MTN WEEKLY 2016 #9

I admit, I skipped a week in my MTN, but only because I just couldn't keep up with all my journaling and creating new projects when I know I should be finishing the old ones. But don't get me wrong, I'm still doing my MTN weekly - just in a different style, and one that I like a lot more than before. If you follow me on Instagram (@lettersinnovember), you'll know what I'm talking about. I used to use my MTN weekly insert to journal on the left and scrapbook on the right, but now that I can't even keep up with journaling in my Kikki K, I've decided to scrap the journaling and go for a more spontaneous merge of to do lists and memory keeping. It's working well so far as I do my decorating on the go and need not cram a whole week of scrapbooking in one day. This is the first week of my spontaneous / messy scrapping in my MTN:

I used a whole bunch of different stamps, stickers etc in this spread, like Kelly Purkey, Kmart, Tim Holtz and MT washi tape, but the items I'm planning to utilise in future spreads will all depend on what I get my hands on in that particular week. Check back soon for a look into the next spread I did in my MTN!

PROJECT LIFE 2016: WEEK 13

I hope you've gotten your hands on all of Kelly Purkey's new stamps because I've got another Project Life layout made using her new April Good Morning kit:

I was up early many times this week as I was primarily on morning shifts and therefore witnessed a number of breathtaking sunrises. It so happened that KP's kit coordinated with this week so perfectly, and so most of the spread was made entirely with the kit.

Here's some close ups:

Get to Kelly Purkey's shop now if you want to get your hands on her new kit!

PROJECT LIFE 2016: WEEK 12 + KP REVEAL DAY

Happy KP reveal day! As promised, here's a layout I did using Kelly Purkey's new Megababes stamp that's available in her shop now!

Kelly Purkey's Megababe stamp was used to create the diamond Project Life card. I love stamp patterns because you can create any and every design you want. And the best part is: you can use any colour you want and style it however it suits. I've yet to create more spreads with it, but I'm sure I'll be back using it in no time. So if your head is currently brimming with ideas for this stamp set, make sure you get to Kelly Purkey's shop now if you don't want to miss out!

Apart from Kelly Purkey's new stamp set, I used a number of other items in this as well. Posca black and white markers are currently my best friends when it comes to lettering on glossy photos (Archival Brilliance Moonlight White ink alone does not allow super bright white stamping!). I also dug up some old gold phrase stickers from 7paper that matched perfectly with the AUTUMN lettering. Ripped gold dotted vellum, clear vinyl diamond stickers from Kmart and word phrases from Me & My Big Ideas are some other materials I used.

A little close up:

There really isn't any right or wrong way to create your spreads. Just go with the flow and don't think about it too much. After all, done is better than perfect!

BACK TO BASICS

I recently just finished an entire notebook filled with my Bullet Journal spreads and for someone who rarely finishes one, you could say I was pretty stoked. I've decided to continue on with my Bullet Journaling (because my to-do list has to be put down somewhere) but it will be in an entirely 'normal' notebook. I have 398434 A5 notebooks stored unused and I think it's time to start filling them up. I know it wont be practical as I now I have two notebooks to lug around with me, but I think that's alright as long as I get these notebooks used and abused before the pages turn yellow.

But anyway, speaking of unfinished notebooks: I have a blank MTN I've kept for almost a year now with only a few pages used. I always go back to it because for one, I actually love how simple the notebook is, (but I never seem to be able to keep going in it) and for another, I love the memories I've stored in there. I started it in June 2015 as a way to keep my memories of my intern months spent at Geelong, but now that I'm a fully qualified working professional, I think it's time I went back to it again. So on Monday (it was a public holiday here in Australia), I decided to kick start it again and this is what I came up with:

And a little close up:

I'll most probably document more of my work memories in here - as it seems to be the trend - but I'm hoping that this notebook will be able to stay simplistic and minimalist (because we all know how my decorative tendencies tend to flare up as the week goes by). Keep in touch if you want to see how this notebook goes!

Flashback to one of my layouts!

