Photo Sleeves + ScrapRoom Kits = LOVE!

Hi All! It's Tammy here with another edition of Project Life, completed with ScrapRoom Kits! I tried the traditional photo-a-day (Project 365) back in 2010. It was a rather overwhelming task to document the mundane of everyday life. I'm glad I did it, but since our family is still rather in that same life stage, it's not exactly the ongoing scrapbooking style that I was looking for.

However, I do like the idea of scrapbooking with photo sleeve protectors sometimes instead of always feeling like I have to do fully-designed 12x12 or 8.5x11 layouts. The smaller photo-sized spaces are less intimidating than a large page, and I thought it would be fun to be less formal and more random with some of my layouts, so I decided to give this style of scrapbooking a try this year.

Right now, I'm not ready to commit to completing a weekly Project Life layout, but I am going to try my hand at a monthly highlights page. I will be using this photo-sleeve-style of scrapbooking to document a month of highlights on a 2-page spread throughout 2012. With all of the different styles of photo sleeves available now, I'm looking forward to trying lots of different photo configuration. I am also embracing the challenge to be more of a "Free Spirit" with these photo-sleeve layouts - Less structure, Less Perfection, More of life's ephemera, and More random elements that make me happy whether they "matchy-match" with the photos or not.

So, here is my "January Highlights" 2-page layout... I used the Style A photo-sleeve protectors from WRMK and the February Flavors of the Month Kit, along with some additional alphabet stickers and that adorable 3-D heart from the February Embellishment Kit. (all items available in our ScrapRoom Store)


And, here's a bit more of a breakdown of some of my favorite elements and a few things I'm learning about this process...
Here is the left page of the layout. I am using photo-sleeve protectors that have (6) slots for 4"x6" horizontal photos. You'll notice that I have some 4"x 3" elements - some photos and some journaling cards and some that are a combination of photos and journaling. I like using this smaller size to separate different events and/or stories on my "highlights" page. Since many of the photos on this layout are not connected with one another, I liked being able to separate photos and events by creating these smaller cards. I did tend to group (2) connected items together in one photo-sleeve if I could, and I enjoyed using (1) 4"x 3" photo next to a corresponding 4"x 3" journaling card. I also found that I enjoyed occasionally adding an additional photo onto the corresponding journaling card if I had room.

Here is an example of a 4"x 3" photo with a corresponding journaling card next to it. I was able to use some ephemera on this card by cutting out some of the elements from the box of teabags. In order to add a bit of actual journaling, I cut out a small piece of grid paper, rounded two corners and added it to the center of the card. You'll see that I used this same technique on several of the journaling cards throughout the layout.

One thing to note... because of the limited size of the photo-sleeves, I was not able to do a lot of story-telling to accompany any of the photos. (I will be adding longer stories to the back of my 2012 album - but that is a post for another day. :) ) Normally, I like to add a lot more details to my journaling, so I have to keep reminding myself that these monthly layouts are designed to just hit the highlights!

I added the border strip and die-cuts from the Jillibean Soup layout kit (also in the February Flavors of the Month kit) right on top of my photo. I never do that, so this is me embracing my "less structure - more random" philosophy!

Now, for a close-up of the right page of my layout:
I had one extra slot available after I decided what photos I wanted to include on the page, so I added the photo of my coffee cozies fanned out, along with a fun "I Love coffee cozies" title above the photo. I love the way it turned out. You'll also note that I used a lot of the mini alphabet stickers from LilyBee Designs. You will find (2) colors of these awesome alphas in your February ScrapRoom kit. I just cannot get enough of these. They are the perfect size for smaller subtitles, the font works with everything, and the colors are oh-so-yummy!

I also jumped outside of my scrapbooking comfort zone by adding regular ol' Avery label stickers right on top of my photos. I'll be honest, the archival-purist in me was screaming for me to stop, but I reminded that little nay-saying voice in my head that the original photo is stored on my computer if I ever needed to reprint it - and I proceeded to stick that sticker right on top of my photo, so adding a bit of context was easy. It was the sweet taste of freedom, my friends!

Here is one final close-up from this month's layout, and yes, we did actually find this heart-shaped potato in our pantry, and we wanted to document the love before we ate it. But, while that heart-shaped potato is cute, did you see how cute that 3D heart sticker is? I couldn't hide all of that 3D goodness inside the photo-sleeve, where nobody would be able to see it fan open and wave all of that cuteness at them, so I adhered it to the outside of the photo-sleeve protector. (Again, that is me embracing my "less structure - more fun" philosophy.)

And that concludes my January Highlights photo-sleeve page edition. :) I'm pretty stoked because I believe that the perfectly proportioned size of our ScrapRoom Layout Kits are designed to complement this Project Life/photo-sleeve scrapbooking like no other type of kit on the market today. With our Flavors of the Month kit, you get (4) layout kits - perfect for documenting (4) week-in-the-life layouts each month. You'll never get bored with too much product or with your layouts all looking the same, and you'll have enough goodies to complete other layouts and projects in addition to your Project Life pages.

If you have Project Life or completed photo-sleeve scrapbook pages that you'd like to share, be sure to leave a link in the comments section below. We'd love to see how you're documenting your life in your scrapbook pages!