Project Life 2015 – Week 16

Subtitle: Using a template YOUR way

Here is my two-page spread for Week 16 of my 2015 Project Life/pocket page album:

main kit used: Raine, the monthly Storyteller for April by Just Jaimee (If you buy a monthly subscription to these kits, you’ll save about 50% and get a bunch of free goodies.)

  

Here is a closer look at the left side of Week 15:

And here is a closer look at the right side of Week 15:

Note the upper left spot where I included four photos related to the wedding mentioned on the left page.

Here is a closer look at those photos:

In my earlier days of digital scrapbooking I cropped photos before I added them to a page. So, I would have cropped these four photos before adding them to upper left spot. And if they had ended up being the wrong shape/size to fit, I would have recropped them (while thanking God for prompting me to go digital, which makes cropping and recropping a lot easier).

Then I discovered templates. Oh happy day! No more painstakingly cropping and resizing photos repeatedly. It’s all done on the masks on the templates.

My templates files are organized first by the size of the templates, such as 3"x4", 4"x6", 5"x7", 6"x8", etc. Here's how those files look in my ACDSee program:

Then within each of these folders the templates are divided by the number of photos they hold, such as one-photo templates (1p), two-photo templates (2p), etc. For example, this shows the subfolders inside the 4x6 folder above:

For the upper left spot on the right page I needed a template for the four vertical photos shown above. But if I'd used a 4x6 template for four vertical photos, the photos would have ended up very small. So I chose this four-photo template with two vertical and two horizontal spots, hoping I could crop two of the photos horizontally:

I tried cropping two of the photos horizontally and moving the smaller, horizontal rectangles to the middle of the template. See:

That didn’t work. The proportions of the photos were way off. (Compare the little people in the top center photo with the giant baby in the photo on the right.) Also, the photos were out of order. The bottom center photo was the last of the four chronologically.

So, I fiddled [Southern expression] with the template. You can do that! You can drag the sides in and out as you wish to fit your photos. Here’s the final result:

The size of the people is better, and the photos are in order. There is even room for journaling.

You might notice the template is no longer symmetrical. My OCDness sometimes has to bow to reality. All is not perfectly symmetrical in the real world. Sigh. But I’ve been reworking templates  and making them asymmetrical for a while now with no bad side effects, like high blood pressure or something.

In case you're looking for templates, my favorite template designer is Tracy Larsen. The templates in her Simply White Collection leave a lot of white space for journaling and/or embellishments. If you're a physical scrapper, you can make collages and print them as one photo. (In other words, that four-photo collage above could be printed as a 4"x6" photo.)

Thanks for visiting my blog, and thanks in advance for any comments you leave. Enjoy your life and record it!

(Some photos are blurred for privacy.)

Project Life 2015 – Week 15

Subtitle: Using a non-Project Life kit . . . or NO kit for Project Life pages

Even to think about using a non-Project Life kit or no kit at all to make Project Life pages you will need a brain. Apparently a portion of mine has been missing for quite a while.

Before I commence rambling, here is my two-page spread for Week 15 of my 2015 Project Life/pocket page album:

main kit used: Magic, a digital Story Kit by Ali Edwards for March 2015

Since I started scrapbooking in the Project Life style in September of 2012, I have almost exclusively used digital kits designed for Project Life (also known as pocket scrapbooking) with one exception – I've continued to purchase word art kits, mostly by Ali Edwards. Boy howdy [Southern expression] have I continued to buy those!

For the last couple of months I’ve been struggling with learning to use a new computer, a new Photoshop program, and a new ACDSee program, all at the same time. The other day my overstressed brain felt sorry for me and gave me a little tidbit of very helpful information, perhaps so I wouldn’t shoot it or something. (I’ve been really stressed.)

So, there I was working through my normal routine in preparing Week 15. I'd chosen and edited photos, and then placed them on two Project Life templates (two pages = one week). Then I add words, in the form of journaling and titles.

Here's what the basic digital Project Life template looks like:

Here's how the right page of Week 11 looked after adding photos and some words:

I was now at The Dreaded Part – choosing which kit to use, specifically trying to find a PL kit* with papers, journaling cards, and elements that coordinated with the colors in the photos and the theme of the pages. That’s where I was on Week 15 when my brain said, “Donna, you're overthinking this.” I couldn't argue that.

Then my brain said, "Forget trying to find a kit on a certain theme, because your pages have no theme. They are based on weeks." No argument there either. In fact, come to think of it, I haven't done theme-centered pages since 2012. [sheepish grin]

Before I could say, "But what about coordinating the colors?", my brain said, "The colors in your photos are all over the place." Oh. No theme . . . no main colors . . . well, no wonder I have so much trouble choosing a kit!  

