PIP Day....Project Life In Progress..Week 8

Hello friends, hope your weekend was great! Today I have my PIP day post for Project Life Week 8. Last week's pages were all Valentine themed. This week it's nice to get back to just a mish mash of my supplies.

My Project Life routine:

I've had lots of questions about how I do my Project Life. Currently I have my groove down and it goes like this: Once I take that last photo on a Sunday, I'm ready sketch out my layout. I look through my iPhone/camera to find what photos I want to use by pairing them up with notes I've written daily in my calendar. I pick the best photos for each day (sometimes one, sometimes more) and decide if they will be square or rectangle or full size. I make notes of this on my little layout sheet. Then I'm ready to print. I email my photos from my phone to my computer then transfer those photos to my photo library. From there I edit then print. I then take my PL album with photos to my work table. I'll take some time to mull over supplies to see what I want to use. I select journaling cards, stamps, embellishments and patterned papers. That leads me to the photo below. I usually take a break right about here and wait for another time to work on my pages. Then the next day I'm ready to create and assemble the pages. Then I really try to get any inserts done this same week. And that's it.

Product Picks:

I just got a fun order from Banana Fish Studio, so many fun elements to use and the packaging is adorable. As a shop owner, I send out lots of orders each week. It's delightful to be on the receiving end sometimes, so when I receive a package just for me it's extra fun.
When I create kits for my shop I always make one for myself so that I can use the items for samples for you guys. I have a little stash from a recent kit or two shown below to use + I picked a few fun papers and some Washi tape. That Sassafras paper is one of my all time favorites. I have to use it in small pieces so I can savor it some more. This week's layout seems to be taking on a peachy/aqua/green theme. These colors were what coordinated with a few of the photos I took this particular week.
Chit Chat:

When I look my favorite Project Life weeks, I really try to analyze why I like those particular pages so much. One of the things I've noticed is that those pages have a lot of white/neutral backgrounds instead of busy patterned papers. So I'm trying to use more of those kinds of papers for my base 4 x 6 and 3 x 4 inserts. I've started a small collection of papers so that I can have a stash to pull from. Of course the blank Project Life 3 x 4 cards are perfect. For the 4 x 6 inserts I'm using some grid cardstock that I created + a few others that have pretty neutral backgrounds. That makes a great starting point for layering on patterned papers, accents, die cuts, stickers, Washi tape, stamps, etc.
Challenge:

It's always fun to find a new way to use a certain product in my Project Life pages. To keep things fresh & new, I like to look at my Pinterest Project Life boards and other blogs to find a fun little something to add to my pages. I'm also looking for a fun way to add inserts to my pages using the various Project Life page protectors.

Questions answered:

Q: How do you print Instagrams all on one page?

A: From my iPhoto library I select all the Instagrams that I want to print. I then hit print and that takes me directly to my printer settings. I adjust the size to a custom size of usually 2" or so and see if they all fit on my 8.5 x 11 sheet of photo paper or whatever size of photo paper I want to use. Then I just hit print. None of my Instagram collages are done with Photoshop, just my printer.

Q: What thread do you use when stitching on page protectors?

A: I usually use whatever thread is in my sewing machine at the time. Usually a white thread and I just stitch slowly. The plastic tends to grab the thread so you have to push it through the machine to keep a steady stitch length. Then I just trim with my paper trimmer.

This week:

This week I'll be finishing up Week 8 of Project Life and then will head straight for Week 9 to get caught up. I'll also be working on some cards sets for family, birthday cards and a few assignments. Look for a shop update later in the week too. I will have a few new kits and the mother load of NEW tags!

Okay, off to start my Monday. Laundry.......lots of work in between.....shipping packages.....and walking my puppy. Have a great day everyone!

PIP Day....Project Life In Progress..Week 6

It's PIP Day for Week 6 of my Project Life. PIP Day is where I snap a few shots of my Project Life in Progress for the week and offer some open discussion topics. Still loving PL, still going strong.

