My 2008 Week in the Life Album: Album Creation Part Two
Tags:
[ American Crafts Chestnut 8.5x11 D-Ring Corduroy Album; American Crafts Mumbo Jumbos Letter Stickers; vintage "E" ]
Super happy with how this week in the life project finally turned out, especially in the arena of keeping it simple. I ended up embellishing the patterned paper rectangles that fit into the baseball card page protectors and machine stitching on the second page of each day.
After placing all my photos into the page protectors I was able to take a look at how many rectangles needed embellishing. Go here for a look at what I had already done so far.
Here's a look at the second half of my creative process:
1. Gather up a bunch of things I think are pretty likely I will use for embellishing the patterned paper rectangles. Some of the things worked out and others I decided not to use. I really like having it all out on my table so I don't spend a ton of time looking for stuff to add.
2. Decide on how I want to embellish each group and then go for it.
Here's a look at each group and a close-up of an individual rectangle from within the album (and a quick how-to for each group):
[ Bazzill Swiss Dots Cardstock; Heidi Swapp Brown Felt Flowers; 7gypies Red Photo Turns; 7gypsies Fortunes Family Matters Rub Ons ]
HOW TO: Adhere felt flower with light adhesive. Run through sewing machine using red thread. Use a piercer to create a hole and attach the photo turn using a brad. Rub sentiment onto photo turn.
[ Basic Grey Elementary 12x12 Recess Paper; Creative Cafe Tickets; American Crafts Large Brads; Hero Arts Basic Uppercase Wood Mounted Stamps; American Crafts Precision Pen; Orange Staz On ]
HOW TO: Attach ticket with stapler. Press large brad through patterned paper and stamp on top using Staz On ink.
[ Creative Cafe Lucky Chocolate 12x12 Polka Dot Felt
; 7gypsies Keys; Maya Road Word Charms; Vintage Rulers from Random Arts; Papier Valise Bakers Twine (search for red + white twirling twine) ]
HOW TO: Adhere ruler to felt paper. Using the bakers twine, tie a knot and slip on the key and the charm. Tie another knot to hold the key and charm in place. Secure to back of felt paper with tape.
[ Hambly Brown on Kraft Brocade 12x12 Paper; Jenni Bowlin Studio Gold Felt Stars; Papier Valise Blue Border Labels; Ali Edwards Bits + Pieces for Technique Tuesday ]
HOW TO: Attach label. Stamp sentiment (use tape to mask beginning of sentiment). Lightly adhere felt star and machine stitch to complete.
[ Scenic Route Claudia Street 12x12 Sonoma Paper; Savvy Stamps Circle; Vintage Red Bingo Numbers (Papier Valise has some but I don't think you get the whole box so your numbers would not be guaranteed. Search her site for Red Bingo Markers under Misc. A google search will most likely located some as well.) ]
HOW TO: Each spread also includes an old bingo number that matches the date. Stamp on the patterned paper and slip into the pocket. The bingo number is adhered to the outside of the page protector.
Here's a look at the entire album:
Monday (click the day-of-the-week link to read the journaling):
Machine stitching was added to the lines between photos on these photo pages (the right side).
Thursday also included one pocket that just holds a tea tag. I like the transparency of the rest of the pocket around the outside of the tag (held in place with a staple).
These Jenni Bowlin red mini bingo cards came in handy as they are just the right size for fitting into these pockets.
I included an additional page protector at the back to hold some newspapers and over-sized stuff from the week:
This was a project that I was excited to finish up and put on the shelf in the dining room. It is one that I will forget about for awhile and will pull it out in a few months and be so excited to look back at this specific time in our lives.
I want to send you a bunch of encouragement if you are anywhere in the process right now - from taking photos and documenting your days to figuring out how to pull it all together. You can do this. Keep at it, focus on what is most important to you, and get it done. Looking back you will be so happy that you took the time to create this very special look at your life and the lives of those you love.
I will definitely be doing this again next year (once a year is good enough for me).
A complete list of posts related to the week in the life project can be found here.
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91 comments
Thanks for posting your finished product. I picked up my photos yesterday, and will put the album together at a retreat this weekend. This is so helpful as I work to gather up materials this week. I'll probably combine some of this with my 2006 CKU instructions.
