Back again with more of my Life diary. This time I have more of my birthday lunch pages, I ended doing 7 layouts to cover it.

 

 

I'm still enjoying this style of scrapping but now that I've made quite a few pages, I'm finding it's really no faster for me than regular scrapping. I think that's because I do simple layouts anyway which are nice and quick, so there isn't a great deal of difference. But it's a new approach for me and that's a good thing.

I'm also still not too gung-ho on using my own handwriting for the journaling - if it was a bit neater I'd be a lot happier, but I'm trying! I'm so used to the neatness of computer journaling, and the fact that I can do spell check and change it easily is a bonus. But I wanted to have my own script so I can live with it.

I've done more of my Life Diary layouts. Now that I've done a few divided pages, I'm really starting to like this style of scrapping. It suits my simple style and it's pretty quick, even though I cut my own inserts rather than buying ready made kits. I can see myself doing more albums in this style, it would help so much in catching up with generations of stored photos.

But I'm still not sold on the 3 ring binders. I don't mind the gap between the pages because I'm doing single pages instead of the usual double layouts (another first for me). I have a good quality album - well known brand - but find as I'm turning the pages, they catch on the opening join in the rings. The rings themselves are tightly closed, nice and firm, but it would be impossible for them to meet exactly and it's just that fraction of a millimetre that snags the hole in the page protector. I'll persevere for a while longer, maybe there's a knack to turning the pages so this doesn't happen.


I never work on the front and back of the same backing sheet, but this time I did because I've used patterned paper and they're both so nice. Also, both pages are for the same topic, so 2 sheets wasn't needed. Yes - I've smudged out the number, I remember the old saying - a lady never reveals her age! To get the white title letters, I traced around some chipboard letters.





On this page I simply journaled the story - no added accents, I think the paper is embellishment enough, but I did ink around the journaling block - I LOVE inking!








On the divided page I border punched 2 mats, made the birthday mat in the subway sign style, and the month was done with some old stickers I've had for years and I went around the outline with my black SU pen. The 'm' was slightly smaller than the other letters, so I used my little date stamp and put the year a few times across the bottom of it.

I've finally made my first pages of the year.

Of course, every scrapper has heard of Becky Higgins and Project Life. I've resisted this style, it wasn't my thing at all. But after seeing some really nice pages I decided to give it a try for this album. I'm not going to be as diligent as Becky who (I think) does hers every day.

The main differences I see between mine and true PL are:

• I will be mixing full pages with pocket pages.
• It will be like a regular diary, but with photos and memorabilia added.
• Like my regular diary, entries will vary - daily, weekly or whenever. I will be adding everyday things, but not necessarily everyday.
• I'll be using my own stash rather than buying ready made product kits.

I'm calling my version - Life Diary.

As I recently had a milestone birthday, it's going to be "A Year in the Life". Starting with my birthday, I'll be documenting the next 12 months.

Boring? Probably. But I hope my descendants 100 years from now will get some enjoyment and fun seeing how everyday life was in "the olden days". I know I'd love to have something like this made by my gg grandmother.

Here are the first 2 layouts. 

I used fawn c\s for the base. The title is printed on teal and rough cut. I printed pics of myself taken every decade, starting with a baby shot when I was about 6 months old. The early ones were in black and white, so I did them all that way. The story block is an aqua colour which matches my shirt in the photos that will be facing that page.

I tucked in some strips of patterned paper to add some colour, and used a few skeleton leaves from my stash. That shows how long I hoard things - I've had those skeleton leaves for about 10 years! The story was done on the computer but I'll be handwriting the journaling on the slip in mats.

I think I'm going to enjoy this project.