... just Laura

Project Life 2019: April | Weeks 14-18

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 Fourteen

Week Fifteen

Week Sixteen

Week Seventeen

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

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

Week Eighteen

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

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

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

Project Life 2019: March | Weeks 10-13

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 Ten

Week Eleven

Week Twelve

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

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

Week Thirteen

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

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

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

Project Life 2019: February | Weeks 6-9

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 Six

Week Seven

Week Eight

Week Nine

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

Project Life 2019: January | Weeks 1-5

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 One

Week Two

Week Three

Week Four

Week Five

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

Project Life 2019: Cover Page

I never seem to think about creating a cover page for my Project Life albums until I'm actually finished with the entire year. And then I usually just toss one together without much thought. Lol. While I'm not totally done with my 2019 album, I'm really, really close to be completely done. 

I ended up having to split my 2019 pages into two albums. While I was able to fit 2018 into just a single album, with the way that I did my journaling cards this year, it added some extra bulk to just the inner part of the album, so there was no way that the whole year would fit in one album. Since I was moving pages around, I decided to tackle the cover page. 

I like to include a family photo on the front page, and it's usually one that we took towards the last part of the previous year. I printed two photos from Thanksgiving of 2018 - a photo of the four of us, and a photo of the girls together - and slipped them into the pockets.

I added in a few filler cards (all cards I have had printed from the Project Life app) and the "2019 Let's Do This" card, which was a freebie offered by In A Creative Bubble (found HERE).

I had been using this pouch (from one of my old Week In The Life kits, from Ali Edwards) to hold some of the cards and random memorabilia that I had been saving from the year. I ended up working some of those items into the album itself. Since I split the year into two albums, and the albums weren't totally full, I figured I would just add the little pouch to the front of the album. This could also be done using some of the envelope pocket pages from Becky Higgins (she only has a few sizes on her site right now, but they do come in other sizes). 

Project Life 2019: October | Week 40 - 43

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

Week Forty-One

Week Forty-Two

Week Forty-Three

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

Project Life 2019: September | Weeks 36 - 39

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 Thirty-Six

Week Thirty-Seven

Week Thirty-Eight

Week Thirty-Nine: I wish I was better about adding memorabilia into my Project Life albums. I had a small pile of stuff that I had saved throughout the year, so I ended up working some of those pieces into the appropriate weeks in the most simple way I could. Here, I punched holes in my Starbucks bag and the cute silverware bag that they have at Chili's and added them right into the album. 

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

Project Life 2019: August | Weeks 31-35

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 Thirty-One

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

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

Week Thirty-Two

Week Thirty-Three

Week Thirty-Four

Week Thirty-Five

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

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

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

Project Life 2019: May | Weeks 19-22

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 Nineteen 

Week Twenty

Week Twenty-One

Week Twenty-Two

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

Project Life 2019: July | Weeks 27-30

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 Twenty-Seven

Week Twenty-Eight

Week Twenty-Nine

Week Thirty

As always, if you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment below or send me an email :)

Project Life 2019: June | Weeks 23-26

Hey again! I'm finally ready to share a look at my 2019 Project Life album. Yesterday, I shared some info about how I'm approaching this year's album (post HERE). And today, I'm going to give you a look at how the weekly spreads are coming together, with the simple changes I'm making. 

I'm going to be sharing a full month's worth of weekly spreads 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 from the Project Life app - I'm going to keep these posts short and sweet. 

Week Twenty-Three

Week Twenty-Four

Week Twenty-Five - This week had more photos than usual, so I added a 6x12" pocket page insert. 

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 Twenty-Six

If you have any questions at all, feel free to leave me a comment or message me ;)

Project Life 2019: Plan of Attack

Hey all. I've for sure been quiet on this little blog of mine lately. I just haven't had many projects to share, so with that, there's less blogging happening. It's been almost 3 months since I shared that I had completely finished my 2018 Project Life album. Once I got that album all wrapped up, I was finally ready to start playing catch up in my 2019 album. I thought I'd share my plans for this year's album, before I start to share my actual weekly spreads.