MTN WEEKLY 2016 #7

Catching up is the worst, but I must admit, the feeling of completeness is incomparable. On the bright side, I finally got Week #7 done and dusted, but I'm now behind in both Week 9 and 10. Ugh. Anyway, here's a look into week 7's spread:

And a little close up:

I was able to get my hands on Kaisercraft's Fiesta collectables (ephemera) a week ago, and since I absolutely love the colours it had, I decided to throw together a spread entirely from it. It was super simple and I was done in less than 15mins (ironically, the journalling took much longer than that). Now that this week is out of the way, I say, on to Weeks 9 and 10!

CURRENTLY #15

TIME: 8:21PM

LOCATION: Bedroom / craft room / office

FEELING: Rested

LOVING: My new bouquet of flowers

READING: Sheltering Rain - Jojo Moyes

EATING: Sour Patch Kids

ANTICIPATING: Back to work Tuesday :(

LISTENING: Best Day of My Life - American Authors

WATCHING: Elementary

PLANNING: To write all the blog posts

LOOKING FORWARD: To the weekends. Yep. Already.

CREATING: MTN weekly spreads, and deciding if I should continue on with my Bullet Journaling..

NEED TO FINISH: My 2016 Project Life layouts

WISHING: I had 4897298340 more days of holiday

MAIN GOAL: Finish reading two books by 30th April? Challenge accepted.

KELLY PURKEY APRIL SNEAKS

I managed to get the new April stamp sets from Kelly Purkey way ahead of release date, and since I was having a 5 day holiday from work, it was perfect timing to get to work on using the new stamp sets in both my MTN and Project Life. I can't reveal too much, but here are some sneaks I've done with two of the new stamp sets that will be arriving to the Kelly Purkey shop on the 28th of March. Make sure your calendars are marked because it's not one to be missed!

The full reveals of all my spreads will occur in the next following days so stay tuned!

NOTEMAKER GIVEAWAY

In celebration of World Stationery Day happening on Wednesday (27th April), Notemaker and I have decided to throw a little giveaway on Instagram worth over $100 - which I totally wish I can have all to myself. Here's a little peek into the items that will be given away:

Just look at that clipboard though!

To enter, make sure you check out the post on my Instagram account (@lettersinnovember). It's super simple to enter and you'd kick yourself if you missed it! Good luck!

PROJECT LIFE 2016: WEEK 10

Another quick week layout using stamps and the March Kelly Purkey set found here. I love that the photographs are always able to speak for themselves, but with just a little journaling and stamps, a layout is complete. This week was no different with doughnuts, paint and discovering filling my spread.

Here's a little look into some of the cards I decorate using stamps and stickers:

The main Project Life card was from Kelly Purkey's Spring Break kit. I added a stamp from her Clearly Kelly range and two little puffy stickers from Heidi Swapp. I received a new leather satchel bag this week, so in the spread it went. I wrote out my journaling with just a Sharpie pen and stamped on the stars using KP's Reading List stamp. The last photograph was just a simple piece of label stuck onto the photo with the phrase from Studio Calico.

And that's that!

MY FAVORITE ESCAPE

I get a little excited every time Kelly Purkey releases a new set of stamps, and March's release was no exception. I was a little late to the game (thanks to snailmail), but was still super psyched to receive the new stamp sets which included these babies (click here to get your hands on them)!:

I haven't yet played with each and every stamp set but here's one project I have started with and will eventually end up in my 2016 Project Life album:

I love stamping white phrases on my photos - especially since most of my photos have a brown tone to them. A lot of people have been asking what ink I use on photos - especially glossy ones - and here's the secret: Using white stamp ink alone doesn't do the trick. Archival Brilliance Moonlight White ink is the brand I use to stamp the phrases onto my photos initially, but the Posca White marker seen in the picture above is what causes these phrases to pop. Using the stamp alone will transfer some ink to the photo, but not enough to give a clear crisp image. Outlining and colouring in with the Posca white marker will allow the image below to be covered entirely causing the words to shine through. It might take extra work, but it's definitely worth it.