Product Picks:

This week I enjoyed sorting through my newest stash of My Mind's Eye products I got from 2Peas, particularly the Be Amazing Follow Your Heart line. The colors in this collection really coordinated well with my photos this week which had lots of blues and golden yellows. The 6 x 6 patterned paper pad gave me lots of fun patterns to choose from. I'll be adding inserts this week from Josey's Winter Ball which will have mainly a bright blue color from her dress, so these colors will coordinate well with those pages too. I'm also excited to also break out my new Studio Calico Awesome and Epic stamps, perfect for Project Life.
Chit Chat:

So what are your thoughts on Project Life so far this year? I am still loving the process. I'm reading a lot about some of you getting behind, perhaps not even starting, and getting a little overwhelmed. Project Life is definitely a work in progress. It takes a fair amount of devotion of time, planning and effort for sure. With jotting down notes in my calendar, planning out my layouts, printing photos at home and the time I work on my albums.....I am probably spending a good 4-5 hours total on this project a week. I dabble with it here and there and that is the fun of it for me. I get to work on little pieces at a time and it's the perfect scrapbooking fix for me. Aside from additional inserts, this is the extent of my scrapbooking (maybe a few mini books here and there). So the time spent on my Project Life albums is very rewarding to me. To see 6 weeks down in the books is really great.

Challenge:

This week I want to tell a few more stories in depth. I've got two Project Life folded journaling cards ready to use. I like that I can add in more journaling without adding additional inserts.
I'm also trying to condense some photos down so that they fit into the main pages instead of adding so many inserts. I did this with some photos I took while taking Charlie for a walk down our country road. Was totally planning on an insert page but then just printed smaller photos so they fit in the main layouts. My challenge is to tie those photos together somehow using embellishments and coordinating papers. I've got a fun idea planned for those hexagons I hand cut from the MME patterned paper.
Inspiration:

My inspiration this week is coming from my past Project Life albums. I'm setting them out and going back to the same months from a year ago. It's so fascinating to see what was happening then. My hopes for my Project Life albums are to finish albums throughout the girls' high school years. Then when they leave the nest I'll evaluate how I want to scrapbook with Project Life.

This week:

I feel that our weeks are very much the same. Basketball, basketball, basketball. Cold and dreary weather. I'm definitely ready for a change of pace and am looking forward to Spring weather and outside activities. Am hoping to catch up on any inserts that need to be completed and perhaps finish up the 2 weeks I'm missing from December 2011. That is ambitious for me though. ;)

Shop update:

I'll be receiving lots of new designs of sacks next week so stay tuned for a shop update. I'm also going to be adding more kits to the shop here and there. I've got a few of my button card kits + my Gray & Grid kits left too. Lots of restocks coming in the near future which I'll add to the shop as I get orders in. Thanks so much for shopping with me.

Have a great day everyone!!

PIP Day....Project Life In Progress..Week 5

So here we are with Week 5 of Project Life. I'm reading where some of you are falling a bit behind. No worries at all. It's all about working at your own pace and doing what feels right for you. As a reminder, I got 17 weeks behind last summer. I never want to do that again but I have given myself a 2 week window of time to get caught up....life happens, we get busy. It's okay. Project Life is a commitment of time. If you need to, schedule some time on your calendar to work on your pages. Possibly, you will need to just add photos + journaling cards and skip any scrappy stuff you might have wanted to add. The goal is to get the photos & the stories in the book.

With that, here's my PIP photo of Week 5. This is what my work table looks like while working on my pages. I am most comfortable working with my entire PL album right on the table with me. All of my supplies + goodies that I want to add get nestled right in there. The photos are all laid out on top of my page protectors. This way I'm ready to add the layers and embellishments without having to fish the photos out of the pockets.

Chit Chat:

I've noticed that I've had lots and lots of photos these past weeks. This week I have 19 photos!! I think it's a combination of just lots of fun stuff going on, the ease of having my iPhone handy at all times....and I just don't want to miss a thing. Some weeks will go back to having fewer photos so I'll just go with the flow. I have a ton of photos of Charlie that just won't fit into each week. I'm saving those up for an Instagram collage insert that I'll get around to one of these days.

