Project Life Feature - January

Hey everyone!  Welcome to our first Project Life spread of the year!  We are excited to be bringing you this feature a few times through out the year to inspire you on your own Project life spreads!  Let's check out what the Design Team has to share this week.

Practical Scrapper Nicole Laha documents January 8-14 in this spread. The Project Life Kits from Studio Calico have coordinating journaling cards and embellishments which make it easy to pull together a spread. 

Practical Scrapper Charissa documented her week 2 of 2014 using her January Studio Calico Project Life kit.  Having a kit or core kit makes it really easy to ensure that everything coordinates!  She also included two different confetti pockets on this spread for a little bit of fun.

Practical Scrapper Wendi Robinson is working on her PL 2012 album, and getting caught up. She used vellum on a couple of the pocket areas for a fun touch.

Practical Scrapper Jennifer Haggerty documented this Fall 2012 week using Teresa Collins Designs' Family  Stories collection. (Jennifer is way behind on her pages!)

 Practical Scrapper Kristy MacKeen documented Week 2 of 2014 using lots and lots of October Afternoon rub-on snowflakes.  Her kids had 5 snow days in a row, so snow played a major theme in her work for this week.  She used cards from Studio Calico, We R Memory Keepers and Becky Higgins Project Life.

We hope that these spreads inspire you for your next Project Life page!  As you can see there are lots of ways to do your Project Life and it is even a great project to go back and do for older photos!

***Project Life is a system of memory keeping created by Becky Higgins.  You can learn more about it on her blog.***

On Trend: Chalkboard

One of the fun trends in the paper crafting world right now is...Chalkboard.  You can achieve this look with black cardstock and white chalk or paint or ink.  But there are many companies that are incorporating this technique into their papers, stickers and embellishments these days!

 

We hope you enjoy what the Design Team created for you today!  Make sure to pin the projects if you love them and leave some love for the designers on their blogs!  We love to hear from our readers!

Practical Scrapper Wendi Robinson used some Crate chalkboard paper and embellies along with using a white pen to write on the black cardstock.

 

Practical Scrapper Charity used paper from Kaiser Craft and Recollections to make this "Just Because" card.

Practical Scrapper Mary Pat used some Core'dinations cardstock and scored and sanded it. She then stamped and heat embossed various sentiments.

Practical Scrapper Cathy used a collection from Elle's Studio and a white chalk marker from Zig to create the Hexagons along with some Marshmallow Glimmer Mist!

Practical Scrapper Marcia Dehn-Nix used Chalkboard from We R Memory Keepers for this layout.

Practical Scrapper Karen chose to mimic the chalkboard look by sanding Core'dinations paper and adding a few smudges to give the appearance of chalk dust haze.

Practical Scrapper Lisa used Basic Grey's Fresh Cut collection and the chalk sentiments from Studio Calico to document her focus this month for her One Word 2014: Choose album.

Practical Scrapper Charissa used a chalkboard cards from Studio Calico and some Fancy Pants Chalk Tape to add interest to her page about her little princess.

 

 

Practical Scrapper Kim Ryden used a Chalkboard sticker by Pebbles on this fun "Hello, hi" card.

 

Disney Christmas

Happiest of Tuesdays everyone!  Practical Scrapper Charissa here today to share a little bit of Disney Christmas with you.  My family recently had a Disneyland vacation and we had planned it to make sure that we would be there after they made the transition from Halloween to Christmas decorations.  It was so much fun to be there surrounded by all of the Christmas decorations.

One of the best parts (at least to me) was the holiday fireworks show that they put on behind Cinderella's castle in the evening and I wanted to document that little bit of the Christmas magic.

I built this layout using a variety of products, including gelatos, stamps from Studio Calico, American Craft Thickers, and papers from Webster's Pages and Elle's Studio.

I loved the whimsy of this Deck the Halls stamp and it was the perfect sentiment for this pictures with the beautifully adorned castle.

I layered in lots of stars from Freckled Fawn, Fancy Pants, 2Peas, and Studio Calico.  They reminded me of the fireworks in the photos.

Hope you enjoyed this peek at a little bit of Disney Christmas!  I hope you have a fantastic rest of the week!

