enJOY it

an archived personal and craft blog from Elise Blaha Cripe.

FEBpl

As mentioned at the end of 2013, I am no longer completing my Project Life album on a weekly basis. I did that for two years. I enjoyed the process and I love my albums. This year I am taking a much more relaxed approach and playing more with this project. I don't have much of a plan other than to complete at least one (and sometimes many more) spread a month.

EliseCripeSCMarchdetailblog

The big win is that I can never be "behind" on this album. I also like that I don't have to worry about having seven horizontal 4×6 photos each week and can group photos by subject instead of date. I love that I will be under no "weekly deadlines" and will be blogging just once a month about my album.

EliseCripeSCMarchfrontsideblog

February was packed for us. Lots of work! Lots of progress! A quick trip up to Sacramento to visit our families and for Ellerie's baptism.

FEBspread1click to enlarge.

I started this month with almost a "title" page. I used a bunch of pink, yellow and red cards and embellishments from the SC March Office Hours Project Life kit.

FEBpllayout1

I ended the January spreads with a diagonal pocket page and so I had to use the backside this month. That photo of Paul and Ellerie is one of my favorites. I cropped it to 12×6 and then printed it at home as three separate 4×6 photos. I just had to cut them in half and round the corners to make it fit in the horizontal pockets.

FEBplspread2click to enlarge.

The next layout is pretty photo and journaling heavy (again… all vertical iPhone photos because that's just how I'm documenting these days).

EliseCripeSCMarchbacksideblog

I played with the Office Hours kit again here and used a checkerboard (alternating photo and journaling cards). I love those cork stickers and I just stuck them to the outside of the pockets on both sides.

FEBbestof

Again, this month, I went with a "best of" spread. This is just the easiest way to "share all the things" on a monthly basis, I think.

FEBdetail

It's shocking to me how fast these months go and how much we get in.

Febplspread3click to enlarge.

The next spread is "Valentine's Day" and includes a story about Ellerie (that's intentionally blurred here). I didn't have a ton of photos to go with it so I used some pink and red cards from various places.

FEBpainting

I had E "paint" a picture for Paul on Valentine's Day and that I just tucked right into an 8.5×11 pocket page and paper clipped a valentine to it.

FEBfilmlayout

I used a WeRMemory Keepers nine pocket page to hold some of my film photos taken this month. That "captured" embellishment is from the Office Hours kit.

FebPLdetail2

Always love the square pockets.

FEBspread4click to enlarge.

On the backside I stuck 9 photos from our trip to Sacramento and opposite that is our "photo of the three of us" (remember I have a goal to get one a month) from February (this is a mock-up, I still have to get that 12×12 printed).

Febpleep

Super fun and random photos. This is what happens when you only carry your iPhone…

And that's February! Simple is becoming the name of the game for me. Thank you so much for following along. See my title page for this album here and 2014 album progress here.

product sources: Studio Calico Office Hours PL kit, Seafoam core kit, Midnight core kit, Sunshine Core kit, Amy Tangerine mini kit, Studio Calico past project life kit pieces, We R Memory keepers 9 pocket page, Design F pocket page, Design B pocket page, Meredith Carty (3×4 card), Kelly Purkey letter stickers, staz-on ink, Pigma Micro 01 pen.

all photos were printed at home on my Epson PictureMate Show.

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25 responses to “project life 2014 : february.”

  1. andrea Avatar
    andrea

    Amazing spreads.
    Your film photos are so beautiful. I really love the feeling of film photos. I also have a film camera. Maybe I have to use it again :). Such a good idea.
    Thanks for sharing.

    Like

  2. Harmony Avatar

    I love the pockets that have the 2 cards cut on the diagonal. I am definitely going to incorporate that into some of my layouts.

    Like

  3. Welcome Home Taylor Avatar

    I love this month’s spread! It’s so inspiring to start one of my own.
    xoxo
    Taylor
    http://www.welcomehometaylor.com

    Like

  4. Traci Avatar

    Simple is best. I’ve always been a little intimidated by project life, even though it looks like fun. I could probably handle it in this kind of relaxed way, though!

    Like

  5. northcarmen Avatar

    Your pages are super fun, Elise. 🙂 I’m still doing the more structured weekly spreads, but I definitely see the appeal of this approach…. 🙂
    Carmen.