Step One | Photos

The one thing that I've been good about is doing my photo orders each month, and getting my photos into my Project Life album. That's a huge win in my book. I order my photos a month at a time, still using the Freeprints app, just like I've been doing for the last two years. I sort them out into the weeks, and slip them into the pocket pages. 

Step Two | Weekly Title Cards

I also had all of my weekly title cards added in. For the last few years, I've used digital kits that I've purchased for my weekly title cards. For my 2019 album, I searched for 2019 weekly title card digital kits, but didn't find many options - and what I did find didn't interest me. So, I created my own cards, which I print along with my photo order each month.  

I used a black chalkboard digital patterned paper for the background. I've used white cards with black text for the last two years, so I thought the black with white text would be a nice change. I spent more time then I should have settling on a few fonts to use, making sure the brush script font that I picked (I had a few options that I tried) would fit no matter what week it was - a short week like "one" or a longer week like "twenty-three". The font is called Butterfly, and came in a font package that I purchased a while back (not even sure where I found it). 

Step Three | Journaling Cards

Somehow, I ended up a good 7 months into the year before I gave any thought to working on adding journaling into my album. I knew that I needed to approach this year's album a little differently, if I was going to successfully catch myself up and get back on track. 

I tossed around several ideas involving my usual digital 3x4" journaling cards - ways to do them quicker, make them simpler, etc. But even 4-5 journaling cards per week takes times. And I wanted something simpler. 

Then I got the idea to do a single journaling card per week. A larger journaling card, that I could essentially add in-between the pages of each weekly spread. 

To help create my journaling pages, I started with a template from Ali Edward's 6x12 Words & Photos Layered Template Vol 2 kit. I ended up tweaking it quite a bit to make it work. I eliminated the photo part of the template, changed it from two columns to one column of text, and changed it from a 6x12" template to a 4x11" template. 

I also used Kerri Bradford's Simple Staples kit to add a black and white diagonal striped border along the top of the template. I like consistency in projects, and the black and white will tie in nicely throughout the entire year. 

I decided to just do bullet-point style journaling on this one "journaling card". I suppose I could have numbered my journaling, and maybe added little numbers to the photos that matched to each journaling tidbit. But that would take more time. Honestly, I feel like it's easy enough to match up the facts/stories with the photos they go too. If 20 years down the road, we can't figure it out, it will be a fun guessing game ;)

I added the week along the top of the card, and then started adding my journaling. A lot of my text is simply copied and pasted from my Instagram, since a lot of the photos/stories are ones that I've shared there. For any photos that weren't ones that I've shared, I typed up some facts or asked the girls for info if they were their photos. 

Some weeks, I filled up the 4x11" card, and some weeks I didn't quite have as much to say, leaving more empty space on the bottom of the card. But I'm ok with that. For about 2 seconds, I debated adding a piece of patterned paper on the backside of these cards, but then decided to leave them as-is. If I ever have a week where I have a TON to write about, I can always extend my journaling to the other side of the card.  

The template had the "oh yes, this is life" phrase along the bottom, and I decided to just keep it the same for each week. Keeping things simple and easy.

I was able to print two of these 4x11" cards on a single sheet of 8.5x11" cardstock. I then slipped them into 8.5x11" page protectors, which customized to fit my cards. I machine stitched along the edge of the cards, and then trimmed off the excess - creating a custom made 4x11" page protector. 

Creating just one single journaling card/page for each week really simplified the PL process for me. I've already finished up 3 full months, in very little time. I figure if this is the change I need in order to get this year's album on track (and hopefully keep up-to-date), then it's a good change. 

Step Four | Filler Cards

Just like my 2018 album, I plan on keeping this year's album very simple. Photos, journaling cards, and filler cards. No extra embellishing, no stickers, no chipboard - basically, no extras at all. Last year, I ended up using filler cards from the Project Life app for about 80% 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. 

I think I'm doing the same thing for this year's album. I still have a ton of the filler cards that I've printed off of the Project Life app. 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 just added another huge batch of these filler cards to my last photo order, which you see in the photo above. I still need to trim them apart. A lot of these are ones 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.

