Sunday, September 8, 2013

Project Life Review



I've been interested in the Project Life concept for a few years and love what Ali Edwards does with it so I took the plunge and started with ordering a set of the page protectors in a variety pack. Since I've really only seen samples of people scrapping the weekly events like it's intended I thought that is how I'd use it. To commit to that you need to be really good about documenting and actually printing your photos. I don't fall into that category of people. I had the supplies and I wanted to start so I used an event from last fall as my virgin page.

For this layout I rounded all the corners, created my own filler sections with scrap paper, and embellished with washi tape & thickers. It was fun and took a fraction of the time it usually took me to create a traditional layout. I liked it but was still thinking I needed to follow the weekly collection of photos mantra to make it work.


All that changed when I received a free sample Project Life kit with my Studio Calico card kit. It was a small sampling of the cards to insert and since I had them...why not use them? I started with some photos I've been meaning to scrap for 3+ years. Our trip to Holland and Belgium. I had stacks of photos to deal with and it was daunting. No problem! I just started sliding those puppies into the layout and journaling on the cards with a little embellishing along the way. I finished a good representation of our trip in about 8 page protectors in less than 2 hours. Woah!


I had firmly been against buying the filler cards for Project Life because I need more paper like I need to gain 10 pounds. But I was torn because now I've seen how much faster I can go with them and how much more likely I am to do it if I have the cards. 40% off the kits was all I needed to buy my first two filler sets and I've now scraped over 30 pages. It feels great have my memories out of a box and in a book. The new format allows me to enjoy the memories and not focus on the embellishments and layout. I'm a fan and over having to conform to it's original intent. I am still creative as I'm able to create as much or as little as I want with each layout.

2 comments:

Sarah said...

Thank you so much for sharing your experience with Project Life style scrapbooking. I've been on the fence for years (and may still have some of those old divided protectors from years ago when Ali Edwards was just experimenting with them) but haven't quite been able to commit. You have me thinking I can get my little girl's baby album done quickly.

SeattleStamper said...

You should give it a go Sarah, especially if you have the supplies. As you can see in the bottom two layouts I didn't alter the photos. So the worst that could happen is you end up doing a different album later. Get those photos out of your storage area and enjoy them!