Crafting Life Lessons with the Daily Diary Kit

Happy Saturday to you all. I found myself recently taking a lot of photos on a particular day. It wasn't officially a "Day in the Life" project but I wanted to document what a day was like for us this summer, the summer before we enter a new era of a school-going kid. I took out my Country Life kit to document it.

If there is one life lesson I have learned in crafting, it is to not overcommit myself to a project and to remember that it's okay to do a project on my own terms. This is no where near a full day documented. I didn't set my camera on a tripod to catch myself doing the daily routines; most of these pictures were taken with a few hours of each other. But this is pretty representative of a day in my life this summer even if it is lacking a few extra details.

Another life lesson I've learned in crafting is nothing will ever be perfect. There will always be something you wish would be different or could change on your page. But at some point, you've got to just let go and let things be as they are. I didn't particularly like the way this die cut heart made that picture feel too heavy. I worried that it made the whole layout a little off-balance. When I tried to pull it off, it was going to rip my photo so I had to let it be. So then I added a few other embellishments, using a red word art strip because having it be the same color as the heart made it so that it didn't add much extra weight. The small wood veneer heart in contrast with the larger die cut heart also seems to make it feel a little lighter, in my opinion. So is it perfect? No, but it works and I'm leaving it.

Another crafty life lesson I'll share with you today is that it's okay to go outside your normal style. On this "remember" card, I did several things that I don't normally. First, I made a smaller photo on top of a patterned card and then I included a lot of layers (for me anyway). It's busier than I tend to go but it was what I was feeling at the moment. I used to be concerned about all of my pages having similar styles so the albums seemed more cohesive, but now I've realized that nobody will ever be looking through my Project Life albums pointing out how varying the styles are. They will be more interested in the pictures and the stories. So I do each page how I feel inspired to make it and am no longer worried about overall album cohesion.

That's all I have for you today! I did an unboxing video for the September Daily Diary Kit called Show and Tell. You can watch it here.

Life Lessons, Me & Daily Diary

Hi everyone!  Today I am sharing a pocket page I created using August's Daily Diary Kit.  This week's focus has been on "Life Lessons".  I always love an opportunity to "dig deep", to write and reflect on things that I know to be true, things that I need to work on, and things that just bring me back to a place of centre.

Life is crazy. Life is busy.  I know for me, scrapbooking and paper crafting has always (and will forever continue to be) a place that brings me much peace, solitude and joy from a very chaotic and noisy world at times.  So to celebrate this, and to reflect on some "life lessons", I created this very simple pocket page to showcase some photos, some of my favourite life lesson reminders and personal journaling.

I used a 9x12 grid pocket page.  I created each of my 3x3 pattern paper squares from the kit.  I wanted to keep a similar colour trend going so I stuck close to the pinks and reds in the kit, popping the centre with the gorgeous blue and green floral card.  One of my favourite embellishments in this kit is the "this is the good life" banner.  So I simply used my sewing machine and stitched it to the 3x3 card.  Again, I wanted to keep this page simple.  Because for me, simplicity and "keeping things simple" is a huge ongoing life lesson for me.  I wanted my pocket page to reflect that.  To remind me that scrapbooking doesn't have to be complex, or difficult, or too busy and with too much stuff.  It can just be a mix of pretty patterns, photos, and a few extras and still be beautiful too.

I included some of my very favourite phrases into my pages.  "Choose Happy", "Smile Often", "Create Daily" "Be Brave" and "Love Always".  To create these cards with these phrases, I used the fabulous Project Life Alphas that were included in this month's kit.  They come in such a fabulous font...there are a million alphas...so I knew I would not run out of letters either. It was perfect and worked out great.

I then also added some personal journaling on 2 of the 3x3 cards.  One I wrote down some thoughts, and the other I simply chose words that pertain to happiness and just repeated them over and over.  I love how it created a background on the card and helped to accent the "happiness" sticker.

I really loved this challenge, and found it very therapeutic for me.  I love to create, but sometimes we all need reminders that bring us back to what matters most in life.  I am happy to have this page and add it into my collection for whenever I am needing inspiration, a quick pick me up...or to just look at pretty pattern paper! :)

DIY "Life Lesson" Embellishments-"Country Life" Classic Kit

I have made quite a few layouts using my "Country Life" Classic Kit.  So today I decided to use up some of the scraps and leftover bits and pieces to create some unique layered embellishments. I will use the embellishments on future layouts that feature various life lessons.

I started out with these scraps and leftover embellishments from the kit...

Then I grabbed a few of my favorite punches...

Next, I cut some of the "life lesson" sentiments from 2 of the papers...

After cutting the sentiments, I matched some of the scraps to each sentiment.  I tried to use scraps with colors that coordinated, yet popped with the colors on the sentiments...

After I choose the scraps that matched, I started pulling leftover embellishments from the kit to coordinate with each set.  A sticker here, a button there, some lace, a rub on, and the mason jar paperclip completed this step...

Finally, I started working on putting everything together and gluing it into place...

A few close up shots...

I can't wait to use these up on some layouts!!!  

If this inspires you to use some of your scraps to create embellishments, post pictures (or a link) in the comments, I would love to see them!!!

Happy Scrapping!!!

Life Lessons with the Country Life Daily Diary Kit

Our Life Lessons theme continues this week with my Project Life page using the Country Life Daily Diary Kit. My lesson is to embrace the everyday. It's very easy for me to get wrapped up in commute, work, commute, repeat. The routine becomes boring and tedious and I forget to enjoy the small things! I love summer ... it's a time to enjoy the longer days and embrace the everyday. Here's my PL page.

I used my handy dandy Fuse Tool again for this page to create a small shaker pocket with various sequins inside and adorable epoxy bees on the outside.

All my photos were printed with the Collect App and Pic Monkey.

Here's my last few close-ups.

We would love to see how you incorporate your Life Lessons in to your Project Life Pages or Layouts - please share them on the Noel Mignon Members Page. Stay tuned for more Life Lessons ideas from the DT!!