... just Laura

Project Life 2021: December

I'm taking a monthly approach to my album this year, and I shared quite a few details about my plans in THIS POST, where I shared my January pages.

Here's the first spread for the month of December.

Here's the second spread for the month of December.

Here's the third spread for the month of December, with a 6x12" insert on the right.

Here's the forth spread for the month of December, with a 6x12" insert on the left.

Here's the fifth spread for the month of December.

Here's the last page for December, and the last page of my 2021 album.

For more info on my Project Life process, please check out these posts I put together:
PL || Photos
PL || Filler Cards
PL || Journaling Cards

Project Life 2021: November

I'm taking a monthly approach to my album this year, and I shared quite a few details about my plans in THIS POST, where I shared my January pages.

Here's the first spread for the month of November.

Here's the second spread for the month of November.

Here's the third spread for the month of November.

Here's the fourth spread for the month of November.

For more info on my Project Life process, please check out these posts I put together:
PL || Photos
PL || Filler Cards
PL || Journaling Cards

Project Life 2021: October

I'm taking a monthly approach to my album this year, and I shared quite a few details about my plans in THIS POST, where I shared my January pages.

Here's the first spread for the month of October.

Here's the second spread for the month of October.

Here's the third spread for the month of October. And because sometimes crap happens in life, I added in a 6x8" insert, with an enlarged filler card on one side, and a full page of journaling on the back side. While I'm not one to include all of the hard stuff in our albums, I'm finding that some of it should be in there to keep things real.

For more info on my Project Life process, please check out these posts I put together:
PL || Photos
PL || Filler Cards
PL || Journaling Cards

If you have any questions on anything specific within these pages, feel free to message me. I know I'm not sharing too many details, but my approach to my PL pages has been pretty much the same for the last several years.

Project Life 2021: September

I'm taking a monthly approach to my album this year, and I shared quite a few details about my plans in THIS POST, where I shared my January pages.

Here's the first spread for the month of September.

Here's the second spread for the month of September.

Here's the third spread for the month of September. 

For more info on my Project Life process, please check out these posts I put together:
PL || Photos
PL || Filler Cards
PL || Journaling Cards

If you have any questions on anything specific within these pages, feel free to message me. I know I'm not sharing too many details, but my approach to my PL pages has been pretty much the same for the last several years.

Project Life 2021: August

I'm taking a monthly approach to my album this year, and I shared quite a few details about my plans in THIS POST, where I shared my January pages.

Here's the first spread for the month of August.

Here's the second spread for the month of August.

Here's the third spread for the month of August.

Here's the fourth spread for the month of August.

For more info on my Project Life process, please check out these posts I put together:
PL || Photos
PL || Filler Cards
PL || Journaling Cards

If you have any questions on anything specific within these pages, feel free to message me. I know I'm not sharing too many details, but my approach to my PL pages has been pretty much the same for the last several years.

Project Life 2021: July

I'm taking a monthly approach to my album this year, and I shared quite a few details about my plans in THIS POST, where I shared my January pages.

Here's the first spread for the month of July.

Here's the second spread for the month of July.

Here's the third spread for the month of July. 

Here's the fourth spread for the month of July, with a 6x12" insert on the right. 

Here's the fifth spread for the month of July, with a 6x12" insert on the left.

Here's the sixth spread for the month of July.

For more info on my Project Life process, please check out these posts I put together:
PL || Photos
PL || Filler Cards
PL || Journaling Cards

If you have any questions on anything specific within these pages, feel free to message me. I know I'm not sharing too many details, but my approach to my PL pages has been pretty much the same for the last several years.

Project Life 2021: June

I'm taking a monthly approach to my album this year, and I shared quite a few details about my plans in THIS POST, where I shared my January pages.

Here's the first spread for the month of June.

Here's the second spread for the month of June.

Here's the third spread for the month of June.

Here's the fourth spread for the month of June, with a 6x12" insert on the right.

Here's the fifth spread for the month of June, with a 6x12" insert on the left.

Here's the sixth spread for the month of June.

For more info on my Project Life process, please check out these posts I put together:
PL || Photos
PL || Filler Cards
PL || Journaling Cards

If you have any questions on anything specific within these pages, feel free to message me. I know I'm not sharing too many details, but my approach to my PL pages has been pretty much the same for the last several years.

Project Life 2021: May

I'm taking a monthly approach to my album this year, and I shared quite a few details about my plans in THIS POST, where I shared my January pages.

Here's the first spread for the month of May.

Here's the second spread for the month of May, with a 6x12" insert on the right.

Here's the third spread for the month of May, with a 6x12" insert on the left.

Here's the fourth spread for the month of May, with a 6x12" insert on the right.

Here's the fifth spread for the month of May, with a 6x12" insert on the left.

Here's the sixth spread for the month of May.

For more info on my Project Life process, please check out these posts I put together:
PL || Photos
PL || Filler Cards
PL || Journaling Cards

If you have any questions on anything specific within these pages, feel free to message me. I know I'm not sharing too many details, but my approach to my PL pages has been pretty much the same for the last several years.

Project Life 2021: April

I'm taking a monthly approach to my album this year, and I shared quite a few details about my plans in THIS POST, where I shared my January pages.

Here's the first spread for the month of April. 

Here's the second spread for the month of April, with a 6x12" insert on the right.

Here's the third spread for the month of April, with a 6x12" insert on the left.

Here's the fourth spread for the month of April, with a 6x12" insert on the right.

Here's the fifth spread for the month of April, with a 6x12" insert on the left.

For more info on my Project Life process, please check out these posts I put together:
PL || Photos
PL || Filler Cards
PL || Journaling Cards

If you have any questions on anything specific within these pages, feel free to message me. I know I'm not sharing too many details, but my approach to my PL pages has been pretty much the same for the last several years.

Project Life 2021: March

I'm taking a monthly approach to my album this year, and I shared quite a few details about my plans in THIS POST, where I shared my January pages.

Here's the first spread for the month of March.

Here's the second spread for the month of March.

Here's the third spread for the month of March.

Here's the fourth spread for the month of March.

Here's the fifth spread for the month of March.

Here's the sixth spread for the month of March.

For more info on my Project Life process, please check out these posts I put together:
PL || Photos
PL || Filler Cards
PL || Journaling Cards

If you have any questions on anything specific within these pages, feel free to message me. I know I'm not sharing too many details, but my approach to my PL pages has been pretty much the same for the last several years.

Project Life 2021: February

Hey everyone! I'm back to share the month of February in my 2021 Project Life album. I'm taking a monthly approach to my album this year, and I shared quite a few details about my plans in THIS POST, where I shared my January pages.

Here's the first spread for the month of February.

Here's the second spread for the month of February.

Here's the third spread for the month of February.

