Pages

Thursday, April 5, 2012

My Project Life

I’ve been ‘doing’ Project Life since the beginning of the year but only consolidated all of the pieces into an album last week.

pl-1

Back in December, when I was deciding to embark on this project, I knew that I would not be able to create the album each week.  For one I was in New Zealand throughout January and did not intend to carry the whole kit with me.  And then the page protectors were not available to purchase in the UK in December.  In the end I was away from home for another 5 weeks in February/ March so I needed a system that meant I could partially create each week on the go.

Creating the photos ready for inclusion was easy because I always travel with my laptop and I have PSE loaded onto it.  So each week I would choose the photos to use, add words and decoration and make any 3 x 4 items that I wanted. I wrote most of the notes that I wanted onto the photos or created a text piece digitally. I also took some 4 x 6 and 3 x 4 cards with me so that I could write some on the go.

pl-2

I took my favourite elements from Ali Edwards and Cathy Z to use on these pieces. The top one uses Ali’s  Hand drawn thick frames and Cathy’s word art.  The bottom one uses Cathy’s tiny templates.

pl-3

pl-4

When I was sharing a story on this blog that I knew I would also include in Project Life, I created the Project Life image to use on my blog – rather than writing the blog and then incorporating it into the Project Life format.  One example is the glimpses of Bangladesh images which I created as square collages and then put into the Design E page which has 4 square pockets.

And I had a big envelope to collect ticket stubs, menus, brochures etc for inclusion too.

I used a rough sketch in a notebook to record what I intended to cover on each page and to note which I had already created, ready for printing.   

pl-5

Putting it all together once I was back home was easy and then I added some decoration here and there – like these foam letters I stuck on the outside of the pockets.

pl-6

Mostly I have one side per week, rather than the 2 sides of a double spread that most people do.  But I don’t always stick to the week divide, depending on what I am doing.  So when I was visiting friends in New Zealand I have a side per visit, whether it was 4 days or 8 days. For the two week workshop I used 2 sides but had no chronological order across the pages.  I have also included some inserts for traditional scrapbook layouts and to include full documents, like my e-ticket.

I don’t intend to share each week as I create it, because most of the items appear as posts anyway, like the last 2 posts – March in numbers, and Storytelling Sunday.  Instead I think I’ll post on techniques or subjects that I’m enjoying using – look out for my next project Life post on using banners across several photos.

9 comments:

Maria Ontiveros said...

What a great way to document, even when you're on the road.
Rinda

Shonie said...

You're really organized to have kept it all straight before you put it together. Mine would be a jumbled mess.

Sian said...

Your organised approach is really paying off - this is already a fantastic record of what has been an interesting year for you so far

ComfyMom~Stacey said...

I like what you have done with this. It looks great!

Melissa said...

Your Project Life looks great and it seems you've got it all organized to work for you. Enjoy!

alexa said...

I like the way you are using lots of different things to really make this project your own ...

Miriam said...

Gosh you are very organised Helena. What a brilliant book it will be at the end of the year.

Alison said...

You definately get an A+ for organisation and forward thinking here Helena!
Alison xx

Deb @ PaperTurtle said...

I always love to hear about how you prepare yourself for projects like this. You really planned ahead and the result is awesome! I'm really wanting to do Project Life (Carrie LOVES it!) but just afraid I don't have time to keep up with it right now. Hearing you say that you realize you can't keep up with it week-to-week gives me hope and a different angle to approach this project. Thanks for the inspiration! xo