Project Life – Those Missing Pieces

October 21, 2019November 7, 2019

Hello 9×12

I started Project Life in 2012 with weekly 12×12 pocket page spreads. This was the first year of my son’s life so I am incredibly happy to have that documentation through his first year. But weekly was definitely overwhelming, especially with an infant, so for 2013-2015, I switched to monthly 12×12 spreads with an occasional insert. I switched back to weekly in 2016 with my introduction to the Project Life app, but again got so overwhelmed, I completely burned out.

In 2018, I thought I would try again with 6×8, but learned rather quickly, that just was not the size for this project. While I still love 6×8 for my individual story based albums and for special projects, it just did not fit my everyday life photos framework.

After over two years of no Project Life, I definitely missed it, and decided for 2019 that I would give monthly layouts in 9×12 format a try. I created this layout for February and was quickly hooked!

This one was put together using the Jaimee kit by Felicity Jane

I knew I wanted to try some more and play catch up on the years I had missed. So I printed all of my photos from 2017 that I wanted to include and created a couple more layouts.

This layout uses the Megan Kit by Felicity Jane

And finally – this one is using the Sarah Kit by Felicity Jane

I have now printed all of 2018 and through June of 2019 and have all the photos in my album. I also added cards for about 10 more months and have some final embellishing to do on a few before I call those done. I am a bit sad I didn’t take better notes to add as journaling at the time and it will be more retrospective for prior years, but I am still glad I will have this project continuing with what I can remember.

I have taken a look back at my past Project Life albums, and although in the moment, it seems like a lot of work and I am not always super motivated to work on it, I am incredibly thankful to have the albums I have already completed and it reminds me how important it is for me to continue this documentation of my family’s everyday life.

November 14, 2018November 7, 2019

My Favorite Sahin Designs Creations

I set a goal at the beginning of 2018 to be more active on social media in order to up my chances of making another scrapbook design team in 2019. Little did I know how much sooner than 2019 that goal would happen. It seemed like within a few weeks of each other, I made the Sahin Designs Creative Team and was also asked to guest design for Paislee Press, Kellie Stamps, and Ali Edwards. I have to say that due to some of these opportunities, 2018 ended up being my most productively creative year yet!

I was not so good at keeping up with my blog, though, so I wanted to post a recap of some of my favorite layouts that I made while part of the Sahin Designs team.

Using the Blue Skies Collection

Using the Mermaid Dreams Collection

Using the Unwind Collection

And using the Getaway Collection

January 21, 2018January 21, 2018

2018 Project Life Title Page

I am super stoked to be using 6×8 size for my 2018 album. I already have ideas for the first few weeks of the year and the stories I want to tell. But first, I held out for the twenty eighteen word art by Paislee Press knowing it would be released this weekend. And as soon as it was, I created my 2018 opening page. The photos are technically from November but I think they are a good snapshot of what we look like to start our year.

The little hearts and Stories of life stickers are from Ali Edwards and the Remember This card is also from a collaboration kit called Foundation that include Paislee Press as one of the designers.

Here is a close up of the twenty eighteen word art. I love it so much I also used it in my One Little Word album and I am sure I will use it several more times this year. Love love love!

January 11, 2018January 10, 2018

My Crafty Plans for 2018

I started scrapbooking in 2005. When my son was born in December of 2011, Project Life® made perfect sense for 2012 to document his first year. Somehow I managed a weekly spread for that entire year but I knew it wouldn’t be manageable long-term and I knew I missed making traditional layouts.

For 2013, 2014, and 2015, I did a two page spread per month and that was a lot more manageable. But I missed some of those every day moments and capturing some of those details that I just wasn’t documenting in a monthly format.

Enter the Project Life^® App in 2016. A godsend! I managed to go back to weekly and capture some of those details I felt were missing in the prior years. And miracle of all miracles, I made the 2017 Project Life^® Creative Team for the app. I loved participating in the Creative Team and it really helped reinvigorate me with this hobby all together. But my motivation to do weekly spreads fizzled about mid-year. I felt I was forcing it just to fill in the slots in the pocket page instead of actually documenting what I wanted to remember and look back on.

