Nihao, Cupcake!

Project Life: 10 Tips for Keeping It Simple

As another year comes to a close, it is time to prepare for the new year. For many of us that will include plans for a Project Life album.

If you are thinking about starting a Project Life album to document the new year or have started one in the past but didn't get past the first month, this list of tips is for you. 

Even if you never "complete" a full album from January to December, like me, you will document more memories & stories than you ever thought possible.

Before I begin, it is important to remember that the purpose of this article is to simplify your Project Life process so that you can stay caught up. It may not be the ideal way you want to do Project Life but you will stay caught up and your memories will be documented.

I am also assuming that you are doing Project Life on a weekly timeline. If you are using a different time schedule, adjust these tips accordingly.

As I always like to say DONE is better than PERFECT! So, keep that in mind as you read my tips. 

1) Upload your photos once a week, but EVERY week on the same day if at all possible.

2) Print all your photos in 4x6 format. This will cut down on time in photoshop or other photo editing software. You will not waste time resizing your photos. If you want to put photos in the 3x4 pockets, trim your 4x6 photo down to fit. This means you may not be able to use that vertical photo that fills the frame, but that is OK.

Save it for a scrapbook page, a frame or you can do as I do and let it peek up over the top of your page protector.

3) Narrow down the photos for your book to 7-10 each week. Be ruthless! Which photo tells the best or most important story?

4) Print your photos the most "brainless" way possible. If that is printing them at home, do that. For me, it is getting them printed at Costco. I use the Costco plug-in for Lightroom and after my photos for the week are selected, I click publish and my photos are automatically uploaded to Costco. I visit Costco.com, place my order and pick up the next time I am in the area. I can also have the mailed to my house-free shipping for members. BRAINLESS!

5) If you have memorabilia you want to include, put it into your album immediately - tuck it in the pocket that corresponds with that day or week. Don't throw it in a file folder or a drawer. You won't need to look for it when it is time to sit down and work on your spread for the week. It will be there waiting for you.

6) Create a basket or tool box full of just your project life supplies. Limit yourself to your core kit, 2 packages of letter stickers (one large and one small), 1 package of labels and 2 packages of stickers or embellishments. By limiting your supplies, you will cut down on the time it takes you to make supply choices.

7) Use only one page protector design. Choose between Design A & Design D and use that one through your entire book. This will reduce decision making and will save you time.

8) Use the same photo orientation (horiz or vert) throughout your entire album. If you are using Design A, always take horizontal pictures (you can still take a vertical photo, but make sure you take a horizontal photo as well so you can use that in your PL album). If you are using Design D, make sure you always take a vertical photo for the same reason.

[BONUS TIP: It is good practice in photography, to make yourself take both directions. This challenges your to think of more creative ways to get the same shot and you may end up with a beautiful shot you would not have considered without this little exercise (just a little bonus photography tip for you)!]

If you have chose Design A and you have a darling vertical photo you'd like to use, see if you can crop it to 4x4 (with your scissors or paper trimmer) and adhere it to a journaling card or filler card and use it in one of your 4x6 photo pockets.

9) Write your journaling directly on your photos. Use American Crafts Slick Writers (or other pens that will write on slick surfaces and are photo safe) in different thicknesses. Write your journaling directly on your photos. This adds interest and saves time. And saves space. Of course you don't ahve to do this every time. Mixing up the thicknesses of your pens adds interest to your journaling cards. This saves you time but doesn't sacrifice visual variety.

10) Give yourself a realistic time limit when working on your album each week. Force yourself to complete your spread within that time limit. Set a timer. Trust your creative choices and go for it. Keeping in mind our main goal is completion not perfection or beauty.

Using this strategy you will have a ton of memories from each week documented. If you then want to add more photos and/or get fancy, you can spend extra time each week or go back later and add extra inserts with extra photos and memorabilia.

But if you are already having trouble keeping up, the trick is to focus on these tips and only these tips. Don't get distracted by extra supplies, more photos, extra inserts, etc, etc, etc. Remember DONE is better and more important than PERFECT!

The better you get at this simple process, the faster you will get and over time you will find yourself with a little extra time here and there to add in some extra creativity if you want.

That said, years down the road, the only thing that will matter is the words and the photos. And I would even argue the WORDS will matter most. The photos will likely be available in boxes or on computers or hard drives or internet servers, but the words those are the most important.

Prioritize. Get the most important stuff done first and then when you have some extra time play around.

If this routine seems too restrictive for you, consider relaxing your expectations. Maybe you only want to document your life monthly. Maybe you want to document as you go and relieve yourself from any restrictions at all. Simply insert a photo and add a journaling card to explain it. Don't worry about formatting your album in a weekly or monthly way. 

What is your priority? What is your purpose in doing Project Life? Get clear and realistic.

For me, the top priority is storing my photos and memorabilia together. Second is telling the story or documenting a memory. My third priority is expressing my creativity. 

Are your priorities different than mine? Let me know in the comments!

Check back soon for a wrap up of my favorite & most popular Project Life posts. 

Don't know what Project Life is? Go to Becky's blog for more information.

PROJECT LIFE on PINTEREST

Follow my Pinterest boards for lots of inspiration:

Do you have a Project Life board on PINTEREST? If so, leave me a link to your board in the comments because I love finding more friends to share inspriation. If you'd like to check out my Project Life board, go here. 

Project Life Freebies on PINTEREST

And here's a link to my PROJECT LIFE FREEBIES board as well.

What are your plans for Project Life in 2015?

2013 Project LIfe 365: Week 12

Here we are at the completion of yet another week of Project Life 2013. I am very excited that I am "keeping up" with the way I have decided to use this project to document my family's life. 

If you have stopped by my blog in the past couple of weeks you know that I plan to celebrate the milestone of completing 25% of the year with a celebratory blog hop on Friday, April 12!

I hope you will join us! Please scroll to the bottom of this post, for more details on how to sign up.

I'm including less photos this week in the interest of brevity.

On the first page I am missing a photo because I just discovered it on a camera I don't use as often(we have FOUR cameras that I use and one phone) and I need to get it printed (with my next batch tomorrow).

With four different cameras and one phone, it is not the most efficient way to gather photos, but they all serve different puposes, so that is the way it shall remain.

As the saying goes, the best camera is the one you have with you!

