Hey paper nerd!

I’ve recently started my 4th year of Project Life and have hopefully found a way to approach it that I can keep up all year.

I wanna share my 2015 Project Life plan with you guys. I also want to share a free printable further down. You may skip to that or keep reading. Here’s what’s up. :)

Stuff I’m using

• 6×8 Snap Album in Brown by Simple Stories. I love how the album is very compact and doesn’t stick out way beyond the pages in it. I used the exact same album in my 2013 Project Life.
• 3×4 pocket page protectors, 3×4 + 4×6 page protectors and a few other styles. The Simple Stories page protectors are SO yummy. Clear and thick. They don’t bulge, flop around and shift alot like fx. Handbook page protectors (sorry, SC).
• Week Numbers Cards by yours truly. Both the Black & White, Mermaids and Tide editions. Mermaids may be my new fave.
• Printable cards from my own designs, Paislee Press, One Little Bird, Digital Design Essentials and others. I especially love using these basics.
• Labels and other flat-ish embellishments, like these neat XOXO Cut Outs, chipboard hearts and wood veneer.
• iPhone 5 for taking all my photos.
• The PicTapGo app for editing my photos. I love the Lights On, Auto Color and Air filters.
• The Collect app for iPhone for my photo cards and most of my journaling. I’m using the Annette card design. LOVE this app. I probably wouldn’t be able to do Project Life without it.
• Photoshop for PC for dumping my photos into a homemade 4×6 template so I can print them easily.
• Canon Pixma MP640 printer for photos and digital card designs. It’s not an outstanding, fancy printer but it’s been running fine for years and does a good job. It can print on both sides which is a big plus for me.
• Uniball Pin File Line 0.1 black pen. Gotta have a skinny black pen.

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My opening page is incredibly simple. And I put it there because I’m not entirely happy with the title page coming right after. This way I don’t have to see that weird title page every time I open the album. :)

I wanted to take a great photo of the three of us to put on the title page but I was sick for the last few days of 2014 and it just didn’t happen. So I grabbed a great recent photo of my two lovelies and called it a day.

I may change the title page at some point. I kind of think it’s over-embellished (yes, really).

And so it begins. Week 1 of 2015. A few words and some photos. I was happy to include myself already. Kept it super simple, bright and colorful.

See how the photo cards I made in Collect just makes everything look good? So good. And that confetti card makes me happy!

My Project Life approach

As you can tell I’m not doing weekly spreads. I’m just putting the cards in more or less chronologically. I add a Week Number Card every time the week changes.

I’m also doing square corners only. I’m kind of pooped that I can’t use my Studio Calico cards, We R cards or Becky Higgins cards but I just can’t go for the round corners again. I so prefer the hard grid the squares provide.

So far I’ve been editing photos almost every day in PicTapGo and adding journaling to them immediately in Collect. As long as I have photos and journaling ready on my phone I won’t get too off track.

Every 2-4 days I’m printing photos and sticking them in pockets. It’s crucial for me to get to the actual physical creating stage. It keeps me excited and motivated!

In the very back of my album I’ve put some Pocket Scrap Planner Pages in case I fall behind. More on that below. :)

Free Pocket Scrap Planner Pages

To help me catch up, if/when I’m gonna need it, I’ve created these simple Pocket Scrap Planner Pages.

• Download 6×8 Pocket Scrap Planner Pages in A5 (PDF)
• Download 6×8 Pocket Scrap Planner Pages in Halfletter Size (PDF)

• Download 12×12 Pocket Scrap Planner Pages in A5 (PDF)
• Download 12×12 Pocket Scrap Planner Pages in Halfletter Size (PDF)

Note: A5 versions are designed to print on a sheet of A4 paper, then cut down the middle so you get two copies. Halfletter versions are designed to print on a sheet of Letter size paper, then cut down the middle so you get two copies.

The Pocket Scrap Planner Pages fit nicely in a 6×8 pocket. I’ve stuck a handful in the back of my Project Life album so they’re handy when I need it.

When I’m missing a week I’ll simply take a full 6×8 pocket page and put the Pocket Scrap Planner Page as well as some photos and elements I want to use in it. I’ll then stick the pocket in the album where there’s a week missing.

I also discovered that the A5 Filofax hole punch makes the printables fit perfectly in 6×8 albums (at least my Simple Stories album) and 12×12 albums (at least my We R Memory Keepers album). See below. How cool is that!

I’m really excited for Project Life this year. I may finally have boiled the process down to where I can keep it up. (And I’m so gonna eat my own words when baby arrives and everything is chaos – haha!) For now I’m feeling good about it.

Let me know if you have any questions regarding Project Life. I’m always happy to share!

Have fun with your Project Life, if that’s your jam too. If not, have fun with Actual Life. ;)

Thanks for stopping by.

xo Nina