Challenge:

This week I tweeted this photo that shows my Project Life layout in progress. I like to think of these little sketches as floor plans since I have a design background. Half the fun is just sketching and going through the process. Someone asked, "Doesn't this take up a lot of time? Would it be easier to just wing it?" Very interesting questions indeed. For me, the biggest challenge about taking so many photos & then wanting to get scrappy with my pages is where to fit it all within my weekly layout. If I were to wing it and just start printing photos, I would have no idea of what sizes of photos I wanted to print. Most likely the photos would not all fit into my 2 page spread either. I also would probably waste a lot of ink and printer paper due to mistakes. Since I print at home I only print exactly what photos I need...no extra photos sitting around for me.

You'll also see my calendar in the background. I use my calendar system each week to record what photos I took and I also jot down little blurbs about the event. When the week is over I start plopping those photos down into the slots via my sketch. I also jot down what size the photo should be. Then I take my sketch and calendar with me to my printer desk and I start printing. Yep, these steps take more time....but since this is about the only scrapbooking I do aside from a few inserts, the extra time is definitely worth it to me. Note: If I only used a photo a day, I could leave out some of these steps. I could simply print and insert the photos into the slots.

Product Picks:

Lots of new goodies came this week including a big ol' stash of new My Mind's Eye product. I have been a big fan of MME from their very first years. Oh how I love their goodies. From the newest release I am quite smitten with the Miss Caroline lines. Fruity tooty colors....lots of flowers...in a vintage sort of way. Just my style. I think I also ordered about every new item from Elle's Studio. Lots of buttery yellow journaling tags are coordinating perfectly with my new MME papers. I've also pulled some Clementine journaling cards from Project Life. Oh, and stamps. I got a MME stamp + both the Epic and Awesome stamps from Studio Calico.

Inspiration:

My inspiration this week comes from lots of Project Life bloggers. Each and every Project Life page that I see makes me stop, zoom in and really absorb the process. I get so, so inspired by others that documenting the everyday tidbits of life. Leena Loh's blog is a definite stop. Her Project Life pages are so fun to study. Like me, she gets scrappy and treats each little insert as a mini scrapbook age. I love that her pages have a lot of white space. Lots of embellishing but put together so nicely. Also love Kelly Purkey's Week 4 of PL. I have to try using that 6 x6 type of pages soon. And there's Nichol Harper's pages. She's choosing to do one page week. So many fun details but again so clean looking. Jenni Hufford always has such detailed stories tucked into the tiny spaces. Love her use of Elle's Studio products too. Susan Weinroth's pages were very inspiring this week. Her photography skills are out of this world as each one of her photos look like a senior picture. I also love her 6 x 6 photos and Instagram piece. Definitely going to add this to my PL to do list.

This week:

Finishing up Project Life Week 5 tomorrow or Friday as the weekend will be busy. Josey has her first high school formal dance. We've got a nail appointment, hair appointment, flowers to pick up, etc, etc, etc. I think I'll do Ali's Day in the Life for this special event. I'm thinking an Instagram collage insert page. Similar to the Instagram insert page from this blog post, except with more room on the side bar for the timeline of daily events.

Okay, I'm outta here for tonight. American Idol Hollywood week is on!! Tell me about your Project Life.....how's it going? are you staying inspired? are you up to date?

PIP Day....Project Life In Progress..Week 4

I'm back today for PIP Day....where I show you my Project Life in progress for Week 4. Can you believe that February is already here? Can you believe it was 63 degrees in Kansas today? No & no!! By now you should be finding your groove for your Project Life. Whether you keep it simple or get scrappy with it, I hope you are enjoying the process. I really love when that last photo for the week is snapped and I can get to work on laying out my PL week.

Here's my PIP photo for Week 4. Just a random bunch of photos with no real color scheme or theme.
Product Picks:

This week I was inspired to use items from my Take Note kit that was in my shop recently. A great little collection of grid themed embellishments + a few goodies from Elle's Studio.

Challenge:

My challenge for this week was to blend together my main pages with 2 inserts that I plan to do about a few road trips this week. I thought this photo of a vintage suitcase that I have sitting on my porch would be a fun photo to tie in all my pages this week. This will be my main title insert that will slip into the upper left hand corner.

