project life | a field trip…

Hi friends!  I have a fun project to share with you today – it’s a scrapbook spread I put together using a “Project Life” kit.  I will likely never use Project Life (or pocket scrapbooking in general) exclusively, but I LOVE the concept behind it.  I use this style intermixed with regular pages in my albums. 

The kit I used to create this page is The Vintage Travel Core Kit available exclusively at Michael’s stores.  (Michaels carries one of the largest selections of Project Life, including two exclusive core kits and several exclusive albums.)  It features deep blues, reds and browns, along with a variety of darker neutrals. The icons in this Edition include trains, airplanes and maps.  I thought it was the perfect kit to use with these photos from a field trip Seth went on a few years ago.

Before I continue, I must let you know that this post is part of a paid campaign with American Crafts, but all opinions are my own.  I would never promote a product I did not think was worth sharing!  Here’s why I love Project Life:

• I can create FUN pages for my scrapbook without having to cut or glue a single thing.  The premade cards simply slip into the pocket pages.  All I have to do is add photos and journaling!
• Of course, it’s always an option to get more creative with these premade items if I want to – I could always add stickers, machine stitching, layering, additional embellishments, etc.  But even if I don’t add a single thing, my memories are preserved and the pages are fun and interesting to look at too.
• Anybody can do this.  For all of my friends who have ever dared utter the following words to me: “I just don’t have time to scrapbook,” well…now you absolutely do.  This style takes almost no time at all – really!  The most time consuming part of the process is printing the photos!  And the only decisions you have to make are fun ones – which photos to print 4x6 and which to print 3x4. (I couldn’t resist adding a photo of this “outlaw” to this layout.  We were treated to a real old-fashioned “hold up” when we rode the train!)

• If you don’t like your own handwriting, you can always print directly onto the journaling cards with your printer…but adding your handwriting adds a personal touch and it’s a LOT faster!  I love using these precision pens from American Crafts to write my journaling.

• Of course titles aren’t necessary, but I really like adding them to my pages – Project Life projects are no exception – it’s easy to use stickers to add a title to a journaling card.

• Adding a few stickers to a journaling card is also a fun way to add a subtitle or just additional information…

• And even though you don’t have to trim photos with scissors or punches, you certainly can!  I used a circle punch to add this little photo one of the journaling cards.

So there you go – 7 of the many reasons I think Project Life is a great approach to scrapbooking.  A beginner who has never created a scrapbook page in her life or a pro who has been creating pages for a lifetime – Project Life has its place and it’s definitely worth investing in regardless of whether you use it for ALL of your scrapbooking or just for certain events (like I do).  I’ll be using it, along with traditional scrapbooking, in my albums and I’ll be sharing more of my pages and ideas here on my blog so be sure to come back often!