kelsterjean

Let’s talk books! I’m back to the days where I’m glued to books, like when I was a teenager, reading Harry Potter in my room on summer vacay + hiding from the real world. (Well, sorta...except I have responsibilities + a job + adulting to do now).

Traveling on the train to + from Chicago, I have about an hour each way to do whatever I choose. I often get asked about my long commute, but truthfully I love it since it is at least two hours of uninterrupted me time a day (surrounded by dozens of strangers).

So since I haven’t had lots of time for my FAV hobby, memorykeeping, I’ve been filling it with reading. I used to read avidly when I was younger, then there was a period recently where I didn’t read a book for a year or two. But now I’m consistently reading again and I love it!

Here’s a look at what’s on my “currently reading” list:

• Robin by Dave Itzkoff
• Wish You Were Here by Stewart O’Nan
• The Avalon Ladies Scrapbooking Club by Darien Gee

This is the one I ended up giving my bestie. All of the paper on all 3 cards are journaling cards. (I know, right?). A 4x6 card that I cut down, layered a 3x4 card, then a label that I cut from a card. Looooveee!!

Next, I added a piece of mint doily, washi tape, and a chipboard flower. Oh, and then some sequins (gotta have sequins!).

Card #2. Started with a 4x6 again, cut down, and layered a 3x4.  Tag is cut from a card also. I layered a circle stamp (left side), washi tape, then more sequins. The balloon is a stamp with a tiny bit of pink watercolor paint. And some twine for a bit of texture. Ta da!

And last, card #3, and def my FAV. I still can't believe I made this! The juices were definitely flowing this night. Same as before: 4x6 journaling cards + washi tape + a chipboard doily/heart thing. And more sequins of course.

So there you have it. If you just tuned in and want to see my kit, check it out here.

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great day!

xoxo

PS: After Googling, I learned that apparently Buttercups are poisonous to humans + cattle unless they are dried out. You learn something new every day!

One of the fun things I've been wanting to participate in again lately is Counterfeit Kit Challenge.  Much thanks to my friend Doreena (who was sharing her made-up kits + projects using the challenges each month), I decided to play along this month.

If you have no idea what I'm talking about, the concept is very simple: create a scrapbook kit each month using only supplies in your own craft stash, inspired by the kit they choose for that month's inspiration. In the scrapbooking industry, so often we are focused on the latest + greatest products that we forget all the things we already have in our stash that we loved at one point.

So here is a look at this month's inspiration kit: from their website:

And here's the products I chose from my own craft stash + a list of what I included:

 

my embellishments for the kit.

I have to say, I loved loved loved this month's inspiration kit: the colors, the florals, the bicycle + tags/labels. It was all sooo cute and inspiring!

Now, it's not exactly the same, but that is the beauty of this challenge: you take the inspiration and use your imagination + creative mind to make it yours! My "papers" are all Project Life cards.

journaling cards ("papers"):

embellishments (from top left to bottom right):

Hello little blog, I missed you!

More and more lately, I've been feeling the need to find a space to write longer. Longer + more. Sometimes I forget that I have this little space!

I've always struggled with blogging, mainly because I think at one point I wanted to turn it into a full time gig, which I've finally realized is never gonna happen.

Also, I feel myself pulling away more and more from "connecting" on social media platforms. I like sharing my feelings + thoughts + opinions, but with limited characters and so much content, I find it hard to do that on these forums.

So I'll be making some changes to this space, I think, in the coming weeks, to transform it from a solely scrapbooking-based blog to more of a personal/crafty/lifestyle-ish home where I can share more about my life, what I've learned, and what's going on.

I hope you'll follow along, but even if you don't, that's okay too! Thank you for being a part of this space, at whatever time you have been in it's transition.

xoxo

Week 1 of Project Life is done and in the books already.  Woot woot!!! I meant to share a post about my plans for documenting 2018, and I still definitely plan to do that in another post, but I couldn't wait to share my Week One of Project, Life...and my first process video!!!

I've been getting a little braver each time I record a video, and so I decided to give a process video a shot.  I'm a really slow scrapbooker, so I basically had all my photos + products ready to go so that way I wasn't spending all my on-screen time making decisions and picking things out.

Check out my first process video and leave me some love!!

And here's a look at my full page layout.  I go into details about this page and the stories behind them in my video (that I hope you checked out!)  I really enjoyed creating this page and I'm super excited to be doing Project Life again!