Sunday 24 November 2013

Trying out Project Life

After having so much fun making this holiday album using pocket page scrapbooking, I thought I'd have a go at documenting our daily lives through Project Life.  

I wasn't sure how much of my crafting time I wanted to commit to this project, and reading other girls' blogs I noticed a trend that most people who document weekly spreads tend to fall behind at some time or other, and then get frustrated and disappointed that they can't keep up.  So I promised myself that there was no pressure & no rules.  If I miss documenting some time so be it.  

In keeping with the 'no pressure' promise I decided to start off with monthly recording.  Just one month at a time, and however many pages I ended up with was a-ok - no rules right?!  So here's my first ever real PL reveal.




I used the Dear Lizzy 5th & Frolic collection.  Some 12x12" papers and the 6x6" paper pad, some chipboard and die cuts and a few other bits and pieces.  Yes that is a real lace doily under the "little moments" die cut.  I had that in my stash thanks to a scrappy garage sale by the lovely Cathy Cafun.




I recorded our month in one double and one single page, and I'm really happy with that (no rules remember!).  




During this time we had Easter and Brent's 16th birthday.  I took a screenshot of and then printed a Facebook post Kayci left for her brother.  She had posted a photo of him from when he was playing U7 rugby with the sweetest birthday message for him.




I also recorded the erosion to our beaches we had been suffering over the summer cyclone season…and also the fact that our Cavaliers Rosie and Daisy really didn't mind - the exposed coffee rock makes for the perfect beach lookout!

And that's the month recorded.  So, after my first PL what did I think?  Adored it.  In fact I probably like PL just as much as traditional scrapbooking.  So glad I tried it out!  Have you tried your hand at Project Life yet?  Do you try to keep up with weekly spreads or are you happy to miss some if life gets too busy?





Saturday 23 November 2013

5 Reasons to Document your Holidays using Pocket Page Scrapbooking

This year, like a growing number of scrapbookers, I have jumped on the Project Life / Pocket Page Scrapbooking bandwagon, and I have to tell you, I just LOVE it!

My first play with Pocket Pages was to record our family holiday to the Whitsundays.  This system is perfect to record your holidays, and if you're not ready to become a true 'Project Lifer' just yet, documenting a holiday is a great way to get a taste for how PP Scrapbooking works.

So here we go… 5 reasons to document your family holiday using Pocket Page Scrapbooking.


1.  You can get a bunch of photos scrapped!  Traditional scrapbooking is fantastic for recording those special photos, but when you're a single photo per layout kind of girl like I am, you can imagine how many layouts it would take me to record a holiday!  With Pocket Pages it can be as simple as printing your photos in the standard sizes (eg 6x4"), and slipping them in the pockets (along with some journalling cards of course).  You can see on the page below that I have fit 7 photos on a double page, one of them being a big 6x8" photo.


2.  You choose how you record each page.  For my holiday album I have chosen to use a double page for each day of our 10 day holiday, but how you record your own holiday is entirely your choice.  For example you might choose to do a double page on each destination you stay at; or on a special outing like a theme park; or if it's a holiday to see family that you don't often see, devote a page to a particular family member.





3.  Pocket Page Scrapbooking makes holiday journalling So Easy!  Lets face it, most traditional layouts may have some journalling, but not nearly as much detail as what you want to record when you're on holiday.  I find it easy to allocate one or two pockets per spread to devote to journalling.  In this 6x4" post-card-styled journalling pocket below, I had a fair amount I wanted to record, so in Word on my computer I created a 6x4" document.  I reduced the font size so I could fit more journalling in.  Once typed, I printed it on my printer using the 6x4 photo tray.  A small amount of embellishment and that's a good memory documented.

I got a close up shot of this journalling for you because it's a memory that I'm so glad I recorded while it was still fresh - every time I read it I'm taken back to that moment when I'm about to jump into the ocean, absolutely petrified!




4.  Those Holiday Landscapes & Panoramas  I don't know about you, but the time I'm most likely to take a bunch of photos of landscapes and panoramas is when I'm on a holiday.  That's one of the reasons to go on a holiday right... to see new and beautiful places?

Pocket pages come in an almost endless variety of pocket sizes these days.  (I used a multi-pack by W R Memory Keepers in this album.  You can see some of the many choices here.)  A lot of these pages lend themselves to panoramas. 



In this spread I have included a 6x12" in portrait orientation (on the left), a 3x12" in landscape orientation (on the right).  I have also printed a 6x8" in portrait orientation, and cut it into two 6x4"s to fit those pockets.








Another 12x3" panorama showed off our visit to Whitehaven Beach.











And yet another 12x3"enjoying the setting sun on Long Island.




And last but not least…

5.  Portability  I have left this point until last because I haven't utilised it in this album, but it's still a very important reason why PP Scrapbooking is perfect for documenting your holiday.

Part of PP Scrapbooking's charm is it's portability.  It really takes no room at all to pack a small zip lock bag with a journalling pen and a handful of 6x4" and 3x4" journalling cards, such as the ones in these kits put out by Becky Higgins.  What this means is that while you're still actually on holidays, record your daily memories direct onto the journalling cards and that's your journalling done!  All you need to do when you get home is print your photos and slip everything into the pockets.




A couple of close ups to finish off my holiday album.  In case you're wondering, for this album I used this Collection Pack - Serenade by Basic Grey - and created my own journalling cards using patterned paper and card stock.  

If you don't want to start from scratch with journalling and filler cards, most papercraft companies offer journalling papers these days, whether it's Becky Higgins' Project Life cards (link above) or 12x12" papers that can but cut down, like this one from Echo Park.





I hope you've enjoyed the tour of our Whitsunday's holiday album, and that you might consider using Pocket Page Scrapbooking to document your next family holiday.

If you have any questions or would like to try Pocket Page Scrapbooking but don't know where to start, leave me a comment or send me an email (link in sidebar) and I'll be happy to walk you though.