Project Life Card Organization

My love for clear containers multiplied last night.  I have been on the hunt for a way to better organize and use my Project Life cards.  I was storing them in my Ikea shelves but I found that to be too much of a hassle because I would be in and out of the different core kits and it was just easier to leave them in a pile in the floor for easy access.. see below

While this was somewhat easier, it still isn't ideal - I don't want the big pile in the floor AND Project Life changed the style of their packaging so now the cards just come in the flimsy tray (see the kit on the top) vs in the nice cardboard box which presents problems with stacking. 

So, I turned to my friends Bed Bath and Beyond and The Container Store.  Since we don't have a Container Store here, my first option was Bed Bath and Beyond.  They had one clear hinged box I thought would be perfect but when I got it home, turned out to be about 1" too short to clear the cards (I want them to be standing up in the boxes).  However, I loved those boxes so much I used them in my bathroom cabinet to give that room a refresh - I think clear boxes are always the way to go!  I need to do a few more tweaks and I'll share an updated look at this cabinet too.  LOVING the clear containers though. 

Since I ended up with an additional 6 containers that didn't solve my Project Life problems, I turned online to The Container Store.  I had a couple reservations with ordering 1) you have to spend at least $75 to get free shipping; 2) I'd be guessing more or less on the products since I couldn't actually see them in real and 3) I'll have to go to Atlanta or Nashville to return (not paying the fee to mail back!) if they don't work.

I settled on 2 different style boxes and placed my order... the next day, I had shoppers remorse and did some online research to see how others organize their cards.  Not many people use completely clear containers and that's really what I was after.  I finally stumbled on a quick youtube video where the lady had used the large shoe storage drawers from The Container Store!  I headed back to the website and placed another order for 6 large shoe boxes and also the dividers (sold separately).

My first order arrived Monday and it was obvious that the products weren't going to work.  I had a complete miss with that order.  Last night, my second order arrived and the stars aligned!

The drawers are such a nice clear, sturdy container and they slide very nice and smooth on the tracks.

 (ignore the mess in the back!)

 Here's a shot of the dividers - I love that you can use them 3 different ways. I chose to section them off side to side and keep a complete core kit together in one section (4x6 cards and 3x4).  They fit perfectly and have room to flip through the cards as well. 

 I added a post it tab to label which core kit is in each section.

 The stack of empty core kit boxes I was asble to transition to the clear boxes! 

 I'm pretty sure the boxes will live like this on the corner of my scrapbook table for easy access.  I do need probably 2 more to fit the rest of my core kits as well.  I also noticed that when the top drawers are completely extended it gets top heavy.  I may stack my pen/scissor/foam mounting supply box on top to serve as an anchor.  

Now I'm itching to get up there and try out my new system.  In the meantime, I can enjoy my eye candy! 

Project Life Baby Book

While I was in Michigan over the holidays, I helped my sister-in-law put together a baby book for my nephew.  She had already done her homework and had 10 months of pictures and basic scrapbook supplies ready to go!  I'm not going to lie, when I saw how many BOXES and BOXES of pictures she had I was a little worried about what we had to tackle... then, we rolled up our sleeves and dug in, literally.  

Day 1 was spent sorting and sorting and sorting!  This picture doesn't even capture half of the number of boxes of pictures!  We used the "month" 4x6 cards as guides for our sorting. 

This is the first time I've used nothing but Project Life supplies to put together a book.  I have to say, for quick/catching up/beautiful scrapbooking, Project Life is the way to go.  Here's our supply list (you can order straight from my Amazon Associates Store that's linked at the top of my blog):

• Becky Higgins Photo Pocket Pages - Big Variety Pack 1 & 3
• Holiday Mini Kit
• Core Kit - Baby Edition for Him
• We - R - Memory Keepers Faux Leather 3- Ring Binders 
• Recollections paper trimmer

After we got the months sorted out, we sorted those stacks and put them in order.  As we went though, Ashleigh pulled out any she didn't want to use which helped reduce our piles!  Then, we made more stacks of which pictures should remain 4X6 and which direction they needed to go and which pictures could be cropped into 4x4 cubes; or 3x4 sizes.  This made putting the pages together a breeze!  If we knew we needed 6 3x4 pictures we just grabbed that stack.   

How cute is our little helper?! Can't believe he will be ONE in a few weeks!!!

After about 4 days of working on our project on and off, we had finished all the way up to 10 months!  I left Ashleigh with the chore of completing the journaling cards and month highlights/stats.  We had such a good time working on our little project and we LOVE the outcome!