Project Life {Week 9}: New Table in the studio

Wow...hard to believe that it is the middle of March already!  Of course the fact that we spent the first ten days on vacation in Charleston, SC really made the time fly by.  Why is it that when you go on vacation the time really seems to zoom by...so fast that you can't even remember what you did!  That's why I love taking photos and working on my Project Life album so much this year.  It has encouraged me to take a ton of photos and to print them.  I was already in the habit of taking photos for my blog.  But let's be honest...who really wants to scroll through pages of blog posts to find your favorite photos?   Don't get me wrong...I appreciate how blogging has helped me keep track of our memories with all of the journaling I've completed.   However...my family would rather read less and look more...they really like looking at all the pretty pictures with quick captions and less...blah...blah...blah!  As they tell me ;}

Before we left on vacation I had set up a new table in my living room (formerly the library ;) that is now dedicated to my scrapbooking my Project Life album this year.

This year I have been taking a bunch of painting classes and it basically requires that I have my painting supplies out on my studio desk full time.  Which meant that I was constantly picking up my supplies and rearranging my desk to make room for my Project Life album and always being nervous that I was going to get paint on my album or photos...not a good thang!  So on any given day...you'll find me scooting my office chair back and forth from my painting desk to my scrapbooking desk ;}

So I ordered a new, light-weight plastic topped table (24"Deep x 48" Long) from Office Max.  While I waited for it to be delivered...I went over to my storage unit and dug out this old table cover that I had made for my office when I was working full-time a few years back.  It has a water stain on top where the coffee pot dripped (oops ;) but it still looks good and lets me hid stuff underneath..he he he!

On top I've placed my Project Life supplies from the Core Kit that I ordered; my rubber stamp carousel] and all my cutting tools and adhesives...corralled in a tray...for easy access, as well as removal... should I have to take the table down for the day should I need the space, etc.

So far so good...because after we got back from vacation on Monday...I was able to get right back to work by Wednesday to complete my pages for {Week 9}.

This week I did a two page-spread with a 12"x12" traditional page on the left; a 12"x12" divided on the right; and a modified insert.  For the left hand page, I used a plain piece of scrapbooking paper to adhere a few photo mosaics that I had created the week before to send to my family in New Hampshire along with a few get-well cards.  I took a bunch of old photos from the 70's and the 80's from my Mom's photo box and scanned them and edited them and created the 5"x7" photo mosaicswith captions to identify all  my family...in case they had trouble identifying their younger selves...lol  After mounting the photos, I added a simple journaling card, some dynamo labels and a few rub-ons to complete the page.

After printing my photos, I selected a 6x6 Horizontal Page Protector to slip my photos into for the right hand side page.  All of these photos are of the projects that I worked on for the week.  Again...I used my black dynamo labeler for making simple photo descriptions...this seems to work best when I don't feel like opening up a photo editor and using their photo journaling software.  Some days I just like to keep things simple...better done that perfect...remember!

Since I had more photos and ephemera this week, I also needed to add a divided insert...however, I prefer to have the extra pages "smaller" that the regular pages so I took a 12"x12" page protector that had a 6"x12" horizontal opening in the top to hold the last of my photo mosaic photos.  I mounted the photo onto the white back of some of my printed artwork and added some black labels and rub-ons.  For the vertical sections, I cut down the card that I had gotten from my sister Bonnie to fit into the 4"x6" openings and next to it I placed a photo of the gift that came along with it.

For the back of the insert, I placed a piece of my artwork in the top section and placed a photo of my new hair-do...front and back and loads of curls ;}  Then for the bottom vertical areas I placed the inside, hand-written note from my sister's gift card in one area.  Then for the photo I made another collage of the special that Shutterfly offered for this Leap Year...101 Free Photos...oh yeah! 

Once I had finished adding all of my dynamo labels and rub-ons and had placed everything inside it's designated protector area...and then I ran the edge of the protector underneath my sewing machine and did a couple lines of zig-zag stitches before I trimmed the excess page protector away. 

For the TAB...I simply folded a scrap piece of my artwork paper and held it in place while I ran it through the sewing machine.  Then I added a few dynamo labels for a quick reference...oh yeah...CUTCHO!...well that is the nick-name that my Dad and all eight of his brothers called each other whenever they got together.  Guess they couldn't remember all those names ;}

For the back of the TAB...I simply placed Saturday on there since it correlated to the day I got my hair done before we headed out on vacation.

Hope you all enjoyed visiting my new studio space and viewing my Project Life pages once again. I'm sharing my post on Project Life Tuesday hosted by Jessica of The Mom Creative and with Jennifer of Studio JRU for Sneak Peek Friday. 

Hope you all have a fantastic week.

Fondly, Roberta

Comments

[Jennifer_StudioJRU]

You are so organized Roberta! How great to have a separate spot for painting and for scrapbooking. Your book is looking so good. The tabs are great! Love the curly hair... I am a curly girl too! ;)

[Jen]

Oh I love this! I JUST started Project Life too! I have to set up a station like you have because I can stay on top of it with everything right at my fingertip. I love seeing your layouts and your PL table. I will be back! :)

[Bonnie]

Love the PL pages and your new "do" looks fab! It is great to have two tables to work on, especially as you say, you are busy with more than one project at a time. I also have two tables in my studio, one is actually my PC desk with my printer on etc, but since the I share the laptop with my daughter, we can just take it off and pack it away if I need to use the PC table or she wants to do some crafts. Hope you are well and had a good vacation!

[Jen]

Looks like your table is working great! I love where you ran the page protectors through the sewing machine and added those tabs. Perfect touch!