Project Life 2014 | week 5

30 April 2014

Week of: 27 January to 2 February 2014

What happened this week: The big thing this week was the traditional Chinese New Year in Singapore – lots of food, family, and friends.

Techniques: I ran an Amy Tangerine Cut and Paste 3×4 card through the printer for my week in review, trimmed down a the gold ang pao packet with the horse motif and included it in my spread, since it was Chinese New Year. I used the Becky Higgins nested die set to make my own 4×6 cards with patterned paper from the Basic Grey Fresh Cut collection. I also purchased a Tim Holtz tiny attacher this week and happily stapled all the embellishments in sight.

Thoughts: Since Chinese New Year is also called Spring Festival, I thought of flowers and chose to use the Basic Grey Fresh Cut patterned papers for all the pretty floral prints, which coordinated nicely with the occasion. I’ve found that using paper from one collection for one spread helps everything to coordinate easily.

I bought the new Studio Calico Essentials gold chipboard and sequins, as well as the Tim Holtz tiny attacher this week. As you can see, they feature heavily on this week’s spread because I was just so excited over them.

And surprise! No enamel dots this week – just lots of gold and attaching with staples.

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Supplies: Basic Grey Fresh Cut collection, Amy Tangerine Remarks stickers, washi tape, Studio Calico Essentials gold sequins, Studio Calico Essentials gold chipboard hearts, stars and geotags, American Crafts thickers, Amy Tangerine Cut and Paste mini kit, Amy Tangerine Plus One mini kit, Becky Higgins Project Life Sunshine edition 4×6 textured cardstock, Kaiser Craft clear stamp, Amy Tangerine roller date stamp, Project Life Midnight edition, Studio G clear stamps, October Afternoon alphabet stickers

Tools: Becky Higgins Project Life Design A page protectors, American Crafts white cardstock, Becky Higgins nested metal die set, Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher, EK Success 1-inch circle punch

Project Life is a memory-keeping system created by Becky Higgins. I’m embarking on this year-long project to document all my memories in 2014. You can see my other Project Life posts here.

Project Life 2014 | week 4

24 April 2014

Week of: 20 January to 26 January 2014

What happened this week: Spent time with family and friends this week, received happy mail from my pen pals, and tried several new recipes.

Techniques used: I included a couple of Instax photos. And still had the regular weekly title cards, and week in review cards.

Thoughts: I had quite a few photos this week, which filled up all the pockets on right side. I also kept my embellishments super simple with enamel dots, wood veneers, and washi tape. I still naturally gravitate towards them for my embellishments and love how easily it all comes together.

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Supplies used: Basic Grey candy buttons, Amy Tangerine Yes, Please Remarks stickers, washi tape, Studio Calico Sundrifter wood veneers, Midnight edition core kit, Amy Tangerine Cut and Paste mini kit, Amy Tangerine Today roller date stamp, Jillibean Soup alpha stickers, Maya Road kraft tags

Tools used: Becky Higgins Project Life Design A page protectors, American Crafts white cardstock

Project Life is a memory-keeping system created by Becky Higgins. I’m embarking on this year-long project to document all my memories in 2014. You can see my other Project Life posts here.

Project Life 2014 | week 3

10 April 2014

Week of: 13 January to 19 January 2014

What happened this week: I started Spring term this week, fell sick, got better, and went to my brother’s commissioning parade. That was the highlight of the week, so these photos are all exclusively from the weekend.

Techniques used: The weekly title cards remain the same. I ended up using lots of filler cards this week because of my lack of photos. But I loved being able to use up my growing stash of filler cards! Without planning to, yellow, grey and aqua/teal were the main colors of this week’s spread.

Thoughts: I loved the color scheme of this week’s spread. And I’m still keeping things simple because I need to catch up!

I’ll be back soon. More spreads in the making.

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Supplies used: Pebbles Family phrase cards, Basic Grey candy buttons, Amy Tangerine Yes, Please Remarks stickers, washi tape, Studio Calico Sundrifter wood veneers, Studio Calico Letterpress labels, Midnight edition core kit, Amy Tangerine Yes Please Remarks alpha stickers, Amy Tangerine Today roller date stamp

Tools used: Becky Higgins Project Life Design A page protectors, American Crafts white cardstock

Project Life is a memory-keeping system created by Becky Higgins. I’m embarking on this year-long project to document all my memories in 2014. You can see my other Project Life posts here.

