WELCOME TO CRAFT: Pocket Life with Lauren in 12 Easy Steps!

Hello Scrappy Canaries, Lauren here! Today I am going to take you through my creative process - it's my twelve easy steps to creating a Pocket Life spread. The layout I am taking you through is the layout that was the subject of my last two Scrappy Canary blog posts - at the time I thought it was great continuity but now you are probably sick of looking at these layouts!

For those of you who are new to Project Life I know that it can be a bit of a daunting process and sometimes it is a bit hard to know where to begin, so here are my hints and tips to getting started!

12 EASY STEPS TO GETTING STARTED ON A POCKET LIFE LAYOUT

STEP ONE:

The first thing I do when I start working on my layout is bring together all of the key tools and things that I might need for my layout. I also need my diary, my planner, my phone and of course the DVD remote. One of the things that is essential for me to complete a layout is watching one of my favourite TV series - I have an obsession with bad 90's television - at the moment I am revisiting Beverly Hills 90210! Where you a Dylan or a Brandon girl? Anyway, I'm so getting off track, on to the next step!

STEP THREE:

For my spreads I mostly use my iPhone to take pictures. So I go through my phone and put in the pictures I have taken, including their orientation.

STEP FOUR:

Now that I know the orientation of the photos I am going to use, I then have to figure out what Photo Pocket Pages I am going to use (often it is just one additional page, as I am using the reverse of the page I used the previous week). I use this double-sided printable template from Becky Higgins and I have marked all of the pages that I have in my stash. This really helps in choosing what pages to use.

STEP FIVE:

Once I have decided what pages I am going to use I then plan out my layout (with normally a lot of chopping and changing). For this week I realised I had a lot of photos, so I also decided to include a flip pocket. I also work on a grid pad when I scrap which means that I can plan my layouts and also scribble notes and test stamps.



STEP SIX:

I then print and trim my photos. For printing I use a Canon Selphy CP900 - it is wireless which means that I can print from my phone. To print two 3x4 prints I use a great app called PicFrame on my phone, which works really well.



STEP SEVEN:

Next I pull together my kits - I love using these little bowls for the embellishments - it makes everything easy to see which means that I will use all the bits and pieces in my layout. For this layout I used only the pocket scrapbooking kit initially and then used the embellishment for a different post, with the same layout.



STEP EIGHT:

I then place all of my trimmed photos in the pockets according to my original sketch - sometimes I move things around (which you can see in my final layout) depending on what I think looks best depending on the colour of the photos, the elements I use from the kit and the overall aesthetic. (the patterned paper you see is the reverse of the pages I used in the previous weeks spread)



STEP NINE:

I then pull together some papers and embellishments and get to work. The first thing that I always make is my week title card. It really helps me get to know the kit so to speak and then sets the tone for the design elements that I will use throughout the page.

STEP TEN:

Here is my almost finished week card - I then repeat this process for all of the filler cards. Sometimes this may just be a plain card from the kit (like the two gold foil Chic Tag cards I used) or I may create my own cards, like the happy thoughts filler card or smaller photo 4x6 pages.

STEP ELEVEN:

I then go through and journal and embellish all of the photos and pages - making sure that I keep a consistent theme across the page. I try to have a lot of coordinating elements, whether it be cutting my own banners or journalling spots, or using the pennant stickers in similar ways across the layout.

STEP TWELVE: 

And there you have it, my finished Pocket Life spread! This spread was done using just the Pocket Life kit. To see how you can incorporate the embellishment kit, take a look at my previous post on how to use your embellishment kit to give your pages an extra pop.




I hope that you all enjoyed learning a bit about my process and I hope that this helps you in planning your pages. If you have any questions feel free to post a comment here or in the Scrappy Canary VIP Lounge on Facebook. Stay crafty, Lauren xx

**I am really sorry for the lack of light in these photos - it is the middle of winter and I was working at my desk which isn't near any natural light.