Amanda Rose Zampelli | the blog

one little word 2015 : PROOF // february

In 2015, I shall be participating in Ali Edwards One Little Word™ exercise by actively looking for PROOF that good things are going to happen. PROOF is my one little word, and I've already blogged about why and the making of this 8x8 board book, and my January page.

This is the post on how I recorded the PROOF I found in February. The first thing I did was stick clear white mambiSTICKS alphas on top of a trimmed to size transparency page -- something I plan to do for each page in this book.

When you turn back the 'feb' titled transparency, there three punched papers folded over and included in February's PROOF. The first is a page from Show Your Work! about stock & flow.

The second folded paper consists of two pages photocopied from eat.pray.love. that I read and was exactly going through. It was like PROOF that I was not alone, and that I will survive.

The third folded over paper included in February's round up of PROOF was a letter I typed to Tomas. 

After those papers, I recorded the PROOF I found in February on hot pink post-its marked with hot pink date stamp. You saw at the end of January's post that I started doing that on February's page, and I guess it just stuck (no pun intended).

I have no real plan moving forward except to overlay each month's PROOF page with a transparency sheet labeled with the first three letters of that month. Below are March to June, all prepped and ready.

For more on my one little word go HERE. // See the cover to this minibook HERE. // Browse past minibooks HERE.

one little word 2015 : PROOF // january

In 2015, I shall be participating in Ali Edward's One Little Word™ exercise by actively looking for PROOF. PROOF is my one little word, and I've already blogged about why and the 8x8 board book I plan to use to document my year of finding PROOF. 

I started the book by clipping a me & my BIG ideas print that matches the silver foil sticker I used at the beginning of my PL album to the inside cover, and by washi-taping a note paper of my reasons why I chose PROOF. Then, because each page in the book represents a month, I created a January title page by sticking some mambi alpha stickers on a clear transparency. (Transparencies have been my thing so far this year.)

For January, I decided to create a paper strip list of good things and answered prayers that January proved to me. Also on the list were times the word "prove" or "proof" appeared in conversation.

For each item on the list, I created a 1.5 inch box in Photoshop to include a hot pink date stamp. I got this particular Heidi Swapp date stamp in Michael's.   

I had just enough jots to fill my page, and it was an interesting challenge for me to document sans images. To ready February's page, I've been jotting down on hot pink post-its the ways PROOF has been revealing itself in my life this month.

I don't know if I'll make the same paper strip list for February, or maybe just leave the post-its, or what. Maybe I'll incorporate photos somehow, maybe magazine cuttings? All I know is I want to find PROOF and I want to record it and I want to get a page a month in this mini done.  

Are you participating in one little word this year?
If so, what is your word?
How are you planning to document it?

See the cover to this minibook HERE. // Browse through all my past minibooks HERE.

one little word 2015 : PROOF

It's February 2nd and I need PROOF. PROOF that good things are going to happen. PROOF that love is alive, a question heard recently in this song. PROOF that God answers prayers. PROOF that all my fears are just white noise in my brain. PROOF that all my waiting and work has been worth it. In 2015, I shall be participating in Ali Edward's One Little Word™ exercise by actively looking for PROOF. 

To help me document (...cause that's what I do, DUH) the ways I find PROOF this year I decided to make a mini album using this board book. It has six pages, twelve sides - one for each month. I used different grey-colored paper from Studio Calico for the interior pages, and a beautiful bright pink forest paper for cover. I kinda like the subtle intensity the color combo gives it, as that feeling matches how I feel about my word.

I haven't decided yet how I want to record the PROOF I find on each 'monthly' page, whether it be jots or photos or a combination of both, but I'll be sure to let you know when I figure it out. 

The gist of why this word made sense for me at the start of this year is found in this quote:

"There are years that ask questions and years that answer." - Zora Neale Hurston

For me, the past three years have asked. In fact, the whole decade of my 20s have been years of constant questionning: When will I feel grown up? Why didn't he love me back? What should I do with my life? Should I go into teaching? When will I become a teacher? Why don't I enjoy teaching? What do I do now? Is Tomas the one? Will I find a job? Why am I so afraid all the time? When will I move out? How can I move out? Is this it or is there something more?  How do I know? Will it all be okay?...and on and on and on.