Note - I love this "quarantine outfit" card, from Kelly Purkey (can't see it in her new shop, so I'm not sure it's still available). It's like it was made for the photo of Alyssa next to it. I'm saving it for Alyssa to fill out next time she comes to visit.

Here's the fourth spread for the month of February.

Here's the fifth spread for the month of February.

For more info on my Project Life process, please check out these posts I put together:
PL || Photos
PL || Filler Cards
PL || Journaling Cards

If you have any questions on anything specific within these pages, feel free to message me. I know I'm not sharing too many details, but my approach to my PL pages has been pretty much the same for the last several years.

Project Life 2021: January

Hey there! I'm still all about Project Life when it comes to documenting life these days. I find that it's the perfect fit for where my little family is at this point in life. It is the perfect solution for the random photos that we end up with, and the random little stories that go with them. 

Just like my previous 4 years, I'm continuing with the 9x12" size. I switched things up a bit last year, going with a monthly format rather than a weekly format, and loved it. I love that I'm not stuck with weeks of having too little photos, or too many photos. With the monthly format, I simply use however many pages I need to fit the photos/stories in. So I am going with the monthly format again for 2021. 

Here's the first spread for the month of January.

I always like to give a little summary to my approach when I share the first pages for the year. Honestly, my style and approach to my Project Life album hasn't changed much at all over the last few years. So some of what I'll be including in this post has been shared before ;)

I am not going to limit myself to just one or two spreads per month. I don't like to narrow down our photos too much. Since Project Life is my main way of documenting these days (I just don't do too many individual layouts anymore), I like to include as many photos/stories as I can within the album. This way, if I don't get around to making a single other project/layout during the year, I'll be totally ok with it, since everything is in my PL album. 

This year, I'm using the monthly title cards found HERE, by Designed by Soco. Last year, I created my own monthly title cards, using a digital stamp for the month, and using a colored background to coordinate with the colors of the spread. It was a pain in the butt, if I'm being honest. Lol. I much prefer the look of white title cards, with black text, and ones that are already done and ready to print ;)

I'm using the same 9x12" albums from Seven Paper (an off brand of Studio Calico several years ago) that I stocked up on years ago on a deals website. I have a huge collection of pocket pages for these albums, and one of the page configurations has the twelve 3x3" pockets. I finally started working those into my album last year, and am continuing to add at least one of the 3x3" pocket pages into each month.

Here's the second spread for the month of January.

I love doing my individual journaling cards, which I've been doing for years (I did skip those in my 2019 album, since I fell super behind that year, and ended up going with a large 4x11" journaling card for each week). I do all of my journaling cards digitally, typing them up in Photoshop and printing them out on matte presentation paper. 

Here's the third spread for the month of January, with a 6x12" insert on the right.

I will also be using some of the digital journaling cards that I used in my previous Project Life albums. My go-to cards come mostly from Ali Edwards, Cathy Zielske, and In A Creative Bubble. 

And while I love the ease of pulling up a digital journaling card, and just adding my journaling, I create a lot of my own cards using a blank canvas and digital stamps. I simply type up my journaling on 3x3" or 3x4" canvas in Photoshop, and then add digital stamps along the top/bottom of the cards. My collection of digital stamps is HUGE and they're so easy to add and size to what I need. 

Here's the fourth spread for the month of January, with a 6x12" insert on the left.

I also love to add in 6x12 pocket pages here and there as well. A lot of times, it may be to fit in an extra 4x6" photo, as the pocket page formats that I use the most are the 3x4" and 3x3" pockets. 

Like I mentioned earlier, I always start out using one of the 3x3" pocket pages for each month, but some months I've ended up adding an additional page. Some months, I have a lot of photos that just work better as little square photos, and some months, I don't. These pages are also good for fitting more photos on the page. 

Here's the fifth spread for the month of January.

Once I start to get journaling cards added in, I work filler cards in here and there was well. Since I do like to include a little journaling for almost every photo, I will sometimes only need 2-3 filler cards for each spread. While I would love to add in more filler cards at times, my goal is to get as many little everyday stories in the album as possible.

I also decided to simplify my font choices for the year. I'm using one main journaling font, which is Rad Notebook by Rad & Happy. I also have one other font that I use here and there (called Miserably Lose), mostly for when I add a date or something to the bottom of a journaling card. 

Here's the sixth, and final, spread for the month of January.

One thing I decided to add to the monthly spreads this year is a "book stack" photo, which is a photo I've been taking at the end of each month showing all of the books that I read that month. I also created my own 3x4" filler cards for each month, to go along with my book stack photos, using the Monthly Book Circle digital download that Ali Edwards offered as a freebie on her blog. 

And yes, I do realize it's September, and I'm just getting around to sharing any pages from my 2021 album. What can I say? Things got away from me this year. Lol. It wasn't until the first part of June that I managed to get my photos added into the album for the first 4 months of the year. It wasn't until the middle of July that I managed to get my May and June photos added into the album. 

That's when I decided to devote some serious time to catching up in my album. I had the last week of July off work (I took a vacation week), and spent a lot of time that week working on my album. And I also put reading on the backburner during the month of August, using what would be my reading time for typing up journaling cards and such. By the 3rd week of August, I had officially finished up January through April - meaning those months were totally and completely done. I have my May, June, and July photos all worked into the album and am about halfway done with those months as well. 

While my PL style has stayed the same (for the most part) over the years, it's a simple and easy style that makes it easy to get-it-done. So even when I do fall behind, I never worry that I won't be able to catch back up. 

For more info on my Project Life process, please check out these posts I put together:
PL || Photos
PL || Filler Cards
PL || Journaling Cards

Project Life: Journaling Cards

I'm finally ready to share a few months of my 2021 Project Life album. But before I do, I thought I would do a few short blog posts sharing a bit about the three main things that go into my albums - filler cards, photos, and journaling cards.  

Anyways. Let's talk about digital journaling cards. 

As much as I love color, I'm drawn to all black and white journaling cards. It's just simple and easy, and they look good paired up with the monthly title cards (which are also black and white). I don't even have to worry about a journaling card matching my photos, so that saves me a ton of time. Once I get all of my photos added in for the month, I move on to the next step. I tackle the journaling cards next, and then once those are in, I work on adding any filler cards.

I simply flip thru the pages in my PL album and start typing up journaling cards. I don't necessarily do them in order, or one spread at a time. I might type up and print just a few for one month, and a few for another month. I slip them into the pockets, even if they might need something added to them later. From there, it's easy to see where else I'll need journaling cards, and where I want to put my 2-3 filler cards for the spread. 

I use Photoshop to open up the journaling cards and type in my journaling. I create a huge majority of my journaling cards simply using digital brushes, stamps, or even PNG images of cut files. But I also use lots of digital journaling cards from In A Creative Bubble (I love her Recorded series of black and white cards), Ali Edwards, etc. 

