Jump into January journal

I posted way back in November about my Jump into January Journal and I’m here to provide an update. I’m still catching up on a few days here and there, waiting for photos to be printed or whatnot, but I’ve been doing pretty well. I’m excited for February to start so I can begin my new daily book, which will be larger and thereby easier to cram photos into.

Here are a few images from my journal:

I wrote a little wish on a small card that I then sealed in the envelope- let’s hope it comes true! Then I used my instax mini to document the closet organization that had taken place. I had a headache all day long so I didn’t feel like writing much, hence the bullets.

On this page, I used my Polaroid Pogo printer to get some images off of my phone, including the one on the left of the paper trays. On the right, I cut out a frame from an overlay, then used a Hambly bird rub-on on top of it. I adhered it flat to the page, but put the October Afternoon “fun times” banner from the miscellany package on with foam squares to make it pop a bit. I used another Instax mini on the right, which you can see below. The middle insert was a Sassafras Lass tag backed with another Pogo print from dinner. I used a Studio Calico tag and cut it so only the hole portion was attached, then put some bakers twine between the layers before sealing them and was able to put this in between the pages. I’m not sure if I’m totally won over, but it works.

The left page is interesting because it was originally designed totally different and I decided that I didn’t like it. I then took a strip of paper and adhered it to the page, then layered different colors of washi tape in uneven lines across the page. I used my Slice to cut the 6 and walah! On the right, the photo was pinkish in tones and was thus perfect for the page.

January 7th was an eventful day/night, so there are actually 4 pages for this day. The store that I scrap at regularly had a huge moving sale so I got there early to help. I used the pre-printed shape on this page for my journaling and added a Sassafras Lass sticker in the bottom left corner to enhance it. I really love the foam Thickers from American Crafts. Woot. When we went to Jenny Doh’s book launch party later that night, I snagged a party card and used it for a page. We met Jenny, who was super cool and treated me like an old friend she’s known for years, so that was brilliant. I also included a card from Kim Caldwell’s event, which was also being promoted at the party. The last page was Jenny’s business card facing a photo of me with JWE, who took me to the launch.

This was just a random day, back to work and the first time I saw a lot of coworkers and my staff since prior to winter recess, so I just jotted some random things by bullet and used the other side to sum up the day’s events.

I’m still waiting on some photos from friends for some of the days between 1/9 and 1/14 and I don’t like a couple of the pages in there, so I’ve skipped ahead. This was the final final night at the store before it was torn down and moved. The photos are once again from my Pogo printer and show the store without all the product on the walls. Eep. The owner let us each take a postcard so that became the other page. On the other side of the postcard, I put a favorite sheet of paper, a cute little line of washi tape and another photo from the Pogo. I did a little hand lettering and viola. The right side of the page is funny because my Pogo must have gotten its bluetooth wires crossed when it printed two photos on one sheet. Oh well. I went with it. There you have it.

On the 15th I went to Fallbrook to crop with some amazing ladies and we took a little trip in Toni’s mobile scrapping unit to visit Michael’s. This is what we saw along the way. Holy guacamole, that was pretty! I used my Pogo to print them on the spot, naturally. I love that little Fiskars cloud punch! The heart was my own creation in an effort to mimick the lovely American Crafts fabric paper that I used for the page, and a little sticky kraft. Dunzo.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this peek into my own version of Project Life. Stay tuned for more, coming soon! Cheers.

 

Typeface Tuesday!

Hello and welcome to another edition of Typeface Tuesday, where I link to some of my favorite new fonts around the web.

First, I wanted to share one of my favorite tools for utilizing type in various projects. It’s a site called Wordmark and it is AMAZING! When you go to the site, it starts cataloging the fonts you have installed on your computer and then displays a preview of the first 25 or so using the line of type at the top of the page.

Now let’s move on to the free fonts, shall we? 

Have fun! Until next time, peace out!

It’s My Birthday!

Thirty two years ago, the world got that much weirder because I was brought into this world! Woot.

Today, my homeslice Roger & I are going to a taping of The Ellen Degeneres Show and check out what I made my fellow Aquarian- a nice little birthday book:

When I went to a taping last year, they had a little collection area for things that people brought for her, so I’m banking on the fact that they’ll have that again. I hope she gets to actually see it and that it makes her smile — I love watching her show every day and it’s certainly cheered me up on more than one occasion.

That’s it for today- time to celebrate! Cheers!

Designer humor

Howdy!

As chair of a major process at work, my fingers have been busy hitting the keyboard all day long, but I’m almost done- whew! I took a little break for dinner and came across this amusing spoof commercial.


Fotoshop by Adobé from Jesse Rosten on Vimeo.

