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Project Life 2016

Project Life 2016 Week 09 | Gossamer Blue March Kits

March 22, 2016

Hi there, welcome back! It has been a few days since I shared some work, but this week I have a full cue of hopefully inspiring projects. Let’s dive right in! Today I am showing you my Project Life layout for 2016 Week 09. I created the layout in the Project Life App, printed the layout at home, and then embellished on top. Products I used to embellish were from my March Gossamer Blue kits, namely the Main Kit, Life Pages Kit, and Life Pages Add-on 1 Kit. Here is my process video:

So you will notice, if you are familiar with the Project Life App, that the layout I used is called the Big Shot 7, and unfortunately that layout is handed on the left side only. Like this:

So I pulled the layout into Photoshop from my Dropbox, and switched it up. I created a canvas that was the background color, using the color picker. Then I copied and pasted each side of the layout into it’s new position, like so:

The idea was to create mirror image layouts to show off these hilarious photos of our boys.

I love this balance, right, where the eye feels enveloped by equal parts and equal weight on both sides. Each side of the layout is connected via these two base photos. I love that the app allows me to house larger photos like this. Even though there are several smaller stories in this layout, the main (and silliest!) story is highlighted by these two photos.

I had a few challenges getting into this layout. Sometimes new products throw me off a little in my game, so if you watched my video you might have noticed I was kind of all over the place, embellishing this layout. But I got it and it started coming together.

I have to say that Shimelle’s Starshine collection is fantastic for boys, yes, even tween boys who are 11 and 12. And the pinks also make it a great collection for girls, all in one.

The stamp sets included in Gossamer Blue’s kits never disappoint. The hello TODAY stamp meshed well with my TAB punch, don’t you just love when that happens? Play around with your stamps and your punches together.

Shimelle always knocks it out of the park with her globes, and this one belonged right there.

The photo of the girls at the piano is so sweet, even though it has so many technical flaws! It is grainy, dark, taken with my cell phone on a dark evening, but the moment was captured. That is all that really matters. It is ok to put the grainy photos next to the cool photos – this is how life is. Messy and mixed up.

The majority of journaling for this layout happens in these two blocks, and that makes me very happy. One of the photos shows Nick putting his shoes up against my shoes, and his are bigger. That’s a great milestone to capture, isn’t it? Definitely some good things happening here, some laughs being documented, a sneak peek into our every day lives. Here is one more look at the layout:

I’ll see you back here tomorrow with a brand new, exciting project that you’re going to love, and I will give you a hint – there are Mickey ears involved. Ok, see you then!!!

~Theresa

**Gossamer Blue is a scrapbooking company that provides paid monthly subscriptions for current, trendy, amazing products that I use on a regular basis in my projects. If you would like to learn more, please visit their website here: Gossamer Blue.

**Project Life and the Project Life App are the creative brainchildren of Becky Higgins, LLC. I am not affiliated with Becky Higgins, but I am a happy customer who enjoys using her products and appreciates her contributions to the scrapbooking world. To learn more about her and her brand, please visit her website here: Becky Higgins.

**This blog is an Amazon Affiliate website. Each post I try to include links to products that I have used in the project shown, to assist you in your own scrapbook shopping. When you click on these links, and make purchases through these links, you help support this blog (and our family!) For that I thank you kindly.

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Project Life 2016

Project Life 2016 Week 08 – No Photos, Just Ephemera!

March 8, 2016

So while watching the videos that Ali Edwards created as part of her Project Life Storytelling class, I realized that I am really bad at including ephemera and other bits and pieces of life in my own albums. For the week of Valentines Day, I decided to do just that – I created a layout with only ephemera from our Valentines fun. Here is the process video:

Here is the front of the layout I created:

And here is the back side of the layout:

The products I used on this side were primarily from the February Gossamer Blue Main and Life Pages kits, particularly the stamp set and the Basic Grey apaers and ephemera.

That is all for today, I will see you again soon!

~Theresa

Ali Edwards Story Kit, Project Life 2016

Project Life 2016 Week 07

March 1, 2016

Project Life 2016

Project Life 2016 Week 06 Using Amy Tangerine Better Together!

February 24, 2016

Hi there, I have another Project Life layout for you today for Week 06. I created this layout in the Project Life App and then embellished on top using Amy Tangerine’s newest collection, Better Together. Here is a look at the process:

This is how the layout looked when I created it in the App.