This week has an insert! This is Design D Photo Pocket Pageswith the far column cut off and saved for use in the future (I'll add a few layers of washi tape, punch 3 holes). It is the top view of my family at 7:35 PM (7:36, 7:37 & 7:38 - truly!) on an average Tuesday.

The other side is an additional photo from Saturday with some packaging, an exercise photo of my feet (read about that here) & a note about our ICE CREAM for BREAKFAST celebration.

And finally the last page is more typical scenes from our week.

I made that "8" t-shirt for my son to wear on his birthday. To see my post about it go here.

I used a lot of Thickers Foam Letter Stickers this week. They are so easy to use and reduce the headache of many other types of letter stickers. I just ordered more so I never run out!

A few of my DIY foam stamps have appeared again as well as my "GRATEFUL" label I try to use each week as part of my ONE LITTLE WORD - Grateful. 

 

CELBRATE with US: PROJECT LIFE BLOG HOP

At the completion of Week 13 we will be 25% through the year. I want to keep myself motivated and accountable with Project Life so I want to throw myself a party for reaching my goals.

On Friday, April 12 (the week I complete my Project Life 13 spread), I will host a Blog Hop to celebrate.

Care to join me? It will be a great time to celebrate, pause for a moment and reflect on what we've accomplished, what we've learned and how the project is going so far.

**Whatever you have complete in your album is totally fine! No need to have the same criteria for goals as I do. You are more than welcome to participate regardless of your progress. The more the merrier!**

If you are interested in joining me or have any questions, please email me (link in my side bar under my photo). Put "2013 Project Life April Blog Hop" in the subject line and include your name & blog address in the message. I will compile a list of participants and email everyone this week with more details.   

If you have no idea what a blog hop is or which kind of blog hop I am talking about (I've seen a few different types of virtual events out there called "blog hops"), click this link or this link to see past blog hops I've hosted on my blog.

I hope you'll join us. We have a great group so far. It should be a lot of fun and who knows you may win a little prize (I'll have a small give away)!

To see all of my Project Life layouts of the past few years, go here.

I'm linking up at The Mom Creative for Project Life Tuesday.

Check it out for lots of PL inspiration! Don't know what Project Life is? Go to Becky's blog for more information.

 

PINTEREST

Do you have a Project Life board on PINTEREST? If so, leave me a link to your board in the comments and I'll follow you. I love finding more friends to share inspriation. If you'd like to check out my Project Life board, go here. And here's a link to my PROJECT LIFE FREEBIES board as well.

Thanks for stopping by!

 

2013 Project Life 365: Week 11

Here we are at another week of Project Life! I love completeing this project each week. I've never been able to do that before due to the logistics of living in China. It's a great feeling!

 

MY INVITATION TO YOU

In case you didn't stop by my blog last week, I wanted to make sure you didn't miss my blog hop invitation:

At the completion of Week 13 we will be 25% through the year. I want to keep myself motivated and accountable with Project Life so I want to throw myself a party for keeping up.

On Friday, April 12 (the week I complete my Project Life 13 spread), I will host a Blog Hop to celebrate.

Care to join me? It will be a great time to celebrate, pause for a moment and reflect on what we've accomplished, what we've learned and how the project is going so far.

**Whatever you have complete in your album is totally fine! No need to have the same criteria for goals as I do. You are more than welcome to participate regardless of your progress. The more the merrier!**

If you are interested in joining me or have any questions, please email me (link in my side bar under my photo). Put "2013 Project Life April Blog Hop" in the subject line and include your name & blog address in the message. I will compile a list of participants and email everyone in a week or so with more details.   

If you have no idea what a blog hop is or which kind of blog hop I am talking about (I've seen a few different types of virtual events out there called "blog hops"), click this link or this link to see past blog hops I've hosted on my blog.

I hope you'll join us. We have a nice group so far. It should be a lot of fun and who knows you may win a little prize (I'll have a small give away)!

And now, on with the show...

This week is very simple without much embellishing. I only used a couple of my DIY foam stamps. Early in the week I made that "DINNER this week" card and filled it in with all of our dinners for the week.

The little note is an imaginary basketball game our 8-year-old wrote out to give to his Dad. So cute!

It was another busy week with lots of spring activities.

Sometimes I like to use vertical photos in my layouts but I don't want to use a different style page protector, so I will trim around the photos' subject. The one on the title page works well. This one here, not so much, but it works for telling the story. It covers the journaling card underneath but readers can just peek behind.

For this insert, I used Photo Pocket Page - Design F and folded it in half. It is all photos (and a little memorabilia). I don't typically like to do all photos on one page - I like journaling cards or filler cards add some visual interest, but this week I needed the space, so I did my best with the design despite this challenge.

Here is the other side.

I realized after I took the photo that I forgot to write the story on that slice of journaling card attached to the photo - my son's baseball team has 8 adults, 1 "mascot" and 10 players. It's a wonderful team - so friendly and devoted to the kids. He's lucky this season.

The inside of my insert - more photos and a little memorabilia.

And that's it! The week I am working on now (week 12) has far less photos. I think I experienced photo overload during Week 10 & 11 and I'm resting up in preparation for all the photos I will take over Easter weekend.

Speaking of next weekend, do you plan to join along with Day in the Life this month? Which day will you document? I'm strongly considering it. And if I do, I plan to document Saturday, March 30.

If you are interested, here is the link to my February Day in the Life.

Thanks for stopping by!

To see all of my Project Life layouts of the past few years, go here.

I'm linking up at The Mom Creative for Project Life Tuesday.

Check it out for lots of PL inspiration! Don't know what Project Life is? Go to Becky's blog for more information.

 

PROJECT LIFE on PINTEREST

And in case you missed my Pinterest boards last week, here they are again...

Do you have a Project Life board on PINTEREST? If so, leave me a link to your board in the comments and I'll follow you back. I love finding more friends to share inspriation. If you'd like to check out my Project Life board, go here. 

Project Life Freebies on PINTEREST

And here's a link to my PROJECT LIFE FREEBIES board as well.

The Week Through My Lens

Weekly stop at Costco. 

Experimenting with special effects for the boys' latest movie.

Being goofy, as always.

Breakfast and cupcakes ready to go to school with big brother.

Pitching practice.

Easter decorations are out. The kids love this thing that sings and dances. I like that they like it but after awhile it drives me crazy!

Breakfast-making Pancake French Toast for the second time. This time on purpose! The first time it was a "Happy Accident!"

A treat for St Patty's Day.