I am not sure where the shift happened, but I am sure it had a LOT to do with getting in to Story Camp last year. I religiously went back and watched a lot of my Ali Edwards’ videos from the Story Kits and other classes I had taken from her. I started really considering what I got into this hobby for and what I really want to get from it. I created several 6×8 layouts last year. Some from the present, some from my past of stories I just knew I wanted to tell. I realized I was finally shifting my vision to starting with a story or letting the story guide me, not just filling in the slots. You can read more about my re-invention HERE

This year, I just want to go with the flow. I plan to stick with 6×8. I did a bunch of 6×8 layouts in 2017 and fell in love with the size! Here are some of my favorites from the year:

What I am really changing up this year is embracing that I am a hybrid scrapper through and through. I am definitely not a print my photos without a plan kind of girl. I need to know what size I am planning on using and generally have a layout or sketch in mind. I can wing it from there when it comes to product, but I like to lay it all out digitally first and then print everything at home. Typically laying it out digitally also means I try to find coordinating cards and/or paper digitally as well. That way I can recolor or type my journaling to match (since I really don’t like my handwriting anyway), so it just seems easier for me to do it this way. I have never been one to just print a whole bunch of 4×6 photos and stick them in the pockets. I always want to see how they will layout first and maybe add some stamps or other elements before printing. So I am learning to embrace this and just realize that this is the way it is. GO WITH IT!

So I am scheduling digi time two days per week after my son goes to bed. I will sit down with my iPad or my computer and prep photos or other elements and get them ready for the opportunities I get to actually sit down and scrap. That may not be every weekend but I hope to have Scrap Saturdays at least once per month, whether I go to a crop or stay home. If it’s on the calendar, I know I will be more likely to stick to it. As I said in my last post, my planner is my friend this year!

October 12, 2017October 12, 2017

Little Mr. Adventure

I had a couple of days off of work for the school’s fall break this week. I totally planned to utilize some of the time to prep and pack for Story Camp, which is already NEXT WEEK!!! (OMG! I am so freaking excited!!!)

But while prepping some of my photos, I just couldn’t seem to tear myself away form my scrap table! And here is the result of my procrastination!

I made this double 6×8 layouts using the Ali Edwards Go Story Kit and some word art from her free passport series she ran this summer. I love that I get the Digital Story kits for free with my Story Kit and Story Stamp subscriptions. It allows me to do projects like this where I recolored a card to make a better match for my color scheme and I can place the word art directly on my photos. And I am learning so much about myself and process as I am doing these. I am a digital planner. I like to lay everything out digitally and see how it will look, the print and put it together with elements and finishing touches. This works for me. It allows me to put pages like this together in no time!

So loving scrapbooking right now and SOOOOO looking forward to Story Camp next week!

October 12, 2017October 8, 2017

More Hybrid-ized Project Life App Layouts

Ok, I know hybridized is not a word but I think it sounds awesome so I am going with it!

My last post was all about how I had an opportunity to add some dimensional embellishments to my 2016 Project Life pages that were all created in the Project Life App

Here are a few peeks at some more of my favorites!

October 8, 2017October 10, 2017

App Scrapping Meets Hybrid Scrapping

When I started scrapping with the Project Life App last year, I loved the simplicity of getting my layouts done but always intended to go back some day and embellish to add some dimension. I was perfectly ok without doing any embellishing but I figured if the mood struck me, I would add a few things here and there. During a three day scrap retreat in July, I got that chance. I was able to add a few fun embellishments to almost half my album in just a few hours. As a sample, here is my October Project Life Creative Team layout with the final embellishments.

I added a 6×12 insert because there were SOOO many photos from our trip to Disneyland, but I was able to narrow it down to my favorite few.

And some close ups of the added embellishments

I am really happy with these added elements. I think I will definitely make it a goal to embellish the rest of the album at some point.

October 6, 2017October 10, 2017

October Project Life Creative Team Layout

The October Project Life Digital and App Creative Team layouts have been posted on Becky’s Blog here.

I am always excited when the posts come out to see which of my layouts is featured. It still surprises me to scroll through and see my stuff featured even after 10 months of doing this. I am sad the year is coming to a close but excited about what the future holds and what doors this opportunity might open for me.

But in the meantime, I can still soak up all this inspiration and joy I find from creating for the Team.

But I digress. Back to the topic at hand. This layout features the Magic Memories Themed Cards and Design A and Design W Templates.

This was the perfect kit for a quick snapshot of some of my favorite photos from my son’s first trip to Disneyland last year. I have many more photos and plan to make a mini album some day but I was glad I got this story down while it was still fairly fresh.

Just seeing these photos and remembering that trip makes me smile. We totally need to go back soon!

