2016 PLers?!
 

What's everyone doing for their pocket scrapping in 2016? Hit me with your plan, hopes, changes, etc.

I took 2015 off pocket scrapping and have learned in the year break that my plan for 2015 (that I obviously canned!) to do themes and/or monthly vs. weekly chronological is just not going to work for me. I did get a few weeks in January done with the new plan... and looking at those pages now does not make me happy. I like being able to capture the kids' funny sayings and the little stories that don't need a full scrapbook page, and that just flows so much better for me chronologically. Working by theme and/or month requires me to think too much e.g. what page do these pictures belong on, etc.

My plan, then, is to do it basically how I did it in 2014: a weekly two page spread followed by any regular pages with photos from the same week all combined in one big ol' chronological album to be printed at the end of the year.

I am excited to get back to it as I have missed it. :wub:

I started adding a 2 page monthly spread & I love it! I'm completely caught up with ALL my 2015 scrapbooking, other than Thanksgiving.

I do regular layouts if they work as a 2 page spread (all my facing layouts have to match, I'm OCD). If not, they go in the monthly recap.

The only exception I had was in June of this year I did weekly spreads. And I think Summer's will be that way from now own.

I was very anti pocket scrapbooking too, Traci's collection inspired me to give it a shot.


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The way I've done it the past couple of years, and will probably do again in 2016, is very similar to yours LeeAndra - except I do it monthly. Usually 4-6 pocket pages/month except December and January are always more (our summer holidays) + however many regular pages I need each month. I also stick in a double page spread at the end of 'out takes' - photos that didn't make it on to any other pages - no journalling, elements, etc... just photos.

I'm finding more of my regular pages are becoming one off pocket pages these days though! My aim is to try to keep the book to around 100 pages for the year so I can actually afford to print when its done! (and so its not too fat). This year I'll be over - its looking more like 116-120 pages.

I've used Traci's Pocket Life collections every month for the past two years (totally love them!), but if the Aussie dollar continues its slide south I don't know if I'll be able to afford them for much longer. :(

Yes, please--I want to hear what everyone else is doing! I want to make a change, but I don't know what yet. I need to find a better balance between my pocket scrapping and traditional pages. I want half (or more) of my scrapping to be traditional pages, but I feel like PL starts taking over and I can't keep up with everything.

I've done 3 years of weekly 2-page spreads, and every year I've fallen a little further behind. In 2013 I scrapped all but a few random weeks. In 2014 I think I've got up until about week 40 done, and the rest is still waiting for me to get back to it. So far I've finished to about week 30 in 2015, and I would be surprised if I get to 40 before I switch to 2016.

I can't imagine not doing Project Life. I love looking back on the pages and seeing the quotes, stories, and random photos that wouldn't have made it onto traditional pages. But it's so time consuming for me. I take too many photos, so keeping them organized, choosing the best ones, and then narrowing down the number to scrap takes too much time. An average or light week is fine, but there are too many weeks when we have something special going on and I end up with tons of photos. I want to keep doing PL, but I need to find a better way. (I've said that after every year, and I still haven't succeeded.) I can think of lots of ways to simplify product, but not ways to streamline the photo side of things. Well...except take fewer photos during special events, and I'm trying somewhat unsuccessfully on that front.

I'm not sure what to do honestly - I've got 3 years of partially started layouts but never got past March each year.

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Biggest issue I find is taking enough photos, I'm a single person who doesnt do a whole lot really so my life and PL ends up being super reptitive I feel.

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Oh, this is me, too!! I'm still plugging away on 2012's book... I get bored easily and I'm kind of over the pocket look... want something different... just not sure what that is..

Maybe you could start a more journal-focused style?

I have almost solely been pocket scrapping for years now but i'm not a fan of the weeklyecap style. Every month I pull out themed photos (basketball, school events, holidays) and give them their own themed pocket pages - like this:

https://www.sweetshoppecommunity.com...l-jan15-14.jpg
https://www.sweetshoppecommunity.com...l-jan15-15.jpg

And then all my random photos and journaling for the month goes on 1-2 pocket spreads:

https://www.sweetshoppecommunity.com...2-left-700.jpg
https://www.sweetshoppecommunity.com...d2ight-700.jpg


This way allows me to keep all the themed subject matter together and use themed kits for an entire spread to make something pretty - but also still capture the everyday life stuff without there being any pressure to keep up weekly.

After three years of totally successful PL-ing, I've decided to switch it up... I'm going to do monthly, mostly because I already know the baby is going to produce WAY more pictures than a spread per week.

I've also already started on his baby book. It is also PL style, but I'm using BH's digital kits for most of the pages. I think I will pull a themed kit from time to time when it fits... like holidays.

