January 26, 2011

Project Life Week 2

I am so excited to share more of my scrapbooking with you. Today I have Week 2 of my Project Life album to show you. Longgggg post, so if you stay with me....good for you!

First, I wanted to share some thoughts on how my scrapbooking has progressed this year. (Progress being my One Little Word for the year). Last year I had full intentions of scrapbooking but I hardly did any pages other than adding plain photos to my Project Album. Which I stopped in May due to my gall bladder issues, vacations, softball games, trips, etc. This year I wanted to make some major progress with my scrapbooking. So I've done a lot of thinking about how I can get all the scrapbooking done + my other Design Team responsibilities + run an Etsy shop + devote time to my family, etc.

I knew Project Life was the answer because of it's all inclusive scrapbooking system. But as I completed my first week, I knew that I wanted more. I wanted to add more creativity to my pages. More scrappy stuff using supplies from my stash. More stamps. As I scoped out other blogger's Project Life pages and the gallery at the PL Community, I began to see how others personalized their PL pages. They were using little snippets of receipts, tags, smaller photos, creative journaling, old typewriters for journaling, instant camera photos, etc. And I LIKED it! A lot. Some of my favorite inspirations came from Ali Edwards, Lisa Truesdell and my good friend Heather Nichols.

So that brings me to how I want to do my Project Life album now. I had thought that I simply wanted to add the photos, do the journaling cards and then do lots of other insert pages that were full blown scrapbooking. However, I have to be realistic. I won't have time to do that and keep up with it. And I'm not good at catching up. So I've changed my approach and here's what I'm gonna do: I am going to get scrappy with my Project Life daily photos. I'm going use products from my stash. I'm going to sew on my pages. I'm going to use my old typewriter for journaling. I'm going to cut up Becky's journaling cards and get creative with them. Plus I'm going to add in additional pages of my own in between the PL pages. I'm going to treat the two page layout of one week as a scrapbook layout....blending it all together to look like a layout. To be honest, full size 12 x 12 layouts intimidate me. I think it's because I'm used to making cards which are a smaller size. With the PL pages, the size of the inserts are perfect because they're about the same size as a card. Not intimidating at all.

But to get more scrappy with my PL album, I had to switch gears. I need to scrap in my studio now to be close to my supplies. So I've moved my album to my studio and set up shop on a second table. I re-purposed this Pottery Barn unit (which was originally listed in PB Teen as a makeup table organizer a few years back) and it now holds my basic scrapbooking supplies. I will tweak it as needed but for now it has my stamps that primarily used for scrapbooking (lots of Ali Edwards stamps from Technique Tuesday), letter stickers, my Tiny Tim stapler, a label punch and front and center are my journaling cards + extra supplies from the Project Life kit. It's all right in front of me and I'm loving this process. Note: Instead of printing my photos just daily now with my Canon Selphy, I've also been printing my photos in batches at my local developer and scrapping one week's worth of photos . This way, I am treating one week as a full scrapbook layout. This week's two page spread took me about two hours to complete.
So with all that said, I'll try to keep the actual photo part of this post shorter. Here is my Week 2 photos of my PL pages, which includes a 6 x 12 insert page in between.
The left page.
And the right page.
And here's how it looks with the 6 x 12 page insert, each side having a layout. 6 x 12 page protectors are from We R Memory Keepers.
Here's where the scrappy details come in to play. Sewing, chipboard accents and stamped labels. I love to use my small alphabet stamps for journaling. They are an essential tool for me.
On this photo, I added a few hearts and stitched right on the photo.
Here's a closeup of the 6 x 12 insert page.
This is a journaling block created with Ali's stamps from Technique Tuesday.
And the back side of the 6 x 12 layout. The ledger pockets are from KI. See the photo of that old stone well? We found that while out cutting wood one day. I must get the story of it from my dad. I never knew it was there. It's all about the stories, right?
Okay, that's wayyy too much typing, even for me. How are you coming along with your Project Life album? Are you keeping up? Let's keep each other going, we can do this. Stay tuned this week for Week 3 of my PL album....and a few more insert pages that I did of some fun events last week. Thanks for stopping by!

