Leona Lane

Project Life | Screenshots

Happy Friday! I have a quick post prepared today. Life has been a little crazy around our house lately. We've been trying to sleep train baby Lucy and it is so, so stressful and hard. She is doing great and happy in the morning, so I'm staying positive! Anyway...since it's Friday I thought I would share my Project Life layout from this week. I am still really loving working on this book.

Last week was pretty tough. Not going to lie. This motherhood/working is difficult stuff! I only had a few iPhone photos from the week, so I kept the layout pretty simple. The design F page protector from the previous week worked perfectly! I love that there are so many 3x4 pockets. So much easier to fill!

I added an insert this week with a baseball card page protector. Once I finish the current week, it will be behind this insert and it won't look so plain! I printed out several screen shots from my iPhone from recent weeks. This is a really fun addition to a Project Life album. I added several text messages from my nanny, coworker, babysitter, Matt, and my Mom. I realize so much of my life is recorded in my smart phone, and I love the opportunity to print some of it out to save in this book. As you may see, I also printed out my recent google search history. I believe that so much can be said about a person by their google search history. :)

And with that, I am signing off to catch some zzz's. I am so thankful that it is almost the weekend! Anyone have anything special planned? I can't wait to just relax.

Project Life | Midnight Edition

This story starts with Jenn dragging me to Hobby Lobby... just kidding, I went willingly of course. Amongst other things we ended up getting a Project Life Midnight Edition Kit to split between the two of us. She has past kits she is trying to use up and I am getting the monthly Studio Calico Project Life kits this year - so obviously, we don't really need any more cards. 

... but Hobby Lobby got the best of us and we decided to go halfsies on this one. It seems like it will mix and match really well with the supplies we already have and both of our styles. There are a lot of neutrals - grays, black & white and craft. The only exception is some yellow cards. There are a lot, and I mean a lot, of stripes. There is faux washi tape, hearts, handwritten script, hearts, polka dots, houndstooth, wood-grain, chevron, speech bubbles, ink blots and more stripes.

With the exception of the cards for the first and last pages, there are 10 of each 3x4 card designs, the designs are also different on the front and back of each one. Three of each 4x6 cards, and four of each of the foldable 4x6 cards. The top picture has a bunch of my favorites to give you a better idea what's inside. 

After we got it home, we promptly split it up and had in impromptu scrapbooking session - love those! I just love that kraft heart card above! I cut it into a square and added it to one of my instagram inserts. Also a big fan of the 'right now' card pictured below!

And a few more black & white journaling cards below. Loving how versatile it is and lends itself well to having more white space mixed in.

Hey, it's Jenn here, and I'd like to add a couple photos from my album! Renae and I had so much fun scrapbooking together on Monday! There is only one card from the midnight edition on this spread, it's the "Week in Review" cards. This is one of my favorite, as I write a week in a review card nearly every week.  I love how neutral and versatile this kit is, and easily blends with the several I already have.

This next photo is an in-progress shot. While I often only work on Project Life once a week on Sundays, I sometimes get the chance to find time mid-week. I love that this gives me the chance to write down quick stories that I might forget by Sunday.

Thanks for looking at our Project Life updates! We love sharing our pages on the blog.

Project Life Friday

Happy Friday! As you may have noticed, in the past couple of months we have not been doing our usual "Photo Friday" feature that we did all last year. We did not mention it, but we felt like we needed a bit of a change for 2014. So instead, we've decided to devote our Fridays to Project Life! This subject will be broadly covered (as we don't all do Project Life all the time), but will focus on documenting daily life. It may be sharing a Project Life spread, or giving organizational advice, or we could be sharing a photo prompt, similar to our Photo Fridays of last year. Hopefully this will keep all of us on track with our own life documentation! (Take a look at our Previous posts from this year: Project Life Essentials, Project Life | Wrapping up and Starting Over, Project Life | Two Colors, Project Life | January )

Today I thought I would share my past couple of weeks. I ended up adding lots of extra inserts, as you will see! I started out with one week on one side of the two-page spread. Then the next week I had so much going on that I could have used a two-page spread and more. I solved this problem by adding a couple of inserts.

Week Five was Superbowl week! I took lots of photos on Superbowl Sunday, and then very few the rest of the week. So most of this spread is devoted to that day. It was an awesome day, as our team won. The celebration lasted all week in Seattle, so it's really appropriate to include so much Seahawks stuff here. On the insert to the right I added a star transparancy to mute the bright colors and the Russell Wilson head that was from our party. It was fun to keep, but doesn't really match the rest of the book. I also added an extra 3x4 card to journal about the excitement and the parade.

 Week Six was challenging because I had so many photos and stories to share and only one side of the 2-page spread available because I had used the opposite side for the previous week. I added a 6x12 protector with six extra photos. Three are from Lucy's first snow day, and three more on the back of some random photos of Lucy doing tummy time.

There are two more inserts here; one of them is an invitation to a baby shower, and the other holds my small collection of valentines from the week. One of them I custom made by cutting down an 8.5 x 11 protector and sealing the side with washi tape.

