Getting Caught Up: December Daily 2015

Happy Thursday Dearest Dreamers!

I hope this finds you well!

Now that October is finished and I have finished filming my October Daily flip though videos, it's time to move onto my next project. It was definitely an experience working on my October Daily, a good experience though. I think that it helped that Lee was so interested in what I was doing. Either way, working on this project definitely helped renew my love of pocket scrapbooking.

This is the cover of my 2015 album.
I chose a standard TN and covered it with scrapbook paper and wash tape.

For a long time ever since the end of 2014, I have been more focused on memory keeping in travelers notebooks because they offer more space for journaling then pocket scrapbooking does. I've always been more of a writer then anything else, which I think is why I struggled so much with pocket scrapbooking in the beginning. But we'll get to how I'm overcoming that one in a minute.

This happens to be my favorite page, and probably something that I will repeat this year if possible!

Last year I decided to attempt December Daily in a travelers notebook, like I did with my October Daily two months before. Since I was leaving Germany right before December started, I made sure to pack up stuff that I would need in my suitcase before I left because my boxes weren't coming until January. There was a nice lady from the December Daily group on Facebook who sent me some stuff from last year's December Daily kit. I was incredibly motivated to start the project, but didn't really have a lot of room to work on it. There was a lot of traveling from North Carolina to Florida and Georgia during the month of December which also didn't help all that much towards working on my album. I got all the way to the 14th of December before I fell off the DD wagon. I have my pictures all printed and my list of activities written in my planner, but nothing is happening in my album.

I decided to take Ali's Storytelling With December Daily class again this year and it really got me thinking. It really makes me want to go back and work on my album from last year, in hopes that I can get it done before February of next year. I'm not quite sure why I just stopped working on my album, other then I guess life just got in the way and then we moved into the house we live in currently. It's not like I don't have anything to work with, I printed the pictures and wrote all the notes in my planner, it's just sitting down to actually work on it. I actually started working on it Friday night while Lee was practicing on his drums because I had lost interest in the internet.

Pro's of a TN: 

* Not nearly as big so it's easier to carry, which then limits your supplies

* it limits you on how bulky you make your embellishments, 

* focus on journaling, 

* you can use any size picture you want because you aren't worrying about the size of your pockets as long as it fits in your TN (and you can use vertical 4X6's, which is harder to do in a 6X8 mini album)

Con's: 

* You're limited on your embellishments in some ways, 

* It limits the products that you use in some ways

* Potential bleed through of your pens or ink

* You have to worry about writing on the backs of your pages

* If you fall behind it takes forever to get caught up

* You have to work on your pages in order, you can't skip days and go back to them. 

Something that I learned from her class this year is the beauty of mixing long and short stories in my album (which I already knew), but being able to print my stories on my pictures and print them from home. Also being able to use the digital stamps as well as trying new things with my Silhouette cutting machine. It will be easier to add things into my album that make it bulky because I don't have to worry about writing on the back of the page for my stories like I did in my TN (a big issue of mine, especially when the album gets bigger and bigger).

Like I said, I am hoping to work and and maybe even finish this album soon. It's already time to start prepping my 2016 album, which I will be doing in a pocket style like Ali and so many others do. I will record a final flip through video of last years for those of you that are interested.

Here's to hoping that I can finish two albums before February of next year!

December Daily Introduction

Hello Dreamers!

I hope this post finds you well!

So now that it is about halfway through the month, it is alright for me to start talking about and working through my December Daily album for this year! For those of you that don't know what December Daily is, here is how it is described by it's creator, Ali Edwards:

"December Daily® is a December mini-album project that documents the 25 days leading up Christmas. The simple goal is to capture the spirit of December via one story per day.

Over the last eight years this project has become one of the highlights of my year and a beautiful community of memory keepers has come together to share their December stories with one another. It is an awesome way to document and celebrate the season." -Ali Edwards

Some people do December Daily for the 25 days leading up to Christmas and some people draw it out until New Years. Some people don't focus on days, they focus on telling only the holiday stories. It is all up to the person completing that project.

For me, I'm going to complete the entire month, simply because we're traveling between our two families towards the end of the month. I want to document our first Christmas together and the fun times we have. 

Later on this week I will share a list of stories that I want to tell throughout my album, mostly because I want to have them written down somewhere and figure that maybe someone else here might be looking for stories to tell. It's always a little harder when you don't have kids, but I'll definitely make it work!

Until next time!

"I Love" Sunday's v.82

Happy Sunday Ghouls!

Hope this Sunday finds you well!

** All schools, including my college were cancelled for this week, and Lee was home Monday due to the storm this past Saturday. He was upstairs playing video games when I came in to tell him that I gained another client and (although he doesn't look like it) he was super happy for me. I pestered him for a little while (he'd been playing video games all day) and snapped this photo.

