Project Life | Weeks 9 and 10

I have somehow managed to get way behind with Project Life- more behind than I ever have been before.  Catching up seems overwhelming sometimes, but this morning I made it my mission to complete two weeks.

As usual I have used the digital kit Project 52 2016 and Adobe Photoshop CS5.  I have been asked a lot on Facebook about the font I use for my journalling- it's Avenir 45.

Here is Week 9.....

And here is Week 10.....

Hopefully I can get another two weeks completed this week while we are on school holidays :-)

Project Life | Week 8

Just a super-quick post today- we are having internet issues here at home which are making blogging and anything else extremely frustrating!

Here is Week 8......

I hope you are all having a lovely Easter break x

Project Life | Week 7

I'm back with another week and as usual I have used Project 52 2016 Edition and Photoshop CS5 to create my digital layouts.  This week was another scorcher here in Perth- too hot to sit poolside for a swimming carnival that's for sure!

Here is Week 7.....

Thanks for stopping by!

Kraft Plus | March Challenge

I am playing along again at Kraft Plus and once again the challenge is a ripper!

The challenge is to use this sketch and add some houndstooth, all on a Kraft base of course.

I pulled out an older collection from Basic Grey called "Knee-highs & Bow-ties" to scrap this layout that celebrates the wonderful imagination that my youngest son possesses.

I used my Silhouette Cameo, a cut-file from the Silhouette Online Store and some stencil material to create a houndstooth patterned stencil.  I applied  Gathered Twigs Distress Ink through the stencil with an ink blending tool to give my Kraft background some subtle tone-on-tone texture.

I just love how the Kraft Plus challenges always get me to try new things- now I know how easy it is to make my own stencils with my Silhouette :-)

Turtle Soup | January Mini Crop Projects

I realised that I haven't shared any layouts or cards for a while and since we recently had a Mini Crop at Turtle Soup I have a lot to share!

Our Design Team members set a number of challenges for the crop and here is what I came up with......

Thanks for stopping by!

Project Life | Week 6

I'm back with another week to share.  I am using the Digital Project Life Project 52 2016 Edition this year and I am loving how the choices are limited thus making this process quick and easy.

Here is Week 6.....

Thanks for stopping by- I will be back soon with some scrapbooking layouts :-)

Project Life | Week 5

It was a week with few photos but instead of switching to a single page spread, I decided to add lots of journalling to complete the double page. I am continuing with the Project 52 2016 Edition from digitalprojectlife.com and the Design A template.

When I struggle to fill a Project Life page I often include what I've been watching and what I've been reading and this week I did just that.  The return of The X-Files was a big deal in our house ;-)

Thanks for stopping by!

Project Life | Week 4

I have another week to share, albeit a little late this week- it's nearly the end of Week 5!  Of course I have used the Project 52 Edition again and I am still loving this 100% digital approach I have adopted for this year.  It's just so simple.

Here is Week 4.....

Thanks for stopping by!

Kraft Plus | February Guest Designer

I am thrilled to be the Kraft Plus Guest Designer for February.  As usual, the challenge really pushed me out of my comfort zone, and that's what I love about challenges.

I created some postage stamp backgrounds with my Silhouette Cameo and utilized some old papers from Stampin' Up that had a postage stamp theme.  I aged everything with Distress Inks including the wood veneer letters from Studio Calico.

I hope you'll play along with the challenge!

Project Life | Week 3

I'm back with another Project Life week to share.  I am finding my new process very quick and easy.  I got the hang of clipping masks in Photoshop and using the same kit each week means I am getting very familiar with it and that makes choosing journalling cards and filler cards a very quick process.  I made the mistake of not saving Week 2 to Dropbox, however, and when my laptop decided to self-implode and require a factory reset, I lost my Week 2 work.  I had posted them here and on Facebook though, so re-doing them so I had full-size files again (for printing at the end of the year) was a minor inconvenience.

Anyway, Week 3 came together very quickly......

Thanks for stopping by!

Project Life | Week 2

I'm back with another week to share.  If you missed my previous Project Life post, you can find it here and it explains my approach for this year.  I am going all digital and am using the Project 52 Edition and the Design A Template with Adobe Photoshop CS5.

Here is Week 2.....

Thanks for stopping by!

Kraft Plus | January Challenge

I am playing along with Kraft Plus again and this month the challenge is all about incorporating your handwriting into your project.

I hate my handwriting but I know that in years to come, after I am long gone, anything with my handwriting on it will be treasured by my children and grandchildren.  I wish I had more things with my own mother's handwriting on them.

For this page, I wrote a letter to myself on a Kraft cardstock base offering words of wisdom and encouragement for the challenges I will face in the year ahead.  It was quite a therapeutic process, but once the process had served it's purpose, I partially obscured the writing with white gesso and watercolour paints.

I used leftover scraps from an old Scrappy Canary scrapbooking kit and came up with this.....

Thanks for stopping by!

Project Life 2016- Title Page and Week 1

And so it begins again.  I love this style of documenting our lives.  The moments that don't make it to their own "traditional" scrapbook layout are usually included in my Project Life albums.  If you have no idea what I am talking about, check out Becky Higgins' website. Project Life is her baby and it has revolutionised the scrapbooking world with many manufacturers now producing their own products for pocket-style memory keeping.  Her goal with Project Life was to simplify memory keeping so it becomes less overwhelming and more easily achievable.

In the past I have done albums where I used up my regular scrapbooking supplies, where I have used a combination of scrapbooking supplies and pocket-style supplies and more recently I have created my pages digitally, but printed the elements to create a physical album with pocket page protectors.

There are some great tutorials on the web for how to use the Digital Project Life products and you can get the Design A template for free from the Project Life digital store.  All you need to get started is to install Photoshop or Photoshop Elements and a Project Life Digital Kit.

The Project Life App was released a while back and it created yet another way of simplifying the process.  It was only released for iPhone/iPad so those of us with Android devices had to either wait patiently or use the digital products with our PC's.  This kinda shaped my train of thought for how to tackle 2016.  I purchased a new digital kit- Project 52- and decided to go digital and print a photobook of all my layouts at the end of the year.  The latest news from Becky is however, that the Android version of the App will be ready in February. So I will most likely try the App and then decide whether to continue digitally  or switch entirely to creating my layouts on my phone and/or tablet.

So here is my 2016 Title Page.....

Here is the left-hand page of Week 1..... 

Here is the right-hand side.....

And here is the entire Week.....

There are many things I like about having a physical album on the go all year- the boys love to flip through it and I can add in their certificates, ribbons and artwork- but they do take up a lot of space and the cost of albums, page protectors and printer ink adds up.  Digital pages are quick and easy to create and store and digital supplies can be used over and over again.  I am also looking forward to printing multiple copies of our book at the end of the year so the boys can have one each and extended family can have one too.  

I hope you'll follow me on my Project Life journey this year and be sure to ask any questions by leaving me a comment.

Turtle Soup | Monday Sketch Reveal

Hi everyone- I'm back after a blogging break during which time we have finished the school year, moved house and hosted family for Christmas.  I am also excited to announce that I have joined the Turtle Soup team and will be hanging out over at their forums this year.

My first assignment was to create a layout using this sketch.....

I pulled out some goodies from the Fancy Pants Designs "Be Different" Collection and created this layout.....

I hope you will check out Turtle Soup and join in the fun!