Documenting Big Event Weekends with Project Life

Sharing a two-page spread today using the April Take 10 Kits. This spread continues the Memorial Day Weekend 2015 page that I shared last week. That post focused on fitting more photos into your pocket page layouts. You can see I'm practicing those same ideas again in this spread. How do you include bigger events, like a long Memorial Day Weekend that span several days and include lots of photos? I ended up with five 12x12 spreads that I jammed lots of photos into. For me, I don't have weekly spreads, so I figure it all balances out by the end of the year.

Here's a closer look at the right side. 

We decided to celebrate my youngest's birthday since everyone was already together. It was perfect. I found a hamburger cake that looked awesome! I took a chance and stamped right on the photo with that #celebrate hashtag stamp from the Hashtag Stamp Set. I say "risk" because my Stazon inkpad was dry, so I used my regular black. If you are in this same situation, you just have to be careful when stamping and then wait a bit longer for it to dry.

I used a flip here! (Fitting more photos!) and used the washi tape from the kit to adhere it and create a little tab.

When I was taking photos this weekend, I wanted to make sure that they told the story of all that we did. One big part of our weekend, was the big screen outdoor movie in the backyard. What a memory. I got a shot of the uncles putting up the screen and one with a silhouette of my son's head watching the movie after dark. I chose to print my journaling on vellum so the lines on that journal card show through.

Here's a closer look at the right side of this spread.

I really liked that birds on the wire card and chose it to create a little title card.  I used the stamp set that came in the April Take 10 Glam Bag to add a few "black" birds to the card. And used some of the washi from the kit to add more black.

I love adding little strips of typed journaling for those little bits of info I want to add.

In the upper right card, I layered two smaller pictures together. I created a little 4x6 collage in the PicStitch App and then cut them out.

This post is part of a Memorial Day Weekend Series. The last installment is coming next week.

Here is the first post of this series: Fitting More Photos in Project Life.

Thanks for joining me today!

Holly with www.paintedladiesjournal.com

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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!

Fitting MORE Photos in Your Pocket Pages

Sometimes, I just have too many photos that I MUST include in my Project Life album, but I really don't what TEN pages for one weekend. What do you do to solve this dilemma? Are you a two-page spread per week PL'er? I tried that one year. It just doesn't fit my photo-taking style. I tend to just have however many pages I want per month. So far, I've kept them to one album per year, but 2014 and -15 look like they are gonna be larger. Doing better with 2016. Less pop dots.

I tend to have two 3x4 photos per layout, sometime less. Sometimes more. I usually have four 4x6's, but not always (there are so many great 4x6 cards to use). This is the first 12x12 pocket page of a very special Memorial Day Weekend 2015 series of pocket pages. I used the April Grace Take 10 Pocket Kit & Glam Bag for the whole series. It was a difficult one to create, but I'm glad I've got it in here. It was our last big family time spent together with Grandma Genc. As you can imagine, there were a lot of photos and even more memories made.

I only had one 3x4 journal card in this layout, so I added a label here and there on top of photos. Above is an easy one. I've seen lots of stamp sets out there or digital stamps for photos creating these little outlined words or phrases. Here, I just customized it and hand-wrote it on a piece of white cardstock. Simple, done.

Face Painting! There were lots of fun pics of my kids, nieces and nephews sporting fantastically painted faces done by my oldest niece. Here's another label and little bit of embellishment on top of a photo. Usually, I will put it in a corner that works for the photo and the overall layout.

Another little handwritten label that I added a stamped word to from exclusive stamp set in the April Take 10 Glam Bag. That face painting looks really relaxing.

Summary of Ideas for Getting More Photos in your Project Life Spreads:

1. Fill some of the 3x4 slots with photos
2. Unless you are a weekly PL'er, use all 4 4x6 slots for photos, but not always (need variety)
3. Or, use a 3x4 slot for your week# card
4. Add labels or bits of journaling on top of photos
5. Embellish on top of photos (minimally, you still want your photos to take center stage)
6. Not shown here, but go here or here for examples also pictured below, use flip pockets (Simple Stories - SNAP Studio Collection - Photo Flips Variety Set - 12 Pack -affiliate link) to get even more photos in.

   

  

I'll be back next week with a two-page spread that continues the Memorial Day Weekend Series.

Holly from www.paintedladiesjournal.com

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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!!