enJOY it

Week 14 and I still love this project.

(click to enlarge & the images above will be [somewhat] clearer)

I stuck with the same plan and worked on the spread a little bit each day. At the start of the week, I would have thought for sure I’d get through it without any inserts, but then, of course, stuff popped up.

The first is super simple. The trunk that Paul mailed home from Afghanistan finally made it and in it were some of the cards I sent him on deployment. The one I choose to include was one I handed him before he got on the plane at LAX. It’s pretty intense and probably the clearest declaration of love I’ve ever given him. It’s not really related to this week or to 2012 at all, but it had to be saved. Re-reading it brought tears to my eyes so into the album it goes.

I used an 8.5×11 page protector from American Crafts, stuck the unfolded card inside and then sewed the plastic with a zig-zag stitch before trimming off the extra.

And then the second insert happened because I wanted to include some of the text from my post on deployment last week. We took my polaroid camera down to the beach last week and I got a few shots to go with it. I trimmed off a bit of each and they fit well into the We R Memory Keepers page protector I had. I just cut it down so it was 2 squares by 3 and added my photos and journaling (on two 4×4 cards).

The insert needed a little extra and I had a great sticker from American Crafts that worked well. It was longer than 4 inches so it didn’t fit in the pocket. To make it work, I stuck it to the outside and I love the look of it overlapping two pockets at once.

On the back of the grid, I decided to add some random Instagram photos taken throughout the week.

The main pages are pretty simple, like always.

My favorite technique was wrapping washi tape around a 3×4 card to create a fun pattern. The tape is one of my favorite patterns from Freckled Fawn and the thin stripe is from the Target office section. I love the look of them paired together. Those black letter stickers are from Staples.

I added photos of our strawberry basil mojitos and then decided to jot down the recipe along the border.

As promised, a video on how I make the transparent text blocks over my 4×6 photos.

adding text blocks to photos in PSE from elise blaha on Vimeo.

I cannot believe just how much documentation this project involves. It feels like I have printed more photos and jotted more notes the past 14 weeks than all of 2011 together – and of the most basic everyday stuff too. I love it. More info on those english muffins and hanging plants in the photos above will be coming to the blog soon. 🙂

supplies / Paper Source circle and rectangle labels, Martha Stewart and Avery labels, American Crafts patterned paper (c/o Scrapbook Circle), Ormolu “what’s the story” button, Freckled Fawn washi tape, Design A page protectors (which are available in this variety pack),  We R Memory Keepers photo protector, Clementine core kit, Bebas quote font. I use a Fiskars corner rounder (it’s not amazing, but it’s lasted the longest of any corner rounder I’ve ever had). I am using a Zig Millennium 0.1 pen and Recollections glossy marker throughout this album.

Confused by Project Life? Start here. Have a question about how I am tackling this project each week? Check here. See all my Project Life posts here.