Week In The Life 2011 | Bringing It All Together (with Video Overview)

week in the life 2011 | completed album

Hello completed Week In The Life album. I'm so happy to put you away on my shelf.

This year I decided to put together a short (13 min) video that walks you through all the pages of my 2011 album. I talk about some of the decisions I ended up making this year, general observations, etc. I'm hoping this will make it a bit more "real" for those of you that like to see a bit more beyond the photos and written words.




Week In The Life 2011 | Completed Album Overview from Ali Edwards on Vimeo.

Over the last few days I've been working on the 9-pocket divided page protectors that go between the spreads for each day of my week. That means I've been trimming photos, creating small cards, cutting up some pattern paper, etc.

week in the life 2011 | completed album

I cut up the Hambly Little Circles Overlay and added the Ormolu 2-Day Hooray Days of the Week Button Embellishments. On the back I added small circle numbers from BananaFish Studio.

week in the life 2011 | completed album

I also ended up adding in some cards using stamps from my different Technique Tuesday sets. If you've watched the video above already you probably heard me talking about those. You'll also see them in the photos below.

OVERALL OBSERVATIONS



  • One of the things I kept asking myself as I was bringing all the components together is how can I simplify this process? What I realized is that I'd really done most of the work already - the words were documented, the photos were taken and printed - and I really just felt like leaving it at that. You might notice as you watch the video or view the photos below that I decided to just add the Daily Sheets right into the album. For me it was the decision that seemed to make the most sense. I simply added a few more page protectors to the album to accommodate those sheets.

  • I'm pretty sure that next year this will be a completely digital project for me and will be printed in book format. It felt a little bit crazy to me to be cutting out all those smaller photos just to add them to the divided page protector. We'll see. Maybe I'll feel different next year. It's important to me to allow myself to evolve, to allow projects to evolve over time, etc. And like I've said all along, there's no right or wrong way to bring this all together.

  • I collected way less stuff this year than I have in past years. I think that might have something to do with Project Life and how much I already add there each week.

  • I'm glad I did it in the summer, but I think I like it better at other times of the year. Not sure why that is exactly - maybe it's because I long for a different pace in the summer and this just felt like a lot of work. Maybe a summer Week In The Life needs to be modified for the pace of the season...

  • I'm still planning to put together a little video from the times I took it during the week. I'll post that when it's completed.


2011 COMPLETED ALBUM


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MONDAY


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week in the life 2011 | completed album
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TUESDAY


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WEDNESDAY


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week in the life 2011 | completed album
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THURSDAY


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FRIDAY


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week in the life 2011 | completed album
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SATURDAY


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SUNDAY


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week in the life 2011 | completed album

SUPPLIES



And here's a list of all the posts for 2011.

2011 PRE-PLANNING + BASICS



2011 DAILY PHOTOS AND WORDS



COMPLETED PAGES & HOW TO



If you'd like to see links from past year's go here.

A really big thank you again for joining me on this journey. Whether this was your first year or fifth, I so appreciate your participation and interest in this project and I hope you enjoyed the process (or are enjoying the process as you continue bringing it all together).

Don't forget about the free Week In The Life Community at Big Picture Classes which will remain open indefinitely. I'll be checking in there on and off and am happy to answer questions over there or here on my blog. There's also a Flickr Group if you'd like to share your work there.

SHARE YOUR ALBUM


In addition you're invited to share a link to your completed album below. Please remember to link to a specific post on your blog (vs. a general link to your blog) that shares your completed project.

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100 thoughts

  1. elise says…
    08/11/2011

    dude. killer wrap up and post. and that last page is perfect for the end. love it.

    Reply 0 Replies
  2. Catherine at Design Editor says…
    08/11/2011

    Fab. You are the queen! Love the camera overlays and the stapled elements. Thanks for the inspiration to do this for the first time. Just love it. Hoping to have my finished album posted over the weekend!

    Reply 0 Replies
  3. debbi g. says…
    08/11/2011

    Another winner, Ali! Just awesome! Thanks for sharing :)

    Reply 0 Replies
  4. Gaye says…
    08/11/2011

    This looks fantastic, love all the little embellishments

    Reply 0 Replies
  5. Sheri Twing says…
    08/11/2011

    Wow! I'm still completing my album. I can only hope it turns out 1/2 as nice as yours!

