended up making all my own cards. 

All 3x4 cards on this one. I'm not sure how I feel about it. It might be too busy for me. 

I love that wreath stamp. I bought an entire make-your-own-cork-coaster kit from Recollections at Michaels just to get my hands on that stamp. I'm also really into mixing and matching the stamps I get from Studio Calico. In general, I love the stamps I get from them. The "yes" card combines stamps from a couple sets. 

I also love that large floral card from Studio Calico. I think I built this whole layout around it.

So that's it for June. I'll have July up next week.

 

 

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July 2013

2015: March to May

Onward with the old layouts. Today I'm sharing some from March and May, and skipping April (because I don't really like them). 

On this one, I used a bunch of Studio Calico cards. I think I was in a hurry and wanted to get stuff scrapped quickly. For times like that, I like cards that scaffold the journaling a bit. The "made this" and "eating out with" cards made getting the details down on paper quick and easy. Also, scaffold is totally a teacher word. 

My March layouts are kind of boring me a little bit, but then, March is usually a pretty boring month for me. 

In May, we had a party to celebrate both my nieces birthdays, so I did an entire layout on that day. I really like how the giraffe ended up working out. 

And this one is the end of May. Next week, summer 2015!

Thanks for stopping by. 

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2015: January and February

Continuing to share my large backlog of Project Life layouts today. We're finally on to 2015. Here's what I did in January and February. 

You know, back when I did full page 12x12 layouts, I didn't do a whole lot with stamps. Now that I'm using pocket pages, my stamps are amongst my favorite supplies. They definitely get a lot of use. 

That winter was so snowy. I thought it would never end. More hand-lettering and stamping on this one. 

Sometimes I like to just pull out my paper scraps and see what I can make with them. I think the "xo" card is the result of that. 

This layout just covers one event - a girls' weekend in Vermont. That weekend was at the very end of February/beginning of March, so I guess that's it for this post. 

Thanks for checking out my work. 

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January 2016

We're one month into 2016 and so far I've stayed caught up. Which I realize is not such a huge accomplishment. I switched up my format this year - from 12x12 to 6x8 pocket pages/albums. Switching things up makes me excited to scrap again. I remember before I switched to pocket pages a few years ago, I was soooooo tired of scrapbooking I almost gave up on it. I'm pretty excited to take things in a slightly new direction. 

When I made my resolutions mini-booklet, I knew I was planning this change, so I made it the right size to slip into a 6x8 page protector in the beginning of my album. 

I've stockpiled a pretty large assortment of pocket page styles to pull from. I'm hoping this keeps me inspired. This month I incorporated a page with 12 2x2 pockets. I Instagram so many of my photos, so I just printed a few of them out as 2x2s. 

This spread covers a couple events and some little bits and pieces of daily life at the moment. I cut some large Studio Calico cards down to fit in the 2x2 pockets. 

I still love writing directly on photos. Sometimes I deliberately take photos with white space just so I can use it for journaling. I printed out pictures of a David Bowie album and Alan Rickman as Snape to add. Those two losses really got to me. 

I tried out my Fuse tool for the first time to make a pocket to hold my birthday card from my work friends. It has cat stickers on it and everything! I used an overlay to make a pocket to hold some notes and a funny story. 

And when students stop by your classroom to bring you birthday stickers, you definitely save them. That's it for January. Thanks for visiting!

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kicking off 2014

2014: November, December

I'm going to finish off 2014 with this post. Moving right along. 

The "love this" card is letter-pressed. Most of the accents are from Studio Calico. 

The currently card is another that I did with watercolors and stamps. The tiny boom box is one of my favorites. It's by Rad Stamps. I got it on Etsy. I have a tiny cassette tape, too. 

Lots of words on this one. An overview of all the events leading up to Christmas. 

I did a two-page spread for Christmas. In pink, purple, and aqua. I'm bad at using traditional Christmas colors. 

Here's the other side of it. 

And that's it for 2014. I didn't do much to mark the new year in the scrap book. The next layout is January 2015. I'll be back with that next week. 

Thanks for visiting!

 

 

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2014: October

Hi guys. I've got layouts from October 2014 today. October was a good month. 

Because for starters, I got to see the Afghan Whigs. The "I'm not going to freak out" card is from Studio Calico and as soon as I saw it, I knew I needed to save it for this event. I've loved them the most since I was 18 years old. 

Man, this one photographed poorly. Sorry. I'm working on it. 

This one's really simple, but I like it. 

I drew and water-colored the "currently" card, and the butterfly is heat embossed. 

Pink is for Halloween, right?

Maybe I'll finish up 2014 next week. 

Thanks for dropping by.

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