You know we’re huge Project Life groupies, right? Well, guess what? I have been TOTALLY slacking on keeping up with it over the last year. I was lucky to have some campaigns that motivated me to complete layouts or I don’t think I would have anything documented from 2013! Note: Project Life is not supposed to add stress to your life… which leads me to my decision to go ALL DIGITAL for 2014. (For my main family “yearbook”… not catching up on old photos, vacations, etc. I’ll definitely be doing some traditional pages, too!)
1. I don’t have to wait for photos to be printed. This was my biggest hangup by far – I just couldn’t keep up with the printing.
2. I can change things! This is huge for me because I change my mind. A lot. You’ll see what I mean.
3. I can e-mail pages to grandparents, etc. and make multiple copies of albums for my kids easily (even if it’s down the road when I can afford it!)
4. The digital kits are inexpensive and SO versatile! It’s fun to mix and match kits and play without taking over our whole kitchen table 😉
1. I won’t have an album to look through until the end of the year. Not a huge deal for me since I always seemed to be behind anyway.
2. No physical memorabilia. This one was hard to swallow at first, but I can always scan things, and I’m working on a traditional School album for Bella that will include lots of memorabilia.
3. None of my handwriting. I hate to say it, but I really didn’t enjoy writing on cards because I got so caught up in the spacing, handwriting etc. I do however, want to leave some for my kids to enjoy so I’ll have to work it in somehow.
Yup, free! You can download it here: Project Life Starter Pack and give digital a whirl! I think it’s brilliant that they are offering this so that you can get a feel for digital without investing any money. You will need a photo editing program such as Photoshop or Photoshop Elements to work with these products.
Okay, now we get to this year. I spent way too much a lot of time trying to choose a look I liked for this new year. I’ve done the traditional layouts and wanted something a little more simple and clean. When I came across Linda’s gorgeous pages, I thought designing my own templates would be fun and give me a unique look. Tried that. Took forevs. Went to Plan B.
Your last page is my most favorite!! Do you print all the pages in a book at the end of the year? I was thinking, if you printed each page out separately and put them in a page protectors, then you could add page protectors with some of that memorabilia you wanted to add too. ??? Just a thought.
Thanks so much, Jamie! I was planning on doing a printed book – I honestly hadn’t thought of doing page protectors to add memorabilia – thanks for the great idea! Maybe I’ll do a price comparison and decide from there!
Hey ladies,
I do PL all digital too. I print my pages 12 x 12 through Persnickity Prints and insert them into a 12 x 12 document protector and into a We R Memories Keeper album. I order a couple months of pages at one go so I don’t have to wait a whole year to see some result. It’s a great way to go!
Great reviews…I love the simple designs you decided to go with. I think it highlights the photos and stories more. And makes me feel less like tearing my hair out as I try to keep up.
Thanks my friend! Yeah, I knew simple would have to be the way to go to stay caught up! (Remember when I tried to do it last year? Fail! Haha 🙂 I miss you!
You can always print out pages and insert them into a traditional scrapbook album – which is what I do because I like to change the order of things…all the time… and it allows for memorabilia that a bound book won’t do as easily. It’s also easier on the pocket book when you can space out your spending on a per page project than an entire book at once…
Also, consider hybrid scrapping. It could be as simple as glueing on a button or a ribbon or more planned out like leaving space on your page where you plan to attach a pocket and insert your memorabilia!
Thanks for your great ideas! I am interested to see the price difference in buying the sheet protectors/getting prints vs. the printed book. I know they would be a little more protected from sticky-fingered kids that way, too!
I don’t understand why you don’t get your pages printed. I do hybrid scrapping, adding an embellishment here and there and put larger memorabilia in one of the PL pocket envelopes. Sometime I print a 12×12 and sometimes I just add photos and digital cards an insert in the plastic pocket pages.
When I do 12×12 I save up 10 or so pages to be printed. We don’t have a local printer who does 12×12, but there are many wonderful sites (Scrapping Simply, Persnickty to name a few) who offer wonder printing prices, $5.00 shipping no matter how many pages) and there turnaround is terrific–I usually get my pages within a week.
But the best part of PL is that my grandkids love looking at my pages (lots of stuff about them). And at the end of the year, I often redo/reprint many of pages specific to a family and give them to my DIL’s as Christmas presents. They love them.
I do LOVE Persnickety Prints! I think I may have to try that and see how I like it and then I could always do a Shutterfly album for the extra copies. Thanks for the great ideas!
What program do you need to do the digital project life. I downloaded the free pages…but I am not sure I have any applications to open them in.
You will need Photoshop or Photoshop Elements. You can download a 30-day free trial of Elements and see if you like it before purchasing! Elements should be perfect for what you need, no need to get the full Photoshop! Hope that helps!
You know that you can get your handwriting made into a typeable font right? This means you can be digital and still have the beauty of your own handwriting! Plus you don’t have to write it our yourself! Darcy Baldwin does it. Here is a link:
http://www.sweetshoppedesigns.com/sweetshoppe/product.php?productid=16149&cat=0&page=1
That is a BRILLIANT idea! I seriously hadn’t thought of that! Now if I could just have Holly’s beautiful handwriting… 😉
Plus, you can just leave blank space and write on your prints when they come. I do that on page prints and in books. Sharpie will write on photos nicely. I use Persnickety and purchase credits when they have a sale, then I can print as many as I want whenever I want for just the $5 shipping! As for memorabilia, I often photograph and scan stuff to add to my layouts, or use a PL plastic page to tuck it in between my regular pages. Here
s an example of how I use it digitally. http://www.digishoptalk.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=1883513&cat=500
Welcome to the dark side! 😉
This was a really helpful post, thank you! Lots to think about. I’m switching from digital to paper this year, I’ll be curious to follow your process and see how the opposite switch works out for you!
Another vote for having your handwriting turned into a font by Darcy Baldwin. I was amazed at how affordable it was and love using my handwriting in my digital projects.
I am a little late reading this post. I pinned it a while ago and just got to reading it. I was interested in why you were switching over to digital. I LOVE digital. 2013 was the first year I started PL and I was doing really good until I broke my ankle at the end of April. Now I am catching up and it seems to go much faster with the digital. I am planning to print a book when I finally finish the year. Haven’t decided which company to use. I am thinking either Shutterfly or Persnickity Prints. Has anyone had an entire book printed for the year? Which company did you use? By the way… I love the pages you came up with. I don’t know how you chose because they all look great! Good luck with the digital.