Week In The Life 2011 | Bringing It All Together (with Video Overview)
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.
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.
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
MONDAY
TUESDAY
WEDNESDAY
THURSDAY
FRIDAY
SATURDAY
SUNDAY
SUPPLIES
- We Are Memory Keepers Vanilla 8.5x11 Album
- We Are Memory Keepers 8.5×11 Page Protectors
- We Are Memory Keepers 8.5x11 9-pocket page protectors
- Week In The Life 8.5x11 Layered Template Set Vol.3
- Week In The Life Journal Cards Vol. 2
- Cosmo Cricket | Odds & Ends Junk Drawer 12x12 Pattern Paper
- My Mind’s Eye Lime Twist Out Of The Blue Playful Number ( Two Peas )
- Hambly | Little Circles Overlay
- Hambly | Small Cameras Overlay (coming soon)
- Ormolu | 2-Day Hooray Days of the Week Button Embellishments
-
Epson Stylus Photo R2000 Printer and Epson Ultra Premium Photo Paper Luster - Love, Ali Stamps for Technique Tuesday ( Two Peas | Scrapbook.com )
- Dad Rocks Stamps for Technique Tuesday ( Two Peas | Scrapbook.com )
- Life In Pictures Stamps for Technique Tuesday ( Two Peas | Scrapbook.com )
- Ordinary Days for Technique Tuesday ( Two Peas | Scrapbook.com )
- Jenni Bowlin | Spice Tin Ink
-
Embracing The Everyday Brushes & Stamps (this package includes the Week In The Life logo) - BananaFish Studio | Circle Numbers
And here's a list of all the posts for 2011.
2011 PRE-PLANNING + BASICS
-
2011 Supplies And Design Plan - Thoughts On The Process & Daily Sheet PDF
- Ready Set Go and Big Picture Community Announcement
2011 DAILY PHOTOS AND WORDS
- Monday Words + Photos
- Tuesday Words + Photos
- Wednesday Words + Photos
- Thursday Words + Photos
- Friday Words + Photos
- Saturday Words + Photos
- Sunday Words + Photos
COMPLETED PAGES & HOW TO
- Week In The Life 2011 | Working With The Layered Template Album (Video Tutorial)
- Week In The Life 2011 | The Photos
- Week In The Life 2011 | Bringing It All Together (with Video Overview)
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.
Hi Ali,
thank you so much for the inspirations! I was browsing on your website to learn more about making albums/memory books. I am a card-maker & currently doing a project of making at least 1 card/papercraft product for 365 days. I would like to start making (long, overdue) albums for my 2 boys. Again, thank you for sharing the techniques & inspirations; especially for advising us to make it easy & not to make the projects taken over our lives! :)
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It's just lovely Ali!
My Mom and I each did a December Daily album with you & the community last year. I'm hoping we will do this together each December. We each take our own photos and journaling. I printed as much as possible for the week of Christmas, and each morning that week we put our albums together, working a little bit each morning.
No takers in my fam for WITL, so that I did alone, still love the finished result!
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Ali your book is awesome. This was my first time doing the WITL and I really enjoyed it. Even though my kids are grown and my life is fairly "boring, this helped me see how much can transpire in a week! Even though my album is pretty much like all the other ones I make (the old fashion way) I think it will be fun just to look back at it. I know you said you thought summer was a little harder time to do this but I bet your family will appreciate being able to recall life in all the seasons. Thanks again for all your inspiration.
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Ali, you inspire me to tell the stories of the everyday and that has completely changed the way I experience the little things in life :)
a very mundane question: which font/size you used for the time and comment that you put on the pictures? I just love the way it looks
Thanks!
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I'm also wondering about your stamp storage system - is it just plastic sheets and paper stapled together? It looks like it would work well.
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Dear Ali,
you are such an inspiration and this encourages me so much to find my own voice. thank you for your amazing work, i love it so much.
would like to know where those little shipping tags from this year's album are from?
thank you! have a beautiful sunday.
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Ali thank you so much for this project. This is my second year doing this and I really enjoy it.
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Hi Ali,
I think that this is a WONDERFUL idea and am going to give this a go - can't wait!!! However, I can't seem to open the 'daily sheets' pdf... Is this still available to use?