** Tuesday saw me working on my October Daily album. I filmed a video that is posted on my YouTube channel of the latest walkthrough of my album. I think it's through day 10 as of right now (which means it's time to film another video.

** On Thursday, our friends Sarah and her family came over for dinner and just to hang out. Men's friend A was over as well, which always proves to be interesting. A is one of the best behaved and most polite teenage boys I have ever met! That evening Amy decided she finally wanted to have a fire in the backyard, which was fun!

** Friday was an incredibly busy day for us. Lee had a family organization day with his unit, which was full of games and fun and food, and obviously families were invited. Lee asked me to accompany him, and it was a nice day overall. I spent a lot of the time talking with his NCO (she used to be a flight medic with the 82nd) so we had some stuff to bond over. Haha. I really like her and I seemed to be the only significant other who talked to her without an issue (like other people seem intimidated or scared or something)

That night we had to drive 3 hours to a show, which went relatively well. The drive was long (and the drive home was kind of miserable. If my best friend from back home hadn't called me just to talk for 2.5 hours, I probably would've had to pull over and sleep on the side of the road). Haha.

The last good news of Friday? Lee's new kit came in before we left for the show, so we got to take it with us for him to play. It's a gorgeous ebony stain, with a much larger bass drum then he usually uses, so it's sound is ridiculous! I mean that in a good way! In some lights it looks dark purple!

** Yesterday was a kind of busy but still relaxed day. The whole reason that we drove home from the show instead of just staying the night like everyone else was because he had to work Saturday night and we needed to get some stuff before he had to go to work (like his dress shoes and a belt). So we spent the morning running errands before he had to be at work at 1 PM. We've been together almost a year now, which makes us both happy.

** Today was a good day! This morning we went to the NC State Fair (Brandon left his wallet in my bag on Friday night and I needed to get my camera back from them as well) so we met there. While we waited for them to get there we walked around the entire fair and just enjoyed the gorgeous weather.

We saw this MASSIVE pumpkin on display, it won first place. It weighed 1,090.5 lbs.... that is ridiculous to me!!!! Does anyone else think that it looks like two pumpkins that grew together into a single pumpkin?

.: Little Loves :.

|| Time off | cuddles | silly moments | being proud of the amazing drummer that Lee is | Feeling proud of the amazing soldier and medic that Lee is | Gatorade Arctic Blitz | movies at night ||

What are you loving from this past week?

"I Love" Sunday's v.81

Hello Dreamers! 

I hope this Sunday finds you very well.

** October Daily has definitely started! For which I am super stoked. I've shared some pictures on my IG account and I shared a video yesterday on my YouTube channel of my first week's flip through. I got a completely new album, which is discussed in the video, and I love it SO MUCH MORE!

** My mini pocket letter from Eny came in and I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT! She is super sweet and I love everything that she sent me!

** Wednesday I shared with you all a look at my first ever flip book inspired by Sam of Halloween Happy.

** My kit came in from Serena Bee and I am super stoked! I bought her stamp set from last year because I just couldn't resist. The first thing that I did? Use the stamps in my planner. I'll share a picture of this on my IG tomorrow!

** This week is the last week of my Introduction to Human Services class (it was only an 8 week class). For this I am thankful because while I like the subject matter, the teacher left something to be desired and everything was crammed into a short period of time. Tuesday was my last day in class, which is where we presented our power points about our service learning projects and Thursday was the actual last day, where we just stayed home and took our last test. I think I would have liked the class more if we had more time and a different teacher.

** Lee had 24 hour duty Wednesday but has been off since Thursday at 0900.... and doesn't go back to work until Tuesday morning. That's a lot of time off. Haha. We went out and he bought a new video game that he has been obsessed with and played non-stop.

** Since I didn't have class Thursday (just tests), Lee and I decided to go to Red Lobster because his mother sent us a $25 gift card for no reason. It was very sweet of her and the food was amazing! It was nice to have a mini date night together!

** Hurricane Matthew hit North Carolina early yesterday morning and it has been one hell of an adventure. Our city wasn't quite prepared for the flooding that would happen, but that is mostly just because of the flooding from last week's storm. There were a LOT of rescues that day (around 700) and FEMA from NYPD and FDNY, NJ, OH, and Charlotte, NC came to help out, which makes my heart happy. I don't know if there were many (or any) casualties here in Fayetteville, but it is going to take us a while to recover. There are still a lot of areas that are flooded, schools are still shut down, and now we're having water problems. Fayetteville, being the military town that it is, will persevere.

