Tag: Project Life

2023 Spring Clean Series! Organizing My Project Life Cart (And My Stories by the Month Kits)

Leave a comment

My 2023 Spring Clean Series is here and I am kicking off this year’s series with a brand new video featuring my process for organizing my Project Life supplies, specifically, my Ali Edwards Stories By The Month kits. This project is long overdue and I’m so excited to share my process with you!

To begin, I repurposed a craft cart from Michaels that originally housed my December Daily materials. Since I am not in the mood to work on holiday projects, I decided to use this cart for my Project Life materials.

I enjoy using the Ali Edwards Stories By The Month kits along with goodies from Elle’s Studio and the Paper Person Shop. To avoid turning this project into an overwhelming endeavor, I focused on organizing my Stories By The Month kits first. I will eventually organize my other kits and incorporate them into my Project Life cart in the near future.

New Video! To see my entire process for organizing my Stories By The Month kits and my Project Life cart, click on the video below! Also, photos of this cart along with a list of available supplies are provided as well.

Here is my Project Life cart, organized and ready to be used! I purchased this cart from Michaels last year and it has served me well! I can easily roll the cart to my craft desk when I am ready to work on a project.

All of my 3×4 and 4×6 Stories By The Month pocket cards are organized in a Scrapbook.com Pocket Card Organizer. I created the dividers using white card stock from my stash, laminating sheets, and my Mini Minc Hot Foil Machine. The 3×4 stamps are organized in a container from Ikea.

Containers from the Target Dollar Spot are used to organize small embellishments and sticker sheets. I like to keep several small bins on hand for organizing an assortment of embellishments and small tools.

Chipboard, wood veneer, die cuts, and acrylic embellishments are stored in a divided ArtBin container for easy access. All of my supplies are neatly organized and ready to be used. And everything I need is right at my finger tips! This makes my heart sing!

Be sure to head to the Victoria Marie YouTube Channel to see this entire organization process. And stay tuned for more videos in this series to come!

Available Products

Revisiting Project Life – Because Memory Planning Is NOT My Jam!

Leave a comment

So, a few months ago during one of my YouTube Livestream sessions, I share that I was attempting to try memory planning, which is essentially scrapbooking in a planner. I was intrigued by this format of storytelling, mainly because I wanted to find an easier way to document my everyday stories.

Armed with tons of ideas and creative inspiration, I created two spreads in my memory planner. But, after making those two pages, I quickly realized: MEMORY PLANNING IS NOT MY JAM!

What I discovered is that I need more space for documenting my stories and I really enjoy the Project Life format of pocket pages and simple embellishing. So, I ditched my memory planner and decided to use a 9×12 inch pocket format instead.

In the past, I’ve used a 12×12 inch format for my Project Life spreads. I have found this size to be too big for my everyday scrapbooking. However, I also found that the 6×8 inch format is too small. After making a few 9×12 inch pocket layouts, I am happy to report that I have found Project Life peace!

I also decided to adopt a very flexible approach to documenting my everyday stories. First, I am not putting pressure on myself to do weekly spreads. If I feel like documenting my weekly activities, I will make a page. If not, then I won’t…it’s that simple.

Second, I want my Project Life pages to be simple – photos, words, and a few embellishments. My focus is to get my stories told…period. In my opinion, scrapbooking should not be stressful. It’s okay to adopt processes that make storytelling easy, simple, but most of all…FUN!

To check out the process video for this spread, click on the video below. A list of products featured in this video are posted below. Enjoy!

Products Featured (subject to availability, no affiliate links provided):

Ali Edwards 9×12 Gray Linen Album
LINK: https://bit.ly/3ISmH4a

Ali Edwards Page Protectors
LINK: https://bit.ly/3IVf2SP

Elle’s Studio Everyday Tabs Stamp Set
LINK: https://bit.ly/3cwxgh9

Citrus Twist Stamp Sets
LINK: https://citrustwistkits.com/collections/stamps

Citrus Twist Die Cuts and Ephemera
LINK: https://citrustwistkits.com/collections/embellishments

Paper Person Shop
LINK: https://paperperson.shop/

Revisiting Project Life | Taking a Simple Approach in 2021

2 Comments

A few years ago, I started my very first Project Life album. Needless to say, that album remains unfinished, along with other Project Life albums and layouts. At some point during the Project Life process, I would completely tucker out and lose steam. Also, I would overthink the process, try to use too many products, and attempt to use ALL the photos.