Thanks for stopping by!

2013 Project Life 365: Week 10 & An Invitation

Here we are at Week 10 of Project Life. I am keeping up and I'm so happy! Before we got on to the usual business of my weekly Project Life layout I have a special invitation for you.

An INVITATION to CELEBRATE

In case you hadn't noticed, the year is flying by! We are almost through the first quarter of 2013.

At the completion of Week 13 we will be 25% through the year. I want to keep myself motivated and accountable with Project Life so I want to throw myself a party for keeping up.

On Friday, April 12 (the week I complete my Project Life 13 spread), I will host a Blog Hop to celebrate.

Care to join me? It will be a great time to celebrate, pause for a moment and reflect on what we've accomplished, what we've learned and how the project is going so far.

**Whatever you have complete in your album is totally fine! No need to have the same criteria for goals as I do. You are more than welcome to participate regardless of how you are doing or your progress. The more the merrier!**

If you are interested in joining me or have any questions, please email me (link in my side bar under my photo). Put "2013 Project Life April Blog Hop" in the subject line and includeyour name & blog address in the message. I will compile a list of participants and email everyone in a week or so with more details.   

If you have no idea what a blog hop is or which kind of blog hop I am talking about (I've seen a few different types of virtual events out there called "blog hops"), click this link or this link to see past blog hops I've hosted on my blog.

I hope you'll join me. It should be a lot of fun and who knows you may win a little prize!

This week I wanted to use a lot of my own stamps again. I only used a couple pre-printed journaling cards from my Project Life kits. 

I primarily used 4x3 Grid Cards and decorated them with the stamps I designed myself or washi tape. (That link goes to 4x6 grid cards. I couldn't find any at amazon.com so perhaps they are sold out. I'm sure they will be back in stock as soon as possible if that is the case.)

On this page I wrote directly on a 4x3 photo & a 4x6 photos and used lots of letter stickers as usual.

I have two inserts this week. Sorry there is not a front view of my first insert. But you can look at my full spread photo to see it. It is the top two rows on the right side. 

That stamp with a star in the center is one of my latest stamp designs. [Here is the post where I explain how I make them.]

To make this insert, I took leftovers from an insert I used a previous week and used several layers of washi tape to make strips to add three holes so I could add it into the 3-ring album.

This is the back side of the first insert. I made my own filler card making a pattern out of one of the stamps I made. The RIGHT NOW journaling card uses my own chevron stamp and two colors of ink. The bottom of the EPIC FREAK card is washi tape I got on sale at Michaels this week.

Here is the altered insert with washi tape a little closer up.

To see all of my Project Life layouts of the past few years, go here.

I'm linking up at The Mom Creative for Project Life Tuesday.

Check it out for lots of PL inspiration! Don't know what Project Life is? Go to Becky's blog for more information.

 

PINTEREST

Do you have a Project Life board on PINTEREST? If so, leave me a link to your board in the comments and I'll follow you. I love finding more friends to share inspriation. If you'd like to check out my Project Life board, go here. And here's a link to my PROJECT LIFE FREEBIES board as well.

Thanks for stopping by!

2013 Project Life 365: Week 8 - Balance

Project Life Week 9 is (almost) done! Hurray! I had a lot of fun this week.

Another week with inserts. This time I had four inserts and I have one more to add (I'll show you next time). Last week I mentioned that every week in Project Life I feel like there are many things that I want to add but I don't manage to. I typically run out of time.

Well, this week, I  stepped it up a bit and added a ton of stuff.

It did take me a lot longer than last week. But that is OK. Some weeks are simple and short. Other weeks are more involved and take a long time. As we Project Lifers know, this project allows that kind of flexibility. It can change from week to week or day to day, right?

I participated in Ali Edwards' Day in the Life project this month. (I wrote about it in this post.) Even though, I wasn't pleased with how many pics I took or the amount of detail I recorded, I'm glad I completed the project.

For me doing that acts as a type of warm-up. I think the annoyance at myself in not doing it in a way that excites me will motivate me to do it right the next time. So, if all works out, I will do it again next month.

Have you done a Day in the Life project this year or do you plan to?

Here is the other side of my Day in the Life insert. My printer was running out of ink so I printed it in black & white but it still ran out - thus it looks as if the toaster oven is on fire and so is my son's breakfast! I just got more ink today and will be reprinting!!

The other insert is journaling from my Oh Life entries. (Oh Life is a free service that sends you an email each day, you respond with your daily entry. It is easy to download your records any time you want!) I printed them up on a 8.5x11 sheet of cardstock, folded it in half and put it in an 8.5x11 page protector that I stitched up using my sewing machine. I trimmed off the extra and will use it for a future insert.

This is the other side of the Oh Life insert. I made the Heart House stamp on the bottom. To see the other stamps I designed, go here and to see how I made them (so easy!), go here. Check out my other Project Life layouts this year if you are interested to see how I've used them each week. I think they've made it in all but one layout in 2013.

Here is yet another birthday insert. This is the third birthday celebration in my album so far this year and it is only early March! I've started a sort of theme - all include a 3x4 "Happy Birthday" card with my banner stamp & my cupcake stamp and the last two birthdays include a decorative label sticker with the birthday person's age and a heart.

I'm liking that consistencey and sub-theme throughout my album.

The other side of the birthday insert includes photos from an event at my son's elementary school.

And then the next insert is from an after school event for my other sons' middle school.

And here is the other side tha includes a ticket and photo of the son that was on the team.

And finally the right side of the layout. Here I am using the baseball stitching stamp again. Yet another sub-theme (baseball) I am finding myself using throught my album (twice so far).

Another one that I used the past two weeks was a movie camera stamp I use any time I have photos of my kids filming movies as they love to do. You'll see that one again in Week 10!

Here is a close-up of my 3x4 Birthday card with banner stamp.

A close up of the Heart House stamps.

And finally a close-up of the birthday age label.

BALANCE

The lesson for me this week, was to remember that life & Project Life is all about balance. Some weeks (sometimes many weeks), my layouts will be simple and quick and I won't have the time to put everything I want into the spread.

What is important for me to remember is that all is not lost! There will come a time when I can get a lot of stuff in my layout! And I can go back and add an insert in past weeks (I did that this week - adding in an insert full of my sons' second grade Valentine's). Who said it all has to be done NOW?!