I do a LOT of copying and pasting when it comes to my journaling. So many of my photos are ones that I've shared on Instagram, so I can pull my journaling from there. I simply open up Instagram on my laptop, and copy the text from there, paste it onto my digital card, and edit/format it as needed to fit the space. 

Once I finish a journaling card, I save it as a PSD file. Just in case I need to go back to it. Because belief me, I've had too ;) There's nothing worse than having to start all over, so always save your working files as you go. All of these digital cards are sized to print as 3x4's, so you don't have to worry about sizing them. 

 

The one thing that I do, however, before adding them to my page to print, is I go in and add a small grey border around the edge of the card. Because if you put several white journaling cards on a full sheet and print them out, you'll have a hard time knowing where to cut to make them all 3x4", and have everything where it's supposed to be. I can fit 5 journaling cards on a sheet of 8.5x11" paper. I started using the Epson Premium Presentation Matte Paper to print journaling cards or anything digital on several years ago and have just stuck with it. 

So, I think that's about it. For me, this works great. I'm knowledge when it comes to Photoshop and working with digital products, so it comes easily to me. If you're new to Photoshop or working with digital products, there's a small learning curve - but it really is easy once you get the hang of it. Maybe I'll try and put together some sort of tutorial, walking you through doing a few of these cards. No promises, but I'll try if there's any interest.

If I missed anything, or if you have any other questions, feel free to ask in the comments :)

Project Life: Photos

I'm finally ready to share a few months of my 2021 Project Life album. But before I do, I thought I would do a few short blog posts sharing a bit about the three main things that go into my albums - filler cards, photos, and journaling cards.  

Next up, photos. In full disclosure, I copied and pasted (and then edited/added as needed) this from a blog post I did about 4 years ago). When it comes to creating layouts, my go-to method of photo printing is to print them myself on my photo printer. It's easier for me to print as needed, when it comes to layouts, since I never know what size/orientation I'll want my photos until I'm ready to create a page. Or I'll decide to use a photo collage, which means individual little photos would be of no use to me. 

However, when it comes to working on my Project Life albums, I go the other route and order my photos. I believe it's been about 4 years or so since I learned of the FreePrints app, and have been using them ever since. More on that below. I use 9x12" album for my PL albums - the pocket page protectors hold 3x3", 3x4", and 4x6" photos. 

I use my iPhone for 95% of my photo taking these days. I also edit my photos on my phone, using the PicTapGo app. I am pretty good about editing photos as I take them, and I'm also pretty good at deleting any photos I don't need on a daily basis.  

So what I've been doing for the last several years (basically since I started back up doing PL) is ordering my photos at the end of each month. I wait till the end of the month, and then do one big photo order. This is also when I ask both my girls to send me any photos they have for the month, so I can add those into my order as well. 

I had tried a few different app/sites, as far as ordering photos straight from my phone. I was most happy with the FreePrints app. You can get up to 85 prints a month for free, and all you pay is shipping. The shipping isn't super cheap (it never goes above $9.99, even if you add on more photos - which btw, are only 10 cents each and a great deal!), but it still worked out to less than I would pay for those prints if ordering from a lot of other sites. Plus, it was super easy to use and it's a great way to get those photos off your phone and printed. 

You can pick them from your camera roll, or even off your Instagram account, Facebook, and/or Dropbox account. I usually use up my free 85 prints just ordering my photos from the month. But since additional photos are only 10 cents each (and the shipping doesn't increase at all after the $9.99), I like to try and add on some extra pics for other album projects I have going on. 

The majority of my photos from each month are set up as 3x4" pics. I use Photoshop to combine two 3x4" photos onto a 4x6" print. I do this for ALL of my photos for the month, even if there are some I don't think I'll use. There are usually a few photos that are in landscape orientation, that can only work as 4x6" photos. But I will usually look for a few photos that can also be printed as 4x6" photos, in addition to being printed as 3x4" photos. I don't have a ton of 4x6" pockets to fill each month, but I do have a few, and I like to have options as far as the photos go. 

Each month I pretty much order any photos I took that month. I even order some of the photos I take of scrapping projects, since I have been known to use them here and there. I'd rather have ALL of my photos in front of me for the month, even if it means I pull some out and toss them. I tend to include the majority of our photos in my PL album, since it's my main way of documenting life these days. If I do have photos that I don't end up using, I will either toss them (if they're just not all that important or maybe they're duplicates) or save them in case I want to use them for another project. 

Once my order arrives (usually, in less than a week), I cut apart the prints with two photos on them. Back when I did PL in the weekly format, I would sort out the photos by weeks, using my phone as a guide to let me know when they were taken. Since I do a monthly format now, there's no need to sort anything out, since I order a month at a time.

All of those photos above are random photos I've taken of my desk over the last year or so when it's time to work my photos into my PL album. That's how I start. I spread out all of my photos for the month, keeping any of Sarah's and Alyssa's photos next to each other, and my photos together. 

In the photo above, you can see some of the 9x12" pocket pages spread out at the top, with a few photos added into them. I pull out a few to start out with, as I know the pocket page protector designs I always use - and then I'll pull out additional ones as needed, which always depends on how many photos I have to work with. I just start slipping my photos into pockets, playing around with placement on each "spread" within the month until it's to my liking. I have a good system for where my photos go, knowing that I'll add "this many" journaling cards to each spread and "this many" filler cards. 

Once I have all of my photos added in, I place all of my pages into my PL album. For me, it's always a huge win once the photos are in the album. Then I can pull out the album here and there, whenever I have time, and work on the journaling cards. 

Project Life: Filler Cards

I'm finally ready to share a few months of my 2021 Project Life album. But before I do, I thought I would do a few short blog posts sharing a bit about the three main things that go into my albums - filler cards, photos, and journaling cards.  

First up, filler cards. They're very important in my album, since they're the only additional thing I add into my album, other then the photos and journaling cards. I keep my PL albums very simple. Photos, journaling cards, and filler cards. No extra embellishing, no stickers, no chipboard - basically, no extras at all. Unless you count the random piece of washi that I will add to the bottom of a journaling card, here and there, that ends up with some blank space on it.

Back in 2018, I ended up using filler cards from the Project Life app for about 90% of my album (I started using them exclusively about 4-5 weeks into the year). It somehow just worked for me, and simplified the process. While I have a collection of older Project Life cards (from kits by Becky Higgins, when they all had rounded corners), and random cards from different manufacturers, I found that sticking with the cards that I had printed from the app was really easy to do. 