*****************

That's pretty much my plan of attack for this year's album. Keeping things simple, so that hopefully, I'll be able to catch up and stay caught up. I'll be sharing a full month's worth of weekly spreads tomorrow ;)

Project Life 2018: Week Fifty Two

Hey everyone! So I guess I didn't come back last Friday, as promised, to share the last week in my 2018 Project Life album. I got caught up in a huge house project (involving my scrapbook room), and just sort of forgot about everything else that day. Although I also haven't done anything crafty in well over three weeks, so it's not like I have much else to share. Might as well spread these last few projects out until I have a chance to make something new. 

So, here it is. The last and final weekly spread in my 2018 album. It was Christmas week, and my sister was in town for the week, so we had a few extra activities going on that I wanted to include. So week fifty two includes a 6x12" insert, as well as a full extra 9x12" page on it's own. Which made sense, as it was the end of the album and I needed to do something with the backside of the last page. 

Here's a look at the second half of the spread, with the 6x12" insert on the left.

I don't seem to take many photos at Christmas get together's anymore. I used to take tons, and now I'm lucky if I snap a few. I pretty much included all of the photos that I took that day.

Here's a look at the last page of the album, and the last part of week fifty two.

I can't lie. I am so proud of myself for completing my entire 2018 album! It feels so good to have it completely done. 

Just don't ask to see the end of my 2017 album, which I still need to finish. Or my 2019 album, which I still need to start ;)

 

Project Life 2018: Week Nineteen

Hey everyone! I'm pretty sure that it was about two weeks ago, when I stated that I would be sharing the last two weeks in my 2018 Project Life album that same week. I guess I got distracted with other things, because I've had these two weeks finished and laying around just waiting for me to sit down and type up a few quick posts. 

Anyways. I'm going to knock these out this week. I'm backtracking a bit, and sharing week nineteen first. I always work on my album in order. I never skip around. But I did totally skip week nineteen, for a few reasons. 

The first reason was that this particular week in May was the same week that I participated in my first Week In The Life project. And I took TONS of photos that week, for that project. 

I knew that I wanted to include at least a few of those photos into my PL weekly spread, and I just wasn't ready to weed thru them all and narrow it down to just a few photos. 

Side note. One of Alyssa's photos from this week was from the Khalid concert that her and a friend went too. Since I had a little blurb about the concert on the photo above this photo, I grabbed a promo photo from the concert (that included all of the dates and venues) off Google and sized it to 3x4". 

I ended up splitting week nineteen into two full page spreads. 

The second reason that I sort of skipped over week nineteen was that it was the week that Alyssa graduated from college! And I knew that I really wanted to include a variety of photos from that special day.

I devoted the second full page spread for the week to graduation day, and I think it worked out perfectly.

Another side note. I've tossed around ideas of actually documenting graduation and everything surrounding it. One of these days, I'll settle on how I want to go about that and get to work on it.

Hard to believe this was a year ago. Or a little over a year ago I guess. 

I'll be back tomorrow to share the very last week in my 2018 album! 

Project Life 2018: Week Fifty One

Hey everyone! I'm back to share week fifty one in my 2018 Project Life album. FIFTY ONE. That means I only have one more week to share. Well, actually, I have two more weeks, since there was one week way back in May that I had skipped for a few reasons. Anyways, I'll be tossing these up without many details added in. Like I've said in the last few posts, I've run out of things to add about most of these weeks. 

I did have more photos/stories for this week, so I added a 6x12" insert. Here's a look at the first half of the weekly spread, with the 6x12" insert on the right.

I added very few embellishments to my 2018 album. In fact, I can probably count the times I added something extra on one hand. Maybe two. But that purple filler card needed a little something, so I added a simple puffy star sticker.

Here's a look at the second half of the weekly spread, with the 6x12" insert on the left.

Yep, I kept that post super short and sweet. Lol. I'll be back to share the last two weeks later this week ;)

Project Life 2018: Week Fifty

Hey my friends. I'm back to share another week in my 2018 Project Life album. A quick and simple look, as I've been tossing these weekly spreads up left and right, and I'm sure they all look the same to you ;)

Here's a look at week 50. Can you believe it? Spoiler alert, if you're actually reading this - I finished my 2018 album in full last week!!!

