More retreat projects

This project was created on a large 12"x16" canvas board using Dyan Reaveley stamps for the outfits and borders, a brick stencil and paint for the background, and copies of photos of each of our heads. I used colored pencils and Zig markers for the coloring. This was fun and a great memento of our week.

We used two different-sized embroidery hoops to create this wall hanging in pinks and greens. The hoops were painted and covered with painted lace and canvas, then embellished with lots of flowers. This photo doesn't show the real-life colors and dimension of this pretty project.

And here is one other book we made. This is a Traveler's Notebook made with the Eileen Hull TN die from Sizzix.  The cover was cut from Spellbinder's chipboard and is very sturdy. The papers used are from Stamperia - gorgeous and vintage.  There are many pockets and tags on the three folders making up the signatures of the book. I love this size of book.

cover

Inside front cover and cover of first folder

Inside front cover of first folder (this folder has dotted-grid paper for journaling)

Inside back cover of first folder

Cover of second folder

Inside of second pocket folder

Back of pocket folder and front cover of third folder

Inside front cover of third folder (this folder contains plain paper for journaling)

Back cover of third folder and inside back cover of notebook

This notebook will be fun to fill with notes or sketches and the folders can be removed or replaced.

December Daily Album

This is the third year I have done a December Daily album. (If you don't know what this is, it was started by Ali Edwards and you make any kind of album or even use a photo album and document each day of December.)  This is a great project for using up small scraps of Christmas papers, ephemera, washi tape and ribbons. I have not bought anything new for these except this year I bought the Tim Holtz Christmas Paper Dolls and Word Chips!

 I knew I wanted to do a Traveler's Notebook-type journal but it wasn't until I came across this post on my friend's blog (Autumn Clarke on Sew, Paper, Paint) that I decided to make one like hers. Please do check out her blog as she is so talented and does gorgeous projects. She used the Eileen Hull journal die by Sizzix - since I don't own that die, a friend cut one for me.

Her's was perfection so I mainly copied it although I had to substitute some papers and ephemera as she was using some past Tim Holtz items from her stash. I didn't have the little frame so cut one from some Tim Holtz product packaging. I also had to stamp the tree and I used my Dymo labelmaker for the black sentiment strip. I love it!

Front cover

Here are the pages for the first half of December.

Inside front cover (that's a napkin I used for front and back covers) and Day 1 

Days 2&3

Days 4&5

Days 6&7

Days 8&9

Days 10&11 with tip-in of our family Christmas card

Day 11

Days 12&13

Days 14&15

Happy Mail Day!

Today was an exciting, happy mail day - I received my "The Planner Society" exclusive planner kit and Traveler's Notebook finally! I pre-ordered this in October or November as an early Christmas gift to me, knowing it wouldn't ship until February.

This is the full planner kit. There are 6 double-sided sheets of paper, 2 sticker sheets, tabs and labels, 2 rolls of washi, a glittery pen, a girl stamp, package of die cuts, a girl paper clip, pack of 7  3"x3" journal cards and a darling sticky note pad (dresses).  The first photo is mine; second is from the website where you can see everything better. Even the paper bags this was packed in are adorable and match the papers!

And this is the Traveler's Notebook which is gorgeous! I am in love with the pattern, which is why I ordered in first place. It is made of "faux" leather but is matte rather than shiny. The inside is beautiful too, lined with white with black bows printed "leather" and with pockets both on the inside front and back covers in light pink "leather" with multiple pockets and a pen loop. It even came in this precious muslin bag.  Again, first photo is mine and second is from website (better photos).

I am so excited about these! Can't wait to start using everything. Unfortunately they are no longer available so I'm so glad I didn't hesitate to pre-order when I saw them.

December Daily

Have you heard of the popular December Daily project originally conceived by Ali Edwards? It is like Project Life but specifically for December, to document the special and everyday moments during the holiday season.

I decided to jump on the bandwagon this year for the first time. I created my "album" a few weeks ago so I would be ready to go.  There are as many December Daily albums as there are people who participate - I am going to use a Traveler's Notebook style journal which I created "from scratch." I used heavier card stock for the pages as I like to use more wet media. This is 6.25" wide and 8.25" high. 

I used kraft card stock for the cover embellishing with lots of odds and ends - papers, stickers, die cuts, alphas, ribbon and bells. I made a few clips from embellishments to add some color and fun. (The pom pom clip is from The Little Blue House and is so cute!) The pages are sewn in with baker's twine and I added two rusty bells at the ends to jingle when I use it.

I'm already behind as it's Day 4, but I hope to catch up now that I'm home for awhile! Can't wait to start...