Bring on the moments...I mean, the giveaway, right??
I am truly honored to be a part of the Scrapbook & Cards Today issue this summer! I love a good magazine I can hold, touch, feel, smell (weird, right?) and KEEP FOREVER, so working with SCT was a pure dream! My article is all about recording those sweet summa-time memories in those cute little pockets! I used a few different sized page protectors because I'm wishy-washy like that and love to mix things up!
I am having so much fun with my memory keeping processes this year! Between snapping photos, creating photo albums and adding stories to my Handbook, my days are full, but great! I love creating and playing with paper and not setting really high expectations for myself this year (like a weekly project) has been wonderful for my mind!
My "simplified" handbook has slowly become my very favorite. I'm writing more stories and recording more of our everyday than I have in previous years even though I might have kept up with monthly albums or weekly spreads. I love the words. I love recording details that I so quickly forget. And I love the photos. Photo collages have always been my favorite and they are definitely in abundance in this album! Sometimes it's hard to pick just ONE photo, right??
Today, I wanted to share a quick look at my 2016 album, as well as walk you through my process and encourage you to try something simplified and easy too! As I mention in the video, this process would be perfect for anyone who has been wanting to start out in "memory keeping", but really just doesn't know where to start! I'm a firm believer that you can make the process whatever you want! There is no right and there is no wrong! The most important thing is to tell your story and get your photos printed!
Are you keeping an album of your stories and memories this year?? How's it coming along??
I LOVE full spread photos! Adding them into my albums and mini books is one of my very favorite ways to showcase special photos. These types of photo pages are SO easy to make and today, I thought I would share with you just how easy they are to create using your photos!! This short video will show you step by step my process for creating fun full spread photos!
So what did you think?? Easy, right??
Go print your favorite photos and create a full spread photo page in your albums!!! They are just so fun! xoxo
If there's one thing I learned about Project Life, it was to mix things up and change things around. Today, I thought I would share one of my very favorite Project Life spreads in hopes to inspire you with your album this year! If you haven't tried out a square-sized pocket page yet (meaning the pockets are all uniform and squared), I highly recommend picking up a pack or even making your own using either your sewing machine or fuse tool!
There is something so fun about square photos and journaling cards. And since most of my images are square now a days thanks to Instagram, printing off photos is super easy!
For this spread, I started by printing about 12-14 images. I knew I wanted to use a few journaling cards and filler cards in the pockets, so I didn't need a photo for every pocket.
I started by slipping my photos into the pockets, leaving a few spaces for trimmed journaling cards. I tried to balance the photos on each side of the page and make sure the journaling cards were spaced among the photos.
For the middle pocket of this page, I trimmed down a journaling card to more of a rectangle and then stapled it into place in the pocket. I like to have a little bit of transparency and see-through in my albums and using cards/photos smaller than the actual pocket is an easy way to achieve that effect. Stapling it to the pocket keeps it from moving around and possibly slipping out!
I kept my embellishments rather simple and let the photos speak for themselves. My motto is definitely less is more right now.
Have you ever tried out a square pocket for your Project Life album? Go give it a shot! If you love Instagram or collages like me, I bet you will love your new pretty page!
Hello!! Today, I thought I would share a look at the rest of my December Daily/Project Life album! This is the FINAL book in my 2015 Project Life series and I really can't believe that this project is over. Each album is truly a treasured keepsake... And just looking back through all of our photos, I am just SO shocked at how quickly my kids have grown and changed. The days may seem long, but wow, the years are short!
For December, I decided to combine my book to include both our daily activities, as well as our Christmas events. The beginning of the album is more "day-to-day" stuff, and the end of the album is more Christmas-y stuff (which is basically how our month went).
I used a 4x4 album that I had in my stash and I just LOVE this size. I know I've said it a zillion times before, but if you are on the fence about wanting to create a mini album, this size is the perfect size! Promise! I kept the pages super simple and easy, and as you will see in the walk-through video and photos below, repetition is the key to finishing!
I've shared pages 5-14 in another blog post, but below is a walk-through video of the entire album (excluding days 1-4 which were part of the 25 Days class at Studio Calico)! Enjoy!!
Have I mentioned I really love this size??? :)
Thank you SO much for following along with me this past year! 2015 is fully recorded and really is such peace of mind knowing that my photos are OFF of my phone and computer! Tomorrow, I'll be back to share with you some of the things I learned this year. If you have any burning questions, just leave me a comment here and I'll be sure to answer them tomorrow!! Yay!
My latest class at Big Picture Classes is up and running and I hope you will join me!
This class is all about Project Life, so if you need some help finishing out your album this year, I have five photo prompts, five journaling prompts, and a walk through of how I put my pages together!
I love Project Life; and whether you are doing monthly books, one BIG album or a mix of everything, this prompts will be perfect to guide you along the way!
Hope to see you in class!! If you do join in, drop me a line!!
Hey there!! I'm over on the Studio Calico blog today sharing a look at my November Project Life album. I'm currently working on my December book, and very soon I will have twelve completed albums documenting our year. This project has been a labor of love, but it has been so rewarding. I can't wait to do a recap post in a few weeks with some of my thoughts and feelings about these albums and this project!
This book includes a lot of similar elements from all of my previous albums - double spread photos, layers, altered page protectors, paper clips and more! Once I FINALLY decide on an album size, the putting together part usually comes quickly and easily!
And here is a quick walk through video of the finished album! As always, thank you SO much for following along this year-long memory keeping journey with me. It's been fun and so very rewarding to have these moments captured and documented.
This summer, I had the opportunity to work on a fun project using Maggie Holmes' Open Book Project Life® kit from Hobby Lobby and I am so excited to share it with you today, as well as offer you a FREE download to create a project for yourself!