Funny that the only thing I feel I should comment on is this bottom corner photo of the weekly spread. Lol. I ended up not having a spot to journal about that photo. I guess that's because I only had one Pocket Maps by Sara Gleason. And most weeks, I use three of them. Which gives me that extra journaling space. I'm kind of obsessive about trying to make sure there's a little story/journaling for every photo. Just my preference. I might need to go back and turn that photo into a Pocket Map card/photo ;) 

Project Life 2018: Week Forty Nine

Hey everyone. I'm getting this up a day later than planned, but here's a look at week forty nine in my 2018 Project Life album. I thought I would add in a few re-caps, with links, of the cards that I used throughout my 2018 album. Just in case anyone is wondering, or missed the info the other times that I've shared. 

This week had a few extra photos/stories to share, so I added in a 6x12 insert. This shows the first half of the spread, with the insert on the right.

For my weekly title cards, I used the Pocket Guide No.4 kit from Paislee Press. I created each week's card in Photoshop, using the template from the kit - switching out the week number and adding the dates for each week. 

The "This Story" digital journaling cards are also by Cathy Zielske (offered as a part of her Scrapbook Your Year class) and I love to use one per week. They're set up with four on a page, so it's really easy to knock out 4 at a time, with very little effort. If I have a week with an insert, meaning more journaling cards are needed, I often use two for those weeks. 

This lined journaling card is the one card that I can have fun with each week, personalizing it to fit my photo. To add a little something to the top of the card, I usually use a digital stamp or two. Or I'll use the PNG files from cut files, which are easy to use digitally in Photoshop. 

I work one of the Recorded Journaling Cards from In A Creative Bubble into each weekly spread. If you click that link, it takes you to one of those sets - but she has 9 sets currently, and I use cards from all nine of those kits. If it's a week that has an insert, and then I may use two cards for that week. She's got a great selection of these simple black and white cards to choose from, so I can always find one that fits my photo/story. 

Here's a look at the second half of the weekly spread, with the 6x12" insert on the left.

I love using one of these J-Card Weekdays digital journaling cards from Cathy Zielske each week. I like these cards, because they format your text as you type and they're just so easy to use. Also, they have plenty of room for journaling. I love to pick a photo each week that I know has a bigger story to go along with this card. And often times, I can pull that story straight off my Instagram, and just copy and paste it in.  

One thing that I've been doing in my 2018 album is using the Pocket Maps by Sara Gleason. I almost always work three into each weekly spread, and they're just perfect for those photos that don't have big stories. A quick sentence or two is all I need.

A few weeks into my 2018 album, I had the idea to print out filler cards from my Project Life kits within the app. I used the app itself to add two filler cards to a 4x6 photo, and then saved them all to my phone. I then simply added them to my monthly photo order so they were printed on photo paper. It really simplified the process for me, as 95% of the filler cards that I used in my 2018 album came straight from the PL app. It narrowed down my choices, and I ended up having plenty of choices to work with.

That being said, I did occasionally use a filler card that wasn't from the PL app. I believe two of the filler cards for this week's spread came from my Ali Edwards digital kits, and I just printed them out myself. 

I'll be back tomorrow to share another week ;)

Project Life 2018: Week Forty Eight

Hey all. Just popping in to share another week in my 2018 Project Life album. Here's a look at week forty eight. I feel like the coloring in some of these photos is off a bit. I know I've mentioned before that I don't spend too much time on photographing these weekly pocket page spreads, so please excuse the glare that is bound to happen on some images.

This week was the last week of November, so it's when Christmas related photos/stories started popping up. 

Right along with fall looking photos, so it seems ;) 

I have added very, very little physical product to my 2018 album, as it's almost entirely photos and digital cards. But on occasion, I end up with a filler card that has room to add a little something. So I used a few alpha stickers to fill in the empty box on the card above. 

I'll be back tomorrow to share another weekly spread, and I think on that post, I'll re-cap what I used in this album, as far as journaling cards and such. Just in case anyone is wondering.