Project Life 2014 | week 2

2 April 2014

Week of: 6 January to 12 January 2014

What happened this week: We spent the week on vacation in Hanoi. I hung out with my friends at the River Safari, and we ate good food (again).

Left-hand side:

Techniques used: The same weekly title cards as last week. I ran my journaling cards through the printer again. Instant photos from my Instax mini 25. And I also used more neutrals, with pops of color this week.

Side note: I’m planning to make a mini album of all the photos from our trip, so I just included a couple of my favorite photos for the weekly spread.

Right-hand side:

Can we just pause for a bit and talk about how much I love this card above? The water color effect is my favorite. (The 4×6 card is from Amy Tan’s latest Plus One collection mini kit.)

Thoughts: I’m loving the clean and simple look of the weekly title cards. It provides some resting space for the eyes, while keeping everything consistent across the weeks. I especially love that it’s one less card for me to have to think about/fuss over.

Plus, enamel dots and wood veneers are definitely my go-tos. Enough said.

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Supplies used: Amy Tangerine paper leaves, Studio Calico Snippets and Sundrifter wood veneers, washi tape, Crate Paper Storyteller 6×6 paper pad, Amy Tangerine Cut and Paste mini kit, Amy Tangerine Plus One mini kit, Doodlebug enamel dots, Studio Calico Wanderlust roller phrase stamp, Amy Tangerine Yes Please Remarks alpha stickers, Amy Tangerine clear stamps, October Afternoon Mini Market alpha stickers

Tools used: Becky Higgins Project Life Design A page protectors, American Crafts white cardstock

Project Life is a memory-keeping system created by Becky Higgins. I’m embarking on this year-long project to document all my memories in 2014. You can see my other Project Life posts here.

Project Life 2014 | week 1

27 March 2014

Twelve weeks into 2014, and I’m so glad that I’m finally getting around to sharing my Project Life spreads with you guys. Better late than never, right?

Week of: 1 January to 5 January 2014

What happened this week: We celebrated the New Year, along with lots of other random activities, including lots of good food (one of our favorites!).

Left-hand side:

Techniques used: I created my own weekly title cards in Microsoft Powerpoint and printed it on white cardstock. Then I stamped the dates with my Amy Tangerine roller date stamp to finish it off. I also ran several of the journaling cards through the printer for my journaling.

Those gold thickers are from American Crafts, and the “Celebrate” glitter card is from Mambi. Splashes of glitter for the New Year!

Right-hand side:

Rather ironically, I made a mistake on that journaling card with this quote by Neil Gaiman. The last line didn’t get printed, and you can see how I filled in the last sentence with a black pen in my own writing. But ah, we live and learn.

Thoughts: I’m enjoying the combination of handwriting and typed journaling. I’m currently behind by several weeks, but this process has been so much fun and I’m slowly getting caught up.

Stay tuned – more updates to come!

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Supplies used: MAMBI specialty cards, Amy Tangerine Cut and Paste mini kit, Amy Tangerine Remarks alpha stickers, Amy Tangerine die cut shapes, Maya Road kraft jotter tags, Basic Grey candy buttons, washi tape, American Crafts gold thickers, Studio Calico Printshop 6×6 paper pad, Dear Lizzy 5th and Frolic 6×6 paper pad, Midnight Edition Core Kit, Studio Calico wood veneers

Tools used: Project Life Design A page protectors, American Crafts white cardstock, HP printer

Project Life is a memory-keeping system created by Becky Higgins. I’m embarking on this year-long project to document all my memories in 2014. You can see my other Project Life posts here.

the 22 list | make something with cork

29 January 2014

I’m not sure what project I had in mind when I put “Make something with cork” on the 22 list. But with this project, I’m pretty glad I did.

I purchased these inexpensive plain cork coasters and thought they would make a fun addition to my Christmas Post-a-parcel package. These DIY cork coasters came together pretty quickly!

Supplies:

Acrylic paint
Multi-medium paste (Mod podge or similar)
Tape
Foam brushes
Plain cork coasters

I had several paint colors to choose from, but I eventually went with red and green since I wanted a really Christmas-y look. But I can’t wait to try it with the gold next time for a chic and classy look!

Step 1: Tape off your design.

Step 2: Using the foam brush, paint in your design. I found that dabbing the paint on works much better than actually trying to spread it. You might need several coats off paint to completely cover the cork (unless you want it otherwise, of course).

