My Project 366 progress

Right now, my craft room is a serious disaster area.  Not only is it in the midst of reorganization, but I’m making a big push to finish up my 2012 Project 366 album at the same time.  I’ve made it a goal to use only paper from my scrap/off-cut box as much as possible, and I’m also using up a ton of of my alpha and embellishment stash.

So, this is what my craft room looks like (and yes, the reorganization is actually happening…even if you can’t believe it from the photo):

A: the actual album, in progress
B: alphas
C: title cards from the Clementine kit
D: more alphas
E: some letter/number stamps, because I don’t have the sticker alphas I need
F: what’s this?  more alphas!  apparently, I need to spread out every alpha sheet I own to see what I’ve got
G: offcuts/scraps of neutral and white cardstock
H: Silhouette and paper trimmer.  I use the paper trimmer on the floor because the album seems to take up the whole table.  The Silhouette usually lives on the table, but I was using it downstairs the other night and haven’t put it back.
I: a Cropper Hopper paper holder!!  Yes!!!  organization will happen!!!  But not quite yet… it’s not out of the box…
J: offcuts/scraps of patterned paper
K: slippers, because my feet get cold
L: die cut titles (designed by moi!) for the weekly title cards
M: random light switch cover left in the house by previous owner.  I should probably find a better place to store it

Chaos.  But organized chaos.

I have to tell you, this album is taking on a life of its own.

This album is particularly special because it doubles as my daughter’s baby book, which is probably one reason why I’m putting so much pressure on myself.  This means that not only is there a photo for each day in 2012 (I think I only missed one or two days!!), but I also have been putting together inserts to highlight extra events (vacations, Husband’s job interviews, etc.) and other photos that I can’t bear to leave out but didn’t make the cut for a particular day.

I have it in my head that it needs to be a thing of beauty (and a joy forever) with all kinds of extra embellishments and special title cards for each week.  There is a part of me that knows that I cannot possibly do this and also have time to do any other project in my wishlist.  But there is another part of me that knows that if I don’t at least try to do some of my “ideal” embellishment, I will always be unhappy with the album.  So I’m trying to walk the line between having a good time and driving myself crazy.

But this album NEEDS to be finished.  I am so, so ready to move on.

So in the past couple of days, I’ve been tackling the biggest remaining task: getting my weekly title cards and filler cards put together and into the album.  I’m also finishing up all the insert pages.

Here is a completely finished spread.  I finished it today.  I’m pretty sure that it is the only one that is completely finished.  Most of the others just need a filler 3×4 card and maybe a weekly title card. 

As you can see, I’ve dug into my stash to add alphas, labels, and little stickers to embellish the pages.  The title card is made from a little mini-album calendar made by a friend of my mom’s.  It was obvious that she put a lot of effort into each page, so I’ve taken it apart and am using the pages in my weekly title cards throughout the album.

This week includes an insert of everyday type photos that I hadn’t used for the daily photos.

(Note: I’m posting this snippet of my album today because I have been seeing the challenge at Write.Click.Scrapbook all week to “use your stash”.  I was lamenting the fact that because I’m working on this album, I don’t have the time to make a regular layout… and then I realized that this too is a project that uses my stash.  So I took some photos and am linking up!  Brainwave.)

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