Project Life 2018: Week Forty Seven

Hey everyone! Happy Monday. I'm doing a little catch-up session today, before I head into work, and thought I would quickly toss another weekly spread from my 2018 Project Life album up for those that like them. I mentioned last week that I'll be keeping these posts quick and to the point. 

I feel like I don't have many details to add most weeks, since I followed the same basic design plan for my entire 2018 album. Most of what I do in my album is self-explanatory I think.

I use a few of the same digital journaling cards for each weekly spread, and then usually work in one journaling card that varies (but comes from the same designer) and one journaling card where I add a digital stamp at the top, which obviously varies each week. 

I'll add in a re-cap of my 2018 album's plan, linking the cards I used for my 2018 album, on another week's share. For anyone that is new or might have missed the 27 other times I've shared that info ;)

I'll be back tomorrow with another weekly spread.

Project Life 2018: Week Forty Six

Hey all. Just popping in with another quick look at another weekly spread in my 2018 Project Life album. Here's week forty six. 

I think I've mentioned that I have a hard time using the striped filler cards, and this one was pretty bold with the colors. But I feel like it worked out with the photos for this week's spread.

Funny side note. Alyssa will occasionally sit down with my album, and will go thru each week and make notes for all of her photos. That way, when I'm ready to do journaling cards, I have the info I need. The photo above was the only photo I had for her that week. Which was weird. But she made a note for week 46 that said "I guess the only thing I had going on that week was a strong eyeliner game". Lol. 

I hope you all have a great weekend. I'll be back next week to share a few more weekly spreads, and maybe even the last weeks in my 2018 album, if all goes as planned. Crossing my fingers I can get it all finished up :)

Project Life 2018: Week Forty Five

Hey everyone! I know that I've been sharing a lot of Project Life spreads lately, and while I know they may not be for everyone, it's what I've been working on. So it's what I have to share ;) 

I have three more weeks of my 2018 album to share that are finished up, and I'm working on finishing up the last five weeks. So I hope to have those to share as well later next week. I'm not one to just toss images into a post, without having things to say about each image. But I think that's what I'm going to do for these. I think you all pretty much know the drill on how I do these weekly spreads, and I'm sort of running out of ideas on details to add. Lol. If I think anything needs mentioning, I'll toss that in for good measure.

"It's a dog's life" is from one of Kerri Bradford's kits - I used the PNG file digitally.

Just so it's not mistaken for one of my digital cards, the "real life stories" is a filler card printed from the Project Life app.

I'll be back tomorrow with another quick look at a new weekly spread.

Project Life 2018: Week Forty Four/Part Two

Hey everyone! So, about two weeks ago, I shared the spread you see above. Week forty four in my 2018 Project Life album. Which was the last weekly spread from my last batch of catching up that I did several weeks ago.

I spent some time one day last week working on a few more weekly spreads, and I realized that week forty four had an entire extra spread. I guess I'm so used to having 6x12 inserts for those weeks when I have more photos/stories, that it didn't dawn on me to check for a second full 9x12 spread. 

While I don't believe that I need to include every photo we have for each week, I also love to include as many photos as I can, especially when they have a story behind them. 

Project Life is a great way to do an overview of each week (or month, if you like to do monthly spreads). 

I know the idea is that when you have a lot of photos, from something that happened that week, or bigger stories to tell - that's when you can turn to layouts. Or whatever type of documenting you do. 

Between Project Life, layouts, and other projects, you'll eventually get all of those important stories - big and small - documented and in the books. 

At least, that's my thinking ;) 

So there's a look at the second half of week forty four. Lol. I'll be back tomorrow to share another weekly PL spread.

Project Life 2018: Week Forty Four

Hey everyone! I'm back to share another week in my 2018 Project Life album, so here's a quick look at week forty four.

I have a definite system for where I put my photos, filler cards, and journaling cards. I always start by adding in my photos, and I honestly never really move them once they're in the pockets.  

So sometimes, like with this particular week, I realize that maybe I should have moved a few things around for better color balance. I obviously don't stress over these spreads all that much ;)

Note to self - I need to find more purple filler cards. I already added in all of my filler cards for the rest of my 2018 album, and I'm pretty sure I used the last of the purple cards.

