Life Documented with Smarty Pants

Hi everyone! Allison Davis here with a Life Documented layout using Smarty Pants and I have a new sketch that combines traditional scrapbooking with the Sn@p! Pocket Pages.

I don't know about you but I was not ready for school to start this year. My youngest entered "big boy" status and was heading off to Kindergarten and I just wasn't ready to let him go. He was ready though and since the last day of preschool he had been counting down the days until the first day of Kindergarten. He's growing up way too fast! (Don't they all!) That is one of the many reasons that I'm so happy that I scrapbook and have documented my kids growing up. It's also one of the many reasons that I'm happy to have products available to use like the Pocket Pages so I can put together pages quickly and in some way try to keep up with the speed of life passing me by.

You can download the full sketch with measurements and placements here: Life Documented Sketch #4

The left side of the sketch uses the 12x12 Sn@p! Pocket Pages, Design 7 while the right side follows a more traditional scrapbook design.

Here's a look at my layout based on the sketch above:

When I saw the Smarty Pants collection I knew that it would be what I used for both my boy's school albums this year.

This layout is the first page in Jackson's Kindergarten album to document his first day of school. I'm going to be repeating this same page for my older son, Drew, who started third grade this year. I think when you get into multiple children it's just easier with certain albums to pick a design and duplicate/repeat for both/all of them. I know it saves me a lot of time!

On the left page I included a wide variety of photo sizes from large to small. Here's a closer look at the details on the left page.

I saw the large, 6x12 pocket as a great opportunity to use a large photo. I cut a 6x12" piece of cardstock and added my 6x8 photo to the top portion and a 4x6 journaling card to the bottom.

I had Jackson write his name for me on the journaling card while I filled in the rest. I also added a 2x2 photo and a few stickers to accent that area.

On the top "I ♥ School" card I added some strips of paper, stitching, and the cute little apple brad.

I tried to capture a lot of the little details about Jackson's first day of school. I took pictures of his favorite shirt that he picked to wear, his backpack, his shoes, his name on his desk, and his name tag to name a few. I like using 2x2 photos for detail pictures so I used one of the 4x6 pockets for six of those 2x2 detail photos.

On the right page I included five more of my favorite photos from the day. If you wanted to use less photos or include an enlargement you could always combine those four smaller photos into one larger photo.

Here's a closer look at the details on the right page:

 I used one of the Sn@p! 6x8 die cut pages as a background for my pictures and I added the chipboard "school" banner under the "Today" quote. The Sn@p! pages are great for the Sn@p! albums but I like to use them on full size, 12x12 layouts too!

I added another little circle with a brad on the right page. I used journaling strips like on the sketch but you could easily substitute a journaling block or card there too.

I will be using the 12x12 Sn@p! Leather Album in black for all of my Life Documented pages. I love the quality of the faux leather and how well constructed they are!

I used the 12x12 Sn@p! Pocket Pages, Design 7 from the Variety Pack. You get so many different options and great designs with the Variety Pack.

Other Smarty Pants products I used were:

• Expression Cardstock Stickers

• Chipboard

• Brads

• 6x6 Paper Pad

• Head of the Class Patterned Paper

• School Spirit Patterned Paper

• 4x6 Journaling Card Elements

• Red Composition/Notebook Patterned Paper

• Sn@p! Pages

• Sn@p! Cards

I hope you enjoy using the new Life Documented sketch!

Comments

[Julie Tucker-Wolek]

Loveeeee your pages!! Great photos and loving the goodies you added!!!

[Dolly]

Sweet!!
I was really hoping to get this collection before the start of K but that didn't pan out but I still enjoy seeing everyones school LOs with it! I'll pin them for if I do get it. :D
TFS GREAT LOs Allison, and Jackson looks adorable (and so big!)

[Elaine U.]

I don't think I would have ever used this page design but I REALLY like how you made the 6x12 section work for you! I feel very inspired to think more creatively! Beautiful spread!

[Mendi Yoshikawa]

Very cute! I always look forward to your days on the blog with your amazing sketches and designs! :)

[wteagon]

I think this is great!! I also tend to do similar LO for both of my boys. I use the same pictures, layout, or papers to some degree so they each have a page/memory for each of their own set of albums. Wonderful job!

[Michele]

great page.. save the sketches for my kids' school albums.. two of my kids are starting head start..