Project Life

A few peeks at Project Life...where it's clear that we go to Old Green Bean a lot...that coffee is almost as important as footy...and Giuliana & Bill make an appearance. If you're new to the concept of Project Life you might be interested in reading the why/how part here. I'm printing on a Canon photo printer as I go...using the back of an old calendar as card stock for digital kits. But, if you want to get the official version (pre-printed cards, pockets/pens) in Bendigo...check out Meany Potato in Kangaroo Flat as they now stock a huge range of everything you need! (P.S. there's got to be a story behind that name...anyone know it?)

(some things are blurred because I'm not sharing every story or photo online :)

As you can see, still finishing off some earlier months of the year! I'm not focusing on this meaning `being behind & trying to catch up'...it is what it is, just have fun with the process :) The above is an example of me trying to go with a very neutral/monochrome theme....

...as you can tell by the next page, it never lasts for long...I need colour :) Love including things like screen dumps of text messages and map locations....adding text to photos..using a stapler to get some texture which also helps create a more haphazard `on the fly' look as opposed to the previous page which was more planned out.

Learning that it's ok to include a `stock photo' from online just to mix things up a bit...thought the inclusion of Giuliana and Bill would add a bit of randomness seeing as it went with a tweet which reads "It's Trade Week in our house...where the Foxtel package with E! and Giuliana and Bill gets traded for the sports package #footyisback #sosoon' :)

I like when the photos that happen to land in the pockets all have a similar colour scheme...in this case orange...so I pick out cards to go with rather than solely sticking with a particular designer's kit for that page.

But speaking of sticking with a particular kit...here I'm using One Little Bird's "So Major" & adding elements straight to the photos before printing. Also like the idea of making my own journaling cards using the same kit when I've run out of the `official' ones.

Remembering that I don't have to choose from pre-existing word art...if I'm making my own journaling cards up then I might as well add my own phrases (always looking for a chance to include more Nutella in life right? ;) Pinching a few photos from my sister and brother-in-law's engagement photo shoot.

This was one page where I discovered printing all the photos first, then slotting in random pre-printed journaling cards I made afterwards seemed to speed up the process. I think with me, I need to cut down the amount of choices I have...sometimes it's not constructive to have Photoshop available because there are too many choices or design possibilities and its very easy to get lost and suddenly you look up and it's late into the night...

This is an example of where I went all digital and then printed everything. Whilst I love the level of control and more design possibilities it gives me...I also miss the warmth of my own (messy!) handwriting & think I'll need to stick with a combination of digital vs. paper & pen in the future.

Things I'm discovering...

- write slower...just because I can read it doesn't mean anyone else flipping through the pages can make sense of my scrawling

- love writing straight on photographs...wish I had a white pen that did this as well as the black one

- would like to try more of a haphazard art journal kind've approach...I think my brain is pre-programmed to be linear when it comes to design...I need to just make a mess and see what happens

- need to include more things that aren't part of kits...ticket stubs...tags...paint (see last point)

If you're trying Project Life I'd love to see what you're in the middle of...feel free to share via the social media links below!

Design Resources: so many but mostly kits by One Little Bird and Paislee Press, and word art by Ali Edwards

You might also like: This previous post on Project Life

Project Life, Create, LifePetit Pixel15 July 2013