MY NEW CLASS

Guess what? I've got my fourth class up at Big Picture Classes this week. It's all about digging into your stash for the reall old, or ancient even, supplies that are hiding in there. The class is called Old & New and takes up paper, specialty paper, alphabets and embellishments. The aim is to get you to stop hoarding and start crafting! 

I've checked out a few of the other new classes as well, and you really get a bang for your buck right now! Pocket Prompts 30 by Leontien van Veen was as beautiful as expected, with some great photography tips in there. Me and my 8 year old took the Doodling Nature class by Mandy Ford, and had a great time drawing together. I must also recommend the Digging Deeper | Adding Meaningful Journaling class by Candace Perkins. It made me reconsider the way I journal in Project Life. I don't want to give anything away but it's an eyeopener! I'm sure there are many more great classes too, but I haven't had the time to check them all out.

Aaaaaand tomorrow, my contribution to the September Design Team gallery at Studio Calico goes live. Check it out at noon EST! I have a pocket spread and three layouts in the gallery. It was super fun to work with the September kits. Loved the colors! Plus there are some amazing fall themed products as well. 

As I promised earlier in the month here are a few more of the pages from our family roadtrip this summer. With so many photos it takes time to document it all!

LifeLovePaper freebies deluxe below! Check out this blogpost by Tina Aszmus for a list of her freebies. I combined Tina's freebies with the Summer Vibes Elements kit by Paislee Press.

I had a bunch of ephemera to add to the piece about our visit to Falu Gruva, the old copper mine in Falun. Sweden. I stapled the ticket for the guided tour to a 4x6 card from Studio Calico. Also, more Paislee Press digitals!

To fit it all in I used a 6x8 page protector as an insert. I tucked a map of the mine area in one of the front pockets. And how cute is Nea in the yellow mine tour outfit? Behind the insert you get a glimpse of a fact booklet that I just hole-punched and stuck in the album on it's own. And I finally got my hands on the Avery insert tabs at Ali Edwards. They sell out so fast! 

The mine is said to have been discovered by a billy goat named Kåre (Coar-reh)a thousand years ago, when he came back home to his master with red horns. 

The last page I'm sharing with you today is from our visit to Sollerö-Åsens fäbod. There are many of these seasonal farms in northern Sweden. They were used for just a few short weeks in the summer for food production and grazing for the animals. One of these farms would house the teen daughters of the village and they would spend the summer up here working hard but having a great time out on their own too, I imagine. Many of these small farms are now in use as summer homes or kept as museums. This farm was in use from the mid 1600's until the 1940's. 

My paternal grandmother had many stories from her mother that used to take the family goats up to one of these farms during summer. They were mostly ghost stories (or goat stories, hehe) and I was terrified. I believed them all! Mostly because she believed them, too. 

That's all for today. Don't forget to check out reveal at Studio calico tomorrow!

/Magdalena

DOCUMENTING OUR ROADTRIP

About a month ago I shared the travel journal I kept when out on our family roadtrip to Dalarna. You can see it in this post. I had over 500 photos from the trip so it's taking a while to sort them through and put them in my Project Life album. Here are the first four pages that went into my album.

I knew I would need more product than just the Studio Calico July kit, so I went shopping at The Lilypad for digital products. I got three digital kits from Paislee Press that went well with the activities of this week: Scenic Route, Summer Vibes and Tour Guide.

When making a spread I prefer to keep a limited colour palette. For this page I went with red and dark teal. 

When in Tällberg we found this tiny museum located inside a phone booth. You can see our daughter standing inside it in the photo below. It featured facts and phones through the times. It was fun for the kids who's actually never seen the type of phone that was attached to the wall before!

After our quick visit to Tällberg we checked in to our rental cabin in Leksand, where we stayed for three days. We had lake Siljan right outside our window. The top left photo is taken at midnight. 

We spent the next day in Rättvik, starting out at the lookout tower Vidablick. They didn't have any info sheet to give out so instead I took a picture of a sign with facts about the tower that hung on the wall. I intended to use it for writing some journaling about our visit, but I realised the sign was readable in the photo so I just stuck it in a pocket. Time saver!

You can see Långbryggan (The Long Dock) reaching out into the lake in the bottom right photo. That's where we headed next! 

It was quite chilly and windy at the lookout tower, but the sun was kind enough to come out as we walked along the dock. I love this place!

To be continued!

/Magdalena

A NEW ALBUM

With the start of July it's time for a new Project Life album. I'm staying with the 9x12" format, which works perfectly for me. I searched around a good while for some title page inspiration. Finally I settled on this design.

 

We each picked a Snapchat filter and then I dipped into my stash for older cards and embellishments. I even used up my very last "Currents" cards by Tina Aszmus. 

The new album opens up on week 27, which started July 3rd. When documenting a week in my pocket album I don't stick to any certain number of pages. It all depends on how many photos I have. Week 27 took up three pocket pages, and I've also made two layouts that I mix in among the pocket pages. 

I knew I would find the Studio Calico July kit hard to work with (not my colors) so I had stocked up on digital products. This page features Hyannis by One Little Bird. I got both the journaling cards and the elements pack. At the beginning of the week we visited my mom and my brother and his family came over also. 

For the second half of week 27 me and the kids were on our own, with hubby off on vacation with a friends. We spent one day hanging out at a public pool. Digitals from Paislee Press (Summer Vibes Elements)(Pocket Guide No.8)and One Little Bird.

And here is the layout that goes with the pocket page. I designed it from sketch 1C in the Summer of Sketches class.

During the week we also spent a day in the city and hung out at the library. Digitals by One Little Bird (Chapters elements)

For those of you that have read and enjoyed "A man called Ove" by Fredrik Back I can really recommend "Britt-Marie was here" by the same author. This time the main character is a middle-aged woman forced to start a new life after divorcing her husband. It's not the type of book I usually read but I really loved it. It's both funny and beautiful with loveable characters.

If you want to read more from Swedish authors keep your eyes open for Mats Strandberg. He writes really creepy horror novels in the spirit of Stephen King. His first book "Blood Cruise" comes out in English next year. His second book "Hemmet" (The Home) was just as good. It revolves around a home for the elderly where the patients are being possessed.

At the moment I'm working on documenting the roadtrip we took during week 29. There are lots of photos so it takes a while to put it all together. I'm using the Scenic Route and Tour Guide digital kits from Paislee Press. I'll be sharing them as soon as I'm done, but here is a peek of the first page.

/Magdalena