How many of you have heard of Project Life or have wondered what to do with those lovely divided page protectors that Scraphappy carries? According to Becky Higgins (www.beckyhiggins.com), Project Life can be anything you want it to be. Some people use it as a photo-a-day project. Some people use it to document weeks at-a-glance. Some use it to corral all the stuff of life that accumulates in our homes. But me? I use it to help with my everyday stories and to include more photos from my travels. Some people choose 'only' Project Life or 'only' traditional layouts. I do both. I use the divided page protectors to include more pictures in my albums. Say you print 6 pictures of an afternoon at the beach but then only use 2 of them on your layout. What are you going to do with the extras? Sure, you can make more layouts, but if you're like me, you can only bear to scrap so many beach layouts. Or penguin pictures. Or Christmas pictures. Or birthday party pictures. Or...you get the idea. So what do I do? I scrap those 2 photos on a traditional layout, then I slide the other 4 photos into divided page protectors. If there are more photo sleeves than I have photos, then I pull some of my supplies (scraps and 6x6 paper pads work great for this) and make a mini-canvas to fill in the blocks.
Another way I have recently used Project Life and divided page protectors is to rescue an old album of pictures from a trip my husband and I took to Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon in 1998. I had previously made a scrapbook with these pictures, but I used non-archival products to make it. I didn't know better. All I knew about scrapbooking at that time was those people who cut their photos into cute little shapes and decorated them with cutesy stickers...so not me. I refused to cut my pictures and make paper dolls out of cardstock. The good news? I organized my photos and journalled some of my memories in my book. The bad news? If I didn't 'redo' the album, those pictures and memories still would not have survived. So when I found a set of divided page protectors, I bought them and spent a weekend removing the adhesive from the back of the pictures and memorabilia and sliding them into these photo pocket pages. It was so easy, and I love the results. Even my husband and family have enjoyed the results. Every one of them has gone through my 'new' album and marveled at the improvement. And another perk of using the divided page protectors? Easy...good...design...with no thought required. The designers who created the pages based them on solid grid-based design principles, so you never have to worry about an unbalanced layout.
And now, quickly, before I go, I have a few questions to answer:
1. Scrapaholic Mommy asked: how did you do the white stamp is there white ink out that i don't know about LOL???
Answer: There are various brands and forms of white ink available on the market. I've tried several, but my favorites tend to be chalk and craft inks. They tend to be thicker and have a richer color. But I'll let you know a little secret...I rarely actually use the white inks. I cheat. I use clear Versamark ink then emboss them with white embossing powder. Works every time ;)
2. Leslie asked: So Cori, do you have pictures of your completed non-wintry album that you did? I'd like to see it.
Answer: I wish! The album is at ScrapHappy, so feel free to head over there to flip through the album all you want!
Supplies:
- page protectors - American Crafts, WeRMemoryKeepers, office supply store
- journalling cards - Becky Higgins, American Crafts
- label stickers - October Afternoon, unknown
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