There was lots going on this week! My brother came to town and Lucy and Jaela (my neice) got to hang out together. My cousin had a baby shower, and we went to a first birthday party for a friend's kid. There was also Valentine's Day of course, which was full of chocolate ganache and red roses. I did not add every single photo from the week, but I did get several in here. I'm so glad I have these events documented. That's what this project is all about. :)

Project Life | January

Today I wanted to pop in with a quick post about the start of my 2014 Project Life Album. And with any luck, I'm hoping to share the rest of January and February at the end of the month. Back in January when I shared my Project Life essentials I also talked about what I was excited to change up this year! And so far, I'm really digging all the changes. For a little recap... not rounding corners, check plus, so. much. better!! ...adding instagram specific inserts - totally wish I would have started doing this sooner! ... adding more white space - this one is challenging for me, but I love the look of the finished spread so much more. ...the month to month seems to be working better, definitely less pressure. And as you can see by my title page, I'm using up some of my Studio Calico cards.

This year, I kept the title page pretty simple. I used a smattering of cards from past Studio Calico kits. I just slipped the cards in, added a few letter stickers and handwriting or painting here and there. My favorite is the empty frames card from Studio Calico, I added little paintings inside each frame. It was fun trying to decide what to paint - I wanted it to be somewhat representative of our life. I ended up including our last initial, our current address, a camera, coffee mug and chemex, our cat and lastly a vintage camper, our dream-in-progress.  

For the first spread, I did pretty good incorporating white space, literally. I love the effect the black and white pictures add to this spread. I also used a lot of black and white journaling cards to keep it cohesive. I added various details about New Years, having my good friend Anne-Marie in town and some other little things from the beginning of the month. Like our date to Top Pot donuts! 

I also finished my first dedicated Instagram insert. When I decided to add Instagram inserts, I actually got really excited. I've always gotten frustrated trying to take square pictures and crop them into rectangles - for me, that just did not work - at all. I knew I wanted to use a 12x12 with only square pockets, I found some through a different company on Amazon and so far I'm really happy with the quality. I I really like this style so far - it's much easier and the grid look is always a favorite of mine. For journaling, I just included all the original text from Instagram on one card in the bottom left hand corner.

So that's it! That's the start of 2014. I'm pretty stoked about the direction this project is going this year. And I've got a stack of pictures waiting to get added this weekend!

Project Life | Two Colors

Today I have a few quick tips for people doing Project Life this year. These tips might be perfect for you if you don't have a lot of time to be SUPER creative, but still want your spreads to be visually balanced and beautiful.

Tip No. 1: Use Two Colors

This is my favorite tip of all, and what I use constantly when I'm designing my pages at the end of the week. I always start by printing my photos and then I use the photos to decide what colors I will use. Above, you will see that I primarily used blue and green. This guided my choice in journal cards, label stickers, and embellishments (okay...I don't use many of those, but do occasionally)

Tip No. 2: Use Two Pens

I stay really simple with my journaling, and use two different pens only. I use a thick pen and a thin pen. My favorites are by American Crafts...I use the Precision Pen in size 03 for the small detailed journaling, and the AC Photo Marker (similar size to a sharpie) to highlight any specific words.

Tip No. 3: Use Favorite Photos

It doesn't matter that this week I managed to take only photos of Lucy. Or that most of them were taken the same day. I had other photos of less quality on instagram from the rest of the week, but when they are on instagram I consider that they have already been documented. I mostly use SLR photos for my Project Life, because they tend to be the best quality. And I am obsessed with my daughter so sometimes my layouts are a bit of a "Lucy overload." As time goes on, I know that my Project Life book will get a little more balanced.

Tip No. 4: Add Ephemera

I love to add bits and pieces of "stuff" from my week. Above you will see a tea packet, a tag I got in a scrapbook kit, and a note I wrote to my nanny and mother-in-law. This stuff tells the story of my life in a fun way, and also looks pretty in the page. (Another side note...I never stress about adding ugly ephemera. I just throw it away.)

Tip No. 5: Add simple embellishments

My favorite embellishments to add to my page are simple words strips and flair badges. The word strips are excellent to dress up an empty spot on a photo, and the flair is perfect to add to a peice of pattern paper in an "empty" 2x3 pocket. After all, you may not have enough photos to fill in all those 2x3 gaps.

Tip No. 6: Write on your photos

Maybe it's silly, but I love to leave a little white space in my photos...just so I can write on it later. I find that it's the perfect way to add a little special journaling.

Tip No. 7: Turn photos black & white

I believe that these photos may have already been B&W for instagram, but I use this tip often when I'm working with photos that are strangely colored. I love taking pictures of my daugher when she is playing with her brightly colored toys and on her ugly play mat. Sometimes those photos just look better in black & white.

Tip No. 8: Print instagram photos small with some white space.

This is my new favorite way to print my instagram photos. I love that the white space around it makes it stand out a little on the page. Sometimes I doodle or journal around this little square, but often I just leave it blank.

 Tip No. 9: Use simple stamps

I love to stamp when I do Project Life. Sometimes it's just a simple date stamp. Lately I've been loving using number stamps and letter stamps to add quick details to journal cards. I always keep it SUPER SIMPLE. I have a million stamps, but tend to use the same ones over and over.

Tip No. 10: Attach a tag with the tiny attacher

I just love my tiny stapler from Tim Holtz. I love using it to add a simple tag to a photo, which gives it some interest without over-doing it.

I guess I should keep it at 10 tips, which is a nice and tidy list. Sometime I will also share my organization process. I don't work on this project in my craft room because it's also Lucy's room. So usually I am working on it in the living room during her naps. Maybe someday when I am rich and have a big house I wont make the baby sleep in the craft room!! I can only dream.

If you like this list of tips, you should check out Renae's post from a couple weeks ago. I love her list of Project Life essentials. (Mine are pretty much the same!)