Scrappy * Project Life - July Part 3/August Part 1

Finishing up July and heading into August. Nothing too special here... more food and bunnies. ^_^

Scrappy * Project Life - July Part 2

Woo it's been a busy couple of months. Weddings galore but now they're done and I can catch up on life before the holidays come charging in. Speaking of life, here's part 2 of my July Project Life.

 

Bunnies and food... yup.

Scrappy * Project Life - July Part 1

Closing out a long weekend spent with family in New Jersey. I love quality family time. I hope you had a relaxing and long weekend too :) And now, a July Project Life spread.

 

A lot of the memories that I want to record don't have photos (I actually don't take many photos these days) so I've been adding in doodles. I don't do anything fancy with my photos and I'm sticking with the Dear Lizzy core kit. I'm all about going as fast as possible so no time for embellishment! I like that the pretty designs of the cards keep things from looking too plain.

Scrappy * Project Life - June

For my birthday, my sister got me the Dear Lizzy 5th and Frolic Project Life kit. It is such a pretty kit! I love how the new kits have so many more designs than the original kits. It takes me about five minutes to choose a card! I love all the soft, sweet colors and designs. Lots of florals, birds, hearts, home, and library icons.

For this year, I decided to change from a weekly format to monthly. The weekly thing just wasn't working for me. I would stress out over having enough to fill a two page spread and frequently had to go down to a one page spread but then would have to leave out some things because really what I needed was a one and half page spread. This also meant that I didn't start documenting a week until it was over because I never knew how much stuff I would have for that week. I was losing the "now" in my Project Life. A monthly format makes so much more sense for me. I don't feel confined to one or two page spreads. And I now have the freedom to doodle and write up cards as I feel the urge to so and I don't have to worry about where they'll go.

 

project life: update

i started project life on my 29th birthday and i thought the half year mark would be a good time to share some thoughts on this new (to me!) style of scrapbooking. i talked a little about it back in this post but basically, project life is a scrapbooking method developed by becky higgins. it's meant to encourage the documentation of everyday life and to simplify scrapbooking. the best part is that it can be as simple or as complex as you want it to be.




getting started
i started off with a three ring binder by we r memory keepers, a big variety pack of page protectors and the amber core kit which i had won from a giveaway hosted by paislee press. my plan was to keep it simple and stick to the kit...

where it all went wrong...
by the time i hit the six month mark, i just wasn't feeling it. i wanted project life to be a big journal but it was becoming a lot of work and more of a "i have to do it" than a "i want to do it". i missed my old journal. then i saw this blog post by document life workshop on why she "failed" at project life 2012 and suddenly, everything became crystal clear.

the amber core kit is great but there were a few problems for me. i like softer colors, blues, neutrals and simple designs so the amber kit just didn't feel quite right. there also weren't any horizontal 3x4 cards or vertical 4x6 cards so when i need these (or was looking for my fave colors), i tried to make my own or print freebies. this led to stress and a jumbled hodge podge look to my album which led to more stress.

there are so many great project lifers out there. it's easy to get distracted by what they create and think, "ohhh i should totally do that too!" some people can design layouts for every 4x6 and 3x4 pocket and it looks incredible. but that's just not for me. this is meant to be my journal where i save photos, hoard bits and pieces, doodle and write about "dear diary" moments. it takes me AGES create one 12x12 layout and trying to make a layout for 16 little boxes a week will destroy me and make me forget about my doodles and "dear diaries".

how i'll make it right again
for christmas, my sister got me the seafoam core kit. she didn't know that i had decided to stop with project life but that's okay because this kit changed my mind in an instant. it's everything i've wanted in project life and more. i love the colors (really, these are my favorite colors) and the design feels so right. all the cards are reversible so that they can be use vertically or horizontally, as a journaling card or a filler card. woohoo!!

 front and backs of the cards. pretty! lighting. not so pretty!

the matching vertical version is on the reverse side

i still would recommend project life to anyone whose looking for a way to document their life. it's a simple concept that can be adapted to whatever you want and need it to be.

i'm determined to use up the rest of my amber kit on the remainder of this year. why waste a good kit? then in june when i turn 30, i'll bust out the seafoam and start fresh. go project life!

project life win!

remember when i was hemming and hawing over whether or not i should try out project life? well, apparently, the universe thinks it's a good idea and gave me a push in the right direction. about a month ago, becky higgins and members of the project life creative team hosted a bunch of great project life giveaways. and somehow... i won one of the prizes!? i nearly fell out of my chair when i saw my name on the list of winners. i won a project life amber core kit from the giveaway hosted by paislee press! woo hoo!

that's me at the bottom! :D

i got my amber core kit a couple of weeks ago but never got around to sharing it. let's dive in shall we?

thanks liz!

this little box is so dense. i couldn't believe how much it held.

60 3x4 filler cards

60 blank grid journaling cards

32 bi-fold journaling cards + colored day and number stickers

a few of the 380 decorative journaling cards

this is only a portion of what the core kit comes with. i love the colors in the amber kit and i can't wait to use everything!! the plan is to start on my 29th birthday. hold me to it friends! i'll be sure to share my thoughts on this new way of journaling/scrapbooking once i get started. i hear it's especially great for moms with little ones (or anyone who leads a hectic/busy life) since it's a quick way to record each day's little memories and you end up with a beautiful scrapbook at the end. ohh i hope becky higgins will come out with baby themed kits! how great would this be as a gift to help new moms document their baby's first year?

thanks so much to becky higgins and liz from paislee press for their generosity :)

maybe project life?

have you heard of project life? i've been seeing a lot of it around the blogging world and i'm definitely intrigued. created by becky higgins, project life aims to give you a way to document your daily life and collect all those little random moments that otherwise would be lost. i feel like it's a more organic way to scrapbook (yay! old school!) but still leaves room for creativity.

amy tangerine

hello, it's me k.p.

paislee press

marcy penner

you can buy project life kits to get started but of course you could always gather your own supplies. for me, the emphasis here isn't on fancy products (though there are some very pretty tempting things out there) but on using actual scraps (gasp! using actual scraps to scrapbook??) and the bits and pieces of your daily life. thinking about starting it in june on my 29th birthday... hmmmm.