Project Life: Week Eleven

I was provided product for this post from Project Life and American Crafts, but all opinions and ideas are 100% my own.

Happy Project Life Saturday y’all!

I’m thrilled to have you here for another week of the series Project Life for Beginners. If this is your first time here with us, you’ll want to check out this page to catch up on past posts. Let’s dig right in!

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It’s been a crazy few weeks around these parts and I’ve been so busy with my sweet kidlets and fun blog projects that my poor Project Life album has been neglected. And you know what? When I had the opportunity to finally sit down and work on this week’s pages, it was like meeting back up with a long lost friend. You know, the kind that no matter how much time passes, things just click and you can spend hours chatting over cold cups of coffee, catching up and realizing how deep your relationship runs. Yeah. That.

There’s such a beauty in the simplicity of Project Life. I know now that I’ll always have a solution for getting my thousands (yes friends, thousands) of pictures off my over-loaded hard drive and into physical albums that my family will treasure for generations to come. I have a creative outlet where I can push myself and try new techniques and embellishments or I can be secure enough to leave the pages clear of any extras.

This week, I’m thrilled to share a new technique that may be old hat to some, but I was super freakin’ excited when I figured this out. I’ve been struggling with how to print out all of my Instagram pictures. I know that Persnickety Prints is probably the way to go, but I’m super spoiled with the speed and pricing of my local Costco. Gasp, right? After a little playing around, I figured out that I could re-size my Instagram pictures in Photoshop after I downloaded them from my phone to my computer. When they were all sized to a 2″ square, I was able to squish 36 Instagam pictures on a single 12×12 print.

Total cost: $2.99! Suh-weet!

Layout One

All those Instagram pictures fit in the Photo Pocket Pages – Design F like a charm. I was able to embellish, journal, and make the best of my new Kraft cards while cramming in as many memories as possible. Side note: Luke spotted the picture of him on the card with the mustache and started laughing so hard. For some reason, he thought it was hilarious that I added hos picture to a card with a mustache. His giggles were priceless.

I have to admit that when I first saw the Kraft edition at CHA this past January, I wasn’t sure that it was the edition for me. After getting it in my hands and having had a chance to work with it, I’m a Kraft edition convert. I may just have to invest in the entire kit, it’s that good. But promise you won’t tell The Husband, mmkay?

I used each 3×4 card as its own little layout, but made sure they all coordinated together. Wood veneers, die cut shapes, cork stickers, and alphabet stickers unify the look.

Layout Two

Reagan’s first ever dance recital was a big deal in our home, just as Luke’s first soccer and t-ball games were, and it deserved more than a single spread. Here’s the first of two. These pictures focus on the preparation aspect.

I took a ton of Instagram pictures throughout the week leading up to the recital as we practiced sponge rollers in her hair for the first time, attended her last dance class of the season, and both of her dress rehearsals. If I had printed these pictures full size, I could have easily filled up an entire mini album, but by cropping them down, I was able to fit the majority of them on a single page. Problem solved.

You can obviously tell that my obsession with Thickers has not waned in the least. 😉

Because the left side of the layout was picture and embellishment heavy, I purposely chose to leave the right side more plain. Sometime, it’s nice to give your eyes a break.

Layout Three

This spread is dedicated to my girl’s big day: her first dance recital! I really wanted her to be the star of the show *and* of these pages so I left the embellishments to a bare minimum.

I added a few alphabet stickers and Thickers as a title (the name of the song she danced to) for a smidge of visual interest.

The tickets that we purchased were a little too large and in charge for her album. Instead, I simply took a photo of the ticket and stapled it in. Easy peasy.

Home work Time! Tell me — how have you been doing on keeping up? Try to get three more layouts done this week!

Before I send you off to get working, I wanted to let you know some BIG news! Project Life is now available in lots of new locations other than good ole’ trusty Amazon! You can now purchase Project Life in retailers throughout the U.S., including Hobby Lobby, Michaels, Archivers, Craft Warehouse, Beverly’s Fabrics and hundreds of independent shops. You can also find Project Life online at Two Peas in a Bucket and Scrapbooks.com. If you’re in need of finding Project Life internationally or would like to take a peek at the full list of stores where you’ll find Project Life, you can check the brand new Store Finder list on Becky Higgins’ site.