goshery

Week n the Life - Saturday & Sunday

I had such a busy week that my to-do list for the weekend was long.  I felt really behind in every way, so having a solid day at home to catch up was much appreciated.  I plowed through big sections of my list which really helped me to feel more relaxed.

One of the things on my to-do list was to get ready for an upcoming scrapbooking crop.  My craft room was a mess which is one of the reasons I haven't been in the mood to scrapbook lately.  As I was figuring out what I would need to take to the crop I did some cleaning and organizing, including sorting through a bunch of magazine pages I had torn out to "save" an idea.  Obviously I started doing this before Pinterest, and now it just seems unnecessary to have all of these pages saved.  I tossed a bunch of stuff and made a pile of other things that I know I'll never use.  I think I might have a SCRAPBOOKING SUPPLY SALE in my future.

Sunday afternoon was spent at my parent's house celebrating my older brother's birthday.  Have you ever seen such a beautiful crown roast?  I'm guessing NO!  It tasted just as good as it looked and we had a great meal.

While we were sitting and visiting on Sunday afternoon we watched a kite surfer having a grand old time out on the lake.  The temperature was in the 50's so the water had to be cold, but he was wearing a wetsuit and seemed to be enjoying himself.

So my week of documenting is over and I really enjoyed it.  I didn't take nearly the amount of photos I've taken in other years, but I feel like I have a lot of stories to tell from the week.  It will probably be a few weeks before I work on my album but I'm going to spend some time writing the journaling in advance while everything is fresh in my mind.

I'll share my progress and the completed album here over the next few weeks.  Thanks for following along!

Week in the Life - Wednesday, Thursday & Friday

Wednesday was not a typical work day for me.  I took a vacation day from work because I needed to attend an event at the college I attend.  As long as I was going to be out of the office in the morning I used the rest of the day to run some errands before heading to the cities to see/hear David Sedaris.  I went with my daughter and a few friends and although we took lots of photos this blurry one ended up being one of my favorites.

White I was driving around I listened to the next installment of a podcast series called Serial.  It's a murder mystery story told in installments, similar to an episode of Dateline.  A new installment becomes available every Wednesday and it such an interesting story that I can't wait for the next episode.

There's been a construction project going on across the street from my office for the past few months and it's been interesting to watch.  On Thursday I noticed that one of the construction workers was standing by his work truck eating his lunch.  It made me really appreciate the fact that I have a nice comfortable place to sit and eat, and that I work in such a nice environment.

On Thursday night a contractor came over to finalize plans for a remodeling project I've been dreaming about for years.  It's been a long, slow process but once they start writing on your walls it feels like it's really going to happen.  So exciting!

Friday was Halloween and I had the most Trick or Treaters I've ever had (about 12!).  These two were my favorites - my two great nephews.  It was fun to see their costumes and to give them some treats.

Once the little ghosts and goblins stopped coming for the night I did a few hours of studying for a test.  Some weeks I have more homework than others, and last week was a doozie.  This semester I'm taking a class on Diversity & Social Justice and it's been a tough class for a variety of reasons.  I'm really happy that I'm more than half way through the semester.

Tomorrow I'll share my photos from Saturday & Sunday and then it will be time to get my photos printed and move on to the "fun part", putting the album together.

Week in the Life - Tuesday

Day two of Week in the Life.  Since my week days are mostly spent at work it only seems fitting that my cover photo shows me working in my office.  My Tuesday was spent almost entirely working on a spreadsheet, which wasn't very exciting but the point of this project isn't to document only exciting things, but the every day stories of my life.

My day started while it was still dark out and I snapped a quick photo as I turned off my alarm.  I got up at 6:30 a.m. and started what I consider to be the hardest part of my day - getting out of bed and getting ready for work.  Once I'm there I'm good but crawling out of bed, especially when it's cold and dark, is not my favorite thing.

There has been a construction project going on across the street from my office for the past several weeks and today was the nosiest day so far.  As I sat in my office trying to make a spreadsheet balance I had to listen to constant beeping and pounding going on outside.  I appreciate the progress they are making and it's been interesting to see a building torn down and then rebuilt right before my eyes.