Funny but mostly true.

In other news, I beefed up my LinkedIn Profile a bit- and got some new recommendations in the process. Woot. Are you on? Find me and let’s connect! I never realized how much you could do with it, but now that I’m spending more time exploring the site I’m totally hooked. Excellent.

Have a good one- I’ll be back soon with that creative fun; I promise!

This is what I did today

It’s been grey/overcast all day, and maybe even sprinkled a little. I’ve had a long, long week and a busy weekend so we caught up on old Burn Notice episodes and then started watching the NCIS secrets marathon on USA. Sometimes it’s just nice to do nothing.

I’ll be back soon with lots of photos from things I’ve made this month. Woot.

P.S. In case you hadn’t noticed, Finnegan loves to sit like a human and watch tv. We were clearly made for each other. His affinity for paper and scrapbooking supplies is not as fun, however— pretty paper eater does not a good roommate make. Oh well, I guess that’s why it’s good to follow the paper crafter’s shopping mantra: Always buy three of any design you enjoy- one to ogle (aka hoard), one to use and another to cut up or use the backside (depending on the design). I know my Adhesive Sisters will back me up on this one. :)  

Freebie Friday!

I have had a rough week.

Have you ever had those days where you just want to curl up into a ball and sleep for a little while? That was me. I have been running nonstop from place to place to place this week, while facing a number of unhappy or unsettling challenges. I have just not been able to be my authentic self and I hate that.

But then I opened Adobe Illustrator and started browsing through my many fonts – and the world was suddenly a better place.

This is what came of it. Click the image to download the card. Enjoy!

Sale time!

For the past 5+ years, I’ve been religiously heading to the scrapbook oasis nearly every Wednesday and Friday night to crop with friends. That fantastic store has become my home away from home, so you can imagine how excited I was to learn they would be having a mondo sale to kick off the new year.

If you’re in the Southern California region, you should definitely stop in today or tomorrow because practically everything in the store is on sale. It’s amazing!

Check out the flier below for the deets. You can find the store at

17895 SKYPARK CIRCLE – SUITE H
IRVINE, CA 92614
(949) 756-2729

  and here’s a link to google maps to better help you find your way.

Freebie Friday

Happy Friday, everyone! Whew- this week sure did go by fast. Pretty soon we’ll be at the end of January and then it’ll be Valentine’s Day and then summer will be upon us. Yikes.

Today I bring you an assortment of herringbone patterned pages in a variety of colors and styles. Print them on cardstock, cut to size and use in your scrapbook layouts. Or fold them in half and make a card- add some embellishments and you’re good to go! I hope you enjoy them. Have a great weekend!

All patterns can be found in the downloads section. Here are some of my faves:

I hope you make some cool stuff with them. Have fun!

Gratitude

Over the winter recess, I was visited by many a staff member with messages of cheer and good will, and a number of thoughtful gifts & homemade goodies. I am overwhelmed by the generosity and love that my amazing staff has shared with me, and so thankful to be their supervisor. I really do have the best group in the world and it makes me ever so excited for the next 6 months ahead with them.

As I reflect on the year past and plan for the year ahead, I continue to thank my lucky stars for the team I get to work with every single day. I truly am blessed to live in this amazing place, in a house that I love, sharing my experiences with some genuinely superb and unforgettable individuals. I get to do some really amazing and unbelievable things and continue to have remarkable adventures on a near-daily basis. Life couldn’t be much better than this, and I have my staff to thank for a lot of the joy I experience at work every day.

As a token of thanks, I’m planning to bake some goodies to welcome them back next week and I wanted to include a little card with each one, so I started with the herringbone pattern from yesterday’s download and this is what came of it.

I recommend that you print these on heavy cardstock or even watercolor paper if you have some available— you might be surprised by the impact a nice paper can have on a card.

Please note that I made the cards in an assortment of sizes based upon what I liked, as they were not intended to go inside envelopes. I might, however, put together an envelope template for you if you’re interested. Stay tuned for more!

And in other news, I am now officially caught up with Burn Notice thanks to CLOO. I’ve been watching for the past 3 seasons but I just kind of pieced things together in the past. However, with the help of Blockbuster By Mail and Cloo tv, I’ve caught up on almost every episode from the beginning, albeit in random order. I also credit USA network for airing the Burn Notice marathon last week. Well done, friends. I can’t wait for the new episodes to start airing again. In the meantime, here’s some Jeffrey Donovan eye candy:

Here’s that typical Michael Westen look — seen especially often when he’s speaking with Sam, Jessie, Maddie or Fiona:

Catch reruns on CLOO and USA Network and look out for Season 6 this summer.