And thank you ever so much for all your wonderful tips and the amazing inspiration you offer; I am overwhelmed by my creative juices at the moment LOL ;-)
Cheers,
Kylie
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This is a delight to look at ... and I love the way you've put in the journalling pages even if they're not full. That's the way life goes, sometimes! This will be so wonderful to look back on. I've been pondering photo books too but my internal jury is still out ...
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Ali, I am always filled with gratitude for your openess and ability to share and inspire with your projects. Yet again I am left smiling watching your vimeo recording. Listening to your reflection on the products used and end result is awesome.
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http://librarydayinthelife.pbworks.com/w/page/42017739/Round-7,-July-25th-through-31st-2011 You might find this interesting. A whole week in the life approach taken by many librarians.
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Ali- I just had to tell you that the feeling of completing this album has me a little overwhelmed. I didn't think I could love a project as much as I love this one. I participated last year but didn't fully complete it and my goal this year was to get it done:)
Thank you so much for this! I will forever treasure this album.
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This project is so cool! I wish I could have been a fly in the room to see exactly how this came together. Thank you so much for sharing!
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Loved this project very much! yes I did want do get it done at the end, but SO glad I DID IT! Thanks for awesome posts for WITL project all along!
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Thanks Ali for sharing this concept and your process with us. This is my second year doing it and I love having the two finished albums on my shelf. I look forward to doing it again in 2012!
Here's my 2011 album:
http://useveryday.blogspot.com/2011/08/week-in-life-2011-finished-album.html
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I need to be locked up for about 2 days to work on this....sigh...I've started a many AE projects and I hope to finish this one!
That said, I did prefer the summer WITL. There seems to be more "activity" and daylight to capture. During the school year there is a good 8 hours that I'm at work and kids are at school, I tend to have limited pictures/stories to fill the pages.
Thanks for your continued support.
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This is wonderful, I love how your album turned out, and I love that you made the video to walk us through it. I didn't make it through the entire week, but I am so inspired from this post - I want to do it and make an album! I don't think I can wait until 2013 though so I might have to venture out there without you. :-) Thank you for sharing!
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Dear Ali,
thanks for showing how you put your album together. I love it that you are not doubling up. I had been stalling putting it all together but by the end of your video I had already printed out 6 pages!
Thanks again,
Stephxx
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I just want to say thank you again for so much inspiration! This year was my first time to do this and I thoroughly enjoyed myself (as well as got soooo tired of doing the album I couldn't wait to finish it, lol). :)
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I just love your work and your philosophy on memory keeping! Thank you so very much for sharing the details of your life/family with us. You mentioned that next year you might do a digital version. Any chance you'll be creating a photo book template? I loved the one that you created for CK at Shutterfly (Everyday Life). I loved just being able to drop in my photos on the various templates, adding some journaling and calling it done. It couldn't have been simpler and its' one of our favorite albums to look at. :-)
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I still keep coming back to see what new ones are added. love seeing all the approaches and sooo much creativity!
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My first WITL album is finished and I have to say I am so, so pleased with it! I've never done a digital project before, but once I got started with your digital overlays.. I really loved it. It was a very intense week of documenting our life and another very intense amount of time to put it all together, but SO worth it. Thank you for this project and all the terrific tutorials and support on your blog during the WITL project. I will definitely continue this project each year. Already can't wait to see the comparisons from year to year.
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Hi Ali, I finally got my album complete a few weekends ago when I got together with some friends. Its now all up on my blog. This was my first year doing it, and I have to say its been my favourite thing I have done this year. I have by no means been original and have followed your footsteps completely, but am really really happy with how its come out and my boys have already been flipping through it. I'm already looking forward to doing a similar album when you do your December daily as I look forward to doing the project in our summertime.
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I finally finished my album from July and wanted to share it. You can see it here on my blog. It was a great project and I really enjoyed what I learned about myself and my style while participating. I look forward to doing this again next year! Thank you!
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I love this project. I look forward to it. It is a lot of work, but when I look back to the 2008, 2010 versions of the project, I remember exactly why I do it. Thanks for the inspiration (and templates), Ali!
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