Project Life | Week Eighteen
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Welcome to Project Life | Week Eighteen.
It was a quiet, very normal week around our house.
Chris is in the middle of the legislative session right now which means he's in Salem a lot - that makes it even more quiet. This cold has slowed me down - except for a couple deadlines I needed to tackle.
There happens to be lots of green this week.
The top right "love + thanks" came with something I ordered from Kal Barteski.
The bottom left is some of Anna's finger painting.
I've been meaning to take a photo of our dog Lily in her spot on the stairs for weeks. Finally got it.
I included a screenshot of my mail program with an email. Both Kim and Katie are awesome about sending me photos or little updates during the day.
I accidentally printed a little version of this layout on my black and white laser printer. Totally random but it fit perfectly into the pocket.
The little horoscope pieces came from a Serena & Lily catalog. As I was looking at it I was struck by the fact that everyone in our house is either a Scorpio (Chris and I) or an Aquarius (Simon and Anna). A fun little something to add.
I'm thinking that maybe I'll do a whole week on what's happening in our yard/garden right now. I love that so many things will be different in a few short months.
UPDATE | While I was cleaning up the kitchen tonight I found Simon's Mother's Day note to me. I love that he conveniently wrote it on half a piece of 12x12 cardstock. Smart pants. Nothing on the back right now - I'll find something to add later.
Project Life is a product created by Becky Higgins. It can be anything you want it to be. The album kit (similar to the one I’m using) 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.
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43 comments
Supercute. Thanks for sharing your PL every week with us, it's such an inspiration.
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I love the variety you include in your album, Ali! You are such an inspiration!
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you make me want to do project life!!! you make me want to scrapbook every day (thank you for doing the PJ post and following up with a prompt for us :O)
i'm not sure if someone has asked you this, i wish i thought to ask it for your Q&A - may seem like a silly question, but how do you refer to YOURSELF in your scrapbooking pages? (i guess i could try to go back and look) i noticed in your horoscope page you labeled one "chris and ali". do you sometimes feel like you aren't sure if you should call yourself "me", "ali", "mommy"? when you do family layouts, do you imagine you are another person watching your family? sometimes i'm not sure if "me/i" is part of the story or if i'm "mommy/amy" and someone else is the narrator.
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Hi Amy - I do a little of everything. Most often I write in the first person and refer to myself as "I." I like using the angle that I'm writing to my kids -
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Thank you SO very much for sharing your PL each week; I appreciate it and am constantly inspired. And our home is full of Aquarians and Scorpios too!
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I love your Project Life! Thanks for sharing! I so have to catch up!!
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Love your week again and all the green is perfect for this time of year. I love the updates you get from your babysitters, I do that while I babysit too but never thought to take a picture and record it so thanks for the idea. My favorite thing you have even before I read the journal part was the little mini picture of your layout of you and Chris, that is a happy accidently print I think. love it.
The idea you have to do a week of your backyard and gardens is a great idea and then maybe even do it again in 2/3 months and it will be all different by then.
I have a question kinda weird maybe but going to ask anyhow. When you save a newspaper clipping like if it's a front page and there's more about that article on the inside pages do you cut both of them out or just the front picture with half the story? Hope this makes sense, I've been cutting one piece out but now I'm thinking it doesn't always tell the whole story. Thanks
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To me it would depend on how much I really cared about the content. Most of the articles I have torn out about Chris include the beginning and the end - actually most of the time that's what I do in any situation.
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I very much look forward to your PL updates each week and your little notes explaining parts of what you put inside (which you totally don't have to do).
When I saw the "5" I thought that it was something besides the month and it gave me an idea: Each time there's a birthday that person's photo goes into that day's photo slot. I think I'll use foam Thickers to add their age on the outside of the pocket just for fun. :)
Thanks again - 'hope that you and Anna are feeling better soon!!
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I love the extra kid in Simon's picture ... Is he trying to tell you something? LOL!
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LOL - I wondered that too. I think he started to draw Anna as a baby and then decided that she was bigger than that now :).
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oh MAN you name me want a project life!! Love how you add little touches to make it so personal!
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This makes me wish I was doing Project Life!
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"I love that he conveniently wrote it on half a piece of 12×12 cardstock."
LOL! Just shoes the kind of scraps of paper you have laying around.
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Gotta love life around here :).
