Week In The Life™ 2023 | Crafting Live With Krystal 03

Hi friends, Krystal here! With the launch of the Week in the Life 2023 collection this week, I’m excited to bring you a three day mini-series where I will be sharing sneaks and ideas for how to use the new collection to document your stories this year.

This mini-series is composed of a daily Live video on the Craft the Story Facebook Group.

Today, we are taking a deep dive into the collection and discussing how the products can work inside of the WITL Notebook. If you missed the live video, you can check that out below.

Let’s take a closer look at the ideas we discuss in the Live video: 

1. Transparencies, Kraft 7x8.25 Pages & Main Kit

When working in a notebook album, the key to making everything fit is keeping your dimension/embellishments to a minimum. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t find ways to still include LOTS of flat embellishments. One easy product to add to a notebook page that packs a big punch are the transparencies or designed pattern papers. Here are some ways to add those in to the WITL Notebook:

Trim down the 10”x8” transparencies to 6”x8.25” (you will want to trim off the hole punches). Then, using washi tape, create a flip out by adhering the edge of your transparency to the edge of a photo/pattern paper. Then, stick this onto a page in your notebook.

The kraft page is very easy to trim a little off each side and place into the notebook. You could fussy cut a title (or a few) from the transparencies and use one as the title for this page. Then, fill the boxes with words, photos, stuff of life, etc. This would be such a fun page to add to each of the daily sections.

2. Main Kit - Plastic Circles & Vellum Tags

Try using the large plastic circles as the centerpiece for a mind map page. Draw lines coming from the circle and branching out to photos/words related to the plastic piece.

Add a bunch of the plastic circles to a single page and cover up the middle icons with circle shaped photos. The titles would form a ring around your photos and create a pretty neat pattern for the page.

Attach four of the vellum tags to one page using the circle chipboard. You can remove a few layers of the chipboard backing to create an even thinner embellishment. Then, use the tag as a space for some photos, or journal using a slickwriter pen.

3. Main Kit - 4x4 Cards, Layered Stickers, Kraft Pockets

Cut apart the 4x4 cards into 2x2 sections. Then, layer 6 to 12 of these on a page to create a grid layout. You can place embellishments, photos, or words into the twelve sections.

Remove both layers of foam tape from the layered sticker titles and then adhere back together so they become flat. Even without the foam, there is still a funky/dimensional look to them. Use these, paired with a tiny phrase sticker or similar product, as a title or jumping off point for your journaling.

The kraft pockets are one of my favorite items in this year’s collection, but a little difficult to use in the notebook because of their thickness. While you could get away with adding a few to your notebook, I would caution against using them all. Maybe start the album with a pocket and add your reason why inside! You can also disassemble the pocket and trim down to a 2x2 square, 3x4 card, or fussy cut words that could be used as titles.

4. Main Kit - 6x4 Cards & Chipboard

Create a grid of photos (6-squares) and add the smaller label chipboard underneath for space to journal in.

Create an ending page/weekly wrap up using the small chipboard tags. To make the rows of four even, you could create a video that shows snippets of your week and link to it using a QR code placed in the final empty spot.

In terms of the 6x4 journaling cards, if you trim the top header portion off, you can re-adhere just that section to the top of a full page, then use the area below that for words or photos.

5. Main Kit - Papers

Using the highlights paper, trim (or fold) in-between the Thurs and Fri sections. Add the larger section to your notebook and let the other section flip out. OR, add the two sections across from each other in the notebook and finish the page with a strip of photos.

Create a journaling feature on top of a full page (12x8.25) photo by adhering the “reflections” page at one of the ends. Fill out ten reflections - on the day or on the week.

6. 3x8 Die Cut Inserts & 10x8 Cards

Add the 3x8 die cut insert directly to a page in your notebook and have it included as part of a grid layout. You could also add some plastic behind the cut out and some vellum confetti (made by hole punching color vellum) to create a “shaker pocket” look.

Using the 10x8 Stories cards, trim off the portion with the title inside (i.e. “Monday Stories”). Add this to a page or to a photo as an embellishment. This could also become a thin pocket of sorts.

7. Mini Kit - Moon/Star Plastic Title & Chipboard Titles

Similar to an earlier idea for using the sun and moon plastic pieces, these would also look great in the notebook paired with additional sun/star elements. These would become fantastic places to add photos or words.

While I would caution you against using all of the chipboard titles from the mini kit in your notebook (unless you are planning to cut the notebook apart and bind it in a different way), you could still include a few on some special pages. Most of the titles will fit horizontally on the page. A few will need to be turned on their side.

8. Mini Kit - Plastic Words & Die Cuts

The gold foil titles are perfect for adding to your notebook! They are flat but also offer a different texture/look, creating interest on your page. Layer these with a chipboard label (after removing some chipboard to make them flatter, if desired), and create your own designed pages for journaling. I love the idea of adding the puffy sticker suns or moons down the page and journaling next to them.

In a similar way, you could use the die cut starbursts as “bullet points” for journaling as well. With these, I think it would be fun to add alpha stickers for the initials of different people in your family.

9. Plastic Circle Bundle & Alpha Stickers

Pull out the Mon-Sun plastic circles from the bundle, along with a sentiment (i.e. This Week). Then, add four to one page and four to the other. You can intermix with journaling or photos, and create a recap of your week.

Using the half colored circles, create a 2x2 grid space with the circles - added in rainbow order. The circles can become homes for embellishments, titles, photos, or words.

Using the pie chart circles, place four in a column and create a grid journaling page (similar to the die cut start bursts above).

10. Large Numbers & Stamps

The large chipboard numbers are another product I would caution against using throughout the notebook because of their thickness. However, you could certainly get away with using a few. I like the idea of adding the 2 and 3 to my cover to designate this as my WITL album for 2023.

As mentioned, the key to documenting a full week in a notebook is keeping things as thin/flat as possible. The absolute BEST product to use, in my opinion, are stamps. The collection this year comes with so much variety in terms of potential titles and/or ways to embellish the page. Definitely check out the 2023 WITL stamps  if you’re planning to document in a notebook… and don’t forget to check your own stash as well!

This concludes our video series of ideas for using the WITL 2023 collection to document your life this April! I hope you enjoyed talking through a bunch of ideas and seeing these sketches come to life. Thank you so much for stopping by today and please let me know if you have any questions. If you have more ideas for ways to use the supplies discussed today, let us know in the comments below. Until next time, let’s tell stories together!