Any suggestions for an older lady that leads a very boring life (work, home, scrap a little, sleep and then start the day over). The only thing I can think of is to maybe pull off my DIL & Daughter's facebooks posts about their kids (my grandkids) and do some type of weekly post about that. I would like to do something but am having a hard time thinking of something.

Some ideas off the top of my head:

Do you cook - take pictures and scrap your recipes
Or if you eat out, take pictures of your meals and write up little comments/reviews
If you have hobbies (like quilting, crafting, sewing, knitting, etc.), take "in progress" photos and document the process
Weekly chores
Favourite products
Weekly or monthly selfie (we should all be present in our pages!)
Visits with the grandkids
Volunteer/church/etc activities
Home decor (document your current home and include details)
Include bits of history (like journal "20 years ago this month... etc)
Anything that makes you happy (like a beautiful sunset, freshly brewed coffee on the table, folded laundry, a full tank of gas), etc.
Interesting news stories (take screenshots)
Movies seen
Books read
Music listened to


I also saw this Pinterest board you could check out:
https://www.pinterest.com/just_keara/pl-without-kids/

Heddy, thanks so much that is some great ideas and things I actually never thought of. I like the idea of 20 years ago and that might be the thing for me to do so the past is brought to my kids/grandkids.

Heddy had some great suggestions for you! Some people also do a card or 2 that are the same every week, like a card that shows the week's weather or a "Currently" card (Currently reading, currently watching, currently eating, currently obsessed with, etc.) I think pulling info from FB is a great idea, too. I like to include some of the photos and stories that relatives post on FB from time to time.

I've been thinking a lot this week about how I want to tackle PL 2016, and I think I've finally decided. I want to continue doing weekly recap spreads, but I need to find a way to speed them up so I have more time for other scrapping. (I love having the weekly spreads to look back on, but I enjoy making them less than regular pages.)

It looks like the Project Life App is finally coming out for Android around the first of the year, so I'm going to try to do my 2016 PL that way. I like that I can still use all my SSD cards and Pocket Life collections, but I'll be forced to do it more simply than I would using PS on my laptop. I'm hoping that will help me speed things up and make PL more sustainable for me. If not, I guess I'll go back to what I'm doing now. Either that or take a year off PL, but I really don't want to do that. If I take a year off, most of those photos and stories will never make it into an album.

I've been thinking about this and struggling with this for the last couple months. 2015 will be my third year of PL and each year I've completed a 2 page layout for each week. Each year I've completed the project and printed an album. My family loves these albums-more than my traditional pages. Last month we unexpectedly lost my healthy 66 year old mother in law and seeing her in the pages made the whole project worth it. (It's so odd to literally see her there one week and not the next.)

For a month or so I thought about going totally simple (and taking the crap out of scrapbooking if you know what I mean). And then I look at all my beautiful SSD products and think that I can't bear to not use my pretty journal cards and I can't bear to not purchase the gorgeous PL new releases. So, I think I decided to pretty much do the same thing I've been doing for the last 3 years?
Maybe I'll commit to journal cards only and no embellishments?

I have used Nettio's title cards for the last 3 years as I just keep modifying the dates on the them. Last year I tried to convince her to release some new ones. I think I'll at least change to a different title card.

I used kraft color background for the first 2 years and used white this year.

I'm anxious to hear other people's thoughts on the topic.

I almost started a similar thread myself.

I think that every year my goal is to scrap LESS, and this year I totally accomplished that.

I've been doing paper PL monthly with the occasional layout insert, as well as a 2015 book of me, with monthly faves & any pictures I love scrapped. Plus I've been finishing up Ari's first two years' albums.

So in 2016, I am going to finish Ariana's 2nd year album, keep doing PL in paper but switch back to weekly and do a 2016 Book of Me. I like switching between scrapping on the computer and the challenge of using things that can't be resized or recolored.

Hi everyone! I have posted here in a while, and decided to jump back in. Mainly because my plan for 2016 is something I think about nearly every day. I'm struggling with what to do, but I think I have a plan now.

2015 is my third year of doing PL. The first year, I pretty much strictly did one two page spread a week, then the next year I added more pages per week in order to not leave photos out and then this year, things got completely out of control... some of my weeks have 10+ pages and it makes me nuts. For my 2016 PL book, I'm going back to basics and do a regular two page spread per week that will serve as my "index". Following that in my book will be pages dedicated to more of the details (photos and journaling) of the events referenced on my weekly spread. I really miss my more traditional PL pages that I started out with, but I really hate leaving photos out (plus I have the itch to play with more themed pages). I'm hoping this plan will work for me... I'm excited to try!

I'm heading into my 3rd year of PL and I've decided to stick with what's working...12x12, weekly 2-pagers, paper. I love the balance of paper albums and digi albums/overview vs detail/immediate gratification vs delayed... My goal with PL was to capture the small details so I could use my digi time for the bigger stories and I've been able to do that.

