DHD iNSD Blog Hop: KISS-ing Project Life

Welcome Design House Digital blog hoppers! So glad you've hopped on over to my blog. If you haven't come here from the DHD blog, well, go back to the beginning and start over. Be sure to visit all the blogs, gather all the letters for the coupon code, then stop by DHD and use the code to snag the free Collab kit! Also, don't forget to read the last paragraph here for my letter and a giveaway from me! Here's a sneak of the fab Collab!

Here's a page I created with this fabulous kit!

WAIT!!! There's more! To be entered into the drawing for a digital photo frame, you can complete a layout meeting all 26 of the challenges issue in the course of the blog hop and post it by Tuesday, May 8 at 11:59 MST.There is an iNSD Challenge Gallery over at Design House Digital.

My challenge to you is to USE AT LEAST THREE BUTTONS ON YOUR LAYOUT! 

And now for my post...all about....

This year I reluctantly decided to participate in Project Life. I wasn't sure how I was going to fit it in. After weighing all the options, I decided that Digital was the best way to go for me. I just knew that printing out photos and making a huge paper mess each week was not going to fly around here. I know there are a lot of you out there that maybe completed a week or two and then stopped. Don’t despair, just pick it back up again now. There are no Project Life police – your family will thank you for the memories you are able to record!

WHY I’M DOING IT

 

Supplies

I made a few goals for myself this year. One of the big ones was to take more photos and to document more of our family stories for my boys. Some added benefits of Project Life are I’m documenting the little things we do each day. I’m taking a lot more photos, like thousands more each month. I bring my camera with me more and I’ve been using my phone to take more photos. Even my husband will take a photo if I text him and remind him! I am also knocking out a lot of event scrapping – something I typically don’t enjoy. For instance, instead of scrapping four pages about Easter. I added an extra two page spread to my Project Life book and knocked it out quickly. Later, I can either scrap an Easter page or not - the pressure is off! I love that! This also frees up my precious scrapbooking time to document conversations, interviews, or other weighty matters.

K.I.S.S.

I’m here to tell you that you can do this! You just need to keep it simple silly! It doesn’t matter when you stopped or started. It doesn’t matter if you complete every week either. So you missed the month of March, do a two page March spread or skip it and move on. You could even just dedicate the pages in your album to events each month. It’s really a very flexible system. So don’t feel like you can’t just start over right now.

Here are 10 (yes, TEN) ways I’m keeping it simple…

1. JOURNAL - At the beginning of the week, I write down all the days of the week in a journal and pre-fill them with things I know we are going to be that week. At the end of each day, I record bits of things we did, notable photos, and anything else that might help me at the end of the week. You could easily do this with an app on your phone like Evernote!

2. LISTS - Keep a list of products that you want to use in your journal as you write each day. If you think of some great journal card or frame or label that would work with your photo. Jot it down in your journal as well. I keep a little list of digital kits I haven't used as well. That way I remember to dig them out and use them!

3. PHOTO CENTRIC - My spreads as you can see below are very simple. I keep the focus on the photos and I don't use a lot of product. This project for me is getting little things scrapped that usually fall by the wayside. Typically, I don't need a lot of product to tell my story! A few journaling cards, some word art, a label or two and I'm finished!

Supplies

4. TAKING PHOTOS - just take photos. Don't worry about quality or quantity. Use your camera, use your phone, just capture what you can. The photos do not have to be perfect. You can always add a cool filter or convert to black and white if you want them to be jazzier! I used this photo last week. I can't think of a worse looking photo, but it helped me tell the story!

5. REMOVE CHOICES - I use templates and I use the same font throughout. this saves me loads of time  You can use the same title card each week or even the same design. Make it so you don't have to agonize over every little detail!

6. PLAN AHEAD - I use Marcy Penner’s Planner Pages and map out my pages before I start scrapping them. I sometimes pre-fill spaces ahead of the end of the week with journal cards and/or photos. A bit here and there. Your week will come together quickly this way.

7. NO PHOTOS? - Do not despair! Check out Google images for the perfect photo of the interior of that restaurant you went to on Thursday or free stock photo sites for other images to represent your memories! I especially like to use movie and TV poster images on my pages like the Homeland image below. The ski lodge is also from the web as I scrapped this before my husband returned from the trip!

Supplies

8. ORGANIZE YOUR PHOTOS - Keep ongoing phone photos or Google image downloads in a folder marked with the week on your desktop. Add photos from your camera as the week progresses. This makes assembly that much easier!

9. BANG FOR THE BUCK - Use products that offer a lot of bang for the buck.You won't have to embellish as much using some of the fun products below and they will add spark to your pages without a lot of layers!

These album cards from Karla Dudley are pre-embellished! Great filler cards for the 3x4 slots and you can add a bit of journaling to them as well.

 

These Check It Journal Cards from Gennifer Bursett are re-colorable and act as fabulous journaling prompts perhaps helping you add something to your Project Life that you might not have thought of. A fun pop of coordinating color too!

 

Robyn Meierotto is participating in Project Life. She has a variety of journaling cards and other items in her shop that are just incredible. She keeps adding to her Everyday line. Most recently she released these stripy journaling cards. Such fun bright colors and lots of room for journaling!

 

Audrey Neal has two sets of Chalkboard Journalers that are so fun. You can find free chalky fonts on Dafont or just change the color of a handwriting font to white for a cool effect!

 

Kate Teague has these little journalers - loads of little fun details to make your spread pop!

 

Shannon Hegarty came out with these Secretary Date Stamps that are just perfect to add a date to a card or photo!

Deena Rutter has these colorful cards that have a coordinating paper pack and elements as well!

If you search the word Project Life in the Design House Digital store, you'll find a whole slew of fun items! Check it out!

10. SEPARATE YOUR GOODIES – separate out PL supplies from your stash or tag them so you can easily find them. This will make it easier to find the perfect journaling card or label or word art!

GOODIES FOR YOU 

 

Download Here

Hopefully, some of those tips will help you get back on the Project Life train! I made a little PL goodie for you! I created six 4x6 cards that you can use in your Project Life. The titles are cut out so you can layer them over digital cardstock or patterned paper. Enjoy! 

Thanks so much for stopping by. My letter for the Collab code is D.  I also have a $10 gift card to Design House Digital to give away. Leave a comment below and I'll pull a winner next Wednesday! Head on over to the amazing Renee Pearson's blog next!