Catching Up :: Project Life!!

I thought I would bring you up to date with some of my Project Life Pages.  Please note: THESE ARE NOT CURRENT PAGES, therefore you may see some "out of season" photos!  My purpose in posting them is to talk about the layout of each page.

Often times, Project Lifers do a two-page spread which encompasses one week in their life.  I have some weeks where I don't take a single shot, others where I take just a single shot, and still others where we have a handful of events and LOTS of photos.  So, I knew I couldn't count on a two-page spread to represent any certain time frame.  You'll see what I mean once we start rolling through the pictures.  I'll comment a little on each one as we go...

Ready?

The 2012 high school football season.  Me and my girl went to a few of the games.  This was her freshman year, and she didn't know a lot of people yet (coming from homeschool), so she was glad to sit with her mama -- just to be able to enjoy the experience.  These are the Design A pocket pages, and you'll notice that I slipped a photo into one of the smaller pockets in the middle.  I love using those slots for verticle photos that I can trim down.  [Psssst!  This is a great way to fill the space without using 8 cards for each and every two-page spread.]  Notice that I used the entire season's photos here.  Three different games.  The football [vertical] cards are "homemade" and are simply gray cardstock as a mat around football scrapbook paper.  The other vertical cards are from the Project Life school-themed kit.

One of our 2012 autumn adventures -- and there are several.  Fall may be one of my favorite times of the year to take pictures!  I didn't use the typical colors here, choosing to carry out the "sky" colors with light blue Project Life cards, letting the orange pumpkins pop.  I used a sticker as an extra embellishment on one card.  Notice that rather than cutting a photo in half to make it fit in the smaller spaces, I cut a journaling card in half, and wrote on it accordingly.  Don't be afraid to break [what you think are] the rules!

I love this pumpkin-carving layout.  Since I only had one vertical photo to fill the center section, I used some patterned scrapbook paper to make my own cards and displayed them in a pattern in the center section of the two pages.  It carries the eye from one page to the next.

Another autumn adventure.  [Told you!]  Some pages don't require a lot of journaling -- just some notes expressing what you appreciate about the photos.  Again, some sticker embellishments on the small vertical cards.  I think all of these cards came from the fall themed kit from Becky Higgins.  I love ordering directly from her website, but try to plan my orders so that I am ordering enough to take advantage of her free shipping!  I have also purchased the theme kits at Hobby Lobby with my discount coupon.

Also: I used one of my favorite techniques on this spread.  Notice that on each page's center section, I have used the two center card-spots to hold a divided photo or title card.  I like the way this visually breaks up the routine of one photo directly above/beneath another.

This page represents FOUR different events or subjects: my nephews birthday, my mom's birthday, my son's new job, and my daughter's first semester artwork.  One of the original kits that I bought from Becky Higgins [a few years back] included great little arrows that help identify the picture to which the journaling refers.  This is helpful on a page that has a lot going on.  I tend to [most of the time] break down a two-page spread into quarters - letting the photos dictate how much room each event needs.  For example, on this page, you can see that my nephew's birthday fills the first quarter-section with two photos [top and bottom] and two small vertical slots in between.  One slot is used for an additional picture, and one is used just to say how old he was.

About the larger title cards... I don't tend to use them too often.  This is mostly because I tend to be loaded with photos, and don't want to give up the space.  HINT:  They CAN be trimmed down to make two of the smaller cards, which I obviously go through faster!  The layout above is Christmas Eve, and Christmas Day.  The small vertical cards are from some leftover favorite Christmas paper, and the date number/words are also from a page of December dates that was in my old scrapbooking stash.

Well, this was a lot of chatter!  But, I hope it gave you some insight into my process.  Becky made this system to be flexible, and so... I really try to let that work for me, instead of being uptight about "rules."  If you are working on Project Life, I would love to hear about your process, or your favorite tip!

Don't forget to keep your eyes on Becky's summer specials.  It's on her website under Project Life, and at the bottom of the long list of products on the right of the screen.

Also, check your craft stores for clearance items.  I scored a core kit at Michael's the other day for half price, and had a 20% off coupon good for sale items.  Cha-ching!

Scrap on!