Well, I think I've made my decision. I've been undecided for so long and I'm starting to get anxious because the clock is ticking and 2016 is around the corner, lol!

I'm going to do a PL but more centered around 'me stuff'. My first PL was written for the family. Like, the journaling was 'This is where we went' kind of thing. But, my boys are 17 now. I don't think they need me to record everything they did so they can read it later. It's starting to get weird for me. And they really don't do a whole lot with us right now. They have their own lives, jobs, friends, girlfriends, etc...

So I kind of feel like I'm stepping into a new phase where it's not as important that I capture every little detail for THEM, and now I can just do it for ME. So that in 20 years I'll be able to look back and remember how I PERSONALLY felt about my life in 2016.

Does that make sense? Has anyone else been going through a transition like this? It sounds like rdjr@fuse (sorry, I don't know your real name, lol!) is.

I'm not quite there yet, but just about. Mine are 15 and 14. In the last year, my sophomore son has become less and less documented in my PL book. So much of what he does doesn't involve me at all and he's not a picture taker. My daughter is in 8th and being a girl and younger, she pretty much dominates our book. But soon, she'll have her own stuff too that she won't send me photos of. I'll be watching your pages for ideas!


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I started out with PL 2015 on a whim after seing everyone's beautiful pages. And so far I have been keeping up quite well, the longest I've fallen behind is 3 weeks, but they're mostly caught up by now, just need to add my journaling. I journal in a diary/planner and make my spreads with pictures/themed kits seperately, then when I'm happy with my spread and photo placement I'll add the kit/paper/embellishment and then last comes the journaling.

I also use the Collect app and it's helping me keep track of what pictures I took when, but I never add any journaling to the app. I can't stand writing on my phone. The journaling bit, or the actual writing things down in my planner/diary has become a thing I rarely do anymore, my days are just too busy. But I will try to be better at it for 2016.

AS far as changing up my spreads/style I have been thinking of dropping some of the embellishment and sticking to purely journal cards and pictures, but I don't know if I can. I love how every single one of my pages looks and my mix of clean pocket style and heavily embellished spots just seems to work for me. Yes, it takes me longer to finish my pages and I get less time to scrap traditional pages for the kids' books, but on the other hand I have the best reference points for future pages to scrap right there in my PL book.

I think I will start with the easy and speedy option and then print my 2015 book. If I love it as much as I think I will and find that the clean look isn't working then I'll lay on the embellishments and stick to what I love.
I feel that PL 2016 products needs to be available in the shop much earlier so that we can look, drool and plan ahead.

That's what I'm planning for 2016, but I don't know if I can, either. I want to try making my pages in the Project Life App then pulling them into PS to add stitching (Traci's Stitched Grids) and a few minimal embellishments.

I definitely agree about products coming out earlier. Between the digi products not being out yet and the PL App's Android release being delayed, I haven't been able to do nearly as much planning as I want to.


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When i dont know what to scrap, i make a project 12, i take photo's of my cats ;)
Now the boys are getting older there is less to do, like activities at school or sports.
and they dont want pictures taking.
i also make pages about baking cakes and stuff like that.
and when i go to restaurants.
some months there is not much to scrap, other months like in summer and vactions or december a bit more, like christmasdecorations an diners/ breakfast ect.

I just adore PL layouts. I got into it about a year ago. I like to keep my layouts simple and clean. I hope to have lots of new PL cards out this year. ;)

I think mine is going to be pretty clean this year too. My Dec Daily album is clean and simple and I. LOVE. IT.

I always love Marla's pages. They have that clean look with just a hint of embellishment on some pages. I want mine to look like that.

Input on templates? In 2012 I used Nettio's and I used Erica's EZ templates for my homeschool album. What's everyone planning to use?

I used EZ's for 2015 (rounded corners). Unless I find something equally amazing I'm sticking to those, but my big dilemma is if I'm going to do rounded or straight. And I hope EZ goes back to the same format as her 6,7,9 series were and not the 11 because those had different space dimensions than the previous ones. I like mine to look the same.

I'm still a huge fan of Traci's stitched grids. I'm considering using the PL app (with plenty of SSD cards), but I'm still going to pull the layouts into PS so I can add Traci's stitching and a few embellishments. I think I may do rounded corners for 2016. I've used straight the last few years so I could use Traci's templates as they were, so I'm excited about that small change.

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I keep meaning to check out that PL app and I have definitely decided to go rounded this year. I had insomnia last night so I spent a couple hours making my own templates, so I think I'm set now, lol!

Oh thank you! :wub: I originally started out trying to be even more clean and simple, but I can't resist a cluster or two.

I'm afraid I might not be able to avoid them either. lol

I will make a weekly two page spread in 2016, too... and add any number of traditional layouts in case there are too many gorgeous photos. I'm highly motivated, and more or less up to date with 2015... so 2016, bring it on :).