That's it for this week. Hope you all have a wonderful Mother's Day weekend!

Project Life 2018: Week Forty Three

Hey everyone. I'm back to share another weekly spread in my 2018 Project Life album. Week forty three, which had a few more photos than usual that I wanted to include. I added a 6x12" insert, which is my go-to choice for those photo heavy weeks. 

Here's a look at the first half of my spread, with the 6x12" filler page on the right.

I'm going to keep this short and sweet, as I don't have much to say. Basically, my spreads all look the same.

Same basic layout, as far as where the photos go, where the filler cards go, and where the journaling cards go. 

Just different photos, and different stories each week. 

Which I'm totally fine with, as it is one of the biggest reasons I've been so successful keeping up. 

Even though by "keeping up", I mean I'm getting it done. 

Because yes, it's May of 2019. And 2018 ended 5 months ago. 

Here's a look at the second half of my spread, with the 6x12" filler page on the left.

And I actually still have 8 weeks to finish up in my 2018 album. And if I had been "keeping up", I should have been done 5 months ago. Or at least 4 months. 

But I still think I've done fairly well with last year's album, and I know that I'll have it officially done really, really soon. 

And then I'll get started on my 2019 album. Ya know, hopefully before the year is half over ;)

In fact, I feel behind in my photo ordering routine. Just last night, I placed an order for my March and April photos. So those will be here the beginning of next week. 

I got this. Yes, I think I do ;)

I have one more week that's finished up and ready to share. Look for it on Monday. Have a great weekend!

Project Life 2018: Week Forty Two

Hey everyone. I'm back to share a quick peek at week forty two in my 2018 Project Life album. 

If I were to pick colors for my filler cards based off of the photos, I don't think I would have come up with bright pink and blue. Lol. But I will usually look for a busier card to start out with, if I can find one that works with my photos for the week. And for this weekly spread, I picked the brightly colored chevron patterned card (on the second page), and that card just led to these bright and fun pink and blue cards. 

I really don't use any embellishments at all in my 2018 album. But as I was going to photograph this spread, I realized that the blue filler card had an empty box under the "today is", which meant that I needed to add something there. I still don't have a real grasp on where things are in my room, so I went with one of the first things I could find - the little "perfection" sticker. 

Crazy to see photos from when we moved into the new house. And crazy to realize we've been here a little over six months now.

I got tired of searching for the perfect word/phrase digital stamp (or PNG from a cut file) to add to the top of this filler card, so I finally just added the camera, which is a digital stamp.

I'll be back tomorrow to share another week in my album :)

Project Life 2018: Week Forty One

Hey all. I know, I know - more PL layouts. Lol. It's the only thing new I have to share, so I'm just going with it. I finished up another 4 weeks in my 2018 Project Life album last week, so I'll be sharing those this week. That means I only have 8 more weeks to complete, and I really do think I can finish those by the end of this week, since I have a lighter work schedule this week. Soooo. Here's week forty one. 

I'm constantly forgetting when I've added in recaps of the products I've been using in my 2018 album (I try to add that info in here and there for any new-comers), so I'll add those into this post in case anyone is wondering. 

I like to add the info for my weekly title cards every now and then, since I get asked about them a lot. I used the Pocket Guide No.4 kit from Paislee Press. I created each week's card in Photoshop, using the template from the kit - switching out the week number and adding the dates for each week. 

I love using one of these J-Card Weekdays digital journaling cards from Cathy Zielske each week. I like these cards, because they format your text as you type and they're just so easy to use. Also, they have plenty of room for journaling. I love to pick a photo each week that I know has a bigger story to go along with this card. And often times, I can pull that story straight off my Instagram, and just copy and paste it in.  

I work one of the Recorded Journaling Cards from In A Creative Bubble into each weekly spread. If you click that link, it takes you to one of those sets - but she has 9 sets currently, and I use cards from all nine of those kits. If it's a week that has an insert, and then I may use two cards for that week. She's got a great selection of these simple black and white cards to choose from, so I can always find one that fits my photo/story. 

