catching up with project life...

Hi again :) I've been pretty good with keeping up to date with the day to day happening this year but my 2014 album is quite a different story, so I have been trying to make an effort to go back and fill in some of the blanks which I never got around to doing last year. 

 I shared this layout over on the PL Junkies blog today with a few tips for making the catch up process a little bit easier. 

Catching up on previous years can seem a little bit daunting at first, which I why I highly recommend keeping a record in either a diary or your phone of what was happening in your life from week to week. Having some brief notes is a great way to help you to remember what you and your family where doing throughout the year and it makes the task of playing catch up a lot easier.

One of best ways to simplify catch up process is to keep your pages simple. This doesn't mean you need to change your style, but rather just create a simpler version of your own style and get those pockets filled!  My style is pretty clean and simple to begin with, but I do like to add layered embellishments and print my journaling directly onto my cards which can take up a bit of time so to simplify this, I decided to print my journaling onto one sheet of card stock which I cut into simple journal strips to document the details and opted for just a few wood veneer accents and small embellishments for a bit of extra colour, although I did still sneak in a few extra layers onto the title card ;)

Another time saver for playing catch up is to pre-select a colour palette to compliment the photos you are working with. Sorting through all your cards to try and find a perfect card for each photo will take up a lot of time, so instead I like to use a palette that doesn't necessarily match the photos but still works because it picks up a few of the colours featured the pics.

Working with the aqua colour in a couple of the photos, I selected a mix of cards from the 'Happy' core kit and combined these with a few bits and pieces from the Elle's Studio 'Cienna' collection that had the same water colour look along with a couple of extra cards from my stash. I deliberately chose filler cards that featured white text and matted all the pics with a white border to give my pages a consistent feel which also worked well with the journal strips.

 I hope that some of these steps will help you fill up your pockets and tackle a few of the pages you may have missed. The past 6 months has flown by so fast and this is my final share for the PL Junkies team -  it has been wonderful to share my layouts and tips along the way and I have really loved the experience of working alongside such a talented mix of crafters. Thanks for stopping by xx

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project life week 21 and a camping adventure...

I've got more project life layouts to share, this time using the fabulous 'Pack Your Bags' Daily Diary kit from NoelMignon.com.

I was loving the bright happy colours in this kit and had no problem using the lovely pinks with my boy photos ;)

Here's a closer look at a few of my favourite cards and as always you can find more details in my original post.  

I also used the same 'Pack Your Bags' Daily Diary kit for a travel themed layout, this time using a completely different colour palette. That's one of the things I've always loved about these kits - even though some of the kits are themed, you are not limited to just one look and can take the kit in any direction you like and it will still coordinate perfectly. 

I made good use of the fun travel themed cards in the kit, and loved the way they helped to tell the story of our camping adventure.

Check out my original post over on the NoelMignon blog if you'd like more details.

Thanks for stopping by xx

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project life weeks 19 & 20...

Hello again :) I'm back with a couple more project life layouts that I created for the Scrappy Canary blog. Both layouts feature the sold out April Pocket Life kit from Scrappy Canary.

I absolutely loved the mix of bold colours and fun patterns featured in this kit and also added a few coordinating embellishments from the Shimelle collection in the store.

I positioned all my journal strips and phrase stickers stickers horizontally over the photos to create a uniform look across both pages, adding just a few small cluster of embellishments for extra detail. 

Moving onto week 20, once again using the same Scrappy Canary kit as above. You can view my original post here to get the details. 

I added more of the cute coordinating wooden buttons from the store, and used matching stitching with a few of the grid cards to add extra detail to my title card and to frame the larger photos. 

Once again, keeping the embellishments minimal to keep the focus on the photos.  

Don't forget to use the code 'AGNUS10' to save 10% off all purchases from the Scrappy Canary store.

Thanks for stopping by xx

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project life weeks 17 & 18...

Hi again, I'm back with a couple more layouts that I created for the NoelMignon blog. I used the gorgeous 'Hello Darling' Daily Diary kit  to document week 17.

Being a very wet week resulted in a lack of photos, but I was able to overcome this by using up some of the fun filler cards from the kit to help me fill the pockets. 

The cards I chose were light and airy, so I used a variety of white die-cut words over the photos that I cut out using my Cuttlebug to create a nice flow across both pages. 

In the same way that I used the white words to work with the light coloured cards, I also used simple pen outlines to help tie the journaling cards in with some of the darker photos. 

 

 Moving onto week 18, this time using the fun 'Pack Your Bags' Daily Diary kit which I shared here.

I kept the embellishments pretty simple, using a little bit of hand stitching to add detail to a couple of the fun symbol filler cards. 

I also used the stickers from the kit directly over one of my photos to draw attention to some of the damage to our car after a recent car accident.

Simple washi tape and a few small embellies paired with patterned paper made quick work of creating a custom journal card.

Thanks for stopping by xx

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project life week 16...

I've been a busy scrapper but a bit of a bad blogger and have lots of project life layouts to share.
 Let's start with week 16, which I created with the gorgeous (sold out) March 'Whimsy' Pocket Life kit  from the Scrappy Canary store.

I loved how the soft subtle colours in this kit worked with my photos and the gorgeous gold foil and wood veneer pieces added lots of dimension which unfortunately got a bit lost in these photos. 

I didn't really have a lot of 'people photos' from this week, but I like the way the photos of our pet dragons and favourite day to day items help to capture what was happening at the moment. You'll find more details over on my original post.   

If you'd like to treat yourself to some lovely goodies, then don't forget to use the code 'AGNUS10' to save 10% off all your purchases from the Scrappy Canary store!!

Thanks for stopping by xx

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