17 comments:

My Happy Place by Vanessa said...

I'm not even doing a Project Life but I loved your read and I did read the whole story! I'm going to go into my scrap room to play! Still feeling inspired by you:) Thanks
~Vanessa W

Amy @ TheMombot.com said...

very cute! i love the stitched hearts... hmm, guess I better get out the machine... :)

Angie@Echoes of Laughter said...

It looks lovely! Your pages are just awesome! I am waiting for my Amber kit to arrive! Angie xo

Daisy said...

I love how you're making it your own by adding your personal style to it! I'm also doing a Project 365, inspired by Becky's Project Life, but completely digital, since that's how I usually scrap. I've been debating on buying her kit and going paper for this project, but still can't decide! I'll keep looking at your blog for inspiration!

Unknown said...

I just read your entire post. I am not dooing a PL album but have decided to do my 'Heritage.'

I just love your postings and can connect with a lot of the same things. I also can do a card but feel intimidated when it comes to a 12 x 12 layout page.

The more vintage or scrappy - the better!

Absolutely love your work!

ec

Marie Tere said...

I think I may need to start PL, this is cool, thanks for sharing.

Cassandra said...

Between you and Heather, you have convinced me that this is a way I can scrapbook (like you a card maker and a bigger page is a little overwhelming). Thanks for keeping us updated.

Jamie said...

How did you print 2 pictures on one 4x6? I love your pages!

Jessica said...

beautiful! I love the stitching & embellishments....inspired now!! thanks! :)

Sarah said...

Love the idea of the half scrapped pages, I will have to check out the page protectors. I am trying to make my PL album more me but I haven't gotten there. Thanks so much for the inspiration.

Carolee Jones said...

THANK YOU for being so YOU! I am always stuck with 'that's cute but, how can it work for me, I always NEED to be more creative as an artist the pre-done layout kits & supplies have no appeal, but my time to DO the creativeness just doesn't happen with my own busy schedule. It's nice to hear your process & see the results of blending the "project life" kit with your OWN style & life pace. THANK YOU for your ideas & showing us your process! it helps...A LOT!
Especially for me.
Hugs, Carolee=Homer,Alaska

Lynn said...

Michelle, Love your blog...thank you for sharing your PL layouts with us. I was inspired by you and Laura Vegas and have done my first few weeks. Love how you are adding extra bits to your scrapbook!

Diana said...

Love seeing your PL layouts. I've kept up with mine (woo hoo for week 3). Every 4 days, I print up 4 pictures and put them in the album. Every Sunday, I insert the next week's journaling cards in the binder (since everything is color-coordinated, I don't have to worry about a design not matching...love that!).
I am loving this PL kit and am sooo glad you recommended it & are sharing your ideas with us :)

Shirlann said...

Great ideas Michelle, adding bits and pieces and sewing! I was looking forward to this post to see how you were going to make it you. I am keeping up with my PL as I send each week's photos to a photo lab on Monday. I gave up on my Selphy printer for the 4x6 and use it just for customizing photos for smaller sizes.
I've left my pages plain so far...waiting for some inspiration as this is my first PL album. I also got the other vertical page protectors. Have you any good ideas in how to use them?
I'm really having fun with this...thanks!

Sherman Unkefer said...

GORGEOUS!

Andrea said...

I LOVE your new method!!! Wish you could come and scrap for me :) The PL albums are finally back in stock so I should have mine in a couple of days!!! Better get some pictures printed! Thanks for the inspiration!

Maranda said...

I love how you sewed the heart right on the photo! Great LOs, it's so fun to still do some 'real' scrapbooking with PL. The best part is you can do as much or as little as you want. Love what you did this week!

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