2016 PROJECT LIFE

I went back and forth for the looongest time, on deciding the format for my 2016 PL album. I finally settled on 12x12 for the first half of the year. Then my Mint Hint Color Theory 9x12 album arrived in the mail and... well, have you seen it? It's gorgeous! I can't save it for fall as I had planned. So it's another 6 months of 9x12 for me.

I really liked that Studio Calico's Arendal kit had lots of cards for the new year. They put less and less seasonal cards in their kits, and I understand why, I really do. But I prefer the seasonal cards just the same. Since the cards were so lovely many of us used them on our intro page so I was thinking on how to personalize my page so I did some messy stitching on the 2016 card. I have also mixed in items from Ali Edwards' Heart story kit and a new years addon that came with the SC November kits. The colors of the three kits went together beautifully. On the back of this page I'm planning to add the goals I've set up for myself this year, but I haven't finished that page yet.

I find the color peach a bit creepy, but I like the design of the monthly 4x6 card we get with our SC kits, so I used it anyway. The two cards on the left are from the new years addon too. There are enough calendar cards to last me through the year, so I have decided to make them a monthly recurrency. I like the idea of picking a word to focus on each month, and for January I picked routine. After almost three weeks off from school and work we need to start over making up our daily routine. I wrote the dates by hand, and then marked out afew special dates with some vellum star stickers. The numbers are still visible through the vellum. Daily digital stamp from the "Circle it today and yesterday" digital stamp set by Kellie stamps.

After a sadly warm December, we've had a lovely cold and snowy January. The kids are so happy! There's an ice skating rink at our kids' school that we can use on our days off, just a short walk from home. And hot chocolate never tastes better than after spending a few hours outside in -23 degrees Celsius. Yum!

As you can see many of my embellishments are from past SC kits, and unfortunately I don't remember their names. I like using up my stash. Emptying a sticker sheet is very satisfying! I love phrase and words stickers for PL. The bottom card is from a printable TV and movie set by Hello Forever. I actually suggested this for a mini card kit so I was really happy to see it in the shop this month. If you are a BPC member you can see Marcy Penner using these cards in her Pocket Prompts class.

In the matter of just a few weeks three great men passed away. I feel they deserve a page all to themselves, so here it is. Again I'm paring up the Arendal kit and Ali's Heart story kit. 

Have you settled on a format for 2016 yet? And have you started in on the new year? I'd love to see your ideas for 2016!

/Magdalena

DECEMBER DAILY 2015 FLIP-THROUGH

As promised in the blog post where I shared the last pages of my DD 2015, I have put together a flip-through video where I talk about the stories and the products I used. I have made a few tweaks here and there since finishing my album. One of the things I did was add a few label tabs along the right side. 

I was quite nervous to post a video where I had to speak English for a full 10 minutes, but I did it! Mistakes, accent and all. Just do it - right! I'm hoping to be brave enough to post some process videos with a spoken commentary this year too. 

So, without further ado, here is my video. Enjoy!

/Magdalena

2015 READING CHALLENGE SUMMARY FOR PL

I really enjoyed taking part in the 2015 Reading Challenge last year, and I wanted to document the books I read. If you want to learn more about the challenge click on the 2015 Reading Challenge link above, or visit my Pinterest boards. Link to the right!

I googled covers for the the books I read, and printed out photos for each book. I haven't written a review for every book, but instead written more about the kind of books I read and my most and least favorite.

The format is 9x12, but for the last page I cut a 9x3 strip from a full size all 3x4 pockets page protector.You see the page folded out below, and in the photo below that the last page is folded in, to reveal the back side of the cards. I only had one of those Book Review PL cards, so I scanned it in black and white and reprinted the image.

The top middle card here is a bonus card that Brandi Kincaid Thompson sent me, when I ordered a portrait doodle from her Etsy shop last summer. Love it!

Keep reading!

/Magdalena

PL DECEMBER

I am eagerly awaiting my January 2016 Studio Calico Documenter kit. I want to get started on the new year right now! I love the new year themed cards in the kit, and I want to wait for their arrival before starting to document Januari. I have finally decided on a size for our first album of the year. I'm sticking with 9x12 for now. I have a new album and page protectors on the way. 

I've read discussions on how to deal with the double documenting in December when deciding to make a December Daily album when you're also doing Project Life. I did both this year, and some of the stories and photos did end up in both albums. My December Daily wasn't extensive and I didn't use a ring binder and page protectors so it still felt like a different project and I enjoyed making it.

I ended up with six pages for December in my PL album. Most of the stories can be found in my previous DD posts, so I won't share them here again. I made my own monthly title card using a digital brush by Studio Calico. Most of the cards used this month are from the Winter mini card kit by Tina Aszmus, the Christmas add-on kit by SC and from Ali Edwards' Story kits.

I cut the "Give from the heart" card below from the cover of a Rituals catalog.

These photos are all from Christmas Eve, when we celebrate Christmas in Sweden. Originally I printed the journaling on the top 4x6 card on one of the Cheer Story kit cards, but it got stuck in my printer and was ruined, so instead I added these old digital brushes by Ali Edwards and printed it all out on smooth white card stock instead.

At the end of my album I've also added a summary of my 2015 Reading Challenge attempt. I'll be sharing those pages tomorrow, so drop by then!

/Magdalena

READING CHALLENGES

The old year is to an end,and it's time to wrapup the 2015 Reading Challenge. Did you take part in the challenge this year? I really enjoyed as it got me back to reading books this year. I came nowhere near the 50 books the challenge called for, but my personal goal was to just read more. I enjoyed having the different boxes to check because it made look for new books and authors I may not have read otherwise. I have still stuck to what I enjoy, which is the horror genré, but I have still tried a few new things within my interest zone. Here is the list, and the boxes I have checked: 

At the beginning of the year I put up a Pinterest board where I pinned all the books of the year, plus a very short review of each book. All in all I read 14 books, 6 crime novels, 5 horror novels and 3 autobiographies. One of the autobiographies was more of a horror novel, very hard to tell what was real and not. 

The book I enjoyed the most was Mr Mercedes by Stephen King. I was surprised to find it to be a crime novel with no supernatural overtones whatsoever. The main characters is a very likable retired police officer and his cohorts are very likable as well. He is drawn into investigating a crime by the unknown perpetrator of a massacer of people queing up for a new job. 

I have set up a new board for the all new 2016 Reading Challenge. So far there's only the checkbox list, so if you want to take part this year but haven't seen the list, go check it out!

/Magdalena