love letters...a mini album

i love mini albums.  a lot.

they are probably my favorite thing to make.

i made this sweet little album for the weekly challenge over at studio calico.  the challenge was to use their printables to create something.

as soon as i saw the heart card in the front row printable set i knew i wanted to use it for some type of mini.

after some thought, i decided to write little love letters to my family and document them in this book.

this came together so easily and i really loved having just a few products to work.

i used plain white cardstock cut to 5x5 for the album.  

for the cover, i stamped the cardstock with some shimmery puff paint to add a little more texture and depth.  i added a piece of crate paper's new line as the backing with a doily and the heart card printable from studio calico.

i created a confetti heart (you know i love confetti) using some clear packaging.  i sewed the majority of the heart and then poured in my confetti before sewing it up the rest of the way.

i stamped "love letters" onto the printable tag and attached it on the page with some cardstock from the 34th street scrapbook kit.

i used photoshop to alter the colors of the printables so i had a little more variety.  plus....what love album doesn't include pink, right?  :)

i created a little pocket page using vellum to hold a little "to" card and my "love letter".  i sewed on a little bit of ribbon at the top of the card so the card could be easily removed.

my letter is folded in half and glued onto the back of the card.

i used the front row printable tags to add some simple journaling on all the blank pages.

(this is my favorite page)

i even wrote a letter to myself, which was very insightful. i've never really done that before.

thanks so much for looking!

there's plenty of time before valentine's day if you want to make one for your loved ones!!

project life: week 4

four weeks in and, you guessed it....this project still rocks.  i thought i had taken tons of photos this week, but most of them ended up being repetitive activities of the kids so i just picked the best ones and went to work.

i found that "i love us" printable here and thought it was perfect for this week.

pretty simple.

pictures. journaling.

i sewed up a vellum pocket to hold a little tag with some journaling and some tickets from a basketball game we went to this weekend.

i love vellum.  i use it on everything.

for the journaling, i cut down a card from the studio calico january project life kit and adhered it to the back of the tag.  i love how it looks!

and this is the image of my sweet baby girls little ballet feet.  she loves these dirty old shoes and i'm so glad this memory is captured forever.

and in case you missed it yesterday...

i blogged about how i stay organized for project life.  check it out here.

you can see all my project life posts here.  and be sure to hop on over to the mom creative to see other inspiring project life spreads!! 

happy tuesday everyone.

my project life organization

i thought i would share a little about my project life organization.

i have one large desk in my craft room and a small dresser where i keep most of my supplies.  

i like to keep the things i use most out where i can see them rather than tucked away in a drawer.

my ocd-self would like them nicely put away, but i tend to forget about things that are hidden away.

i keep all of my tags, labels and little paper embellishments in this divided lazy susan.  it's great because, not only does it swivel, each compartment can be taken out and then replaced.  occasionally, i will rotate stuff around so i can remember what's on the bottom...rather than just looking through the top of the stacks all the time...

i keep my 6x6 notepads, paper i've cut down to 4x6 and some other little goodies in this basket on my desk.  it's handy for when i want to add something to my page or need a "filler".

i also keep my studio calico project life kit cards and other journaling cards in a little tin on my desk.  i've categorized the types of journaling cards by "theme" so that i can easily flip through and find what i need.

i store most of my cut files in this baseball card protector.  it's great because i can see exactly what i have and it keeps all the fragile pieces from getting torn or mishandled.

my lovely collection of washi tape is kept in a hurricane vase on my dresser.  it's quite beautiful to look at and the best part about using the glass vase is that i can see all the rolls...not just the ones on the top.

there you have it.  that's how i try to stay organized.  i'm pretty much a neat freak so i like everything put away at the end of the day.  having a place for everything to go definitely keeps me sane.

let me know if you have any questions and give yourself a great big pat on the back if you made it to the bottom of this post!!

xoxo,

stephanie

project life blog hop...

hi! and welcome to all of you who are enjoying this saturday morning project life blog hop!  i'm so excited you stopped by!!  i share lots of memory keeping on this little blog....project life, mini books, layouts, etc. feel free to look around for a while and be sure to leave me a comment so i can come check out your blogs! and once you're done here, be sure to head back over to michelle's blog to continue on the blog hop!! xoxo

in a moment...

our insta-moments this month.  still loving how convenient and fun it is to share photos on instagram.  i hope you will follow along with me!  my user name is stephaniebryan.

(above template is from ali edwards.  it can be found here)