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yours is gorgeous...as always!!!!
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Love how it turned out! I have a ton of baseball card sheets and have been saying 'I'll do something with those soon' for TOO long now. Thanks for the inspiration to get off my behind and get something made! :)
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Encouragement to keep rolling is much needed!!! Thanks. Your album is so beautiful. I feel like I'll be doing this project for another month at the rate I'm able to find "free time"...
I'm getting hung up on how to choose which pics to print -- I am on a tight budget which is making things more complicated. Trying to pick my favorite 10-12 from a day (out of about 30 I took each day) is harder than I anticipated! I don't have photoshop so I can't "group" them before getting them printed and my home printer doesn't print great looking photos.
Seventy-eighty pictures, with several enlarged, seems to be expensive for just ONE project. Any tips for this kind of struggle?
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Really like your idea of using the page protector in the back--I'll be doing that for school (art projects/school work I want to keep) and Christmas (cards) albums.
Thanks!!!!
{vicki}
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Totally love it Ali. Esp. love the stars and sewing for the pockets. :) Oh, and that tea bag tag is so cool!
Bree- I went to Wal-Mart and used their machine to group 4 photos onto one. This is something fairly new for around here, maybe you could go check that out?
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Tania -- Thanks :-) I will check that out!
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*Personal*
Ali,
If we didn't already know you were having a girl, Thursday's profile of you would immediately give it away to those of us who subscribe to the theory that girls are carried high while boys are low! Old wives' tales do sometimes seem to have some merit to them.
Angi
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@Bree: Check out this one: http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/
There's a "Mosaic Maker" for your pictures. Just save it on your computer and upload it to get it developped. Oh, it's free btw, you just need to register I think.
@Ali: Gorgeous album! I finished mine a week ago and I'm so happy I did so! Loved the whole project and I will do it again (although in a "light" version, since I won't have that much time again like I had this time ...)
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Love the color of your album. YOu did a fantastic job! It turned out awesome...I think this will give me that final inspirational boost to finish mine up. EVerything else is done on mine...I just have to go back and put in my journaling. I made a chipboard 8x8 album and I'm very happy with it so far. Thank you so much for this idea and all that you've done to inspire us! Throwing you a super big HUG!!! :)
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What an amazing album!
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Your belly is sooo cute!!!
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Wow!
I do need to get these photos off my computer...and into an album.
So happy for you, to have captured this time, as your family will soon change so much so quickly, it will be hard to imagine these days before the baby. Well done!
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hi ali! wow, your album is just SO inspiring and so darn impressive. my very favorite part is at the top of the pages where the newspaper peeks through and reads "don't forget about". its almost like a gentle reminder as you turn the pages whispering "all the details are here, don't forget about them". great job once again, you should be so proud of this album! -tara
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No surprise that your album looks amazing! :) I think I need a little encouragement getting close to the end. I have created each day's spread digitally in PE and am pretty happy with it, considering my photo-taking peetered off by the last day. I'm getting hung up on transferring my journaling (no surprise there) and keep going back and tweaking it, trying to add more where I was lean (if I can remember). I definitely think that I will do this again next year as I already know what I would do differently, etc. Question for you: did you have a minimum number of photos that you hoped to capture each day? I applied the same "formula" approach for consistency and was disappointed that day 1 had so many more photos than day 7 so I compromised and only added x number per day. Next year I think I will try to make a 'loose' plan first so that I will have enough photos to do something really nice...and also try to decide the level of detail for my journaling....all in all, good stuff! I just bought those same tickets on Saturday...they are cute! :)
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Consistently, without fail, you make me so very happy. I get joy out of watching you create. I'm so glad you share your gift with everyone. I think the world of you. Hope you're feeling well!!!
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man, as always your final creation looks incredible. i love the details that you added to it. and thanks for the push to finish this project up - i'm actually still waiting for photos/prints to arrive so i can get going!!! :)
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Super cute, Ali. Love this!
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Cannot thank you enough for sharing your amazing talents! I head of for a week holiday with my family in a few days and know exactly how i will be documenting it!
Again ... Thank you!
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Thanks for the inspiration, Ali! I love your album, & I definitely want to make one of my own some time:)
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