May PL app Roundup

I've been sharing this month all of my Week in the Life pages that I completed using ready made digi templates from Just Jaimee (you can go here, here and here to catch up) and now I'd like to show another way that I can keep up with documenting my memories.  As I have older children (really adults now but I am not that old so I will still call them children...) and I work full time I decided that I would do Project Life in a more monthly format.  I have been loving using the Project Life app to do some quick pages but also because I am constantly on the go for work or traveling for work (or traveling in a car to go visit one of said children) so I have a lot of time pulling out my laptop is not so easy!

I love the ease of the app - and the ability to have access to my full library of journaling and filler cards - or not... Either way I have the photos in one place with stories is the most important..  This month the schedule was crazy!!!! so easy is the name of the game.  I do my writing in either Phonto or in PSE 11. When they are all done I run Wendyzine's action (Studio Wendy) which adds a small drop shadow and resizes for Shutterfly (Last year I printed 10 X 10 books and will continue the same this year. It is the best combination of size and ease of handling!).  I will be creating a blog post about my whole process with the app, but in the meantime I wanted to share these...

Using the Just Add Color kit from the app - wanted to really highlight these panoramic photos

Using the Ready, Set, Go Value card kit from the app

Using the Just Add Color kit from the app.. Here I did add the text in PSE 11 because I wanted to really pack in a lot of information...

I had an afternoon free on a business trip to DC so I got a little museum viewing in at my two favorite museums!!

They had the most amazing nature photography exhibit - I could have had 6 pages worth - I loved every single one.  Using the Happiness Is edition kit in the app - and here I did do the writing in the app itself, adjusting the line spacing to get the  alignment I wanted.

Documenting another work trip in February, also using the Happiness Edition - however you could never tell that it is the same kit. Here I did the journaling in Phonto.

A third page using Happiness Is edition in the app, text in PSE 11 using the color of the background paper.

Hope you enjoyed my round up and can see some of the versatility in the app.  I'll highlighting a few more pages - using some cards from other kits, whether digi edition cards from Project Life or other digital designers to show off how you can document your memories on the go!

Finishing up Week in the Life 2015...just in time for 2016

So last year I completed the photos and set up for Ali Edwards Week in the Life (direct link to her blog with lots of resources and tips). I had a great kit and I was using the Project Life App for the actual photo taking. I even kept up to date on the all the blog posts!! But somehow the last little bit - adding the final embellishments and journaling did not happen....fast forward almost 9 months and I finally finished my 2015 album today!!

Without further ado here is my 2015 album and my process...

Here is my cover for the Album.  As I mentioned I used the Project Life app to do all of my documenting....I took all my photos on my cellphone. I love my photos that I take on DSLR but I knew that with work it was too difficult to lug around my big camera at work all week. This year I will do the same since it is also a work week and I cannot carry around a DSLR - people at work already think that I am a bit of a crazy photo geek!  

I used the Memory Pocket Monthly Almanac kit from The Lilypad as my kit for the week.  I am VERY definitely a kit scrapper. I just can't wrap my arms around multiple kits on a single page unless I am just looking for a staple or something small! 

I loaded all of my journaling cards onto my phone using Dropbox so that they were all available to review all of them at once. I picked one font for consistency. This year I might use Just Jaimee's Ready to Go Templates. I really like the May ones. She lets her subscribers pick the color palette each month and in May they picked Black/White/Yellow. 

It's very, very neutral but I think it would be nice to do all Black and White photos.. I will have to see how it looks. Maybe I will keep them in color. We will have to wait and see. 

The one other element I used was Ali's date stamp for 2015. The version had both dated (with 2015's dates) and undated. I will definitely use the same date stamp for the 2016 album. My thought would be to have multiple years in a single week in the life album. In 2015  I started printing in Shutterfly 10x10 hard cover photo books and I am very pleased with the size and portability. 

The only part of my plan that didn't work as I originally hoped was doing the text in a phone app like Phonto. There was too much text and special spacing due to the  journaling cards included in the kit. PS I also used the Sara Gleason Story Cards No. 1 that coordinated with the Almanac kit that were perfect for the Week In the Life theme!

Only 1 of my sons was home at the time as the other had already gone back to college. I got both to take photos for me and my hubby took a selfie even! It was great to have them all involved. This time around it will be the opposite so I will be asking them to take more photos for Mom! Since its Mother's Day I am hoping to get full cooperation...

Obviously any week in the life will need to include lots and lots of food pictures... and I love the current events cards - I had to look up these items and I was very surprised what showed up on the internet....

As you see I have several pages that are in the Design G format...In the Shutterfly books I often add in the smaller size pages so that I can trim the edge and put a little tab.  If I was doing a physical book I loved to mix in several sizes I will do this again with my 2016 book - saving the smaller size pages for the longer journaling since there is not a good option for that on the Just Jaimee's templates..

The highlight of my week was attending the Scrap Expo in Chicago and meeting my idol Becky Higgins!!!! Plus as a bonus her outfit matched my page kit...it was so much fun chatting with her and her team - they were all super, duper nice!

On the last day of the week we had lots of activities including walking around the Botanic Gardens, visiting with my grandmother and mother in law and a BBQ at my sister's house with my little great niece.. it was a perfect way to end a perfect week. I am so glad I followed along this year and can't wait to get started again this year!

My plan for 2016 will also include working on my pages more real time so that I can actually get done in less than 10 months!

Until next time!

