NZ progress

So I can definitely see the light at the end of the tunnel for my 2011 New Zealand album. I think there are only three pages left to do - one of which I haven't started, but the other two already have the photos selected and a sketch picked out (I am currently using sketches as part of my work flow to speed things up - I'm finding it's helping).

Here's the most recent pages, including the last of our Rugby World Cup events. (Side note - we've just bought tickets for one of next year's RWC games in Cardiff - so excited already!)

Credits to follow - sorry!

The plan is to print this as a phonebook when done, and as it will be more pages than Photobox can do in their lay-flat books, I'm thinking of using Bob Books. I can't wait to have an actual physical book in my hands - definitely the disadvantage of digital is waiting until all the layouts are done to be able to flick through them in book form.

Wedding album

It took me ages to start work on this album. I wanted to get it right - for me that meant ensuring everything was in one place (no separate cards for example), and that it both showcased the best photos and told the story of the day. Plus, it had to be a combination of my style (bright and colourful) and my husband's (more clean and neutral). Eventually I found Elise Blaha Cripe's album, and that provided the inspiration I needed.

The font and kiwi bird icons are the same ones we used on our invitations, so i'm hoping the whole thing will come together quite easily. The hard part is definitely choosing the photos - we have 1000 from our official photographer and hundreds more from our guests! Here's hoping it will be finished before our 2 year anniversary!

Project Life - September 2014

Although I didn't quite manage to get caught up on my PL, I can say I'm no longer behind. I haven't done October's yet, but as it's still November I think that's allowed! September's layouts confirmed to me that a weekly format isn't what I need - there are only 4 layouts for September. We spent 2 weeks away this month, and the holiday will be documented elsewhere (along with our other Disney vacations), so I've just captured a flavour of the trip here. The other main thing that happened was our Big Garden Makeover, and that takes up most of the other two pages.

Becky Higgins design A, design C, design Q and a variation on design G.
Papers a heimann storyteller
Cards Becky Higgins cherry edition, RB PL candy, Brittish Designs at night freebie

I'm quite pleased with the amount of white space this month - I think I've finally managed not to overfill the pages!

Project Life - August 2014

Continuing with my new found speed on the PL app, I made August's pages on my phone (mainly while I was at work - sometimes my job is awesome!). I chose the photos first and saved them to a folder to sync to my phone, then added the scans of the ephemera to the same folder. Again it was super fast, and again I imported into photoshop elements afterwards to add some extra bits. Mainly this was adding text onto the photos, although I'm currently testing apps that will allow me to do this on my phone.

All pages made with the PLapp using Kraft and Summer editions.
Arrows from Becky Higgins digital PL Cherry edition
Flair badges by Heidi Swapp

The number of pages has grown again, so I'm now up to 7 pages for this month. It hasn't escaped my notice that this is almost as many as a double page spread per week, which I was convinced I couldn't do, but I'm still scrapping by topic rather than chronology and I'm happy with that. If I can get September done in the next 3 days I will no longer be "behind" - watch this space!

A new way to get things done faster

This post could also be titled, "I bought the Project Life App" and it's so fast! I honestly made 4 pages in under 30 minutes - and that was my first time using the app so that included time spent figuring things out.

There isn't much to figure out, having said that. There's no way to embellish using the app, and there's a limited choice of PL kits to pick cards from. But that isn't a negative thing - it meant I just got on with it and got the pages done. I imported two into PS elements afterwards, to see what happened if I tinkered with them a bit more.

Left - original pages from the app
Right - the finished pages after 5 minutes with PhotoShop Elements

All pages created with the PL iPhone app using Strawberry Edition kit

I then sat and watched the TV and created two more pages. That's a whole weeks vacation turned into 6 pages in under an hour total (including choosing photos, using the app and then using PSE). This is definitely going to help me in my mission to get things finished! Next I'm hoping to do our trip to Venice last year, for which I have bought one of the extra in-app purchases of the Summer Themed Cards. I've also created a file of all my existing freebie PL cards that I can sync to the photo album on my phone (hopefully) so I can use some of those too. 

Back in sunny Blighty; it's time for tea

I'm joining in with Abi again this month with her lovely meme. So come in and I'll put the kettle on - something we missed whilst we were away. They're not big on tea in the US!

I'm afraid you can't see our holiday photos yet - although we've put them on the computer it will take another couple of weeks before we've reduced them down to a manageable amount! I'll just have to tell you that we had a lovely time, relaxing in the Florida Keys then being crazy in Walt Disney World. I can show you a couple of my instagram pics from the trip instead.

Surprisingly, we came home from holiday to discover the remnants of summer are still here. Isn't it lovely? It was definitely a pleasant surprise, even though it meant the Big Garden Makeover has had to be delayed - they couldn't put the turf down while we were away as it will need watering.

Do you do Project Life? Are you 'caught up', or doesn't it matter to you? I am now officially behind, for the first time since I started. Somehow October has crept up on me - and I still haven't scrapped August. Never mind, to get six months into the project and only be one month behind is pretty good I think. I'll get to it soon. I'm thinking of getting the new PL app - have you got it? It look super easy - and would mean I could scrapbook at work!

While we were away I bought a new album for my India/Nepal trip. Originally I had a post bound album, but it just isn't big enough. I had to decide between one large album or two smaller ones, and decided on one large one.

Becky Higgins @ Michaels 

I wanted the album to fit with the colours of the trip, so got one that's much more patterned than I would normally choose. Now comes the less fun task of transferring all the layouts that are in the old album into this new album! How do you deal with tasks that are not so fun - any tips?

Anyway I had better go and get on with other not-so-fun tasks - we're having our nieces to stay this weekend, so I've got lots to organise! Keep your fingers crossed that the weather stays nice for us!

How not to get things done

So the reason for the lack of posts recently is simple - I haven't made any layouts. I got over tired and over stressed and couldn't find any creative spark. I sat down in front of both my craft desk and the computer alternately, but no luck.  Oh well, everything goes in fits and starts I suppose.

Meanwhile I have been creating more photos to go in the scrapbook. We're currently on holiday (hooray! Thanks for the sunshine Florida), and whilst we're away The Big Garden Makeover is taking place. So hopefully in two weeks there will be a stack of Disney pictures and a much improved garden to inspire some pages.

Meanwhile it is my husbands birthday today so I'm looking forward to a nice meal on the Key West waterfront, and I plan to listen to this episode of the Paperclipping Roundtable again to fuel my scrapbooking drive.