I set them up using the PL app, adding two 3x4" filler cards to a 4x6" print. And then I upload them to my photo order, and have them printed as photos, and then simply trim them in half when I get my order. I print the majority of my photos using the Freeprints app, so they are printed on a thinner photo paper than when I print photos at home. But I don't mind these being on thinner paper, and I love the matte finish on these. 

I've been using a lot of these same Project Life app cards for years. I've used them in my albums the past 3 years, and I'm still using them in this year's album. A lot of them are basic patterns, tone-on-tone patterns, and lots of black and white patterns. I have no problem using some of the same cards year after year, or even using the same card a few times within the same year.

I know not everyone would be ok with doing it that way, and once they use something once or twice, they wouldn't want to use it again. But for me, I'm totally fine with it ;)

I just added another huge batch of these filler cards to my last photo order, which you see in the photo above. They just need to be trimmed in half. A lot of these are Project Life app cards that I've already used at some point in last year's album, but I like them enough to use them again. I just look for designs/colors that I know I will use. I also save these 4x6" prints (with two 3x4" cards on each) in folders on my laptop, so it's really easy to pull out the ones I want to re-print and add them to photo orders again. 

I have also been working in digital filler cards from other designers as well - I did this a little bit in my 2020 album, and am using more of them in my 2021 album. I use the same process as I do for the app cards, printing two 3x4" cards on a 4x6" print - I just use Photoshop to do this when it comes to using digital cards from my stash on my laptop. My main go-to sources are Ali Edwards, In A Creative Bubble, and Studio Calico, with others mixed in from other manufacturers.

I'll take the time to put together a ton of these every few months. I copy all of the cards that I want to print into a folder on my laptop, so that I can work from that one folder when it comes to putting them on the 4x6" prints in Photoshop. Once I have them all ready to go, I plop everything into my “to print” folder in Dropbox, along with any actual photos I need printed, and then I simply order the entire folder of photos in the Freeprints app (I've been printing my photos monthly with them for years). Super easy.

Once my order comes, I trim them all up, sort them by color, and add them in with my current cards. For any of the cards that aren't really one specific color, I keep those all together. I do find that there are certain colors that I don't have a ton of choices for - red and green specifically. Not sure why that is, but I just don't seem to find as many cards in those colors, yet I'm always wanting them. But overall, I always make it work using the filler cards that I have printed using the Project Life app and using my large collection of digital products. 

Project Life 2020: Title Page

Hey everyone! I'm getting ready to share the first few months of my 2021 Project Life album, but before I do, I wanted to share the quick title page that I put together for my 2020 album. 

Honestly, the title pages are pretty much the last thing that I do in my Project Life albums. I even have a few years where the title page isn't completed. It may just have a few random 3x4" cards that I came across and thought might be good for a title page. 

If I find a card that seems like a good title page card, I'll slip it in the pocket on that first page just so I don't forget about it. I may change my mind later, and switch it out. The two black and white cards on this page have been there since I started my 2020 album, and I added the blue "living through a pandemic" card at the last minute. 

I had purchased these pandemic themed shirts of Etsy at the beginning of the pandemic, thinking they'd be fun little reminders of the weird year. At the end of the year, I thought it would be fun to take photos in these shirts for a holiday card. And a few weeks ago, I was trying to think of photos to add to the title page of our 2020 album, and I realized the photos of us in our shirts would be the perfect choice.

I added the photos to the photo order I was putting together when I had the idea, and slipped them into the pockets once I received them. 

I had the 4x6" pockets to fill, and it dawned on me that I could use the text that I had added to our holiday card, since it was just a quick summary of our year. I opened up my working file for the holiday card in Photoshop, and simply cropped that part off the card and into a 4x6" sized block. I did change the background to white, with black text - since on our holiday card I had a chalkboard background, with white text. 

I didn't even think about that last sentence until I was editing the photos I took of the title page. I guess I should have deleted that last part, wishing everyone a happy holiday season. Lol. I could easily go back and fix it. But in all honesty, I probably won't. Lol. 

I love when I can fit an entire year of Project Life into one album. This was my first year doing a monthly format, and I loved it. I also tossed in some monthly dividers that I found in my stash, from a super old Becky Higgins kit. 

I do still need to go back and see if I can complete all of the Coronavirus spreads that I created for each month, as I only actually finished the one for March. Lol. And I will get to that. I'm just excited to have the main part of my album totally finished - title page included!

Project Life 2020: December Memories

Hey again! I'm back to share the month of December in my 2020 Project Life album! I did it! I finished all of 2020. I do still need to go back and see if I can complete all of the Coronavirus spreads that I created for each month, as I only actually finished the one for March. Lol. And I will get to that. I'm just excited to have the main part of my album totally finished. 

I'm taking a monthly approach to my album this year, and I shared quite a few details about my plans in THIS post, where I shared my January pages.

I've been using the One Little Word 2019 Digital Monthly Stories stamp set, from Ali Edwards, to create a lot of my monthly title cards. I just add the digital stamp to a blank canvas, and pick a coordinating color for the background. I'm working at least one of the 3x3" configured pocket page protectors into my album each month (but will use a second if it works with my photos). So many of our photos work well as squares, and I can simply trim the 3x4" photos down to the 3x3" size without having to re-print them. 

** The spread after this page will be dedicated to Coronavirus related things - some factual, some funny, and some personal stories. I started this with my March monthly pages, and have continued to make a spread like that for all of the months following. I just don't happen to have those pages totally finished yet. So I will share those once I have them done. 

Here's the second spread for the month of December.

Here's the third spread for the month of December.

Here's the fourth spread for the month of December.

Here's the fifth spread for the month of December.

Here's the sixth spread for the month of December.

And a really poor image of the last page in our 2020 album!

If you have any questions on anything specific within these pages, feel free to message me. I know I'm not sharing too many details, but my approach to my PL pages has been pretty much the same for the last several years.

Project Life 2020: November Memories

Hey everyone! I know I don't really blog all that much anymore, and I'm not even sure if anyone reads it - but I wanted to share a peek at my November 2020 pages in my 2020 Project Life album. I'm taking a monthly approach to my album this year, and I shared quite a few details about my plans in THIS post, where I shared my January pages.

I've been using the One Little Word 2019 Digital Monthly Stories stamp set, from Ali Edwards, to create a lot of my monthly title cards. I just add the digital stamp to a blank canvas, and pick a coordinating color for the background. I'm working at least one of the 3x3" configured pocket page protectors into my album each month (but will use a second if it works with my photos). So many of our photos work well as squares, and I can simply trim the 3x4" photos down to the 3x3" size without having to re-print them. 

** The spread after this page will be dedicated to Coronavirus related things - some factual, some funny, and some personal stories. I started this with my March monthly pages, and have continued to make a spread like that for all of the months following. I just don't happen to have those pages totally finished yet. So I will share those once I have them done. 

