Big Picture Classes Pajama Party Project!

You may or may not know that Big Picture Classes hosted another online "Pajama Party" on September 26th. The past two Pajama Parties have had featured projects from Close To My Heart (one of which was the "Just Because" container that I keep drawing my challenges out of), however, this month, the featured project was sponsored by Studio Calico. The project uses a kit called "Project Life", which you can STILL purchase at a SUBSTANTIAL discount HERE by using the code SeptemberPJParty at checkout (Only $10 plus shipping until October10th). I highly recommend it, though you can be the judge once you've seen the project!

I began, of course, by ordering the kit. It comes in an adorable, magnetic-closure box. Here is what is inside:

LOTS of journaling cards in 4" x 6" and 3" x 4" sizes, alphabet stickers, a small acrylic stamp set, and more. Now, here's the fun part - what we did with it! There were three pages to the online project. Here is the first page:

The project is "a look back on 2013", with an "empty" spot for a Fall 2013 pic (mine has already been filled on page 3). Two things of note: 1) The tan border around the edge is just the table I took the photo on - it is not part of the page. 2) Evidently, "Project Life" is designed to go inside special photo pocket pages, which I did not have. Therefore, I just adhered all of the pieces to a 12" x 12" piece of white cardstock. Now I can just slip the pages into my regular Memory Protectors.


The great thing about this project is that they give you a "prep" worksheet which gives you all of the writing prompts and photo suggestions that you will need to complete the project. Once those prompts were filled out and the photos printed, the project was a cinch! (I'll give the links for the worksheet and the project instructions at the end of this post.) Here's page 2:

It's funny because I didn't have a few of the photos I needed to complete the project, so I made my family take part in a few impromptu photo sessions! One of them was the "breakfast from Dunkin's" pic, and the other was the "foot" pic (middle row, far right). This was one of the suggested photos from the prep sheet, so we went out to the backyard and took it - and I LOVE it! How adorable! I recommend everyone taking this pic whether they complete this project or not! And...page 3:

This is the "winter/spring/summer/fall" layout. I added a few of my own embellishments, like some bling I had lying around waiting to be used, and a couple of alphabet stamp sets in order to stamp "Holiday 2012" on the heart card. Everything else came from the kit. It was a breeze to put together, and I just LOVE the way it came out.
As promised, here are the links for the worksheets:


Prep Worksheets: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BwyFxaosgJeYbHZBa2MtUnFHdkU/edit?usp=sharing
Project Instructions: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BwyFxaosgJeYNkhGT0E3d0xiT2M/edit?usp=sharing

I hope you get your "Project Life" Kit for only $10, as I did. And I hope you have as much fun putting it together!

Just Because Challenge #3

Today’s marks the third project in my “Just Because Challenge” series. These challenges came from an online Pajama Party on May 30^th. Did you realize that the next online Pajama Party, hosted by Big Picture Scrapbooking and featuring a Cricut® “Artbooking” project from Close To My Heart, is TONIGHT at 9pm EST?! Be sure to click THIS LINK to register if you did not participate in the last one!

I am really enjoying these challenges because they’ve got me doing things that I wouldn’t ordinarily do. Take the next slip I pulled from my “Just Because” container: “Use the photo pocket pages to create a layout – Add photos in some spaces and a decorative title/journaling into the other spaces.” I wasn’t even sure I had any Memory Protectors® Photo Storage Pages (their official name)! Ends up I did – they hold six 6” x 4” photos. Ends up I also had just the photos to put in it!

Right after the kids got out of school for the summer, we traveled down to Myrtle Beach, SC, to visit with my parents. While there, my parents had a visitor to their bird feeder – a raccoon! So right away, I decided I wanted to use the “woodsy” colors of Chocolate and Sweet Leaf, and some left-over paper I had from the “Cherry-O” Creative Basics Paper Pack (who remembers that one?!).

The arrows I cut & stamped are from CTMH’s BRAND NEW “Artbooking” Cricut Collection – available TOMORROW on my website! Click on any “SHOP WITH ME” link on the right side of this page!

I can’t believe how quickly that “page” came together! I just might have to do pages like that more often. If you’re wondering, CTMH also sells Photo Storage Pages with six vertical pockets. This is really fun – I can’t wait for the next challenge! See you all at the Pajama Party tonight!

Just Because

Today’s post begins a series that I’m calling my “Just Because Challenges”. The reason for this is that when I created the My Creations Kraft Container during the online Pajama Party on May 30^th, I used the sentiment “just because” on the front (mainly because I didn’t have the stamp set that they were using!). During the Pajama Party, they gave us a PDF file that had 3 pages worth of idea prompts on it to print, cut out, and put inside the Kraft Container. Then, when you’re in a slump or at a loss for a creative idea, just pick a prompt out of the container – and do it!

So, I decided to take the challenge and post my results. The very first slip of paper I pulled out read, “Create a page of WHY you are a CTMH Consultant!” Wow. Already this was going to be interesting for me because I do all of my scrapbooking with Studio J online – creating a page with paper and printed photos is something I haven’t done in a long time. I guess that is the point of these prompts! Therefore, after thinking about my “why”, the first thing I did was break open CTMH’s “Make It from Your Heart – Volume 1”. I found just what I was looking for on page 29 – the “In Focus” layout pattern. Since I was only doing a one-page layout, I used the left side of the pattern. Then I pulled out my “For Always” paper pack because I knew my photos had some bright colors in them, and “For Always” is all black & white.

From that point on, it was just a matter of following the diagram in the book! It came together really quickly. I embellished with some white paint brushed onto the edges of the page, some Opaques Pearls, and the corner of a frame from the “Life’s Framework” stamp set stamped in White Daisy. I really like how it came out! And I just love the photo of me and my upline, Linda, from last year’s Convention – it was such a blast! Here’s my finished page:

Journaling: “I originally joined the Close To My Heart family because I couldn’t find inks to match the colors of my papers. I had been to a CTMH party, and knew that their papers and inks all coordinated, so I bit the bullet and ordered a ton of inks. The consultant that I ordered them from suggested that I become a consultant to get the discount, if I was going to be ordering a lot. So, being that I was now at home with my 1-year-old son, I did it - I signed up. Three months later, I went to my first Convention in Salt Lake City. It’s been 11 years and 5 Conventions later, and I still love it. I am a CTMH consultant for the products (and discount!), the artistic outlet, the friends I’ve made, the excitement I feel when introducing new products and artwork and teaching new techniques, and Convention! It is just so much FUN, I wish I could go every year!”

That was fun! I can’t wait to choose my next challenge! If you’d like to join in the fun, here’s where you can find the Creative Prompts file: CREATIVE PROMPTS