September 26, 2017October 6, 2017

My Creative Re-Inspiration using the Time Kit

I am reconsidering the whole way I scrapbook and my approach Project Life lately. I started scrapbooking because of the photos and mainly scrapped event based only. Around 2008, I started scrapping the everyday but still treated it like an event. And then in 2011, I started Project Life full time but still approached it all from a photo-centric perspective. But these last fews months I felt a shift. Instead of looking at photos first, I am realizing I am looking at stories first and trying to find a photo to fit. Sure there are still times I can look at the photos and say – oh I want to tell this story or this photo reminds me of… (fill in the blank). But now I find myself looking for stories in my everyday and taking a photo because I know I want tell that story. It’s a refreshing perspective and I think it’s what I really needed to inspire me in creative hobby.

As part of that, I decided I wanted to start looking at Project Life in a more theme based process. I knew the Time kit by Ali Edwards would be coming in the mail during the week, so my first theme was time. I took photos throughout the week and then took screenshots of the time on my phone right after so I would know what time of day it was taken and could add it to my layout for the week. I found that keeping the theme in mind kept me more inspired to take photos throughout the week and even consider what stories I wanted to tell. Like my son getting up in the morning and even though it’s really early, he can still brighten my day with a snuggle and a smile. Or how lovely the afternoon sunlight is coming through my window at work. I am not sure I would have thought about taking those photos on any other week if I had not had the theme in mind.

And on top of that, I was so inspired and excited about my theme week that I actually sat down on Sunday and completed the full week’s layout before the week was even over!!!!

I am so thankful for this new inspiration.

And here is the full layout. It has been a long time since I have done a physical/traditional Project Life page and boy did this feel good! I think a good mix of both app, digital, and traditional pages are in my near future!

September 25, 2017October 6, 2017

Project Life Re-Do

I have been a subscriber to the Ali Edwards’ Story Kits since she started making them a ways back. I used them occasionally but I would say I was more of a hoarder. I anxiously awaited the release of the class content but would skim over the words looking for the layouts. And occasionally I would note a layout that caught my eye and would think “I can use this for xyz photo(s).”

What I didn’t really realize until a few months months ago, was that although I was a subscriber of the kits, I wasn’t really a subscriber of the philosophy. I was missing out on so much content and inspiration that I never even realized the world that awaited me. I think it was the Type class that started changing that for me. That’s when I REALLY started to listen to what Ali was saying on the videos. And something just clicked for me. AHA! This is what I am missing! The story!

I started rewatching some class videos and running back through a lot of the content with new eyes. I was totally inspired and all of these stories started running through my head. I started using 6×8 size to get a bunch of them down and was able to crank out several layouts over the last few months.

About two weeks ago, I sat down to work on some Project Life layouts in the app. I have done this about a dozen times over the last several months. Sat down to work on it. Launch everything, stare at it, then close it down and play a game or do some other time sucking activity instead. It came to a point where I was really disappointed in myself because it was something I was dreading rather than something that brought me joy.

Late last Saturday night, I had one of those moments and went to bed really disappointed. But as I lay there, I realized, part of why it wasn’t bringing me joy anymore was that I was trying to force it. I had to remember “my reason why” as Ali puts it. I got into scrapbooking and Project Life because I originally loved photography and family history and storytelling and wanted a place to put it all. But I found this year that I wasn’t taking as many photos, so trying to fill up a two page spread per week left me putting photos in wholes just to fill it up. Not necessarily because I loved the photo or it told a story. Just a filler. And that was no where near a reminder of my reason why I was doing this in the first place.

So I decided to start over. I know, GASP!!! But that is part of the beauty of the app. It’s super simple to try something different and make copies and move stuff around if you want to. I was ok with what I had done for the month of January so I left those as is. But I looked back at February through May, most of which I had at least chosen photos for, if not already done a very uninspiring layout for and considered everything with new eyes. I looked at layout after layout and realized on some of them, I liked all of the photos and wanted to keep it as is, but on others, I only liked a few, or even one photo and I could combine what was originally four uninspiring layouts into two that I loved! And in one day I did layouts for February through May and I totally loved the results! It’s not a layout per week, but I have 24 layouts for 2017 done so far and I can tell I am inspired to create more again!

Here are a few of what I came up with. These are for May. The first two pages took place in one weekend, while the next two are my favorite photos or stories from the rest of the month.

As Jess Forster would say “Done is better than none!”