    Like

  6. Fanny Avatar

    This once a month idea sounds more appealing to me than doing it every week.
    Thanks for sharing! I’m not into it yet but tempted to jump … maybe 2015…

    Like

  7. Cathy Avatar

    Love it 🙂
    I have a question – How do you print your 6×12 as three separate 4×6 photos?
    Thanks

    Like

  8. Christy Avatar
    Christy

    Simple sounds good to me! I have a question – where did you find the journal cards that look like notebook paper?
    Thanks!

    Like

  9. Chrisy@GoodNorthCoastLife Avatar

    Really finding your approach to Project Life this year super inspiring Elise. The weekly approach just doesn’t work for me-but l’m yet to find or see too many other approaches. The way you are pulling together your monthly layouts is rad 🙂

    Like

  10. elise blaha cripe Avatar

    I posted a video about how I break up big photos here https://vimeo.com/39360706

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  11. elise blaha cripe Avatar

    the studio calico office hours kit. 🙂

    Like

  12. marcela Avatar
    marcela

    thank you for sharing, i’m going with monthly spreads this year as well and find it so much more easier but funny enough i still put the photos on weekly order hehe didn’t realise i was doing it until i looked at my spread hehe

    Like

  13. lisa Avatar

    i love that you’re taking a casual approach to your family scrapbooking. life gets crazy busy, especially as the kid(s) get older. i’ve taken to keeping a photo album (with 4×6 pockets) in our living room and inserting random notes, momentos, keepsakes, our son’s drawings and other papers (sometimes they end up folded, but i know where to find them) with little post-its or memos of thoughts, memories and reflections. a couple of times a month i print out my instagram pictures (using instaport and then formatting to a 3×3 template – i print 6 pictures per page on plain paper); i caption them and insert those into the album as well. by the end of the year, i have a sentimental keepsake that didn’t cause me undue stress to create.

    Like

  14. cheyenne Avatar

    absolutely love this! i really want to start a similar project, just need to find out where to get the best supplies in the netherlands 🙂 and simple is good. why make things harder than they need to be 🙂
    xo, cheyenne

    Like

  15. Kelsey Staples Avatar

    Love your pages! I would so love to get a photo of the four of us monthly, but my rambunctious three year old and loving husband put a bit of a damper on the idea! 🙂 You are always inspiring, thank you!

    Like

  16. Megan A Anderson Avatar

    This is looking so fantastic! I love seeing your take on the different page sizes and getting to see tons of cute photos of your family is the best 🙂

    Like

  17. Amy @ Wildflower Ramblings Avatar

    I love your PL this year!! I have an album for each of my children, I do one spread for each of them per month, that has been working for us — I also do a family PL album that I update less often 🙂 Thanks so much for all the inspiration!

    Like

  18. Dawn F. Avatar
    Dawn F.

    You may have already said this and if so I apologize for asking it again. But do you put together your pages at the end of the month or work on it throughout the month? Do you decide ahead of time the style of page protector then size your pictures accordingly or just crop them once they are printed? I am also doing it as a monthly recap and I want to use other page protectors (as opposed to using design A) but I take most pics horizontally and I don’t have editing software so pictures get printed 4×6 or I do wallet sizes for the vertical slots. Thanks for inspiring me to try different techniques!

    Like

  19. michelle t Avatar
    michelle t

    Lovely, inspiring layouts. Thank you. Michelle t

    Like

  20. JC Avatar
    JC

    Admittedly/selfishly, I was a little sad earlier in the year when you talked about your switch from weekly to monthly spreads. I’ve always loved your style and appreciated the inspiration and knew I’d miss the less-frequent posts. HOWEVER, these are just beautiful! I didn’t think I could love your PL posts more than I already did, but I was wrong! Thank you for sharing your fantastic work, Elise! Little E is just going to love looking through these when she’s older!

    Like

  21. Lmtblogs Avatar

    Always inspiring, thank you! How do you print 12×12 pics. At home or ordered?

    Like

  22. Casie Avatar

    I love template P and just created a layout using those to highlight a fun day at high hand nursery in Loomis. Next time you make your way up north, you should check it out. all the succulent plants reminded me of your posts. I plan to go back and get some rad little air plants 🙂
    http://highhand.com/home

    Like

  23. Samantha Avatar
    Samantha

    Hi, just wondering what the font you used for the title “February Project Life” is?

    Like

  24. Mary Cardini-Anderson Avatar

    Your pages are wonderful. I too, keep my pages simple. Love your photos. Your baby girl is so adorable, precious and so very happy looking. Thanks for sharing.
    Mary from NH

    Like

  25. Christy Avatar
    Christy

    Thanks!

    Like

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