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Love the mother's day note! Beautiful!
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I love PL and so wish I was doing it. being a scrapbooker, i thought PL wasn't for me, but now I see how you do both and I am kicking myself for not doing it (and not doing p365, which I started and miserably failed at for the 3rd year in a row!)
Question...do you think it is too late to start PL now? If not, what would you do...start from here or go back and start from the beginning of the year (while staying current from this point forward).
Your opinion...or anyone's opinion is greatly appreciated and might just get me off the fence. Thanks!
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Hi Tracy,
I started my 2009 Project Life on June 1 and I now have a completed album for the whole year, so it is possible to start now and complete it. Before I started, I knew I had captured enough photos (nearly) to cover those months BUT it took a lot of effort to keep up to date and also do the previous months.
My advice is to focus on keeping up to date, if you only end up with 6 with months of the year complete then that's better than nothing.
When I was `catching up' on previous months, I only did one month at a time, so I completed May before I even looked at April etc. My preference was to have a sequential album, rather than having say January and February, and then nothing until June.
Good Luck!
Tracy - I've called myself a scrapbooker forever, but for me that meant hoarding supplies and collecting pictures and memoribilia I felt guilty for not doing "anything" with. I have ideas, plans, prints in piles all over my office but since I've started doing Project Life I've scrapbooked MORE than I have in years ... I stay inspired this way and am telling the stories I've wanted to tell forever! So, so fun.
Hi Tracy - I vote for starting when you feel excited :). You can start anytime. If you need a more clear "go" point maybe decide to actually begin on June 1 but start gathering your supplies (album, divided page protectors, etc) now. Then, if you really get inspired you could start before the beginning of the month because you won't care anymore if it's a specific day :).
Dawn - thank you so much for replying. I am going to purchase the binder and photo pages and start.
I guess I was on the fence because I am a regular scrapbooker too and I don't want to give that up. Do you do both? and how do you incorporate those? Do you have 2 albums for each year?
Hello Tracy,
I think you can start Project Life anytime you want. To some people it makes sense to do them for the new year coming up and since Becky usually sells them around this time it makes sense. I strongly think however that it can be anything you want it to be. I finally talked my sister into getting one and hers came in March and her 40th bday was in April so she started the week of her birthday. I am giving one to my cousin for her wedding so that she and her new husband can capture their first year of marriage together. This is my all time favorite thing in the world, I rave about it to my family, friends, at sports, at kids school everywhere I go it's a part of me. I am also planning on buying an extra one each year and putting them away and when my kids senior year of high school starts it's going to be all about their last year in high school and all the fun experiences they had. I hope this helps and that you purchase one. You will love it and be so happy you did it. Good luck.
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Ali, I love love your PL updates! I just love how you add pieces of things in your everyday life to remember - you inspire me on this!
How are you doing your screen capture on the iMac - I do not know how to do this and wish I did!! So if you get a chance please let me know!! Thanks again for the inspiration!
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My Project Life is no where as busy as yours but as a Mom of son's in there 30's I still look for ideas and that is why I always seem to find something in your PL that I too can do to.!
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One neat thing about doing PL for the 3rd year is that my family often says "take a picture of me doing this". I also do regular scrapbooking, but it delights me to capture the (extra)ordinary.
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OMG, it must be a lab thing. Lily on her steps reminds me of my black labby Norman. can always find him perched there during the day (that is if he isn't in his 1st fav spot napping on the couch). Thanks for all the great sharing and inspiration. I am trying to keep the momentum of my first project life and always get a boost to try new things and challenge my ideas after reading your blog. Thanks Ali.
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Thanks, Ali, for your dedication and commitment to this project. Your album is GORGEOUS and such an inspiration to us all. We love you, Ali!
I only wish I could see this dedication by Becky Higgins herself. I've yet to see her post a sample of her work on her blog using her "hands-on" PL kit. Sigh!
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I just ripped that horoscope page out of the Serena and Lily catalog yesterday to include it in my album and there it was in yours. Too funny! I thought it was just a nice concise description of our personalities. :-)
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You are one technically gifted gal! How did you get that screen shot of your email to be 4x6? and how did you get a wallet print of your layout? This summer I have to learn more of the technical side to all of this. The school year is way to packed with teaching and paperwork!
Thanks for sharing all your creative goodness with us all!
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