The most exciting part of my day was coming home to find a box on my front steps.  I ordered a purse last week and it arrived today.  It's probably the biggest purse I've ever had but I think I am going to like it.  Since my winter coat is black I thought it would be fun to have a little color on my arm.  It's definitely not my typical style but I'm going to give it a try.

Wednesday will be a completely different type of day for me and I'm excited to document a day off and an exciting night in the big city,

Week in the Life - 2014

Once again this year I'm participating in Ali Edward's Week in the Life project.  If you aren't familiar with Week in the Life it's a project that focuses on documenting one week in your life through stories and photos.  I've participated in the project before and it has been very rewarding.  You can check out my completed 2013 album here.

It's easy to think that you won't have any stories to tell or that your weeks are boring, but the point of the project is to celebrate the every day, and just think how fun it would be to see what a "normal" week of your parent's or grandparent's life was like.

Here's a look at some of the photos I'll be using to document MONDAY:

My pile of things to do at work just seems to keep growing.  This is always the start of my busiest time at work because we are focusing on performance assessments for 2014 and planning (including budgets and benefits) for 2015.  The days fly by and I feel as if I'll never catch up.

Lunch at my desk included a frozen WW meal and an apple + dip.  The dip is so good and pretty healthy:  one Greek yogurt, 2 Tablespoons of peanut butter, a shot of maple syrup and a dash of cinnamin.  My apple of choice is the Honeycrisp.

It was cloudy most of the day and by late afternoon the rain started to fall, which meant that I had to walk indoors on my treadmill for the first time in weeks.  We've had great weather this fall so it's hard to complain, but I wouldn't mind some more outdoor time before winter settles in.

I have a partial plan in place regarding the album that I'm going to make once this week of documentation is over, but I need to spend more time gathering supplies.  I plan to order my photos as soon as the week is over and get started on my album right away.

I'll be sharing photos and stories for this project each day this week.

2013 Week in the Life album

I recently completed my Week in the Life album and wanted to share the finished product here.  In case you aren't familiar with this project, it is a project led by Ali Edwards that involves documenting a week in your life in whatever level of detail that works for you.  Some people just do a summary of their week in photos and words, others document each day of the week hour by hour.

The purpose of the project is to take time to document your week as a way of examining how you spend your time, or as a reminder of what one week of your year looks like, or to leave it as way for your children and grandchildren to remember you.  The beauty of the project is that it can be whatever you want it to be.

I've done this project a few times, but 2013 is the first year that I've completed the entire album.  One reason I think I actually got it done this year is because I found a 5 x 7 chipboard album early in the year that I thought would work perfectly for this project, so I had it ready to go when Ali Edwards announced the week for the project.

Here's a look at the pages in my album:

On the inside cover I added a photo of a row of trees, representing a journey through my week.  I added a label for September, the month the project started.

I added an overlay between the cover page and the introduction page (shown here on the left).  The intro page shows the year and includes some decorative elements along with a note from me explaining the reason for the album and the dates of the week I documented.

Next comes the documentation for each day, which follows a pattern throughout the week.  On the left is a tag with the day of the week stitched on it, and then a short statement about the day and a bulleted list to explain the photos, which are in 2" x 2" square pockets on the right.

This shows the second half of Monday, with photos on the left and a bulleted list about the photos on the right.

Tuesday, page one.

Tuesday, page 2.

Wednesday, page 1.

Wednesday, page 2.

Thursday, page 1.

Thursday, page 2.

Friday, page 1.

Friday, page 2.

Saturday, page 1.

Saturday, page 2.

Sunday, page 1.

Sunday, page 2.

At the end of the week I included some final thoughts about the week, ending with my signature and the date.  On the right, which is the inside back cover of the album, I attached a calendar for 2013.

I left the back of the album blank with my initials on the bottom corner.

I took a fairly casual approach to the album this year, summarizing what happened each day without going into tons of detail (such as including an hour by hour record of what I was doing).  As I thought about why I was doing the album I realized that I was doing it because I would love to find an album like this that my grandmother made so I could get an idea of what a typical week was like for her.  With that in mind, I took time to explain things that seem obvious right now.  For example, I explained that all of the photos were taken with my cell phone and then I included the type and model for reference.

