|
|
Post by cannmom on Aug 13, 2014 22:05:54 GMT
What is your best tip for PL? How do you stay caught up or what do you do that makes the process easier? Experienced PL people share with us newbies what you have learned while doing PL.  |
|
|
|
Post by chances on Aug 14, 2014 1:16:19 GMT
I'm not perfect at staying "caught up", but one thing that has really helped is hand writing the cards. When I just grab a card I like and write about the photo or the week, it is so much easier. I used to get caught up in worrying about perfectly color-coordinating the cards and photos and would procrastinate on create the layout. Now, I just put things together, use a cute pen and write things down. I can add embellishments later. Worse case scenario, I can just change the card.
|
|
|
|
Post by anniefb on Aug 14, 2014 1:32:23 GMT
My tip would be to plan what sort of photos you need before you take them! It can be quite time consuming working out what page protector to use and what photos to work with if you have a mix of horizontal/vertical. If you decide on a couple of page protector options ahead of time that helps streamline things.
|
|
|
|
Post by craftygamer on Aug 14, 2014 1:52:37 GMT
I am the last person to be giving tips on staying caught up; I only do it monthly, and I've only completed up to February. However, my best tip is in regards to keeping good notes, I bought one of those school planners that you can find just about anywhere right now. It's about the size of a checkbook, and has both weekly and monthly calendars. It works great for keeping track of everything. When I go to scrap my PL, I can just flip through the planner for any dates and journaling notes (the weekly calendar has plenty of room, so you can write small journaling reminders if you want). I also paperclip any/all ephemera into the planner, on the appropriate date. The best part: if you buy one at Walmart, they're only about $3. I know a paper planner is a bit old school, but it works for me.
|
|
|
|
Post by LavenderLayoutLady on Aug 14, 2014 5:07:09 GMT
Jot down notes on a calendar at the end of the day. Just a little blurb can really help when it comes time to put the photos with the cards.
|
|
|
|
Post by alissa103 on Aug 14, 2014 20:01:54 GMT
I don't do monthly spreads or anything organized like that. If keeping up with that kind of system stresses you out, my tip is to just go with the flow and use the pictures you already have. Use PL to get through the backlog of photos not in albums.
I actually use PL to scrap the random photos I take of DS that I don't want to traditionally scrap. Either it's just one picture or maybe the photos aren't good but I want to record the story still. That's when I pull out PL stuff. It's faster (but still looks awesome) to jot down the story on a card and put the pics into pockets. Done. Then I use my time to scrapbook traditionally those darling photos I just can't wait to get artsy with.
I do try to do "a week in the life" kind of spreads with PL occasionally because I love those kind of details on our everyday life. But I just pick a normal week and try to remember to take lots of pics and jot down what we did, ate, etc.
|
|
|
|
Post by gizzy on Aug 15, 2014 3:11:49 GMT
I use a diary app on my phone. If I did something that day or took a picture, I write it in there & put a description of the picture. I'm a year behind & it's simple to work on it. Everything is there. Now, If my phone dies, I'm in trouble.
|
|
rlg510
Shy Member
Posts: 28 
|
Post by rlg510 on Aug 15, 2014 8:55:41 GMT
I do monthly spreads. I also use my computer (Photoshop Elements or PowerPoint) to make a general layout of the spread. This helps in three ways. First, on the left side, which I inherit from the spread before, I know the orientation of the pockets and can decide what size to print my photos (portrait, landscape, 4x6, 3x4, etc.) Second, I can figure out if I need to have more pages, more/less journaling etc. It just helps me go quickly when I do get the photos printed and I'm ready to go. I can decide to leave out a picture, or include it and use a smaller size insert (e.g. 6x8). Third, I usually check in with my progress about once a week and also jot down journaling notes so that when the month ends, I can remember stories I wanted to tell that happened at the beginning of the month.
This helped me do my first month of PL because I wasn't sure if I would have enough content to make a monthly spread. By the end of the first month, I saw monthly was the right pace for me and that I really would enjoy capturing my memories in this method.
|
|
|
|
Post by glitterowl on Aug 15, 2014 11:56:47 GMT
I use a "handwritten daytimer" for work. Old fashioned...ha ha for work and I write down everything for the day (personal life/kids) at the bottom of each work day. I usually keep it right by me when putting my PL pictures on my pages and when I write or stamp the dates on cards. It helps so much. Even little things like what we had for dinner. I find I'm capturing more of just ordinary life things and regular stuff I would have loved to have a pic of from my childhood. ie....like plates we used at dinner in 1970.