INSPIRATION & A FREEBIE

That's all for this week, but before I sign off, I wanted to tell you about an adorable free download at Amanda Rose's blog. It's a really cute Week in Review journaling card. And while you are there, check out her Day in the Life for February - I love how she executed it. I hope to channel her dedication, energy & creativity for DAY IN THE LIFE at the end of this month! 

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you have a great week.

 

To see all of my Project Life layouts of the past few years, go here.

I'm linking up at The Mom Creative for Project Life Tuesday.

Check it out for lots of PL inspiration! Don't know what Project Life is? Go to Becky's blog for more information.

 

And this past Saturday, March 9, my Project Life Week 8 layout was featured here. Please stop by to check it out! Thanks! 

PINTEREST

Do you have a Project Life board on PINTEREST? If so, leave me a link to your board in the comments and I'll follow you. I love finding more friends to share inspriation. If you'd like to check out my Project Life board, go here. And here's a link to my PROJECT LIFE FREEBIES board as well

 

Follow me on 

2013 Project Life 365: Week 8

WELCOME! 

* A special THANK YOU to everyone who stops by and leaves comments. It truly brightens my day. I also really enjoy popping over to your blog and getting inspired by your Project Life creations. It is a neat sense of Project Life-blog community. It is fun getting to know each of you as the weeks pass through your PL albums and your blogs.

Week 8 of Project Life complete! It feels so good to be keeping up and have another week wrapped up.

I'll admit that I was a little worried this week. I didn't even start until Sunday late afternoon & I was not feeling inspired at all, but once I got started, the creativity came & I got it all finished. Every week, and this week is no exception, there are photos and memorabilia that I hope to include and don't get to, but I made the decision this week that it is OK! 

Done is better than perfect after all. And I can always go back and slide things in the pockets (as I often do). The big delay this week was my missing box of 8.5x11 page protectors! As soon as it is located, a lot more memorabilia will be added in full size and altered sizes. But for now, week 8 is complete!

There isn't anything too special this week. I used a 4x3 inch card as the date card and used an extra photo from Monday. It is a little hard to see in this photo, but I added monogram "R" in the center of the design on that first 3x4 card from the Amber Edition.

The movie camera is the same stamp I made that I used in my Project Life last week.

On this page is another stamp I recently made - the baseball stitching. And the list of nominees for the Academy Awards that we watched on Sunday night with a little party.

How are you staying inspired week after week with your Project Life album? Any tricks or tips you'd like to share? Let us know in the comments.

 

I'm linking up at The Mom Creative for Project Life Tuesday.

To see all of my Project Life layouts of the past few years, go here.

Check it out for lots of PL inspiration! Don't know what Project Life is? Go to Becky's blog for more information.

 

And this Saturday, March 9, my PRoject Life layout will be featured here. Please stop by to check it out! Thanks! 

Do you have a Project Life board on PINTEREST? If so, leave me a link to your board in the comments and I'll follow you. I love finding more friends to share inspriation. If you'd like to check out my Project Life board, go here. And here's a link to my PROJECT LIFE FREEBIES board as well

 

2013 Project Life 365: Week 7 - More Brand New Stamp Designs

Hello again! I present to you a complete Week 7 of my Project Life 2013. I'm back to including a bunch of my original stamps this week. The look is a bit more graphic and bold than I was imagining but I'm pleased with it anyway.

This first photo is the two page spread with an insert in the middle. It is a Design A page protector folded in half.

Here is the left side of the main spread.

The right side of the spread with the left half the insert.

Here is the left side again wiht the other side of the insert. That bright red decorative tag is Martha Stewart. I wrote the details of Grandpa's birthday cake on the backside. I loved the pop of red and a place for the eyes to rest in this busy layout.

The insert opened. All photos from our weekend away with my husband's family to celebrate his father's birthday.

The far right page of the main layout. The XOXO pattern is from a stamp that I made. On Valentine's Day I walked past a car with gift bags in the back seat. They had XOs on the bag with hearts inside the "O"s. I went home and made this stamp. FUN! The heart journaling card was made using a border rub-on I've had for probably 2 years.

This journaling card was made with more new stamps. The honeycomb stamp and the stars. I'll share here soon (this week?) all of my new stamp designs and how I came up with the ideas for the designs.

For my tutorial on how to make your own fun stamps out of craft foam, go here.

These two stamps - cupcake stamp & banner stamp - have shown up in my Project Life album before. They are perfect to acknowledge birthdays of course. The banner can be used for any occasion of celebration. And it was so SIMPLE & quick to make. Look how simple the shapes are. 

I almost forgot to mention the movie camera stamp in the very first photo. I have been visualizing that one for a few weeks. I plan to use it every time I feature a photo where my kids are filming or working on one of their movies. I will likely also use it on journaling cards when that is the subject.

Well that's pretty much it for Project Life Week 7. Thanks for stopping by!

WEEK EIGHT - A Little Preview

I thought you might enjoy this journaling card I made for Little League opening day. It will show up in my Project Life Album for Week 8.

 

Did you watch the Oscars on Sunday?

Will you mention the 2013 Oscars in your Project Life album? If so, you might enjoy this link to a printable page of all the nominees. I reduced the size and will fold it accordian style and slip it into one of my journaling pockets (3x4). I will circle the winners as well as my predictions. FUN!

QUESTIONS FOR YOU

1) I hope to include something about Girl Scout cookies in next week's album. I'm saving all of our boxes (I was a Girl Scout myself for many years) - any good ideas for adding them in? Links to inspiration?

2)What are your favorite screen shots to take and include in your Project Life album? I love all of the iPhone text conversations I've been seeing. The formatting is great and the conversations so meaningful. Almost worth getting an iPhone for that alone!

I'm linking up at The Mom Creative for Project Life Tuesday.

To see all of my Project Life layouts of the past few years, go here.

Check it out for lots of PL inspiration! Don't know what Project Life is? Go to Becky's blog for more information.

 

 

Do you have a Project Life board on PINTEREST? If so, leave me a link to your board in the comments and I'll follow you. I love finding more friends to share inspriation. If you'd like to check out my Project Life board, go here. And here's a link to my PROJECT LIFE FREEBIES board as well

Project Life 365: Week 6 - Experimenting a Little

 

Here we are at yet another Project Life post - #6 for 2013. I'm so excited to be keeping right up to date with my goals for this year. We were even away for this 3 day weekend and although I didn't post early as I had hoped, I am still meeting my end all deadline of Monday night.

