Recently I became a Stampin Up! Demonstrator.  I wanted to do it as a hobby and get the discount, but it’s become a business – which is great!  However, it seems to have opened up a new world of scrapbooking! I feel like I’ve been locked in a dark closet and missed some evolutionary process!  I’ve been scrapbooking on a semi-regular basis for over 10 years.  Mostly purchasing from Close to My Heart or Stampin Up!  But the door has opened and I’m seeing something new!

It all started with the Stampin Up! Project Life Kits.  I wasn’t really interested in PL.  I’m a traditionalist – said with nose fully in the air ;-).  My partner Jenn was all excited to do PL so we ordered some of the kits.  The first ones we purchased were Memories in the Making and Every Day Adventure.  I started looking at the kits and thought they were cute, but could not imagine how I was going to put a layout together in all these little pockets.  I was thinking that I would use the cards as part of a traditional layout. I brought some pictures over and sat down with Jenn and whipped out a 2 page layout.  A two page layout – using all those little pockets and these cards!  I loved it!

My first Project Life 2 page layout!

This is the 8 X 12 size pocket.

It’s been just a few weeks since starting.  I joined a couple of  FB Groups, one called Project Life Junkies and one called Scrap Gals Community, both have introduced me to such different thinking!

I’m seeing the changes in products and perspective.  I started hearing about all these other products.  Project life “core kits”, “mini kits”, “accessory kits” and “overlay kits”.  I saw Simple Stories being used as a pocket scrapbooking brand.  Apparently it always was, but I didn’t get it!  I used it for traditional pages!  I’ve always just documented pictures of my kids that I liked, their special events like birthdays, first days of school, and friends.  Now our daily planners are little scrapbooks!  We are PLing by moths and weeks!   It’s become a physical FaceBook!  It’s a different perspective for me, and you know what….I love it!  I’ve now started my first weekly Project Life album for 2016!

Project Life

Week 1!

It’s funny, when I first started it was with my friend April.  At the time the style was to cut embellishments and inspiration from anything including cereal boxes, cards, and magazines.  Stickers were all the rage!  But as we all know scrapbooking is organic – it grows and changes for all of us.  When I started out my idea was to fit as many pictures on a page as possible. So I printed my pictures 2×3 and put as many on a page as I could fit! Then as I discovered scrapbooking magazines like Creating Keepsakes and Scrapbook and Cards Today, all of which included sketches with 4×6 photos, my world changed again!  A new style started to emerge!  I was in love with clean lines and minimal embellishments.   Then began the emphasis on journaling.  Honestly, I have never liked to journal. It’s intimidating to me and I’ve always struggled with it. Mostly because every example I saw in these magazines was computer generated lettering, with the perfect sentiment that was witty.  It was more than just telling the story or capturing the memory – it was, on its own, an embellishment.  I couldn’t do it, there was too much pressure.  So I gave up journaling as part of my page design and started journaling on the backs of my pages in my own messy handwriting. With pocket scrapbooking the expectation is that you record the memory, in your own messy handwriting on a pre-designed journaling card.  It’s taken all the pressure off and it fits my style better!  I can add my pictures, the pre-designed cards that match, tell my story in MY handwriting!

So have I done away with traditional scrapbooking?  No!  I’m looking at all the ways I can add my traditional pages to my PL album!  There are 3 hole 12×12 sleeves that are going to look great in my album!

That’s my story.  What about you?  Tell me in the comments, where did  you start and what has been the most significant change to your scrapbooking?

Your BFF – Lisa