Next week I’ll be documenting a week in our lives.
Seven days of photos and words, chronicling the little things and the big things that happen from Monday through Sunday.
There’s so many different ways to approach this project. There’s no right or wrong.
- Maybe you’ll follow along with me and focus on the theme of time this year. Check out my design plan and supply list here.
- Maybe for you this project will be an attempt to catch just one story per day with words or photos.
- Maybe for you this project will be all on your blog and you won’t be creating an album.
- Maybe you’ll go all-out and jot down things as they happen on an hourly basis (even doing this for one day during the week is really cool).
If this is your first time participating in this project I highly recommend you read this post: The Basics Of Documenting A Week In Your Life. I’ve also got completed examples from a couple years available here: 2008 and 2010.
For me this project is about capturing the rhythms of our days over a period of one week. What time are we waking? What time are we falling into bed? What’s special about our family right now? How can I pay close attention to (and honor and celebrate) the things that are happening now which likely won’t be the same next year?
This project is simply an opportunity to capture the real, the basic, the rush, the slowness, the crazy, the simple, the ups and the downs of a single week. Don’t make it more complicated than it needs to be.
Next week my focus is ONLY on documenting. I won’t be putting the album together at all. I’ll be using my camera and writing things down and just letting the week evolve. The actual bringing it all together will happen the following week.
Week In The Life Schedule
Here’s what’s happening next week:
MONDAY | The week begins with a special Week In The Life giveaway from the 2011 sponsors. The comments on the giveaway will be open through Friday with the winners posted on the following Monday.
TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY | Each day I’ll share my photos and words for the day. At the bottom of each post I’ll include a link widget for you to link to your own blog or site sharing your photos and words. Seeing others photos and reading their words are such a great way to get inspired and to think about other things you’d like to include in your own project.
WEEK OF AUGUST 1 | I’ll be sharing my completed album.
Free Daily Sheets PDF To Help Document Your Week
As I was thinking about how I want to approach my content I remembered that when I first taught this class back in 2005 I included Daily Sheets for people to use to document pieces of their day. I created a new PDF that’s geared towards what I’d like to include in my album and am making it available for you to download here.
The simple idea is to print out this PDF and keep it with you throughout the week for a very easy way to write things down. It’s possible that not everything you write on here will make it into your album and it’s also possible (and likely for me) that I’ll be writing even more stories on the back on these sheets.
My hope is that this will give you a starting place.
The PDF includes 14 pages – 2 for each day of the week. The first page features time by hours (all 24 hours are listed) and the second page includes a spots for food (breakfast, lunch and dinner), observations, gratitude, favorite memory, and overheard.
Download the Week In The Life Daily Sheets here (3.1 MB).
I hope you’re getting excited! Charge up those camera batteries –
![Two Peas](http://www.avantlink.com/gbi/10513/24901/21775/26723/image.jpg"width="120"height="240"style="border:0px;"alt=)
Thank you!
I will start my project on Saturday, because my spouse gets a day off from rehab for the first time in six months. I think this is important for me to document. Also, this is my third time of WITL, I also took part in WE-ITL and December Daily. This time documents our struggles as an incomplete family and the disability issues of my spouse and how the kids and I manage the life nowadays.
Thanks Ali for the PDF files. These files actually solidified the thought of just journaling the first week and not trying to put the album together the first week but instead get the stories down. It’ll be a ‘hectic’ week anyway with extended family in town, birthday celebrations, kids returning from camp, preparing for homeschool to begin again, life.
Looking forward to documenting summer this year. Thanks for the PDF files and the inspiration to do this project again.
Thanks, Ali! This will be handy!
Thanks Ali. I’ve never done this before, so I’m excited to see how it goes. Love your awesome ideas! Thanks for the PDF files, darla
Thanks for sharing these daily sheets Ali. I’m actually documenting this week and have already started using them for Wednesday. They work great, especially to catch all the little details of our daily schedule.
I see there is a digial 8 1/2 x 11 template set for sale, is there a 12×12 or instructions on how to make the 8 1/2 x 11 work for 12×12 album? -thanks
Hi Debra – the 12×12 will be available this weekend (Saturday) at Designer Digitals.
Thanks Ali… I was tring to figure out how to easily document all the happening for next week. These are perfect! It will help remind me, while I’m taking ALL of those photos, to capture those moments in words too. This is my first year doing a week in the life and I am soooooo excited! Thanks for sharing such a inspirational (and real) project with us. I can’t wait!
What a great idea. I had never thought of this before and think I will try it next week. Thanks for all the tips and help from your website. I love what you doa nd how you share your life and experiences.
awesome! thanks ali for keeping us organized. this will be really helpful next week
ty
thanks for the sheets ALi! This will help me actually start and finish this project!
hi!! I did TWIL in 2008 and I love the idea of changing season and looking back to the changes in my life since then. thanks!!
I can only echo what has already been said by so many others. Thank you for this tool that will help ensure my first attempt at a Week in Life project will be a success.