The "This Story" digital journaling cards are also by Cathy Zielske (offered as a part of her Scrapbook Your Year class) and I love to use one per week. They're set up with four on a page, so it's really easy to knock out 4 at a time, with very little effort.  

This lined journaling card is the one card that I can have fun with each week, personalizing it to fit my photo. To add a little something to the top of the card, I usually use a digital stamp or two. 

I'm still using strictly filler cards that I printed using the Project Life app. I love how it's simplified the process, and I've been able to make it work using only the cards that I've had printed and on hand. 

Project Life 2018: Week Forty

Hey again. Just popping in to quickly share another week in my 2018 Project Life album. Here's a look at week forty. 

Here's a random true story for you. I was applying for jobs left and right, most of them in retail/grocery, as that's what I knew before doing daycare. The first interview I had was with Target. I had applied to several positions, one of them in pricing, as that's what a large chunk of my experience was in. I found out that the interview was actually for a position stocking shelves in the grocery part of Target. And guess what? I was told I wasn't a good fit. 

It was oddly funny to me, seeing as how I worked for 15 years in grocery/warehouse stores, and a huge part of what I did was stock shelves. Granted, those 15 years happened a long time ago. But I still thought it was pretty hilarious that I couldn't even get a job at Target. It felt a little pathetic at the same time, but I got a good laugh at it all.

Most of my photos had the same look, color wise. Especially the ones on the second page of the spread. I had a few touches of color in the photos on the first page of the spread, so I  pulled one color (aqua) and used it for one of my filler cards. I kept the other filler cards black and white.

I have Alyssa go thru and make notes for all of her photos for me when she's home, so that I don't have to bug her with texts when I go to do my journaling cards. And I noticed that she made a note for this week, saying I had a type on my card about her winning Justin Timberlake tickets. I see it now. But I most likely won't fix it. Lol.

"Are you ready for this?" seemed like a fitting filler card, seeing as this was the week that we officially moved out of the old house. 

I think we were as ready as we could be, looking back. 

We still drive by the old house often, since it's right between my parent's house and my brother's house. It's kind of weird to drive by and realize it's not our home anymore. Random fact. One of the first things they did after moving in was cut down several of our large birch trees in the front yard. They were oddly concerned about those trees, and actually wanted us to pay 15K to have them removed (I wish I was joking with that number, but I'm not). Sure, they needed to be cut back a bit - but so sad that they took them all the way out.

Project Life 2018: Week Thirty Nine

Hey everyone! I may have mentioned on my Instagram the other day that I was making it a goal to finish up all of my 2018 Project Life album this week. Not sure that's going to happen, but I'm going to do my best. I got a little sidetracked with a few layouts. So for those that might not love seeing all of these PL weekly spreads, and love layouts - they'll be coming ;)

So here's a look at week thirty nine. I added in a 6x12 insert, which you can see on the right here. Making this a quick share, since I'm short on time - but also wanted to get this up.

I like to add the info for my weekly title cards every now and then, since I get asked about them a lot. I used the Pocket Guide No.4 kit from Paislee Press. I created each week's card in Photoshop, using the template from the kit - switching out the week number and adding the dates for each week. 

Alyssa always has good Snapchat photos. I love that she sends them to me all the time. I always feel so sad when I try and screenshot them, and I somehow just close out of the app. Lol. 

Love this photo of her by the Stockton Kings mural. I can always count on her for good 4x6" photos each month.

This wasn't the best quality photo once I printed it. But my theory is that I'd rather have a less stellar quality photo, than no photo at all ;)

I'm pretty sure I mentioned in a few recent PL shares, that I don't use many 4x6" journaling cards, and/or filler cards, in my album. Those valuable 4x6" pockets are usually filled with photos. And yet, I've had quite a few weeks at this point in the album where I did need a 4x6" journaling card.

Here's a look at the second half of the weekly spread, with the 6x12" insert on the left.

Awwwww. I took this photo of Addie and Lyan on my last day of doing daycare. Goodness, I miss those two. I almost didn't want to put them down for naps that day, but there was also so much going on, that I really had too. Lol. This was after naptime, when I got all crazy and let them have their snack on the floor. Mainly because I had cleaned up their booster seats to give to a friend as soon as they left. Lol. 