|
|
bsn22
Junior Member
Posts: 80
|
Post by bsn22 on Aug 15, 2014 19:53:16 GMT
1. Print at home. 2. Keep track of things you do each day- on a calendar, ohlife.com (they email you every day and you reply with the events of the day- it is kept in a blog-format for you to re-read), app. 3. Take your photos horizontally and vertically, just in case.  |
|
|
|
Post by Alexxussss on Aug 15, 2014 22:15:56 GMT
Not my idea, but I read once to use painters tape to attach PL cards to paper to run through your printer (to print on cards). It works great!  |
|
|
|
Post by anniefb on Aug 16, 2014 0:19:34 GMT
Great tips everyone!
|
|
|
|
Post by sabriolet on Aug 16, 2014 16:57:58 GMT
Someone said "Print at home" and I couldn't agree more. There would be no project life for me if I was unable to do this. Also, use whatever format floats your boat and don't be afraid to change it up mid-stream. I'm in my 3rd year. I started doing it by week, then every two weeks, and sometime in the spring of this year I decided to do it monthly. I don't get locked into one thing or another so much that I won't allow myself to change in order to keep myself interested in this long term project.
I actually don't do a ton of writing on cards anymore. I journal directly on pictures in PSE and that saves me a step. Journaling is my least favorite part.
Also, I use a ton of photo collages (I have a good set of templates) which make it easier to choose pictures because I can choose a bunch instead of having to narrow it down to just one.
Also, I take pictures vertically and horizontally of the same subject matter because I want the flexibility to be able to use either one, either independently or in a collage. It helps to keep my options open when it comes to actually sitting down to make layouts.
|
|
|
|
Post by anniefb on Aug 16, 2014 18:10:04 GMT
I agree about the printing at home. Much more convenient. Also lets me do more custom sizes. Like sabriolet I do a lot of journaling on photos and use templates in PSE. |
|
|
|
Post by craftwomanstyle on Aug 19, 2014 14:58:17 GMT
I sometimes participate in monthly 'photo challenges' for photo inspiration, which can be fun especially when I'm not sure what to 'capture' during a particular week/month. I also use 'insert' page protectors for those weeks/months that don't have a lot of photos. Makes the process a lot easier for me  |
|
|
|
Post by mrscraftyadams on Aug 28, 2014 2:28:08 GMT
Print at home! Also - I like to embellish my PL - some weeks more than others. But sometimes it works to just grab a kit and use it for your week. You can really drive yourself crazy by searching for the "perfect" card and downloading printables and remembering to use them, etc. I'm always surprised at how much I like the spreads I create by using one kit on that week. |
|
jennerator
New Member
Posts: 3
|
Post by jennerator on Aug 29, 2014 17:49:01 GMT
Try and take notes! It helps so much when I can look at my calendar notes.
|
|
|
|
Post by ametallichick on Sept 9, 2014 19:18:53 GMT
I don't do PL in the sense of everyday. I do use PL for a birthday LO or a beach LO, for example.
It's nice because I can use a lot of photos. I am a hybrid scrapper so I do traditional, PL and digital in my albums.
|
|
|
|
Post by ladybuginohio on Sept 9, 2014 19:40:02 GMT
I use a diary app on my phone. If I did something that day or took a picture, I write it in there & put a description of the picture. I'm a year behind & it's simple to work on it. Everything is there. Now, If my phone dies, I'm in trouble. Which diary app do you use? Thanks! |
|
|
|
Post by penny on Sept 19, 2014 6:22:06 GMT
I do mine monthly (two page spread per month)...
I print off calendars (6 months on a 8-1/2x11 page), and keep it on my desk... I sit at my desk every couple days, and the first thing I do is scribble down the highlights of the past few days... Just a word or two to trigger what happened... When I go to print/layout my pages, it helps me estimate how many pictures of what sizes to print...
I take a lot of vertical pictures, so I stick with mainly design A... It let's me get a ton of pictures into just two pages - four across the middle and I can double up in the 4x6 pockets... I could fit 22 3x4s if I really wanted too...
I print at home... It just would not happen if I had to plan to send them off or go in to get them printed...
I print then with a pretty big white border... I trim that border down to maybe 1/8", making my photos smaller than 3x4 or 4x6... It let's the card/paper show (so it already looks somewhat decorated...lol), and it gives me room to scribble a couple words, the date, or put a few embellishments... I love the look of full sized photos with the embellishments on top but I've yet to master taking a picture with enough white space to be able to do that myself...lol
If I have a lot to say, I write it out on my computer and print it on a PL card by putting the PL card in the 4x6 tray... I also use a typewriter, but I can get an easily readable, smaller font by using my computer...
When I go to make my pages, I print all my photos, trim them, lay them out how I want them, then pick all my cards... I glue my photos down right away (unless I need to run that card through my printer or typewriter first)... I find it much easier to do all the embellishments while looking at the two pages as a whole... Easier to plan, and it lets me go through each supply once which saves some time... Not that I mind it, I'm just so slow...lol
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
|
|
|
|
Post by ctpea on Sept 21, 2014 12:53:18 GMT
Batch Process and print pictures monthly basis (minimum). So.......here's what I mean.
