goshery

thoughts about Project Life.

2013 is my first year using Project life to record my memories and although I've only completed two months worth of spreads I thought I would spend a little time sharing my thoughts so far.

I'm using the Seafoam kit, which was designed by one of my favorite crafters, Elise Blaha Cripe.  When you purchase a Project Life kit you get tons of cards - some 4" x 6" cards and lots of 3" x 4" cards.  Most people do a two page spread for each week and they will likely use all of these cards.

For someone like me doing one two page spread per month this is way more cards then I need.  Because of that, I'm pretty free with my use of the cards, cutting them apart, punching shapes out of the cards, etc.  It's kind of nice to have that freedom and I can even see myself using the cards for other projects.

The 4" x6" cards all have a white space for a title which is nice, but honestly I wish the kit had some cards without the white space.  I have found myself covering it up with photos or embellishments, and I've even cut the colored portion of one card to hide the white space on another card.  Not a big deal, but one thing I've found slightly frustrating.

Because I've been cutting the cards apart I've ended up with bits and pieces which I've saved in a clear envelope to use later.  I've also saved other shapes that I've cut out of cardstock so when I need a little something to add to my project I have a nice collection of "stuff" to choose from.

When I'm not working on Project Life I keep all of the cards stored in the nice, white box that the kit came in.  I store the clear envelope of "stuff" right on top so it's all together, and then the box goes into my craft armoire until the next time I'm ready to work on it.

I'm really glad that I decided to do monthly spreads rather than weekly spreads because I know for sure I'd be behind by now.  I have a lot of craft projects I like to work on and if I were doing weekly spreads I wouldn't have much time for anything else.  I don't print photos at home (which I think would be necessary in order to keep up every week) so doing monthly spreads means that once each month I go through my photos, order what I need and get my spread done in just an hour or two.

If you want to read all of my Project Life posts just go to the archives page and look for 2013 Project Life.

project: Project Life insert

I mentioned in this post that I was working on an 8-1/2" x 11" insert for my February Project Life spread.  I celebrated my birthday in February so I had more pictures than usual and I thought an insert would be a great way to include them in my album.

Here's a look at the insert as it appears in my album.  The page protector I used has 3 rows of three pockets, so room for a total of 9 photos or memorbilia on each side.

The front side of the insert shows photos taken the night my parents took me out for dinner at The Bachelor Farmer, a great restaurant in downtown Minneapolis.  My daughter is a host at the restaurant so we were able to see her and she arranged several special surprises for us that night.  It was a bit dark so the photos aren't the best, but I think I still captured the mood of the night.

To cut the photos the right size I first cut a piece of vellum and then used that as my template.  I used vellum because it allowed me to see the photo so I could decide which portion I wanted to cut out.  The pockets are pretty small but I was able to get the portion of each photo that I wanted.

On the back side of the insert I focused on some of the gifts I received.  The top left pocket is a photo of some candles and lotions I received and on the top right is a little poem that my sister & brother-in-law included with their gift. 

For the middle row in the left pocket I cut out part of one of the cards I received, and on the bottom left is a photo of another gift.

In the top middle pocket I attached a star to cardstock and then stamped "celebrating" over and over, which is kind of messy but kind of fun!

I received a beautiful boquet of flowers on my birthday and I cut that 4"x6" photo into four squares, mounted them on black card stock and then put them in four individual pockets.  I really wanted to include the entire photo of the flowers and this was a great way to do that.

It's fun to add a little something different to a montly spread and I love the size of these pockets.

February Project Life

I finished the main portion of my Project Life spread for February.  I say "main portion" because I'm doing an extra 8-1/2" x 11" insert this month since it was my BIRTHDAY MONTH and I don't have that done yet.  I'll post that in the next few days, but in the mean time here's a look at the main spread.

The left side starts at the top with the title for the month, including the fact that it's my birthday month.  I used some cute Amy Tangerine thickers to spell out February.  They are black and white checkered and I love the look of them but they aren't very sticky so when I took them out of the package many of the letters fell off the sheet.  Other than that - I love them!  I added a red heart in recognition of Valentine's Day and I printed "Birthday Month" right on the insert.

On the top right is a blank card for now with a post-it note reminding me that I need to print a photo of my February goals.

Below that are four photos - things I've blogged about during the month.  On the bottom left is a photo of a message I wrote in the snow asking it to please melt.  I'm so over this winter.  On the bottom right is my monthly goal wrap up, where I commented on the progress I made on my goals.  I cut the words for "goal wrap up" using my Cricut and I punched a couple of little flowers using one of my favorite punches.

Here's a closer look at the right side of the spread.  On the top left is the Q & A card that I created for my January spread and plan to use each month this year.  I added a little birthday cake to the card and some fun washi tape.

On the top right is a photo I took using the timer ap on my phone on a very snowy day.  I adhered that to one of the cards that came in the Seafoam kit and then I used one of the smaller cards from the same kit that says, "this is what life looks like".  I used my Dear Lizzy date stamp to add my birthday to the card and I used a fun, red clip to hold it all together.

