Amanda Rose Zampelli | the blog

December Daily 2014 // days 17 to 20

Zoom zoom zoom through December we go, and Happy Christmas week already! My December Daily is five pages/days away from being finished. I love that I'm gettin'er done this year in big part to the system I've been sticking to of using those red glitter me & my BIG ideas number stickers to mark the days, finalizing each page with a coordiating washi tape on the page protector's seam, and (mostly) journalling digitally.

See a flip-through of my finished DD spreads below:

Day 17 didn't have much going on except a bit of shopping in the evening. So to compensate for the lack of photos, I made one whole pocket Christmas stickers! Why not! Go nuts! 

When the sun went down on day 18, I laid down and caught a Coldplay concert on T.V. I watched the whole thing and sang along to each song, so that made it in the album.

Then, using more of those photo flips, I was able to include four more photos from day 18 of when I went to my friend Jamina's house and celebrated my first ever Hanukkah night!

Over each photo, I stuck a clear white mambiSTICK holiday sticker like I've been doing throughout my December Daily.

I was invited to the Christmas Spectacular at Radio City Music Hall on day 19, and I enthusiastically accepted the invitiation! That evening recorded below:

Day 20 had me up and at 'em to the gym, running Saturday errands with dad (surprise surprise), and meeting Tomas and his family for Chinese food dinner in Flushing. I documented those things below and embellished with tons of me & my BIG ideas holiday goodies:

Finally, I created a page dedicated to the cats and the tree because there's something about the Christmas tree that these cats (all cats? all people?) can't seem to get enough of.

That's it for today!  Thanks for visiting!  I look forward to sharing the final few pages of my December Daily with you soon!

See my DD 2014 days 1 to 12 here. // 13 to 16 here. // See DD 2014 beginnings here. //
See my DD 2013, 2012, 2011.

December Daily 2014 // days 13 to 16

Days 13 to 16 are in the bag...or the book, actually. I'm enjoying the system I developed of using those red glitter me & my BIG ideas number stickers to mark the days, finalizing each page with a coordiating washi tape on the page protector's seam, and (mostly) journalling digitally.

See a flip-through of my finished DD spreads below. I'm using a 6x8 SN@P! album, Ali Edwards stamps, and Studio Calico and me & my BIG ideas embellishments.

Now, let's walk through each day, starting with Day 13. It was a mostly lazy Saturday morning, followed by an errand-running afternoon with dad, including a trip to IKEA.

Day 14's morning and afternoon was spent crafting days 1 to 12 in my December Daily album. In the evening, my cranky, stressed college-semester-finishing sister went to dinner at SMASHBurger with me, and then I went back to her quaint & cozy apartment to help her with a new 48" T.V. I walked 3.3 miles home under the starry night sky and took pictures of lit houses.

Our burger dinner & a lit house can be seen by flipping up the pocket. Flip-up pocket found here. 

Day 15 was uneventful. I worked all day and watched Gone Girl with mom in the evening.  To document it, I filled up a blank calendar card, put my (15) red glitter mambi circle sticker where it belonged, and wrote 'gone girl with mom' in the notes section. I also used two self-timer portraits of Jack and I in front of the tree with mom's my new mug "I ♥ elves".

The right side 'I love having NO commute' page came from a spontaneous burst of creativity that occurs every now and then. It's something I've been thing a lot so far this cold December, and felt right to include in my DD.

My cousin Lauren's Birthday was Day 16, so the fam came over Tuesday night for dinner. A few collage images of the night was the page in my DD to document it:

...and that's all she blogged. Thanks for visiting!  I look forward to sharing the rest of my pages with you soon!

See my DD 2014 days 1 to 12 here. // See DD 2014 beginnings here. // See 2013, 2012, 2011.

December Daily 2014 // days 1 to 12

There's something about December. ...and there's somethng about early Sunday mornings that bang the craftiness right out of me! That's what happened all moring and afternoon yesterday: I banged days 1 to 12 of my December out into my Project Life Comeback album*.

