Project Life

Welcome to another week of Project Life at Elle’s Studio!  This week I am sharing the week of March 12-18 in my Project Life album.  It’s hard to believe we are approaching the end of March– that’s almost  1/4th way through the year!!  If you are participating in Project Life, how is your album coming along??

This week I had some fun adding a few unexpected items in my Project Life spread.  Adding something unexpected each week, whether it be a found item or a photo, adds variety to your album.  

When I was taking my photos this week I tried to think out of the box a bit.   I played around with my camera timer and took a photo of myself in the car (don’t worry, I was parked and waiting at the bus stop:).  Driving my kids from here to there, and running errands are both part of my daily routine, so of course it’s appropriate to have this kind of photo in my Project Life!

Other interesting photos I added to this week’s Project Life was a photo of a spring bouquet, a photo of my brother’s birthday cake, a photo of my daughter that she took of herself at my computer, and a photo of the weather forecast from the news (we had unseasonably warm temperatures!)  

As the week went on, it seemed like I took WAY more photos on the weekend then what I did during the week– that sometimes happens when our week is busy!  I decided to highlight our weekend in a simple 8.5 x 11 layout.   I placed six wallet sized photos in a grid and used a Noted Circle tag as the center of the layout for my journaling.  

I love making layouts specifically for Project Life because you can add things (or not add things) that you wouldn’t think of including in a regular layout album. As you can see I added something unexpected on the backside of my weekend layout– a Trader Joe’s shopping bag!!  

I kept the handles on the bag because I loved seeing it peek out from behind the layout– it’s such a fun layer!  The layout and shopping bag were placed in an 8 1/2 x 11 page protector with the side trimmed.  (the layout is slightly smaller than the 8 1/2 x 11 size).   

Since I trimmed the page protector (so that the bag handles would stick out), i had to sew it closed.  I did this by paper clipping the layout and bag to the page protector and I began sewing from the bottom to the top.  That way, it wouldn’t bunch while sewing (the fact that the bottom of the page protector was still in tact, was what made this possible).

For my second insert I included some art work from my daughter, and also my son’s report card which was brought home this week.

 I have found that using 6 x 6 paper pads is a great option for Project Life.  Instead of using a full 12 x 12  paper, this is a great way to include your favorite pattern papers.  Did you know we have quite a few new 6 x 6 paper pads from Studio Calico and Crate Paper in our shop??  I used Studio Calico’s 6×6 Abroad Paper Pad for this week’s layout.