Chit Chat:

I am keeping in mind that I would like to really have just 2 albums for 2012. With the number of inserts I have been adding, I'm not sure that's going to work out. It it doesn't I'm fine with that. I know that here in a few years the girls might be out of the house and I won't have nearly as many fun photos to take. I'm just soaking it all up right now and am loving every.single.minute.

Inspiration:

Lisa Truesdell is always great for providing fun ideas for Project Life. Plus her 3 boys give me a glimpse at how life would be with boys. I found this week of Lisa's to be so cute with the little sucker wrapper from Sam. Last week I snapped a photo of Jordan at the basketball game with her goodies from the concession stand. She had a handful of suckers to hand out to friends. Later that night I found that my purse had been turned into a trash receptacle. It was full of those sucker wrappers, wadded up popcorn bags and empty pop bottles. Lovely. As I was throwing it all in the trash, I was reminded of Lisa's cute insert with the sucker wrapper so one of them made it's way into my PL album. Thanks for the inspiration, Lisa!

This week:

A few new kits in the shop (in very limited quantities) plus a sale on the Wrinkle Ribbon. I'll also be cleaning out my stamp & supply stash to make room for new CHA goodies. I'll have boxed items in lots here on the blog soon. Man, did you see all the fun new stuff coming out? I can't wait.

(The Buttercup Embellishing Kit)

(The Aqua Embellishing Kit)

NO ballgames this week. Very nice to have some bean bag time in front of the television and something other than hotdogs for supper. Josey is recovering from her concussion she got last week and will be able to practice and play in this weekend's tournament.

Hoping to play with some new Washi tape I got today. Thinking a few of these will be great for Valentine cards. Plus they'll look fabulous with Project Life's Clementine, don't you think?

Okay, off to finish up some work and then head outside. It's wayyyyy too beautiful of a day to be inside....in February!

PIP Day....Project Life In Progress..Week 3

It's PIP Day for Week 3 of Project Life. Can you believe that January is almost over? If you've been keeping up with your Project Life you can now see the photos turning into pages. Isn't it wonderful to see your album filling up? These are the days.

Here's a shot of this week's Project Life in Progress. First thing you might notice is the rainbow sherbet color palette. I'm loving a little more white + some fresh color for the new year. I worked last night while watching tv on getting all my journaling cards in place + gathering a fun pile of embellishments.

Product Picks:

This week I mixed journaling cards from Marcy Penner's shop with cards from the Clementine & Cobalt Project Life Core Kits. From my stash I pulled several stamp sets including my Label Basics from Papertrey + some Ali Edwards stamps. I also pulled some fun Washi tape, Basic Grey 6 x6 paper pad, and some printed grid paper + grid labels(my printer has a feature that allows me to print grid + notebook paper, so fun). The fun days of the week pads are from Target, some happy little finds that made their way home with me.

Challenge:

1. Keep my embellishments fairly flat. I'm really trying to keep my albums down to 2 like I did for 2011.

2. Use a week in review insert.

3. Use more 4 x 6 photos.

4. Make my own stamped labels.

Chit Chat:

I'm finding that I have a lot more photos lately. It will be interesting to see if this continues or perhaps we're just particularly busy right now. I'm definitely having to plan my pages when I have the extra photos. I don't like to have extra photos sitting around so I just print what I need for my album. On the flip side, sometimes you don't have enough photos for week. Check out Jennifer Hufford's Project Life week over at Elle's Studio to see how she makes up for a lack of photos this week.

Inspiration:

This week's inspiration comes from 2 great blogs I found. First is Ann-Marie Morris. Her pages are full of color, fun embellishments, lots of photos and great insert pages. Leena Loh's blog is another blog full of eye candy. I immediately fell in love with her beautiful Instagram blog header and was very happy to find this inspiring page of Instagrams. I just took a bunch of household photos and will definitely be using this for inspiration for a fun collage page. Leena's PL pages are full of fun photos, beautiful finishing touches that seem so simple but perfect, lots of hand journaling and good use of white space. Thanks for the inspiration ladies!