I used those red glitter 1 to 12 circle mambiSTICKS to mark the days // see pages below:

Let's start with day 1 that was two weeks ago (time is flying!) -- Tomas left for his work trip to Chicago. I was getting ready for my trip back home to NY, neighbors' wreathes were up, and I stamped the word 'December' in a bunch of my notebooks:

There was a page dedicated to this year's christmas cards that I mailed using those awesome Rudolph stamps:

Day 2's highlights consisted of making this Oda Mae Brown frame as one of my sister's Christmas presents since we both love the movie Ghost and repeat that quote to each other all the time, and the night wine made everything better. :)

Day 3 had the evening that felt like autumn.  I had gone to Target for a case of water and left with all those early Christmas goodies to myself, including a gaudy bejewled iPhone case that I'm obsessed with. Then I drove quite a ways in the dark to get Chop Burger's 10 Pepper Burger.

Day 4 was a bit gloomy for me, but all in all, productive and good. I feel like every second of Christmas time can't be a great big ball of bliss, right? It's important to document those stressful, maybe even sad, moments in the name of 'real life', but I like to maintain a tone of gratitude and 'glass half full' a majority of the time.

Day 5 I left for New York and wished 'Happy Holidays' to the tiny Texas town that had been my home for three months prior. Then it was 3 airports and 2 plane ride with my kitties.

The next day, my family and I had a Thanksgiving Re-Do dinner. Day 6's page documented it:

Day 7, my sister and I decided to take a drive to the outlets. For this story, I took a Studio Calico card and changed it to fit the details that we dashed from store to store and that my sister spent sooo much money. ;) See that on instagram here.

That card also flips up to reveal my sister in the drive's seat of the photo. Flip up pocket found here.

Day 8 ended up being a whole page photo since mom & I put the tree up that day. I love how it turned out with the digital journalling and the clear white mambiSTICK.

I used another whole photo for day 9, with some digital journalling to tell the story. Besides this morning-cup-of-coffee-by-the-tree pic, I worked all day and didn't take any photos.

Day 10 was not my day, and it snowed.

That card also flips up to reveal a photo and story underneath, but that day was not my day. Moving on.

I went to the gym on Day 11, for the first time since...umm... Anyway, that was the most notable happening. I used the stamp trick Elsie exaplined about here on the top photo to make the pattern, and then stuck a red 'tistheSeason mambiSTICK:

Day 12 had me wrapping the first present to be wrapped of the season, and I did it in fancy white and silver woodgrain wrap from Target. It was to be brought to a Girls' Grab Bag dinner, which my friend, Danielle's, boyfriend ended up crashing:

There you have it, folks!  Somethings that have been working:

• using those red glitter number circles
• washi tape on the seams
• mostly digital journalling
• average 1 to 3 pics per day

Thanks for visiting!  I look forward to sharing the rest of my pages with you soon!

See my DD 2014 beginnings here. // See 2013, 2012, 2011.

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*Remember last week when I said someboday at the airport stole my PL album from my checked baggage? Well, my bad! I had packed it away in a box to shipped instead. FedEx delievered it safely to my dsoorstep. I felt like such a boob! Haa!

somebody stole my Project Life album

Happy Monday, and yep, you read that title right. Somewhere either in Dallas, Boston, or Queens someboday is walking around town with my Project Life album. I had put it in my large luggage that I checked at the Dallas airport, as I knew I'd want to work on it as soon as I got home, and alas - I went to unpack it and my album was gone. Also gone was my Fiskars paper trimmer. What was not taken was my super expensive Nikon camera, but it was more buried underneath clothes than my trimmer and album were.

I don't get why someone would want it...???...and it sucks because my baby pictures were all up in it. My 30 in 30 list also. Also in pockets were some gold foil letterpresed cards, sequins, and alphas I was saving for specific events, and my December Daily intro. I'm grateful I have pictures and posts of all of it, but keeping up with an album is hard enough without it being stolen. ...and why would someone want (!!!) my baby pictures, I just don't get it. 

I plan to pick up another chevron SNAP! album, but feel all pissy about it. ...and Jet Blue wasn't as apologetic as I hoped they'd be.  I suppose they don't get how much time and attention we scrappers put into this beloved little hobby of ours. ♥

December Daliy 2014 // beginnings

Since 2011, I have spent a special amount of time in December documenting my days throughout the holiday. Only in 2012 did I discover Ali Edwards’ project, December Daily, and that year I made my first DD mini book. Last year, I created a mini book in an attempt to document the entire month of December, but I only got so far as designing the cover.  Graphic design school was finishing up and my final project was due Dec 20, so all my December energy went to that. 

