Welcome to Project Life 2012 | Week Seven.
I didn’t take any photos this past week with my big camera (except for photos of that layout I did last week) but was happy to find a few from my phone. I ended up using the entire second page of the spread to cover the story of my weekend with Anna. It’s a nice reminder of the way I’m approaching this project. It’s not a photo a day. It’s not a story every day. It’s a collection of things from a certain week in time.
One of the biggest things on my mind right now is getting myself in the groove to make some more traditional scrapbook layouts. Here’s the bottom line: I love this project. I miss that process. So I’m making time and finding time and making assignments for myself. It’s a topic that really deserves it’s own post and as I get myself in gear I’ll share what I’m planning and what I’m learning.
Just a quick note that some of the main products I use for Project Life are back in stock: 6×12 Page Protectors, Big Variety Pack 1 of Page Protectors, and Big Variety Pack 2 (Design A + Design D).
Here’s our Week Seven:
Lots of Valentine’s Day goodness this week.
The “YES” card is from the Smash Blank Journal Pad. The little stitched heart on the top photo is from Pebbles. The large “3″ heart is on a card for Anna from our friend Kim. She hand-stitched that and I love it.
I decided to go this route again this year with the Valentine’s. It’s simply a 9-pocket divided page protector and this year I included both Simon and Anna’s cute little cards from their classmates. You can check out what I did in 2011 here.
The second insert holds some of the bigger Valentine’s and a list of the kids in Anna’s class.
On the back is her drawing of two cats. I might actually frame this one. I love it. Maybe I will just ask her to draw some more for me.
The last page this week includes photos from the weekend.
I decided to take all that journaling on my post from yesterday that details our adventures and print them on four cards to fill in those 3×4 pockets. Each photo includes a digital element (Life Banners, Love Something, and I Heart Stories) or a little bit of text added to the photo before printing.
I added a self-adhesive index tab to the first card as a bit of a title.
SUPPLIES | 2012 | WEEK 7
Click on the images to link to the products.
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Project Life is a product and a system created by Becky Higgins. It can be anything you want it to be. The pieces used in my album are available here. If you live outside the US check Becky’s site for more information on sources. View all my posts about Project Life (including all the spreads from my completed 2011 album) here.
I love all the love in this weeks spread. So happy you have a awesome babysitter to help you and loves the kids as much as you do. They are lucky to have so many people to care for them.
Really liking how you spread out the journlaing for your girls weekend. My favorite is the photo of Anna by the front door I’m thinking??? with the gorgeous sunlight coming in, love this one.
I’m so happy your working more layouts into your schedule, miss them and looking forward to seeing them.
Hugs,
Dawn
Some weeks the pictures just aren’t flowing. Then other weeks they overflow, yes?
My phone pictures save me.
That is why this format WORKS.. February, to me, is the longest month despite having the fewest days. I have only 2 spreads with a couple inserts for the whole month so far.
My parents are coming to stay with our daughter and dogs while we have a little getaway in Las Vegas, so the next week will be full from their adventures and ours. Total flexibility in this format.
I love how you used an entire page to document the weekend with Anna. It lends itself to the old process, as do inserts.
Thanks for sharing!
Ali: I so need some inspiration on traditional layouts! Now that I’m doing PL I feel like the stories have been told and am having a hard time finding the motivation to do much more than that. HELP!
I enjoyed your PL this past weekend, but am looking forward to your more “traditional” layouts. I haven’t taken the plunge to PL yet. Maybe sometime in the near future.
I love the way you documented your weekend with Anna…so precious…she will cherish this story when she’s older
So glad to hear you are planning to do more traditional layouts also! I love your work so much! I can’t wait!
Since I started project life this year I have made more traditional layouts than I have in the last two years and I love it!!!
That’s awesome!
I see that you are having trouble with this verses that. I think since I started this, I am not taking as good photos. I miss trying to make a good composition. Saying to myself what is the essense , what is the beautiful part. Here I am just trying to get it out there. I need to do the other too.
The creating a composition is something I’m missing too
. I was just thinking about that this morning -
Just wondering, how did you print on those little cards? In photoshop? You printed on the blank journal cards, yes? I would love to see a tutorial. My handwriting is so big, I think if I have more to say, typing it out would work better sometimes and I do not have a cool antique typewriter(but it is on my wish list).
