Adding Non-Project Life Cards to Pages within the Project Life App

I eluded to this topic in a past post, but am only now getting around to blogging about it! So, here you go:

If you've been using the Project Life app for as long (or as much) as I have, you get to a point where you just wish there were some different card options! There are only so many Halloween or Christmas or [insert holiday or event here]-themed Project Life card kits. And eventually you will have used them all on one page or another!

If you are the kind of person who wants to use the same kit for every birthday/wedding/campout/etc. page you make, good for you. But I'm not that person.

My family goes to Bear Lake (here in Utah) every summer and several other times throughout the year. And we take pictures each time we go. And then I make scrapbook pages from those pictures. And I've used every possible combination of cards on those pages and just need more options!

There are dozens (probably hundreds) of digital scrapbook designers who actually make pocket-sized cards that work perfectly for Project Life pages. So I'm here to show you just how easy it is to use them!

Disclaimer: 
The process I'm about to explain uses Google Drive (both the computer and app versions), and the FFT (Free Form Text) add-on feature within the Project Life app. And I'm an Apple guy, so I don't know how well/if this will work exactly the same on an Android device.

Okay? Okay. Here we go.

First, I pull up the Project Life app on my phone and pick the template I want to use. Then I put my photos in the card slots.

This is template Design 7, and I added an frame overlay on the left corner photo from the Just Add Color Overlays kit.

The rest of the template card slots (in orange above) are what I want to fill with outside-the-PL-app cards.

Now, I have previously purchased some digital scrapbook kits with pocket card elements and saved them on my Google Drive. If you need a refresher on how that process works, click HERE.

To get non-PL cards in pockets, I leave the Project Life app open on my phone/device and just switch over the the Google Drive app.

In the Google Drive app, I first tap the Files button at the bottom of the screen (1), and then the folder that contains the digital cards I want to use (2).

Now, I have several nested folders to organize my digital supplies, so I dig deeper into these folders until I find the one I want.

Then I tap to open it and see the different card options.

In this instance, I know I have horizontal, rectangular pockets, so I'm choosing the 6x4 version of this card.

Once I select the card file to use, a preview of it appears on my screen. Now to do something with this card, I tap the three dots button on the top right corner of the screen.

That will open different options of what to do with the card. I'm going to tap on the Open in option.

That brings me to a screen that wants to know which phone app I want to open the pocket card in. Naturally, I'm going to select Copy to Project Life.

My phone then switches back to the open page in the Project Life app, and has the card image from Google Drive selected and instructs me to tap the pocket I want the card to go into. I tap on Place Image, and then tap on the pocket on my page.

And, as if by magic, the outside-the-PL-app card, plops into the selected pocket!

From here, I can do all the things I can do with photos, to this card. I can use the Pencil icon (1) to add text to the card using FFT, and I can use the Adjustment icon (2) get to the rotation options.

And that's pretty much it! Repeat these steps to add additional cards to those empty page slots. This opens up new worlds of creativity by not limiting yourself to only PL app cards for your pages!

This final version of the page has the same card brought into four different pockets, with each card being rotated 90 degrees so the darkest blue of the card is on the outside edge of the pocket. Then another outside-the-PL-app card (a blank card with a big "&" on it) brought into the top right pocket with FFT added.

If you are a visual learner, I took a stab at making a video of these steps. I don't know why the audio gets ahead of the action on-screen, but hopefully this video, combined with the steps outlined above make this process doable for you!

Creating Ancestor Pages

This week I'm teaching a Project Life app class to a group of church ladies, and besides teaching them the basics of using the Project Life app, I thought that I would also mention that you can create ancestor pages, using your genealogy research as the backbone.

Here's a page I worked up for my father, but can easily see expanding it to include other more distant ancestors as well. I'll walk through my though process and show you the steps to do it as I go.

Let's start with the "finished" product. I use the quotes because I always tend to go back and monkey with things after I think I'm done!

I've X'd out years for a little security, not that identity thieves are wasting time trolling my scrapbooking blog! LOL

I used the Squared Away 1 template,  because I wanted to show a bunch of photos from different ages. But it's probably safe to say, that the farther back the ancestor, the less photos you'll have. So here are a couple of different options for templates you can use, based on keeping the style of the four blocks of text information, but having options for photos.

So let's just talk through the creation of the page (skipping over the photo pockets, as those are pretty self explanatory) This is just the way that I've chosen to document ancestor pages. Feel free to adapt according to the information you have available, or what you want to include on your pages. We'll work our way around the pockets clock-wise.

Top left pocket:

• Last name of the individual in a large font
• Names of the individual's parents

Top right pocket:

• First and middle names of the individual
• Individual's relationship to you

Bottom right pocket:

• List of the individual's siblings (this is something that I think is missing from a lot genealogy info sheets that I've come across--not that I'm super familiar with genealogy)
• List of the individual's children

Bottom left pocket:

• Birth date and location of the individual
• Marriage date, location and name of spouse
• Date date and location

Additional things you can consider adding to the page:

• If you have fewer pictures, but more information, you could maybe use a different template, such as Design W above, and use one of the larger pockets to write your memories, or interesting facts about the individual (military service, favorite things, accomplishments, stories, etc.)
• If you have a photo of their gravestone, childhood home, certificates (marriage, birth, death), awards, etc. you could put those in one of the photo pockets 

HELPFUL TIP:
Once you have created your first page, you can use the Duplicate page option in the Project Life app to make a second copy of the page, and then just go in and swap out the information for the new family member, without having to realign your text or re-figure out your font sizes.

To duplicate a page:

1. In  the Project Life app, open your completed page and click the Export button (bottom right corner).

2. Then tap the Duplicate Page option.
   
   
   

You will now have two copies of the page within the Project Life app! Keep one as a finished product and use the other as a template for making future pages!

And there you have it, a quick and in my opinion, far-more-interesting-to-look-at (as compared to a simple genealogy chart or family tree) page about your ancestor/family member.

Let me know in the comments what you've done/plan to do to document your family history!

...And Another Creative Team!

Hello faithful readers. Both of you. ;)

It's been a busy few weeks. Mostly at work and at home - with a big conference coming up in August that I'm preparing content for, and spring flower planting/yardwork here at home.

But since I last posted, I have been accepted to another digital scrapbook designer's creative team! Irma Omland is one of the designers for The Digital Press, and has an amazing shop full of supplies - from digital papers to Photoshop templates. You can check out her shop HERE.

Here's a couple of pages I've made recently with her stuff: