Project Life® 2014 | Week 3

I had big plans for this month. Really, I did! Those plans included finishing up and posting lots of my Project Life® layouts. But like Dan says in the movie Dan in Real Life, "Plan to be surprised."

So it's been a bit different than I planned. But in the end it's good. Still here, but making some changes to make our living situation better. I'll talk more about that later. Just know I'm in the midst of moving my scrap space from the bedroom to a little nook area (thank you to my husband for letting me take over his office and helping me move.) 

(*updated--see at the bottom I found out how to fix it!) And a little disclaimer about these images. They look much better on my computer. For some reason, when I upload them here they are losing a ton of quality. It's really the first time I noticed it this bad. So, like many of the changes I'm making, sometimes something happens to make you boot into action. This might be what makes me change up the blog. Who knows, maybe it will be better in the end? I like to think so at least.

So, rambling aside, here are my pages from January--week 3. Very insert heavy, so I'll be doing another post about inserts. Also, I somehow missed photographing one, so I'll be reshooting that today.

My goal is to blog some of my layouts and then end with a giveaway to my upcoming class, Project Life Lessons. Really hope I can make that happen!

So week 3 included my husband's birthday, my daughter going to a Tinkerbell party, dressing up for 100 days of school, some silliness, and playing in her room. 

I'm using the Collect Photo App for all of the 3x4 photo cards with journaling that you see. I add the photo and the journaling right on my phone, and print them with Persnickety Prints. You can watch my video tutorial showing you how to do that here. Also have an intro video that shows how to use the app here. You can find out more about Project Life® here.

Here is the left hand side of the spread. Here I have my title card, Maggie quote card and the Collect cards. 

I went a little insert happy this week, so I'll be sharing those in my next post :)

This is the right hand side of the normal spread. Here I have my week in review card from Tracy Larsen and more Collect photos. The inserts are sandwiched between the left and right side pages.

If you have any questions about the products, just let me know! Using mostly Paislee Press cards, Midnight edition, anything Dear Lizzy and a Jade card here. Also used those awesome vellum letter stickers from a Studio Calico kit.

Take care and hope to be back soon!

updated: I found out what was going on with the photos! Deb Duty posted on the Studio Calico boards that blogger is enhancing the photos. Simple fix: go to your Google+ account and change the setting to not enhance them. Really frustrated by that, but at least there is a fix. Click here for Deb's very good instructions.

Project Life Update | January Part 1

Hello again!

If you've stayed with me this long, I thank you! If you are just joining me, hello to you as well! Happy you are here and happy to be sharing my Project Life pages for January. Specifically, my January introduction page and weeks 1 and 2.

Yes, I realize this is March! Life's been busy and my mantra with this blog and Project Life or any memory keeping projects is simple…live life first. So, while I may get pages completed (and let's face it--that's a huge accomplishment for me); I don't always get them photographed and blogged. But I digress.

So, here we go. First up is my January introduction page. I basically do these because 1. I love them. 2. I love the calendars and the monthly review. 3. It helps give context and organization to my album. 4. The right hand side gives me a place for a longer story/personality page/fave photos roundup, as found in our eBook, Project Dig Deep. And finally, the biggest reason is number 5. Because when I get behind with the "weekly" approach, I can always just forget the week in review and do them by month. My back-up plan so to speak. Anyways, I love it.

Title page is a free download from Persnickety Prints found here. January month in review card and weekly review cards are from Tracy Larsen, found here. (I think she is working on a 4x6 version--I just tweaked mine to 4x6 in Photoshop Elements.) Quote card is from the teen theme pack, I think, from Becky Higgins Project Life® found here. Calendar from Paislee Press found here.

And on to week 1. Here is where I use the majority of the Collect Photo App cards. For more information and a tutorial, see my prior post here.

I have a title card, a quote from my daughter and a week in review card each week. I love having a design plan, a place for these cards to go. It takes the decision making and agonizing over what goes in what pocket so much simpler. Yes, if you do Project Life as originally designed, this is done for you. But even then, there were too many decisions for me. I've gotten faster, but I cannot tell you how much I love having some pages pre-planned. Because I'm ordering out my photos and it can take a month before I get enough to send out, I really like having a plan for where these go.

Here is the main "spread" for week 1. (spread meaning left side + right side). This was January 1-5. Welcoming the new year, enjoying New Year's Day and the weekend together. Pretty much a magical start to the year.

I decided to add a "Maggie Quote" each week instead of a different quote card. She's saying so many funny things now, I just want a way to remember some of them. I'm using a Paislee Press card that I tweaked to make it work. Find that here.

And on to week 2: January 6-12. Decided to clean up my bedroom/scraproom. It's a bit overwhelming and only somewhat better, but at least it helped get me going for the year. I changed up some of my table for a cleaner look. Goodbye avocado green, hello mint green thanks to cute boxes from Ikea.

And I had to include a little extra bit about Torchy's Tacos. Seriously yummy and "damn good" as they call them. Maggie loves that "baby Jack Jack wears a diaper." (she's a bit of an Incredibles fan)

As for products, I'm using a kit I pulled together from my physical and digital stash. Lots of Paislee Press papers I made into title cards, cards from Midnight and Seafoam, cards from Dear Lizzy kits. Basically neutrals with pops of mint and pinks/corals. I'm calling it the Mint kit. Totally nothing official, just having fun with it and my goal is to use my stash more this year. I'm also still subscribing to the Studio Calico Project Life kit. That cute "Love This" card is from their January kit, Copper Mountain.

If you have any questions for me, just ask below. Am happy to help!

Also, I am thrilled that Big Picture Classes is running our class Project Life Lessons again! I teach it along with Megan Anderson and Elise Blaha Cripe. Both of these ladies are completely amazing and I'm honored to be teaching with them. 

About the class: it's three weeks long and we each share our processes, tips and tricks, along with ideas for improving your Project Life® processes in each of these main categories: photos, journaling and creating Project Life® layouts. It's fun, we have videos and downloads for each week (handouts for content + free cards you can use in your album.) There is also a Pre-Class, which is available immediately upon purchase of the class. It's packed. Seriously packed. I've taken lots of classes so I know! :) 

The awesome thing is that there is an early bird discount available until March 12th. (price will go up from the discounted $30 rate to the regular $45 rate the morning of March 13th.) So really, grab it before then!! You could buy a mini kit with the savings! :)

Class begins April 17th and I hope to see you there! 

To find out more info and to sign up, click here.

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