Week 6 was the most ordinary week I've had so far so no inserts! I did a lot of word stickers and I'm back to writing directly on my photos after using the computer to journal on my photos last week. 

I was inspired by Design Editor's Project Life layout here where she included a 6x12 photo across the bottom of her spread. When I got my photos printed I ordered a couple of them in the 8x12 size with the plans of trimming them down and including one or two in my spread across the bottom, however, as the week got away from me I ended up completing my spread without including one and was ready to save the enlargements for something else when I remembered my intentions for 2013:

 Thrive! Experiment! Be Grateful! & decided I needed to EXPERIMENT with this new layout idea and rearrange some of my photos and work in my enlargement.

So for the first week my photos are not chronological at all! And that is OK because I had fun and this arrangement flows much better than my original layout. 

And I'm proud of myself for experimenting!

Have you done any experimenting in your Project Life album so far in 2013? What new techniques or even very simple new ideas have you tried? Who is your Project Life inspiration? Let us know in the comments so we can check out your new tricks or inspiration!

Oh and I almost forgot - I included two pelicans in my spread this week - can you spot them (one is far easier than the other to find)? They are my current favorite bird. I'm loving watching them whenever I am at the beach or seaside. They are so cool.

To see all of my Project Life layouts of the past few years, go here.

I'm linking up at The Mom Creative for Project Life Tuesday.

Check it out for lots of PL inspiration! Don't know what Project Life is? Go to Becky's blog for more information.

 

PROJECT LIFE on PINTEREST

And in case you missed my Pinterest boards last week, here they are again...

Do you have a Project Life board on PINTEREST? If so, leave me a link to your board in the comments and I'll follow you back. I love finding more friends to share inspriation. If you'd like to check out my Project Life board, gohere. 

Project Life Freebies on PINTEREST

And here's a link to my PROJECT LIFE FREEBIES board as well.

 

2013 Project Life 365: Week 4 [My Workflow]

Week 4 and I'm keeping up! Hurray! It was a little touch and go this week with a birthday party and a religious milestone this weekend but I've pulled it off. Yay, me! 

In order to make my goal (posting by Monday night), I had to save my WEEK in REVIEW card for later. All the journaling is done, I just have to transfer it.

Again, I used a lot of my stamps that I made a couple of weeks ago. To see most of the stamps I've made (15+), go here. For a How To tutorial on how I made them (so EASY & cheap!) go here.

I seem to be adding inserts every week even though, as a rule, I've been trying not to. We had a birthday on Wednesday & I wanted to include a current event, so I suppose it is to be expected.

I bought some American Crafts Slick Writer pens and I am loving them.

First of all, I like my writing so much more. Weird, I know, but it is true. The only other pen I find that does that is a Sharpie but an ordinary Sharpie is too thick for typical use.

Secondly, it works on those Martha Stewart kitchen and office labels that are moisture resistant and don't smudge. I haven't used the pens on my photos yet. But that will come very soon!

A few things to note on the right hand page: I used another couple of my stamps here - the camera that you also saw in my layout last week.

Here is the left side of my insert. To make the insert I took Design D Page Protector and cut-off the right two vertical photo pockets. I save all of the pockets that I cut off and save them to use in other layouts.

On the right side of the insert things worth noting not mentioned elsewhere are a very old circle sticker from a Creating Keepsakes Kit of the Month designed by Ali Edwards on the lighthouse photo at the bottom. And another one of my homemade stamps shows up again - the starburst stamp that I also used in last week's layout posted about here.

Here I used a Project Life Grid Cards to make my own filler card. I used a cat eye stamp pad to make this pattern that I originally saw on a throw pillow a friend of mine in Beijing (who has started her own textiles company) designed and created. 

This journaling card again uses two of my homemade stamps (that can be seen here): the zig zag/chevron stamp & the pot stamp that I created to add to my New Recipes 2013 mini album I talk about in these posts.

I'm not very good about including current events, but I've fixed that here. I googled Presidential Inauguration and clicked on IMAGES in the top menu bar. I selected a couple of my favorite photos & graphics and printed them out a bit smaller than 4x3, trimmed them down and adhered it to one of the Journaling Cards from my Clementine Core Kit.

After I took the original photos of my layout this week, I realized I had a screen shot from Jan 24 saved on my desktop. I printed it out on to white cardstock, trimmed it down and slipped it on top of this Clementine Core Kit filler card. I love how it worked out. It often annoys me to "waste" a pocket on a filler card - I have this urge to personalize it or add a cherished photo. "Just" a filler card feels like wasted high value real estate.

Anyone else feel the same way?

This might be my favorite journaling card of the week. Again I used my zig zag/chevron homemade stamp by stamping the image on the top and the bottom of a Project Life Grid Card and by masking the center to save space for my words. To mask the middle, I simply took a scrap of 4x6 photo, laid it across the Grid Card and stamped on top of the card and the photo leaving a crisp straight line. I then used black ink to stamp those words on top of the orange zig zag/chevron pattern. Those alpha stamps were only $1.

Here is another favorite filler card. Again I used a Project Life grid Card. I used some very old rub ons for the word and added with staples some Tim Holtz Filmstrip Ribbon. I LOVE this stuff. Every time I have a good coupon or I find it deeply on sale, I buy some. I think I have 3 or 4 packages of it and I will keep buying it. I don't ever want to run out! It is awesome. I may add more to this card like a simple black outline, but there is something I do like about it so far.

I wanted to highlight the amazing creativity of my oldest son pictured below that card (on the sewing machine). His determination and his creativity and his endless supply of grand ideas amaze and (sometimes) exhaust me. I have to find the right place in this layout to include all of my thoughts. Again to get this post out by my deadline, I had to wait on that.

Here is an extra photo I added on the left hand side of the main layout for this week. I taped on an extra photo pocket with some washi tape I bought in Japan. I didn't get it on totally straight. I may have to re-do or figure out a better technique. Like maybe adhering two smaller pieces like hinges.

And here is the underside. 

What I will do differently or more of next week: COMPUTER TEXT on photos. I wanted to do that this week, but I printed my photos out before I realized I forgot! 

Continue to add more stories and journaling.

Write down what kids say on a journaling card in that moment, add a date stamp and slide into the day's pocket in the next week of my Project Life Album.

To see all of my Project Life layouts of the past few years, go here.

