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Project Life - shopping list?

Cristina

Cristina

Handmade with love, actually
Pollywog
Joined
Jul 20, 2009
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I know we have some veterans of Project Life here, and many more like me who are willing to jump on the wagon this year, inspired by the designs of our very own Lili :beat. I am counting the days to the release of the new products, but I am also a bit confused as to what to buy, so I want to hear your advice/thoughts.

Here's the whole lineup of products. I will need a core kit (Clementine of course! :luvya) and binder, plus some page protectors - but which design? I was planning to go with the big variety pack, but having never done Project Life before I have no idea which designs I'll end up using more. And wow, I've just seen the 6"x12" protectors and the big envelope ones... I think I need those too! I am planning to skip the journaling cards because if I need more I'd love to print out some digi supplies.

I am so excited to start this!! :happydance2 Who else is going to do it?
 
I'm thinking about it, but haven't decided yet. I'm going to watch this thread to see what others recommend.
 
It looks like fun, but I think I'm sticking to Digi - too many pages, not enough time! :)
 
I really want to do this, but I think the shopping and picking out all the right stuff is what really appeals to me. I'm pretty sure I'd never keep up with it. I know that the finished product would be something that I would completely love, but I'm not sure I could make it as cool as I see it in my head without my undo button. :)
 
Very good questions! I am also thinking about doing Project Life this year. I did a digi version of it this year with Val's templates and it has been such a breeze to keep up with. So I am definitely worried about making the switch and not being able to keep up with it. I think the hardest part will be keeping up with printing the photos. oh and the journaling (right now my journaling are one liners for each photo, and a one page summary for each month). But I love the ability to add memorabilia and DS's school work to the project. When does all this go on sale??
 
karen, i agree with you. I think I just want to hold and love on the clementine pretties a bit, but I am REALLY concered I won't actually keep up with it. I haven't even kept up with my 2011... i think i'm on like week 10. uggh. i know myself, and while my intentions are always great, i'm just a 100% procrastinator when it comes to stuff like this. i don't know if it will get done.

cristina, to answer your question, i was looking at the core kit & the binder for sure. beyond that, i feel like you... i have no idea which page inserts would be most usefull or anything like that. I think that's one major perk of digi... you don't have to guess in advance which way your photos will face, etc.

so in short, i guess i'm really no help at all :shrug
 
OK, so where are the Project Life veterans?? Come here and help us! :giggle

I too am really worried I won't keep up with it, but I think having the binder and inserts and page protectors for the whole year will keep me motivated to fill them in. I know I won't be having problems with the journaling, but I expect that keeping up with printing the pictures will be troublesome for me. I am super behind with P365 this year but haven't called it quits yet. I completed maybe 10 weeks and then did another 20 weeks in which I only did the photos and journaling, no scrapping done yet. If we want to give it a serious shot, we should do something like Ali Edwards does: she posts a photo of the previous week's completed spread each week. We could do that here to keep us going!
 
I feel a bit ashamed to chime in here because I am seriously slacking on my Project Life. I started well (even though I was playing catch up!) but I haven't been keeping up for the last month or so (and there are gaps in the journalling much further back than that) which is the same time of year I crashed and burned with my P365 in 2011!

From my own experience I would say it is much easier to keep up with if (a) you print your photos at home and (b) you are doing a true photo a day project or are willing to just go with the flow and add to it on an irregular basis. A lot of my backlog is because I get my photos printed online and shipped to me so I tend to wait until I have a big batch before ordering. Also, because mine isn't a photo a day project and I am including other photo spreads there is more planning involved which complicates the whole process and takes much longer to do.

I think that I will continue to use the same format next year but not treat it as a series of weekly spreads, more as an enhanced photo album! So I won't be having a photo a day, but instead just a place to put our photos and memorabilia. I might have nothing one week and 5 pages for the next.
 
Oh, I meant to call out Kaye, Kelly and Laura! How are you girls getting on with yours?
 
I am caught up through the end of June...sigh...I need one full day to print photos and I should be in good shape! I have a 4x6 printer so I do print at home but my Selphy broke and I had to wait over a month for Canon to send me a new one. I am hoping to get caught up this weekend! I am going to take the daily approach for next year I think....
 
I'm not even trying. lol I have tried and failed at it before so I just will admire (and envy) those of you who do it.
 