The middle row shows four nature photos I took during the month.

On the bottom left I used a photo of my shadow that I took one beautiful February day when I was outside trying to soak up some sunshine.  I adhered the photo to a card from the Seafoam kit, and then I punched a heart out of one of the smaller cards in the kit and attached it using pop dots for dimension.

On the bottom right is a photo that I talked about in this post.  I may go back and add a small label or some handwriting on the photo, or I may leave it as is.

I'm typically a pretty slow crafter - it usually takes me a while to figure out what I want to do.  This spread came together really quickly in part because I used mostly photos so all I had to do was cut them to size.  I also have a bit of consistency going from one month to the next (title block, Q & A card, goal wrap up, etc.) which means less decision making as I go.

Remember that you can always go to the Archive page and select "2013 Project Life" to see all of my posts about this project.

another new item in shop.

Today I added another set of journaling cards to my Etsy shop.  This is a set of 12 cards that are 3"x4".  I did hand cutting and sewing to embellish the cards and they are oh so cute!  I can also see using these cards as journaling spots on traditional scrapbook pages, on cards or as a mini album.

The cards have patterned paper on the back, so if you wanted to include them in your Project Life spread you could easily journal on the back too, or add a photo to the back.

Visit my shop to see additional photos, including a photo of the back of the cards.  I made a set for myself and I can't wait to use them! 

January Project Life: the whole.

Yesterday I shared information about some of the cards I created for my January Project Life spread.  Today I'll share the whole spread so you can see how it all came together.

Here's the whole month at a glance.  I ended up with all of my photos (except the puzzle on the bottom left) in the 3"x4" pockets that run across the middle of the spread.  That wasn't necessarily planned and I definitely want to use more 4"x6" photos in future months, but for January they are mostly smaller photos.

Here's a closer look at the left side of the January spread.  Starting at the top left is the title card for the month which I wrote about yesterday.  Next to that is the photo from my blog listing my January goals.  I ordered a 4"x6" photo for this spot but for now I just have a photo that I printed at home on white card stock.  As soon as the photo arrives I'll put it here in place of the paper copy.

Across the middle are four photos:  morning coffee, walking on the treatmill, my fancy necklace and my fireplace.  I wrote "two miles a day" directly on the treadmill photo.

On the bottom left is a photo of the puzzle I completed in January, and next to that is a 4"x6" card with a wrap up of my January goals.  I wrote directly on one of the 3"x4" journaling cards that came with the Seafoam kit as a way of including my handwriting, which is something I plan to do throughout this project.  The letters that spell out "goal wrap up" were cut using my Cricut.

And here's a closer look at the right hand side of the spread.  On the top left is the "this month" card that I wrote about yesterday.  Next to that is a card that is simply decorative.  I started with a 4"x6" base card from the Seafoam kit and then cut one of the 3"x4" cards from the kits into a tag shape.  I also included a flower and a banner to dress up the card.

The photos across the middle of the spread include a photo taken in the spare bedroom to capture morning light; a photo taken from my treadmill showning the lack of a view; a bowl of pears and some stretching I did before my walk.  I wrote on both the treadmill photo and the stretching photo.

On the bottom left is the "hello" card I talked about yesterday and next to that is another decorative card.  I used a 4"x6" base card from one of the original Project Life kits and I added a horizontal 3"x4" card from the Seafoam kit.  I cut the arrow from another one of the Seafoam cards and a stamp declaring me a "happy girl"!  I put a circle punched from black card stock behind the small journaling card and then I highlighted the stamped image wth a frame cut using my Cricut.

One thing I am still thinking about is rounded corners vs. square corners.  All of the cards from the Seafoam kit come rounded which wouldn't have been my preference - I'm more of a straight-line kind of person.  I might decide to round the corners of my photos for consistency but I haven't committed to that yet.  I'm not sure that I like having a mix of round and square corners so I'll probably give in and round the remaining corners but I'm not quite there yet.

I'm just getting a feel for this project and I'm sure I'll learn as I go.  I think that I'll probably include more photos in future months but I didn't really plan for that in January.  I'll post a spread each month and include some posts about parts of the spread if there's something special to talk about.

Remember that you can always go to Archives and 2013 Project Life in order to see all of the post about this project in one place.

January Project Life: the parts.

I spent some time over the weekend working on my January Project Life spread.  This is my first year doing Project Life and I'm doing one two-page spread for each month and I'm mainly focusing on documenting my health and fitness.  Tomorrow I'll share the whole spread, but I thought I'd start with a few of the insert cards that make up the spread.

I'm using the Seafoam edition of Project Life which came with TONS of 3"x4" and 4"x6" cards.  There are way more cards than I'll use in just 12 spreads which is a real benefit because that means that I can use bits & pieces of the cards as well as whole cards without worrying that I'll run out.

