Nature Inspired Project Life Layout Photo Tutorial

Hi fellow Memory Keepers! Harkee from AS they grow here again with another Project Life layout for you.

This month’s challenge theme is “M for Masculine” and it was lovely to receive a design team kit containing Project Life cards, chip board stickers and other supplies in warm earthy tones, with references to being out in nature and hiking, all very masculine in the traditional sense.

All the materials I used (or similar)  are linked below and include:

• Me & My Big Ideas Create 365 Planner Puffy Stickers To Do
• Project Life – Themed Cards – Great Outdoors – 60pk
• Pinkfresh Studio Boys Fort Chipboard Stickers 5.5″X11″ 2/Pkg
• Pinkfresh Studio Escape The Ordinary Chipboard Stickers 5.5″X11″
• Zing Embossing Powder: Opaque: Black
• Heidi Swapp Color Shine Tea Spray Mist
• Project Life Mini Album – Cinnamon – 10.75″ x 9.25″
• Project Life corner rounder punch
• Ranger Heat It Craft Tool (European version )
• Emboss It Pens 2/pk – black 7 clear

All my Project Life scrapbooking has been in 12×12 albums and layouts so far so it was a nice change to work with a mini album. The mini albums have a fixed number of pages and a fixed layout so lend themselves well to a specific project, e.g. a holiday album. I think I will use this gorgeous cinnamon coloured mini album to record the fun holidays my husband and I have taken together. Starting with our holiday to New Zealand where we spent lots of time outdoors hiking and in nature, very masculine in feel!

I was so excited to see Heidi Swapp Color Shine Spray Mist in the design kit, I’ve been wanting to use these ever since I tried them out at a PPS scrapbooking workshop. Embossing powder was also a great addition to the kit and I knew I wanted to use both together. So I started by using one of the journalling cards from the Great Outdoors Project Life kit to create a title card.

First I penciled in the title I wanted to write out as I knew it might be difficult to erase any mistakes once the colour shine mist was applied. Since I didn’t want the spray mist on the blue section of the journalling card I covered that part in paper to protect it and then sprayed across the rest of the card.

This Color Shine Spray Mist in Tea colour has a lovely sheen to it, it is somewhere between gold and bronze and layering this colour onto the green really helps to tie the title card into the the other cards I chose as you will see below. The spray effect also gives a more organic feel to the card to tie in with the nature theme, almost mud splattered, rather than the geometric grid underneath.

Once the Spray Mist was dry I went over my pencilled lettering with the Emboss It pen and sprinkled on the black embossing powder.  Then, after shaking off the excess and returning to the pot (in the same way as you do with glitter so make sure you have a paper underneath to make it easier!) I set the embossing with the heat gun.

Embossing adds a nice layer of dimension and shine to a title card rather than just flat lettering.

The final touch for the title card was to add a “New Adventures” sticker from the Pinkfresh Studio Escape the Ordinary Chipboard Sticker pack. I also used those stickers and the Pinkfresh Studio Boys Fort Chipboard letters to create a journalling card.

I needed a landscape 4×6 journalling card but, while the Great Outdoors themed pack of Project Life cards had lots of great cards, it didn’t have quite the layout and colour combination I was after. So I created what I wanted by layering the “On Our Hike” portrait 4×3 journalling card on top of the brown, wood effect 4×6 filler card both from the Great Outdoors themed pack. I then added this great leaves motif sticker from the Escape the Ordinary Chipboard stickers pack and our initials using the chip board letters. Both add a great 3D effect and enrich the overall effect of the card. All that’s left is to add the journalling.

I loved these button-like puffy stickers from The Happy Planner, the colours work perfectly with the Project Life themed kit and the slogans complement the sentiments they express so I added a few to the filler and journalling cards to complete the theme of the album.

All that’s then left once the title card and filler cards have been completed is to round off the corners of your photos using the Project Life Corner Punch and slip the photos and cards into the pockets.

The Project Life mini album also has a cute little pocket on the front cover. It’s the perfect size for a 3×4 photo or you can slip in a 3×4 filler card as I did with one of the Great Outdoors themed Project Life cards.

I hope you enjoyed this photo tutorial and are inspired to get out in nature and then record your own memories with a nature inspired layout.

If you are new to Project Life and scrapbooking you might also want to check out my previous Design Team posts, including where I share with you my basic process for setting up a layout, some ways to DIY your own themed filler cards, how to preserve kids’ art work with Project Life and how to use thickers, stickers and die-cuts to enhance your project.

See you with another layout next month!

Harkee xx

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