My Project Life is still going strong. It's been a really fun and satisfying project...which has turned into a family effort. Earlier this week, my DH had a business dinner, so I grabbed Chipotle for myself and the kids. After we were done eating, I noticed my youngest carefully unloading the rest of the tostitos from her kids meal mini bag. When I asked her what she was doing she said, "This little bag is so cute. I am saving it for our Project Life album!" We've had lots of that this year - the kids and my DH are very much into collecting memorabilia for the album...or suggesting what should be the "photo of the day". Love it! I've missed 3 days of photos this year. I did "cheater pics" for 2 of them, but left the other one empty. I am a bit behind on my journaling, but I can sneak out to my LSS and hammer it out in a few hours. The biggest help to me in staying current was purchasing the Canon Selphy. I print a few times a week rather than waiting for a big batch to send out. It's definitely helped me stay in the work flow and current. Project Life will be a regular yearly project for me now. I can't imagine NOT doing it.

As for the supplies, the kits have changed for this year. You will definitely need the core kit. I know it comes with some of the blank grid cards, but I would suggest purchasing an extra pack of those. They are my go-to piece. I've incorporated lots of different binder pages into my PL, including some from other companies. I LOVE how the 6 x 12 and baseball card protectors look mixed in. I also mix in my full 12 x 12 digital prints, so I'm pretty hodge-podge in my approach. If you have a local scrapbook store, you can find protectors from other companies to mix in, so long as you don't mind they might be a different weight.

I am not at all happy with the binder from the 2011 edition. I'm not surprised that Becky had so many complaints and has changed them for 2012. I will probably purchase a replacement binder for my Turquoise edition.

Of course, I will be doing Lili's amazing Clementine for 2012. Can't wait!!!
 
Don't throw tomatoes at me.....

I didn't even know about this project! I am loving the Clementine! I have bookmarked this so I can keep an eye on it. I really think I want to do this!
 
Okay Laura, every time I read one of your posts about it, it makes me feel all determined again that I can do this! I have such a fear of commitment (don't tell my husband :giggle). I really think the photo printing capability at home is key. I just have to decide whether to use my current photo printer which is a Canon but is a bit meh, or to invest inthe Selphy. I lovethe hodge podgy idea. And I love the thought of being able to tuck in the random bits & pieces that we seem to collect along the way (or art work, boy do we have a ton of that floating around).
 
Laura, do you have photos of your Project Life that you can share with us? I would love to see it.

I must look into this Selphy myself. I have a photo printer but, it is like 5 years old now. I have hardly used it.
 
I definitely think the home printing is key. I have already burned out in mine because waiting so long in between photo printings and also selling all my photo gear kinda put a slump in it LOL. I purchased the Canon selphy CP800 from Target earlier this year but the prints did not match my screen at all and I wasn't pleased with the quality so I returned it. I would definitely need to invest in a good home printer because the project would be much easier if I could print off my picture each evening, oh and I guess I need to invest in some more photo gear.

I do love the little bit that I have done on mine. I approached it more from a week at a glance like Ali Edwards does and it suited me perfectly. I also loved that I could add little trinkets and treasures along the way which is definitely one thing I miss being able to do since switching to all digi scrapping.
 
In terms of the Selphy, Kelly and I both have the ES40. Sadly, it has been discontinued. I know others have not been as happy with the the lower model, but I have still heard good things about the mid-range one.

Here are a couple of photos I had already taken. The first one is a 12 x 12 all digital page (full credits here) printed next to my regular PL page protector. The second is a 6 x 12 digital page layered on top of the PL pp. I need to take some more pics to show all the memorabilia and bits. I'll try to do that this weekend.

PL-sample1.jpg


PLsample2.jpg
 
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Ooooh! Thanks for sharing, Laura!! Speaking of printers, I recently saw the portable Picturemate by Epson. It's $150 so I cannot really justify the cost. I will use my regular sized printer.
 
Laura, do you do a photo a day, or just kind of stick to a double spread per week?
I have failed this twice now, but really really want to do it next year. I just don't know how to stick to it.
I understand that people like the flexibility to choose, but I liked it better when you just bought the whole kit. I still have the 2009 one, but I need Clementine...ohh its all getting too difficult already!!!
 
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