Laura Vegas

Hey everyone! I have two more weekly spreads of my 2017 Project Life album to share this week, and first up is week eight. I realized that I haven't really been sharing too much specific information about the journaling cards. I shared in THIS post about the digital sets I've been using, and I've just been adding other digital brushes/stamps to them as I go. If you ever have any questions at all, feel free to email me or comment below, as I respond to all of my comments and emails on a daily basis 😉

This was another busy week, photo wise. I also had several 4×6" pics that I wanted to include, so once again, I added in a 6×12" insert to allow myself a little more room to groove.

I ended up using 13 photos, 7 journaling cards, and 4 filler cards – along with my calendar card and weekly title card. 

Some weeks, I have more photos of my daycare cuties than I have of anything else. I remember years ago, when I did my first Project Life album (known as "Project 52" back in 2009), I made a conscious decision to NOT include any of the daycare kids in my album. 

When I picked back up with Project Life last year, I decided that I would aim to include them each week, as they make up a huge part of my days. So I usually try and include 1-3 photos of them a week, depending on how many other family related photos I have. 

It felt a little weird to me to put the weekly title card in the 6×12" insert, but then again, it feels weird to me to put it on the right side of the spread as well. Which is what I end up doing every other week, with the configurations of the page designs. 

Most weeks, as I mentioned last week, the colors in my photos just seem to magically go together. This week, I had one photo that definitely stood out. This photo of Sarah, with her new-to-her car. We actually snapped that photo at night, so I had every intention of getting a better pic. But until then, this one works. I didn't even try to work red into the rest of the spread. I'm just going with the flow on this one.

I've noticed that green is one of my most used colors, when working on this album. I noticed it when working on last year's album as well. Yes, Sarah goes to the "green school" – we have 3 high schools in town, with one being known as the "red school", one being known as the "blue school", and then we're the "green school". Even the girl's elementary school had green as their school color, so we've had years and years of being green. 

Then there's sports photos, which usually involve green grass. And I have tons of green in our house, decor wise. But finding green products? Sometimes I can spend more time then I'd care to admit looking for good green pieces to add into my pockets. 

Senior night for varsity soccer was a big deal, and I didn't want to skimp on documenting it. I had dug up a photo of Sarah, in her very first year of playing soccer, and paired it with her senior year soccer pic to share on Instagram the night of their last game. I knew I wanted to include those photos here. I added the years using tiny number stickers.

The local photographer that takes the sports photos for our school always puts together these large schedules, that includes a photo. It wasn't until this year that I put 2+2 together (or should I say Sarah explained it to me), and realized that the players chosen for the photo are the seniors on the team. I cut part of it off in this photo here, but you can see it in the above photos. It was such a cool photo, and I simply took a pic of the photo on the poster to include here. 

I had shared this photo on Instagram, on senior night, so I simply copied and pasted what I said on Instagram and used it as my journaling. So many of the photos I use within this album are also ones that I've shared on Instagram, so copying and pasting whatever I wrote there is a great way to start my journaling cards. 

I have to admit, I wasn't exactly sure who Lecrae is. But even without knowing who he was (I have since looked him up and watched some videos), I was super impressed seeing this photo and hearing about the story behind it. Alyssa is majoring in Music Management and has an on-campus job as part of the Arts & Entertainment Team, which works on planning and holding all of the events on campus. She's loving it, and she absolutely loved working on this event and all of the behind-the-scenes work that went into it all. 

I'm pretty sure I started typing up this journaling card, only to realize that what I was saying, I had already said in another journaling card a few weeks ago. Lol. Changing high school soccer to a winter sport this year was rough. We had so much rain, so many games postponed, and so many games played in the rain and on muddy fields.

It's always a little funny to see the "moat" around the field after a ton of rain. Huge sections of the track just fill up with water, and you know the ball is just drawn to it when it goes out of bounds. You hate to be the player that has to go after those balls.

I had one extra 4×6" pocket to fill, and decided that these two photos went together, so I would just add them side by side. I had already cut them apart after getting my photo order, so I simply adhered them to the back of the photo on the other side.

Those photos go to the daycare album project that I've been chipping away at. And I have tried taking photos of it, to share here – but the photos just aren't turning out. I'll have to try again this week, since I really do want to share how I approached this big project. 

Hey again! I'm back to share week seven in my 2017 Project Life album. This spread doesn't feel like it has much color to it, since most of the photos were green and grey. I went with it, and did what I could. 

I've been trying to go through my stash of Studio Calico 3×4 cards when I work on each week, trying to use up some of them. I had picked up a bunch of their project life kits (or whatever they're called) back when they were $5 each, so I have this large stack of cards. The one above was from that stack. 

I talked about how I put together this particular journaling card in my post from last week, about my digital journaling process. You can read that HERE. 

Last year, Sarah was so good about sharing photos from the high school soccer team with me. This year, not so much. I'm not sure if they just didn't take as many photos together, or if she just didn't share them. Lol. But I really love this group shot from their day at Six Flags towards the end of the season.