Using Stencils

We've come a long way since the days of using alphabet stencils on poster board to create school projects.  Today's stencils come in all shapes and sizes.  And if we can't find the stencil we want, we are making our own!  Let's see what crafty uses the Practical Scrappers On Trend Team has found for stencils:

Practical Scrapper Mary Pat created her own stencil from a Some Odd Girl cut file.  She then used her stencil to make the background of this card.

Practical Scrapper Malika used a Studio Calico stencil and two colors of Mister Huey ink to make her background on this layout.

Practical Scrapper Charissa used a Studio Calico stencil and her colored pencils to create part of her background before building the layout with Glitz Design's Finnley Collection.

Practical Scrapper Lisa Peeples used white gesso with a Studio Calico bubble stencil on the corners of her layout. She then inked over the gesso with a Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad after it dried to make the pattern stand out.

Practical Scrapper Krissy Clark McKee used a stencil and a black marker to doodle an additional pattern around her photo on this layout.

Project Life Feature Sept 20

A lovely Friday everyone!  Today we have some more amazing Project Life inspiration for you.  This week check out how you can use Project Life style scrapbooking to supplement a traditional 12x12 layout, catch up on the past, play with mixed media, and use some freebies!  You have to appreciate the amazing flexibility the entire system of Project Life and pocket scrapbooking provides!

Practical Scrapper Nicole Laha uses Project Life page protectors to supplement her 12x12 layouts, adding journaling and additional pictures into the pockets. 

Practical Scrapper Ruth Bonser uses Project Life to catch up on documenting older photos, with few photos to choose from, they are all from just a couple of events. It makes for a quick and easy structure to get the photos from that time into an album and documented, while still fun to create.

Practical Scrapper Charissa used her Studio Calico September kit to create her Week 37 spread.  It is fun to incorporated mixed media elements, like watercolors, into Project Life spreads to give them a little something special.

Practical Scrapper Michelle James used some freebies she found on Pinterest plus a few elements for this double page layout.  She doesn't always have this many photos but loves it when she does!  She uses the digital version of Project Life and loves it.

Hope you have fun some inspiration today!  If you do Project Life, be sure to share it with us here or over on our Facebook page.  Have an amazing weekend!!

***Project Life is a system of memory keeping created by Becky Higgins.  You can learn more about it on her blog.***

Getting Artsy Craftsy with Gesso!

Today, the Practical Scrappers On Trend team is here to show you that Gesso isn't used only on canvases anymore.  What is Gesso (correctly pronounced "jesso")?  Well, it is traditionally used by artists to prime their canvases before painting.  It brushes on like acrylic paint and dries to a hard, slightly textured consistency, which prevents paints from soaking into the canvas.  Gesso can also be used to create a modelling (also called molding) paste, which is exactly what it sounds like - a paste that can be molded or modelled into shapes and textures.  Scrapbookers have discovered and love it because it allows us to use painting and mixed media techniques directly on our layouts.  Want some examples for inspiration? You are in luck - just keep scrolling down...

Practical Scrapper Wendi Robinson used a mask with her gesso to create the brick look on the blue papers on this layout.  She also used gesso on the chevron to create an ombre look to it.

Practical Scrapper Julie used a mask and modeling paste to add dimension to her layout. She then used Faber-Castell gelatos to add color to her background.

Practical Scrapper Danielle de Konink used a Heidi Swapp mask and thick layers of modeling paste. After the modeling paste dried, she added PanPastel to the hearts to give them touches of color.

 

Practical Scrapper Lisa Peeples used gesso to create a painted background frame for her photo. She lightly pressed embossing folders into the gesso to give a slight pattern to it.

 

Practical Scrapper Marcia Dehn-Nix used modeling paste and a brick stencil to create dimension on this vintage layout of her grandparents. Gesso was also used around the photo and over this kraft clock to suit the color scheme better.

Practical Scrapper Cathy used a Heidi Swapp mask and modeling paste to create dimension and  more interest on her layout. Modeling paste is above the hearts and on the little black layer of paper behind the tag!

Practical Scrapper Charissa used gesso to paint a photo mat for her photos, softening the bright yellow Glitz Designs patterned paper. She also painted in the stamped arrows above her title with gesso, again to soften the yellow of the patterned paper.

