Hey y'all,
I would like to share with you some of my experience about
doing a Project Life.
I have been doing Project Life
for 18 months now and I acquired some habits and got rid of some rookie
mistakes.
Here are some cards I made for Valentine's week.
I used papers from Sweet Pie and Blanket Stories collection.
Project Life album
- I choose a 12 x 12 inch format because it allows me to put a lot of pictures.
- I usually do a double-page spread per week. It is a
bit ambitious but a lot can happen in a week. At the end of the day, or the
year might I say, it will be totally worth it as you will scroll down the year
and get those little insignificant moments you already had forgotten.
Project Life pockets
Pocket’s size
For a long time, I could not
choose which pocket size to use (A, B, C, something else?). Usually it is best
to try before buying but in this situation is was complicated.
So I chose randomly!
So I chose randomly!
And I put them on the
album randomly as well.
In fact, a PL is a
marathon, so don’t exhaust yourself with such minor details.
Since my pictures are square shaped
(I will talk about that later), it fits every kind of cards and pocket.
To do my double-page spread, I
choose the PL cards I really fancy at the moment or the one that will totally
match the color palette of the pictures
The card’s size will decide
the format of the pockets sleeve.
10 pockets
sleeve (K, M, N, O formats)
I am not going to lie, it is a
great investment. It really is.
I use them for special events
such as Christmas, birthdays, vacations. It allows me to jam pack a whole lot of
pictures which to me, is absolutely necessary to report properly these kind of
events.
Pictures
Pictures’ size
Before, I was wasting a lot of
time to think about picture size and orientation (landscape or portrait) and
where to put them.
It was taking an awful lot of
time to organize everything with sticky notes. God forbid I made a mistake, I
would have to print the picture again and waste ink and paper.
Now I print every single
picture as a square. It fits every kind of pockets (A, B, C, etc… format) with
a 5x5 cm size.
It gets me enough space
to write around the picture or do some journaling.
Pictures editing
It is a very long step but you
got to do it!!
Pictures are small so you have
to keep only what is essential.
You need to crop, straighten up,
light up and crisp your pictures, it is the bare minimum
For technical details, I strongly
suggest you to go check some photo editing specialist’s blog. I am not one of
those, I only tweak my pictures on Picasa.
Pictures
selection
Little trick based on
experience.
I did a special PL file on my
computer where I keep all kind of pictures (taken with phone, iPad or sent by
friends).
Those kind of picture
are less pretty than the one taken with the camera but they really are life’s
snapshots.
I have a file per month and
when I print them I go back to my notes to know which is when.
PL cards
PL cards
It is true, it takes a long
time to do them.
On the plus side, you get to use
your favorite papers leftover, finally use these embellishment that were abandoned
in the bottom of a drawer. Basically, you are recycling. Who knew Project Life
could help to save the planet?
While doing your PL cards, you
still can make your life easier.
When I finish a project
(usually a mini album), I have lots of leftovers that are already matched up (papers,
stickers, embellishments…). Instead of sorting everything to put them away in a
drawer, I keep everything in a folder that I directly put in my PL box.
The cards I displayed above were made with what was left of my December Daily (you can see it here)
Freebies
You can find them everywhere
and in any kind of shape you wish, cards, fonts, text, stickers and so on… I print the one I like the
most and then T stash them away in my PL box.
The must have
Notepad
My notepad is my best friend.
Have I already told you that
last year, from March to November, I stopped doing my PL?
Well, without notepad I would
have been totally lost. It is already complicated to remember from one week to
another, so the more the time pass, the less you remember.
You absolutely have to note in
your notepad what happened that week, it is vital.
It will save you a vast amount
of time when you will tackle your PL. I personally write everything down and
then I pick and choose what it more appropriate to the feel of the week. It is
much better to have too much information than ending with blank spots on your
PL.
This notepad saved my PL last
year….
The Knick knack box
I have dedicated a box, the
mess box, where I store every little thing (tickets, drawing, flyers...). When
I need them, it is easy to retrieve since everything is centralized.
PL box
It is a simple pizza box where
I stash absolutely everything.
I put :
- my ready to go homemade kits
- my Knick knack box
- my already printed pictures
- stuff I want to keep
- my already made PL cards
- freebies I found on the net
Little advices
Relax
You have the right to cheat a
little and switch some pictures and some minor events.
It is not the end of the
world if you say that you did finger painting on March 24th instead of March
12th. If the pictures and arrangements look better that way, then so be it.
I often insert neutral
pictures, such as my children making funny faces, in the weeks when not much
happened.
You don’t have to be over
rigorous, don’t forget that a PL is a long time thing!!
Accept to be
late
You will be late, it is a fact.
To go faster, you can use
pre-made cards, you will be under the impression to be super efficient.
You still have to take care of
the pictures.
As I already mentioned, I
sometimes print some pictures ahead of time and stash them in my PL box.
For more ideas and let inspiration struck, I will let
you now go and stroll in Studio Tekturek's blog. The DT is really
inspiring.
I am looking forward for your
reactions, comments, tricks.
Are you going to start a PL?
Did this post helped you to
get a little more organized?
And do you have tricks to
share?
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