December Daily 2014 - Hip Hip Hooray....I'm DONE!!

Hello everyone!!! It's been a while!  December went by like a blur, and the summer school holidays have done the same.  I have been thoroughly enjoying this time with my family, especially my kids. I managed to get a few sneaky crafting sessions in and i'm please to say I have now completed my 2014 December Daily album :D

Call me crazy but I wanted to do a 12x12 album this year, with the idea that I could also have consecutive years also in the same album.  Well... I kinda went a bit over board with photos and stories and just had to document it all.  Needless to say I think i'll need a new album for next year lol.

I used an array of products from Heidi Swapp, Pink Paislee, Echo Park and other bits & bobs in my stash.  I also used many stamps from Ali Edwards & Kellie Stamps.

Apologies for the super long post, I have a ton of pictures to share with you so please keep scrolling.  I hope you enjoy, please leave me some love!

Thanks for looking & keep creating!!

Xx Marissa

Christmas Cards

I always seem to be leaving my Christmas card making to the last moment, not this year!  I'm very excited to be able to cross these off my to-do-list this week!  

I am totally in love with Kellie Winnell's Christmas stamps and once I saw them I just knew I had to have them.  I have a variety of projects in mind with these sets, cards being one of them.  You can view Kellie's shop here

I wanted clean, simple and easy...I made a set of 8 cards in under an hour...winning!  I stuck to a colour scheme of kraft, white, black, red and gold/silver

I can't seem to get enough of the reindeer stamp, I just love it to pieces!

And of course gold, had to have some GOLD!!! I used a Versamark stamp pad with American Crafts Zing embossing powder.

I was on a roll so decided to make a set of Project Life cards for my December Daily album.  I've used Kellie's stamps (and some others from my stamp stash) to make these.  The black cards are from My Mind's Eye.  The gold embossing really stands out on the black!

Thanks for looking & keep creating!

Xx Marissa

Project Life - Week 46

I'm skipping all over the place here, no i'm not up to date but i'm feeling good about having last week's layout done :) 

I haven't blogged for over a week, almost 2 weeks actually. There's alot going on here behind the scenes!  On the crafting front i'm putting the finishing touches on my 'Week in the Life' album, planning for 'December Daily', making Christmas decorations & cards, and playing catch up with Project Life.  I have tons to share with you I just need time to blog about it!!  On a personal level I am opening my home to builders, plumbers & electricians as we prepare to finish off our house.  It's hard work and all the planning is giving me a headache LOL 

So I hope you enjoy my week 46.....

For this week's layout I have used cards from the Midnight kit and stamps from Kellie Winnell

Thanks for looking & keep creating!

Xx Marissa

Project Life - Week 43

Wow, what a busy week it's been! Last week I totally immersed myself in the "Week in the Life" project and this week i've been trying to put it all together.  I've had so many other crafty endeavors on my mind so have been struggling to just stay focused on one project at a time. Let's just say i'm not finished yet......

One of my pleasant distractions was putting together my layout for week 43.  No, i'm not that caught up, in fact i'm still on week 22.  I hope to have my album up to date by the end of this year, but that's another story entirely.  Back to point, my week 43!  Inspirational struck and I just had to roll with it :) 

Most of my week had been quiet, the weather was just too perfect to be stuck inside.  It was also a long weekend for us here in New Zealand.  We spent most of Saturday at a beautiful spot not far from home, Te Arai Point...I was in paradise!

I wanted to use colours that reflected how calm, relaxed and happy I was feeling that day.  I took a 12x12 piece of white bazzill cardstock and went to town with Heidi Swapp Color Shine.  My word how I love this product!  I used navy, teal & mustard and tried to blend the layers of colour together to achieve a washed, ombre look.  Once dried I cut it down to fit in my pocket page, i've used a WRMK page with the panoramic slot. It's slightly bigger than Becky's PP which I find slightly annoying...nevermind it's probably just my OCD kicking in ;-)

Thanks for looking & keep creating!

Xx Marissa

Week in the Life

So this week i'm taking a little break from catching up on my Project Life album.  Instead, i'm using that time to document a week in my life.  

What is it?  A "Week in the Life" (WITL) is a documentary project capturing the simple everyday details of life with photos and words,  from the mundane to the profound.  Ali Edwards started this amazing project, she is just so inspirational! To get more information, ideas & products from her website click here

This is the very first time I have attempted this project, and I must say i'm thoroughly enjoying the process.  It is helping me to focus on the little things and appreciate all that I have been blessed with in life. My goal is to preserve those thoughts, feelings, moments, stories & images within this album.

I didn't buy Ali's WITL kit, I figured I had enough here at home so decided to wing it.  I did purchase a Becky Higgin's 6x8 album, popped in some page protectors and slipped in cards from Heidi Swapp's Dreamy Project Life kit.  I also purchased BH journal pages , I will be writing on these & placing them between the photo pages.

I printed off Ali's free planning pages & have used those as a base to document our days.  I am doing mine a little different to how Ali suggests.  Instead of a chronological timeline of the day i'm going for a theme each day.  I've set my days out into the following categories to base my photos around: Monday - Currently, Tuesday - AM routine, Wednesday - PM routine, Thursday - Quoted, Friday - Foodie, Saturday - View from..., Sunday - Observations.  Under each of those categories I have written suggestions for photos to capture & stories to write.

So far so good, I am on task & looking forward to filling this very special album with memories of our life.  Hope to share it with you all soon :)

Thanks for looking & keep creating!

Xx Marissa