I'm a huge fan of Project Life. In the digital age, where thousands of pictures are being taken by everyday people, memory keeping has become an onerous task. In addition to the wedding album I've never started and the baby books I never completed, I now have tens of thousands of photos of our everyday life -- softball practices, front yard lemonade stands and canning fresh veggies from our garden. I love the concept of Project Life because it allows you to capture the everyday, not just the big events. Just print a handful of pictures every week, slide them into the pockets, add some journaling and you're done.
I signed onto this concept as soon as it hit the blogs and message boards. I think that was three years ago. Since then I have managed to create pages for five weeks of our lives. Seriously.... I was doing better when I did full 12" x 12" layouts.
I have purchased several PL kits, albums (had to buy extras because they were about to retire that line & I already bought the kits!!), pages, washi tape (I think it required for all PL albums) and the hottest stamps (as recommended by the Garden Girls).
Regardless of how much I've bought, the bottom line is that I have created two weeks worth of pages for 2011 and three weeks of pages for 2012. I haven't even bothered with 2013.
Over the next few weeks, I am hoping to establish a system and routines that will help me get going and complete the albums I have already started and get ready for 2014. I've started by creating a Project Life Work Station. I need a simple place to go for my Project Life materials. If you're crafty at all, you've probably amassed a large collection of goodies. It can be overwhelming at times. It is hard for me to get simple pages done with my Tim Holtz distress glitters are calling me from across the studio. Seriously, have you seen that stuff?????
I started with a Mobile Craft Organizer from Michaels (generously handed down to me from my friend Jenny -- love you Jenny):
This bad boy comes with three drawers, four divided pockets and a drop down extension on the side. I keep my old school Two Cows paper trimmer on it. The work station slides right under my counter height craft table. I can pull it out whenever I am ready to get my Project Life on!
The top drawer is filled with embellishments and tools that can be used on any Project Life album -- blank grid journaling cards, tags, pens, clear buttons, peel off vinyl tabs, wood embellishments, a corner rounder and date stamps.
The other two drawers are specific to the years I am currently trying to catch up.
I started my 2011 Project Life book before all of the Project Life materials & kits were available. I wanted to keep the colors consistent throughout the album, so I chose a specific line of paper to carry through the album. I went with one of my all time favorites -- Motifica by Basic Grey. I had a ton of the paper available in my vast collection of patterned papers & the colors are soothing and can be used with almost anything. I went through my studio embellishments and pulled out anything that would go with this line. Since then I have added the Project Life Cinnamon Edition Core Kit (the beautiful browns went perfectly with the pages I had already started).
When I started my album for 2012, the Project Life Amber Edition
had just been released. I loved the vibrant colors and quickly gathered a collection of embellishments to help me get started.
My goal is to work solely with the tools, papers & embellishments in this work station. I still need to find a home for my journaling stamps and the small collection of punches I plan to use. I'll be sure to post a "Part 2" once I get it up & running!
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