As you may have noticed, I used my handwriting throughout the album rather than typing my journaling.  The reason I did that is because even though I don't think I have the best handwriting, I think it makes the project much more personal.  Earlier this year I wrote a post about how meaningful handwriting can be - you can read that story here.

I'm so glad that I took the time to document my week, and very happy that I competed the album so I can cross that off my to-do list as 2013 comes to a close.

NOTE:  the stitched tags are from this Etsy shop.

week in the life album progress.

My kitchen table is sort of a diaster as it has become my Week in the Life album workstation.  I moved the album and some of my supplies from my craft room to the kitchen in the hopes that I would get the album finished sooner rather than later.  So far that hasn't really worked, but I haven't given up hope yet.

I've gathered several embellishments from my stash that may or may not make their way into the album.  The days of the week tags were purchased from the Handmade Modern shop on Etsy.  I love the look of the tags which are perfect for this album, which documents each day of one week in my life.

I have a plan in place to finish the album and I've been busy setting up the foundation for the pages.  Each day will have two pages with the photos (in divided page pockets) in between.  On the left side will be the day of the week tag and some type of embellishment, along with some journaling about the photos and my activities that day.

Here's a look at Tuesday along with some of the tags that I haven't added to the album yet.  When you turn the divided photo pocket page you'll see the back side with six additional photos, and another paper page with more journaling about the photos and my activities for the day.

One of my biggest hurdles right now is that my printer doesn't work, so I can't print out my journaling.  I do have access to a typewriter so I could go old school and type my journaling, but since I've already added a lot of the embellishments that might not be an option.  My final option is to handwrite my journaling, which would probably be meaningful to future generations, but makes me slightly uncomfortable because let's be honest, I'm not Ali Edwards.  (That's a joke most scrapbookers will understand - Ali is known for having very cool handwriting.)

I initially thought I would have this album done by the end of September, but here it is almost the end of October and I'm still not done.  I'm going to keep plugging away and I'll (eventually) share the finished product.

Week in the Life album cover.

I spent some time over the weekend working on my Week in the Life album.  I knew I wanted to do something to the cover of the album, which is chipboard with cut-out letters that say "My Life".  I considered a few different options such as painting the cover or covering it with patterned paper.  In the end I decided to cover it in washi tape.

I had three different red patterned rolls of tape and I decided to alternate all three on the cover.  I like the look but not sure that I'm satisfied with the way the tape ends around the letters.  I have a few ideas for that area, and I plan to give them a try this weekend when I have time to work on the album again.

I worked on the inside pages as well and made good progress.  If all goes well I'll share the finished album here next week.  Fingers crossed.

week in the life progress.

Late last week a big stack of my Week in the Life photos arrived in the mail.  I was excited to look through all of the photos and a bit overwhelmed by the thought of trying to decide which photos to include in my album.

In order to see how many photos I had for each day I tore up little scraps of paper and wrote the days of the week on them and then laid them out across my dining room table.  Next I sorted through the photos and placed them under the corresponding day of the week.  Once the photos were sorted I ended up with 10-20 photos for each day.

Next I had to decide how I wanted to crop the photos (as shown in this post, I'm cropping the photos into 2"x2" squares).  In some cases it was obvious which part of the photo I wanted to use, and in other cases it took a lot more thought.

The page protectors I'm using hold a total of six photos on each side, two across and three down.  As I trimmed the photos I laid them out in that manner and then rearranged the order of the photos until I was satisfied.

Once I was happy with the order of the photos I slipped them into the page protectors.  Since I was trimming and placing 84 photos (seven days x twelve photos) the project took some time.

By the time I was done trimming photos I had a big pile of trash and I felt like I was making real progress towards my goal to complete the album by the end of September.