Here is the completed layout with embellishments:

Each side of the layout actually happened on two different days, about a week apart. I decided to put them both on the same layout so the whole story could be together in the album. This story definitely needed to be told and included in the album so we can follow along with the pending outcome. Our son, Addison, has over the past year or so mostly stopped growing. He is 12 years old, and even though he will probably hit a growth spurt in a few years, the fact that he stopped growing at all is a real concern. So he went in to the hospital to undergo some testing, and then we will see what kind of treatment he will receive after those tests come back.

I added the journaling in the App directly onto the journal cards. I also added a digital word element from one of Ali Edwards’ story kits, I think it was Old+New.

I included the Weekly date card on this layout and added a simple strip of washi tape to add a tiny bit of color. I love adding washi tape to these layouts – so simple and fun.

The rubber embellishments in this collection are so awesome. They add just a bit of depth but aren’t as bulky as chipboard. They are adhered using redline tape.

And that, simple as that, is Week 6. This album is coming along great and I am so happy with the stories I have been able to tell so far in this year. How is your Project Life coming this year.jpg” alt=” alt=”Project Life 2016 Week 06″/>”/>

Project Life 2016

Project Life 2016 Week 5 Layout 2 Using Gossamer Blue Kits!

February 23, 2016

Hi there, I decided to create just one more layout for Week 5 in my Project Life 2016, in order to document my daughter’s indoor soccer experience this season! She is our only child doing sports at the Y this season as the others all aged out. I was able to capture some fun photos at her game during this week, so this is a great layout to document those. Take a look at my process video!

Ok, so here is the layout as I created it in the Project Life App:

I printed the layout a few weeks ago, and by the time I sat down to complete it, I had decided to change directions. My Gossamer Blue February kits arrived and I wanted to use those instead. No worries, having the photos and the layout already created is still of incredible value and the products from the kit layered easily on top!

Before I created the layout in the Project Life app, I wanted to add this Heart element from Ali Edwards’ Heart Story kit. I did that using the LetterGlow app, and then I edited the colors a bit in A Color Story app. This created a great space to add a few more embellishments to emphasize that photo.

This journal card pretty much encapsulates all my favorite things in this kit: the diagonal stripes and the ampersands and puffy hearts. Seriously love.

For the journaling I changed out the top strip and added a few more of the puffy hearts. Keeping it simple.

Another favorite card in the Life Pages kit, with those hearts! This was a great home for the Bob Dylan stamp and a little flair.

Here is a look at the layout in the album:

I used both the Main kit and the Life Pages kit, and just one tiny element from a previous kit, the little Sweet bobby pin on the main photo. Also the date stamp was in a previous kit as well. If you would like to learn more about Gossamer Blue and their amazing kit subscriptions, visit their website: Gossamer Blue.

Hope you enjoyed this process! See you back her soon!

~Theresa

**This blog is an Amazon affiliate. Each blog post I try to include links to products I have used in that post in order to help you with your own scrapbook shopping. When you click on these links and make purchases through these links, you help to support this blog (and my family). For this I thank you kindly.

Project Life 2016

Project Life 2016 Walk Thru for February

February 17, 2016

Hi there! Since I did a walk thru video of my 2015 Project Life, I wanted to do one of my 2016 Project Life as well. I am participating in Ali Edwards’ Storytelling with Project Life class and have been following along with her through her collection of Project Life albums. Her insights and her approach to her albums is inspiring to me and so very worth the price of admission. As you know, I held off purchasing new Project Life albums for just a few weeks while I was working through the beginnings of a new approach for me – using the Project Life App. Here, take a look at the walk-thru and then stay tuned for some of my thoughts!

I am incredibly happy with this album so far and am excited to see what lies ahead. I wanted to create the ability to go back and forth between Project Life spreads and traditional scrapbook layouts, and switching to 12×12 page protectors was the best strategy to make that happen. I know that many people have a Project Life album and then another album for their traditional layouts, but I found that I can really only focus on one album at a time in the current time frame! Don’t get me wrong – I have so many albums and projects going on but for the current year, one is seriously enough.

I have to say that I am creating more layouts using the App than I originally thought I would! I am totally ok with that – they are so easy to create on the go and so easy to finish up quickly. This has actually allowed me time to step away from this year’s layouts, and spend some time working on some of the other projects I have going on. This is awesome! Last year I felt like all I had time for was Project Life, and so working with the app has lightened that load for me.

All that to say that I feel like I am on the right track. This is working really well for me and I feel a sense of accomplishment when I look at these projects. One of the other things I really wanted to work on this year was to get more of our stories told. Back in November when I created that layout about our kids at Halloween, I had written more in-depth journaling and our children responded to those words in some very poignant and heartfelt ways. I want to create more of that. So this is good. Thanks for encouraging me and for supporting me with your Views and Comments. Let’s make some more good things!