Here's the second spread for the month of November, with a 6x12" insert on the right.

Here's the second spread for the month of November, with a 6x12" insert on the right.

Here's the third spread for the month of November.

Here's the fourth spread for the month of November. 

Here's the fifth spread for the month of November.

If you have any questions on anything specific within these pages, feel free to message me. I know I'm not sharing too many details, but my approach to my PL pages has been pretty much the same for the last several years.

Project Life 2020: October Memories

Just popping in super quick to share a peek at my October 2020 pages in my 2020 Project Life album. I'm taking a monthly approach to my album this year, and I shared quite a few details about my plans in THIS post, where I shared my January pages.

I've been using the One Little Word 2019 Digital Monthly Stories stamp set, from Ali Edwards, to create a lot of my monthly title cards. I just add the digital stamp to a blank canvas, and pick a coordinating color for the background. I'm working at least one of the 3x3" configured pocket page protectors into my album each month (but will use a second if it works with my photos). So many of our photos work well as squares, and I can simply trim the 3x4" photos down to the 3x3" size without having to re-print them. 

** The spread after this page will be dedicated to Coronavirus related things - some factual, some funny, and some personal stories. I started this with my March monthly pages, and have continued to make a spread like that for all of the months following. I just don't happen to have those pages totally finished yet. So I will share those once I have them done. 

Here's the second spread for the month of October.

Here's the third spread for the month of October, with a 6x12" insert on the right.

Here's the third spread for the month of October, with a 6x12" insert on the left.

Here's the fourth spread for the month of October. 

If you have any questions on anything specific within these pages, feel free to message me. I know I'm not sharing too many details, but my approach to my PL pages has been pretty much the same for the last several years.

Project Life 2020: September Memories

Just popping in super quick to share a peek at my September 2020 pages in my 2020 Project Life album. I'm taking a monthly approach to my album this year, and I shared quite a few details about my plans in THIS post, where I shared my January pages.

I'm working at least one of the 3x3" configured pocket page protectors into my album each month (but will use a second if it works with my photos). So many of our photos work well as squares, and I can simply trim the 3x4" photos down to the 3x3" size without having to re-print them. 

** The spread after this page will be dedicated to Coronavirus related things - some factual, some funny, and some personal stories. I started this with my March monthly pages, and have continued to make a spread like that for all of the months following. I just don't happen to have those pages totally finished yet. So I will share those once I have them done. 

Here's the second spread for the month of September.

Here's the third spread for the month of September, with a 6x12" insert on the right.

Here's the third spread for the month of September, with a 6x12" insert on the left.

Here's the fourth spread for the month of September. 

If you have any questions on anything specific within these pages, feel free to message me. I know I'm not sharing too many details, but my approach to my PL pages has been pretty much the same for the last several years.

Project Life 2020: August Memories

I'm back to share my August pages in my 2020 Project Life album! I'm taking a monthly approach to my album this year, and I shared quite a few details about my plans in THIS post, where I shared my January pages.

I'm working at least one of the 3x3" configured pocket page protectors into my album each month (but will use a second if it works with my photos). So many of our photos work well as squares, and I can simply trim the 3x4" photos down to the 3x3" size without having to re-print them. 

** The spread after this page will be dedicated to Coronavirus related things - some factual, some funny, and some personal stories. I started this with my March monthly pages, and have continued to make a spread like that for all of the months following. I just don't happen to have those pages totally finished yet. So I will share those once I have them done. 

Here's the second spread for the month of August. 

Here's the third spread for the month of August, with a 6x12" insert on the right.

Here's the third spread for the month of August, with a 6x12" insert on the left.

Here's the fourth spread for the month of August.

If you have any questions on anything specific within these pages, feel free to message me. I know I'm not sharing too many details, but my approach to my PL pages has been pretty much the same for the last several years.

Project Life 2020: July Memories

Hey everyone! It's been over six months since I last shared any of my 2020 Project Life album, which is when I shared the month of June. I actually had the month of July finished at the same time, but I just never got around to editing the photos and sharing them. I've been hard at work finishing up my 2020 pages, so that I can get started on my 2021 album (seeing as how we're halfway thru the year!). I'll be sharing several months worth with you all this week. I'm taking a monthly approach to my album this year, and I shared quite a few details about my plans in THIS post, where I shared my January pages.

I'm working at least one of the 3x3" configured pocket page protectors into my album each month (but will use a second if it works with my photos). So many of our photos work well as squares, and I can simply trim the 3x4" photos down to the 3x3" size without having to re-print them. 

** The spread after this page will be dedicated to Coronavirus related things - some factual, some funny, and some personal stories. I started this with my March monthly pages, and have continued to make a spread like that for all of the months following. I just don't happen to have those pages totally finished yet. So I will share those once I have them done. 

Here's the second spread for the month of July, with a 6x12" insert on the right.

Here's the second spread for the month of July, with a 6x12" insert on the left.

Here's the third spread for the month of July, with a 6x12" insert on the right.

Here's the third spread for the month of July, with a 6x12" insert on the left.

Here's the fourth spread for the month of July, with a 6x12" insert on the right.

Here's the fourth spread for the month of July, with a 6x12" insert on the left.

If you have any questions on anything specific within these pages, feel free to message me. I know I'm not sharing too many details, but my approach to my PL pages has been pretty much the same for the last several years.

Project Life 2020: June Memories

Hey everyone! I finished up my June and July pages in my 2020 Project Life album a week or two ago, and finally took the time to snap some quick photos and edit them. I'm taking a monthly approach to my album this year, and I shared quite a few details about my plans in THIS post, where I shared my January pages.

I mentioned that I wasn't going to limit myself to a certain number of spread each month. I'll use however many pages I need, as I love to include the majority of our photos each month. For June, I ended up with 7 spreads, one of which includes a 6x12 insert. Technically it's 6 spreads, and the 7th is dedicated to the pandemic.

I've been using the One Little Word 2019 Digital Monthly Stories stamp set, from Ali Edwards, to create a lot of my monthly title cards. I just add the digital stamp to a blank canvas, and pick a coordinating color for the background. 

I'm working at least one of the 3x3" configured pocket page protectors into my album each month (but will use a second if it works with my photos). 

So many of our photos work well as squares, and I can simply trim the 3x4" photos down to the 3x3" size without having to re-print them. 

** The spread after this page will be dedicated to Coronavirus related things - some factual, some funny, and some personal stories. I started this with my March monthly pages, and have continued to make a spread like that for all of the months following. I just don't happen to have those pages totally finished yet. So I will share those once I have them done. 

Here's the third spread for the month of June, with a 6x12" insert on the right.

I came across this cool Bachelorette drawing of one of my favorite couples, Jo Jo and Jordan, in a promotional post for one of the specials they were airing over the summer. I screenshot it to specifically use in my album. I need to be better about including more things like that.

