My 2020 #52favorites Plan

Good morning everyone!  I'm excited for a new year and fresh projects, including a new #52favorites album!  For those unfamiliar with the project, #52favorites is a Paper Issues project and it encourages you to keep an album of weekly favorite memories.  I've tailored mine a little bit to be Piper-specific, and I do the #52favoritesofpiper :)

I know I don't share a lot of my #52favorites spreads over here, but it's definitely my favorite project of the year and I participate every week.  I do post all my spreads to my IG account here.  Here are a few of my spreads from last year:

This will be my third year doing the project and I feel like I've found a set-up that really works for me.  I'm sharing in case it inspires someone to participate this year.  I know everyone works differently and my set-up will not be for everyone, but it's such a fun project that I want to encourage people to participate :)

Here are my essentials:

-We R Memory Keepers Typewriter - this was a gift from my husband a few years ago and I LOVE it - definitely one of the best gifts he's ever gotten me :)
-We R Memory Keepers 4x4 albums - I really love this size.  It's easy to work with and I feel like I can make my pages as simple - or as fancy - as I want.  I used 2 4x4 albums for my 2019 project.
-Tim Holtz tiny attacher.  I love to staple things, y'all.
-Pretty Little Studio labels...you'll find these on almost every spread I do.  They are cut-aparts, so it's easy to load them into the typewriter, then cut them out afterwards
-Date stamp
-Sequins - my favorite shop is SpiegelMom Scraps

Other essentials not pictured include lots of tiny alpha stickers (I like the Florence Alphas by Bella Blvd and the super small puffy stickers from Pinkfresh Studio), phrase stickers, and my We R Memory Keepers Fuse Tool.  The fuse tool is nice for when I decide I want to make shaker pockets out of my pages.

And here's a look at my 2020 title page:

I hope  you're inspired to play along - it really is such a fun challenge!

#52Faves

Good morning everyone!  Happy Friday!  I'm on the Paper Issues blog today to share one of my recent spreads in my #52favorites album.  For those who don't know, my #52favorites album is all focused on my daughter, Piper (the perks of having an only child!).

The memory for this week was that she picked out her own outfit and it was so super cute that I had to document it.  I used the awesome September Kit.  It has so many great papers in it...I'm definitely in love.

Thanks so much for stopping by!  And don't forget all the design team members have a code you can use to save 20% in the store - mine is KAT20!

Why I Love #52Favorites

Good morning everyone!  This morning I am here to spread propaganda about the #52favorites project at Paper Issues.  Lol.  In all seriousness, Paper Issues didn't ask for me to do this, but I feel the need to encourage EVERYONE to participate.

For those unfamiliar, #52favorites is a weekly album where you document your favorite memory from each week.  A lot of people do their album in a Traveler's Notebook.  I re-purposed a planner for my 2018 album.  I focused on the 52 Favorites of Piper, my daughter, so every memory I documented was about her and something going on in her life.  This project was SUPER manageable.  I mean, I completed all 52 weeks, so that is HUGE.  I come from a Project Life background, bu found that PL just wasn't feasible once I had Piper.  And I know PL can be super simple, but that's not might thing.  I like taking my time to make pretty pages; that's the fun part for me.

Anyways, looking back at my 2018 album gets me all nostalgic.   Here's why...my week 1:

And my week 49, which is the last week that includes a super close-up of my girl:

She grew so much!!!

Here is a collage of my favorite spreads from the year:

(funny to see how different the lighting was whenever I would take my photos...but I work and have a kid, so this is the best I can do...lol)

Which leads me to my plan for 2019...

Because my favorite spread from my 2018 book was this one:

I miss sequin shakers, y'all.  A LOT.  So for this year's album, I decided to go back to a pocket scrapping format and will use 4x4 albums.  And lots of sequins.  And a lot more bulk.  I love my 2018 album, but I want to change things up a bit for this year.  Here's my title page to give you an idea of what I have in mind:

I won't be sharing all my weeks here but if you keep up with my on instagram, you'll be able to see them all.

Thanks for popping in! 

2019 title page: page protector: We R Memory Keepers; "P" tile: Maggie Holmes for Crate Paper; Blue Alpha stickers: Pinkfresh Studio; Gold Alpha Stickers: American Crafts; Chipboard Circles: Pink Paislee; Sequins: Paige Taylor Evans for Pink Paislee; Staples: Tim Holtz

Clique Kits May Pep Rally

Good morning, everyone!  Welcome to the Clique Kits Pep Rally...today we are sharing fun projects made with our Riga kit.  This kit is chock full of Pinkfresh Studio goodness and feels so fresh and fun.

For my project today, I made a spread for my #52favorites album.  I've fallen a bit behind in recent weeks, but I've been playing catch up and am now just one week behind.  Woohoo!  So, here's my spread for week 18:

I'm having so much fun with this project and documenting Piper's life one week at a time.

So, now the really cool news: if you leave a comment on this post and all the other stops along the hop, you'll be entered into a drawing to win a $10 gift card from Clique Kits.  Pretty sweet!  Here's the whole line-up:

Clique Kits 

Donna Espiritu 

Rachel Lowe 

Nupur Patel 

Kat Benjamin < -- You are here!  :o)

Sara Scraps 

Hannah Lemieux 

Theresa Moxley 

Kayla Webber

Angela Tombari 

Thanks so much for stopping by - happy hopping!!