Step 3: After waiting for the paint to dry, use the multi-medium paste to seal in the paint. This will keep the paint from running when you put your cold drink on the coaster.

Step 4: Let the multi-medium paste dry completely before use. (Note: The sealant will look white when you first apply it, but it will eventually dry clear.)

And there you have it! Pretty coasters every time you have your drink.

I made two of each design in both red and green, for a set of six altogether.

I love how easily customizable these are. You can even do stripes, or include your initial to get this look. I can’t wait to do this again!

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The 22 list is a list of things I made to accomplish while I’m twenty-two. For more about my 22 list, read this post.

Project Life | the title page

20 January 2014

We’re about three weeks into the New Year and I’m finally getting around to sharing my title page on the blog.

I was able to put together the title page on New Year’s Day. I had my photos printed and ready to go, so it was just a matter of moving things around on the page and deciding where I wanted them to go.

As I mentioned in this post, I’m mainly using the Design A page protectors this year.

Overall, I kept things pretty simple with a handful of selective embellishments (namely, thickers and wood veneers), and a black-white-coral color scheme.

Funnily (or not), I’m already behind on my weekly spreads from all the travel I did a couple weeks back. But I’m really hoping to catch up soon! With how simple I’m planning to keep it, catching up shouldn’t take long at all.

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Supplies used: Midnight Edition Core Kit, Studio Calico wood veneers, Chic Tags Everyday Life II journaling tags, American Crafts thickers, Basic Grey Fresh Cut 6×6 paper pad

Project Life is a memory-keeping system created by Becky Higgins. I’m embarking on this year-long project to document all my memories in 2014. You can see my other Project Life posts here.

Post-a-Parcel | Christmas edition

24 December 2013

If you’re anything like me, each Christmas, you decide to start early on your Christmas gifts + wrapping. But somehow it happens later rather than sooner, and Christmas is just round the corner before you know it. Then it’s all a mad last-minute rush to get everything completed in time.

Since today is Christmas Eve (!!), I thought I’d share the packaging that I did for Post-a-Parcel a couple of weeks back. Earlier in December, I had the really fun opportunity to participate in Nia Neve’s Post a Parcel exchange. Post-a-Parcel is an international gift exchange of sorts, where you are paired with a partner and send each other five items. You can check out Nia’s blog post here where she explains more about Post-a-Parcel, or search #postaparcel on Instagram to see more inspiring packaging!

Aside from getting to go to the post office to send out my parcel, packaging these little parcels was one of my favorite parts. Brown paper packages tied up with string are some of my favorite things indeed.

I used some colorful twine from American Crafts. Then completed the package with a tag from Crate Paper’s Sleigh Ride collection.

Simple but classic.

I hope this post has inspired you to finish up your Christmas preparations pronto. Happy holidays!

21 projects // DIY wrapping paper

4 September 2013

To be honest, I don’t even think there’s tutorial for this.

I was probably inspired by this idea and just went the easy route by stamping on freezer paper with a foam stamp and some neon dye ink. This hardly took any time at all and I was done in less than five minutes. The options are totally endless with these and it’s up to your creativity to come up with whatever designs/patterns you like.

Supplies:

Freezer paper
Foam stamp
Dye Ink or acrylic paint (your choice!)

And here’s how it looks all wrapped up and pretty, ready to go to the giveaway winner!

I love the look of this and the way it turned out. The neon pink pops so nicely on the paper. I didn’t get to try this yet with the acrylic paints pictured but I’m planning to use some other shapes with them. I totally can’t wait to see how the gold paint will look!

12 down, 9 to go.

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21 DIY projects are part of my 21 list, a list of 21 things I’m working to accomplish during my twenty-first year. Check out my other 21 DIYs here.

Adelia Makes no. 009 // handsewn pouches

23 July 2013

Since we took sewing lessons last year, Adelia has been wayyy better at using her skills at the machine than I have. One of the things she’s been making quite a bit are these cute zipped pouches. With the help of some simple online tutorials, she made these pouches that have served as great gifts for friends and family. These aren’t the only ones she’s made so far. But the combinations with these are pretty much endless and the cuteness level is just off-the-charts. Too much fun.

Unlike me, I think she’s pretty much a natural.

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Adelia Makes is a blog series featuring my very own little sister and all the fun things she makes. Read more about Adelia Makes here.