Sarah participated in a Black Lives Matter march in the beginning of June, and I came across this photo on the neighborhood watch page on Facebook. I have no clue whether she's in this photo at all, but I downloaded it to document the march. 

Here's the forth spread for the month of June, with the 6x12" insert on the left. 

I often take lame Snapchat photos to send to one of the girls, without any intention of having them seen anywhere else. Lol. But I've been shorter on photos this year, for whatever reason, so I will use any and all photos I have at this point. 

Here's the fifth spread for the month of June.

Here's the sixth spread for the month of June.

And the seventh spread for the month of June.

If you have any questions on anything specific within these pages, feel free to message me. I know I'm not sharing too many details, but my approach to my PL pages has been pretty much the same for the last several years. I am also currently working on playing catch up on my August, September, and October pages - and working on ordering my November photos. 

Project Life 2020: May Memories

Hey everyone! I'm all about playing some catch up this week on some blog posts. I have no idea who even reads this blog anymore, and often debate NOT blogging anymore. But I also really like having all of my projects on my own space, and not just relying on sharing them on Instagram or in an online gallery, since those could poof away someday ;)

I finished up my May pages in my 2020 Project Life album quite a while ago. I just haven't taken the time to share them here. Anyways. I'm taking a monthly approach to my album this year, and I shared quite a few details about my plans in THIS post, where I shared my January pages.

I mentioned that I wasn't going to limit myself to a certain number of spread each month. I'll use however many pages I need, as I love to include the majority of our photos each month. For May, I ended up with 6 spreads, one of which includes a 6x12 insert. 

I have a lot of the Stories By The Month digital kits from Ali Edwards, which is what I'm pulling my monthly title cards from. If the actual "____ memories" card doesn't match in any given month, I can easily use the "____ memories" digital stamp that's in the kit (same writing) to create my card. 

I'm working at least one of the 3x3" configured pocket page protectors into my album each month (but will use a second if it works with my photos). For May, I ended up including a 6x12" insert that has the 3x3" pockets in addition to this page.

So many of our photos work well as squares, and I can simply trim the 3x4" photos down to the 3x3" size without having to re-print them. 

** The spread after this page will be dedicated to Coronavirus related things - some factual, some funny, and some personal stories. I started this with my March monthly pages, and have continued to make a spread like that for all of the months following. I just don't happen to have those pages totally finished yet. So I will share those once I have them done. 

Here's the third spread for the month of May, with a 6x12" insert on the right. 

Here's the forth spread for the month of May, with the 6x12" insert on the left. 

Here's the fifth spread for the month of May.  

Here's the sixth spread for the month of May.

If you have any questions on anything specific within these pages, feel free to message me. I know I'm not sharing too many details, but my approach to my PL pages has been pretty much the same for the last several years. I am also currently working on playing catch up on my June, July, and August pages - and working on ordering my September photos. 

Project Life 2020: April Memories

Hey everyone! I'm finally getting around to sharing my April pages in my 2020 Project Life album. I'm taking a monthly approach to my album this year, and I shared quite a few details about my plans in THIS post, where I shared my January pages.

I mentioned that I wasn't going to limit myself to a certain number of spread each month. I'll use however many pages I need, as I love to include the majority of our photos each month. For April, I ended up with 6 spreads, two of which include a 6x12 insert. 

I have a lot of the Stories By The Month digital kits from Ali Edwards, which is what I'm pulling my monthly title cards from. If the actual "____ memories" card doesn't match in any given month, I can easily use the "____ memories" digital stamp that's in the kit (same writing) to create my card. 

I'm working at least one of the 3x3" configured pocket page protectors into my album each month (but will use a second if it works with my photos). 

So many of our photos work well as squares, and I can simply trim the 3x4" photos down to the 3x3" size without having to re-print them. 

** The spread after this page will be dedicated to Coronavirus related things - some factual, some funny, and some personal stories. I started this with my March monthly pages, and have continued to make a spread like that for all of the months following. I just don't happen to have those pages totally finished yet. So I will share those once I have them done. 

Here's the third spread for the month of April, with a 6x12" insert on the right. 

Here's the fourth spread for the month of April, with the 6x12" insert on the left.

Here's the fifth spread for the month of April, with a 6x12" insert on the right. 

Here's the fifth spread for the month of April, with the 6x12" insert on the left. 

I meant to only take a detail shot of those 2 card/photo on the right, which are in the 6x12" insert, as the photo on the far left is on the page before the insert.

If you have any questions on anything specific within these pages, feel free to message me. I'll be sharing my May pages tomorrow, and am currently working on playing catch up on my June, July, and August pages - and working on ordering my September photos. 

Project Life 2020: March Memories

Hey everyone! I'm finally getting around to sharing my March pages in my 2020 Project Life album. I'm taking a monthly approach to my album this year, and I shared quite a few details about my plans in THIS post, where I shared my January pages.

I mentioned that I wasn't going to limit myself to a certain number of spread each month. I'll use however many pages I need, as I love to include the majority of our photos each month. For March, I ended up with 6 spreads, one of which includes a 6x12 insert. 

I have a lot of the Stories By The Month digital kits from Ali Edwards, which is what I'm pulling my monthly title cards from. If the actual "____ memories" card doesn't match in any given month, I can easily use the "____ memories" digital stamp that's in the kit (same writing) to create my card. 

I'm working at least one of the 3x3" configured pocket page protectors into my album each month (but will use a second if it works with my photos). 

So many of our photos work well as squares, and I can simply trim the 3x4" photos down to the 3x3" size.  

Since this whole Coronavirus pandemic really went into effect in March, I decided I wanted to include a full spread within my March memories dedicated to Coronavirus related things - some factual, some funny, and some personal stories. 

Persnickity Prints has been creating these awesome Coronavirus timelines that you can download and print, so I printed out the March timeline, slipping it into an 8.5x11 page protector that was trimmed in width a bit to fit. 

I don't know about all of you, but I've been screenshotting Covid related things like crazy during the last two months. I picked out a variety of them to use in the 3x3 pockets, making this an easy page to fill up.  

 

I printed Kerri Bradford's Stay Safe printable to go on the backside of the timeline printable, which is on the left side of the insert seen above.

I do have some pandemic related stories spread throughout my March stories and journaling, but I wanted to type up a few journaling cards specifically to include in this dedicated spread. 

Traci Reed Designs has put together a round-up list of all of the Covid-19 related freebies out there, with links to where you can find/download all of them - find it HERE.

Here's the third spread for the month of March.

I took a screenshot of all of the baseball games that Joe originally had on his schedule when the stay-at-home order went into place here, which quickly turned to red, as they were all cancelled.

