Large Projects, Don't Fear them! ~ Journey with me Day 1

Recently I was asked if I would be interested in joining an ABC Christmas Book Swap.  Initially I flipped out thinking about having to make 27 pages but then I realized it's not that difficult and I can do it without sacrificing my style.  I know that the finished product will be well worth the work I put into my page as well.  HERE is the last ABC book that this group put together.

Before I got started I kept hearing "how do you get so much done" running through my head so I thought I'd share my process with y'all and hopefully it will help you not feel so daunted when confronted with large projects and that you will be able to join them.  They are so rewarding. 

So join me on my journey.

 

I start all my projects, big or small, in this journal.  I used to use bits of paper but they would go missing or get cut up into something else.  So grab yourself something you won't destroy or loose (easily) and lets get started.

As I mentioned this is an ABC Christmas Book I'm contributing to.  My letter is "O"

I started by writing down everything that I could think of associated with the letter and Christmas.  Then I started pulling things together that I own. 

The O Christmas Tree stamp is one of my favorite holiday stamps, it's a Repeat Impressions, and it is also what inspired my design. 

I made notes of all the things I wanted to do, step by step, and very detailed.

The most important thing to keep in mind during this stage is that you will be making a lot of the same thing, think out of the box, find ways to keep things simple without sacrificing your style (or having to purchase a bunch of things).  I tend to cut a lot of detailed images out, that is not something feasible for a project this size so I concentrated on how to keep my look while directly stamping onto the paper. 

When I was done with that part it was onto spacing.

The pages of this book can be anywhere from 4x6 to 5x7 so I had to determine what size would work best.  I did this by drawing out a few different sizes and stamping where I wanted my images to go.

 

If you follow me you know I don't use many decorative papers (not that there is anything wrong with them, they would make this a much quicker process), so of course I am making my own background (I chose one I am very familiar with that doesn't take much time). 

Then I cut out all my paper, making sure to cut out a few extra because inevitably I will make a mistake or like some more than others.

The other thing I decided to get started on were some embellishments I am making.  They will take time since there are so many of them.  If you start this right away it won't seem so daunting.  Also making your embellishments saves you money.  I'm doing some of my Paper Clay stars, my other embellishments will be fabric, ribbon and brads. 

I was on a roll so I decided to do my background.  However here is a good stopping point for the day if you are stressed, have other things to do or just don't feel like it. 

Please excuse the ugly gloves, my fabulous Sister in Law treated me (unexpectedly) to a manicure this past week and I didn't want to ruin my purdy nails. 

Okay so for my quick background I am doing a Sparkling H2O background.  I selected 4 colors (all starting with the letter O) Orange, Orchid, Old Rose and Oyster, and I am sponging them on one at a time. 

By the time I was done with all 27 in one color the first ones I did were dry so this went really fast (especially with my little helper who switched them out for me). 

I wanted the pages to dry completely so I stopped here.  Tomorrow I will start to put the images on so come back then!

Hope this helps you and inspires you to join some of those more daunting swaps you oggle.  Also if you are interested in joining this swap there are still a few letters open, just leave me a comment and I'll get you in touch with the organizer.