Week In The Life™ 2016 | Monday In Album

Yesterday I took time to wrap up my 2016 Week In The Life™ album and I'm excited to share it with you over the next few days. 

One of the things I want you to remember as you look through my album is that these projects come together one step at a time. You can read my other posts I've shared for my 2016 album to get a sense of how I broke the different steps down into manageable chunks: (1) Getting Started & Working With Digital Layered Templates // (2) Progress Update + Video Overview

All my photos are printed at home using an Epson PictureMate PM400 (for anything 5x7 and smaller) and an Epson SureColor P400 for anything larger. 

The last phase for me in the process of building my album included the following tasks: 

Adding embellishments. These included the rubber banners, cutting up some of the 3x4 cards to create embellishments, the word/phrase stickers from the main Week In The Life™ kit. I also included some embellishments from my stash - mostly pieces from past Story Kits™ (word/phrase stickers, rubber banners, chipboard pieces, etc). Many of those are included in the Stories Revisited sale that's happening this week (ends Friday, May 27th at 11:59pm EST).Handwriting a few more thoughts directly onto my photos. Some of these were more reflective and came together after looking at the day as a whole and some words were more factual about whatever it was happening in the photo itself. I like the mix of those two. I used my AED SlickWriter pen for writing directly on my photos. Handwriting onto the 3x4 morning/afternoon/evening cards that were adhering to the chipboard dividers. Completing the title page and creating some kind of a reason why/intention statement about this year's project (I wrote about this on my blog here). 

Here's a look at my title page and "because" (also known as "reason why"). Unless otherwise noted most products used in my album came from this year's Week In The Life™ kit: 

This year I decided to write out my "reason why/intention" onto one of the journal cards that simply said "because" (I cut off the top portion of the card from the kit). 

This is simply adhered inside the cover of the album. 

For my title photo I used one of the shots of me cutting peonies from my yard. On top of the photo I added the following: 

I cut up the "This Morning" card so that I had the days of the week along the bottom and the same amount of space above the line. Above the line I used a rolling date stamp to add the start and end of the project using StazOn ink. I used scissors to cut out the Week In The Life™ black and white circle which was used for some of the packaging. I tucked it under the date stamp section. Overlapping a portion of the black and white circle I adhere the "life is full of adventure" chipboard circle.  "Loved this" black and white rubber speech bubble from the Cheer Story Kit™.

Here's a look at my Monday: 

"This Was Monday" is from my Week In The Life™ 6x8 Layered Template Vol.3 set. Click here for a video tutorial on how to use the layered template set in Photoshop.

As you can see above, I ended up cutting up the chipboard dividers. On the front I adhered the wood veneer numbers (1 through 7). I did this same thing for each day of the week because I love repetition throughout the album. 

On the backs of each of the chipboard dividers I stamped "currently" using a stamp included with the kit and adhered the "morning/afternoon/evening" card. I wrote different things on different days starting with three things I was thankful for on Monday. I really like the opportunity to add some handwriting in here to contrast with the large printed journaling blocks. 

On top of my photos my embellishments of choice included simple handwritten statements and word/phrase stickers (both the cream set from the kit + older Story Kit™ sets).

As you might have seen in my "in-progress" video overview yesterday, I used a 1.5 inch circle punch to punch out random text (came from "mistake" prints of my journaling) and adhered that to the back of the daily chipboard circle. Because the 1.5 inch punched circle is smaller than the chipboard circle I was able to use the adhesive ring to adhere the circle inside the pocket. On top of this circle I added a chipboard circle from the last Day In The Life™ kit. I had considered using the white acrylic hearts on top of these chipboard circles but it was getting too bulky. I will use those hearts in a different project. Instead I looked in the box on my desk for some small extra embellishments from past projects/packages. A great way to use some of those extras (I did something different each day as you'll see in the coming days). 

My journaling pages are 5 inches wide x 8.25 inches tall. Details about those journaling pages can be found in my post yesterday. I used the font Garamond at 10pt size for my typed text. 

In the Week In The Life™ Facebook group a couple of people (Miranda & Annette) shared how they were including the gold foil daily cards directly into their album. I loved that idea and ended up doing that for most of my days.  

On the back of the gold foil daily cards I added a photo (glued back to back) + one of the rubber banners. I use red line tape to adhere these rubber banners (which is what I used in my December Daily® album for these banners last year too). Some adhesives have been known to have a strange chemical reaction with these rubber pieces so I'd stay away from glue dots for those. Stapling or stitching them in place is also an option. 

Photos in the 4x6 pockets opposite feature word/phrase stickers on the bottom (from the Gatherings Story Kit™, the WITL kit, and the Little Things Story Kit™) and on the top photo I added a paper strip that was cut from a journaling card (for each day of the week). 

The last spread fro Monday includes two, 4x6 pockets + the large 6x8 pocket. 

When I have extra photos I want to add to my story I often glue two photos back to back and punch holes using a Crop A Dile to add to the album. I usually lay a page protector over top of the photo to get the holes just right. I did that for two photos here and added an Avery Index tab along the edge. 

I hand-wrote a bit of journaling on both of the 4x6 photos in the pockets on the left. I look for spaces in my photo to add just a thought or a phrase - again I like the contrast of the handwriting with the big blocks of typed journaling. To create the partial circle "today" I punched the circle from one of the journal cards and trimmed along the top edge. 

On the front side of the inserted 4x6 photo I added a gold chipboard shape + word/phrase sticker + some handwriting. 

On the back side I paired black chipboard letters from the kit with an ampersand from the gold chipboard shape set. The "G" is for George and the "S" is for Sam. I used a SlickWriter pen to add a little more detail below. 

The final page, a 6x8 photo, rounds out the day. This isn't necessarily the last picture from my day, it's just one I like. Some of them I printed in black and white and some in color as you'll see as I share the rest of my week. On top of the photo I added a bit more story + the large day of the week white plastic initial + word/phrase sticker + gold chipboard shape. 

Please let me know if you have any questions about anything you see above. I'm happy to address them in the comments below this post. 

Thank you for letting me create the album I want to create for me in my life right now. One of the beautiful things for me about memory keeping is that it isn't always the same. Some years this project might have less content and some years it has more and sometimes it might be more reflective and sometimes more fact-based. Sometimes I add a lot of embellishments and sometimes less. As always, there is no prescription for how to document your life. It's all good. 

SUPPLIES
Week In The Life™ 2016 Kit + AlbumWeek In The Life™ 6x8 Layered Templates Vol. 3Days Of The Week Chipboard DividersDays Of The Week Stamp SetAvery Index TabsRed Line Tape 1/4 InchTiny AttacherAED SlickWriter PenGold Chipboard ShapesPast Story Kit™ Word/Phrase Stickers (some are currently available for a limited time/while supplies last via the  Stories Revisited sale )Rolling Date Stamp1.5 inch Circle PunchCrop-A-Dile