I'm SO pumped! I received my 2013 Project Life (volume 1) 10"x10" photo book in the mail from Shutterfly -- WITH INSERTS!!! Do you remember when I decided to try doing some digital insert pages? Well, they are now a reality! The first thing I did after I opened the box was break out the scissors and cut off the excess paper on those insert pages. So exciting! :) The finished look is exactly what I had in mind. YAY!
Here's the whole cover:
I modified a template by Laura Passage to accommodate one patterned paper from each of the 26 weeks. I used the same concept on my 2012 Volume 1 photo book. The real-life version has our last name on the back instead of the blog name. :) In hindsight, I could have made the text on the spine a little larger. I designed the covers in Photoshop according to the guides/dimensions in the 12x12 hard cover templates from Shutterfly. They didn't have templates available for the 10x10 books when I was working on this book, but they do now. The little yellow camera on the back cover is from the Candid kit by One Little Bird (available through the end of October as part of The Digi Files). The kraft paper background is by Kristin Aagard.
And, now... what you've all been waiting for... more about the INSERTS!! :)
I folded a piece of decorative tape over the edge to serve as a little tab, and it worked perfectly! I am so pleased!! Here are a couple of other spreads with inserts:
For the pages with a dark background color, I made the excess white so it would be easy to see where to cut. For the pages with a lighter background, I made the excess section a darker color. I did this in Photoshop by selecting the area I was planning to cut off, and then filling it with color. You can do that with the paint bucket tool or the keyboard shortcut alt + backspace (I have no idea what it is on a Mac... maybe option + del?). Anyway... it worked great. Before I cut the actual pages in the book, I looked on both sides to see if they were lined up exactly. They usually weren't, so I made sure to cut on the inner-most edge. I had left a half-inch margin around each page when I uploaded them to Shutterfly, so it was no problem to cut off just a tad extra.
So, what do you think? I am just SO happy with it! :)
If you'd like to see all the pages, you can visit my Flickr gallery. Click here or click the image below.
I'll be linking up with The Mom Creative on Tuesday! Head there for lots of Project Life inspiration. :) You might also like to check out The Daily Digi's Digital Pocket Scrapbooking Flickr Group.
Okay... totally in LOVE with the inserts idea!! That may have to go on my "things to try next year" list! Beautiful book!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Tracie! :)
DeleteI think your book and inserts look fabulous! Are they all the full height of the book? Oh! And the tape for a tab is a really good idea!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Donna! Yes, the insert pages are all full height, but varying widths. I couldn't figure out how I would cut the page to work for an insert that wasn't full height. I guess it could be done, but there would be a little bit of page left in the gutter, and I'm thinking it would be really hard to cut straight. :)
DeleteGreat book. Like Dona and Tracie, I love the inserts. Of course, if I made a book with inserts, I would have to hire you to cut off the extra. ... Remember I flunked scissors in first grade. In card making classes this summer and fall, my best friend has finally discovered (after all these years) that I was not lying when I told her I "flunked scissors" in grade school. :-) Love you and your artistry -- Mom
ReplyDeleteThanks, Mom! :) Dollar Tree scissors are the way to go. I can cut straighter with those than any of the others I've tried. Maybe you just need different scissors. ;)
DeleteOh Jenny, your book is FABULOUS! Love your clever insert pages!! And your cover is really cool and lovely! And it is just amazing to see all the pages in one place on FLICKR, look how happy and full your lives are!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much, Yin!
DeleteWhat a great idea. Your book turned out wonderful and yes, the tape tab is brilliant!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much, Andrea! :)
DeleteWow, what a really fun idea! Brilliant!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Katie! :)
DeleteHad to comment and tell you how much I love your book! So dang cute. I've been doing Project Life for two years now and it's been very hard for me to keep up with. It just takes so much time to print photos, cut them out, etc etc. I decided that I would do digital Project Life in 2014 so I've been searching for tutorials and ideas to help me. That's how I came across your blog and I'm so glad I did! I am pumped to go digital this year, especially if my book ends up as cute as yours did. I did have a question though- I can mix and match digital cards from the core kits and templates with other digital cards and templates I find online, right? I have Photoshop Elements and so far, only basic knowledge of how to use it. I'm hoping I'll get a little more savvy after doing this project next year.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Kim! Yes, you can mix and match all you want! :) If you haven't already, I highly recommend taking an online class for digital scrapbooking and/or Photoshop Elements. Jessica Sprague has a great FREE introductory class called The Photoshop Top 5. She also has a class just for Digital Project Life. I haven't taken that one, so I can't attest to its greatness, but I imagine it would be really good. :) Here are links:
DeleteThe Photoshop Top 5
Digital Project Life
Hope that helps! :)
Great idea!! Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteI love how your album turned out. I've been wanting to try out inserts in my album, but I wasn't sure how it would work. Thanks for sharing how you did yours. They turned out so great, especially with a little tape tab on them! Lovely, bright, fun pages!
ReplyDeleteOh i love your album soo much. I'm from germany and sadly i havn't found a printing service for 10'x10'. But it sounds grate. I love that your pages are always so straight. I often have so much fotos, that i have to mix stuff up and it looks wild. Please keep going on, you're a great inspiration for me.
ReplyDeleteThe half Pages look so great.
This looks so fantastic! Congratulations! I love seeing your brilliant idea for digital page inserts brought to life - looks like it worked out well. And the cover of your book is so gorgeous.
ReplyDeleteI love this idea! I am definitely going to do this for my next PL album! Thanks! BTW, I love your album too! fabulous job
ReplyDeletethat is SUCH a great idea!! looks awesome!
ReplyDeleteThis is such a great idea!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Liz! :)
DeleteThe digital "insert" idea from your post is one of those rare ideas I remembered seeing on Pinterest that actually stuck with me enough to remember to try it once I printed my own book! Usually I pin something and then forget about it :) I posted about how mine turned out here (and linked back to your post here for credit!) if you're interested in seeing it: http://www.marmalademementos.com/2015/06/printing-digital-project-life/
ReplyDeleteThanks so much, Meg! I'm off to check out your book! :)
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