The photo on the left is the two houses across the street as it started flooding. By the time it was all said and done the flooding had reached our driveway, but we got lucky that we didn't have any damage. The house on the right of that picture had sand bags in front of their garage door and the water over ran the sand bags. They didn't appear to have much damage (we went around the neighborhood today to see the damage and there wasn't much to people's homes).

The picture on the right was where the road was washed away right down the road from me. My nephew took that photo right after it happened because they heard it fall apart. It's a main road in our neighborhood so it's going to be interesting to see how this affects us in the long run. The guard rail and part of the road is now gone. The picture below is what it looked like from a better angle.

** We had my classmate Jakki and her husband over for dinner last night because they had no water and no power. We had a blast because we decided to crack open my new Cards Against Humanity box that I just bought from Target. It was hysterical and I can't wait to do it again. It was kind of hard to get all of us in the picture... that's part of Lee's face at the bottom. It's a weird photo, but I definitely kind of like it. My friend's husband always makes funny faces in pictures as you can see below.

.: Little Loves :.

|| All the Halloween movies that we've been watching | Extra time with Lee | October Daily videos on YouTube | Gatorade | No school | Dr. Pepper ||

What are you loving from this past week?

October Daily 2016: Days 1-4

Hello Ghoulish Dreamers!

Sorry.... I can't help myself. October really is my favorite month out of the year (followed closely by December) so I am having way too much fun with this.

Today I wanted to share with you a look at Days 1-4 of my October Daily. You can watch the video here, but for those of you that want more information about the spreads, this is definitely the right place for you!

This is the new album that I bought from Hobby Lobby. Originally the heart was pink and glittery, but I took some purple spray paint and changed the color of the heart. The October stickers are from Crate Paper from last year and the numbers are Fancy thickers from American Crafts.

Once you open my album, this is the first thing that you see. I bought the plaid paper from Hobby Lobby and just mounted it on some black card stock. On top of that I mounted a cupcake liner embellishment that I created. The witch is a Crafty Paws digital stamp and the Happy Halloween comes from a K & Company ephemera pack.

This is the flip side of the front page. The prompts came from Serena from last year that can be found here. I love the star background paper, which I found in my stash. These thickers are some that I bought from Hobby Lobby.

Day 1 is back to back. The top left photo is just of me in my new shirt that I bought from Target. The card next to it is part of a cut apart sheet that I cut out and wrote on, I used some black Wink of Stella on the cat to make it a little glittery. The 1 is from a glow in the dark thickers from America Crafts that I bought at Tuesday Morning.

The second part of day 1. The "This is Halloween" card is from Serena's new kit called October Nights. The white card is just from a Project Life 3X4 pack with some skull washi tape on top. The pumpkin stamp is from Hampton Arts and I stamped it in some purple Distress Ink and my black Versafine Ink. The purple pumpkin card also came from Serena and her Spooky Pastel collection. 

The picture is from the show my boyfriend played that night (I run their merch table for them). Behind that I just put in a plain white tag where I did my journaling at. On top of that is just some card stock that I punched out using my banner punch a skull from Serena's collection that I fussy cut out. The heart at the bottom of the picture of my boyfriend and I just says true love and is from some Valentine's Day sticker sheet I have.

This is day 2 part 1. I took a black envelope and card that I got at Michael's and covered them with scrapbook paper. The paper on the left is from scrapbook.com and the thickers are the same ones from above that glow in the dark. 

This is the inside of the card for day 2. Lee and I went to Red Lobster (his mother sent us a gift card that we used) and then we started the month long routine of watching Halloween movies with Trick or Treat, which is a movie that neither one of us has ever seen before. It's a good movie... but Sam is kind of creepy without the mask on.... just saying. 

The pictures are just backed from scrapbook paper I have in my stash, and I used the banner punch again as well as some rhinestones I bought at Michael's.

Day 3 took us a few different sheets. It was all about the decorations inside my office as well as the tree that I bought from Michael's (thanks to Sabrina talking about it in one of her videos). That night we watched Rob Zombie's version of Halloween, which I had never seen before. Now we're on the hunt for Halloween II so we can finish watching it!

The 31 is from Target, the tree is from Michael's, the purple pumpkin (I painted it that way), the candlestick holder, the black skull (also painted by me), and the two skeleton hands are from Michael's (inspired by Sabrina). The Jack mug in the tiny picture is from Disney World that I got last Christmas, and the purple gauze skull thing (it's actually white with a purple string light set inside) is from A.C. Moore. In the last picture (underneath the Halloween movie poster) the Skull mason jar is from A.C. Moore, and the flowers are from various places throughout the years. 

This spread had a lot of pictures!

This is the last day of the video and it is incredibly short! All we really did that day was watch Nightmare on Elm Street (the first one) because I was working on school stuff all day. I just embellished the journaling card with a piece of white washi tape with black polka dots and white rhinestones.

