A Day in the Life with the September Papercrafting Kit

Neutrals and neon, a bunch of brights, chalkboard effects, a stencil, a stamp, and multiple metal accents: this month's JBS Mercantile Papercrafting Kit contains them all!

I created two layouts this month with this stunner of a kit, and the fact that both of them have a dramatically different tone is a testament to this kit's versatility.

Although you can get a closer look at both of these (and more September projects) in the design team gallery, today I'll be focusing on the second one, a "day in the life" approach to scrapbooking that I return to periodically. This layout features a go-to grid design that has served me well!

A few years ago, I discovered "12 on the 12th," which challenged scrapbookers to take twelve photos (or a hundred, eventually settling on twelve favorites) on the twelfth day of the month. One year I managed to make it through all twelve months, but last year, I forgot my camera on a few of the twelfths, and temporarily abandoned the idea -- that is, until it occurred to me that it was perfectly fine to skip months. The point is that from time to time, I am capturing everyday life; the twelfth just happens to be a reminder to do so.  Heck, you could take ten on the tenth, or twenty on the twentieth, or depart from the alliteration altogether and go with seven on the thirteenth. Just pick a day, any day, and snap away.

That's just what I did when the twelfth rolled around this month. I started snapping pics in the morning, capturing the morning commute, and throughout the day, I kept my camera close at hand and in my line of sight, making sure to take a few photos here and there. A camera isn't even necessary at times -- I even included a screen shot of the pins that I pinned that day.

After deciding which of the twelve photos I wanted to use, I cropped them into squares, resized them to 2" x 2", and arranged them in a grid in Photoshop before printing.

After printing and trimming the photos, I matted each one with patterned squares from the Papercrafting Kit. I then used a white pen and a ruler to draw lines on a piece of red ombre paper from the kit. After drawing the lines, I backed each row of photos with long strips of patterned paper, and then I added stitching. 

Each photo has a tiny number (taken from the now sold-out Historian Kit) added to it, corresponding to the numbers in the journaling.  After each number is a description of the photo. 

Included in the journaling block is the title of the layout, abbreviated since "September" was a bit too ambitious a title for this layout. I altered the cream-colored alphabets from the kit by running a neon yellow ink dauber over them, and dabbing away any excess with a paper towel. 

I then attached the metal camera clip, using the coil on it to call attention to the day of the week, Thursday. I also circled the number "12" on the calendar card and stamped the date. My stamp was a little temperamental at first, so I just repeatedly stamped the date to cover up the fact that the "2" in "12" did not appear the first time I stamped.  Play through -- that's my scrappy motto! 

To see more design team projects, be sure to check out the gallery!  Thanks for stopping by today!