Project Life 2013- Week 2

Project Life 2013- Week 2

This week is a pretty simple one. No inserts. As is my typical approach, I found a paper collection (from my supply of 6x6 pads) that tied together all the colors in my photographs for the week. I still approach each week of Project Life as a form of scrapbooking- I like there to be an overall coordinated color scheme. This particular week I had some purples and pinks I needed to tie together, but I really didn’t want them to be overwhelming colors. This collection “On Trend” from Crate Paper was perfect. I pulled bits and pieces from my stash to round it out and it came together pretty well (I think).

Here is the overall spread:

And a closer view of the left page:

The left side really focuses on 2 events of the week. First, my husband’s birthday. We went to P.F. Changs for dinner so I included a photo of him there, plus our individual fortunes. Below that, a photo of him from our house, blowing out the candles of his cake.

The other big “event” here is just a general sense of my daughter maturing. She voluntarily had put away a beloved stuffed animal she has slept with every day of her life since she was born. It was a momentous occasion I wanted to be sure to document. I snapped a pic of “Bunny” on a shelf in her closet and added text via Photoshop. I love that the Project Life format allows me to document all these little “everyday” things we’ll want to look back on some day. For the journaling card, I just started with a Becky Higgins grid card, added a strip of washi, some letter stickers from Authentique (LOVE this size!), and stapled on a wood veneer arrow from Freckled Fawn. I then thought it needed a bit more color and I really wanted to bring in a bit of the royal purple to the layout so I stitched a line using some purple thread. I don’t have a sewing machine so I just do this by hand. Only takes a few minutes.

The right side:

Nothing spectacular here, just lots of everyday kind of happenings.

Products:
Paper from the “On Trend” collection by Crate Paper, stickers from “Everyday Eclectic” and “Today’s Story” from Echo Park, wood veneer from Freckled Fawn, journal cards from the “Clementine” and “Seafoam” Becky Higgins kits, alpha stickers from Cosmo Cricket and LilyBee and some misc. washi.

Project Life 2013- Week 1

Another year of documenting our family memories via Project Life has begun! After 52 completed weeks, I'm still LOVING this format and all that it allows me to document of our family! So without further ado, here is Week 1 for 2013...

Here is the overall spread, which includes a 5x7 insert:

This week uses a lot of the Pebbles Seen & Noted collection, with lots of little tid bits mixed in.

The entire left side documnets our small New Years Eve party. I had a few additional photos I wanted to include, but I really didn't think it warranted another insert so I printed them 3x4 and tucked them in an envelope behind the journalling card. I had to slit the page protector to do that. I also added a tab to them so they were noticable and could be pulled out easily.

The background image for the title card is one I had found while doing a Google Search. The "Happy New Year" was already on the image. I printed it as a normal 4x6 photo and added the "week one" using Basic Grey mini alpha stickers, and then stamped the dates inside on of the blurry light spots. Pretty happy with the simplicity of this card.

Another highlight to this page is a little clear flip-up I added to hold a piece of streamer and confetti from the night. I really wanted to include a bit of this stuff, and had it fallen on the right-hand side I probablly would have left it in a pocket by itself, but as it fell on the left side and the opposide side of that page protector was the title/cover page, I dind't want to do that. So I came up with this idea. I just cut a 3x4 slot from another page protector and attached it with staples (placed by hand because a stapler wouldn't reach). I covered the staples with a strip of Washi to hide them and add a pop of color. The confetti and streamer are actually shown in the photo that is underneath, so I like how it related to the pocket contents.

This insrt is a 5x7 (PL page protector from Becky Higgins), that highlights a few favorite shots of my daughter from the party. As always, I added a tab to the insert (this one is from Pink Paislee, with a bit of Washi for the pop of yellow).

The backside of the insert is a photo from our sleigh riding afternoon. I added some old Sassafrass alpha stickers directly on the photo for the "hello winter" text.

And finally, the right side:

Lots of photos in the snow here.

