8 Tips To Get Started On Your Project Life

1. Purchase photo sleeves with little compartments, like these: Photo Pocket Pages - Big Variety Pack 1 (60 Pages) You can buy the Becky Higgins brand (who started the whole Project Life craze) or you can buy your own photo sleeves. These have 6 photos on a sheet.  I flip-flop back and forth with styles and brands depending on what I think would look best based on the photos I have. 


2.  Cut up cardstock to fit the sleeves.  I pre-cut a WHOLE bunch of scrapbook papers in order to fit so I can just grab them when I am ready.  When I started this scrapbook, I originally bought a core kit from the Becky Higgins line, but then realized I had so much scrapbook paper already that I could use as well. 

3.  Spend some time just cutting card stock and trimming all of your photos.  Gather colors that look good together.  For example, on the spread above, I picked cardstock with greens because I had some pictures of Daria in grass.

4.  Don't forget to date everything!

5.  Outline pictures in marker to make them stand out more.  Doodle frames around the pictures for extra interest.  

6.  Use non-traditional techniques for backgrounds.  For example, on these pages, I had my 2 1/2 year old color all over the card stock paper.  Then, I cut them up into backgrounds.  These pages might not win any awards in scrapbooking magazines, but they are meaningful to me and that's what's important!


7.  Use a white pen to add doodles, captions and journaling. My favorite pen to use is the Pentel Arts Sunburst Gel Pen, White.  I have tried a lot of pens and this one works best for me on photographs.  Find an area on a photo that is mostly a solid color and that is the perfect place to add your writing.


8. Don't go crazy buying supplies!  For me, the most important tools which I use constantly are:

The white pen:  Pentel Arts Sunburst Gel Pen, White
A good black marker: Sharpie Poster-Paint Markers black fine: WATER BASED  
Adhesive Roller (will save you a lot of time and mess):Tombow Mono Adhesive Roller Applicator (62130)
 A paper trimmer
Cardstock, stickers, colored tape, and whatever random supplies I happen to have lying around.

Good luck!  Have you done any scrapbooking in this format?

4 comments

Michelle Gregory said...

no, but i've thought about it for a long time. so many pictures (my oldest is 18) and no time, plus the pressure to make pages look gorgeous. maybe this is something that's more manageable.

carol l mckenna said...

Very creative ~ love your style ~ thanks, ^_^

Corey said...

HI Marcia, I did the same thing you did- I bought the Project Life kit, but find that I use my own scrapbook papers more than the kit. Oh well-at least it got me started on doing this style of scrapbooking!
You asked about the white on my paintings. I do use acrylic paints (just the cheapo craft ones), and I usually use white charcoal pencil for fine lines. I've also used a Sharpie white paint pen, but it's not as fine as I'd like. I actually may try this white gel pen you recommend-I've never found one I liked well enough!

Šolanje na domu-Waldorf said...

This looks so much better than just a regular album. Fantastic tips! Thanks for sharing. :)