The last of May

Melissa says:
This month I really got into the swing of taking more photo's than previous months. Using my camera phone was just so much more convenient, especially when I tend to use mini prints in my lifescrap album and the quality was really good.

A little reminder to Jill when she reads this. You promised to create a post about how you plan your month. I'm dying to see how you do it.

All rugged up!

Melissa says:

The winter chill has caught me off guard and I'm at home with very nasty cold and flu symptoms. So that leaves me plenty of time to upload all of my photo's, scrap, catch up on the 400GB of taped television shows and movies and nurse myself back to health.

The month of May in progress

Melissa says:
When the beginning of the month rolls around, I love to create an overall look. Not only does it make it easy to just add photos and journalling, but a massive timesaver when you can just reach for the same thing for a block of time. Here's a sneak peek at the process. Maybe it will help when it comes to planning your next project.


Step 1.
I like to choose 7 complimentary patterns or cardstock. They are sometimes from a collection but mostly they are a general mix of things I already have at home. I have found that 1 full sheet of each pattern is more than enough. 2 pieces of cardstock to flesh out the title pages completes the set.








Step 2.
Next I start looking in my scraps folders to find any of the papers or cardstock that I have previously used. Stickers and rub on's with numbers are essential when labelling the date and I have a set of acetate months that I am using all year.For me, stitching is a pre requisite, so I find the matching shades of DMC cotton and any embellishments that will compliment the colour grouping.






Step 3.
I take the time to cut all of the pieces I will need to fill the page protectors ear marked for the month. A cardstock base for the title and final page of the month and all of patterns are cut into journalling size rectangles to fit the ATC refills. This is where all of your scraps can start to be very handy.





Step 4.
I place all of the pre cut pieces in all of the sleeves, so I can move colours around and get the placement just the way I want it before I start any of the entries. Usually I like to get this done within the first few days of the month so it allows me no time to fall behind on taking a photo most days.

Step 5.

To keep track of the photo's I take every month, I have a cheap diary to keep important details in. Each day that I take a photo, I circle the date, write what the photo was as well as a quick bit of journalling. It's also a great place to keep a note of anything else I need to keep track of.

When I have done all of those things, I keep all of the supplies together for the entire month so I can quickly just grab, create and move on to something else. Great for dashing into my workroom to do a few minutes between hanging out the washing and mopping the floors.

Lovin' April

Melissa says:

When I look how Jill's April went, I'm reminded of something we said to each other all those months ago when Lifescrap first began. We loved the idea of documenting a whole year in the life scrapbook, but wanted to make it easy to keep up with and maintain. Despite a challenging month, we both managed to achieve great glimpses of day to day activites and create a legacy to treasure. So take a deep breath! Exhale! And embrace the final pages of my April!

On Fire!

Jill says

Well, I think I am first up with my month to be completed for the first time in a long time. Not that it's a race or anything........it does feel nice to be all finished. It felt nice to reflect over the month that has been too and I noticed that the middle of the month was not really recorded (for reasons I shall not go into!). I loved getting my camera out for the last couple of shots and have fired off a few for May already. I have held onto my scrapbooking magazines since I started scrapping (which is 6 years now) and have been slowly going through them, cutting out the articles and layouts I love and decluttering. I have found loads of great articles on photography and some fantast ideas on layouts and embellishments. It has given me a huge inspirational boost.