A Beautiful Mess

Project Life

Ever since my first Project Life experience I've been anxious to create more pages. I am actually planning to have an epic weekend where I'll try to put several years of photos into albums. I love the idea of getting a lot done in a condensed/focused session. What do you think? Any tips? I would love to hear from some of you who have been making Project Life albums for years. (I have so much to learn!)Here are a few photos of a page I made about our recent Chicago trip. As much as I want to "catch up" and do a million photos in one day, I also LOVE the idea of spending time reflecting after each little event or season. That's super special and a method I would like to use in the future to save our family memories in books.

Supplies I used: Project Life Photo Pocket Pages - Design D, Seafoam Kit, Love Note Tags by Chic Tags, Kid Made Modern Tape (from Target).

Thanks so much for taking a peek at my progress! I can't wait to finish a full book. xo. Elsie 

Elsie's Project Life Album

Over the weekend I started a new project... Project Life. If you've read my blog for a long time (and I mean a REALLY long time) you might know that in my early twenties I designed scrapbooking projects and taught scrapbooking workshops for a living. And then one day, I quit. I was seriously burned out and tired of having SO much stuff. I seriously had a whole room in my apartment full of scrapbooking supplies. I knew that when I got back into the hobby, I wanted to take a more simple approach that was mostly based on photographs. 

Enter, Project Life. I first heard about project life when my friends Elise and Ali started using it to document their daily lives last year. I ordered a bunch of supplies and then kept them in a box all year. I am one of those people who can't do anything halfway. As the months passed by, I got more and more anxious to just start. So, this weekend I started. I didn't do any planning. I just set aside an afternoon, got out all the supplies I had been hoarding and made a bunch of random pages. And you know what... it was SO FUN. I love the simplicity of the photo pockets (most of the designs only call for photos in two sizes—yay!), the mostly photo aesthetic and the minimal supplies needed. Here's peek at my first few pages...This page goes right before our first anniversary. I really wanted to try a confetti design with acrylic paint.For these pages I added the type to the top two images before printing them. This will be the opening page for our 2013 book.For this page, I had fun making some quick designs with my tablet for extra cards. I love the vibe of handwriting mixed with photos.Supplies I used: Project Life Pocket Pages (Design A,C,E,F), You're My Favorite Stamp, Seafoam Kit, Seafoam Binder, Rolling Stamp, Alphabet Stamps and Neon Painters Tape. 

Have you tried Project Life? Is it something you would be interested in? If you've already been making your own books, leave me a link so I can check them out! xo. Elsie 

Photo-A-Day Handkerchief Journal

I always stumble upon beautiful handkerchiefs at antique malls, but with no practical use for them I usually pass them by. But today I will be sharing how to turn those pretty hankies into a photo-a-day journal. This is a great project to commemorate the last of your summer days! You could an instant camera or print off Instagram photos!

You'll Need: Vintage handkerchief, sewing machine, book pages or other paper, embroidery thread, letter stickers, Instant photos or other printed photographs. 

1. Begin by folding the hanky in half, with the open half facing toward you. Cut book pages, or other paper, to size by measuring the right-half of the hanky. Place the paper on the right half of the hanky and fold over the left half to make a book. 2. Feed the hanky's "binded" edge threw a sewing machine over the hanky and paper inside. You could also hand-stitch this if you don't have a sewing machine. 3. Choose some letter stickers to make a title on the front of the hanky journal. 4. With embroidery thread, hand stitch over the sticker letters to keep the letters secure. I also glued and stitched over an Instax photo and a handmade "inverted" Instax border that I made from a vintage magazine.

Now fill up your pages with a photo-a-day project. You could use an instant camera + film like I did (I use the Fuji Instax 210) OR you could print off Instagram photos or regular photos you take. 

I decided to keep my book simple and date each photo with a White Dymo pen underneath each photo. Happy Labor Day! Kara

ANNOUNCING: Life Is Beautiful Art Journal E-Course

We are thrilled to announce our newest e-course release, Life Is Beautiful! This course celebrates everyday life. In this course we create three different journals. I created this course with Rachel from Smile and Wave. (One of the most talented ladies I know!) We are passionate about the process of putting our memories into big messy books. If this is something you'd like to learn about, read on...

Life Is Beautiful E-Course includes: 

-Instructions for creating unique and personal art journal covers. 

-Inspiration for art journal pages with lots of photos from our personal art journals. 

-27 downloadable journaling pages that you can print at home, plus ideas for how to use them. 

-Three themed books (Everyday Moments, Personal Stories and Loved Ones) with examples from our books for each theme. We share journaling, technique and topic ideas. 

-A bonus "Life Is Beautiful" printable designed by Elsie. 

-E-Course cost: $28 USD You will receive login information to the course after payment. Be sure to include your correct e-mail address when checking out.

Want to sign up, click here to register! We can't wait to see all of the art journals that this course inspires! Rachel and I love teaching about this topic together. This course was extra sentimental for us. We are so happy to share it with you! xo. elsie