Monthly pictures - at the end of every month I print my pictures in various sizes. If sticking to design A - I print my horizontal pics 4x6 and any vertical in 3x4. Printing at home on my selphy helps me, but I do try to use shutterfly offers whenever I can.
Batch process - With my printed pictures at hand I put them in sleeves and then select the cards for all the pictures I have first. Then I go back and do my journaling and embellishments. This just helps my process go faster because I am usually working with a large number of pictures since I am monthly PL'er.
|
|
|
|
Post by Florida Cindy on Sept 24, 2014 2:43:34 GMT
I always use PSE 12 to process multiple files. It corrects the photos in a large batch for me. It saves me a lot of time.
|
|
|
|
Post by Florida Cindy on Sept 24, 2014 2:44:30 GMT
If we had challenges to capture pics of activities/things/people and animal, I think more people would particpate in PL.
|
|
|
|
Post by tiggerpooh2380 on Sept 25, 2014 2:39:58 GMT
I do weekly, but I only work on my album monthly, so my tip would be to organize photos weekly (if you do weekly that is). I have a folder named ProjectLife14, and then I have subfolders for each week, so it is very easy to see what I organized and what I didn't.
|
|
|
|
Post by penny on Sept 25, 2014 3:20:13 GMT
If we had challenges to capture pics of activities/things/people and animal, I think more people would particpate in PL. I often thought that too... I don't have kids so I don't fall into a lot of the typical photo worthy moments - back to school for example... September doesn't have a certain 'thing' for me, so this month will be very random... I don't mind that - I do my PL monthly so it's usually a bit random, but having a project or challenge to look out for would be fun... |
|
|
|
Post by gizzy on Sept 28, 2014 3:12:42 GMT
I use a diary app on my phone. If I did something that day or took a picture, I write it in there & put a description of the picture. I'm a year behind & it's simple to work on it. Everything is there. Now, If my phone dies, I'm in trouble. Which diary app do you use? Thanks! ladybuginohio-I'm so sorry, I just came back to this thread and saw your question. I have an android & use private diary from google play. The free one. |
|
theresac
New Member
Posts: 3
|
Post by theresac on Sept 28, 2014 14:28:36 GMT
Organize, organize, organize! I keep my photos organized by week in iPhoto (but you can do it by folders on a PC too). And I make my weekly PL journaling part of my regular planning "Weekly Review". Each Sunday, when I sit down to catch up on our finances, write TODO lists, and close any open loops, I also collect photos from EVERYONE's phones and cameras, and take ten minutes to write down any milestones, any funny quotes, and anything interesting that I'm going to want to put into PL later on.
Printing at home can be WAY more expensive than a lab, but the quality's a lot higher too (I have an R2000). I can quickly reprint if I don't like the way a photo turns out, and it's easy for me to print in different sizes too.
ALSO, find a way to back-up your photos! BACK UP BACK UP BACK UP. I was heartbroken last year when my toddler spilled water on my computer. I lost several weeks of photos, including Halloween.
|
|
|
|
Post by ladybuginohio on Sept 30, 2014 17:11:16 GMT
Which diary app do you use? Thanks! ladybuginohio-I'm so sorry, I just came back to this thread and saw your question. I have an android & use private diary from google play. The free one. Thank you! |
|
|
|
Post by mrssch on Oct 1, 2014 15:32:46 GMT
thanks for the great tips. i am recovering from hand and elbow surgery so all project life is really the only scrapbooking project that i can manage. maybe i can get caught up.
|
|
calipea
Shy Member
I like Netherland dwarfs. 🐰
Posts: 34
|
Post by calipea on Oct 5, 2014 2:48:08 GMT
I print at home using collage apps on my iphone. I used to use Picasa, but the apps are so much quicker because most photos are taken with my phone. Once in a while I use Walgreens with a coupon for larger sizes.
I also selected a much more manageable size of album for me. With the traditional 12 x 12 from BH I always had a hard time filling up all pockets. I also do not have a craft room and leave my album/some craft supplies out in the kitchen, so 12 x 12 was really big. I now use 6 x 12 albums I found at Hobby Lobby. I was able to modify most leftover BH page protectors to fit this album. If I have more stories to tell, I add another page protector. I may have to split my album in half because of bulk, but it seems stress-free so far. 8 1/2 x 11 is also a good option.
At the beginning of the week, I try to set a theme: What stories do I want to tell? Like last week was all about my sons AYSO soccer. Before it was about fall around here (or total lack off). I buy very little supplies compared to past years. Mostly PL cards at Hobby Lobby and some stamps for Kelly Purkey/Ali Edwards. I am incorporating her Week in the Life supplies into my PL life.
|
|