See you soon,

~Theresa

Project Life 2016

Project Life 2016 Week 5 | A Photo Documentary Layout Using the Project Life App

February 16, 2016

Hi there, the project I want to show you today is a fun photo documentation of Week 5, in which my husband was out of town for the whole week. So we sent photos and Facetimes and selfies back and forth, and then I compiled them into this three-page layout. Have a look!

Alright, so I created the base layouts in the Project Life app. This is what they looked like after printing:

Here is how they looked once embellished:

I selected Heidi Swapp’s Wanderlust collection to embellish these pages with. I didn’t want to add too much, but it did need a little something to pull everything together.

At the end of the video I placed the layouts in the album – since there were three pages I left the first page on its own and then placed the second and third facing each other. This was a lot of fun to put together and I feel like I was able to document more of the trip than just oh he was gone and then he came back. Of course, I am lucky that Alan was willing to play along and was more than happy to take photos and send them to me! Most importantly, I am thankful that this layout gave me the chance to tell more of the story. In a few years we might never remember that that area of Portland had so much traffic, or that for one day at our school drop-off there was so much traffic. This is what Project Life is able to bring to our scrapbooks, my friends, and it is so very important to me. I am glad you share that with me!

See you again soon,

~Theresa

**This blog is an Amazon affiliate blog. Every post I try to include links to products I am using in my own scrapbooks. These are links to products that I know and trust to be the best in the industry, and I hope to help you with your own scrapbook shopping. Each time you click on one of these links, you help to support this blog (and our family)! For that I do thank you kindly.

Project Life 2016

Traditional Scrapbook Layout Week 4

February 5, 2016

Hi friends, I had one more layout for Week 4 that I wanted to create because it was our daughter’s birthday. I decided to use up some of my January Gossamer Blue Main and Life Pages Kit so this one is a traditional layout. Here is my process video:

Here is a look at the layout overall.

I really like using this horizontal grid, but there were some things I did a little different on this layout. This is one of the things I actually love about traditional scrapbooking – being able to experiment on paper with different elements and techniques. So my title card is one of the journal cards from the kit.

I added a few elements across the bottom of this side, which steps outside of the grid. The wood word goes off the photo to connect these elements to the rest of the block.

On the opposite side I wrote just a little journaling on this tag from Fancy Pants. This little pack of tags is perfect for adding simple journal spots and I used quite a few of them on this layout just to add some details.

I adore that patterned paper from Studio Calico and I added a few splotches to the white cardstock to repeat that pattern. It reminds me of confetti – how perfect for a party theme!

The two journal cards in the center of this side are fairly simple, just word strips and hearts.

The bottom journal card is just pure fun with diagonal stripes and glitter alphas from Heidi Swapp.

Well, that’s another week in the books. I hope you have a creative weekend and I will see you soon!

~Theresa

**This blog is an affiliate with Amazon.com. Each post I try to include links to products I have used in this layout to help you with your own shopping and scrapbooking. When you click on these links, or make purchases through these links, you help to support this blog (and my family!) For that I thank you kindly.

Project Life 2016

Project Life/Project 52 2016 Week 4 Layout! (And a Sad Goodbye/Thank You To Basic Grey)

February 2, 2016

Hi there, today I am sharing with you a Project Life layout I created for Week 4 of 2016. This was the week of the giant snow storm that hit the east coast, so I chose all my photos from that event, placed them in a layout in the Project Life App, and then embellished them on the printed layout. Here is my process video showing how I embellished:

Here are the layouts as I created them within the Project Life App, using Project 52 journal cards:

These layouts both came together so quickly, and I absolutely love how the App allows me to select and place a variety of photos, quick and simple, onto a cohesive layout. When I printed them out, they looked fantastic as well – great quality on my photos thanks to the iPhone 6 and great quality journal cards thanks to the App. I couldn’t wait to add a few embellishments and the journaling.

I chose to use Pink Paislee’s brand new C’est La Vie collection to embellish this layout. The background color was the perfect match for this gorgeous transparency, don’t you think?

The puffy stickers and washi tape made it easy to add just a little accent to the photos.

I am a huge fan of using Sharpie markers directly on photos. Yes, I am aware that Sharpies are not acid free, but these are all digital photos, backed up on our hard drive, and I am comfortable journaling on these layouts directly. It really is ok.

