Project Life | Week Six
Welcome to Project Life | Week Six.
One of the big things on my mind as I bring these elements together this week is how much I love that I'm looking at it as a "week" vs. making sure I get a photo on each and every day. Most of the time I am, but it's not because I feel like I need to for this project, it's because I love to take photos. I've printed more photos over the past six weeks that I have in a very long time.
There's something about thinking about it as a week-at-a-glance vs. a daily record of our life this year that is really working for me.
Left side:
In between pages:
I added a long journaler again this week.
The story came from this post. It's long enough that it needed two journalers.
I formatted the journaling over two pages, printed both, and glued back to back. I printed the small photo of Simon sitting on the floor and adhered it to the top of the first journaler. The long journaler was slipped into a 8.5 inch x 11 inch page protector and I stitched along the side of the journaler to create a pocket. I then laid the page protector on my paper trimmer and cut off the excess.
If you'd like more information on working with the long journalers or other digital overlays, including how to add your text, go here for video tutorials using both Elements and Word.
Spread two:
Along with Simon's self-report card (the yellow sheet) I included his third grade photos. I blurred it on purpose to protect the privacy of the other kids in his class.
Right side:
This 6x4 journal card came from my Evidence Overlay Collection.
Are you doing Project Life this year? How's it going?
Project Life is a product created by Becky Higgins. It can be anything you want it to be. The album kit is available for purchase through Amazon. If you live outside the US check Becky’s site for more information on sources. View all my posts about Project Life here.
Love your PL -- love that you encourage me by example to save the little things (gum wrappers) and include the big things (like report cards) I am doing a similar approach -- not addting to much and useing the kit -- usually work on the week all at once on the Sun or Mon of the following week -- working so far! I LOVE LOVE LOVE my PL!
Forgot to add that I too am not gettin hung up ton the photo a Day -- mostly it happens, but if it doesn't, oh well. It is a look at the week -- some have LOTS of photos, some not as many. Also, I LOVE doing something with my current photos rather than scrapping the distant past.
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Ali, thanks so much for onging inspiration and making available awesome tools. Just perfect to adjust the system from Becky to our own ones - and at least at time of sale from DD *ha ha*.
Love to see, how your project is going on and see stories from you and your lovely family. I'm working hard on mine also, hoping to get the first weeks done. Only the journaling is to accomplish. :-))
Will blog a special pic from our life with a digital title you did the next days. :-)))
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Love your album, Ali. I also enjoy not having the daily pressure of making sure to take a picture. Looking at this project from a weekly perspective makes it a journey for me rather than a daily "to do".
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I'm loving my Project Life too! I look for something each day that I photograph - the "little" things that typically wouldn't have a scrapbook page made for them. It's also helped me work on my journaling skills, since I'm writing a little tidbit about each day. Photo a day hasn't been a problem ... I love to take pictures.
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I am doing my first Project Life even though my 3 sons are grown. I so wish I had this when they were young and still at home with me. From this prospective of looking back, I greatly encourage anyone who has little ones to capture the weeks in this way.
Mine is more a "What I see; Where I be" project that reminds me to pick up my camera at least for a few minutes each day. I am also hoping that by the end of the year, I will have learned much more about my camera and settings!
Thanks Ali for bringing PL to my attention and for sharing your PL with all of us. I also made my first December Daily in 2010 for my granddaughter's first Christmas. It was a wonderful experience and again, thanks Ali!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/deeanncummins/sets/72157625844945466/
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I love looking at you PL every week! I'm also doing more of a weekly spread and not focusing on taking a picture every single day. so much more relaxing and enjoyable if you don't feel pressured.
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I think the link to the tutorials is broken? I'd love to check them out since I'm a newbie at all this.
Fixed that (thank you) and here's the link: http://aliedwards.com/2011/02/adding-text-to-overlays-long-journalers-in-elements-and-word-video-tutorials.html
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I know what you mean about how you're looking at it as a weekly look at life rather than worrying about taking a photo each day. The first couple of weeks I raced around taking photos of SOMETHING just to fill in the spots. Now that I've gotten into more of a rhythm with it, I'm just making it a look back at what happened during the week. Whether I have 7 photos using the Style A pages or a bunch others using the Style B pages or less than that, I am including business cards, 4x6 journaling boxes, etc and showing what our lives are all about. I haven't jumped into the extra pages yet, but I think as the year progresses and important events happen, I will look at doing that. Again, love, love, LOVE this project!! Thanks for sharing all your work with us!!
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Hey Ali, I just wanted to let you know that the link to the report card day post isn't working. I think you have an extra 2011 in the actual link.
I love your approach on PL!
Thank you! Looks like I have some issues with my linking today :).
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Hi Ali,
I have just splurged at the Designer Digital sale! The "10 Reasons I love You" books got me hooked! However, I am new at all this and was disappointed to see that I could not open up and change the date on the "Week in the life" templates... I did not realize that it was ONLY 2010. I thought that it was something you could add as part of your journaling. How can I change that???
THANKS!!!! i REALLY LOVE THE TEMPLATES! Maybe you can say how to just delete the "2010" text...?
Hi Myriam - I'll send you an email.
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I'm doing it, but on a daily basis. I'm crazy. But I'm keeping up with it well, and know I'll be thrilled to have it always.
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I'm doing Project Life my way - and loving it. I love that I can spend 10 mins here and there on it and achieve something.
http://sharonmanning.blogspot.com/2011/02/inspiration-from-many.html I need to do an update though because I have done some more since then. :-)
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I love to see your weekly PL updates, Ali! It spurs me on to get mine completed. Thanks for all you do!
