Category Archives: stuck scrapbooker

Project Life Update (Month 2)

Project Life Update (Month 2)

Over the weekend, I updated our Project Life album.PL Aug 1 || noexcusescrapbooking.com

To adjust for the photo variety, I used an old We R Memory Keepers sticker organizer page on the right, which also required a bit of paper finagling.

PL aug 1 || noexcusescrapbooking.com

I just got a smart phone, so I’ve been playing with the camera a little bit. Not too impressed with the quality so far, but then again, it was a very cheap phone.

PL Aug 3 || noexcusescrapbooking.com

While on our first group family vacation ever– my family, my sister’s family, my mother, and my brother’s daughter all in one house for a week!–I managed to sprain my ankle, my mother tripped and fell face first into a patch of poison ivy, and my niece got a gigantic splinter in her foot.  Apparently we wanted to share everything, even injuries!

PL Aug 4 || noexcusescrapbooking.com

You might be able to see, on the right, all the journaling cards have the writing sideways. Since I am trying to write every day, I am not worrying about card orientation. That may lead to some awkward pages like this, but I want to make sure I’m capturing stories.

PL Sept 1 || noexcusescrapbooking.com

The last few days of vacation, first couple days of school, and then I got struck down by yet another case of strep throat. That’s an important thing to think about when doing long term projects– are you going to try to maintain your tempo when you’re feeling unwell, or are you going to give yourself room to heal and recover? That’s a decision you’ll have to make for yourself, based on what you want to accomplish, and what will most likely help you succeed.

I needed to slow down a bit, so there’s only a handful of cards and pictures for the two weeks I was sick. That’s alright. I’m back on track now!

How do you handle being sick? Do you keep making stuff?

 

A Month of Project Life Under My Belt.

A Month of Project Life Under My Belt.

Do you know how hard it is to start Project Life while renovating and moving your craft room around? That was an added wrinkle I didn’t factor in when planning to start!

Wait. Did that sound whiny? That wasn’t a complaint, just an observation.

Since the main focus of Project Life, for me, is the story, I didn’t worry about whether I took a photo every day, but I did try to write on a journaling card every day. I was able to do that fairly easily at first, until I had some long, exhausting days that completely drove writing out of my mind.

When I started assembling the words and pictures, I realized I needed some 3×4 photographs as well. You might find yourself needing that too, so here are a couple printing templates for you:

3x4 collage letter paper || noexcusescrapbooking.com

3×4 photos on letter paper

Download it here: 3×4 collage letter paper.psd

3x4 on photo paper || noexcusescrapbooking.com

3×4 photos on photo paper

Download this here: 3×4 on photo paper.psd

The hardest part for me was deciding on picture and page orientations. Because I wrote everything out before assembling the pages, I had to decide on how to deal with photos that worked better as one orientation, and journaling that didn’t match that orientation in the pocket pages.

Case in point: the very first journaling card I filled out for the last day of school had a horizontal orientation, as did the pics of the kids getting of the bus. Solution? Use one of the rotated pocket page designs, and print the photos out at 3×4 instead of 4×6.

PL pg 1 || noexcusescrapbooking.com

The other issue right at the start was the fact that I couldn’t start with the photos in strict chronological order. This of course was a minor issue, with the solution being to group one day’s photos across the top, and subsequent days along the bottom and right side.

noexcusescrapbooking.com

It works, with photos that tell related stories grouped together.

PL pg 2 || noexcusescrapbooking.com

As I worked on later weeks, the process became easier, and the pages more streamlined.

PL pg 4 || noexcusescrapbooking.com

That’s sort of the point of Project Life, don’t you think? To make it easy to tell stories and share photos?

PL pg 5 || noexcusescrapbooking.com

At any rate, the last few pages were much easier to assemble than the first few.

PL pg 6 || noexcusescrapbooking.com

I don’t know if you noticed or not, but these pages are not in strict week by week order. Some pages cover three days. Some ten. I let the stories I’d recorded and the photos I’d taken dictate the final pages, rather than the other way around.

Anyone else making Project Life pages? What’s your favorite part about it? I’m loving the excuse to write a little something every day. How about you?

 

 

Daily Documenting Resources!

Daily Documenting Resources!

I bet many of you have been bitten by the Project Life/Pocket Page/Daily Life Documenting bug. You love all those pages you see online, and you want to make your own, but you have no idea where to start.