I'm linking up at The Mom Creative for Project Life Tuesday. Check it out for lots of PL inspiration! Don't know what Project Life is? Go to Becky's blog for more information.

PROJECT LIFE on PINTEREST

Follow my Project Life board on PINTEREST. Leave me a link to your board in the comments and I'll follow you back. I love finding more friends to share inspriation.

Here's a link to my PROJECT LIFE FREEBIES board as well.

 

PROJECT LIFE WORKFLOW

And for those that are interested, here is a quick summary of my Project Life workflow using Lightroom. Though it would be applicable for lots of other photo organizing software.

My Project Life weeks go from Monday to Sunday

1)   Typically throughout the week, I upload my photos into Adobe Lightroom.  Before I upload any new photos, I make sure I KEYWORD and RATE (1-3 stars) all of my photos. Lightroom automatically leaves your last group of uploaded photos together until you upload more photos, so it is easy to see if you have finished rating and tagging your photos before you upload more photos.

2)   SUNDAY night I make sure all of my photos from the week are uploaded into LIGHTROOM. I make sure all photos from the past week have been tagged with KEYWORDS and RATED with stars.

a)    My very favorite photos get rated with 2 or 3 STARS. Photos that I like but aren’t my favorite get a 1 STAR. I use a rating system similar to that taught in  Stacy Julian’s FINDING PHOTO FREEDOM class at Big Picture Classes.

b)   I tag all photos that are RATED with 2 or 3 STARS. LIGHTROOM makes tagging photos with KEYWORDs (as well as RATING with STARS) super easy. You can KEYWORD and RATE photos in bulk by highlighting a large group and simply typing in your KEYWORD once or simply choosing the number of STARS you want to rate your photos and tapping that key. For RATING photos you do not even have to have your cursor flashing in a cell. Your photo(s) just has to be highlighted and it will automatically be rated with the number you tap.

1. I KEYWORD at least one photo a day  as “POTD” which stands for Photo Of The Day.
2. The other KEYWORDS I use are peoples’ names, locations, “Photos I love,” etc.

3)   I have set-up my LIGHTROOM to create SMART FOLDERS. This means it takes my search criteria (i.e., KEYWORDS & RATINGS & CAPTURE DATE RANGES) and makes folders for me automatically.

1. I make a COSTCO (or SHUTTERFLY) Photo Center SMART FOLDER each week. Each folder is named 2013 PL365 Week X. The criteria for its photos are: 2 or more STARS, Capture time of one particular week’s date range, KEYWORD: POTD (NOTE: I downloaded free Plug-Ins that allow me to upload photo files from my LIGHTROOM catalog directly to my COSTCO (or SHUTTERFLY) account.

This means that the photos I want are automatically added to these folders, so all I have to do when I’m ready to print, is click on my SMART FOLDER, double check that I have KEYWORDED & RATED all my photos from the week and then click PUBLISH.

4)   On Monday, I visit my COSTCO account or SHUTTERFLY account and order the prints for the week. I typically pick up my photos from COSTCO on Monday afternoon. (Though last week they printed them too dark so I’m looking into a local photo developer that should do a great job! Not to mention I have gift bucks for that store from Xmas! Yay!)

5)   Then I place my photos into the seven pockets, and keep the others in case I decided to fill the smaller pockets or create an insert.

6)   Throughout the week I place memorabilia in the current week’s pockets (the week following the week with printed photos). I put Wednesday’s stuff in Wednesday’s pocket, etc.

 

This week I felt like working on the floor!

7)   I finish my layout by Friday night or Saturday morning and so I can photograph my layout in natural light the next day. My personal deadline is to have my photos ready to post by Monday night to link up at Project Life Tuesday every Tuesday morning. This gives me a day or two extra in case I need it (like this week with a birthday party and special religious milestone).

 

NOTES: I do not plan out my week ahead of time. I like to put all of my photos in at the same time and move them around as I add journaling cards and other “stuff” so that the album is mostly chronological yet still makes sense and looks pleasing.

Please let me know if you have any questions. How does your workflow differ from mine? Any good tips or tricks you’d care to share??

 

2013 #Project365 A Week in Photos

I'm linking this beach photo at Simple Things for Simple Things Sunday. I love that we are close enough to the beach that it can be our destination for a quick weekday run. It doesn't get better than that.

                           

 

I'm entering this amusing photo of Nicholas over at Weekly Top Shot, a new photo linky I found this week. It cracks me up but it is soooo him. Reece & he were filming a gift for Braden. Nicholas' character speaks in a British accent and tells the audience a story as he sits in his La-Z-Boy by his hearth sipping apple juice out of a crystal goblet with a book in his lap.

I'm linking this photo up at Nihao, Y'all. 

 

My 365 Photos from last week. You may notice there is more than one per day. But once I get going, I never take just one! So far, I haven't missed a day. Loving it.

Since were are on the subject of photos, I know many use Instagram. Here is a great article about using it safely, click here.

2013 Project Life 365: Week 3 {Why do I love this project?}

Another week and I still love this project! I have read quite a few blogs recently that declare their love for this project each and every week.

But why do we love this project?

I think it is because it gives us an excuse for playing with and spending time with our photos & memories each & every week! It breaks it up into small digestible bites and pieces that can be finished in a short period of time which allows us to feel a sense of accomplishment with a small amount of effort & time.

I'd love to hear why you love this project. Tell me in the comments.

This week I used a lot of the homemade stamps I talked about in last week's Project Life post.

After I finished it, I still needed to add an insert to include the invitation I made for my son's 8th Birthday Party (a post coming soon with more details - it is one of my 24 Projects in 12).

It made more sense then to change out the photo of the invitation in process (bottom right photo of left side of layout) for a different photo. I chose to add the one of my son below since I love how he is so intently concentating on getting his homework done.

This is actually two photos one atop the other.

I had been having difficulty fitting all the photos I wanted into my layout, so I ended up cutting my son out of one photo and placing it on top of a photo of his homework assignment (the colorful map).

I think it turned out kind of cool. He looks almost super-imposed over the map. It helps that the photo of him was blurry to begin with. That makes it kind of pop off the page.

I thought the photo of the invitations in process made more sense above the actual finished invitation. That background paper is made from a pattern of one of the stamps I made. Go to this post to read more about the ten craft foam stamps I made (Super Fun & Super Easy) and to see the lotus root stamp that I used. I'm not sure I love how the paper turned out. But I'm glad I've started to experiment. I envision making a lovely pattern with the lotus root stamps. I'm sure I'll find something I like eventually. 

