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Category Archives: Project Life
I am here, I am here! WOW. Did not mean to take that much of a hiatus…but my life has been VERY busy this past week. We had a houseguest, I tackled my first piece of complicated clothing on the sewing machine (can’t wait for you to see it!), and chased kids around and around and around and around. Consequently this week’s layout is pretty simple. And definitely odd colors for me–since when do I like orange, brown, blue, and green?!
Whole Layout:
Left Side:
Right Side:
What we were up to this week: As the Week in Review card sums up, not too much before my Aunt Holly arrived on Thursday the 19th. (And yes, if your wondering, that is where we got the name for our Holly.) While she was here we did a lot of fabric store shopping and then prairie dress preparation. That’s right–I dove right in and made Holly a “Laura and Mary” dress, pinafore, and bonnet to compliment her recent Little House obsession. For the record I FULLY support this obsession, I would MUCH rather her pick up morality and lessons from that show than the pre-teen stuff I see on the Disney channel. Whoops. Sorry for the soapbox!
Techniques used this week: Once again it was brushes and text on photos all day long. And recoloring digital elements in Photoshop. Boy am I obsessed with that!
Other thoughts: I am too tired for other thoughts this week. HA!
Supplies used this week: Most of the items are listed in the icons below. The Week Eight circle came from September Blue’s blog and was, at the time, a free download. It’s $2.99 now, but I still think that’s a great deal for 52 elements. I absolutely love those elements! The I {heart} this photo is an Ali Edward’s brush available at designerdigitals.com.
63 entries were entered into the random number generator and the comment number calculated was……63!
Congratulations Melanie! I just know you are going to love it:) Please email me so I can get you all of the details.
I hope to be back later with a baby book update, if not today, definitely by Monday.
For all of you that entered…thank you. It was awesome to see so many people interested in how to do a digital version of Project Life–makes me excited to do up some more videos!!
For those of you that missed it, I did post about getting started with digital project life back in early January. This post includes links to videos on how to use templates, how to put text on photos, and how to use a digital brush. Honestly…if you watch those you WOULD know how to get started and ultimately create an album.
Go check it out!!!
I know many of you want to get started doing Project Life digitally, but aren’t sure how to begin. Many times I have shown my finished pages to family and friends and they are so ready to jump on board….until I tell them you need to use Photoshop to complete it. I literally can see the expression on their faces change, and despite my urging that it really is easier than they might think, I can’t get them to come back around. Have you wrestled with this? Been so intrigued, but doubt your ability to learn a new program?
I have just the thing for you – Jessica Sprague’s Digital Project Life with Photoshop class! I have taken the class myself and can tell you it’s packed with tips and techniques that will get you up and running fast. (And for the record, it’s awesome for those of you who already know a bit about Photoshop. I couldn’t believe what I learned!)
In this online, video-based class you’ll learn the basic Photoshop tools to create gorgeous pages in just a few minutes a week that integrate Becky’s digital Project Life templates, photographs, embellishments, and type.
You’ll learn how to:
· Download and unzip files
· Open, close, combine, and save images of different types
· Save pages for both print and the web
· Use digital templates to speed up your work and create a cohesive look
· Add embellishments to your pages
· Insert, arrange, and resize photos
· Use the Type tool for journaling and titles
· And so much more!
The class also includes the two-piece background that I use in almost all of my own Digital Project Life pages. If you have always wanted to create that double-mat layered look, it’s all in there!
This is a self-paced class, meaning, you’ll have access to all your course materials FOREVER. No need to be online at a specific time – complete the class at your own pace! Priced at $23 – this class is a steal and I couldn’t recommend it enough.
I am so excited to be giving away a spot in the class to one of my readers. In addition to winning a seat in the class, the winner will also receive one full Project Life Edition of their choice from acdigitals.com. AC Digitals is the home to all of the Becky Higgins Project Life digital products along with some of the most popular brands in the scrapbooking industry – American Crafts, Crate Paper, and Pebbles.
Seriously…there is no reason no to give digital a whirl now!
To enter, simply leave a comment on this post letting me know what you are most looking forward to learning in the class and your favorite Project Life collection.
I will be accepting comments until midnight, CST today. Winner announced tomorrow!
I had been looking forward to this week all month–Valentine’s Week! I have been in love with black backgrounds ever since my Week Five layout, so the moment I saw the XOXO collection I knew it was going to be my kit this week. I absolutely LOVE every color in this kit, and when I looked in my closet I instantly knew why. Almost everything I own is red, pink, black, white, or turquoise. How funny is that?!
It wasn’t until after I put this page together that I realized I was not anywhere in the layouts–but never fear the streak is not broken! I was in plenty of photos this week, they are just going to go into an insert. Working on that now…and hopefully will be posting it later this week. I want to do a special anniversary insert for my husband and I. We don’t have a wedding album yet (although Teresa’s album has got me itching to do one now) so I figure it was the least I could do for us! I think it will be really neat for the girls to be able to look at it one day and see what Mom and Dad were like way back when.
