Supplies include apothecary stickers; vintage paper and Pantone, cloud, phrase, and vintage washi tape stickers all from Shein; washi tape from The Washi Tape Shop; repurposed pages from a vintage gardening book; moo mini-card with original photo; repurposed New Yorker cartoon from a used planner; repurposed sticker-book stickers; two original photos, and other miscellaneous stock paper and scrap supplies.
In my search for other paper crafters online recently, I found Azzari Jarrett’s blog, which features design, photography, storytelling, and more. In February, Azzari offered some free printables to honor Black History Month, and I was able to use many of them in a recent Project Life page.
This layout was created to document a staged reading of Knock Me a Kiss, a play by Charles Smith based on one period of Yolande Du Bois’ life (daughter of W.E.B. Du Bois) and part of the fifth annual Du Bois Legacy Festival in Great Barrington, Mass.
I also used Project Life journaling/filler cards and my Phomemo printer; 8.5×11 page in a 12×12 album.
This was the quickest “retrospective” layout I’ve made since I started this process: today is March 6, and I’ve just completed this monthly intro page for February.
It’s pink to match the handmade Valentine pages, with plenty of winks to love: including a couple that remind us love can be deathly.
It’s also one of the more literal pages I’ve created; the Scrabble-tile month-label is a nod to an actual game with a friend — notable because it was the first in years. It was a good month for travel and gifts, and I really did spend some time with penguins.
We’re only just in March, so this layout is part hope, part intuition, part planning. I imagine the gardening will kick off this month, for one…but I’m not interested in over scheduling myself. Just to keep an eye on the horizon, and to keep writing.
I posted recently about a new addition I’m trying in my Project Life album — scrap-journal-style monthly intro pages. Here are two more that are theoretically done:
September
While my first attempt at one of these spreads was more of a vision board, September’s was closer to a retrospective. Looking back at the photos of the month, I remember feelings of hope and rebirth, mixed with the foreboding that, while I was away fighting a different battle, some things had gone stagnant at my normal station.
Month and quote stickers printed with Phomemo mini-printer
January
January’s page became kind of a whackfest, but it also used a lot of loose supplies and repurposed items. I think it’s representative of the month; it went fast, we did a lot of art projects, and I had no idea what year it was.
Elements:
Repurposed greeting cards
Repurposed kid’s sticker-book stickers
Repurposed daily planner pages (vintage ad, New Yorker cartoon)
The annual Hilltown Families Handmade Valentine Swap is a tradition I’ve participated in several times now, in which children, adults, and families living in the “Hidden Hills” of the Berkshires make and receive homemade Valentines.
I first joined the fold in the “adult” category, before Juli was born; but it’s become a favorite art project for us to work on together.
Last year, we made magic wands and flowers with heart-shaped petals using Avery labels, foam hearts, wooden craft sticks, and ribbon.
We took a cue from Avery (the company’s blog and weekly inspo eblast is a great one) again this year: As it happens, 3/4″ diameter round labels (dots) are the same size as the bottom of a Hershey’s Kiss, and Avery offers a printable template to turn your Kisses into home-made conversation hearts.
We had some perfectly sized Valentine stamps in-house, though, and chose to manually stamp our labels instead of using the template. The stamps were a gift, but similar to these, and I found a red ink-pad via 2000 Plus office supplies.
Three Kisses in a baggie looks a little bit like a heart, and a festive enough with some Valentine-ribbon. I found both the Kisses and the ribbon in bulk on Amazon.
Then, we paired them with Juli’s handmade Valentine cards to mail to her list of recipients (10 other kids of varying ages, living in towns across western Massachusetts). She chose to make a different card for every person this year, as opposed to assembly-line style (which also has its merits).
Juli started receiving her handmade Valentines the first week in February, but I hoarded them until our traditional heart-shaped pizza feast on Valentines Day to see the spoils. As usual, it’s a great haul, including some newspaper art, an original pen-and-ink illustration, a clay coaster I’m using right now, and a sassy flamingo.
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