For my title card I chose these American Crafts Thickers that actually are not part of the C’est La Vie collection. The C’est La Vie collection has two sets of great alphas, but they did not quite give the look (or the numbers!) that I needed.

I repeated the alpha at the bottom with the title Snowed In, just because I wanted to use that asterisk as a snow flake.

I am in love with the bullets on this journal card. Some of the points are snarky – we stocked up on our groceries right before the storm arrived, at 5PM, and the store was insane. So many people, lined up in every single register!

This was really a great, fun layout to create and I was actually surprised at how easy it was to put together with just the washi tape, puffy stickers, and alphabet! If you are limited on supply space or funds, this would be a great way to create scrapbook layouts with minimal supplies!

A note about the scrapbook industry: This week the scrapbook industry said goodbye to one of the most iconical manufacturers we have had, Basic Grey. My eyes may have leaked a bit when I opened my email announcing that they will send their last collections out mid-February, and then that is it for them.

It is so incredibly sad to see another scrapbook company, especially a favorite like BG, step out of the industry. Far too many great companies have come and gone since the economy crashed, and I understand why that is. In the past few years it has become increasingly more and more difficult to get hands on great products and scrapbook products, while still being designed and produced and promoted, are not as easily accessible to the every day scrapbooker like you and me. For the average person it takes quite a bit of savvy to get the latest and greatest before they sell out, plus a willingness to purchase sight unseen.

I realize even when I am creating these blog posts, that by the time I post layouts some of the products I show will be sold out. This leads to frustration, especially for newer scrapbookers who aren’t as savvy or don’t know which brands they will like. I get it. I really do get it.

People always ask, when these things happen, what is going to happen to the scrapbooking industry? And in reality, the industry will never completely go away but we do have to evolve with it and work with what we have. If you have never ordered scrapbooking products online, now is the time to do so (you can follow my links at the bottom of my posts to find all that Amazon has to offer!) If you have never photographed and posted your scrapbook layouts online, now is the time to do that. If you have never Tweeted and Facebooked and Periscoped with manufacturers, now is the time to do so.

We are the scrapbooking industry, and in order for it to survive, we must continue to make it thrive by our participation and our involvement. We have to show up. We can do without Basic Grey, but we need to continue bringing in new scrapbookers and new talent and new designers and new entrepreneurs in order to keep moving the industry forward. You and I are a part of that, too, because you help me move this industry forward as well, with every Read, Subscribe, Like, and Comment. Thank you for showing up and thank you for supporting this industry. I am really glad you are a part of it.

See you soon!

~Theresa

Ali Edwards Story Kit, Project Life 2016

Traditional Scrapbook Layout: Week 3 Using Ali Edwards Heart Story Kit

January 26, 2016

Hi there and boy, I cannot wait to show you today’s layout and process video. For Week 3 in my Project Life album I only had some random photos from my phone. So I decided to print them out and create a traditional layout. Take a look at my process video:

Isn’t that fun?! I started out with six random photos which I printed out 4 of them in 4×2.75″ with border and 3″ square with border. I knew I wanted to use a grid so I laid out the photos and selected a few journal cards from the Ali Edwards Heart Story kit.

For the title card I decided to use the acrylic word and one of the gold foiled hearts as embellishment. The heart circle stamp in the stamp set is adorable set inside a gold rimmed tag on the side.

Each photo has a journal spot that I created using my Heidi Swapp spray mists as watercolors. I used Prismacolor markers to add lines, and if you watched the video you probably noticed I tried stamping with the Prismacolors as well. It didn’t work out. I ended up covering up those stamped words with the word strips that were included in the kit!

Across the bottom of the layout I added a couple of strips of patterned paper. I also backed the layout with a patterned paper from Maggie Holmes’ Styleboard collection.

To repeat the patterned paper strips on the bottom of that side, I added strips of paper across the top of the facing page. I included photo and watercolor journal spot. I love combining Ali Edwards’ kits with Crate Paper for some reason, and the Craft Market line provided the perfect floral to go with.

This space gave opportunity to use one of the 4×6 journal card, with a stamped “wholehearted” sentiment and chipboard word strip for embellishment.

For the last photo I used one of the gold foiled hearts. This side of the layout is backed by another patterned paper from Styleboard, this time in a darker color for contrast.

I love how this turned out. I love the grid design and I loved breaking it up a bit with different sized photos. I loved how the Story prompt Heart helped bring 6 seemingly disconnected photos together in this way. I definitely want to do this again in the future. Leave me a comment and let me know what you think, ok?

See you soon!

~Theresa