enJOY it

an archived personal and craft blog from Elise Blaha Cripe.

MARCHplheader

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.

MARCHpldetail2

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.

MARCH1

There is so much going on right now in REAL life that isn't making it into our ALBUM life. I think back to the Elise of last spring or the Elise of the spring before that and I cannot believe how much free time she had. WHAT WAS SHE DOING?!?! I wish I could go back in time, grab her, and pull her into the present to help me out. I'm 99% sure she's bored and totally willing.

All of that to say: I am learning that Project Life is taking a backseat while real life is so awesome and full. And I cannot express how OKAY I am with this. So this month it's a ton of photos of my cute kiddo and a ton of photos of my garden. This is not the entire story of March. Not even a fraction of the story. But it's some of it and for me, that's a great win.

MarchPLspread

click to enlarge.

February ended with a 12×12 photo, so March starts with one. (Honestly this is just a mock up, I need to get the photo printed still.) Next to it is my Studio Calico creative team spread using the triangle stamp from the main Bluegrass Farm PL kit and embellishments from the add-ons.

MARCHpldetail

Super cute embellishments that I just stuck together with a staple and then adhered to the outside of the pockets with glue dots. I love that I got so many great 4×6 photos on a page and still was able to add a few extras.

MARCHpl2

click to enlarge.

The next layout is my favorite of the year so far. I took three photos of the three of us, cropped them to 6×12 and printed them as 3 4x6s. Then I just cropped them into the pockets.

MARCHpl2a

I am only planning on filling ONE album this year and so it might seem nutty to include three of nearly the same photo but I think these photos are the sort of thing I'll actually care to look back on in 40 years.

MARCHpl2b

This was another layout created for the SC creative team, this time using just the Bluegrass Farm main kit. I cut up a bunch of cards to fit my color scheme (LOVE that cloud one and the house is awesome too).

MarchPLspread2

click to enlarge.

And then it's garden time.

MarchPLgarden1

I used a few assorted journaling cards and seed packets to fill the 3×4 pockets.

MarchPLgarden2

And then played with some wood veneer embellishments (from past Studio Calico kits) mixed with 4×6 photos.

MARCHplgardendetail2

I love the look of floating embellishments so that HERE COMES THE SUN got it's own 4×6 pocket.

MARCHplgardendetail

And that's March! No stress, just simple. Thank you so much for following along. See my title page for this album here and 2014 album progress here.

product sources: Studio Calico Bluegrass PL kit, Seafoam core kit, Amy Tangerine mini kit, Studio Calico past project life kit pieces, We R Memory keepers 6 pocket page, Design A pocket page, staz-on ink, Pigma Micro 01 pen.

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

Posted in

17 responses to “project life 2014 : march.”

  1. paige @ LPD Avatar

    I’m doing a monthly project life versus weekly too. I just print out all the photos I like from the month and how ever many spreads that makes is how many there are. So So So much less stressful.

    Like

  2. andrea Avatar
    andrea

    this is so awesome. I especially love the garden spread. You really inspired me to do something similar next year. To make only monthly spreads is such a good idea. And that you’ll only fill obe album is also a plus!

    Like

  3. Nikki Avatar
    Nikki

    Thanks for sharing, I LOVE this approach to Project Life! I am so on board with just making it SIMPLE so I can enjoy everyday life!

    Like

  4. Debbie Avatar

    This is now how I do PL. It’s freeing to always be “caught up”! It also helps me realize what is really important in my days. I do a monthly review journaling block which is taken mainly from my calendar and to do lists. It’s fun to have a quick overview of my days. Next I have such fun playing with my photo’s to showcase it all. The past 3 years I have done 3 albums…this year my goal is one. Thank you for sharing your process.

    Like

  5. Welcome Home Taylor Avatar

    I love that you stitched on the little piece of paper with the date stamped on it. Such a cute idea to keep track of when everything was.
    xoxo
    Taylor

    Like

  6. Kristen Avatar

    I love your layouts! Do you find most of your embellishments online or in stores? I try and look online and it’s overwhelming! Do you have any favorites? Thanks so much for any advice! 🙂

    Like

  7. Laura Avatar
    Laura

    Do you ever think you’ll get the SC add-ons, or are you going to stick only with the main kit for your design team work? Do you take it month by month with that? Just curious 🙂

    Like

  8. Kristina B Avatar

    The farm-y theme this month is awesome for your gardening spreads!

    Like

  9. Sarah Avatar

    “I think these photos are the sort of thing I’ll actually care to look back on in 40 years.”
    Thanks for saying this. I often find myself uninspired with my PL and your statement is the prospective I want to have.
    What do I want the end result to be? I want authentic stories, not a play-by-play of this happened, then this, then this, so on so forth.
    I like your approach.

    Like

  10. young Avatar
    young

    Nice! Always love seeing your PL layouts. 🙂

    Like

  11. Kathy Avatar

    That looks awesome….all the spreads. Regards Kathy A, Brisbane, Australia

    Like

  12. Melonie Avatar

    I too have scaled back to monthly project life spreads and I am loving it:) When I first glanced at your garden pages I thought that you had the bloom letters hanging on your actual fence…and I thought how rad is that! Still rad as an embellishment too!

    Like

  13. laura g. Avatar
    laura g.

    I use PL to just get my photos in an album! when I take pics I want to tell a story with them..i don’t worry about taking vertical or horizontal ones…I’ll figure that out later…you are so right to let go of the stress of doing weekly spreads..you have that cute bb girl to occupy your time!!
    I’m thinking about using some of my 12×12 papers as a background for PL and still use the page protector A format when doing PL..that way I can use up some of this (neglected) 12×12 stash of paper I have…then slip it into a 12×12 page protector..
    as for cropping photos to fit into page protectors…it’s my pet peeve…why take a perfectly wonderful photo and chop it up…I did that a couple of times and it reminded me of the “old days” when cropping photos into circles or shapes was the style..now I look back and think “why did I do that??”

    Like

  14. Jeanne W Avatar
    Jeanne W

    Love the layouts! Love the embellishments and big photos among several pockets. I Los admire that you’re fine with doing less PL to live your life. She is the cutest baby ever! My girls are 12 and 14 now and I miss that age- and you’ll love the pictures you have. So will they.

    Like

  15. Erica Avatar
    Erica

    Have you thought of revisiting you e&p album, one pic a month with lots of text to document all that’s going on in your lives without it taking lots of extra time? I started my own version of that album shortly after you when I got married and its the only form of documenting that has stayed consistent for me over the past few years because its just so darn simple. It would also fit in well with your one pic a month of your family goal. 🙂

    Like

  16. Honey Silvas Avatar

    I’ve only just recently started and already feeling overwhelmed. I don’t know if I have 2 years in me.

    Like

  17. Marian Garcia Avatar

    Your work is beautiful, your blog is awesome but personally, I don’t like cutting through a photo when it’s someones face. Just my thought.

    Like

Leave a reply to Kristen Cancel reply