    I'd love to see more on your stamp organization! That little peek in the picture looks so interesting! Are they in binders? What are the stuck to? Would love to know more.

    Reply 0 Replies
  6. Jill S. says…
    08/11/2011

    Your album looks amazing, as always! I'm so glad I decided to play along this year for the first time. Even though I'm not finished putting everything together, I love my WITL album already.

    Thanks for sharing the video. It was great to hear your commentary along with seeing all the pages. You mentioned that you're not sure when you'll do this next. I'd love to see it in the fall of 2012. Waiting until spring 2013 seems like forever away!

    Reply 0 Replies
  7. Megan says…
    08/11/2011

    amazing. always such an inspiration. Thank you for putting this post together!

    Reply 0 Replies
  8. Michele H. says…
    08/11/2011

    seriously...you are a true inspiration! love this post and your thoughts!

    and i so agree with you on the whole daily sheets. i started to re-type some of the stuff and then I thought "this is silly...you have photos and handwritten documentation. there is nothing better!"

    thanks for this awesome journey and letting us play along:)

    Reply 0 Replies
  9. Dawn Ritchie says…
    08/11/2011

    I did a sorta hybrid approach like you, but have also been wondering why I didn't go all digital with this massive project. I love the feel of "real" paper, but that can be added later as you've displayed a billion times. It's a learning experience and I'm glad it's something you can easily adapt to your "now" and change it another time.

    I'm still really excited for the December Daily, that was my favorite project last year and I still pull it out to flip through it on a monthly basis.

    Thanks so much for all of this! I really enjoyed it.

    Reply 0 Replies
  10. Katie says…
    08/11/2011

    Love your album and thanks so much for sharing the video. Great to hear you're thinking behind how you put it all together. I'm almost finished with my album and hopefully this will give me the push to get it done this weekend :-)

    Reply 0 Replies
  11. Melissa Mann says…
    08/11/2011

    Fantastic stuff here.

    Reply 0 Replies
  12. Megan Willis says…
    08/11/2011

    I loved your album this year! Often these week albums seem like so much work with taking photos, journaling, and then doing something crafty with all that STUFF but this seems like the perfect solution. I may have to try this next week actually.

    Just curious, how many "Week in the Life" projects have you completed?

    Reply 1 Reply
    1. Ali says…
      08/11/2011

      I think this is my 6th one - need to count them to make sure. The first couple of years I taught it as a class and I can't remember if I did that for two or three years. Then again in 2008, 2010, and this one.

  13. Kelly says…
    08/11/2011

    It looks terrific, Ali! I had the same thought last year about doing it digital this year, but in the end, I'm going to do the divided protector in the middle too. (I'm actually documenting this week.) I do think I may cram the small photos together (no border between) on their canvas for fewer cuts.

    Regarding photo books, I am curious if anyone else has the same experience/feeling I have: I think they tend to be made from thinner paper, so the pages crinkle when you thumb through them and don't hold up as nicely as scrapbooks. I generally would rather have a digital layout in a protector. Am I missing something on this or are some better quality than others?

    Ali, thank you for all your inspiration! I love my 2010 Week in the Life album and am looking forward to this one.

    Reply 1 Reply
    1. Sarah B R says…
      08/11/2011

      Check out blurb.com and pick their premium paper. It jolds up great. I have softcover as well as hardcover books that are a few years old and no creases in paper :-)
      great pricing
      lots of options
      easy free software
      and no I don't work for them :-)
      hope this helps

  14. Susie Leggett says…
    08/11/2011

    Ali, you are awesome. I love your album and how this all came together. Can't wait to get my hands on those little camera overlays - love em. I do have to agree with you and some of the others, this is a huge project and it takes a lot of time to assemble. At times I felt like I captured a week and lost the next two putting it all together. Still totally worth it. More than anything else, doing WITL made me realize that I am so very thankful for this life. Thank you, thank you.

    Reply 0 Replies
  15. Peg says…
    08/11/2011

    It came out just delicious! Congratulations on adding yet another family treasure to your home. The kids and their kids are going to appreciate this so, so much.