Products:
The central collectuon for this week is Pebbles "Seen & Noted," along with a Cathy Zielski free download, Becky Higgins journal cards from Clementine and Seafoam collections, a few stickers form Echo Park's "Everyday Eclectic" and Simple Stories "Harvest lane", wood veneer from Studio Calico and Freckled Fawn and some washi.

Project Life- Week 22, The Baking Birthday Party

So today I’m sharing Week 22 from last year. I haven’t gotten in the groove of 2013 quite yet, but am trying to post on the blog more regularly, so here goes…
This week included my daughter’s 9th Birthday party, and although I did scrap a traditional 12x12 layout of the event, there was really a lot I wanted to include here. As it turns out, I probably included MORE in the Project Life album than I was able to in the traditional double-page spread… thanks to a few inserts!

Here is the overall spread as it looks in the book:

There are 3 inserts total, so you can see then stacked up on the right side here. I mostly used Echo Park’s “Sweet Day” collection. I just loved the colors and they matched perfectly with the party theme colors! There’s a bit of My Minds Eye Nostalgia and Basic Grey’s Life of the Party mixed in there.

A close-up of the left page:

This includes some non-party things from earlier in the week- a softball game, a book-club meeting and some swimming in the pool.

Here are the inserts:

For the 1st insert, I wanted to include a portrait-type photo of each girl that attended the party, so I used baseball-card page protector (trimmed to only 6 slots) to hold all the girls front and back, plus a few other shots of the cupcakes and aprons & hats, and a few embellished cards. I made the “Girls Only” digital card and printed it on cardstock. As always, I added tabs to the inserts.

The 2nd insert is a trimmed WRMK page protector, holding basic 4x6 photos from the party- making lasagna, salad, garlic bread, cupcakes and then a chocolate fountain for the evening. Not much embellishing here, just an Elle’s Studio tag and Basic Grey sticker.

I also wanted to include the invites we made for the party:

For now, this is just in a page protector “scrap”, stapled to create the margin. I finally ordered some of Becky Higgins 5x7 protectors, and some Simple Stories Snap 6x8 page protectors, so this will likely be replaced with one of those and get a tab. The invite itself is made using all Stampin Up products.

And finally, the full right side of the week:

This was just a few other non-party photos. A music festival at the school, a favorite crab legs dinner & the annual swimmers-ear-drops-soaking-in pose on the couch. More Echo park products here, a few Project Life Clementine cards, and bits and pieces of other things.

I love that I was able to keep the party contained to all the inserts… it allowed me to still showcase all the other non-party happenings of the week. And I feel like a got a pretty good summary of the party. I’ve come to realize that the majority of my journaling is just the who, when where and why kind of stuff and I really have set a personal goal for 2013 to do more emotional story-telling. Since the party was after her actual birthDAY, and I did do a personal note to her on the day she turned 9, I guess I’m ok with not having anything more “personal” in here for the party. But I’ll be making a conscious effort to do better in 2013.

I’ll do a separate post on the specific party details later. Not scrapbook-related, but more party-planning kinds of things. Decorations, activities, etc.

Project Life- more 2012 layouts

Sharing a few of my favorite layouts from the second half of 2012...

Week 33

First up, Week 33, from mid-August. I had thisold Fancy Pants "Its the Little Things" collection (in both 6x6 and 12x12) that is easily one of my most favorite collections of all time. I was hesitant to use it (you know that, 'but if I use it, I won't have it anymore!' problem!). So I bit the bullet, figured it did no good sitting in a drawer to be drooled on while loking for other things, and tried to do my best to showcase it. It includes 2 inserts.

The first photo shows the full right side, and the front of the first insert. Just lots of everyday things: running errands, having a rare mommy-daughter lunch, cooking dinner and some summer reading. Nothing spectacular and all these pics came from my phone. Not great quality, but it captures real life, whcih I like. The front on the first insert begins photos from a trip to a local fair...

Back of the first insert, front of the second. more photos from the fair...

And here's the right page. I love the 3 right-most photos of this layout. Just a Sunday afternoon, no special occasion- but some of my favorite photos from 2012.

