When I don’t have a lot of time to work on documenting our adventures, I streamline the process so I don’t fall too far behind. We’ve spent the last few weeks traveling and hosting visitors, which has made for a really busy and fun month. Today I’m sharing my process for putting together a simple layout when I’m short on time.

Here’s the full layout I put together:

I take forever to select and edit photos and then place them in templates on my computer. I don’t print at home, so I have to choose what I want to print ahead of time. It’s usually one of my favorite parts of the creative process, but editing on my phone definitely streamlines things.

For this layout, I started by editing a bunch of photos on my phone using A Color Story app to brighten, sharpen, or convert them to black and white.

I use the Project Life app to put two photos on a vertical or horizontal 4×6. It keeps me from having to use Photoshop to edit photos, which means I can edit anytime and drop the print-ready photos in a folder on my phone. P.S. Recognize a couple of familiar faces in that photo???

After placing the pics, I filled in the gaps on the left side with patterns and journaling using digital products. I try to pick up on the colors in the photos when choosing which patterns to use. You can read about how I mix color photos with black and white.

I included a 4×6 card printed with a stripe of pattern from the behind the lens papers and added journaling about the month.

I printed a couple more elements on 3×4 cards to finish up the left side.

On the right side, I went through the same process. I placed the photos then filled in with journaling.

I like picking up on a color in the photos to add a pop of pattern.

Since I wasn’t using templates to add white borders and white space throughout the layout, I created a simple white card with some word art to break up all the color.

I added another white card with a little design element from the behind the lens kit to add some more white space.

I definitely prefer lingering over photo editing, adding templates and captions; but sometimes, life gets in the way and I have to keep it simple. By streamlining the photo editing process (the part that takes me the longest), I could spend more time playing with patterns and digital elements.

What’s your process like? Any tips on streamlining?

I’m working on putting together my updated site! You can sign up to stay in the loop or check out what’s inspiring me on Pinterest.

xo, Catherine

Products used: behind the lens papers, behind the lens elements, pictures and words no. 11 (heart art), bloom papers, pictures and words no. 16, 2016 calendar journal cards.