Tutorial - Combining Scrapbook and ​Project Life® Elements in a Spread | Marcy Penner

Last year was my first year working in a 9x12 size. 12x12 had felt too large. 6x8 was too small. 9x12 felt just right. I was hacking together my page protectors last year, but this year (thankfully) I have the page protectors from Studio Calico to work with. Today I wanted to take you through a typical spread using these new 3B and 4B page protectors.

A few years ago I created a page template on a piece of poster board and I still love using that to lay out my spread. I started by placing my photos where I wanted them and then added in spots for journaling using post-its.

Once I have the majority of my journaling and photos down I start adding in journaling cards and other larger elements I want to use. It's a lot of moving things around and filing in spots. I'll also gather up specific stamps or embellishments that fit the stories I'm telling and set those aside.

From here I just pick random cards to start with. This time I started with this simple card that had a big story. All it needed was a title so I added a "here" sticker from High Wire. Easy and done.

My littlest likes to draw in his math book. But then he feels compelled to cut out every little picture he drew if it was on a page we're not keeping. Needless to say I have an envelope full already. I picked out a few of my favorites and glued them onto a white card. In the corner I added some journaling and sewed it down with red thread.

After using the same gold stickers on a yellow journaling card and adding my story there I have the left side mostly completed. (The hashtag shows through the pocket on the upper right... but it's mostly there for the story on the other side... but still, I think it works).

Moving on to the right side I decided to work on a 3x4 card that is beside a 4x6 photo. This year I'm trying to keep my journaling IN my pockets and not on my photos... so this 3x4 card will tell the story of my 4x6 photo.

I trimmed a small polka dot piece of patterned paper from the Odyssey scrapbook kit to use as my background. I was all set to use a medium-sized tag for my title and journaling, but it just didn't fit.

I like to line my letter stickers up on a ruler before placing them down, and thankfully I could see that the medium one wouldn't work before I stuck them down. So I changed plans and used a large tag instead.

Over the years I've learned that I'm not the best stamper. The best bet for me is to stamp on white cardstock, cut out my stamped image and adhere it to my card. I wanted to use the stamp from the Mirror Mirror add-on kit for this one card and this method would work well for it.

I added in my journaling using a blue fountain pen and included even more journaling on the rest of the card. Because I had two 3x4 elements in a 4x6 pocket I adhered them both to a 4x6 index card so they wouldn't shuffle around in the pocket.

One of my favorite embellishments in the Odyssey kits were the chipboard circles! They were just perfect! I wanted to use one to highlight the map in one of my photos so I adhered it to the center of a white card and surrounded it with journaling.

Lastly I adhered a scripted wood veneer word from Ringmaster to the top of one of my photos.

Keeping Project Life® relatively simple has been key for me keeping up this year and not feeling overwhelmed. I think that's the fun thing about this project. It can be simple one week and more in-depth the next. It can be whatever you want it to be... and that's kinda awesome.



Supply list: Odyssey Project Life® kit - chipboard circle, journaling cards, roller stamp; Odyssey scrapbook kit - patterned paper; Penelope - badge; High Wire - gold word stickers; Ringmaster - wood veneer word; Cirque Project Life® kit - journaling cards; Zeus - glitter alphabet stickers; Mirror Mirror - stamp; large white tag; ink - Versafine, Flamingo

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11 comments

  1. maggie_massey says…
    03/17/2015

    i pretty much adore every single thing you create...this spread is no exception...;)

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  2. olatz says…
    03/17/2015

    What @maggie_massey said!! love this!

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  3. michelledeleon says…
    03/17/2015

    Lovely spread! And great idea about the poster board template :)

    0 Reply 0 Replies
  4. bckueser says…
    03/17/2015

    Love this.

    0 Reply 0 Replies
  5. monicatjordan says…
    03/17/2015

    Love!!

    0 Reply 0 Replies
  6. toribissell says…
    03/17/2015

    lovely

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  7. mtercha says…
    03/17/2015

    This is awesome. I love every single element. It's perfect.

    0 Reply 0 Replies
  8. natalieelph says…
    03/17/2015

    The template is a great idea. I tend to plan my spreads by laying them out directly in the album where they're going to go, but there's 2 problems with that... the bulk of what's underneath combined with the slippery plastic pocket means they're always sliding around! I'm going to need to steal this template idea :-)

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  9. gabber says…
    03/17/2015

    awesome!! thanks for sharing your process- this is such a beautiful spread!!

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  10. Jeannew says…
    03/17/2015

    Love this page!

    0 Reply 0 Replies
  11. amts says…
    03/22/2015

    Thank you for sharing. Love the outcome :)

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