MTN WEEKLY 2016 #8

Ok, I admit, I missed out on week #7 but truth be told, it's because I had no idea how to lay it out. Till I figure it out, here's a jump forward to week 8 where Amy Tangerine inspiration rocked my socks (or rather, my TN spread):

I now know why Amy Tangerine's work is always full of watercolour goodness - it's because it works so well with scrapbooking! This week's layout actually did not go to plan, but I love it nevertheless. All items used were from Amy Tangerine's Rise and Shine collection, except for the gold glitter washi.

PROJECT LIFE 2016: WEEK 9

It's taking me a while to get through the weeks in my 2016 Project Life but on Sunday, I decided that it was time to finally sit down and get these spreads done and out of the way.

Week 9 was contained a full 6x12" picture which I actually absolutely love. It's basically everything my life revolves around nowadays - coffee and bullet journaling. The letters were from an old Studio Calico kit with the little phrase underneath from Kelly Purkey's shop. There really isn't much to my layouts but it's always the little things that count. For example, I absolutely love the 'roadtrip' stamp from the new Spring Break kit set from Kelly Purkey (get it here!) and it matched so well for this week's adventures to the Great Ocean Rd here in Melbourne.

The pink quote by Henry Matisse was also from an old Studio Calico kit:

There really isn't much to my Project Life layouts, but like I said, it's the little things that count, and considering that I'm trying to get these weeks over with, done is definitely better than perfect!

MTN WEEKLY 2016 #6

Another vintage week for my MTN spread:

I think I'm running out of ideas of how to create a variety of vintage layouts in my spreads, so I might just jump back to my old style of documenting in my MTN. I've found that quotes always tends to complete a spread so that went in at the beginning. Together with some washi tape and brown kraft paper, a spread was made and done in a few mins. These layouts are great when you have plenty to write up as there is a great amount of space available for it all.

CURRENTLY #14

TIME: 7:47pm

LOCATION: Bedroom / craft room / office

FEELING: Tired

LOVING: My new found love of brush lettering

READING: It's in His Kiss - Julia Quinn

EATING: Cadbury Mini Eggs - yum

ANTICIPATING: The arrival of my Kelly Purkey stamps

LISTENING: Shane Filan - Beautiful to Me

WATCHING: How to Get Away with Murder

PLANNING: To get some inspiration on Instagram

LOOKING FORWARD: To the next weekend. I'm already tired of work just thinking about it..

CREATING: Watercolour donuts

NEED TO FINISH: This week's MTN weekly

WISHING: I had more free time

MAIN GOAL: Catch up on some Project Life / MTN / Kelly Purkey projects

APRIL GOALS

It's that time of the month again where I look back all I've achieved (and failed at) and hopefully come up with new goals to achieve (and fail at - hah!). But before that, here's a look at how I went with March's goals:

• x    Draw at least 3 times a week
• x    Spend less than $300
• ü Keep up with my MTN, KP and PL projects!
• ü Read two four books: Reluctantly Charmed, The Viscount Who Loved Me, The Duke and I, To Sir Philip With Love
• x     Keep a quotes book

Ok, so, not great, but I think my greatest achievement this month would be reading more than I was expected! I finished up Big Magic on the first day of March (which admittedly, was a chore to read), then started and finished 3 other books - it helped that these books were an absolute great read though! My drawing has decreased this month, but I've also started practicing my watercolouring a tad bit more, so I guess that's a compromise I'm willing to make. My projects are still going, although, I am falling a tad bit behind with my PL as I haven't yet printed my pictures for the weeks. But I'm confident those will be done in no time - hopefully! Instead of a quotes book, I have ended up creating a doodle book of sorts - I was meant to make this book a no-commitment / non-perfect book, but it has somehow morphed into a daily doodle + journaling book, which somehow always happens! I'll just have to see how that goes.

Which brings me to April's goes:

• Read at least two books
• Paint more
• Blog post at least once a week!
• Keep a brain dump book

Let's see how it goes!