This year, I'm ready. My Project Life COMEBACK has commenced, and my December documenting shall be going right into my 6x8 Project Life ablum documenting my journey through year 30. Most of the papers are from the mambi 'All that Glitter' Christmas box kit. These new gold foil Christmas mambiSTICKS too.

I just want to get my December down in photos and words. I feel this year's December being transformative, as I'll be spending it at home in New York after living apart from family in Texas for the past three months. ...I'm also going to be introducing the boops to mom's new kitten, Jack Black, having a Thanksgiving re-do dinner, and continuing some holiday decorating traditions with my cousin Claudia. ...not to mention a December date with these gals, and a possible ugly Christmas sweater party. I want to record it all. I want to be in the moment with it all. 

*See how I made that mini Starbucks™ red cup embellishment HERE.

So I'm excited for December. I think my pages have captured my excitement. Also this song on loop...and the rest of them here.

Happy almost-December! Happy holiday crafting! My your month be merry & bright!

my Project Life COMEBACK // the intro

A month ago I mentioned that I'm not into the idea of Project Life catch up, but I'm THRILLED over the idea of a Project Life COMEBACK!  In that post, I said that with my 30th birthday on November 9th, my Project Life comeback would commence.

Well, here are the first few pages in the 6x8 album: the 29 years leading up to where I am today...

I used the number stickers from this me & my BIG ideas sticker pack to mark the years. The clear stickers are from a new 'birthday' themed me & my BIG ideas clear stickers pack. 

The black & white striped paper is from this 12 x 12 mambiSHEETS paper pack. (Also used here.)

To overlay the numbers and stickers, I trimmed a few clear transparency films down to size, and adhered the stickers to that rather than the actual pocket pages or photos:

This way you could see the photos by themselves, unembellished, while still knowing what year of my life the photo portrays.

I used a simple paper clip to keep the embellished film overlays attached to the pocket page. That way - when the pages are turned, they turn together.

I like how these first few pages came out. I had something like this in mind after being inspired four years ago from Mayra doing the same kind of thing leading up to her 28th birthday in this blog post. Isn't it amazing how sometimes inspiration lies dormant until the right project comes along for it inspire?

Thanks for viewing! Stay tuned for future pages of this album documenting my journey through 30.

To see past pages of my Project Life albums, go here. || All about Project Life itself, go here. ♥

my Project Life COMEBACK (!!!) // the plan

I'm not into the idea of Project Life catch up, but I'm THRILLED over the idea of a Project Life COMEBACK!

I haven't created a Project Life spread since June, and the thought of 'catching up' and authentically documenting my July, August, September, and now October is daunting...and let's be real: not gonna happen. I know why those months didn't make it into an album, and anything in those months I wanted to document, I've done so in a mini book or on this blog.

So instead of going back, I'm excited at the prospect of pushing forward -- and choosing a future date with some importance that this COMEBACK will commence! The date I've chosen... 

...is November 9, 2014 -- my 30th birthday.  My Profect Life COMEBACK is happening in the form of an album that will document my 30th year on this planet. I plan to fill the album from November 9th 2014 to November 9th 2015. I plan to include December Daily in this album, and not freak out about a separate album for that month of documenting.

The whole point of this album is to eliminate freak outs ...to bring Project Life back in my life, and to make it a habit again. Because I have two years of Project Life under my belt (2013 & 2012), I have a good idea of what worked and what didn't.  Like many, I'm switching to the smaller 6x8 format.  Like many, I'm not going to worry about documenting weekly things, but instead: documenting worthy things. 

I've done my Project Life research in preparation for this COMEBACK, and some albums that have inspired me can be seen collectively on my PROJECT LIFE Pinterest board. The supplies getting me hyped for this COMEBACK is listed below:

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14

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One month from today, we're going to get this party started.
Consider this your invitation. Hope to see you there.

Project Life 2014 | June |

Hey, everybody! It's been a while since I've had any Project Life-related things to post, but since being let go of my design job at We R Memory Keepers, I've had a lot of resume-updating, job researching, and applying to do. Not to mention a long 4th of July weekend and beach plans to keep. Graduation parties. Weddings. Independence. Phew!

So here I am: back on the blog with a little bit of June. 

I found this huge, plastic, sparkley ice pop in a Hallmark store a couple of weeks ago, and I knew I had to have it! Isn't it fabulous?!

My original plan was to create six pages for | June | and jam all the photos from the month throughout and explain in detail, but none of that creation took place these past 10 days of July...so I'm keeping June to just this two-page spread and moving on.