Using Maggie's Open Book Project Life® collection, I created a "bucket" list banner for our summer. You could easily adapt this to a fall bucket list, or even a thankful banner! You would have such a treasured list of items at the end of the month if you wrote what you were thankful for each day! And you even pair your fall bucket list tags with photos and create a cute little tag mini album! The ideas are endless!
Download the FREE instructions above here or by clicking on the printable and saving to your desktop! Tag me in your projects, or leave me a link here if you end up creating something! I'd love to see what you make!
When I started this project in January, I wasn't really sure if I would make it all year. It's not a "difficult" project per se, but it does take time and effort to print, organize, document, etc. Sadly, memory keeping is an easy to project to move down your ever growing to-do list, right? Laundry, activities, homework all seem to take center stage. But I'm committed and really determined to finish up this year strong. Looking back through my books, I've noticed that the more recent books have become all about the words and photos (which I'm totally ok with). The beginning of the year includes more creative ideas and processes (like vellum photos, pockets, creative journaling).
I don't think there is a "right or wrong" when it comes to memory keeping. I find, for me, that I like to print my photos and get them into place and then go from there with journaling and extras. Usually, by the time I've printed, I'm already running out of steam so adding in lots of extras hasn't been in the cards the last few months!
This month, I went with a 4x6 sized album that I had in my stash. Using up my supplies has been awesome. I've used more products, printed more photos and written more words this year than in years past with the 12x12 Project Life size.
And here you can see a little walk through of my album! Hope you enjoy it!!
I went out on a limb this month with my Project Life spread over at Studio Calico and decided to give the 12x12 size a go again! I was surprised at how easily the spread came together and really do love this size (I just wish the darn albums weren't so large and bulky).
I found myself following my normal "process" which consisted of printing out all of my photos first, adding in a few filler cards in the extra spaces and then including my journaling. So fast and so easy!
I think one of the things I always struggled with with this size was having the two pages have a good flow and coordinate well with one another. Using a kit, like the Wink Wink Project Life kit from Studio Calico this month, really helps make that process easier!
The cards and accents were designed to compliment each other, so it's easy to pull in elements and have a good flow/feel on the page.
I used my typewriter to add most of journaling onto either my photos or journaling cards. Typing on photos still is my absolute favorite! I love leaving a little bit of "negative space" when printing out my photos so I can add in my thoughts!
For this photo of my two kids, I was worried the sun and trees in the background would make my typing difficult to see, so I typed onto a piece of white printer paper and then stitched the strips into place! I love how the words pop from the photo!
The 12x12 size really is such a fun size to work with! And pairing the design A page protectors with a coordinated kit makes the process even easier! That's a win-win in my book!
As the year has gone, I've worried each month about being able to try something fun and new with this project. That was pretty much my main goal for starting this monthly albums this past January. I was kind of tired with the normal 12x12 Project Life pages, but still wanted to document our days and our memories.
I love creating mini albums, so it was pretty much an easy decision when it came to creating albums every month. And every month I stress about the size and how to do something "new", and then every month I fall in love with a different sized/type of album.
This month, I chose to use a Travelers Notebook for our memory keeping. I have a few of these pretties, but mainly have used them for lists, notes, etc. I hadn't merged the two yet. Now I am SO glad I did.
The Travelers Notebook is the perfect little "album" for creating a mini album. The base pages are white and clean and are already bound together (and super score that you can create your own inserts and pages).
I'm over on the Studio Calico blog today sharing a look at our September in the Travelers Notebook. This month is by far my favorite. I love how compact and simple this album - how the photos take the center stage and really pop from those white pages.
In this month's video, I talk about some of my different tips and tricks for working with the Travelers Notebook, so be sure to check it out!! Thanks so much for letting me share these monthly albums with you! As the year comes to a close, I'm just so grateful that I have these books and all of these memories recorded.
I have another fun Project Life spread to share with you today!! I'm obviously obsessed with our life in squares and on any given day, I usually have a handful of square photos lying around. I love to print them out and hang them up in my room. I love reliving those memories - both big and small!
For this spread, I really wanted to use the 3x3 pieces that were included in the Studio Calico Pop Art Project Life kit, so I decided to use a 12x12 October Afternoon page protector trimmed down to 9x9.
I grabbed some of our summer photos and popped them right in the pockets.
In the other pockets, I added in the 3x3 cards and shapes from the Pop Art kit. The heart card was single sided, so I ran it through my typewriter to add a few lines of journaling. To finish this spread, I adhered a rubber lemon wedge (how cute is that thing, btw) and then a few of the chipboard pieces onto the outside of my page protector.
Such a quick and easy spread to put together, but so different from the normal style!! What's your favorite pocket page design? Have you ever tried the 3x3 square pockets? I love them!
This fun album (which is a binder that I picked up from good ole Target) is so darn fun. If you watched the video, you heard me say that I altered some of my 6x8 page protectors just slightly (by trimming off the edge with the punched holes) to fit into this album. I love the effect that the pages with the trimmed edges have. It's more of a seamless look (which is why I love the double spread photos and collages).
For the majority of these spreads, I used the Brimfield Project Life kits from Studio Calico. Love the softer colors and beautiful florals in this kit. The colors all coordinated so well and really popped in the spreads.
I'm continuing to try to add more words and stories with my photos. It's a work in progress for sure!!
And I can't have a Project Life spread without a pretty collage. Even though most of these photos have been printed and added to this book, it's still so fun to see them all grouped together!
For the last spread of this July album, I added a full page photo of Anna and a writing sample from her. She's officially a first grader and I couldn't resist getting her sweet faces and her sweet stories down in this book. That's what Project Life is all about anyway, right?