This is the "title" card for my January spread.  It's pretty simple; just the name of the month and my "theme" for the year, "Let's do this!"  I used my Cricut to cut out letters to spell January and I initially planned to just use the letters, but after I cut them out I realized that I liked the outline of the letters even more than the letters themselves!  I attached it to the base card and then trimmed off each end.

For the theme statement, I typed it on my computer and then printed right on the card.  The card came printed with a spot for a title or some journaling.  I first printed my theme on plain white paper and then used a little bit of adhesive to attach the card to the white paper and then ran it through my printer again.

This card is a template that I plan to use each month.  Since I'm focusing on my health this year it makes sense to reflect on the month and write about the highs and lows I experienced.  I set this template up in Excel because I had planned to do something different.  If I had known I would end up with a simple Q & A I could have easily used Word but this works.  I saved the template so in future months I can just update the answers to each question.

The card is pretty simple; a little washi tape, some candy dots (the black dots on the left side) and a cute flair button on top of a simple shape cut using my Cricut.  I should mention that the shape was cut from one of the journaling cards that came with the Seafoam kit.

This is my favorite card in my January spread.  I used one of the 4"x6" cards that came with the Seafoam kit as the base.  The strip on the left is a portion of one of the 3"x4" cards.  I attached it to the base card using my sewing machine.  On top of that strip is another of the 3"x4" cards turned horizontally.  On this card I typed my journaling using the same method of printing first on white paper and then attaching the card and running it through my printer again.  It took a few trys to get the spacing right so that my text fit the lines on the card.  Once I got the spacing right I saved this journaling so the next time I want to print on one of the lined cards from the kit I don't need to go through the trial and error again.

The hello is from an Amy Tangerine sticker set.  I used the sticker on another project but saved the outline and thought it would work well here.  I tried it first directly on the base card but it was difficult to read so I backed it with white card stock before attaching it.

It was fun working on all of the individual cards for the January spread but also kind of putsy.  If I were doing a spread a week, like most people do, I probably wouldn't be able to spend so much time on the individual cards.  Since I enjoy taking my time with projects I think the spread per month will work well for me.

projects: journaling cards.

I've been working on some new journaling cards for my Etsy shop and finally have some ready to share with you.  I thought it would be fun to create journaling cards that combine photos with journaling space, so I spent some time browsing through my photos looking for bright, colorful photos that are generic enough that anyone could use them.  I came up with three different sets of journaling cards, shown below.

The first set is called "Flowers" and the photos were all taken in my garden last summer.

The second set is called "Nature" and features three photos that I took in my yard and one photo (the third from the left) that I took while I was walking through the woods in Fairbanks, Alaska last summer.

The third set is called "Summer" and three of the photos were taken during a trip to Florida last summer.  One of the photos (the third from the left) was taken at the Minnesota State Fair.

Each of the sets includes 8 journaling cards; two of each card.  The cards have grid lines making adding handwritten journaling super easy.  The sets are all available in my shop now.

I am using one of the Flower journaling cards on my February Project Life spread.  It's nice to have a bright pop of color on my page!  Although I had Project Life in mind when I created these journaling cards they could be used on any scrapbooking page, or even on a handmade card.

I have a few more ideas for journaling cards that I hope to share with you soon.  Today I'm going to finish my January Project Life spread and I'll share that later this week.

2013 Project Life.

I surprised a few friends - and myself - when I decided to do Project Life in 2013.

If you haven't heard about Project Life, it is a memory keeping system created by Becky Higgins.  Becky is a very popular scrapbooker who used to work for Creating Keepsakes (a popular scrapbooking magazine).  She has published several books about scrapbooking and was the first scrapbooker (I think) to have the idea of drawing sketches of page ideas and then using them for a variety of pages rather than looking at your photos and trying to decide how to lay them out on a page.  My group of scrapbooking friends are long time Becky fans and can often be heard saying, "where's Becky" when we get together to scrapbook.  That means that someone is looking for one of her sketch books to find a layout idea.

Project Life is most often used to document every week of a family's life.  It has grown in popularity to the point that all of the "famous" scrapbookers use the system.

I decided to use Project Life in a way that makes sense for me, and that is to do a two page spread for each month rather than each week.  Even more specifically, I want to document 2013 as the year that I changed my exercise and eating habits so my monthly spreads will focus on those two things.

Here's a look at the title page I created for my album.  As you can see, rather than having one large background piece of paper the page protectors are divided into smaller pockets, similar to some of the other albums I've shared here.

The top left pocket simply states the year and to the right of that is a the outline of a profile sticker that I used on another project.

Below that are four smaller pockets.  I included the shape of the state of Minnesota (where I live), a little bit about me in my own handwriting, and then a couple of decorative cards.

The bottom row includes a silly photo of me and a "hello my name is" sticker and my name.

Each month I'll share the two page spread that I created.  I have a good start on my January pages already and I'll likely share them next week.