Me: "But, brain, look at that page above. I have to cover the turquoise and orange template masks with something.

My brain: "You don't have to fill blank spaces with a paper or a card. Just recolor the template spots that are visible."

So, what my brain was saying is that I don't have to use Project Life kits* to make Project Life pages. Who knew?? Seriously.

After more discussion with my brain, it has agreed to let me use kits and embellishments (because I love them and have many, many of both), IF I don't stress over which kit to use.

I'd been wanting to use Ali Edwards' Magic kit, which has 3x4 and 4x6 cards, although it's not specifically designed for Project Life. This week has nothing to do with magic, but I used it anyway. Here's a look at some of the stuff in the Magic Story Kit:

Here is a how the right side of Week 15 looked after I recolored the turquoise and orange that was showing after I added photos and words:

(I turned off the photo and text layers so you could see the colored pockets more clearly.) 

How did I choose the colors to use? I used the Eyedropper tool in Photoshop to sample some of the colors in the Magic kit. Then I used the Paint Bucket tool to recolor the template spots to light blue, gray, yellow, pink, and khaki where needed. 

I didn’t recolor two of the 3x4 spots because I had already planned to cover each of them with a photo. Also, I used a 4x6 card from Magic on one of the 4x6 spots because I like strips.

You could also recolor template spots by choosing colors from your photos.

Here is a look at the completed right side of Week 15:

I've also added embellishments here.

And, totally out of order, here is a closer look at the left side of Week 15, where I also recolored the template spots that weren't covered by photos:

I hope this very long monologue is helpful to you, if you, too, struggle with choosing just the right kit each week. If so, we can both thank my brain. =)

Thanks for visiting my blog, and thanks in advance for any comments you leave. Enjoy your life and record it!

(Some photos are blurred for privacy.)

* I define a Project Life kit as one that contains 3x4 and 4x6 cards. They may or may not also contain papers and embellishments. The basis premise of the pocket-style of scrapbooking is that ALL you need to make pages are photos and cards. The cards are for journaling about what's going on in the photos and for filling blank pockets. A "Project Life kit" may or may not be from Becky Higgins, although she owns the copyright on the term "Project Life."  

Project Life 2015 – Week 14

Subtitle: “I think I can – I think I can – I think I can . . .,” says the The Little Engine That Could. And me.

Here is my two-page spread for Week 14 of my 2015 Project Life/pocket page album:

main kit used: the digital version of Midnight Edition, one of the early Project Life core kits

One thing I do not like about most of the PL core kits is that they don’t have any embellishments. On the other hand, sometimes, like for this week (that included many photos from Easter week), I didn’t need embellishments. There was no room for extras.

So, I used Midnight Edition, which I already own. I saved some money, and I didn’t have to stress about choosing and placing embellishments. Instead, I stressed over how to incorporate way too many photos.

The weeks are going by so rapidly in real life (unlike in my album). This past week I taught four-year-old kids in Vacation Bible School at our church in the mornings. In the afternoons I meant to work on my Project Life pages, while learning Photoshop CC and ACDSee Ultimate 8.

Instead, on most days I went to my computer, looked at all the photos I had from Week 14, and fell asleep in my computer chair. (Four-year-old kids are energy zappers, but in a good way.) 

If the Little Engine could persevere* until he made it to the top of the mountain, I can keep plodding along and turning out album pages until one day I have a complete album for one year. (Is that really possible??)

Here is a closer look at the left side of Week 14:

Here is a closer look at the right side of Week 14:

I am so blessed to have all these photos of my grandkids! I even got photos of five of my eight kids (counting my three daughters-in-law)! 

Thanks for visiting my blog, and thanks in advance for any comments you leave! Happy scrapping to my fellow recorders of life.

(Some photos are blurred for privacy.)

* I subscribe to my blog. It greatly increases my readership. =) Imagine my horror when I saw I had "preserve" instead of "perservere" in  the original post for Week 14. As I always say, I can spot other people's spelling and grammatical errors from miles away. My own errors? I am struck with blindness.

 

Project Life 2015 – Week 13

Subtitle: When real life gets in the way of Project Life . . . you get really behind.

Here is my two-page spread for Week 13 of my 2015 Project Life/pocket page album:

main kit used: 2015 Storyteller – Bryce, a digital kit by Just Jaimee at The Lilypad (Subscribe to Just Jaimee's newsletter to receive her monthly Storyteller kits at a greatly reduced price.)