Or maybe you have no idea what all these pocket pages are all about.

Well, there are a few things that can help you get started.

If the idea of taking a photo everyday scares you, check out Katrina Kennedy’s class. She’s got some great ideas that take the intimidation out of the whole daily photography challenge.

If you have time today, you should also check out Traci Reed’s PL planning class. You can participate live today, or watch the replays later. Traci will be sure to have lots of ways to help keep yourself organized in order to be successful with the whole daily documenting project. Traci’s also got a planner you can purchase  to get your daily documenting organized so you can tell deeper and more meaningful stories.

If you’ve already got a ton of pocket page supplies, and want to learn some new ways to decorate them for your  daily documenting, or to use them in other projects, you will want to check out True Scrap: Pocket Pages. That is a full day of classes with live instructors, pre-recorded video, and tons of inspiration. I’m really looking forward to taking those classes at the end of the month.

Last but not least, if you’re running out of ideas, or are painting yourself into the “My life in uninteresting” corner, I have a list of topics to document for you.

Microsoft Word - Photos to take.docx

Photos to take & stories to tell

I originally published this when I did my Week in the Life album last May, but the topics are useful for any kind of daily documenting. You can even print off the PDF if you want: Downloadable Photos to Take Printable

After you get these classes under your belt, you should be more than ready to tackle a daily documenting challenge. You can do it. Really you can.

Cleaning Mojo Boost

Cleaning Mojo Boost

One of the best reasons to clean up and organize your craft space is because it helps jump start your mojo, if its been lagging.

Case in point: last night’s inspired page:

Is that?

 

What’s so inspired about this? Well, do you see the arrows on the tabs? That means you can TURN the circle to reveal:

It's a Kindle!

 

Some days, pages are just so much fun to make, know what I mean?

If you want to make a motion inspired page, you should check out this old book from Memory Makers called Flip, Spin, & Play. (affiliate link) It’s full of great ideas for creating some fun interactive pages for your scrapbooks. I may need to make a magic window next.

What are you waiting for? Go clean your craft room so you can find your mojo!

 

A Peek Behind the Curtain: My Unfinished Projects

A Peek Behind the Curtain: My Unfinished Projects

One of the things that can hang over your head when you’ve been scrapbooking for a while is the dreaded unfinished project. We’re all guilty of biting off more than we can finish, but that doesn’t mean we can’t complete a project if we have a plan.

As mentioned in previous posts, I have an unfinished Project Life album from 2011. I’ve got a plan for finishing it, and have made quite a lot of progress. All the photos are in it, and the cards are loaded as well. Now it’s time for writing. I think what I’ll do is, while watching TV, fill out a few cards at a time each evening. It will take awhile to finish that way, but what’s the rush? It should be more fun, and invite more input from my family by doing it this way. But that may just be my optimistic nature showing.Unfinished Project Life

Then there’s this summer’s digi album. I need to make a list of events to add to the book, and then I’ll be able to really get cracking on it. Hey, I’ll do that tonight! Little steps get you closer all the time.

OFN pics

Then there are my kids’ School of Life albums, which both need to be updated. I’ll pull photos for both of them, and pack them with my school supplies, and bring those with me the next time I head to a crop. The School of Life albums are great for getting things done, and allowing for chat time while scrapping.School of Life albums

Then I’ve got a couple chipboard mini albums, where I know what I want to talk about, but haven’t got pictures yet, or need info from family members. Those are further down the list.

chipboard albums

The thing about all these projects is that I DON’T HAVE TO do any of these projects, but I want to, so I’m planning time and processes that will help me get them done.

That’s what you need to do in order to get your unfinished projects done. Break projects into pieces, and plan each step. You don’t have to go into a huge amount of detail, but knowing what the chunks are can really help you see projects as do-able instead of insurmountable and guilt inspiring.

One more thing. Are any of your unfinished projects stories you no longer want to tell? You don’t have to you know.

You have my permission to throw them in the circular file, or recycle them. Turn them into something you love, instead of something that weighs you down.

The only person who should be setting your scrapbooking goals is yourself. Not your kids. Not your friends. Not your mother, and most especially not me. Do exactly as much as you want to do. It’s all okay.

So what projects do you have unfinished? What are you going to do about them?