Hey Jennifer – this post of Cathy’s might be helpful for you: http://cathyzielske.typepad.com/my_weblog/2012/01/a-tiny-templates-tutorial-a-free-fraction-conversion-chart-download.html. I actually did them Illustrator which allows them to flow the text from one “box” to another. A simple way to do it in Elements would be to create a 3×4 canvas and create a text box with the text tool – then you would create additional canvases based on the amount text you have. Look for Cathy to have some Tiny Text Templates coming soon.
I WISH I could have a week with not enough pictures! I feel like I am not doing enough artistic stuff bc I never have room left – and that’s not using all the pictures I want to!
I finally had a week (week 5 I am working on right now) that had fewer pictures – and then I realized that I didn’t have all of them sorted into my week 5 folder. I love that I can stick pictures in the middle row – but really I am struggling!
I’m going totally digital this year and I must say that I do miss the “hands on” approach of the Pl binder. I loved the extra pages of varying sizes to add leaflets, programs and just everyday stuff. I just found that the majority (99%) of my pockets were filled with photos and I spent way too much on photo paper & printing. I’m totally up to date though!
I always love everything you post. You have such a way with words. I have a question…with so many extra inserts, does your year of PL get spread into 2 albums? I want to add extras but my fear is then I will have 2 albums per year and OH BOY…I would need a bigger house in a few years!!
I actually had three last year (which I was okay with).
Ali, how are you storing your more traditional pages? One of the reasons I held off of beginning Project Life last year was I love to make the big layouts,but I was so far behind in organizing all the documentation I had. This year I am doing a monthly version of Project Life, which so far is working ideally for me. Because my pages will be fewer, I was thinking about adding the larger layouts to it, but maybe they would be better off in just a separate book dedicated to that. Just wondering what you do.
(p.s thanks for all your inspiration!)
That page protector filled with Valentines melts my heart! It’s totally melted!!!
Thanks, Ali! This was a great post and helped to remind me that its the bigger picture we’re after here. Lately I’ve been feeling like I haven’t been taking enough pictures or haven’t fully represented the different days in the week. I needed the reminder that the weeks sometimes don’t have a ton of individual stories, but sometimes sharing just one story from the week is enough (and is still important). Thank you for your continued inspiration!
I so love this project too. I got behind due to some health issues but managed to quickly and easily get caught up in just a couple of hours work – three whole weeks that would have been lost if I didn’t have this project. Your post also reminds me to add in those drawings, class lists and other “stuff” that I seem to forget about! Thanks for all the inspiration ;D
Ali,
I’m glad to know that you also struggled with layouts last year. I’m hoping to get more done than last year and am hoping that I have learned to streamline the PL system, so that my cards and album are out and ready to go, but i still have room to leave a layout out to work on. Thank you also for posting layouts. I used your layout of Anna with the tags from Ormolu for my son at 3. It helped spark some creativity.
I love that you used all of the center pockets for journaling!
Oh gosh, I love that image with the makeup brush. Could seriously be my bathroom on any given day. Love your journaling with your day with Anna too-it is a rare and special thing to get that one on one time!
Thank you for sharing your ideas on Project Life. I too held off at first because I wanted to continue to do traditional pages. I did start this year with Project Life and add in traditional pages and I love it. I use the traditional pages for the extra photos that I want to add and journal. Love this process. Thank you for all your encouragement with journaling. I struggled with that and took your Storyology and learned a great deal. I love the journaling process now.
how i miss those cute class valentines now that mine are in high school and college!
Thanks for the inspiration. I love your last page and that you included all your journaling from yesterday.
Those cats are awesome. My son (3.5yrs) draws lots of people. I’ve loved to watch his “dot” noses develop into a “straight line with lots of horizontal lines across it” to a shape that looks exactly like a real nose.
Hey! I totally agree with you. I found that when I was determined to take a photo EVERY day, that it kinda stressed me out. Now, somedays I take 1, sometimes 0 and sometimes a few. I also, while I love project life, also enjoy the process of the traditional/ digital scrapbooking. I choose some of the bigger events and include an entire layout. Anyway, love your website. The only one I visit with any regularity. You rock!
Ali – interesting post today. At one time in my life I considered myself a scrapbooker (and even took a class with you in IA City) but never felt like I measured up/was creative enough, etc. After awhile the joy of purchasing/collecting and coveting became too much and I gave it all away. Now years later the lure of PL has brought me back. I love the simplicity of it and how each person can make it their very own. But it feels like that PL has swept the scrapbooking industry by storm and that’s all I’m seeing – everywhere! I absolutely love watching your weeks with PL unfold but find all of your work inspirational and can’t wait to see more of it.