I'm due for a year with some answers, and I'm hoping this year I'll get some. That's why 'PROOF'... which joins last year's WORK, 2013's MAKE, and 2012's MOVEMENT. At the end of this year, all four words will be a part of me, and we shall see what comes of it. -- ♥ARZ♥

my BACK HOME mini book

Two weeks ago, I was back home in New York on a long weekend visit. I posted about the prep & plan of this book the day before I left for that long weekend, and here is the finished mini.

I kept to the few papers I picked out from mambi, one from my It Factor line, and one from Studio Calico.

I used a bunch of mambiSTICKS stickers to embellish, and cut up some graphics from some me & my BIG ideas POCKET PAGES™ cards. 

You can click on any of the images to enlarge them. I loved meeting little Jack Black. ♥ ♥ ♥ 

I kept my journalling simple - drew my own black lines and hand wrote them in different tip-size black marker pens.

I suppose it came together like an art journal with a consistent collage/diary motif across each page. 

Paper accents, photos, handwriting, date stamping...

...a bit messy, well-worn and thrown together, but most definitely an accurate record of that long weekend back home, and I will love it forever for that reason. 

To see past mini books I've made, go here. Thanks for visiting! 

BACK HOME mini book prep

paper | alphas | stickers | cards | journal cards

Happy Workspace Wednesday, everybody! My workspace looks like ^this^ today because I'm working on binding together a thin little mini book to take with me on my travels back to New York tomorrow. I'm going to be there from Thursday to Tuesday, and I plan to document my 51/2 days 'back home' in simple photos + jots. (I suppose I've been inspired by all the fabulous Weeks in the Life I've been seeing floating around instagram & the internet lately.)

Although I'm excited to go home, I'm also a bit nervous, and plan to write that all down. I'm also going to help my mom 'break in' her new black kitten she's getting on Halloween (SO EXCITED) and attend the baby shower of one of my best friends.

I'm looking forward to recording these things, as I haven't documented my everyday since this work trip mini book, and my Project Life comeback does not commence until the weekend after this one. I'll be back with the finished product some time next week. ♥ Enjoy the rest of your day!

an accordion mini book of my California trip

Hey, readers and peepers! Today I'm sharing this cute accordion mini of 4x4 phots from my recent work trip to California. I was inspired to make this after reading about Kelly's mini accordion album, and doing some research on how to put an accordion album together using 12x12 sheet of paper. 

First, I used Photoshop to touch-up and resize 12 of my favorite shots from my trip. I left a thin white frame around each photo, and included some digital journalling on some of them. Then, I printed the photos out with my HP Photosmart 7520 printer on glossy photo paper. I trimmed them to size with a paper cutter, and adhered each to an accordion-style base I created using two 12x12 pieces of white cardstock.

For this project, I wanted to keep it simple and only embellish using me & my BIG ideas gold foil clear stickers. I've been ALL ABOUT THEM, and last used them in this simple 9/11 project.

On the backs of the photos, I cut in half and stuck these me & my BIG ideas Jumbo adhesiveLABELS to journal on.  I was going to hand-write on them, but instead decided to quickly print out a sentence explaining each photo.

*my new job 

I've been liking the idea of mini albums lately. They're a good way to keep up the memory keeping if you're like myself and in between Project Life albums. I also like that once they're done, they're done and ready to display. A cute, little accumulated storybook of photos... 

I was debating whether or not to make the album a smaller number of squares by putting photos on the front and back, and sacrifice the journalling.  I also debated whether to make the album horizontal or vertical. I ended up choosing vertical and all on one side. It made for a difficult photo session, but I like the length of the mini in person. It'd be perfect to hang on a craftroom wall with a piece of washi tape.

You can view this project and get info on the product used on the me & my BIG ideas blog. 

As always, thanks for visiting. ♥ Come back soon!