Project Life 2013 - January Page 1

So far so good about keeping up with project life this year! Here's my first January page. I don't do a picture a day approach I just document things whenever it occur to me. So far I'm much happier with doing the digital scrapbooking!  It's made it so much easier for me to keep on track!

I looked high and low to find a chalkboard calendar for 2013!  After much searching and NOT finding! I finally found a 2013 digital stamp and a free chalkboard background (and tutorial) so I made my own calendar!

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Project Life 2013

So I tried to do Project Life for 2012, and I failed. Like fell flat on my face! I really want need to find a memory keeping system that works for me!  I really love a lot of aspects of the Project Life system.  I think the short fall for me was having to work with the physical product.  Having to print the pictures, especially, was a big problem for me.  So I thought it over and decided that this year, I'm still going to do Project Life but....I'm going to do it digitally!  Without further ado, I present, my 2013 Project Life Title Page!



You may notice the blank spot in the bottom right corner.  I plan on putting a family photo there after we get them taken in the spring.  I found this tutorial by Maegan at Scrapaholics very useful in getting started!  I'll still be using a binder and printing out my layouts at 12x12.  I'm using the Seafoam Digital Core Kit and also I'm going to try and have the chalkboard look for a large part of my album as well.  I'm really very happy with the start I've made and I'm hoping that I can keep it up!

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Homemade Christmas Gifts Wrap Up

I didn't make a ton of homemade Christmas gifts this year but I did make a few things.  First off I made this year's Christmas Card.  Since we didn't get around to getting family pictures taken this year, I took a picture of my kids in front of our Christmas tree and then used a digital scrapbook kit called NOEL by Shawna Clingerman and Penny Springmann from Sweet Shoppe Designs.

For my sister, Laurel's, family I put together a hot cocoa kit.  She mentioned to me that they couldn't find their favorite brand of hot cocoa since they moved to the east coast so I decided to get her some.  I paired it with some peppermint and regular marshmallows and some Christmas mugs from the dollar store.  I also became inspired by a tag I saw at Target and made them a felt santa gnome ornament for their tree.

 

For my best friend, Stephanie, I made this cute square pincushion and I also sent her a couple sewing notions she said she was needing.  I also sent her a partridge in a pear tree felt ornament that I made.  I actually made it for myself but when she mentioned how much she would love to have something like it, I decided to send it to her and make another one for me, which I still haven't gotten around to doing. 

 

For my mom and my mother-in-law, I ordered these Photo Stand Kits from Thoughts in Vinyl and used last years family pictures to make them.

My sister, Willow, is pregnant with her first baby and said she just wanted baby stuff for Christmas so I used an In-The-Hoop Banner Design by GG Designs to make a name banner for her to hang above her baby's crib.

 That ended up being a longer post than I was expecting!  I guess even though most the things I made were smaller projects, I did end up making quite a few things.  The homemade ornaments were my favorite!  Next year I think I'll try to start earlier and make more of them so I can give one to more people.  I hope everyone had a Very Merry Christmas!

Plaid Baby Girl Outfit

My sister, Willow, is expecting her first baby in February, and her baby shower is coming up so I wanted to make her something, because that's what I do.  I had a piece of purple, blue, and gray plaid that she had picked out a long time ago when she wanted me to line a jacket for her.  She never got me the jacket to be lined so I still had the fabric sitting in my stash.  Since she's using purple and turquoise for her colors, it was the perfect opportunity to use the fabric, especially since I already knew she liked it as she picked it out.  Here's what I ended up with:

I used Simplicity Pattern 2572 for the jacket.  It's completely reversible with solid black on one side and the plaid fabric on the other.

The onesie is hand dyed and then I appliqued a plaid star on it because my sister really likes stars.

I used Lily Girl's Ruffle Skirt Pattern by Viola Lee for the plaid skirt.  The skirt is definitely my favorite part!

For the headband I used GG Design's Stitch & Stack Stars Felt Stitchies.  I used the plaid fabric for the top and felt on the bottom.  I added the purple button to give it a little something extra.

I think the whole thing turned out absolutely adorable!  I just love ruffle skirts and it turned out extra adorable in the plaid!  I really hope it fits well (because that's always my biggest concern with sewing for a baby that hasn't been born yet) and that she loves it as much as I do!

Thanksgiving Dresses

This year for my girls Thanksgiving Dresses I made T-shirt dresses.

I kept the dresses pretty simple because I wanted the girls to be able to continue to wear them for school and just everyday wear.  I found the tree  print fabric first and then matched it with the orange chevron.  I tried to dye one of the shirts the same color of orange as the chevron but it didn't turn out quite right.  Oh well, it happens.  The dresses were so easy to put together.  I cut the shirt off about where I wanted the waist line to be and then top sewed the gathered fabric to the shirt.  To add a little extra something to the shirts, I made a little ruffle of the leftover t-shirt material and sewed it on the neckline.

I definitely want to make the girls some more of these dresses!  They were fast and turned out very cute!  They are also a great causal everyday dress but work well to be a little more dressed up for the Thanksgiving holiday!  Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!