My Process for Project Life

Things are different now that I am doing my Project Life using paper and hybrid techniques, as opposed to all digital. Last year there wasn't a lot of planning involved. I collected each weeks photo's into a folder, grabbed one of the kits in the new month's Digi Files, and ran the Pocket Page Action. I could do a digital PL layout, embellishing and shadowing, in as little as 30 minutes.

Paper is taking me a little bit longer. A lot of my photo's are taken with my phone, and as I have learned, they really look best when sized to the 3x4 or 4x3 pockets. My actual camera can be used to 4x6s. So I have to resize everything, and process it it for printing, and then get it printed. My photos, or lack thereof, also dictates my Pocket Page Design, where as in digital, I just resized to what I wanted it to be. And, lastly, depending on the time I have for putting it together, I also decide how much effort I am going to put into making ir creative. Case in point. Weeks 2&3 were super busy for me with a changing work schedule, studying and whatnot.

Seafoam Digital Kit and elements from More + Less by Paisless Press

Week 2 got the top four pockets, and Week 3 get the bottom 4. Simple, uninspiring, but DONE. I had zero time to get creative, lest I fall behind (which I do not want to do) and I took 2 main pictures, one for each week. Thankfully they coincided, each regarding weather. So, because of lack of time and pictures. I printed out digital journaling cards from the Project Life Digital Seafoam kit, using a couple of them as background for a few things I wanted in the week (Facebook post from a friend and blog comments from the editors of Where Women Create Business!!). I did no embellishing, I just printed and slid them in. Also, since I only had 2 pictures, I didn't even print those out till Week 4. I just used a post it in the pocket with a description of what pic went there. I never print photos unless I have at least 5. Not worth the trip to pick them up.

Week 4 was a little different. I actually had pictures to print, and made some time to actually get creative. On weeks like this, I usually print the pictures out on Sunday, trim and crop them, and lay them out in the page design I am planning on using. I put post-its with notes of either journaling cards I want, embellishments I want to include, etc. I also go through my stash quickly picking out embellishments and papers I like, that I might want to use. I lay them to the side, adding those are usually my last step. And I go through my Silhouette library, picking out any shapes I want to use or journaling cards I may want to cut. All the pieces may life on my table all week. With my schedule, I sometimes only have 30 minutes here and there to work on it so one night I may cut shapes with my Silhouette, another night I may choose papers or fill in journaling, it gives me a quick creative break each day.

This is a two page layout spread out on my craft table, both sides using Pocket Page Design A. You can see my post it notes and journaling cards laid out so I can see how the colors work together, and have a little time to look at it and try different compositions within the grid.

I am actually really enjoying doing Project Life in it's paper/hybrid form. It does take me longer, but I can fit little pieces of everyday life in the pockets, something that was missing in my digital pages. i tried to go back and add ephemera in last year's album but it never worked out right, so I ended up canning the majority of it. I am also really enjoying my Silhouette and using it in my PL pages. I love the look of cut out journaling cards, or cut out sayings, with patterned paper behind them (Like the Oh Happy Day or etc. cards below). This will most likely be my only form of scrapbooking until after the bar exam in June, so I am trying to be creative and use all my tools whenever I have the time. I'm not the only loving the transition either! Traci Reeds, a digital scrapbook designer, just did a really neat little blog post about her PL journey from digital to paper/hybrid.

A couple other things I wan tot leave you with if you do Project Life, or some other year long project. Both come by way of Ali Edwards. One is her post about how she photographs her Project Life spreads. The other is something else I am adding to my 2013 Album. Ali posted about another blogger, Moorea Seal, who is starting a year long project of her own called 52 Lists. Each week she posts a PDF of a list to make for the week, like What You Should Be Proud Of and Current and Future Goals. I did all 5 of them for the past few weeks in just a few minutes, and love the addition to my album. I think you might like them too!