Scrapbooking – The Creative Salad

Documenting Everyday Learning with Project Life (Part 2)

I’ve been slowly making headway with our Everyday Learning scrapbook made with Project Life materials. I envision this journal as a casual record of our homeschooling projects. Something for us to look back on years from now, to remember the rhythm of our homeschooling days, and–hopefully–think of with fondness.

So far I’ve documented about when we released ladybugs into the garden and witnessed a solar eclipse…

played math games (cards, fractile magnets, and time telling activities)…

made art collage postcards inspired by the masters…

explored the world through geography, using Puzzleballs, magnetic maps, and songs… (pages in progress)

learned about leaf shapes and classification and observed barn owls… (pages in progress)

and here we are getting started with more complicated math activities and observing the butterfly life cycle… (pages in progress)

As we continue through the year I will fill these pages and add many, many more. Stay tuned!

Documenting Everyday Learning with Project Life

I’ve been admiring Ali Edward’s Project Life scrapbook journals for several years now, but couldn’t figure out how to make them work for our family.

With this blog I feel I already do a pretty good job of documenting our everyday life and I wasn’t looking for a project that felt redundant. Fun as it might be, I just couldn’t justify the time commitment.

Then I thought about all of our homeschooling projects and activities that I’d like to document (and write a book on someday) and everything clicked. I want to document our everyday learning.

I ordered albums, page protectors, and digital Project Life inserts to print off and cut out. (More on my materials soon.)

Here’s a sneak peek at my fun new project.

I’m so excited and can’t wait to share more with you in the coming weeks. I’ve been busy.

Project Life is a memory keeping system designed by Becky Higgins.

Project Life Thank You Notes

I recently found myself in the midst of writing thank you notes when we ran out of stationary. In a pinch, I remembered the stack of journaling cards I’ve collected for my new hobby, scrapbooking. (More on that soon. I know, just what I need: another ~~addiction~~ ~~distraction~~ project!)

I’ve been accumulating digital editions of Project Life (a scrapbook memory-keeping system created by Becky Higgins). Each set contains beautifully designed cards that serve as creative-sparks and placeholders to use throughout an album. The digital files come in PNG, but also in PDF so you can easily print the cards out yourself. (I keep cardstock on hand for such projects.)

I decided to cut out some title and filler cards from the Seafoam and Midnight kits (available digitally here) that I had printed on heavy white cardstock.

To make for a more polished look I used a rounded corner punch to transform the corners of the cards from square:

to round:

Most of the cards I wrote a handwritten “Thank you,”

but for some of them I borrowed an alphabet stamp set from my daughter to spell it out:

Another personalized touch involved washi tape, colorful Japanese masking tape we found at our local art supplies store. Instead of licking envelopes, we sealed them with a small strip of tape:

My favorite part of this simple project is that since the cards are digital I have a lifetime supply of stylish cards to print out any time.

I only wish I had thought of this earlier so that ALL my thank you notes looked so cute.