#52favorites with Pretty Little Studio

Good morning, everyone!  I'm just popping in today to share an update on my #52favorites album (a Paper Issues project).  I’ve recently fallen a bit behind on my album, so I’m desperately playing catch up.  It’s a lot easier to play catch up when you are using products that you absolutely adore, which is just what I did for weeks 16 and 17.  I pulled out the With all my Heart collection from Pretty Little Studio, which is pretty much perfect for scrapping photos of my daughter.

Here are my weeks:

I really do love this project aThthathkahtjhatkjd am hoping I can be back on track by the end of the week! 

iNSD projects

Hey everyone!  So...I totally forgot to post my projects for iNSD.  Oopsies :)

For Clique Kits I challenged everyone to create a project about themselves.  I used to scrap about myself all the time and then Piper came along.  Now I'm so focused on getting her memories down that I don't focus on anyone else.  But that's not okay.  I know I love seeing older pictures of my parents and I know she will, too, so I'm trying to make more of an effort to get my husband and I on paper, too.

The second challenge was created for Pattern Happy in a team-up with SpiegelMom Scraps.  I challenged people to create a monochromatic project.  I picked out a bunch of blue papers from a variety of Pattern Happy paper pads and topped everything off with some gorgeous SMS sequins:

Thanks so much for stopping by!  You can still play along with both of these challenges, so I hope you're able to!

Layout: Cardstock: Bazzill; Sequins: Close to my Heart; Everything Else: Jillibean Soup

#52favorites spread: Cardstock: Bazzill; Patterned Paper: Pattern Happy; Alphas: Bella Blvd; Sequins: SpiegelMom Scraps

April Pattern Happy Projects

Hey everyone!  I am excited to pop in and share my first design team projects for Pattern Happy.  My first project was a spread for my #52favorites album...isn't Piper so super cute in her tub 'o letters?! 

The second is a layout I created with a free file from The Cut Shoppe.

The bright colors and happy patterns from Pattern Happy are all so awesome!  I'm instantly inspired to create with them!

Thanks for stopping by!!

#52favorites Update

Hey, hey!  I wanted to pop in and share some of my recent spreads for my #52favorites album.

Special shout out for my Week 12 spread, which was created for my guest designer stint at the Inspired By challenge blog.  We were asked to create a project inspired by this image:

Here is what I created for it (using an older Felicity Jane kit):

And here are the rest of my weeks:

Week 8 used the XOXO collection from Pretty Little Studio.

Week 9 used the Potpourri collection from Pretty Little Studio and wood veneers from Color Cast Designs.

Week 10 used the It's Your Birthday collection from Pretty Little Studio.

Week 11 used the This is Us collection from Clique Kits. (use code KAT10 at checkout to get 10% off purchases in the CK store)

Thanks for popping in today!

#52favorites Update

Hey, hey!  Happy Monday (if there is such a thing)!  I just wanted to pop in and share a quick update on my #52favorites album.  I am caught up to Week 7...woohoo!  This project is so much easier for me than Project Life...there's hope I may actually get the whole album finished this year!  LOL.

Week 6 used the February Sampler Kit from Scrapbook & Cards Today....lots of Doodlebug goodness included:

For Week 7, I went stash-diving and used the older Bella Blvd/Illustrated Faith collection "She Blooms":

I love this project sooooo much!  More to come soon, I hope!  :)

#52favorites Update

Hi everyone!  I wanted to pop in and share my last 3 pages for my #52favorites album.

For week 3, I used the sampler kit from Scrapbook & Cards Today: 

For week 4, I used the December kit from Hip Kit Club:

And for week 5, I used the Tales & Dreams collection from Pretty Little Studio:

I am having so much fun with this project and am so glad that I decided to play along!!

#52favorites Project

Hi everyone!  Paper Issues has a fun weekly challenge this year called #52favorites.  It's such a neat idea - pick your favorite memory from the week and get it down in some creative way.  I decided to play along and my focus will be on Miss Piper.  It's really hard for me to choose a favorite photo/memory of her from each week, but I'm going to try!  :o)

I think this is the perfect project since I'm not even going to attempt Project Life this year.  I just can't.  I know I wouldn't be able to keep up with at this time.  But this project is something that I can do!  And it's perfect for if I don't have time to make a whole layout, but still want to get a bit of creative play in.

I just knocked out the first 2 weeks and I used the Tales & Dreams line from Pretty Little Studio.  I kept my designs fairly simple and similar.  I imagine that I will continue to carry this template throughout the entire project, but I'm not totally sure yet.  Here's what I've got:

I'm going to keeping all my little layouts in a fun planner binder that I found in the Dollar Spot at Target.  I'm not a planner girl, but the size and format works perfectly for this project!

Thanks for stopping in!!

Cardstock: Bazzill; Mist: Heidi Swapp; Date Stamp: Shimelle for American Crafts; Everything Else: Pretty Little Studio