On the right-side page, I stuck a few of my favorite random photos from the month.  They weren't from any particular event, but just a good random round-up of the start of Summer, and what June was about for me. 

Looking forward: I'm undecided about how Project Life is going to look for me in July and the rest of this year.  The past two years, I started a second album for the months of July to December, but I think any other time I feel like Project Life-ing this year, I'm just going to add a page in this already started January-June 2014 album. Why not, right?

I usaully have many creative projects going on at the same time, and bounce from one to the other depending on my mood. I started this watercolor painting-meets-stamping journal, and the art from that project has me really excited at the moment. Also, the start of a mini-book is in the works, home-decor collaging has been big with me lately, and of course: my Erin Condren Planner art is a weekly creative quicky. ;) 

Thanks for stopping by, as always. ♥ You can find me on instagram | twitter | pinterest | bloglovin'.

*For more of my past project life spreads and crafts, go HERE. 
*For more on the project life system itself, go HERE.

life album 2014 |weeks 21 & 22|

Hi, readers and peepers from the We R blog and beyond! 

Thanks for stopping by and happy Friday! I'm Amanda Rose Zampelli, and I was recently hired by We R Memory Keepers as a product designer and as a bonus: I get to blog a bit for them too!

Here are weeks |21 & 22| in my life album and to sum it up: I had a fabulous, relaxing much needed Memorial Day Weekend and Tomas was in town for a week.

These past few months in my life album have been very photo-heavy.  This happens every Spring and Summer since the lighting is better and I take so many more photos.

That "blessing/curse" print from here.  That grey "THIS HAPPENED" insert coming soon in my October kit for We R. ;)

When a spread  is photo-heavy, I tend to do my journalling digitally right on top of the photos.  

However, I did use my new Week in Review design in between both |week 21| and |week 22|'s pages, and hand journalled about my week on those:

Oh, that sweet sweet Memorial Day Weekend BBQ...

Next up, was |week 22|...

...so what do you think, all my memory keepers and pocket scrapbookers out there?

Is this a product that - if put into a kit and sold at your nearest craft store - you could see yourself buying and using throughout your album?  

It was fun to use in these two spreads, and took out the work of making a title card and marking what days of the year you were documenting about.  Other awesome things about this potential We R product is that it gives you a designated place to journal the week's happenings and from week-to-week, you'll have a cohesive design style. 

I'm a bit excited about bringing up this product in our New Product Meeting next week, but I'd love to hear your feedback.  Anything you would change? Let me know in the comments! Fun!

In the meantime, you can find me on instagram | twitter | pinterest | bloglovin', or pop in every Friday to see my crafts and fun things in collaboration with my new work family at We R Memory Keepers.

*For more of my past life album spreads and crafts, go HERE. 
*For more on how to build an album yourself, go HERE.

life album 2014 |weeks 18 & …whoops |week 20|

Hi, readers and peepers from the We R blog and beyond! 

Thanks for stopping by and happy Friday! I'm Amanda Rose Zampelli, and I was recently hired by We R Memory Keepers as a product designer and as a bonus: I get to blog a bit for them too!

I am super excited for what I have to share with you in today's post.  In fact, I'm so excited, I messed up. Turns out these life album pages don't document |weeks 18 & 19|, they document |Week 20|.  Whoops! Oh well.

The important thing to focus on is that I used a handful of my very first designs with We R Memory Keepers to be released this Fall in |week 20|'s two-page spread!  Although it's kind of early for a sneak peak, I couldn't NOT use themin this latest spread, now that I know they are some of the actual designs that are going to be used and printed and available in the world for you guys to create with!

Any guesses as to which inserts are my designs? There are five. ;)

I also added an insert between the two pages - one side documenting my New York City night-out for Natalie's Birthday, and the other side documenting this year's Mother's Day.

Hot pink washi tape and a clear flag border embellished the edge of the insert, to separate it from the main pages of the spread.

And there you have it.  |Week...uh...20|. ;)  ...and a sort of 'what's to come' from me in connection with We R Memory Keepers.  I plan to include more of these sneaks in my pocket scrapbooking in weeks to come, so stay tuned.  You'll surely be hearing about it. ♥ 

In the meantime, you can find me on instagram | twitter | pinterest | bloglovin', or pop in every Friday to see my crafts and fun things in collaboration with my new work family at We R Memory Keepers.