I’ve never played along before, because I’ve always thought I’d get “lost” along the way. The PDF files will SERIOUSLY help me out … thank you very much Ali ~ I’m looking forward to next week already. x
Thank you for the sheets! What a simple, yet brilliant idea. Last year, I let myself become overwhelmed with trying to remember things. This will help me stay focused – I am going to put them on a hot pink clipboard that I can keep close by all week. Thanks again, KP
Thank you for sharing these. I can’t wait to give this a try.
Thank you so much, Ali, for the PDF! I wasn’t sure if I would do this because I haven’t had time to figure out how I would document it all next week. Now I know!
I will be including these PDF sheets [completed, of course 
] in my Project Life Album no matter how I choose to document the week in a final form. Thanks so much, Ali! 
I started my Week yesterday . . . I didn’t want to mix it in with holidays. (I document each day over holidays as well.)
I am keeping a diary in a small notebook and uploading photos each day. I have to! I get too excited to wait!
Thanks Ali for the sheets and other inspiration. I got your Embracing the Everyday brushes at Designer Digitals yesterday on sale! yay!
thank you so much for the printables, love them!
Term break over here next week so not our normalkind of week but perhaps it will be a great week to document our relationships even more! Thanks for the downloads and suggestion to dothis Ali.
Thanks for sharing these sheets – I’ll print them off to be ready for next week. I’ve decided I’m going to make my album digitally. Last year was my first time for WITL and that album was my first (and only) digital album so far.
This is my planned (instagram) format:
http://brendas-bits-and-bytes.blogspot.com/2011/07/upcoming-week-in-life-project.html
using Cathy Zeilske’s template:
http://www.designerdigitals.com/digital-scrapbooking/supplies/product_info.php/products_id/12363
that I thought would be totally perfect for a WITL album when I saw it in one of her recent posts.
http://cathyzielske.typepad.com/my_weblog/2011/07/maam-please-put-your-hands-in-the-air-and-step-away-from-the-iphone.html
On a recent holiday I took a ton of photos on my recently-acquired Blackberry and posted blog entries via email to one of my blogs so that our friends and family could follow our 2 week adventure camping in Newfoundland. I loved how fast and easy it was and am so happy to have all those snippets (6 or more posts each day). When I finally have time to put the vacation album together, it should be a breeze since I have all of the details already typed in and will just combine those posts/photos with our better quality DSLR photos. I thought that my some-what instagram approach to capturing our vacation vacation could work equally well to capture our family WITL album this year.
What a great idea! I loved following your links! On vacation I can take over a hundred photos a day! My family is just short of annoyed with me, but I refuse to quit! In my childhood we just didn’t take photos, so now I’m over compensating and will not leave my greanchildren without life documented in FULL!
And I add my thanks to all the previous others! I do digital design, and create my own kits, etc. but this is a project that I’m making personal to the max.
Starting my new Dream Life!
I’m moving from Australia to Canada in a few days… and my birthday is on the 28th July… so lots of things for me to document, record, photograph and MeMorIse!!
THANKS
Ramona
aka Ramona Memories
WELCOME TO CANADA! the best nation on earth! You just missed the Royal visit from the Duke & Duchess of Cambridge! What brings you here?
This is such a great tool to keep track of stuff! I really appreciate you sharing this, and am looking forward to taking notes. Very excited to start this project on Monday! =)
So excited for next week! The week will be a little bit odd since it includes the U2 concert I have been waiting 10 months for…the rest of the week should be more normal.
I posted about some of my favorite scrapbooks including my Week in the Life album from 2007 on my blog – http://threeweasels.com/2011/07/my-name-is-jennifer-and-i-am-a-scrapbooker.html
Thanks for doing this again!
We saw U2 in Seattle and it was awesome. Have a great time.
Thanks so much for the PDF sheets! I haven’t done your Week In the Life project before. I’m excited about doing it this year! I work in a hospital so we’ll see how much I’ll be able to take a picture of, but I want to document everything I can. Thanks again!
Hi Ali
I loved to participate last year and I’ll do this next week again …thanks for sharing your ideas and talent …
Really looking forward to this project. and my beloved sister is here for a visit for the first time in many years!!
Think we could have a Flicker share site for the finished products??
aloha
Sure – it’s located here: http://www.flickr.com/groups/weekinthelife2011/
Hi Ali…excited to start documenting next week! I saw in your 2010 album, what looked like some of your sayings on photos…but I looked through designer digitals and couldn’t find them…do you know which set you used on them? thanks!
Thanks for the PDF. It will make it so much easier to stick to it. So many times I’ve attempted (unsuccessfully!) to document life, but your ideas and tools to help organise ahead of time will make it much easier to stick to. Looking forward to the challenge.
THank you Ali! I am starting a new school program and working this fall (after 8yrs of being home with my kids) and I think this will make a good planner/memory keeper! Thanks so much!
