project life 2017

Here I am again, ready to share some more of my 2017 Project Life spreads. I’m almost up to date with my spreads which I’m super happy about and proud of. Of course there are loads of other projects which are in various stages of in-completedness but they’re going to have to stay that way until time can be found.

Once I’m up to date I hope to be able to upload my spreads on a weekly basis and keep track of the supplies I’ve used so that I can include more detail on where I’ve sourced everything. But for now, photos and words are it!

Week Five
As I was photographing this I noticed the typo in the dates on the title card. I could go back and fix it, but I’ll probably just leave it. No biggie.

I finally got myself a watercolour set and played with it a little on the Happy Birthday card. I really love the soft pastel colours that I ended up with.
It was my birthday on the Monday of this week and I was feeling a bit down so my story reflected that. I decided I’d rather keep that particular piece of journaling hidden. So it’s tucked in behind the main card on a white shipping tag.

Here is the left side and a little close-up on that hidden journaling tag:

Here is the right side:

Week Six

Sometimes you have a spread or a layout that is just a real struggle to pull together. This was one of those. I spent way more time on this spread than on the others. In the end I settled for just getting it done and getting it documented and that’s really ok.

Here is the left side:

And here is the right side:

Week Seven

I’d been using the weekly title cards from the Project Life, Project 52 Fresh Edition and had originally planned on continuing that through the entire album. But I’ve come to the conclusion that they’re just a little bit too limiting for me. I may throw the odd one in here and there but for now I am going back to using different title cards. It’s really the only space I have for 4×6 cards since all the other pockets are usually taken up with photos.

I will say right up that I love this spread… if only for it’s pinkness!
I had accidentally printed all my photos on the wrong paper but couldn’t be bothered going and re-printing onto glossy paper so I’ve just left them as they are. I’m also not happy with my handwriting on the bottom of the first 3×4 photo but again, I don’t really want to go back and re-print and re-write so I’m just leaving it as it is.

Here is the left side:

Here is the right side:

Week Eight

Please excuse the fuzziness of this photo. For some reason it came out slightly out of focus. (Note to self: buy tripod boom arm!).

I’m trying to bring some of my handwriting back into my spreads. It’s relatively quick and easy and it adds a little more personality and interest into the pages.

Here is the left side:

And the right:

And there we have it.

Hopefully this weekend I’ll be able to set aside some time to work on finishing off the last couple of spreads to bring me 100% up to date on this year’s album. That would be pretty sweet!

This year I want to make a real effort to not only stay up to date with Project Life but also to share my layouts. I’m happy that I’m staying on top of getting my weekly spreads done even with the incredibly crazy schedule I’m now keeping. But I hadn’t quite gotten around to sharing any of them. And so, here they are!

I’m trying to keep things relatively simple and as you’ll see, I’m using my typewriter for a lot of my journaling this year. I’m not sure whether or not that’s something that I will continue but for now, I am loving it so I’ll keep at it.

For now I’m going to refrain from referencing all my supplies however I’m happy to (try to) answer any specific product queries that anyone has.

2017 Title Page

We really didn’t have any super recent family photos that I could use so I ended up grabbing a couple of the three of us from Violet’s 1st birthday back in October last year. It’s a good reminder that we need to make an effort to get more photos together.

I so loved the “How To Make 2017 Rad” manifesto(?) that was trending on social media at the start of the year and decided it was something that I wanted to include in my title page. I also want to do a really simple traditional 12×12″ layout and hang it on the wall in my study as a daily reminder for me throughout the year.

Week One

Week one had a couple of inserts, though I want to try to avoid adding too many inserts to my album this year. But since the week started on the 2nd and I knew I wanted to include our New Years Day activities I made some allowances.

Here are the two sides of the main spread:

Here is the insert for New Years Day:

And here is the insert about Violet’s first drawing. I knew that I wanted to preserve this piece of paper and this seemed like the perfect place to do it. The little pencil chipboard stickers from Studio Calico were so perfect!

Week Two

Left side:

Right side:

This one included a little flip-up so that I could squeeze a couple of extra photos in.

Week Three

I really loved playing with the pinks and golds in this spread.

Left side:

Right side:

Week Four

This week also had a little insert – I really wanted to keep a copy of our Bruce Springsteen ticket. Here is the main spread without the insert:

I had so much fun creating the title page for this week using a stamp from Kellie Stamps. I used pretty much the entire stamp set across this spread. I’ll definitely be bringing it out again next summer.
This was also a pretty special week because it’s the week that Violet finally decided to walk! I’ll definitely be dedicating a traditional scrapbook layout to that milestone when I have some time up my sleeves.

Here is the left side:

Here is the right side:

And here is the front and back of the insert. I had to run some washi along the side so that I could re-punch the holes to fit. And I had nothing to go on the back side of the ticket so I managed to find a copy of the set list that someone had posted online and printed that off for the back.

And there you have it!
I’ve really been trying to work on a cohesive aesthetic for my spreads. I’m not totally happy with everything but when I look back at it all together, I’m pretty content with the way that it has come together. I know that over time it’s something that I will get better and better at.

One thing I do need to work on though is photographing the spreads. I would love to get a boom arm for my tripod which I’m sure will help. But any other tips or advice that more seasoned sharers can send my way will be greatly appreciated!

Project Life 2017 – Weeks 5 to 8

Project Life 2017 – Weeks 1 to 4

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