I mentioned in my last post that I will often leave space above or below my text on these journaling cards, thinking I'll add something to them. I searched and searched for something to add to this one, and nothing I found looked right to me. I finally just took a pen and scribbled some lines under "mascot". Over-thinking is sometimes overrated 😉

I had printed this photo in both color and black and white, since I had a feeling the color version wouldn't work out well. I took this photo while at my tax appointment, and the expandable folder I had on my lap was this massively bright blue. It's a good thing I did have the black and white version on hand for this week. 

The grey, frame filler card is from a Project Life set from Amy Tangerine. I was digging through my embellishments, looking for something to add to it, and came across some super old chipboard pieces from Making Memories. Most of them were raw chipboard, and I didn't feel like having to paint them. So I was happy to find the green heart piece, that fit nicely. I was going to put something under it (but then didn't), or I would have centered it better.

One thing I'm thinking about doing is re-organizing my stash a little better. I've always stored most of my supplies by manufacturer, as it always worked well for me (and came in handy when working on publications, where I had to know who made every little thing I used). There are moments when I look around my room, and it's almost like I have no clue what I even have, product wise. A lot of it is super old, but still stuff I like. But not having gone through a lot of it in quite some time, I'm just not familiar with what I have. 

I'm getting a good feel for what I like to add to these pockets/cards. So it might not be a bad idea to corral those types of products, from any and all manufacturers I have on hand, into one spot. Of course, re-organizing a room that has been pretty set in it's ways for many, many years, sounds like a lot of work. I'll have to ponder this idea for a while 😉

Hey you guys, I'm back. Feels good to have some projects to blog about, even if they might all look the same to some of you. Lol. 

Today, I'm sharing week six in my 2017 Project Life album. My girls contributed a lot to this week's photos, so I only added in two of my own pics. They sent me photos at the end of the month, so it's not until I have them printed and start sorting them out by week, that I see where they fall within the month. 

I mentioned the struggle with fitting more than one 4×6" photo into the two main pocket page designs I'm using. Well, here's one solution that can work, depending on the photo. I had this 4×6" photo that Alyssa took at the 21 Pilots concert, and I simply cut it down the center, to create two 3×4" pics. 

This project is finally giving me a reason to use up a lot of my older alpha stickers. I love the tinier ones for adding to my photos here and there. Also, my enamels are getting put to good use. They're fairly flat, so they work really well for embellishing, without adding any bulk. 

I told you Sarah likes to send me dog photos! Lol. That's two in two weeks. I'm pretty sure that I meant to add something to the photo of Sarah and one of her BFF's, but accidently skipped over it. I might go back and do that still. 

I love that I can usually get the colors of all the photos to tie together in a nice way, even though the photos were taken at all different times, different locations, and even by different family members. I was flipping thru some older Studio Calico cards, and this brown woodgrain ampersand card caught my eye. It ended up working in nicely, since I ended up with a lot of brown in my photos. 

I'm finding that my average weeks will contain 4-5 journaling cards, and it's easy to type those up in one sitting. I can print 5 to a page, so it works out really well.

I started out a lot of my journaling cards, thinking I would add a little something to them after printing. So I may have left a little space on the top or bottom of the text, like I did on the card above. In the end, I had a lot of cards that I didn't end up adding anything too, since they felt right as-is. 

I'll be back later this week to share another weekly spread! 

Happy Monday! Hope you all had a great weekend! I managed to finished up my February Project Life spreads last week, and then finally got some good sun – and time – on Saturday, so that I could photograph everything to share. It dawned on me that some might worry that I'm not creating layouts anymore, after all these pocket page projects. That's not the case at all. I mean, I haven't actually created a layout in a couple of weeks. But I know I'll create more soon. I go thru spurts, for sure. 

I left off sharing week four, and over the next week or so, I'll be sharing weeks five thru nine of my 2017 Project Life album. I'm sure I took more photos of these spreads than is actually needed to share – but since they're the only projects I have right now to share, I figured why not. 

This was a week that had more photos than usual. And it was also a week that had more 4×6" photos that I wanted to include. I love the mix of the two page designs that I've been using for each week, but the downside is that there's only room for one 4×6" photo, once you work in the 4×6" weekly title card. So for this week, I added in a 6×12" pocket page, allowing me to add in more of those 4×6" pics. 

Have I mentioned how much I'm loving these weekly title cards (I'm using the Weekly Edition Journaling Cards, from One Little Bird)? A friend of mine was over last week and looking thru my album, and she commented on how you could easily add something to the cards to spruce them up. And believe me, it crossed my mind. But I actually like them as is. They're perfectly simple, which is what I'm going for. 

One thing that I really haven't given much thought – but that sometimes catches my eye – is that some of the Project Life filler cards that I add in have rounded corners. While my photos and journaling cards don't. I really don't want to have to round the corners on everything, as it's just not the look I want. So for now, that's just how they'll stay. Mix matched. 