Hi, Ali! Just wanted to say thank you for the free worksheets and all the helpful links! You are always such an inspiration. And you never fail to remind me to document the little things, which, of course, turn out to be the big things later on.
More power to you!
Thanks for the downloads Ali, What a great project, this is my first time doing WIAL, and really looking forward to the challenge……..kate………..Australia
Thanks for the daily sheets, they will certainly help! Printed and in my binder already…
Not sure if I’m ready to tackle week-in-the-life, but I do day-in-the-life on my blog sometimes. Really, really love these pdf files — I definitely will use them! Thanks!
Hi Ali!
Thanks for the organizational sheets, they will definitely help keep track of everthing!
Do you have any thoughts on how to involve hubby and kids? The girls (almost 10) will be at camp all day that week and hubby will be working. Hubby is uber-supportive of all things memory-keeping, as long as it doesn’t involve another giving him something to do
Would love some camp pix but I don’t think they’re allowed to bring cameras to camp.
On the plus side, we close on our new house on Thursday so there will be lots to document!
Sue
Can’t wait!
I’ll be on vacation for most of my “Week in the Life” so I think everything will be up on my blog after I come back.
i am so super excited to be doing this project for the very first time. thank you so much for the free pdf’s. i printed them out and i’m ready to go. quick question: i have a full time job as a cashier at costco. i’m going to have someone take a photo of me working but what other things can i document during my 8 hour shift? i’m sure there are other full time workers that might like the comments as well. any suggestions?
i am so super excited to be doing this project for the very first time. thank you so much for the free pdf’s. i printed them out and i’m ready to go. quick question: i have a full time job as a cashier at costco. i’m going to have someone take a photo of me working but what other things can i document during my 8 hour shift? i’m sure there are other full time workers that might like the comments as well. any suggestions? thank you!
Maybe it’s more words than photos from your job? How about photos of the break room, what you eat for lunch, your co-workers, signs, etc.
Ali, Sometime next week can you show us best format to save the layered templates once we complete them in order to show them on our blogs? I just installed my PSE last night and practiced on the Remember This template while following along on your video, but I was not sure the best way to share. The way I shared seemed like it was probably too big of a file because it was not loading onto my blog. I am excited to participate for the first time, and I know that part of the fun is being able to share works in progress.
Hi! Sure – I like to save two files of my finished digital pages. One is the high resolution for printing and the other is a 72dpi page for sharing online. To keep them separate I do a SAVE AS and save one with the name “_web.” It’s that one that I then open, flatten, change the image size to 72dpi and usually 500 pixels wide, save as a jpg and then share online.
Thanks Ali. I was able to do that, and I am uploading my page to my blog now.
Super excited to do this for the second year. Thank you for the great downloads Ali!
Thank you very much for the PDFs. I am really looking forward to next week.
I’m so excited about week in the life. I actually had to start my project a little early….I’m using Evernote to keep track of the events of my day. I’m already used to using Evernote frequently throughout the day. I also appreciate that you said you’re only documenting the week during the week and not worrying about actually compiling the album until later. I’m pretty exited about my plan. I’m going to utilize some of the auto-collage features in photoshop to help me get it done faster.
Thank you so much for these Ali, they will be such a huge help in keeping track of the goings on around here! I’ve been wanting to try to do one of your documentary style projects for awhile and this past Christmas was all set to do the December Daily, but got really sick and then a bit overwhelmed with it all. I think this will be a great starter project for me, shorter time period and then it will give me a better idea of what goes into a project like this! Thanks for all the inspiration!!
thank you, thank you, THANK YOU for the pdf. I was thinking not to do WITL this year because I have a newborn, but this post and the pdf has given me the kick in the pants I need to just jump on board. What better week to capture? Life with a 9 week old will never be like this again so I want to capture it. Thank you for helping me put that in perspective.
Thank you for the files…great place to start..I did this last year I just added it to my everyday daily life scrapbook album I have….this year I plan on adding it to my 365 daily life album….as I have fallen behind on this project, but thats ok …I am ok with falling behind….to me that shows life….my life….I am hoping once I start this week long project I will pick up my 365…..I love reading your blog…watching your kids grow…you are very inspiring…thank you again…
thanks for the download. it will be so much easier to figure out if I’ve thought about writing down enough details…
Thank you for the pdf. I’m looking forward to seeing what my life is really like…….hope it’s not as boring as it is in my head (hi ho hi ho it’s off to work I go….afterwards it’s….tired to the bone I head back home!)
This is the first year I am going to do this. i plan on documentin MOn-Sunday. I think it will be great! Monday begins the day of Canoe Journey. A once in a lifetime celebration for the Tribe I work for. http://paddletoswinomish.com/ We have been working hard for a year and a half and now it is upon us, whether we are ready or not. I fear that I may be so involved with “work” that I may forget to document my family. This certainly isn’t a typical week in our lives, but it will be memorable.
Thanks so much, Ali! I’ll be using these pdf’s.