Your questions answered:

1. I'd love if some week you could explain what sizes you choose for your pictures, since I noticed you used all small ones this week. The sizes of photos I use all depends on how many photos I need to squeeze into that particular week. If I only have one photo for a day then it's usually a 4 x 6. If there are two photos I usually turn them into Instagram squares or smaller rectangles that fit into (1)4x6 slot. If there are even more photos for a day I will start fitting them into the 3 x 4 slots. The more photos I have, the more I really have to plan my weekly layout.

2. How do you photograph your spreads? I'm struggling to get good photos of mine. I have a bench that sits right below 5 windows in my dining room. I photograph all of my layouts on that bench usually around mid-day when I have soft, natural light shining through. I scoot my table around if there happens to be any glare which can pose issues with the shiny page protectors. Natural lighting is your best friend.

3. How do you print the smaller photos you put in your 4x6 slots? Do you use a certain computer program? For any square photos I use Instagram on my iPhone. You can see this post for tips. I print all my photos at home using my Epson Artisan 730 printer. It has a great program for printing multiple photos on one sheet. I can customize the photos sizes to be whatever size I want. No Photoshop needed.

4. May I ask which photo album pockets it is you are using? I use Project Life's Design A Pocket Pages with an assortment of the other page protectors mixed in for insert pages.

5. I was wondering if you could discuss the process of getting your phone pics to your computer how you print them. How do you get them to have the white border like Polaroid pics or are those usually Instax pics. Can you make your iPhone pics look like Instax when you print them? This blog post is a good resource for your questions. For the white borders on my photos, I have a setting on my printer that allows for borders.

6. What kind of camera do you use? I am using a Canon Rebel XSI and I have an old Tamron zoom lens too. A lot of my photos lately are taken with my iPhone too, it's sooo handy vs. the big camera.

7. Will the area where the title page has chipboard letters get bulky? How does your nearly complete 2011 album(s)look? I'm worried that that corner of the album will start to get huge and puffy. I ended up using (2)12 x 12 binders for my 2011 Project Life pages + insert pages. They are pretty full so I'm paying close attention to my use of dimensional embellishments this year. I'd like to keep 2012 to 2 albums also.

8. I am curious about your vintage typewriter and wonder if it is manual or electric? My manual typewriter is a pretty little gem from Good Will. I paid less than $15 bucks for it and had to re-thread a new ribbon (from Staples) onto it's existing spools. I use it each week as my hand journaling is rather large and loopy and takes up a lot of space.

9.I'm curious where you got the letters you are using to spell out words. Those are chipboard letters which can be purchased at most stores that sell scrapbooking supplies. Most of the ones I've used lately come in the main kit from Studio Calico each month with my paid subscription.

10. I have noticed that when I turn my pages the cards are falling out, how do you stop your album from falling out everywhere? Hmm, I'm not having these issues with my Design A Page Pockets. Not sure if that's what you're using. For any pockets that have the opening on the side instead of on top, there is a little movement. I simply add a little sticky dot to keep photos in place.

11. Are you able to share money saving tips on starting PL and how to maintain the project without spending too much money? There are several options. You will definitely need some sort of page protectors. Lots of options from Project Life. From there you can use your existing supplies to create journaling cards, etc. If affordable, the Project Life Core Kits are great if you want to add in a year's worth of journaling card inserts. For this, all you would need is to just add photos + journaling to page protectors. The rest of the embellishments are fun but not necessary if you looking for simple, easy and affordable.

This week:

The girls are all better and back in school. Both basketball tournaments are over so it's a tiny bit less hectic than usual this week. I'm working on some fun new vintage kits for the shop + I'll be posting some cards I made using leftovers from Week 2 of Project Life. My Project Life Week 3 will be up on the blog later this week also. Have a great day everyone!

PIP Day....Project Life In Progress..Week 2

I thought it would be fun to start a new feature on my blog for all you Project Lifers. I'm calling it Pip Day, for Project Life in Progress. I get so inspired by seeing other PL pages whether in progress, a sneak peek or a finished week. So why not share the mid-week progress along with a little chit chat?

