Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Finally Trying Out Project Life!

7 minutes 48 seconds.  That is how long it took me to create this layout start to finish.  Let me say that again.  I finished a layout in under 8 minutes!!  I'm sure this is a record for me.  I can easily spend that much time trying to pick out the right paper for a layout (just ask my friends).  I'm sure that I will spend more than 8 minutes writing this blog post.  Project Life is fast.     

If you haven't heard of Project Life before you can learn about it here.  This is my first time using Project Life.  I've followed Becky Higgins for many years and love her products.  I wasn't sure I would like Project Life though.  I loved the concept but wasn't sure it was for me.  I love creating scrapbook pages and I have a room full of supplies.  This just seemed too simple, too easy.  I've been wanting to try it for awhile but really wanted to see it in person before I ordered it.  When I heard it was going to be on HSN I knew that this would be the time to get it and try it out.  So I ordered the Jade kit. 

Once I opened the box I knew that I would enjoy this style of scrapbooking too.  Yes, it is simple and easy and that is what makes it great.  This was my first layout using these products so I wanted to time myself and really see how fast and easily I could put a page together.  The only thing that I did to prepare the page was get my pictures out, grab a page protector, and open my Jade Project Life kit.  Then I started my timer.   

My first step was to round the corners of my pictures and crop the small picture.  This step took 1 min!  Can you believe that if I wouldn't have rounded the corners of my pictures this page would have been done in less than 7 minutes!  Then I slipped the photos in the spots I wanted them in.

My next step was to fill in the empty spaces with filler cards.  This probably took the most time because I was looking for cards that complemented my photos.  The colors in the Jade kit are beautiful and very gender neutral.  I hadn't really looked through all the cards before so I got a little distracted while looking for my filler cards.  :)

Once I had the filler cards picked I did some quick journaling using the Project Life pens.  LOVE these pens!!  They write very nice and they come in an awesome case!  A little tip about my journaling.  I have kept daily journals for all of my boys since they were born.  Just a little note about their day/what we did.  These journals are life savers when it comes to my scrapbooking.  I would never remember details if I didn't have them written down in these journals.

My page still needed a title so I went over to my stickers and pulled out some large black alphabet stickers (these are both really old and probably no longer available).  I was still racing against the clock so I wasn't too picky.  I pulled out some stickers and used what letters I had to make my title.  I used the empty space on one of the large photos to place my title.  This not only gave my title a place but it filled an empty space in a not so great photo.

I then put the filler cards and title photo in the sleeve and I was done!  So simple, so easy!  Anyone can use this method to scrapbook.  I will be using this method to scrapbook, just not all the time.  I'm not 'switching' to Project Life but I am going to use it as a supplement in my scrapbooks.  I'll still do 'normal' layouts but will be throwing Project Life pages in the mix.  Some will be simple like this and others will be a little more embellished.  It will just depend on my mood (and time).

I hope this gives you a little idea of how Project Life works and how I plan on using it.  I know that I'm excited about getting some pages done quickly using Project Life.  If you use Project Life I'd love to hear how you use it.  Thanks for stopping!

Supplies:
  • Project Life (Jade Edition)
  • Project Life Journaling Pens (black 03)
  • alphabet stickers- NRN Designs, Wordsworth (Ragged Brush)
  • tools- Creative Memories (corner rounder)

1 comment:

  1. This is awesome, Jen! I would love to do this digitally, because I am that lazy! LOL! I don't even want to print my pictures separately. This is an awesome kit and your page is great!

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