Yes, that's a photo of the Costco I work at, where the toilet paper, paper towels, and water are usually located. I don't keep my phone on me when I'm working, or I probably would have snapped a photo. Luckily, I found this one that someone shared on Facebook and "borrowed" it for my album.

I'm adding a "currently" card each month for each of us. I ask Joe and the girls to give me their answers to the 5 categories - just whatever comes to mind first, or what stands out as a favorite during the month. That's Sarah's card above. 

I created my own digital "currently" card, using digital stamps from Studio Calico and Kerri Bradford Studio. I have these cards saved as templates for each of us, with our names on top. So it's super easy to pull up the cards for each of us every month, and fill in the boxes.

This fourth spread for the month of March, seen above, has a 6x12" insert on the right side. 

Here's the fifth spread of the month, with the 6x12" insert on the left side. 

This is the sixth, and last spread, for the month of March.

As of two days ago, all of the Monopoly game pieces are officially gone. Whoohoo! I actually took an updated photo earlier this week, as there were about 15 piles of game pieces. Lol. 

If you have any questions on anything specific within these pages, feel free to message me. I'm patiently (or maybe not so patiently, as I placed my order a full 2 weeks ago) working on my April photos to arrive and I'll get started on my April pages. 

Project Life 2020: February Memories

Hey everyone! I'm finally getting around to sharing my February pages in my 2020 Project Life album. I'm taking a monthly approach to my album this year, and I shared quite a few details about my plans in THIS post, where I shared my January pages.

I mentioned that I wasn't going to limit myself to a certain number of spread each month. I'll use however many pages I need, as I love to include the majority of our photos each month. For February, I ended up with 5 spreads, one of which includes a 6x12 insert. 

I have a lot of the Stories By The Month digital kits from Ali Edwards, which is what I used to create the "February Memories" card. The actual "February Memories" card didn't quite match the colors I was working with, so I used the digital "February Memories" stamp to create my own card on a navy blue background.  

When I have extra room on a journaling card, I will often move my digital stamped "title" and journaling up towards the top of the card, leaving some extra space along the bottom - I then use that space to add a piece of washi tape. Such a simple way to finish it off. 

I'm working at least one of the 3x3" configured pocket page protectors into my album each month (but will use a second if it works with my photos). 

So many of our photos work well as squares, and I can simply trim the 3x4" photos down to the 3x3" size. 

This second spread for the month of February, seen above, has a 6x12" insert on the right side. 

I'm utilizing my large collection of digital stamps for my journaling cards. I also have a large collection of physical stamps, but since I type up all of my journaling cards digitally, it's super easy to just use the digital stamps and size them as needed. 

I wanted something that showed who played in the Super Bowl and searched on Google for an image to use. I printed it as a 4x6" photo, and just trimmed that photo in half since I ended up having all 3x4" pockets to use on the page I wanted to include these photos. 

I was working the day of the Super Bowl, so I missed the party at my brother's house. I was scrolling thru Instagram that evening, and my aunt had shared these photos she took of my family. I was so happy to have a few photos from the day, even though I wasn't there, so I screenshot them to use. 

Here's the third spread of the month, with the 6x12" insert on the left. 

I'm not actually sure if Alyssa and her boyfriend went wine tasting on Saturday or Sunday, but I came across this filler card and thought it went nicely. So I'm hoping they went on Sunday. Although, I just realized I put "February 14th" on the journaling card, which was a Friday. Lol. 

I used very few embellishments for my February pages. I'm not setting out to use many embellishments, as I like to keep my pages fairly flat and simple. But I'm also not against using embellishments, if I feel the need to add a little something here and there. The puffy "cook" sticker was from an Ali Edwards kit. 

Here's the fourth spread for the month of February.

I mentioned before that I'm using a mix of filler cards, with the majority of them coming from the Project Life app (I have them printed along with my photo orders) - but I'm also adding in cards from digital kits that I have (printing them at home), like the two above. 

I'm adding a "currently" card each month for each of us. I ask Joe and the girls to give me their answers to the 5 categories - just whatever comes to mind first, or what stands out as a favorite during the month. For the January cards, I had used a digital card that I found in one of my kits, but there wasn't a good spot for me to add our names to clarify who each card went too. 

So I created my own digital "currently" card, using digital stamps from Studio Calico and Kerri Bradford Studio. I have these cards saved as templates for each of us, with our names on top. So it's super easy to pull up the cards for each of us every month, and fill in the boxes. I also replaced the cards from January with these newly designed cards.

This is the fifth, and last spread, for the month of February. With a 6x11" insert added in, to hold an online article that I printed out. 

This online article goes along with the photo behind it, so I knew that I wanted to include it. It was written about the women in the Stockton Kings office, and Alyssa is among that group of awesome ladies. 

I copied and pasted the article into a Word document and sized it to fit onto two 6x11" pages. I left some room at the top and bottom of each page, so that I could add strips of patterned paper on each side. 

If you have any questions on anything specific within these pages, feel free to message me. I'm working on my March pages right now, so I hope to have those ready to share soon :)

Project Life 2020: January Memories

I'm still loving Project Life, and find that it's the perfect fit for where my little family is at this point in life. It is the perfect solution for the random photos that we end up with, and the random little stories that go with them. 

This year, I'm continuing with the 9x12" size, but am switching things up a bit, going with a monthly format rather than a weekly format. In 2019, I found that I ended up with lots of weeks that didn't have many photos - and lots of weeks with too many photos. I always made it work, so it wasn't a huge issue. But my thinking, with moving to a monthly format, is that it will be an easier way to make the amount of photos for the month work, by simply using however many pages I need to fit the photos/stories in. 

I am not going to limit myself to just one or two spreads per month. I don't like to narrow down our photos too much. Since Project Life is my main way of documenting these days (I just don't do too many individual layouts anymore), I like to include as many photos/stories as I can within the album. For the month of January, I ended up with 5 spreads, one of which included a 6x12" insert. 

I have a lot of the Stories By The Month digital kits from Ali Edwards, which is where I pulled the "January Memories" card from. I have these cards for each month, and will try to use them. Just hoping the colors of the cards coordinate each month ;)

I skipped adding embellishments of any kind to my 2018 and 2019 albums, after using lots of embellishments/stickers in my 2017 album. I'm not necessarily going to set out to add embellishments - but if I feel like adding a little something here and there, I'll do it. Kind of winging it for the 2020 album, as far as extras/embellishing goes. 

I am excited to go back to my individual journaling cards, since I skipped those in my 2019 album (I ended up going with a large 4x11" journaling card for each week). I do all of my journaling cards digitally, typing them up in Photoshop and printing them out on matte presentation paper. 

