** Using Project Life Core Kits **

In yesterday's post, I showed the contents of some of the Project Life core kits.  Today, I'm going to show you what I did with some of those cards and the different page protectors that I bought.

The idea behind the cards is that it speeds up the recording process.  In its simplest form, you print photos, choose some cards and pop them in the slots in the page protectors and maybe add some journaling.  That is how I started my pages.  I didn't leave it there though; I used that as my base and then got creative and embellished the cards and photos using all sorts of things from my stash.  All of my journaling was handwritten which did help with keeping it quick and simple to do as well as making it more personal.

The first page I created was my title page.  The following photo shows the layout in its simplest form - just photos and cards from the kits:

Whilst this photgraph shows my finished page with added extras to make it more 'me':

I then started to record the things that we've been doing, starting in June as that was when I received the kits.  I may also go back and play catch up with the beginning of the year but I'm happy for now starting mid -year.

I printed the photos that I needed and started to think about how I could lay them out using full page and smaller insert pages. 

I looked through all of the cards choosing ones that matched the photos/themes and colours.  I mixed and matched cards from all of the kits that I bought (Jade, Midnight, Honey, Seasons & Wellington).  Some were purely used as 'decorative fillers' whilst some allowed specific journaling.

The following 'Before' and 'After' pictures hopefully give you an idea of how you can keep it simple and use the ready made cards as they are intended or be more creative and add your own embellishments: 

Before:

Before (a full page next to a smaller insert):

 After:

After (smaller insert):

Before:

After:

Before:

With a little added detail:

 After:

 

Before:

 After:

Before:

 After:

 

Before:

  After:

My top tip from working with these page protectors is to glue bulky embellishments to the top of the plastic.  All of the Thickers, wood veneer shapes and badges have been attached directly to the plastic page protectors using Tombow glue: this prevents creasing in the slots from thick embellishments.   

These finished pages show where I've added different elements directly to the plastic:

 

Some of my go to embellishments include: washi tape, labels, alphabet stickers, stickers, tags, wood shapes, badges, enamel dots, date stamp and paper clips.  I've also saved and used ephemera such as tickets and clothing tags.

In a couple of places, you may have noticed that I cut and split both photos and cards across the pockets in the divided protectors.  This allowed me to make things fit with my overall design of each page.  I've also  layered some of the smaller 3x4 cards on top of the bigger 6x4 cards too to add to the overall effect/look of a layout.

 

If you've been using your Project Life core kits, please share some links with us: we love to see what you've been creating.

All of the Project Life kits and page protectors can be found here in the shop. 

By Helen