Project Life

I've blogged before about Becky Higgins' Project Life materials.

A couple weeks ago I got to spend a few hours working on my scrapbooks. I had already put pictures into slots - I just needed to record stories and finalize the picture placement. Once the pieces were in place, and the journalling done, I was so happy with how each layout looked.

I fell in love with the system all over again.

Many people use the system to record a picture each day. That doesn't work for me. I needed something simpler. So I do a page or two per month. If I need more, I can use more. If I need less, so be it. If I want to use one page to talk about one event or one memory, I can do that. If I want to use 6 pages to talk about our vacation, I can.

This probably means I can unload most of the scrapbook supplies I still have. I think I'll be using Project Life for most of my memory keeping from now on.

SAVOR - Creativity

A couple weeks ago I was able to carve out some crafting time. It is something I would love to do more often, but I feel like there are never enough hours in the week to get everything finished.

This was for the category, "Rituals" for an online class I am taking. It includes space for first-day-of-school pictures for the next three years.

This page is about the tools I use in my new profession.

This last one is a group of 12 lists:

12 characters I love

11 life essentials

Top 10 books today

9 favorite movie moments

8 favorite words

7 things I love about my everyday life

6 places to visit

5 things I do every day

4 stores I love

3 favorite pictures

2 choices I have never regretted

1 thing to know about me

I am SAVORING any creative time I am able to carve out of my schedule. 

Scrapbooking Again

Last weekend I made scrapbook pages for the first time in years. Not necessarily my "best" work, but pages are made, pictures are archived and stories are told.

Project Life

This is Project Life - a memory keeping system developed by Becky Higgins. 

There are four colors - cobalt (seen here), amber (below), clementine (a bright orange) and turquoise. The binder holds the page protectors (which came in the large white box).

The little white box is what I think is fantastic. The page protectors I bought have four 4x6 spots - two at the top and two at the bottom - with four smaller spots in the middle. The pieces in this little white box fit in those spaces.

This very easily can be memory keeping for those who don't scrapbook while also being a starting point for those who love it.


Yes, the little white box is quite a financial investment (Thankfully, I had some Amazon gift cards to use), but if this system will get my pictures in a book and out of little paper envelopes, it's worth it!

More scrapbook inspiration

How cute is this? 


A week ago I stopped by the scrapbook store, intending to buy some paper for my "scrapbook squares" pages. But I left the folder at home that told me what colors I needs, so I wandered around the store instead.


There was an entire display dedicated to this new line

I fell in love. I would walk away and be immediately drawn back. I couldn't decide which papers I liked best. These might actually prompt me to MAKE something!


Of course, I had to pick this up as well. Definitely have a few things we can put with pages like these!

Scrapbook Squares

I used to scrapbook obsessively (If you've been reading along the last week or so, this will not surprise you!). Then I learned that every photo, every moment does not require a two-page spread.

This was a great relief to me. The downside to that revelation, though, is that I felt so relieved that I just stopped scrapbooking all together. I still bought the supplies that "spoke" to me ("Oh, that paper would work well with our basket ball pictures") and I printed the pictures. But they have just been piling up for "some day."

"Some day" has still not arrived. But I have started making these pages for the time being.

The more I look at these, the more I like them. Simple. Shows change over time, or the faces of a family. No stories, which is an important piece, but it is a start. Interesting how much you can capture in a square inch.

Project Life 2011

    Crafty blogs have been buzzing for weeks about Project Life 2011. You can see a video about it here. This sort of thing appeals to my organizational nature and also to the type of scrapbooker I have become.

When my son was born, I scrapbooked everything. If I took a picture of it, it got glued to a piece of paper and put in a book. It was fun, it was creative, and it was exhausting. I couldn't keep it up. So I stopped.

Then I took some classes at Big Picture Classes and I realized that I could record stories and feelings as they occurred or as I was inspired. I could also leave pictures out or not even print them. It was liberating. 

When I saw Becky Higgins explain this kit in the video I posted above, I thought this was a perfect method of scrapbooking for those who don't have time or the inclination to scrapbook but who want their pictures - and maybe their stories - in a book where they could be enjoyed. 

Simple. Coordinated. Lovely.

Amazon is sold out of the kits right now - I don't even know what they cost. But they are supposed to be back in stock "soon" - maybe by the end of the month. Check them out if you are looking for something like this in your life!

Scrapbook love

My family also let me spend some time at the scrapbook store last weekend where I found all sorts of goodies - beautiful papers, peacock stamps, and other little treats.

But the highlight of the trip had to be this:

Star Wars and Lego products! I am envisioning clip boards and scrapbook pages and all sorts of fun things. Can't wait to dig into my new stash and start creating!

Fun idea for scrapbookers

Author Joanna Campbell Slan writes a mystery series with a scrapbooking/paper craft theme. I have read the first two books in the series and really enjoyed them.

Ms. Slan has written a dinner mystery - called A Crop to Die For - staring the main character from her series.  It can be performed for groups, like a scrapbooking/crop group or as a fundraiser. Check out the details here. I think this looks like loads of fun!

Cathy Z scrapbooking resources

I am a huge fan of scrapbooker and graphic designer, Cathy Zielske. I have talked about her here and on my book review blog about some of her design books. They are among my favorite resources for scrapbooking.

On her blog a couple weeks ago, Cathy highlighted Quick and Creative Quizzes, an e-book designed by Ella Publishing. Cathy then designed a printable resource to go with it with quizzes and sketches.



There were two things about this that caught my eye. The first is that the "schemes" or templates are PDFs. I have not invested in digital software for scrapbooking, but I can manage PDFs. The other thing is the price - $4! The price of the e-book from Ella is only $6.

I already have a magazine of quizzes and questions, so I'm not looking for that kind of material. But they are a great starting point for a scrapbook page if you haven't tried them before (and the $6 price is great. I am pretty sure I paid more for my magazine.). But I do like the idea of these PDF pages I can print. If you are a scrapbooker, looking for new inspiration, check out these resources.