I quit before I even got started.

Over the past two years, the number of layouts that I make that document my everyday life (i.e. family, work, random shenanigans), has decreased significantly. These stories are very important to me so I began thinking about the idea of revisiting Project Life. Additionally, this year I am working on implementing a daily creative practice. I figured that part of this daily practice should include working on my Project Life album.

So, I decided to revisit Project Life.

If you are not sure what Project Life is, I recommend watching the following video. This video was filmed 5 years ago but it explains the Project Life process. Also, you can find a full range of Project Life physical products and albums HERE . To learn more about Digital Project Life, click HERE, and for the Project Life App, click HERE.

In short, Project Life is a simplified storytelling system using pocket page protects and 3×4 and 4×6 pocket cards. The focus on this format is to document life’s everyday moments. Listen to Becky Higgins, founder and owner of Project Life, as she explains her popular storytelling system.

Despite the fact that I have not been consistent with Project Life in the past, I still love this storytelling approach and I am willing to give it another try. However, this time I am simplifying my process.

PLANNING AHEAD

I have found that I am most successful when I plan my projects a head of time. For me, this means printing my photos throughout the week that I want to include in my weekly spread, journaling throughout the week as well so I don’t forget the details that I want to document, and making a sketch of my overall project design. These are tasks that I can complete during my morning creative block or when I am relaxing and watching Netflix! Also, planning ahead saves so much time when I sit down to finish a weekly layout. I don’t have to take the time to decide what photos I’m going to use or what I want to say…all of that work will be done before hand.

NOTE: I have elected to create weekly Project Life spreads. However, please know that you can approach this project in many different ways (i.e. monthly, seasonally, every other week). The point is to document your everyday stories in someway on a consistent basis.

CURATE A KIT OF PROJECT LIFE SUPPLIES

In addition to making scrapbooking kits, I also plan to make several Project Life kits. These kits will feature a variety materials from my stash and newly acquired products. Having a kit prepared and ready to go eliminates the stress of picking out materials when the time comes to work on a spread.

BATCH AND BLOCK EACH TASK

I strongly believe in the power of batching and blocking as many tasks as I possibly can! To simplify my Project Life process, I have scheduled one day per week (Sunday) to work on my weekly spreads. Working on this project on Sunday mornings has been super helpful and it gives me something to look forward to when the weekend comes. Also, on Saturday mornings, I print my photos and type the journaling for my spreads. This is a fairly easy process if I’m consistent with printing photos throughout the week. But, I recognize that there will be some weeks when this doesn’t happen, so a Saturday morning printing and journaling block will be really helpful.

KEEP THE DESIGN SIMPLE

I love a clean and simple scrapbook layout design. I also love to layer and to add texture and dimension to my scrapbook projects. However, for Project Life, my focus is on words and photos. I have found that I am most interested in simple designs with minimal embellishing and stamping. However, I am giving myself the freedom to explore a variety of design options as I continue with this project in 2021.

Being flexible is key!

MOST OF ALL…ENJOY THE PROCESS!

This year, I want to enjoy the Project Life process! Becky Higgins did not intend for this project to be overly complicated, in fact, her intentions were quite the opposite. So far I have completed Weeks 1 and 2 from January and have Weeks 3 and 4 prepped and ready to go. I very much enjoy the process of reflecting on the week’s adventures, the ebb and flow of my family life, my random thoughts and musings, and everything in between. But most of all, I enjoy the simplicity of this project…just photos and words.

To see Week 2 of my Project Life album, click on the video below. And tell me in the comments section, do you enjoy creating Project Life spreads? Are you revisiting this project after a long break or reevaluating your process? I would love to know!

Enjoy!