Ummmm. Yes, that pretty filler card is actually bent in a few places in real life. I have no clue why, since it was in a storage thing meant to hold 4x6" pics. But I wanted to use it, so use it I did.

Ha. I'm sure my aunt will be thrilled when she finds out her car accident made it into my album. Just like my mom's little car accident earlier in the album. Lol.

I wish I had more photos to document Alyssa's birthday, but it's harder when you don't see them on their actual birthday. Love that her co-workers brought her donuts and champagne to celebrate her 22nd birthday at work.

Project Life 2018: Week Thirty Eight

Hey all. I'm sharing the last weekly spread in my 2018 Project Life album from my last "catch up" session today. This is week thirty eight. 

I had good intentions of typing up a journaling card to go along with the screenshot photo on the right. But that photo is rather text heavy, and I realized that it had the info all there. This was a post by the professor, sharing that his book was published - a book that Alyssa had the opportunity to help do some research for while in school.

I love using one of these J-Card Weekdays digital journaling cards from Cathy Zielske each week. I like these cards, because they format your text as you type and they're just so easy to use. Also, they have plenty of room for journaling. I love to pick a photo each week that I know has a bigger story to go along with this card. And often times, I can pull that story straight off my Instagram, and just copy and paste it in.  

I like to add the info for my weekly title cards every now and then, since I get asked about them a lot. I used the Pocket Guide No.4 kit from Paislee Press. I created each week's card in Photoshop, using the template from the kit - switching out the week number and adding the dates for each week. 

This was a pretty simple week, so not much to share, detail wise. 

This means I only have 14 more weeks to finish up in my 2018 album, which is so doable. Especially since I took the time a few days ago to add in all of the filler cards for those 14 weeks. And half of my journaling cards for those weeks are already typed up and in the album. I hope to get the rest of the year finished up very soon!

Project Life 2018: Week Thirty Seven

Hey everyone! Wanted to pop in and share another week in my 2018 Project Life album with you all. Here's week thirty seven. Which happened to have extra photos that I wanted to include, so I added in a 6x12" insert page. 

Here's a look at the first half of the weekly spread, with the 6x12" insert on the right. 

Black and white filler cards are always a go-to choice, as they go with any photos.

I messed with this week more than I've probably ever messed with any other week. Lol. I always add my photos in first, and then work from there, and rarely move the pics around. But I kept moving things as I went with this week, trying to make it work. The struggle was real with this one.

These basketball dudes are TALL. I mean, I know my Alyssa is on the shorter side, but I have also met her two co-workers several times, and they're not that tiny. Lol.

I love the Recorded Journaling Cards from In A Creative Bubble, and had picked up the 8th set when it came out a while back. I use a ton of her 3x4" journaling cards, but it's rare that I use a 4x6" journaling card in my album. I usually fill any 4x6" pockets with photos. But on my 6x12" insert for this week, I had room for a larger journaling card, so they came in handy.

If I had known I was going to use this "play ball" filler card, I would have picked a different Pocket Maps card by Sara Gleason. Oh well. Not a huge deal to me. I almost always work two to three of the Pocket Maps cards into each weekly spread, and they're just perfect for those photos that don't have big stories. A quick sentence or two is all I need. 

Here's a look at the second half of the weekly spread, with the 6x12" insert on the left.

Alyssa has so many awesome work photos. I have some ideas that I've been tossing around for taking those work photos and doing something fun with them. Once I settle on the best way to tackle the project, I'll get going on it. 

I didn't have many filler cards for this spread, considering it has an insert page. A few of my cards were black and white, but I did have one yellow card. So I thought this card, while mostly black and white, would tie in with that yellow in a subtle way.

My little Easton. I miss that little dude. He just turned two years old a little over a week ago. Luckily, I have managed to see him a few times since he left (which was a few weeks before I officially closed the daycare). 

Still crazy that Alyssa didn't receive her diploma until NINE months after she finished her college classes. Totally random glitch in the system was to blame. 

I'll be back tomorrow to share one more weekly spread with you :)