Project Life, my way

I first discovered the Project Life method of scrapbooking in December 2012 via Pinterest. A friend of mine shared a pin that mentioned it and I thought, "Huh? What's this Project Life thing? It sure looks like fun. Let's Google it." So I Googled it. And I found this. And then this. Instantly I was hooked!

Before I ordered a Project Life kit though, I decided to do some more research about it online. I quickly discovered a plethora of inspiring scrapbookers that did Project Life but they made theirs a little different - they used normal scrapbooking products on their pages. I really liked that idea so I decided not to order a kit. Instead, I bought some page protectors, some 3x4 and 4x6 grid journalling cards, and some normal scrapbooking supplies, printed some photos, and got to work.

Now, I used to scrapbook many eons ago and honestly, it used to really stress me out sometimes. I'd get so caught up in the process of taking the perfect photo for a page, narrowing it down to using just one or two ideas for the page, making the page, and trying to get it all "perfect" (I am very critical of the things I make) that I would feel seriously deflated by the end of it. Not a good way to feel about something that is meant to be fun, so I stopped scrapbooking.

Scrapbooking on my Project Life layouts is so much more fun! Unlinke with traditional scrapbooking, I am not stressing over making my layouts for my Project Life album because essentially I am creating 6-8 mini scrapbooking layouts on the one 12x12 inch page. I can make each of those little layouts different - one can be a photo, one can be journalling, one can be made up of letter stickers and pretty papers and other bits and pieces. I really love doing Project Life this way because it lets me play with many different scrapbooking products and techniques all on the one page, eliminating some major creative anxiety in the process.

Another big thing for me now is that when I do my Project Life layouts, I am using my normal, everyday photos from my iPhone or DSLR camera, be they perfect or flawed. No longer am I focused on taking that one great photo with the sole vision of using it on a scrapbooking layout. I am also writing the stories behind those normal, everyday things that make up our lives, like the kids going back to school and us all struggling to get back into that familiar daily routine, the flood in January, soccer games, a day trip to the beach, birthdays, sick days, etc. Previously, I never scrapbooked half of that stuff. Now I'm taking more photos and telling the important stories behind those photos much more than I ever did in the past which is a fantastic feeling!

I am planning to buy an official Project Life Core Kit designed by Becky Higgins to organize those many boxes of old photos that I have going on at home here (I'm sure I'm not the only one who has boxes of photos lol!). I think the system that Becky has designed is so wonderful for quick and easy memory-keeping and I can't wait to get a kit when the new ones come out in June. For current photos though, I'll continue do Project Life in my own fun and colourful "scrappy" way because it is a fantastic creative outlet for me. I am absolutely loving Project Life!