Project Life Feature

Hi everyone!  Can you believe we are already having Fridays in September?  I think the year is just going way too fast.  This week we have lots of Project Life inspiration for you.  Lots of different manufacturers, product types, themes and techniques!  Love that about Project Life and pocket scrapbooking, it can be whatever you want it to be.

Practical Scrapper Michelle James uses various digital elements and the Becky Higgins Original Kit - digital version to create her pages.  She always re-colors the elements to make them match her page.

Practical Scrapper Nicole Laha used Albums Made Easy kits from We R Memory Keepers to complete this spread documenting one event. Pocket scrapbooking accommodates more than the traditional weekly spreads.  

Practical Scrapper Ruth Bonser used Mambi cards and cut up the cards to layer them up on top of each others and create some fun interest on the page.

Practical Scrapper Becci Manies used random household items on her PL page, to add to the tea party theme - including: a doily, yarn, a paint chip, a glassine bag, and crochet trim.

Practical Scrapper Kristy MacKeen continues to take us on a journey to Florida with her Project Life spread, using a mix of cards from Studio Calico, Allison Kreft, and Simple Stories.

Practical Scrapper Charissa used some Studio Calico and Dear Lizzy Project Life cards to create this of Week 35.  She left a lot of room for journaling, because some weeks there is just a lot to say.

Hope you got lots of inspiration!  We'd love for you to share your projects with us here or on our Facebook page!

***Project Life is a system of memory keeping created by Becky Higgins.  You can learn more about it here.***

Project Life Feature

A very lovely Friday to you!  I hope that you have had a fantastic week and will have a wonderful weekend!  If it is a Friday there is a good chance there is Project Life up at Practical Scrappers!  This week we bring you kit clubs, scrapbook supplies, core kits, digital and physical product, and a variety of page protector types.

Before you enjoy some Project Life inspiration, remember that there is a big blog hop going on this week with Practical Scrappers and Paper Secrets.  Check it out here if you want to hop along and possibly win some FABULOUS prizes!

Now on to Project Life! 

Practical Scrapper Nicole Laha used two different designs of pocket page protectors to accommodate her pictures. Mix and match styles to create your own unique album!

Practical Scrapper Lanette used a old 4x6 photo sheet for her page.

Practical Scrapper Michelle James used fun 3x4 & 4x6 templates to match colors for a fun, coordinated double page layout.  She uses the digital version of Project Life.

Practical Scrapper Charissa created this spread using a Citrus Twist scrapbooking kit.  Lots of scrapbooking supplies are perfect for creating fun Project Life spreads!

Practical Scrapper Ruth Bonser uses the July Scraptastic kit for her project life this week. It's certainly faster when you have all the coordinating pieces already put together for you to use.

Practical Scrapper Kristy MacKeen created this spread using a variety of cards from Studio Calico's Project Life kits and Becky Higgins' Blush collection.

Hope we have given you lots of inspiration today!  Don't forget the blog hop this weekend as well!!  See you again soon with more Project Life!

***Project Life is a system of memory keeping created by Becky Higgins.  You can learn more about it here.***

Project Life Feature

It's Friday and that means it is time again for a Project Life feature here at Practical Scrappers.  This week our designers bring you spreads using digital and physical supplies, core kits, and kits clubs.  Brand new goodies from CHA and items from their stash.  Lots of great inspiration to get you going on your next (or first!) Project Life spread.

Practical Scrapper Ruth shares a double page from her weekly Project Life album.

Practical Scrapper Charissa used some new goodies she got as giveaways at CHA to pull together this spread.  She also used some of Becky Higgins' Blush core kit and embellishments from her stash.

Practical Scrapper Nicole Laha combined Studio Calico Project Life Kits and Becky Higgins Project Life Core Kits to create this teal, orange, and kraft colored spread.

Practical Scrapper Michelle James used Becky Higgins Original Digital kit, Cindy's Layered Cards: Everyday 8 by Cindy Schneider  and some misc freebies from Pinterest. to create her double page layout.

Practical Scrapper Kristy MacKeen used cards and materials from Gossamer Blue's new Life Pages kit as well as some goodies from her stash to create her very first Project Life page - documenting the first day on the road to Florida. 

Hope we have inspired you with some new ideas for your Project Life!  Remember, it can be anything you want it to be, not just a weekly documentation over two pages!

***Project Life is a system of memory keeping created by Becky Higgins.  You can learn more about it here.***