Hello crafty friends, I thought I’d share this quick blog post with you as I am preparing to complete my 2017 Project Life album.
I was pondering about why it has taken me so long to finish this album – honestly, it seemed too overwhelming and it was easier to work on other projects that seem to come together with less effort.
I had printed all my photos some time ago and had two 8.5×11 inch albums set aside for the project. I had even started to lay out most of my photos in the pockets.
The album is being scrapped by the month so I had organised my photos by the month and had begun to sort them out in chronological order.
So here’s some insight in to my process which you may find helpful for starting or even finishing a big project of your own. My hope is that this will help you feel less overwhelmed with such a large project, particularly if you are going back and working on retrospectively.
Now I have some time off work, my creative juices have been flowing and I can even picture this album finished…almost anyway!
1. Print and sort your photos. Once I have chosen my photos for the project, I print them. I print monthly through Snapfish. I then go through and sort them according to month, date of occurrence.
I group them in chronological order where ever possible, using my iPhone camera roll and Facebook history as a reference point for when the photos were taken and what happened at the time.
2. Use sticky notes. As I am sorting through the photos, I use sticky notes to remind me of events, dates and journalling points that I may want to include. These can be stuck to your album pages as you go so you don’t forget details.
3. Determine which page protectors you want to use for the project. I am using We R Memory Keepers page protectors in an 8.5×11 inch size. You may like to include a variety of pocket protector sizes in the one album. For example, in a 12×12 album, you could include 6×8 or even 9×12 page protectors. I love the look of the mixed and matched pages.
4. Find your photos a home. Allocate your photos to a page protector based on the stories you want to tell. You may like to trim them and sit them in the page protectors ready for compilation.
Some larger photos will have their own layout on an 8.5×11 inch page in my album. These are usually photos I want to particularly highlight or have a special story to tell about.
5. Temporarily fill your pockets. Now it’s time to determine how you may like to fill the rest of the pockets on your pages. My album is quite photos heavy and that fine. You may also like to use Project Life cards, patterned paper etc for the other pockets within the album. I am using the Vicki Boutin Mixed Media collection to fill the pockets along side my photos.
I cut the papers to fit the pockets, ready for embellishing, journalling etc. Some of these pieces will be to be a backdrop to the photos and others will fill the pockets in their own right. I just love the look of this mixed media paper and it’s nice and sturdy.
6. Compilation – this is the next step…to adhere your photos and embellish each of your pockets. For this album, I plan to keep it simple, using some stamping, die cuts and word stickers.
Stay tuned for more posts as I complete the pages over on my Facebook page – https://www.facebook.com/My-Scrapping-Space-889521414463296/ or my YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCk-lT7h0ehkTy5EYK0CLG6Q
I’d love if you’d pop over to follow my Instagram page at – https://Instagram.com/SARAHSSCRAPPINGSPACE
Thanks for stopping by and I hope this will help you get moving with some of your projects.