I'm using the same 9x12" albums from Seven Paper (an off brand of Studio Calico several years ago) that I stocked up on years ago on a deals website. I have a huge collection of pocket pages for these albums, and one of the page configurations has the twelve 3x3" pockets. I have used these pages in other album projects, but I have never used them in my Project Life album. 

I think the reason I haven't used them in the Project Life albums, is because if I used one for one week - I would have no choice but to use it for the following week as well. I love little square photos, so I'm excited to use them this year. 

My plan is to use one of the 3x3" pocket pages each month. If for some reason I find that another one would work well, I will use two for that month. But I'll start out with working at least one into each month. 

This second spread for the month of January, seen above, has a 6x12" insert on the right side. 

I'm also keeping a lot of my digital journaling cards simple. I used to use this one card a lot - it had lines on it, and empty space on the top where I would add a digital stamp or something. Except that to type on those lines meant that I had to do a separate layer in Photoshop for each line. Much harder to do journaling that way. 

I'm simply typing up my journaling on 3x3" or 3x4" canvases in Photoshop, and then adding digital stamps along the top/bottom of the cards. I might even get crazy at some point, and use actual physical stamps. Lol. But my collection of digital stamps is huge and they're so easy to add and size to what I need. 

I will also be using some of the digital journaling cards that I used in my previous Project Life albums. My go-to cards come mostly from Ali Edwards, Cathy Zielske, and In A Creative Bubble. 

I also decided to simplify my font choices for the year. I'm using one main journaling font, which is Rad Notebook by Rad & Happy. I also have two other fonts that I use here and there, mostly for when I add a date or something to the bottom of a journaling card. 

Here's the third spread of the month, with the 6x12" insert on the left. 

I still screenshot any Snapchat photos that my girls send me. Since I like to have some sort of journaling for most of the photos I include, it's nice when the Snapchat itself includes the journaling.

I still have a huge selection of filler cards that I have printed off the Project Life app, so I usually go through those first to see what will work. 

I've also printed some filler cards from digital kits that I have, like the one above (I add the "must see TV' digital stamp to the TV on the card). And no, the This Is Us photo isn't MY phone screensaver. Lol. They shared it on their Instagram account, and I screenshot it, thinking it would be fun to use in my album. 

A new thing that I wanted to do for our 2020 album is to include a "currently" card for each of us, each month. I'm not completely sure if I'll use the same card each month. The one above was found in one of my digital kits. I typed mine up first, printed it out and added it to the album. It wasn't until I typed up the girl's cards that I realized I needed a way to label them, so that we know who each of the cards goes too. 

I ended up working these cards into the album, so that they sort of go side by side with our photos. My card is near one of my selfies. Sarah's card is next to one of her Snapchat photos. Etc, etc. For now, I went in and typed our names in the little TV at the top of the card. It's not the best solution, but it works for now. I can always change them later, or maybe I'll make us each a personalized card that I can use each month. 

While I stuck to using filler cards straight from the Project Life app for the past two years, I'm just winging it this year. The card above is one I had from a kit club - while I don't belong to any kit clubs, and never have, I had picked up some PL cards on a big sale a few years ago from one of the sites. I still have older PL cards with rounded corners, and may or may not use any of those. I used them in my 2017 album, and the rounded corners didn't bother me. But I feel like they'd bug me now. Lol. 

Here's the fourth spread for the month of January.

It did take some thinking to figure out how I would work my photos into a monthly format, when I first sat down to put these pages together. I laid out all of the photos for the month. I still do a photo order each month through the Freeprints app, as I like to have all of my photos in front of me to work with. 

Then I laid out several of the pocket pages, knowing that I would use at least one of each of the three different pocket configurations. I did a lot of sorting and arranging, and moving photos around, until I was happy with how everything was laid out. 

Once all of the photos were in place, I started typing up journaling cards. I do a LOT of copying and pasting from my Instagram, which helps knock out a lot of the journaling cards. 

Like I mentioned above, I really do like to have journaling of some sort for most of the photos. I actually had a typed up journaling card for the photo of my breakfast burrito prep (the pic on the right above). But then Alyssa gave me the info for some of her photos, and I realized that I would much rather include the story for the photo of her boyfriend, since that was the day he met her dad for the first time. So I simply added a "breakfast" label to the other photo. 

For these currently card that I want to include each month, I simply texted that card image to the girls and asked them to text me their answers. And then I typed them in. 

This is the fifth, and last spread, for the month of January.

Once I started to get journaling cards added in, I worked filler cards in here and there was well. I was surprised at how easily the monthly format came together for me. 

I have some other ideas of how to add some "extra" things to the monthly format, and will play around with those ideas when I can. Or when they fit in. 

But after doing just one month, I can say that I'm loving this new approach, and I think it will be a fun change going into this year's album. 

I also came across these monthly dividers in my stash, and thought they'd be fun to use. I believe these are from the very first Project Life type project - the one that started this way of documenting, which was the Project 365 by Becky Higgins. I want to say that was back in 2009. 

I'll be sharing my monthly Project Life pages as I complete them, one month at a time. My February photos will be here in a few days, and I can't wait to get started on adding in another month. 

Project Life 2019: December | Week 49 - 52

Welcome back to another Project Life share post. I'm going to be sharing a full month's worth of weekly spreads from my 2019 Project Life album at a time. Since there won't be many details to share - seeing as how I'm using the same, single journaling card, same weekly title cards, and filler cards printed from the PL app - I'm going to keep these posts short and sweet. 

For a recap of how I'm approaching this year's album, check out THIS POST for all of the details.

Week Forty-Nine

Week Fifty

Week Fifty-One

Week Fifty- Two

First half of the weekly spread, with the 6x12" insert on the right.

I also added in a 3x12" insert to hold a few extra photos - it's there on the right side.

Second half of the weekly spread, with the 6x12" and 3x12" inserts on the left.

And the last page of the album. I decided to work the last few days of the year into week 52, even though they weren't officially in that week's dates. Maybe I'll change the weekly title card to read thru the 31st.

As always, if you have questions at all, feel free to leave a comment below, or sent me a quick email :)

Project Life 2019: November | Week 44 - 48

Welcome back to another Project Life share post. I'm going to be sharing a full month's worth of weekly spreads from my 2019 Project Life album at a time. Since there won't be many details to share - seeing as how I'm using the same, single journaling card, same weekly title cards, and filler cards printed from the PL app - I'm going to keep these posts short and sweet. 

For a recap of how I'm approaching this year's album, check out THIS POST for all of the details.

Week Forty-Four

First half of the weekly spread, with the 6x12" insert on the right.

Second half of the weekly spread, with the 6x12" insert on the left.

Week Forty-Five

Week Forty-Six

Week Forty-Seven

Week Forty-Eight

As always, if you have questions at all, feel free to leave a comment below, or sent me a quick email :)