Disney Snap mini album

Happy Sunday everyone - at least everyone in North America! It's Luly here to share with you my favorite mini album that I have completed! In case you hadn't noticed yet, both Holly and I are great Disney lovers but unfortunately we don't always get to go as often as we like...that's part of the reason why this album is my fav!

I've been so inspired listening (or re-listening) to some of my favorite podcasts - Scrap Gals, Magic Memory Keepers and of course the one that started it all Paper Clipping Roundtable - and they keep talking about storytelling. I even signed up for the audio course with Shimelle and PRT called the Story Centered Album - it was fabulous! I travel alot to work (mostly trains and cars) and for work (about 1 time per month) so I have a lot of listening, and not so much watching time so the audio course is a perfect complement.

This mini album really tells the story of my adventure as the lead parent chaperone for my son's high school Band Disney trip.  It was an amazing experience but I'm so, so, so glad I never need to do it again!  It was the most exhausting week of my life - but I was blessed to able to share it with my son...and more importantly it begins to tell the story of my "new" (at the time) budding adult relationship with my son!

I used my favorite Snap Album from Simple Stories and the first Simple Stories multi-colored Snap line. Yes Say Cheese was already out but I already owned the Snap collection and wanted to use it up. (Stash Busting yes!!) For my next time at Disney I have Say Cheese, Say Cheese II and lots to Pocket Mouse kits from The Lilypad  - that will definitely be a hybrid album!

Without further adieu here is my mini album, hope you enjoy (ps...beware lots of pictures ahead)!!

I created a cute spine label - I am not always good at labeling my spines, but I should because it makes me so happy when I do!

I love using post cards in my albums - and here I am using it as the cover of my album

The overall map of Disney pulls out with the tab, plus I added a calendar of the dates we were there with a mini mickey head punch out

 I was even able to save a few fast passes  - and since those are a collector's items I am glad I have them now...

Covering some Non-Disney parks activities first - and the mini hurricane~ 

Tip: I printed all my photos as 4x6 - and then cut off the non important parts to create all the 3x4 pics... It would have taken me so much longer otherwise I would have to decide in advance which pictures I wanted as 3x4.

 My sister and brother in law were living in Tampa at the time, so they came by every day to see us - that was also such a wonderful part of the trip!

I was also able to join the Band during their clinic - it was a fantastic experience and they recorded the music to Lion King's stampede scene - I added a QR code inside the flap for the actual video which is so cool!

I got at least 1 dedicated photo with my son in every park! That was his "payment" to me for chaperoning! He was always busy running around with his friends - which of course is the whole reason to go right? These are some of my most treasured photos...

Here I used the guide maps as my divider pages for the album (always grab a fresh one on the way out so that it isn't wrinkled, wet or smashed!). I don't mind that it isn't strictly chronological as it is broken up by park/activity

We also had the Orchestra on the trip, and I got a picture of the whole group in front of the castle, Unfortunately no such group photo of the Marching Band - but hey they did get to march down Main Street - and the poor Orchestra's concert was cancelled due to mini hurricane that traveled through Downtown Disney where they were supposed to perform!

I also added the time guides as a fold up for every park we went to.. We were there during the Flower and Garden show so it was a beautiful time to be at Disney.

Donald Duck is my favorite!!!!

Hope you enjoyed my mini album! Its fun to go back and look at all the great memories from the trip and how it really was the beginning of something new...

Next week is iNSD (International Scrapbook Day) so watch for some great new projects from both Holly and myself to highlight our favorite memory keeping tips!!

I'm Your Favorite - A Card for Your Sweetheart

I spent Saturday afternoon "killing the kit". This is definitely a new record for me. I received my April Take 10 Kit from The Studio 29 Designs, LLC and had to wait until Saturday to start creating. This kit is beautiful, so it wasn't a hard task. I was on a roll.  Here are the first few items I made. I love black and white photos. I made a whole layout with them and a few select cards and a stamped embellishment from the kit.

Drew and I were taking some selfies while his brother napped next to us. It's so important to get in the photos. Selfies are an easy way to do that, especially when they are with your kids, your pet, your current favorite book. Whatever it is, take a selfie with it, or them. lol. You will be glad that you did years from now.

I loved the dandelion card. I added a tiny yellow enamel dot to it. Blue and yellow are opposite on the color wheel - that color wheel is a good bit of reassurance when selecting colors that look good together. Opposite colors are complementary, and when put together create the most contrast. Colors next to each other are called analogous, and are also a good choice.
Check out those hashtag stamps! What a great set for use on lots of Project Life style pages.

I used the flower stamp from April Take 10 Glam Bag (exclusive set only available in the kit) and then used my chalk set to color it in. I love to break out art supplies!

When I saw this card, I thought maybe I'd do a layout about my husband or BFF, both great ideas. But then, I thought, wow, it'd make a great birthday card for my hubby! I had a yellow card and envelope from my stash.

 

But they were way too big to use with this 4x6 card, so I trimmed them both down. Yes, even the envelope! I used the mounted card to measure what size to trim the envelope.

After making a few more free-hand cuts with my scissor to make it look like the original envelop, I wrapped the edges with some of the washi tape that came in the Glam Bag.

And done! Here's the little detail that I added to the bottom right.

Have fun with those April Take 10 Kits. If you didn't get one yet, here are links to each kit:

April Take 10 Glam Bag

April Take 10 Pocket Kit

Holly | www.paintedladiesjournal.com

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