Sassy Scrapper: Project Life Catch Up | Pinkfresh Studio

Life has been super busy and as a result I have fallen a little behind with my project life album this year... OK make that very behind with only my title page complete so far ;) but I am determined to get up to date and have a catch up plan to help me fill those pages! My plan is by no means revolutionary but after doing this project for several years I know what slows down my process and hope that grouping similar tasks into batches will help me to get things done faster.

PHOTOS - Even though I do all of my printing at home I still find the task of selecting, cropping and editing the photos to be time consuming, so in an effort to get through this task quicker I have forced myself to limit the editing process to very basic cropping and one step photo enhancing where needed.

I usually start my memory keeping process with deciding which photos to print but because they are often located on different apps and devices I keep a physical diary to record the details of who was doing what and when during the year, and find that having these little reminders really helps when you have fallen behind.

I am using Design A page protectors again this year so I know that all of my vertical photos will need to be cropped to 4:3 ratio to fill a 3x4" pocket and the horizontal pics will be cropped to 3:2 ratio so they can be printed in either full a 6x4" size or scaled down to mount onto a patterned background. I am sticking to 2 double spreads per month, but will most likely add some inserts throughout the year in which case I can vary the photo sizes if needed.

Once all of my photos are printed I like to lay them out on top of the page protectors and shuffle them around until the page feels balanced - I try to avoid grouping all dark coloured photos together and leave some breathing room between any clashing tones.

SUPPLIES - Sorting through supplies to find the prefect card or embellishment can be a real time waster and using a co-ordinating collection will definitely speed up the process but that doesn't mean that your pages have to be limited to just one range - look for the same colours in other collections that can be added to give your pages more variety. I have gone with a mix of products from Pinkfresh Studio's A Case of the Blah's and paired it up with some fun items from The Mix No.2 range.

Pre-cutting all of your patterned papers so that they are ready to slip into pockets speeds up the process and keeping all of your supplies in one location also helps to get things done quicker.

I try to chose journal and filler cards that will compliment the photos and often look for accent pieces that help to tell the story.

JOURNALING - I usually keep my stories fairly simple and like to use printed journal strips to record the details. Having everything written in my diary makes this task a lot easier and printing and cutting apart the journaling in one session also speeds up the process and helps me to keep the strips uniform in size.

Like many people, I am not a fan of my own handwriting but am trying to overcome this by adding a couple of stories by hand because formatting and lining up each story onto a journal card with my printer takes up quite a bit of time.

FINISHING TOUCHES - I realise that creating a monthly title card or adding a row of stitching here or there are not necessary, but it's those final details that I always look forward to creating and am giving myself permission to take a little extra time to add some accent pieces at the end of each completed page :)