Belinda Jane

Memorykeeper. Mother. Maker

Hybrid layout – Believe in Myself

This layout is taken directly from this blog post back in 2016 which was sparked by the Ali Edwards “Believe” story kit. It’s just taken me this long to make it into a layout.

I struggled a little bit to get it to look the way I wanted it to. I dug through my stash of Studio Calico kits and found some papers that I wanted to use with nice, soft colours. I really loved the grid paper and knew I wanted to use it for my journalling. But when I tried printing straight onto it, the journalling just got lost on it. So I tried printing on vellum instead and laying it over the top. It’s ok, but not really what I wanted. I would have preferred the vellum to be a little more translucent. And then there was the problem of how to adhere the vellume to the paper without being able to see the adhesive. If anyone has any awesome tips for that I’d love to hear them.

I thought I’d pull embellishments straight from the physical products that came in the Ali Edwards story kit but the colours just didn’t work and I couldn’t pull enough out of the kit to make it work. So instead I grabbed the digital kit and decided to make my own. I picked a couple of different colours that I liked and recoloured the elements to suit before printing and fussy cutting them out to add to my layout. I really loved doing it this way and expect I’ll start dabbling in more hybrid work from now on.

More detailed photos of the layout are below.

Project Life 2018 – Title Page & My Memory Keeping Plans For This Year

I can hardly believe that we’re almost at the end of January already. Time certainly flies when you’re having fun with a toddler and a newborn! Today I’m sharing my completed 2018 Project Life title page along with a little bit of info on my memory keeping plans for this coming year.

2018 Project Life Title Page

I was quite excited about my title page for this year and being able to include little Jack. We weren’t entirely convinced that he would have arrived before the end of 2017. And with his arrival our family is complete. So it feels so wonderful to be able to represent that on this spread.

I used mostly products from the January Felicity Jane Kit – Reagan. I have only recently subscribed to these kits so this was my first one. I really love the soft colours and prints so I’m looking forward to seeing what I will receive over the next couple of months. You can find out more about Felicity Jane is by clicking here.
The “Making New Memories” card is a digital product from Anita Designs which I recoloured to suit my spread in Photoshop. You can find it on The Digital Press site here.

 

2018 Memory Keeping Plans

Given the amount that I have on my plate this year – a newborn, a toddler, a house to ‘run’, a full-time study load and a wedding to plan – my memory keeping goals are quite lofty. But I’m sticking with them anyway. My hope is that I will be able to keep up with or achieve what I want but I’m not going to get too hung up on it if things don’t quite go to plan.
I spent a little bit of time a couple of weeks ago sorting out my albums and labelling system so that everything is organised and ready to go in the hopes that it will inspire or motivate me to be a bit more consistent at getting things done and into albums.

 

Project Life

This year I’ve decided to switch from Design A pockets to Design F pockets. I have been admiring the 9×12 albums that have become popular recently but it’s not a size I really want to commit to. If for no other reason that the albums and page protectors are expensive to get hold of here in Australia. But I like how the spreads look with lots of 3×4 card spots which is why I went with Design F. My plan at this stage is to work on one week per page, so two weeks per spread. I’m going to be more intentional about what photos and stories I choose to include each week so that I’m not overloading myself and will hopefully be able to stay on top of it.
I’m also hoping that I will be able to go back and finish off the half-dozen or so spreads that are remaining for my 2017 album. And in a perfect world I’d go back and complete 2016 but there is a lot of work to be done on that one so I’m not sure how I’ll go.
I’d like to continue to share my work here on my blog and Instagram but will probably just hold off and share 4 weeks worth of pages in one go.

Specific Memory Keeping Projects

There are a few projects I want to participate in this year.

12 of 12 Project
I’ve been watching some videos on Amy Gretchen’s YouTube channel and have seen her working on this project which I really love. So I’m going to give it a go and include it in my Project Life album this year. You can find more information on the 12 of 12 Project in this video that Amy shared recently on her YouTube channel which you can access by clicking here.

Week In The Life
This is a project that I’ve participated in for the last two years and although it’s intense and time consuming, I really love the end result. So I’ll be doing it again this year. I have blogged photos and stories for each day of the last two years of Week In The Life and I intend on doing the same again this year. More info about the Week In the Life project can be found on Ali Edwards blog by clicking here.

December Daily
I’ve just completed my third year of this project and I absolutely love it. It not only gives me an opportunity to really stretch my creative muscles and use all the glittery, sparkly things, but also the opportunity to really make an effort to appreciate and enjoy all the moments of our daily lives as we approach Christmas. I’m definitely looking forward to participating again this year. And yes, I will probably be setting my alarm to get up at 1am to order supplies again this year if it comes to that…
Again, more info on December Daily can be found on the Ali Edwards blog by clicking here.

 

Other Memory Keeping Projects

Violet & Jack’s First Year Albums
I had started working on Violet’s first year in a pocket page / Project Life style album but am not entirely happy with how it looks at the moment. So I’ve decided to start over again with it. And at the same time, I want to start work on Jack’s first year so that I can try to stay on top of that as things happen. My plan with these two albums is to send off all the photos in bulk for printing with Persnickety Prints. Then work on completing the albums in batches when I can. I don’t expect I will get either of these albums finished this year but I hope to at least make a good start on them.

Ali Edwards Story Kit + Story Stamps
I have a massive backlog of untouched kits sitting next to my desk in my study. For some of them I already have story ideas jotted down in Evernote. For others I’ve not really put much thought into what stories I might tell. But I’m hoping to start working back through these old kits and making use of the products. My goal is to work with one old kit per month as well as the new kit I receive each month with my subscription. It’s all about using the products and getting my stories told. If you’re not familiar with these kits you can find more details on Ali’s website by clicking here.

Traditional Layouts
I’ve not really had the space or found the time to work on many traditional scrapbook layouts in recent years which is something that I miss doing. While I’ve been breastfeeding Jack I’ve been watching a LOT of process videos on YouTube which has provided me with lots of inspiration to get working on these again. I’d be pretty happy if I could get 2-3 layouts completed per month. Hopefully more!

 

So that’s it. It’s a lot, even without the commitments that I have at the moment. But I’m going to give it my best shot. Working on these memory keeping projects gives me so much joy. If I can manage at least half an hour per day I think I’ll be doing pretty well. And let’s be honest, don’t we all deserve at least half an hour of “me time” per day anyway?

Layouts Share – Ali Edwards “Fun” Story Kit

I’m sharing a few more layouts that I completed in 2017, all using the Ali Edwards “Fun” Story Kit & Story Stamp. I’m ashamed to admit that I have many many as yet unused kits and stamps. One of my memory keeping goals for this year is to start making use of them and getting stories told. I’d be super proud if I could work with one kit per month, as well as the new kits that I’ll be receiving with my subscription this year. We’ll see how that goes.

The papers and extra embellishments for these layouts all came from old Studio Calico Scrapbook kits that I’ve had stockpiled for way too long and am finally starting to make use of.

 

Yes to Fun

This was a pretty quick and simple layout. I journalled by hand which is something I’m not always keen on doing. Like many people, I just don’t like the way that my handwriting looks. But I know it’s important for me to include it every now and then.

 

Am I Fun

I ummed and ahhed about the title on this. I had initially planned on it being “I Am Fun” but at the time wasn’t really feeling that particular story so I ended up switching it around. It’s good to go a bit deeper with journalling sometimes.

 

 

YAY 

I really love everything about this layout. It’s super cute to look at and a super cute story. Definitely need more like this. 

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