I've been known to "borrow" photos from friends when I see them posted on social media. I can't remember if Sarah actually sent me a copy of this photo, but I know when I saw her friend's mom post this on Facebook, I quickly borrowed it, knowing I wanted to add this to the album. 

It's a struggle when you have so many great photos, and you can't include them all. I know the entire point of doing this project is to give an overview of our weeks. So there's no need to include a ton of photos from one moment/event. All of those extra photos can go towards a layout or another project. But since I had a little extra room, with the 6×12" pocket page I worked into the week, I was able to include a few extra pics than I normally would. 

I was going to journal on this yellow filler card, but in the end, I decided to simply add "bid day" to the card, since that pretty much sums up what the photos are about. I'll most likely be doing a layout with all of the photos from that day later on. 

Again, using lots of older embellishments and alpha stickers on these spreads. The chipboard flower is a super old one from Pebbles, and the yellow polka dots just tied in perfectly with the photos. 

Here's a look at the spread, once you flip over the 6×12" pocket page insert. 

I ended up with an extra 4×6" pocket to fill, and added in this filler card. It's actually a journaling card that folds in half, so there's a crease in the middle. I just liked it for the green 😉 I went back and forth on what to add to it, and after adding these alpha stickers to spell out "Snapchat for the win" (which I mention in the journaling below), I literally said "I'm not sure that I even like that, but whatever". And into the pocket it went. 

The two photos on the bottom are separate photos, but they had printed on the same 4×6" print from my photo order. I left them together, just on the off chance I would use them in a 4×6" pocket. Which I did. 

Ha. There's me, documenting how I worked on my 2016 Project Life album, when some friends and I got together one evening for a little crop. That was back at the beginning of February, and I haven't touched that album since. 

The quote on the yellow filler card is a little hard to read in this photo, but it says "it is important to remember that we all have magic inside us". It doesn't go with the photo exactly, but it felt like a good fit with Amy Tangerine's book Craft A Life You Love.

I'll be back to share week six tomorrow. I also need to start getting my next photo order ready, as I'll be placing that at the end of the week. Can't wait to get my March photos, so I can start on those!

I was going to save this post for later in the week, since I may not have anything else to share this week. But I just couldn't wait. I'm having so much fun with this project. I can't even tell you how many times I pull this album out to work on during the week, even if it's just little bits here and there. 

Today I'm sharing week four of my 2017 Project Life album. Still using the same pocket page designs as the first three weeks. Spoiler alert – I had to add in a few extra pocket pages for a few upcoming weeks ;) 

I was at CHA for two days that week, and had so many photos I could have added. But the whole point of a PL album is to have a summary of your week. Right? So I choose just one photo to include, since all of the photos will find a home in one of my other projects. In fact, they already have. 

I mentioned that I've been digging through my stash for whatever little embellishments I can find to add to some of the pockets. I decided to add a white tag to the orange filler card, where I placed my "CHA" alpha stickers, and then dug out a super old clear flower from Making Memories to add to the card. So fun to use things I've been hoarding away for years. 

For the journaling card above, I used a digital card from Ali Edwards' Oh Summer I Love You So kit. It's one that I'm using a ton, and I simply delete the "oh summer I love you so" that is printed on the top of the card. I can then either add a digital brush/stamp in it's place,  like I did here with the "down to the wire", or I can simply add a sticker or something to it after printing. 

I know I'm only four weeks into this project, but I am already finding my comfort zone with the journaling cards. I have about 6-7 digital journaling card kits that I find myself pulling from week after week. Just like the card above, from Cathy Zielske's Check It Cards No. 01 kit. I can see myself using one of those a week. Just like some of the other kits, where I can see myself using one of each of those a week. 

I don't aim to add a journaling card for each photo. For some of the photos that don't necessarily need a journaling card of their own, I might add a sticker or other embellishment to say something about it. But I do end up with photos that are just on their own. Nothing else to support them. 

Like this photo of my Converse sneakers and flip flops. There's actually a small story to it, but I guess I'll just hope that I remember it down the road. I guess I could start typing up some little 2-3 liner journaling strips to add to some of these photos. Although I'm sort of fine with it just the way it is. Again, I'm aiming to make this super simple on myself. 

I added the chipboard camera and "smile" piece to the orange filler card, peeling off a few layers of the chipboard to make them thinner. Trying to keep these pages fairly bulk-free. I came across some clear stickers from Simple Stories, and decided to add the "pure bliss" sticker in the empty space on my photo of the little dude. 

The "Saturday" journaling card is one that I can also see using one of each week. Not just Saturday, of course 😉 These are from Ali Edwards' digital The Story Of Today 3×4 Cards kit. I also added some simple alpha stickers, from an old Project Life kit, to the photo of Sarah and her friend to break up the darkness of the photo. 

I'm giving myself a serious pat on the back for having an entire month completed in full! I wish I had come up with a good plan like this when I started my 2016 Project Life album, as I might have had better luck getting more done in it. Still debating how I'm going to finish that project.