Here is the other side of the insert with the invitation. I printed out entries from my Oh Life account. (Oh Life is a free service you sign up for. They send you an automated email once a day and you email back anything you'd like to remember about the day. SIMPLE!) This is the first time I have used any of my entries and I've been keeping an Oh Life journal (of sorts) since May 2011. I plan to do it more often since it was so easy to do.

The row of cameras are also another stamp that I made. Surprised?! Ha! Again, I don't love how they turned out. A little too messy. And I think I would have liked them in black or grey. 
Here is a journaling card I made from a photo I took of footprints in the sand. It didn't turn out as good as I thought it would. You can't tell from this photo, but the writing is actually very difficult to read atop the footprints. (Much like the writing over the Peanut Butter & Jelly sandwiches.) I may try it again and lighten the details of the photo. I also want to re-write the journaling since I think it looks too messy - but that is another story!! I rarely re-do things so I may not get around to it, but I sure am tempted because I was so excited about this idea.

Here is a Project Life Core Kit - Clementine Edition journaling card. I added a "coffee cup to-go" image from another one of those stamps I made that I keep mentioning. Again I wish I could position the writing differently than I did, but I don't want to waste my journaling cards, and the sentiment is exactly right, so I will leave this one.

Another card that uses another one of my new homemade stamps. This is a starburst stamp the same size as a 3" x 4" Journaling Card with Grid Design. I was inspired by an image in the Seafoam Core Kit.  I hope to try it again in a different color. I'm not sure I love it in black. I had fun with this card by messing around with my son's water colors and adding a little circle sticker in the center.

EDITED TO ADD: This journaling card. I don't know how I missed including this one when I originally published this post. I love creating stuff like this with my kids. So fun!

And the last card I will highlight uses yet another stamp that I made. Notice the city skyline at the bottom of the card. I drew the moon on after the fact and colored in the windows and moon using more of my son's water colors. 

I had a more difficult time this week finishing up my layout. I am going to try and finish it a little earlier in the week this time. We have a busy weekend ahead and I'm afraid if I don't do it by Friday, it isn't going to get done. I'm still finding my rhythm this year.

I also want to post about my Project Life photo workflow, but again that will have to wait for another week.

I have a Ninjago mini-fig cake to make, Ninjago cupcakes and a party to finalize. So lots more fun stuff to share on the blog coming up soon but also many busy days ahead!

EDITED TO ADD: If you would like to see how I made the stamps in my Project Life layout this week, please visit this post here.

I'm linking up at The Mom Creative for Project Life Tuesday. Don't know what Project Life is? Go to Becky's blog for more information.

EDITED TO ADD: And a fun Proeject Life freebie card I found here. It's a 5 Faves Right Now card. A great addition to any Project Life layout.

Local Tourist Chinese Papparazzi {Day 12 of 31 Days of Blogging}

The local tourist papparazzi. The kids are stopped constantly at popular tourist landmarks and asked to pose with people. Sometimes they are in the mood, many times not. Our middle child is the best sport and 75% of the time is willing. We always let the kids decide those sometimes we strongly encourage especially when people ask nicely and don't sneak. I can only imagine how many Chinese FB pages and Twitter feeds our kids' photos have made an appearance unknowing to us. 

Coconut Shampoo {Day 11 of 31 Days of Blogging}

Now I am posting twice a day on some days. No hard and fast rules. Doing my best to post 31 times in 31 days. We'll just pretend it is 31 posts in 31 days. Nobody is stopping by to read these anyway. I get a lot of google visitors to check out all of my CUPCAKES and iwth Halloween coming up that increases my traffic.

This is a humorous street photo I took from a motor rickshaw in India. I don't think anyone else find it as funny as I do. Just a silly photo taken on accident.

 

Making Qing Ming Pastries {Day 10 of 31 Days of Blogging}

Making Qing Ming Pastries in Beijing, China during the Qing Ming Festival Holiday.

Hotel Courtyard - Pingyao, China {Day 9 of 31 Days of Blogging}

Taken in the courtyard of our hotel in Pingyao, China. Sept 2010

7-Up & Local Food in Jodhpur, India {Day 8 of 31 Days of Blogging}

The post today will have to stand on its own due to shortage of time and a swollen finger. Come back tomorrow for another favorite photo!

 

Urban Life in China: Green Space at the Kindergarten {Day 7 of 31 Days of Blogging}

Our youngest son attended his Kindergarten year (by American scheduling) at a bilingual/bicultural school in the center of China's capital city. We loved the school. The administration did a fantastic job, the teachers were caring and amazing and the school offered a caring, stimulating environment that fully embraced (in a very positive way) all cultures in a very positive way. This being no easy feat in the Capital city!! We speak from a little too much experience at how many interational schools (local as well as foreign run) fail miserably in all three of these areas.

The one major weakness of the school was the inadequate outdoor space and free play areas available for the children. They did have a nice playground downstairs in the front of the school & many school pets (sheep, bunnies, squirrel, duck, etc), but this area was our son's class' dedicated space. Being a Montessori school, each class is meant to have its own outdoor space available to the kids so they did have that but as you can see it was sorely lacking. As we learned during our time in Beijing, every choice has its benefits and its sacrifices. Luckily, choosing this school for a year was worth this sacrifice. 

Chinese Canal Town in the Morning Fog {Day 6 of 31 Days of Blogging}

I may have posted this one before. It is my favorite photo from a weekend photography class I took. Well, maybe not my favorite photo from the weekend, but my favorite photo from the village we were trying to shoot. When we wandered outside the touristy area, I managed to get another photo that I like better.

This photo was taken at a Chinese canal town in the morning fog.

I will post the other favorite one later in the 31 days. Thanks again for stopping by. What will I post tomorrow???

First Day of School 2011 in Beijing {Day 5 of 31 Days of Blogging}

I thought this picture turned out pretty cool. I loved the silhouette of my son walking down the dimly lit hallway with the school's sign & building out the window. This was orientation day 2011.

Sunrise at a Train Station in Rajasthan, India {Day 3 of 31 Days of Blogging}

I took this photo from inside a train as we were pulling away from the station. I was trying to capture the sunrise. I wish I knew enough about editing photos to bring out the colors in the sky without it looking overly processed. But otherwise, I like this photo. I like the different stories it tells. I love the silhouettes and how they fit nicely in rectangles and I like the almost bright colors. It is India to me and holds a lot of good memories from our trip there last year.