    Reply 0 Replies
  16. Catie says…
    08/11/2011

    Ali, I have loved watching your Week in the Life album come together these past few weeks. You have such amazing foresight when you embark on these projects, and it's always fun to watch them come together and see what you were talking about all along! I have never done a WITL album, but thanks to your inspiration, I did start a Project (Married) Life album a couple of months ago (starting on my wedding day, June 12th!) It has been such a blast so far.

    My question is this: I love the look of the left side of your digital template, the tall bracket-ish-shaped photo space. I thought that would make a great page insert for the PL album, for a photo that deserved extra showcasing. But I didn't feel that it would be practical for me to purchase the entire set on Designer Digitals just to get that photo shape. Any suggestions? Would you ever consider making a set of photo templates like that, which would make great 8 1/2 x 11 inserts for PL, perhaps with more generalized text, or customizable text layers?

    Love your work; thanks!

    Reply 1 Reply
    1. Ali says…
      08/11/2011

      I think that's a cool idea Catie - let me see what I can come up with.

  17. Megan Renfree says…
    08/11/2011

    Its fabulous! I've been dying to see your finished product so that I could see what you did before I finished mine, and its awesome!! I love that you kept it simple!! I'm going to have a go at finishing mine this weekend. Thanks so much for this project. I can't wait for mine to be completed too.

    Reply 0 Replies
  18. Lisa says…
    08/11/2011

    Thank you so much for sharing this. I really look forward to seeing your creations. The video along with the photos and post. . .a total bonus! Your album is awesome...very inspiring...I still need to finish putting mine together and this is definitely the little push I think I needed. :)

    Reply 0 Replies
  19. Debbie S. says…
    08/11/2011

    Awesome Ali! Been wondering since I saw it before...did you do that foam heart yourself? I wouldn't put that past you. :)

    Reply 0 Replies
  20. dawn says…
    08/11/2011

    Thank you so much for the video and all the pages, it was nice to hear your thoughts on your album. It looks great and simple and light which is just right for summertime. Love the color and design of the number papers you included in the pockets.

    I have some pictures printed and thinking of doing some in collages. With the kids home still on break it's been too hard finding the time to finish it. Going to wait till they go back and sit and really enjoy putting it together.

    Thank you also for the daily sheets, loved them and going to print out extras to include in my Project Life album from time to time.

    By the way I noticed in the video it looks as though your wearing a thin sweater, how cold is it there? Also not to be weird but you have pretty hands. Thanks again for another amazing journey and precious album for my family.

    Reply 0 Replies
  21. Christine says…
    08/11/2011

    As always, I love your style! I like this project better when it is not in the summer too, and I think I did a laid back version this year because of it. I combined styles from last year's album and this year's and my own thing, and while it is not as extensive as yours, I am satisfied because it was summer, and I am also doing Project Life. Maybe I will try more digital with next year's version. Thank you!

    Reply 0 Replies
  22. tetcy says…
    08/11/2011

    I think your hands are pretty too!
    I am also including the daily sheets in my binder the way they are. I've cut my photos to fit the divider page and it feels like it is finished. I may or may not type out essays I've written...or they may become blog posts somewhere down the line.

    Next step: photographing and linking :)

    Reply 0 Replies
  23. Sarah M. says…
    08/11/2011

    Thank you for showing your complete project. This is my first time doing WITL and I've held off on doing my layouts to look at yours for inspiration. Plus I'm doing mine digitally with a few inserts here and there and I knew it would take a while for me to get things together since this is my first digital project. YIKES!! Loving it so far though. It will be so fun to look back at this years from now to see our crazy life with a 5 year old and a 5 month old!

    Reply 0 Replies
  24. Christine says…
    08/11/2011

    Love that you did a video in addition to your photos of the project. I was waiting to see how yours came together before finishing mine. I love learnig new design techniques. Yesterday I bought your new stamp set from Technique Tuesday and I think these stamps will be great to use in this project. This is my first time doing WITL.I really enjoyed doing this project in the summer and my whole family (not at first) got involved in this project :).
    I, like you, am looking forward to the December Daily. I'm organizing my Christmas stash and plan on using what I already have (enough to open a small store, lol.) Thanks for all you do for us :)

    Reply 0 Replies
  25. Erica says…
    08/11/2011

    Ali, In one of the first photos, it looks like you store your rubber stamps in a binder. Have you show us before how you store your rubber stamps? If not, could you tell me how.

    Reply 0 Replies

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