Yay for the whole page of the girls weekend! Love that you are doing some this way. So great to keep in mind it’s a story and sometimes it takes more than one pocket or photo to tell that story. Love how you used the 3×4 spots for the text. That is super cool.
Love this, I also love that you are not worring about a photo a day! It make it more realistic ! I have been adding layouts to my project life .. It might be one day I want to highlight or just something I want to add as a memory not to forget some people outside my family that mean the world to me this moment! I can’t wait to see what you are working on!! Have a great week! Xx
Love love love it. I think it’s great Katie puts something in as well. I sure wish I had a Katie ha. She seems like an important part of the Edwards family. Instead of a katie my boys have their granny. She’s the best mom and grandma!. Thanks for all you do Ali
I have to say it is a bit of a relief to hear that you have not forgotten traditional layouts! With so many great scrappers showcasing their PL spreads, regular inspriation is a bit thin and I’m feeling as though it’s being neglected – even though I appreciate the PL format.
Ali, you know what i’m loving about this project is that it can be anything you want it to be and one week’s “format” doesn’t have to stay consistent with the one before or after. It’s free-style, which i embrace wholeheartedly. I find that I can keep up more when I’m not locked in to a consistent format. “the only constant is change…” I also love that it can be a chronological library that I can refer to which sparks ideas and inspiration to create traditional scrapbooking pages for other albums that I’m working on. I really enjoy this process! Thanks for sharing yours and inspiring so many of us along the way!
Wonderful pages, as always.
Oh I’m so excited to do this week but haven’t gotten around to it yet. My 15 month old is in school now, and I’m so happy that he got some Valentines. I bought some baseball card holders at Office Max and they’ll be perfect for holding the valentines. I know what you mean about the need to do more traditional layouts. I miss it so much. My main focus has been project life so far this year. So if your starting to work on more layouts, does tis mean your office is in order? Pictures please!
jennifer olson said
bring more project life to us
and are you going to buy more project life stugg too
does you kid help you
YAY! thank you for pointing out the protectors were back in stock. i’m already a few weeks behind and was ready to give up continuing the rest of the year because i could never order fast enough. but not this time! they are on their way to me and all is well in the world again.
ps….love how you added in the valentine’s day cards! simple perfection.
Hi Ali!
I’m so glad you mentioned your desire to start working on more traditional layouts again! This has been on my mind too. I started with Project Life last year, immediately fell in love and felt such a sense of accomplishment for having stuck to it. (I’ve got a tendency to be really excited about starting projects, then not following them through to completion. So to say this was a success is an understatement
)
In the meantime, I’ve joined a kit club and been hoarding away supplies that just aren’t getting used the way I had hoped they would. I’m working on it. In fact, I used one of your traditional layouts as inspiration to start and FINISH one of my own just last weekend (the first one since last summer!). I can’t wait to see what your plans are. I always find them inspirational, and often just what I need to get motivated again.
Thanks so much!
(PS. Your weekly creative prompts have been awesome! I look forward to finding them in my email every week
I’m really happy to hear that you will be making more traditional layouts again, because I have missed them.
Sadly, more and more of my favorite bloggers have joined the PL bandwagon and have stopped doing/posting traditional layouts. I don’t do PL, so I’m feeling left behind and I’m not checking their blogs as offend as I used to.
I would hate to think that the future of scrapbooking is only PL.
Superbe album… plein de souvenirs pour les années futures!!!
Ton blog est très inspirant…
Bravo
Hi Ali
YAY!: I opened up my “Big Variety Pack 2″ with designs A and D and was surprised they are different sizes…Design D a bit wider. Is that how they are meant to be? Maybe I am just a bit stupid and it is obvious they are meant to be that way???
I just love visiting your blog! It is so inspiring. I love your work
So, I have just started Project Life today
Thanks, Alison
hi
i was just wondering how on earth do you get pictures of your project life pages without having major glare on them. i just finished my first PL page and no matter how i try to take the picture, nothing seems to help. i use no flash, don’t put it anywhere near a window… i have a compact digital camera so i can’t use any special lenses. i’d really appreciate your help.
loved your post about the farting book. we all do need to laugh more, don’t we? one of our favorites is wacky wednesday by dr seuss.
Love that Katie is a wonderful part of your “family”
Здравствуйте!
Давно не заходил сюда. Пароль забыл, пришлось заново региться.
Искал я тут недавно где кредит взять в Вологде, наш местный сайт.
Сразу нашел, что искал. кредиты в Вологде
На нем все предложения, от всех банков плюс адреса.