Project Life 2013: They Made Me Do It

I'm taking a class at our local craft store, and each month they give us a sample of a new papercrafting line.  We need to make a project with it and bring it to the next class to get the next kit.  I'm a sucker for new craft supplies, so it's the perfect arrangement to get me to actually *use* them.

In January we got a few papers and a sheet of stickers from the lovely Valentine-themed My Minds Eye Lost & Found 3 "Ruby" collection. It's very girly, and a bit vintage-y which is *so* not my style.  But I love the colors, especially the deep orangey-pink, red, and charcoal together.  And the red glittery flowers won me over, as I'm not usually a floral paper kind of girl.

Click photos to see the larger versions.

Jan 28-Feb 10: Cupcakes for breakfast, baby faces

Jan 28-Feb 10: Walking to school, art projects, Science Center, the Symphony

Closeup of week summary title card

Flip up Valentine card insert  - gotta love washi tape

Since I already had the paper and stickers chosen, it was pretty easy to put this together.  I found a pack of these amazing sticky enamel dots in my stash (I'm a bit of a hoarder) that matched perfectly.  I also used the cute Freckled Fawn red woodgrain heart washi tape and a few wood veneer geotags and arrows from recent Studio Calico kits.

I sort all my embellishments by color in little drawers (yes, really) so I pulled out a few older things to use so that it didn't look super matchy-matchy. There's a tiny pink metal "sweet" tag from Making Memories that I've been hoarding for years, as well as a recent clearance rack find, the red pearl flourishy thing.  

It made me inordinately happy to use the journal card in the last photo - it's been in my stash for ages, and I've tried to use it several times until I realize the teeny tiny writing on the heart includes the words "Valentine's Day".  So I can't use it on any old layout, because it'll drive me crazy. I was thrilled to have a legitimate reason.

The Valentines T made have her glittery artwork on one side, and her name on the other.  Can you believe she wrote out 16 of those herself, and on 9 of them wrote her classmates' names on the envelope as well??  She amazes me with her new skills.

I wanted to show off both sides, so I taped the card to the outside of the page protector with washi tape and it flips up. After I took the photo, I realized I want to protect it a little more, so I found these really cool Flip Pockets in my stash and cut one up to add the Valentine, so now it's enclosed in its own tiny page protector which is stuck to the rest of the page.  I'll definitely use more of these for her little bits of two-sided artwork or extra photos!

These last few weeks have been busy and exciting for us. TJ is starting a new job next week so he's been preparing for that.  My maternity leave is coming to an end so we're trying to squeeze in some last minute fun things during the week while we're all still together.

And just like that, I'm back to being "caught up" on Project Life!