Whole Layout:
Left Side:
Right Side:
What we were up to this week: This past week you could find us either out on the sidewalk clearing snow or down in the basement wrapping up all of our household goods in plastic to get ready for drain tile installation on Thursday. Is it any wonder why both my husband and I were ready for bed before our five year old Saturday night?! All that work came with a nice reward though, our anniversary coincides with Valentine’s Day so Justin and I got out for a rare mid-week date night on Thursday. It’s amazing how 90 minutes away from the house can feel like hours! (And how amazing dinner can taste when I don’t have to cook it!)
Techniques used this week: Once again it was brushes and text on photos all day long.
Other thoughts: This week is another good example of taking photos with intention. (If you missed my deconstructing a Project Life Week post last week that talked about this, be sure to check it out.) Marie has a habit of running out of the room we are playing in, and then being much too quiet afterwords. This always means she is in the bathroom! This weekend I paid particular attention to when she walked into the hallway, and when she did I followed her with my camera and snapped the photo in the bathroom you see above. This stage of hers is just too funny, as is finding her tiny bits of toilet paper ALL OVER THE HOUSE. She just loves to sit and tear the paper smaller, smaller, and smaller! If you catch her with it, she laughs and runs the other way. I managed to get a shot of this too, it’s showcased on the title card.
Be sure to stop by tomorrow for an EXCITING giveaway. If you have been thinking of trying your hand at creating a digital project life album you are definitely going to want to stop by!!!
Supplies used this week: Most of the items are listed in the icons below. The Week Seven circle came from September Blue’s blog and was, at the time, a free download. It’s $2.99 now, but I still think that’s a great deal for 52 elements! The “Right Now : This is Life” brush is from Ali’s Everyday Life Journaling prompts set. I, for the life of me, cannot get Designer Digitals products to work with inlinkz half the time! The “nine years together” card was a modified freebie from Cathy Zielske using brushes from Studio Calico’s Day by Day class.
Happy Sunday everyone!
I was so excited last week about how my Project Life title page came out that I finally sat down and designed my own double mat to use every week in my layouts. (The one I had been using was a free download from Jessica Sprague offered up on her blog last year.) I have created a double mat for all of you as well…in fact I have created two!! One coordinates with the Olive version of Project Life, and one coordinates with the Seafoam edition. I used 4shared.com currently for my file sharing, which you do have to register for to use. It’s all free, and I can honestly say that they have never spammed me in the over twelve months I have registered myself, but I know not everyone wishes to download from sites like these. I am working on finding an alternative, so in the meantime feel free to email me and I can send you a zip file if you do not wish to download from 4shared.
Both templates are layered .psd files, so you are able to choose which color background you would like to use, and hide the ones you don’t, as well as whether or not to show the text border. (And remember–you can recolor any of the layers OR clip a patterned paper to it.) The possibilities are endless! Here is a look at both templates:
I love the look of the double mat, and am grateful for Jessica Sprague who provided the inspiration to do it in the first place. If you desire to use my file with any of your Project Life templates, watch Jessica Sprague’s video on how to re-size everything within the Project Life templates uniformly. A couple of things to note about the video–Project Life templates are now available at acdigitals.com (in the video she mentions jessicasprague.com), and you could resize everything after you have clipped your images to the 3×4 and 4×6 spots if you wanted. (This eliminates having to resize everything before you you clip it in. Digital elements and cards are typically made to fit the templates, so when you mess with the template you create a bit more work for yourself.) Her video illustrates doing it before you clip, but either way works. I do it both ways honestly, just depends on how organized I am at the beginning of the week.
Hope you enjoy the double-mat file, and if you use it in your layouts be sure to leave a comment here. I would love to see them!
Oh…and don’t forget, tomorrow is the last day to grab the Olive Edition while it’s on sale. I used the kit for my weekly layout on Week Six…it’s such a striking kit, and versatile enough to use for everyday.
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That’s ok, I’ll go check out what you’ve posted. Thanks to your recoloring tutorial, I do know how to do that and LOVE it! Thanks Heather!
Cara Miller - Heather, I love the colors and papers that you are choosing for these layouts. Thanks for sharing. hugs, cara
Amy - As usual, great job on your scrapbook page spread for this week! Love it.
Lisa J. - What a fun week!
The browns and yellow of your spread tie in perfectly w/ a Little House on the Prairie dress making.
Your Aunt Holly sounds like she’s such a “kindred spirit.”
Donna G. - BEAUTIFUL pages, Heather! Marie really is a cutie!! And Holly is very pretty!
libbywilko - Love the photographs(as usual) this week and I so agree with what you said about supporting the LH obsession, can’t wait to see the finished dress.
Tina C. - Cool layouts! I think this is the first time I seen it layed out on 12 X 12 sheets of paper vs seeing it in the pockets look all the others I’ve seen this is so refreshing and appealing to a scrapper. Well you inspired me, after I use up all the pages I already bought I can’t wait to use this style, TFS and thanks for the inspiration
Sue - Love your pages so much – again!! Can’t wait to see the dress – what a super, awesome mom you are for encouraging your daughter in what she likes
I love the September Blue weeks too and used one this week as well (recoloured of course – lol).
J3SS1C4 - I love how vivid this page is! The snow pics are super cute, as is the photo of your daughter buying her craft project!