Welp, this is just days 1-4, the video is linked above! Are you doing October Daily? Do you have pictures or videos? If so, link them below so I can check them out! 

Until next time!

Craft It Halloween 2K16: My First Flip book

Hello Dearest Dreamers!

I hope this post finds you well!

Since the start of September I have been watching a LOT of Halloween craft videos! Channels like Serena Bee, Sabrina Ann, Halloween Happy, and Eny Dunn, just to name a few (seriously though... check them all out!!!!!!)

Today, I wanted to share with you a new project that I created, inspired by Sam at Halloween Happy! It's a flip book!

For this being my first attempt at a flip book, I am super proud of myself! I made it incredibly simple because I am keeping this one in my October Daily album this year to show off my skills. Haha.

This is when you first open the flip book. On the left is a glassine bag that I picked up from the Target Dollar Spot. I filled it with some free printable cards that I got here. On the right side I took an orange doily from Michael's and put it under a black little bag that I also picked up from Michaels. I took some white chalk ink and stamped the Sugar Skull image on the front of the bag. Inside the bag I included a Frankenstein tag that I've made, which you can see here.

These are the last two pages of my little album. On the left I made a little pocket from some scrapbook paper and some orange polka dotted wash tape. Inside of that there are a handful of tags that I have made as well as a free digital stamp that I have.

On the right side I just used some ephemera pieces from a K & Company ephemera kit. The "Double Double Toil & Trouble" cut out came from a Tim Holtz ephemera pack that I picked up from Michaels 

It is short and simple because it was a prototype for me. I actually like how this came out and am thinking I might make something like this for my trip to Disney later on this month to document all of the memories that will come from there. What do you guys think?

Sam from Halloween Happy: Halloween Flip Book <-- this is the tutorial that I used!

What do you think of my first flip book?

"I Love" Sundays v.80

Hello friends and Happy Sunday!

It's the 2nd day of October and I am beyond stoked!

** I filmed a video for my YouTube channel about two pocket letters that I received this week! You guys should check it out! Just click on the image below to be taken to the video.

** Lee had to go to the field Tuesday night but he had part of the day off because it was going to be an overnight thing. It was awesome because except for the fact that I had class that evening, we got to spend a lot of time together. I love when we get to do that!

** I created a basic logo for the blog here in Canva.... and I kind of like it ((You can see it in the picture below)). I used the Nightmare Before Christmas font (because I am obsessed of course) and two arrows. I am thinking about a rebranding of my blog by the start of the new year and this is a start. I think I have been talking about it for a while, but it's finally time to get started on it!

** I spent Thursday painting these items after I saw Sabrina Ann's video on her Raskog cart. Mine are obviously different colors because I did not want to copy her completely, but she definitely inspires me!

** Since Ikea is over 2 hours away from me, it's a little difficult to go shopping there.... and I am not paying for shipping from there either! Which means so shopping at Ikea for me. I've wanted my own Raskog cart from there since I lived in Germany but it was too expensive (it was like 50 euro and the conversion rate is ridiculous) so I never bought one. I decided this year that I needed some kind of cart while I am doing my October Daily just to keep my desk at least somewhat organized. So while I was at Target I decided to check their home storage section and came across this cart that is a perfect substitute for the Raskog until I find my way there some day.

** Lee and I went to dinner Wednesday night after he came out of the field. We went to this Japanese hibachi and steak house that we love and it was crazy! There was just so much food! 

While we were there it started pouring.... and it didn't stop for 14 hours.... and it was LOUD and crazy. I accidentally left my two back windows cracked, but it was a blessing that my car wasn't flooded. At least it didn't appear to be flooded Thursday morning when I had to leave for an appointment. Our town isn't used to a rain like this so the schools were closed on Thursday (and Friday which we found out later) and Lee got out of work early on Thursday and a late work call on Friday. There was actually some flooding and some sink holes appeared throughout town. That part is crappy!

** I am just happy that October is finally here and we can start celebrating my favorite time of year!

** I recorded another video yesterday about the start of my October Daily, a quick look at my craft space and my supplies for the month, as well as a look at my October Daily Cart. You can watch the video by clicking on the photo below.

** We had a show last night back at our usual spot. The headlining band was interesting because they are a metal-ish band from Brazil.... it was an interesting band. We've become friends with the promoters girlfriend (he's been on tour driving a bus for some Magic mike kind of thing so she runs his shows for him) and she made the comment that the lead singer looked like a younger Heath Ledger, especially with the jacket that he was wearing at the time. It was quite comical. The boys made friends with their band and we will probably see them again.

.: Little Loves :.

|| Home Free | Michaels | stamps | friends at school | Dr. Pepper | Asian food | being inspired ||

What are you loving this past week?