How-to Guide – Project Life 2 | Sheena Rowlands

Hi there Magpies, Sheena here again x

Today I am sharing with you more of my hints and tips on how to complete your own version of Project Life, drawing on my past 10 years of experience. You can find Project Life Part 1 here.

To recap, this is how far I had got to in my first post. The photos were in the page protectors and all the pockets had patterned papers in them. For me getting this far feels great as it just leaves the decoration & documentation and they are my favourite bits as you watch it all come together.

First I add in my month card as you can see its been die cut. I tend to choose a font or file and die cut a year’s worth of month cards all at the same time which in the long run definitely saves me time. Each year they are different but I keep them plain so they are easy to read.

Where I have used smaller photos in the page protectors, I add in journalling cards. Some are actual PL cards I’ve gathered or taken from 12×12 cut apart sheets or they could be stamped or just 4″x3″ of patterned paper. I tend to work systematically from the beginning of the month.

Ready to embellish?

I have a motto – stick something to everything!!

Essentially I mean that for each photo or story I will add a sticker or phrase or wash tape or piece of ephemera plus a journalling spot so I can record some details. I don’t get too hung up on things matching or being from the same range as this can drain your time & energy. I see the 6x4s as small parts of the whole page and the decoration is secondary to recording the moments.

Project Life is a good way to use up any flatish embellishments like stickers, puffy stickers, epoxy shapes, word & phrase stickers. I keep mine in bags ready to use. I also keep journalling spots and flat ephemera by colour so I can just grab what I need and have around me as I create. By limiting your supplies you limit your choices and therefore save yourself time. I tend to spend no more than 5 mins on completing any of the 6×4’s.Another staple are small alphas and words, I store them together making it easy to rummage through. Every time a new range comes in the shop I have a look through to see if there are stickers or letters I could use for these albums.I am all about making this project as easy as possible so I repeat the way I put my 6×4’s together. I pull out few wash tapes and repeatedly use them in one month, I do this will alphas too if I can so there is some continuity through the month, my family probably wouldn’t notice but it pleases me.

Don’t forget to include your ephemera either. Adding them to PL is a great way of keeping hold of them. After my month is completed I review the ephemera kept & dispose of what I no longer need.

I journal on the majority of the 6×4’s and if the subject is sensitive but I need to record it, I add a journalling card behind the paper in the pocket with a tab sticking out so the card can be removed and read in the future. Project Life for me isn’t just about the good, its about the everyday & the bad, thats what makes it Project life!

Here is September .

When laid out like this the repetition of colour and format becomes more obvious. I know it looks a little crazy but so is my life!!

I asked for your questions on our FB group…

Do you date your entries? – I don’t, I try and stick everything in in pretty much the right order but unless the date is important to me I don’t add it. I feel it would be too time consuming & messy with a date stamp.
Do you use filler cards? – Filler cards are either quotes or pretty cards to add between your own photos. To be honest I’m not that keen I seem to fill all the spaces and think I could always add more photos if I needed too like – a photo of flowers from my garden or my latest read.
What if I stop half way through a year? – If you find it difficult to keep up, it might just not be the right time for you but don’t stress save what you did complete to work as a snap shot of your life and to look back on in the future.
Can I do this on a smaller scale? – totally. In a few ways, either using a smaller album or by limiting how many page protectors you would use each month. How about doing a December Daily in a PL format to see how it works for you? A holiday could also be recorded this way which by having a start and end point would be a great way to trial the Project Life style.

I hope these posts have provided some Project Life inspiration, if you have any queries please pop them on our FB group x

Till next time x