Well the supplies have been in my craft room for almost 2 years but now I’ve decided that 2015 I’ll be starting Project Life. Nothing like spending some years thinking about doing it. Maybe I just didn’t know where to start but a new year sounds like a good place for me. And I can’t tell you the relief when my crafting buddy Lorelei revealed that she too hadn’t touched her Project Life supplies that we had bought together at the craft show. Phew! And then more of you told me that you hadn’t started either. Double phew!
Just weekly for me and I thought I’d go back and do a few of the big events in our family life like each birth, baptism, keira’s sacraments so far, special birthdays. But once you start you could go crazy but thankfully I’m just going to start small and not overwhelm myself. Too much.
I was asked on facebook what you need and how much it costs! How long is a piece of string I think but thankfully doing a little bit of scrapbooking (but not being very good or taking to it that well) meant that I had some supplies here. From what I’ve read so far you’ll need an album, plastic inserts for your album, cards to go into your plastic inserts, pens for writing on cards, a paper trimmer to trim photos and paper, double sided tape, photos (of course!) and then if you want embellishments you can add them too. You can also do it all online by going digital or even just do it all on your phone with the app and I have to say that the app was lots of fun and super easy and you can then print your page if you like or share online. Too easy. You can also print your photos at home and from what I’ve read the Canon Selphy seems to be coming up as a fabulous home printer but correct me if I’m wrong?
I have to say that buying a core kit with 50 million cards in the one theme seemed like a good idea at the start but now that I’ve seen other mini card packs (with gold and glitter!) and time has moved on from when I picked that pack I wish I had more variety. So I’ll be sharing that kit with the girls who have become craft obsessed over the holidays. Like mother, like daughters.
I bought up my supplies at a craft show a few years ago, Spotlight had a small but great selection, your local scrapbooking store will be a huge help and of course you are supporting local business.
Now I am no expert but some great resources that I have found this week are listed here and I’ve also created a Project Life board on pinterest too.
Becky Higgins facebook page and website
an Aussie & NZ Facebook group
A bowl full of lemons (craft room TO DIE FOR!)
So hit me with it…..have you done it? have you tried and failed at scrapbooking? are you a regular at project life? any tips? favourite websites? Share your store or project life blog? Go……
I would feel too much pressure weekly so mine is just as things occur. Could go two to three weeks without anything and then many family days occur and I do it all. My kids love looking at the family album. It’s wonderful to hear ‘remember this’….. So wonderful. Don’t put too much pressure on yourself cause you may resent it. I put the album on my lap, a core kit one side and the photos on the other. I rarely cut and don’t embellish cause the project life cards are enough.
I’m a huge scrapbooker and found that Project Life was a good way for me to document every day stuff and leave my all-out scrapbook pages for ‘special’ events. The first two years I was pretty strict about one two-page spread per week, but this year I’ve just put things in order – no filling in spaces in weeks I didn’t take many photos, or cramming all of the special weeks (like the Christmas/New Year weeks, holidays away and birthdays) into a couple of sleeves. Girls just love flicking through the past albums, and I love that I have an easy reference to look back on when things happened, especially milestones that didn’t go straight away into the baby books and would have been forgotten forever! I’ve got a couple of core kits that I’ve split with my mum so there’s a bit more variety, and crafthouse is a great site for online shopping and ordering. Looking forward to seeing your pages!
Yes, i have intentions to get it all out of the box to use this year. So many supplies (paper and digital) – time to put it all to use! I think ill just do it as it comes …no rules to keep up with weekly etc, however i would like to go back and do all of our Christmases, kids’ birthdays and preschool/first school year. Ha – let’s see!
I have done part of the last two years – I really like what I have done and will go back and finish. A couple of things I have found…I sort my photos into folders by week. Week 1 – 1 to 5 January etc. I find it so much easier when I download from devices and sort! Also – if I get behind I have the photos already in weeks.
Another tip – if trying to backtrack, you can create a free ebook of your facebook at fonicle.com. Just go and created your book…when you hit ‘order’ it gives you the option to download the free ebook. When months behind – it is easy to see what happened on any day.
The two popular printers seem to be Picturemate and Selphy – there has been many discussions and the main difference is the Selphy prints smaller photos that seem to slide around in the pockets. I have the picturemate, and while per print it is more expensive – it means I only print what I need so save heaps in time and money and the pictures are SO MUCH better quality. (I used to think people were exagerating till I saw the difference). You can also print journal cards on it….I do that as my handwriting is awful.
Have a look at Petra Corcoran’s Blog – Thanks for dropping by – she is a master at getting it done and has some video tutorials.
One last thing – your supplies breed…before you know it you will have more than you can use in 10 lifetimes! LOL
Most of all – get it done, it won’t be perfect and you will improve as you go – you can always go back and amend, what is important is documenting the memories.
2015 will be my 4th year of PL. I am a little behind but know I will catch up. I have decided to go fully digital in 2015 due to time constraints. In regards to the Selphy, it doesn’t print true 6×4 photos, the Picturemate on the other hand does.
I used to do scrap booking, but when our second child arrived it all went on the back burner. Earlier this year I heard about project life and now with four children it’s what I enjoy. I don’t do weekly pages, but tend to focus on special events and family time. I find it so easy to fit in with my family and now mt eldest daughter sits and helps me.
This may sound ignorant, but what is Project Life and how is it different to scrap booking?
I’ve decided to go digital. I love using the app on my iPad. It is super easy and with 5 children I can do a few minutes of work on it here and there, instead of having to look for blocks of time. I also would secretly like all the kits available! At least digitally I can have MANY kits at my disposal for very little outlay:)
Cant wait to see what you create Corrie
I was there selling with them, bummed I missed meeting you. It was a great show!
This system of memory keeping has changed the way I document life! It’s fantastic.
Best way to start is to get the photos printed and in pockets first, then go through and add the cards and pretty stuff.
Couple of other extra things to add
The Epson Picturemate is a much better printer IMO as it prints a true 4×6 size photo or smaller if needed. The Selphy doesn’t
And Craft House is another place to shop. It has an Aussie website – project life.com.au & and NZ website craft house.co.nz This would have been the stall you bought from at the craft show last year
Just completed my weekly 2014 album. So fun and easy. I would suggest writing stuff down in a note book-thoughts, events, dates etc. Makes it easier when you sit down to dk a few pages. Helped me big time when I got a few weeks behind this year.
I was given a project life starter kit last Christmas (2013) but haven’t done anything other than open it, thank the giver and pack it in a box. My aim for 2015 is to each month print off 100 photos for each year of Miss9’s life and fill a slip in the sleeve album and do a basic journal then print the extra special pics and do a proper scrapbook for her (I figure for her 21st lol!). As for the project life, I might do it as a project on our new move and new adventure, still deciding and haven’t unpacked the box it is in as yet… so a bit more time to think it through…
Welcome to project life! You’ll be so happy that you opened that core kit.
This will be year 3 for me using PL. It is a sensational way to record your memories and house your photos. Can’t wait to see what you create. I post a little on my blog and am very active on the australia project life group. 
I love the idea of Project Life and am very excited about the digital option. I have downloaded the app and started to play around making pages. My only concern is what size do the pages that you create print to? Has anyone printed from the app and is able to shed some light? Many thanks in advance.