Week 36

A busy week, including the first day of school, welcoming our new puppy and a graduation party. The first photo shows the left side and front of the first insert. The first insert is a trimmed baseball card page protector from Staples. I had to document our puppy Oliver’s arrival and I’m so glad I caught a pic of him with his ears (one up, one down) because he only looked like that for a day or 2 and then the other ear popped up…

Back side of the first insert, front of the second. The second insert holds photos from my cousin’s graduation party from cosmetology school. I made her an oversized pair of glittery scissors and lots of “hair” props so she posed with everyone. I couldn’t choose a favorite, so I included them all!. So fun!

The last photo shows the back of the second insert anda bit of the right side page. The photo of my 86-year-old grandma in a paper wig of red braids cracks me up! So glad this project helps me capture these memories...

Products: Mostly Echo Park’s “So Happy Together” collection, with some tabs from October Afternoon and alpha from American Crafts and Carolee’s Creations.

For more info on Project Life, check out www.beckyhiggins.com

Project Life- some layouts from 2012

Sharing a few random Project Life layouts from 2012...

Week 47

This week included Thanksgiving and a trip to see the musical Wicked.

My daughter and I love the music from Wicked so I wanted to include the soundtrack for her (you know, in case in 20 years she wants to listen and remember?!)... To do this I just found a plastic CD case, cut it in half to use the back portion (the part that holds the CD in half) and I punched holes in it to add to the binder. I adhered patterned paper on the backside (making sure it was double-sided and I liked both sides). I burned a copy of the soundtrack on a CD and used a simple Avery CD label to add the design label (I edited the Wicked poster in PhotoShop).

Products: Mainly Echo Park's "This & That", with some Jillibean labels, PL Clementine journal card, random washi and a Studio Calico wood veneer arrow. Letter stickers are Basic Grey and Echo Park.

Week 28

Flashback to July... my photos had lots of red and turquois that I had a hard time tyoing together. I ended up using a lot of Project Life Clementine cards with black accents and I'm fairly happy with the result. I don't normally use this much of a PL set in one layout, but it worked.

Products: Project Life Clementine Core kit, AC Thickers, washi, Elle's Studio tags.

For more info on the Project Life system, check out

Project Life- Week 51 & 52

So I've just completed 52 weeks of Project Life... and decided now its finally time to share. Yep, I know.

Week 52

This was a busy week. Adding inserts helped to break the week into days & gatherings with different branches of our family. First up is the overall view, showing the left side, which was Christmas Eve, and the front of the first insert (a Project Life Design H pocket page) which was Christmas morning at home...

Here's the back of the first insert, more Christmas morning at home, and the front of the second insert (another Design H, with the top cut off) which was the get-together with my brother, mother and step-father's family. I made a little envelope to hold a note/letter my daughter wrote about her thoughts about this Christmas. I slit the page protector to allow access from the backside and added a brad and turn to hold the flap closed...

And finally, the back of the second insert, which was a visit with my father & his girlfriend, and then the right side of the week which was everything else on Christmas and the days after...

Products: Pulled out some old collections that I've been horarding. Mostly Cosmo Cricket. The newsprint paper used for the envelope is Stampin Up. Chipboard alpha is my favorite Basic Grey chip stickers. Green alpha stickers are Studio Calico. Tabs on the inserts are October Afternoon (love those!) and the transparent snowflake card was made with a KI memories diecut paper, mounted on vellum and sprited with SC Mister Huey's. "Recorded" card is from the PL Clementine kit. The rest I made with some grid paper from an old WRMK set.

Week 51

No insert this week, pretty straight-forward. This week covered Taylor's class party, some fun with props and my family's Christmas get-together...

Products: Mainly Echo Park's "For the Record 2" collection, and some misc. washi & Elle's Studio tags. Journalling cards from PL Clementine set and Studio Calico. The black "Love" card I cut on my Cricut and used the negative, mounted on some newsprint paper. Mini Market letters from October Afternoon.

And... thta's Week 51 & 52. I'm oficially done with my 2012 albums (I needed 2) and moving on to 2013! LOVE this project!

For more info on the Project Life system, check out www.BeckyHiggins.com