Project Life Newbie

Happy New Year to everyone (Chinese new year at that haha).  I haven't blogged in months as I have been busy with the holidays and the preparations for my sister's wedding.  Finally, after everything has done, I am back to my usual self, a CRAFTER! Wooohooo!!!

If you are on my blog for the first time and reading this entry, I'm sure you are searching about Project Life.  And this may not be a tutorial on how I make mine (coz as you see, it's also my 1st year on PL), I will give you websites of some of the ladies who have inspired me to capture life as it comes, and appreciate life as a whole.  And yes, while taking pictures capture the moment, wouldn't it be nice to have an album of these photos that you can look at years from now, and not just store those memories on your hard drives or social networking sites that might eventually crash or close.

Anyhoo, I have been searching and researching on project life since 2012 but could not convince myself to start one.  I was afraid of committing to the project and might end up giving up on it and wasting so much money.  But looking at the images on google and instagram, I am made to realize that project life is so easy, just don't stress on that "photo-a-day" concept.

Welcoming 2013, it dawn on me that a lot will change this year so I told myself I need to document this year, a year of change.  So again, I "studied" project life.  I searched for blogs that covered project life and I'd like to share it with you as I know it will inspire you the way they have inspired me to join the circle of project lifers.

1.  Becky Higgins - the maker/designer/founder of project life
2.  Ali Edwards - mostly does project 365 (documenting everyday life) - photo-a-day approach
3.  Amy Tangerine - though she has her own line of scrapbook/daybook/smashbook products, still does project life like any other crafters who wish to try new things and make new ways of documenting life
4.  Lisa Truesdell - an Instructor and a designer at twopeasinabucket.com website.  I highly recommend reading her 2012 Captured Class at twopeas.  I read her 12-month lesson on Project Life and it has helped me do mine smoothly.

I also watch random flip thru videos on youtube just so I have an idea of how other crafter approach project life.

Hope I have somehow helped you decide if Project Life is for you. 

PS:  If  you think being single with no kids, having a daily routine and doesn't go out is boring and not worth documenting?  Think again, I am on 5th week on PL and so far, I have been filling in the pockets pretty well. :)

Here's the cover page/1st page of my 2013 PL :)

September daily - DONE!

A few weeks ago, I shared the start of my September daily album with the instagram photos i had for the month.  If you haven't seen it yet, its this post I was talking about.

So last Monday, I was able to finish my daybook and was able to write all the journaling I needed. Ha! Good thing I was still able to recall everything. One good tip, try to make your dailies within 2-3 days that it happend LOL.

So here's the other pages I did: WARNING: photo filled post.

Also, I have a video - flip thru my day book... 

How's your daybook coming along?

Handmade Daybook

As some of you may know, I and Cathy of Inside the Crafters Studio enrolled in Amy Tangerine's self-paced class on BPC (Big Picture Classes).  She showed there some tutorials and tricks she has in making her daybooks and how to keep the creative juices flowing.  Before I joined her class, I have already been making myself some daybooks and was able to use it for the trip I had with my siblings to Palawan Philippines last February of 2012.  Mind you ladies, ones you get to start making and get a hang of it, you'll end up making tons and dont know when, where and how to use it.

I have 2 Original AT Daybooks, the first one is the Noteworthy Daybook I purchased, and another one is the Montage Spiral Daybook sent by my good friend Cathy.  I have a handmade daybook sent by one of the Smash*aholics Patti Martin during one of our challenges/swap sessions in the group.  I have already made about 8 daybooks using the paper collections that I have and have used only 2 so far and RAKed 3 to other girls, and 1 for my swap with Patti.

Daybook is a great way to document shorts trips, daily or monthly lives, favorite activities, children's school activities or programs they're in.  Its nice to keep this little daybooks or others may call it journals so you have something to look back at after a few years.  You get to appreciate life more. 

So here's the daybook that I made using 6x6 paper pads.  The size of the daybook is about 6 1/4 x 4 1/2.  I used this daybook to document the instagram photos I have for the month of September.  Im doing this now because I am preparing myself to commit to making my first ever December Daily - yup, save it for another post :)

Here's the look of my daybook, half filled, still a work in progress as it is still September, and as soon as I'm done, i'll post the rest of it.

The front cover of the daybook.  Using paper doilies, thickers, mini alpha stickers, and some washi tapes.  The camera die-cut was sent to me by Cathy.

 First page - Sept. 1.  Facetime session with the boyfriend surprising me with a bunch of giant gerberas.

Sept. 2 - Lunch with family at TGIFridays then a little shopping.  Was able to save the tag of the bag.

And here's a tutorial video I made on how I hand stitch my handmade books.

And this is a video of the very first daybook I have made before I joined BPC class to document my vacation.

Hope I have inspired you to make your own daybooks and share it with me on how you used yours.

First Entry - Smashbook

Hi everyone!  This will be my first blog ever, so please bear with me and I hope I can keep it up.  I have been a crafter since I was in highschool, roughly about 15 years ago.  I started with jewelry making, and when I'm on vacation, I make sure to drop by Michaels and Joanns to grab some stuff for me to make.  After the craze of handmade jewelries, my creativity subsided and felt blah.

In 2009, I started my paper crafting journey.  Watching Youtube videos, reading blogs, browsing thru hundreds and thousands of the photos on Google and trying to make things I see. Little did I know, my passion for scrapbooking/journaling would be unveiled.

One day, I was again on my laptop looking for something interesting, and like everyone else I know, I came across K&Company's Smashbook and got curious about it.  I further searched about it, and then I saw the Youtube video, then BAM! I know I needed to have it. 

I also came across the Facebook group called Smash*aholic where I met very talented women who shared my passion, and I guess obsession with the folios (as what the company calls it).  Thru that group, I got a website that offered a great discount for the folios.  My 1st two folios were the Orange (Simple) and Green (Eco) which I asked my Aunt residing in the US to buy me online.  My next one was the Red (Doodle) one which was sent by my boyfriend from Canada.  My next folios are the Blue (Retro) and Pink (Pretty) which were gifted to me by my mom's friend also based in the US and the Black (Modern) which was bought for me by my mom when she went on a vacation.  Wonder why all were sent and gifted to me? Coz I'm from the Philippines and no one sells it here!!! Oh what a shame.  Anyways, the last on my collection is the Mini Smashbook which was sent to me by a good friend who I became friends with thru the Smashaholic group - Wendi.

Before i forget, I also got 1 more of the Orange folio when i entered into one of Kellie Winnell's giveaway raffles and I was lucky to win it.  

Currently, I am working on 3 folios, 2 Orange folios - About me and a secret project, and the green one for my penpals from the same Facebook group.

Here's my collection  of the smashbooks, oh and 2 Amy Tangerine's daybooks, which I am also obsessed with. But save that for another post.

What's in your collection?