Thanks again for stopping by... 3 down, 28 more to go! Photos, that is. 31 posts in 31 days.

Day 2: 31 Days of Photos from My Archives {Los Angeles}

This was taken in 2009. One of my favorite views of downtown Los Angeles way off in the distance. It was such a pretty sky that evening. I'm compelled to go back to this location with a tripod and see if I can't get a similar photo but with better detail of the downtown high rises in the distance. 

Thanks for stopping by! Come back tomorrow for another favorite photo from my archives.

October 5 FAMILY x 12 Blog Hop

Welcome to the Sept 10th (usually on the 5th of the month) FAMILY x 12 Blog Hop when we all share a photo of our families each month.

We are a small group of bloggers who share the same goal - to get more photos of our families (all together) throughout the year. So, we all join forces on the fifth of every month (except this month) and share our one (or more) family photo for the month!

My two photos this month are from early in September when our dear friends from Japan were visiting. These two "girls" now young women, were the flower girls in our wedding 15 years ago! Here we are at the County Fair.

 

This is the first time they have come to visit without their parents. We had a great time doing all the touristy things. And here we are at one of the kids' favorite froyo places- Yogurtland. Nothing beats serving yourself! 

It's a small group for the blog hop this month. But that's OK! Next on the blog hop is RUTH! 

Oh! Before you go, I should let you know that for the next 30 days, I will be posting daily. I know amazing, huh, after so little posting from me over the past six months or so! I meant to start on October 1, but it came and went without a dedicated blog post, so I started yesterday. Better late than never! My theme will be FAVORITE PHOTOS from my ARCHIVES. Some will be from several years ago and others will be more recent. I'm totally indulging myself, but please stop by if you'd like to see!

Now, off you go for more FAMILY PHOTO inspiration!

OCTOBER 5 Family x 12 Blog Hop Participant List

Margie http://xnomads.typepad.com/blog

Ruth http://www.chattycraftyartypig.blogspot.com

Jo http://www.mrsbeee.blogspot.com

 

Snips & Snails & Puppydog Tails... My 31 Days of Blog Posts Begins Today!

 

Last October I posted everyday or close to every day. I had joined in a 31 day challenge with a group of over 700 other bloggers. I had hoped to do the same again. Not joining a blog challenge, but simply posting every day in the month of October. My idea was to post one photo every day. Very simple. But then October 1st came and went and I never did the pre-work. I could let that stop me, but I am not going to, so my 31 Days of Blogging starts today, Thurs, Oct 4!!!

I have gone through my photo archives and identified more than 31 one of my all time favorites. I will share one a day here with you!

This first one is my two oldest boys posing at the top of a volcano in Lassen National Park. My oldest was only 3 at the time and hiked the entire way by himself with no stopping! And no food! (Until reaching the pinnacle.) I think it was something like a 3500 foot incline. We were major hikers back then. What endurance he had!! My younger son had been up most of the night before with a bad cold. We were camping and decided to head home a day early and wanted to squeeze in one hike before we left. It was an amazing view so it was definitely worth the effort even though the rest of the trip was plagued by Murphy's Law!

Thanks for stopping by and come back tomorrow for my monthly FAMILY x 12 Blog Hop when a group of us all post our family photo(s) for the previous month. If you have a family photo to post, stop by and link to your blog post in the comments! Or email me and join us next month.

My Trick for Keeping Up with ProjectLife {Jan 22-28}

Even though I feel like I am scrambling to keep up with Project Life, I am still keeping to my commitment behind the scenes anyway. My original plan was to post the past weeks photos on Monday and then on Tuesday post my finished album pages from two weeks previous. I am having a tough posting my photos. But that doesn't mean I'm not rating them, editing them and uploading them to Flickr for back-up. And then finally uploading them to Snapfish and getting the prints delivered to my home. The last part takes a little longer because I live here, in Beijing. 

At first that was really throwing a wrench into my plans to keep up with my album. It is hard for me to put everything else in without photos. I could rush things and use photos SOOC (Straight Out of Camera), but that is just not my style. Photography is my first LOVE so drab, dark photos just wouldn't make me happy. Therefore, I need that extra time. And I only edit photos that I am actually going to use.

Have you figured out yet, my solution for still going forward with my album? I mentioned it in my post on Sunday for the Project Life blog hop.

I am printing out my photos in B&W on ordinary paper. This saves on ink and paper. The first time I did this, I made the mistake of printing them in color. Printer ink is expensive as it is, but here in China it is so expensive that it is silly. I don't print my own photos because I am not happy with the quality, I have read that they don't hold up as well over time and as I mentioned before, the ink here is ridiculously expensive and photo paper is unavailable. 

I bring it from home, but that takes up lots of space and weight in the luggage and then when it is gone, it is GONE! And I do like to print my own photos every once in a while.

Anyway, now you know! Perhaps this trick may help other people who don't print their own photos or who like to order prints in bulk. If I order more than 100 prints at a time, I don't have to pay for delivery. That makes it worth the wait for me.  

I hope you enjoyed my Project Life album layouts for the week of Jan 22. My favorite part of the week (as far as the album goes) is that I added a couple of embellishments to the card behind the apple juice carton (that is what the little yellow-ish card is with the Chinese writing on it). I don't typically do things like that, but it is a fun surprise for anyone who pulls it out. I also added a little tab to it so it would be more noticeable. The folding journal cards in the new kits don't come with tabs. I miss that, so I am adding my own.

What is your favorite thing you did this week in your Project Life album? Tell me in the comments.

PROJECT LIFE BLOG HOP

On March 5, Jill will be hosting another Project Life Blog Hop. If you are interested in joining, send her an email at jillconyers @ gmail (dot) com and tell her MARGIE sent you! I will be sharing my photo work flow that I use for Project Life. I hope you'll stop back by then.

You may want to check out these Project Life posts:

Reason #257 Why I LOVE Project Life (tell me why YOU love Project Life)

Feb 5 Project Life Blog Hop

 

OTHER COOL SCRAPBOOK EVENTS AROUND THE WEB 

 

Ali Edwards announced today that she will be doing a Day in the Life (just like Week in the Life but for ONE DAY) on Wednesday this week. Since I can never resist this type of challenge, I will be documenting my WEDNESDAY (that is tomorrow). She has a free download to help track your day.