Start-to-Finish Sunday #38: Project Life by Stampin' Up!

I know it's taken me a few weeks, but I promised you a video on how I do my Project Life layouts. So today, here it is! :) It was a little different for me... I think I was a little self-conscious of what I was doing since I was filming the whole time, plus this was the first layout I did with the Stampin' Up! Project Life supplies. They're very similar to the supplies I've used in the past, but I'm just not familiar with them yet, and the page protector layouts are a little different from what I'm used to. So when you start the video, be aware that before I started filming, I'd already tried out my photos for the week in a few of the different page layouts, and I picked the one I thought worked best.

Another thing that tripped me up a little was the sheer number of cards I had to choose from! Now, I know, this is a totally amazing thing. But it was hard to choose! So bear with me as I'm flipping through multiple times. :) The Becky Higgins Project Life Core kits that I've been using for the past year have tons of cards, but they also have way more duplicates. It seems that the Stampin' Up! kit only has two duplicates (if any) - a horizontal and a vertical orientation of the design.

So anyway, that's enough blah blah blah! Here's the finished layout that I make in the video.

I really wanted to keep it very simple - minimal embellishment, minimal stamping - to show you just how amazing your layouts can look with pretty much only the adorable cards and your awesome photos. (Note: ALL the photos on this layout were taken with my iPhone 5, and not always under stellar conditions. Check out my blog post on cell phone photo resources for Project Life here: http://bit.ly/RNaKSa) 

You can watch the start-to-finish video below, or over on my YouTube channel. Enjoy, and feel free to leave a comment or email me if you have any questions!

Here are the products you'll see used in this video:

Everyday Adventure Project Life Card Collection #135298 $15.95

Everyday Adventure Project Life Accessory Pack #135301 $9.95

Variety Pack 12x12 Photo Pocket Pages #135294 $6.95

Project Life Journaling Pens (set of 2) #135304 $4.95

Remember This & That Rotary Stamp #130133 $5.95

And just as a little bonus for those of you who scrolled all the way down to the bottom of this post (lol!), here is the next week's layout, which is on the back of the video layout.

Happy Scrapbookin'! :)

PLxSU and Project Life Cell Phone Photo Resources

So you want to use all your awesome everyday photos in your Project Life album? Yay! But, if you're anything like me, you probably find yourself reaching for your smart phone more than your Cannon or your Nikon, right? Well, fear not! Let's finally get those photos off your phone and into a beautiful scrapbook!

I get photos from my DSLR camera printed at a local photo and art supply store because I love their print quality. Now, don't get me wrong, I know that my iPhone can certainly take some very good photos! But most of mine are taken in the evenings in not-so-stellar lighting conditions. I also organize my Project Life spreads weekly (see more about how I do PL here) so I'm printing a lot of photos and I want to keep my costs down. So I use photo printing apps right on my phone - They're quick and easy and inexpensive!

PostalPix

The app that I use for most of my photos is called PostalPix. It's another free app that lets you upload photos straight from your phone. Then they mail your prints right to your door! It's not stellar quality, but it's certainly not bad, and it suits my purposes just fine. They offer several print sizes - I use them for my 4x6 and 4x4 prints. I think the 4x4's will be fun to play with since the Stampin' Up! Project Life page protectors are the first to have 4x4 pockets! 

Prints will run you about 20¢ to 30¢. Shipping is reasonable, and shipping time is generally quite fast.   You can pay with PayPal or a credit card. The app is very user-friendly and it doesn't take much time at all to get your prints uploaded. 

Kanvess

If you have an Instagram account (it's a cool photo editing app that I, for one, am obsessed with), there's a really great app called Kanvess that pulls photos directly from your Instagram feed. It's the same deal - pay through the app and they send your photos to you. They only have one option: just-under-3" square prints with a white border that are totally adorable. (I love this size when I want to put a photo and a short bit of journaling on a 3x4 card.) Their prints are slightly more expensive, but they send coupons with your orders sometimes and their customer service is top-notch. (They replaced two orders that got lost in the mail free of charge, no questions asked!) The quality of the prints is quite nice too. 

Now let's talk about prepping your photos for printing. The original idea of Project Life was for 4x6 photos with 3x4 journaling cards. The very first page protector design (Design A or, as Stampin' Up! is calling it, Design 1) is four 4x6 photos with spaces in the middle for four 3x4 journaling cards - one card to journal about each of the photos. Project Life has come a long way since it's first days (although I have to say this stalwart is still one of my fave page designs), and it can truly be whatever you want it to be. I've already talked about 4x6, 4x4, and 3x3 photos, but I also like to use 3x4 photos. If you print your photos at home, you can resize them in your editing program and print at whatever size you like. But what if you, like me, don't print your own photos at home? 

To get my 3x4 photos, I put two photos on one 4x6 print. Now hold on, bear with me. It's way easier than it might seem!

Becky Higgins' blog (she's the creator of Project Life) recently featured a great tutorial on how to get two 3x4 photos on one 4x6 print. You can see the whole blog post here: http://bit.ly/1pUhopa That post describes several ways to accomplish 2 photos on one print in many different popular photo editing programs. But since we're talking about phone apps here, let me tell you more about the method I use.

PicFrame

The app is called PicFrame and it's another free app that's available on Android or iPhone. Once you create the 2-in-1 photo, you then save it to your phone and you can print it however you like. (Make sure to read the part of the tutorial about saving with the highest resolution!) I upload my prints to PostalPix, as I described above. Then you just cut the finished print in half. Easy peasy! :) And remember that PicFrame lets you put borders on your photos too, if you like that look. I use this app for 3x4 photos, and also sometimes to put multiple pictures on a square 4x4 print that I also get from PostalPix. 

This method is explained in more detail on Becky Higgins' blog here: http://beckyhiggins.com/wp-content/themes/beckyhiggins/assets/pdf/documents/bh_3x4on4x6_picframetutorial.pdf. 

Anyway, I know that's a lot of info, but my best recommendation is to download the apps and just start playing with them. It took me a while to get onto a system, but I've found that these apps work really really well for me.Give me a holler if you have any questions! And don't forget - you can order Project Life by Stampin' Up! starting TODAY (May 1)!! Check out my video for more information on how I do Project Life, and for a guided tour of the new Project Life by Stampin' Up! line. You can watch it below, or on my YouTube channel.

Happy Scrapbookin'! :)

TODAY IS A BIG DAY AT STAMPIN' UP!

** FREE SHIPPING ON ALL ORDERS APRIL 21-25! (Applies to regular shipping only.) Visit www.annakeyes.stampinup.net or email me to place your order. 

** RETIRING LIST - Released today! Check out the lists of retiring stamps and retiring accessories! Get your lists ready quick because there's a change this year: Both stamps and accessories will be available only while supplies last. But you can get free shipping! :)

** PLxSU - If you follow my Facebook page, you may have already seen that Stampin' Up! has teamed up with Project Life! I really can't even tell you how excited I am for these new products. If you're not familiar with the Project Life amazing, simplified, and streamlined approach to memory keeping, check out The Project Life website for an overview. Then watch the video below for more information on the Stampin' Up! Project Life Partnership. I'll be placing my pre-order today. You will be able to order from a selection of products (the same selection that's available for me and the other Demonstrators to pre-order) starting May 1. And with the launch of the new annual catalog on June 2, we'll all be able to buy from the complete line of Project Life products!