10 January 2014

The Project Life Book

A huge thank you to so many of you who read, commented and joined in with the the one photo & twenty words meme. It is always daunting officially starting a meme but it was such a joy to see the posts popping up and reading your carefully chosen words. Thank you. If you haven't joined in and want to, the link will stay open all week so there is plenty of time!

Yesterday I shared a sneak peak at the project life book and thought it would be fun to follow up today with a good look inside...


Details: 
  • I ordered this book through blurb. I have used them a few times before and they are very professional and the book arrived in less than a week. 
  • It cost quite a lot to order but considering I hardly spent any money on supplies in the year it was definitely cheaper than going down the paper route. 
  • The book is 110 pages long and 12x12 in size- a bit of a whopper really! 
  • I upgraded the paper from the standard paper to the premium "lustre" paper. It has a slight sheen and is that bit thicker. After spending so much time making the spreads each week, having decent paper seemed sensible. 
  • I used the booksmart software from blurb and one of their simplest templates- a large square photo with a little bit of border. 


I chose simple grey endpapers and, on the first page, wrote a little blurb about my process with project life in 2013. 


The title page. 


My only quibble with blurb books are that they don't lie flat. I'm not too fussed about this though. I kept a border around each spread to make sure that there wasn't too much content in the "gutter" of the spine.


These pages are big! I think 12x12 is the size to go for though. The writing is all clearly readable and the pictures are a decent size. 



I was so excited when I saw the way some of the big pictures turned out.


The colours turned out fairly accurate. I think they are slightly darker than what they were on the screen but I guess that is a risk of printing anything out that you have done on a computer. 



End page. 


 
The back cover

I am so so pleased I decided to do this project in 2013. This book of memories is such a treasure. I am already reading through each week and being reminded of conversations, journeys and things that happened that I would surely have forgotten otherwise.

I am sold on the digital style of project life and am also glad that I chose to print my spreads into a book. I can already see this being something that will sit on the coffee table for years to come and get flicked through in idle moments. 

Project life in 2013. Done. Onwards friends! 

27 comments:

  1. The book looks wonderful,Abi...and I'm sure you'll be really pleased that you chose the paper upgrade.

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  2. That looks fantastic Abi! Such a wonderful momento of a fabulous year. Here's to 2014!

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  3. Stunning. Just....stunning. Absolutely incredible project.

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  4. Wow, it's fantastic!! It looks amazing! As a paper Project Lifer, I have been waiting with interest to see how this turned out. It didn't disappoint, did it?! (And is considerably less bulky than a paper 6 month album, I can tell you!)

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  5. It looks absolutely wonderful, Abi, and I am sure you will treasure it forever. So glad it turned out so beautifully ...

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  6. It must have been so exciting leafing through the final thing. This is definitely a cleaner and more compact option. Love it!

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  7. It looks great Abi. You must be chuffed to bits with it. Worth every penny I should think.

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  8. Abi, this is stunning! I have enough supplies to last me through 2014 for a paper Project Life, and I need to upgrade my digital skills, but this is huge incentive to do just that.

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  9. I was hoping you would give us a little peak inside. It looks wonderful. I've been happy with my blurb books, although they do always turn out a little darker, as you found. I now tend to lighten my photos because of this.

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  10. Oh! Abi, I have been so looking forward to seeing your finished project, it is absolutely beautiful, a wonderful treasure. Very well done for completing it.
    And, thank you so much for sharing, it is a great incentive to try PL

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  11. Wow I love your book, after a few years you will amass an amazing collection of memories :-)

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  12. It looks lovely. What a great thing to treasure . that reminds me I need to order my Blog2print book of my 2013 Saturday roundups. Might have to wait until I get paid this month, though

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  13. Love it! Looks fantastic. Makes me want to go digital.

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  14. that is stunning Abi and it makes me realise what a gr8 idea going digital for Project Life is. I will be using a mixture I think and keep an album this year. Well if it doesn't all go pearshaped again anyway,
    Jo xxx

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  15. It looks super Abi. It makes me glad that I decided to go digital PL this year. The not laying flat thing is the one thing that gets me about my blurb books but I've learned to keep things away from the gutter. Thanks for sharing how your book turned out and what you thought of it.

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  16. Great job! What a great job! Such a treasure to save for years to come :)

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  17. It's gorgeous! I think you did the right thing choosing the high quality paper - this is one you want to last..and stand up to lots of thumbing through

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  18. Oh Abi...this is just so gorgeous, what a treasure to have after all your dedication and hard work during the year - I bet it all seems worthwhile now :D The quality of the pages looks beautiful. Such a special record of your year x

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  19. Your album turned out beautifully Abi!

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  20. It looks fabulous and I love the back cover. Definitely worth spending the money on as you will treasure this for a lifetime :)

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  21. Hi Abi, I am just home from holidays and have seen this post - wow - it looks absolutely FABULOUS! I ordered mine tonight, had to wait until I was home to upload one or two photos from the last week .. I can't wait until it arrives.

    Most of my shots are darker when printed, apparently it is a screen calibration issue - lazy me just lightens the photos because I am too daunted to approach the calibration situation!

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  22. Your book is gorgeous! I do the same thing with my blog. I really like having the printed version of my memories each year---just another form of scrapbooking to me!

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  23. What a treasure! I also think you made the right decision going for the upgrade on the paper - what a wonderful book to have. You've certainly got me thinking about going digital. As a matter of interest, did you use the Project Life digital templates then flatten them and upload them to the Blurb 12x12 template?

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  24. It's fantastic, Abi! Just fantastic. Seeing this validates my decision to go digital this year for Project Life! You are such an inspiration to me.

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  25. any chance you could share what you used for your background paper. It is very neutral and I love it! Great job… beautiful!

    thanks!

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