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I got my first Project Life album in late January and am love, love, loving it! I am not doing the daily or the weekly, but have been going crazy pulling together profiles of each person in our family, and themes (hands, we are readers, shoes to fill,finding and updating our home). At some point I'll probably start doing weekly layouts, but right now I'm having too much fun getting ideas that have been percolating for years into albums where they can be enjoyed. I still do some traditional scrapbooking as well, and will probably switch to 3-ring binder albums so I can mix the PL pages up with traditionally scrapped pages. Hoping to start learning the digital stuff, too! Thanks for all you inspiration.
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Hey Ali and everyone...I am LOVING working on PL, I'm loosely doing it by the week and am trying mightily not to stress out if I don't take pix for a day...I am leaving the book and cards on my writing desk in the dining room so I can sit down and jot a note or tuck a piece of paper in the book to attach later. My girls (9yo twins) are having fun writing some of the cards and taking pix for the book as well. I just printed out pix for the last 4 weeks and tucked them in the album and we're writing and adding ephemera as we find it. I love that the girls are working on it with me and am hoping hubby will get involved once tax season is over(!)
I am trying to break out of the stress of "keeping up" with chronological scrapbooking the way I've been doing it. Spent the last 2 years freaked out because I was "only" on 2006. PL is allowing me to kind of scratch the "chronological itch" and getting everyday things documented leaving me free(er) to exapnd on other themes as I see fit and have time.
Thanks Ali for sharing your layouts and your stories, it's fun to see the things we (all) have in common and the places where we're different.
Is there a flickr group to share PL like you started with DD?
Hi Sue - here's a Flickr group: http://www.flickr.com/groups/1417757@N21/
There's also a free community at Big Picture that includes message boards and a gallery. You can check that out here: http://www.bigpictureclasses.com/projectlife.php
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PL & WITL
Hey Ali...a question I'm sure someone else is thinking about...since you've been keeping up on PL, are you going to still do WITL? How do you see them differing?
Thanks!!!
Hi Sue - definitely still going to do it and planning on a summer version this year (the others have been in the spring and fall). It will be it's own separate album as it is much more detailed daily than PL.
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I too am doing project life this year. I am loving all the journaling, which is a big step for me and I am not crazy if i do not take a pic everyday, and there are days I do not take one. instead I document something from that day. I am really loving it all. Its making me step back and look at the chaos in my life and how I need to become more balanced. Thus breath and ahhhhhh
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I am astounded that I haven't struggled often to find something to write each day! I started in September; so far there are a small handful of Sundays that didn't have any particular tale to tell! Anticipating plenty of 'what to say' days, I have a list of things to capture: collections, books on shelves - things that remain constant. I've even taken some photos! But each day, something lingers and insists on being captured.
I often take pictures after the fact. For example, I didn't get a photo of my sons' backpacks and supplies the night before school started. So I plopped the packs in front of the supply cabinet and snapped -- about three weeks later!
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I love doing Project Life because it gives a great glimpse into the every day life not just the 'main' events. I still do traditional layouts but PL gives me an opportunity to scrap about things that I wouldn't necessarily do an entire layout about. The small stuff...the great stuff!
I just have one question - what kind of cardstock do you use? I noticed on your love journaling card the cardstock looked a bit textured (but not overly textured) if that makes sense! Would love to know what you are using!
It's the orange peel cardstock from Bazzill.
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Ali...how is your system of leaving your album out (away from your upstairs design space) working out? I am struggling with this. I love having my album out where we "live", but things are starting to get cluttered and messy. It wouldn't be so bad if I only used the kit items and wasn't continually bringing "extra" stuff out.
Thanks for the updates to your album, they are such an inspiration.
I really think that having it out is a big motivator for me to continue. I'm not adding in much additional scrapbook-stuff - when I do I bring the finished piece downstairs and put it into the album.
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Ali, What fonts do you use when you do the "Long Journaler" pages? Your long journal pages look so fresh, and neat. I have tons of fonts, but find that I'm not happy with them on long journalers because some can be difficult to read, and when printed, they do not look nice. Thanks for any info.
For journaling I usually use Garamond. The other one I use from time to time is Avenir. I like very basic, classic fonts.
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I am participating in "Project Life" this year.
Some of the things I have discovered are:
- I often have friends and neighbors comment on how much our family has going on. The comment has always left me mildly bewildered. From the inside...i feel we are successfully "in the moment" and find time to celebrate the small moments that create the jigsaw of our lives. Looking at the first six weeks of "project life" I discovered what others see.... When viewed collectively as a group it is a complicated puzzle. It has made me appreciate that a family is so much more than just the sum of it's parts.
- I have included both calculus homework and first grade addition papers. The calculus problems of our older daughters remind me- both how far they have come and how quickly this magical time will pass for our youngest.
- when I began the project I did not expect to include news stories. Six weeks later....the story would be incomplete without the Packers Superbowl win, Madison teachers flu out to protest budget cuts, and Auburn's Toomer Corners trees poisoned.
- finally, e-mail.... Exchanges with our children in college and my brother in Afghanistan.
I love that looking at the project thus far I am left with the feeling....We are doing somethings right. Love that!
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love the dum dum wrapper!
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Hi Ali, thank you for your continued inspiration. I finally was able to order Project Life, and it will be here tomorrow... very excited!!! I've been planning the last 6 weeks out, so that I can simply and quickly catch up... I am hoping to continue to do this every year. Thank You!!!
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fabulous!
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