I'll be sharing a photo of my PIP each week, like the one below. This is the part I love and look forward to each week with Project Life. The putting it all together. Digging through my stash for little embellishments. Seeing what colors I choose for the week. Stealing a few moments here and there to work on my pages.

The posts are going to be random in nature. I have a few weekly topics in mind but we'll just roll with it and see how it goes. Please feel free to leave comments and let me know how your PIP is going. :)

Products Picks:

For this week I saw my Studio Calico box sitting on my chair, calling my name. Okay, why not? So most of my products this week are from the January County Fair main kit + a few other fun items that I purchased last month from SC. It was fun to have all the choices narrowed down. In particular I'm using the alphabet stickers, patterned paper, lots of October Afternoon Flower Sack pieces, Ormolu die cuts & journaling cards and pieces of the BG Picadilly chipboard stickers. I have some inserts for this week so I'll be using more from this stash on those too.

Challenge:

1.Use mostly items from the Studio Calico box.

2.Use leftovers to create cards for my stash using card sketch from this post.

Chit Chat:

1. I didn't use any 4 x 6 photos this week, just lots of smaller photos. I was just saying to myself how I really liked the 4 x 6 photos with white borders. Go figure.

2. Was thinking, you CAN work on your pages even if you don't have the page protectors. Simply lay out 2 pieces of 12 x 12 cardstock or (2) 12 x 12 page page protectors. Use 4 x 6 and 3 x 4 sections + items from your PL core kit and you're in business. Lay it all out like you would if you had the page protector, snap a photo of the finished layout and tuck it all in a page protector or envelope. When your page protectors come in, slip all the pieces into place.

3. Listened to a podcast that Ali Edwards participated in yesterday. They brought up an interesting discussion in keeping up with PL. Will I keep up this year? Are we committed to this project this year? It definitely takes time and effort whether you use just the basic products or are getting scrappy with your PL. I feel confident that I'll stay up to date this eyar. Stay with it friends, the payoff is worth the effort. :)

Inspiration:

1. Definitely loving Marcy Penner's free page layout printables. Very helpful for laying out multiple photos. You can see mine in the top photo today.

2. Monica McNeil has written some insightful posts about her perspective for Project Life. Good reads indeed.

3. Ali Edwards' weekly PL pages are just so fun to look at. To me it seems that Ali selects each and every embellishment very thoughtfully. I love that her pages are full of eye candy but very simple in nature. Definitely about the photos + the words.

4. So excited to see Nichol Magouirk's first PL creation, her 2012 title page. Nichol gives me my traditional scrapbook layout fix each time I visit her blog. Looking forward to see her take on PL this year.

Your questions answered:

1. How do you take a screen shot of weather and text messages with the iPhone? Hold down the home key and the power button simultaneously.

2. I have a hard time dealing with each space. Do you plan it as a whole or just go with it? Lately I've been using lots of photos in both the 4 x 6 and 3 x 4 slots so I've been using Marcy's printables (see above link) to plan out my pages. I have an Interior Design background so this just seems natural to me to sketch it all out.

3. How much time do you spend on a Project Life layout each week? I spend 10 minutes or so each day jotting down notes in my calendar. Probably 30-45 minutes printing at home and trimming photos. And about 2 hours working on a 2 page spread, not all at one time.

4. Do you sew/attach embellishments directly on the photos or on the page protectors? Right on the photos.

5. How do you sew through chipboard letters? Very slowly, sometimes helping the needle along manually. A sharp needle helps.

And that's it for this week's PIP. Since my weeks go Monday-Sunday I'm thinking I'd like to do a PIP post on Tuesday with a weekly PL update on Thurs/Fri. We'll see how that schedule works.

This week:

Jordan is sick again. That's 4 days in the last two weeks she's missed school. Josey is out today too. Bleck. Also I have some re-stocks of products in my shop here. Some new kits will be added to the shop soon when new product arrives. Also, look for a huge new selection of tags coming soon. Perfect for cards and pages. :)