Killing Kits - Project Life Cards

Hello Counterfeiters. We're nearing the end of the month, so I'm back with a few 'Killing Kits' ideas to help you finish of some of those kit leftovers and this month our focus is on Project Life Cards.

I have a massive stack of Project Life Cards that have accumulated via kits, collections and from the 'cut apart sheets' that seem to be included in lots of new collections. 

Of course, the simplest way to use those Project Life Cards is to add them into a Project Life Album, but it can sometimes be difficult to match colours or themes. Next time you find yourself unsure of which cards to use, choose a monochromatic scheme, like this beauty from Crafty Kari that I found over at Studio Calico. There's no overall theme to the cards, but it's well balanced and, more importantly, it's a layout done and in an album! Imagine! ;)

This beautiful, soft layout by Kathleen Graumuller for Felicity Jane uses two 3x4 cards to fantastic effect. A filler card acts as the base 'frame' for a small photograph and combined with a beautiful sentiment card, forms the base of the layout. It's so pretty!

But what about the cards that aren't really your style? I often find it difficult to use 'loud' colours, but this layout from Eyoung Lee looks effortless. With 3x4 cards in a loose format, she's used them as a base for embellishments and a smaller photograph. The bold colours draw in the eye, but don't overpower the layout in such small doses. 

I'd love to know if you decide to try one of these ideas, or if you have any ideas of your own for using up Project Life Cards.

If you are still in need of ideas for your kit leftovers, you can watch the full Killing Kits Series or head over to the Counterfeit Kit Facebook Community where the Master Forgers and our friendly followers will be happy to help!

Clair x

Scribbles From My Scrap Studio – 2017 February

Here we are 8 weeks into 2017 and I am finally sharing with you what I am doing for Project Life this year. I have an on again/off again, love/hate, forget/remember, fun/hassle, relationship with Project Life. I adore the philosophy of making scrapbooking simpler, but like many others I was sidetracked by too much irresistible product. To be honest, I should never have purchased a single core kit. As a stash kit counterfeiter, I am contrite that I literally “bought” into the idea of needing dedicated supplies.

I embrace the idea of recording daily moments for a whole year – but I worry that it can seem so “daily” or even “weekly”. A year is a long time. Only parts of the last few years have Project Life pages, mostly I have succeeded in using it for trips in connection with full 12 x 12 layouts.

I was stalled out on how to approach 2017. I could not get started, feeling a bit overwhelmed with the thought it could be unsustainable. That is, until I saw this video by Becky Higgins studio:

Set Up to Scrapbook a Year in Under 1 Hour!

In this video (just a minute long), the good folks at Becky Higgins simply showcase inserting a whole year of the new Project 52 – Fresh cards into an empty album. Each week has 2 pages - simple.

Yet not simple enough. Maybe week could have just 1 page. That is when it hit me that those pages (Design A) are split right down the middle. What if I put 2 weeks on a page instead of 1. Then I would only need to fill 4 slots per week – 1 weekly place card, 2 photos and 1 other journal card – and I would be done with the week. In fact, I could even do a single photo a week and use filler cards for the rest. Brilliant, you say? Am I the first person to see the page split in half like that or tackle it in this “less might be more-likely-to-finish” way?
 

 
I decided to commit. Will it work, you wonder? If you know me at all, you should wonder!  Here is the current state of affairs. I started with the previous Project 52 core kit, plus a set of 12 specialty cards. (I am showing you this digital image because it is easier to get a flavor of the kit. I am using physical product.)



I have put all the weekly page cards into the album. I have sorted half of the remaining core kit into my journal card holder. I downsized by half the items I had stored in my Raskog to matching colors and likely usuable items.  This reduced a bit of visual clutter at my Project Life desk, and encourages me to use bits and bobs from my scrap desk and that case of crop stuff I showed you last month.
 


Here is just a sampling of my pages thus far.  I am up-to-date through last week – Valentines Day.

 

 

Quick Pocket Notes:

· I used New Year’s Eve – New Year’s day photos for the title page.

· Most of my journaling is done on the computer and printed on the weekly place cards. I set up blanks in Microsoft Word with both left and right justified margins.

· On Week One, I cut a slit in the back of the protector so that a tab could pop through for a photo that faced back, and I popped the camera on the outside.

· I printed one free downloaded card that I have had for a couple of years.  All my downloads reside in one place in my photo gallery, so they are easy to peruse. I altered it by adding text to suit my story.

· It is okay to go bigger once in a while, on a week of vacation I expanded to use 2 1/2 pages or  5 vertical columns – by inserting a 6 x 12 divided protector. (Part shown above.)

· Clear stickers on photos, and transparencies over color cards add lots of interest.

I conjecture that the key to Project Life may be doing just enough to get by, enough to tell a story over the length of a year, but not so much that you are spending all your scrappy time on it. After the first week, I have only been spending about an hour each week to choose and print photos, journal a bit, add cards and embellishments.

Now, while you keep wondering if I will stick with it, I am wondering what you are doing with Project Life? Anything? Anything, at all?