I have some work left to do including:

• figure out a design for the front cover
• decide how to label the individual days of the week (I have a plan!)
• decide how to document each day
• add embellishments

The biggest hurdle is that my printer is on the fritz.  I either need to spend some time trying to fix it (I think it's an issue with the rubber rollers) or order a new printer.  I could just handwrite all of the journaling; once I decide on the layout I'll have to make that decision.

 I'm having fun working on this project.  Check back next week for a post about the (hopefully!) completed album.

Week in the Life 2013

Once again this year I'm participating in Week in the Life, which is a photo journaling project created by Ali Edwards.  The idea is to celebrate ordinary life by documenting a week of your life in photos + words.  I've participated for the last two years and have enjoyed it, but I've struggled with completing my album at the end of the week.  Hopefully this year will be different.

I spent last week (starting Monday, ending Sunday) taking photos that capture my every day life.  Last night I spent time going through my photos and uploading them for printing, which is half the battle.  I also spent some time gathering my supplies.

I found this album a few months ago at a local craft store and thought it would be perfect for the Week in the Life project.  At the time I wasn't sure what week I would be documenting so I just put in on my bookshelf until Ali Edwards announced the start of the project.  The album has a chipboard front and back cover, lined graph paper inside and is held together with four binder rings.

I decided to include divided pocket pages, one for each day, which will allow me to include lots of photos in my small album.  I had some 8-1/2" x 11" coin pocket pages (shown on the left) so I cut them down to fit into the album (shown on the right).  Each page will hold six 2" x 2" photos on each side, for a total of 12 photos.  Since the holes on the pages didn't match up to the holes on the album I just punched new holes.

Here's a look at the album after I added the plastic page dividers.  There were just enough paper pages in the album for me to include a plastic photo page between each paper page.  My plan is to add some embellishments on the left side, along with the day (and maybe the date) and then on the right side I'll include details about the day.

Since the front cover is mostly blank I plan to add something, I'm just not sure what it will be.  I'm considering this card but I don't really want a speech bubble so I may trim the card.  I may just add a variety of washi tapes, or I may paint the cover.  Lots of ideas in my head so I just need to decide what I think will work the best.

I've started to gather products that I plan to use in the album.  I need to gather a few more things and finalize my plan.  I'd like to have the base pages designed, if not created, by the time my photos arrive.  My goal is to complete this album by the end of September.

I'll be sharing my completed pages here over the next few weeks.  If you want to read more about Week in the Life you can visit Ali Edward's website here.

Sewing 101

I've been working on putting my Week in the Life album together, slowly for sure.  As a reminder, I documented one week in my life with photos and journaling back in July along with Ali Edwards and lots of other scrapbookers.

As I started laying out my album I decided to make 4 journaling cards for each day; one for each of the following:

• gratitude
• favorite moment
• overheard
• observations

I typed all of the journaling and cut the cards into the size I needed to fit into my page protector, which is a 9 pocket protector like a baseball card page protector.  Once I had them all printed and cut I decided to sew a line on each journaling card as an accent.  This required me to get out my sewing machine.  I would consider myself a novice sewer.  I have made a few aprons and one chef hat (I needed help with that!) and I once made myself a dress - a maternity dress.  By the time I had it done I was far too pregnant to fit into it, but I did wear it home from the hospital.

Because of my lack of experience this is what typically happens when I start sewing:

That's the instruction manual that came with my machine, and it gets a lot of use.  My struggle this particular day was the bobbin; for some reason I could not get it to work!  I tried many times (see the pile of thread up inthe left hand corner of the picture?) and then I consulted my manual and eventually figured it out.

I got my sewing done as you can see in this photo.  My goal wasn't to have perfect looking straight lines, I wanted them to look kind of messy.  That's my story and I'm sticking to it!  I decided to put the four journaling blocks all together in the same place for every day of the week.  That could change as I continue to work on the book.

When I pulled one of the journaling blocks out of the page protector to sew on it I accidently pulled out the photo behind it and didn't realize it until I had done the sewing.  So now this photo has the back side of my sewing efforts on it, which certainly wasn't my plan but I can live with it!

I will continue to share my album as I work on it . . . I hope to eventually get it done!  I think once I get a plan in place it will go quickly, but as usual the plan it taking a while.