Project Life | A Guide for Beginners

I have always loved documenting my life, whether that has been keeping a diary or taking  photos, so when I found out about Project Life scrapbooking system I was very excited indeed! I first came across Project Life thanks to Lily Pebbles and her YouTube video, and quickly became obsessed. All hail Becky Higgins!!! I needed to get started asap so quickly got researching and soon found the best places to purchase everything I needed to get started. 

Project Life

Here is my list of essentials for anyone wishing to start Project Life. 

1. Album- I was originally planning to start without an album as I found they were pretty pricey here in the UK, hoping to pick one up when I was over in America in the summer, but I managed to find this black and white striped Heidi Swapp for Project Life one on Amazon. You can also find this one at Michaels in the US, and alternatives at HobbyCraft for those in the UK. 

Looking back, it has been so useful to have the album from the get go, everything is kept flat and in one place. It also makes it so much easier when organising your pages if some are back to back.

2. Page Protectors/Pocket Pages- These are essentially your empty pages, they are like plastic wallets and you simply slide your photos in and voila you're done...its that simple! They come in a variety of designs A,B,C,D.. with the most popular being A & D, with 4 6x4" and 4 4x4" slots in each. You can also get full size 12x12" as well as other combinations of 4x4", 3x4" and 6x4".

I bought a couple of different designs including the A and D from Project Life, but also these ones from We Are Memory Keepers to mix it up a little. My favourite design so far seems to be A, but the one from WAMK is great for my Instagram (or square) photos as it has 4x4" slots!

3. Corner Rounder- This has by far been the best thing I have ever bought! This simple tool makes photos and postcards look so sleek and modern. Just look at those round corners!! I picked this one up from HobbyCraft, you can get the 5mm or 10mm.  

4. Value Kit- There are lots of different value kits out there, with different themes and designs, wedding, baby, girl, boy, LDS Missionary etc. I came across this beautiful duck egg blue and gold set by Heidi Swapp for Project Life. It is simply beautiful. It comes with 30 x gold foil cards (6x4"), 30 x gold foil cards (3x4") and 70 gold embellishments, so you can mix and match the cards as you please. 

5. Photos & Cuttings- A crucial element! I get my photos printed at Boots, they have good deals if you print 200+ at once, but you can print at home too. I also try to pick up little bits and pieces from the places I visit to add to the pages. Here are a few examples of the things I've picked up; business cards, prints and photos (I keep them all in one box ready to use!).

6. Accessories- To complement the value kit, I tend to pick up various bits and pieces including; washi tape, sharpie pens, sticky dots, postcards (they're 6x4" so the perfect size), stickers, stamps, punches and labels. 

The items shown in this box have been bought from various places like HobbyCraft, Amazon, Oliver Bonas and Paperchase. The key is that you don't have to spend too much money on things like this, otherwise things will certainly get out of control and you'll have no money left!

*You can buy core kits and starter bundles but I think this does limit you to one design throughout your album, so I opted to buy everything separately enabling me to customise it entirely.*

I hope this post has given you an insight into the world of scrapbooking and the Project Life system, giving you tips on essentials and where to buy them. I will be following this post up with how I plan and create my pages soon, but for now, here is an example of the first page in my album. 

Thank you for reading, hope to see you again soon!

A xx