I had to open these pages in Photoshop to see what kit I used for them. Although I have little-to-no short-term memory left, I usually can remember which kit I used to make my weekly pages, that is, from the time I close the Photoshop documents to the time I open a Word document to write a blog post about the pages – which is less than five minutes

I made these pages over a month ago. Actually almost two months ago. Before I could post them on my blog, a few things happened, like our son in New York City came "home" for a wedding. Then our kids in Jacksonville also came “home” to attend a wedding here. We got to see them and two of our grandkids for a week!

Then our kids in San Diego and our son in New York City came here to attend our daughter’s graduation WITH HONORS from NURSING SCHOOL. She celebrated her completion of college with ACL surgery, enabling me to have the opportunity to wait on her hand and foot. Still.

And then one of our sons graduated from MEDICAL SCHOOL. He’ll soon start his residency as a SURGEON.

Does using all caps still mean you’re shouting? If so, good! I’m a proud mama.

Anyway, the busyness wasn't over. I went to Jacksonville to . . . spend time with the family who lives there. I’m all about family!

Now I’m back at my new computer, using my updated Photoshop program (from PS 5 to PS CC) and my updated ACDSee program (from ACDSee Pro 6 to ACDSee Ultimate 8). I have a new computer, too – I’ve moved from an old desktop to a new Dell laptop. When hubby upgrades my stuff, he does not mess around, which which I'm thankful.

So, I’ve been away from scrapbooking for nearly two months. Now I’m back at my computer, and I don’t know how to use a thing I have. Hello, learning curve. Who knows when I’ll finish Week 14?

My life got in the way of scrapping about my life. And all the new stuff is temporarily hurting more than helping. BUT it’s all okay. Anything I record via a scrapbook page is better than nothing. I won’t throw up my hands and run screaming from all my new stuff. I will learn it, and I’ll continue to record our family’s stories.

Here is a closer look at the left side of Week 13:

I’ll pause a moment so you can look at all the photos of my cute granddaughters!

Good things from this week: celebrating another birthday for hubby, celebrating another birthday for Mister Bucky (the stray that hubby tried unsuccessfully to get to leave our deck 11 years ago), eating lots of food, and enjoying some city views, both of the Pyramid in Memphis, which is now the home of the largest retail store in the world, and of One World Trade Center in NYC (photo from my son), which honors those who lost their lives on 9-11.

Here is a closer look at the right side of Week 13:

On this page I show all four of my grandkids. Joy!

Thanks for stopping by! I hope to see you again soon! Also, when I signed in to my blog, I was surprised to see I've had visitors every day, in spite of not posting a thing since March. What a nice surprise! I sincerely appreciate your loyalty. 

(Some photos are blurred for privacy.)

Project Life 2015 – Week 12

Subtitle: On being a grandmother (where everything the grandkids do is funny and cute and downright brilliant)

Here is my two-page spread for Week 12 of my 2015 Project Life/pocket page album:

main kit used: My Year in Pockets March 2015 Bundle, a digital kit by Britt-ish Designs

Week 12 was a good week. It included St. Patrick’s Day, which means we got to overeat on some of our favorite foods. Week 12 also marked the beginning of spring, although New York City did not get the message. Actually, it wasn’t very spring-like in Memphis either, as evidenced by the dreary first day of spring we had.

Here is a closer look at the left side of Week 12:

I love the photo on the bottom of Evie and Peter together. They’ve already established a strong sibling bond, even though they know how to push each other’s buttons.

If I were their mother, I would probably take a no-tolerance approach to them intentionally annoying each other. As their grandmother, though, I can roar with laughter, because they are funny (and clever) in annoying other. It’s fun being a grandmother!

Here is a closer look at the right side of Week 12:

I love the photos of Maggie Nell on the top. When she comes to our house, she always follows a routine, which includes looking under our bed for the cats, running through the house with “Ellie Mane,” and standing on the stool in front of my make-up mirror to put imaginary cosmetics on her face with every make-up brush I own.

Generally I didn’t want my kids bothering my stuff. But with my grandkids, I don’t care at all. I’m a lot more relaxed as a grandmother than I was as a mother. Sorry, kids! =) On the other hand, when you were toddlers, none of you could help their aunt write a paper on her laptop. My grandkids are so smart!

credits:

• Ali Edwards:
• random word art; new kits available here and older kits available here
• Amie Lamm-Griffin: weekly 2015 Brush Script Titles Cards
• 4x6 templates by Tracy Larsen and Lori Whitlock

Thanks for stopping by!

(Some photos are blurred for privacy.)