While I'm Waiting For My Camera Charger
I accidentally left my camera charger and extra battery at my sister's house in Charlotte which is delaying my Project Life post for this week. The battery in my camera is completely dead and the charger is on it's way across the country.
I'm forging ahead with documenting this week and getting the stuff from the last week into the album.
One idea I wanted to share with you - and what I'm doing in my book for this week - is an "all stuff" week without photos. So far I've added the things you see in my iPhone photo above: beer packaging cut to size, part of an Amazon receipt, part of a box of tea, and a post-office tracking ticket. I'm thinking I'll add some journaling - not sure just yet.
Anybody want to play along this week or next?
And here's a question I got from a reader this past week about Project Life and my other albums:
Q from ANJA | How do you decide which layouts come into the Project Life album and which ones will make it to the other albums? Or do you put all your layouts into PL while you're doing this project? And are you doing layouts also for your other albums while PL? If so which ones?
AE | When I first started Project Life earlier this year I thought that I might just put any additional layouts into the album along with the divided page protectors. So far this year I've done six layouts. One or two have gone into my Project Life book and the others are in a 2011 12x12 album.
So far for 2009 and 2010 I have just one 12x12 album per year (these include layouts about Simon, Anna, and our family). I have separate albums for myself, for Chris, and for stories from my childhood (some layouts that I did in 2009 and 2010 went into those albums). I say "so far" for 2009 and 2010 because there are still stories I'd like to tell. You can read more about my adventures in album organization in that project category archive here.
One of the goals I have for myself is to not get too caught up in all the logistics. It can get crazy overwhelming if you try to have it all figured out before starting. I try to go with what seems to make the most sense at the time and focus more on getting the stories told (also known as just doing something other than over-thinking it all). It's often those logistics that become a stumbling block to getting any stories told.
As for choosing which stories go into Project Life vs. my 2011 album, again, I'm really flexible. I'm trying to keep Project Life simple and doable. When I've got a longer story to tell there have been weeks when I've included that in Project Life (Week Four is a good example) and other times that I've decided to make a "regular" layout like this one. My perspective is that they are all part of my overall body of memory keeping work.
If Project Life feels good to you - do it! If making traditional or digital layouts feel good - make those! If they both feel good then by all means do a combo of both. Maybe you want to add in minibooks and digital books and home decor and, and, and, and... There's so many memory keeping options for getting your stories told in a meaningful, creative, fun way.
This has been a pretty un-eventful week, photo-wise, so I think that a non-photo week in Project Life will be just what I need. Thanks for the idea!
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Ooh, if you're going to do an "all stuff" week, it could be nicely culminated with a snippet of the packaging/envelope that your camera charger was mailed back to you in. That way, you'd remember why that week was 'just stuff,' and how you left your camera charger behind when you came home!
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Ali, Thank you so very much for sharing your PL with us. Since jan 2011 I also have an album open on my desk with divided page protectors (PL shipping to Belgium was a bit to expensive). It is very nice to put stuff, photos and bits and pieces of journaling right into the album. Seeing your album is such an inspiration. Just like your lay-outs. Can you make an estimate how much layouts you have made in 2009 and 2010? Thanks for sharing.
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Ali, This might be a dumb question, but this is my second year on PL and I love keeping "stuff" but for some reason I always try to "fold" my items to fit the pockets. Do you always trim yours to just a portion or do you include the entire thing? For example, a take-out menu where we had dinner. I folded it in half and included the whole thing. How would have you have handled it? Just cut the front and bag the rest or include as much as you can fit? I find my album is getting too fat but for some reason I have an aversion to only including a snippet.
Thanks, Ali. I'm going to re-think how I'm doing it.
Hi Britiney - I usually cut things up :). "Pieces of the whole" is how I like to think about it. There are sometimes things I might keep whole, but for the most part just a bit is perfect.
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What a coincidence! I just got back from a fun trip to NYC with lots of "stuff" for my PL book. I just finished putting it all together and have no room for photos! I was thinking this would be a fun change. We must have been thinking along the same lines! I will be adding a few photos on an extra page though, I can't help myself. :)
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I love "stuff" pages....in Jan I put in an additional protector with stuff relating to year's goals...in Feb, stuff I love...sometimes I just look for stuff all in the same color...green stuff, orange stuff.
I have some old scrapbooks from the 30's and they are full of found things...magazine pictures, fabric scraps, drawings, cards and letters....money was tight...I actually like some of these pages more than ones with pictures...they are such a snapshot of life at that time.
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On average, how long does it take you to put together a week in your PL album?
Hi - I work on it a bit each day. I'd say if I was to do the whole week at once it would take me two hours. Maybe less, maybe more depending on the amount of additional pages I add.
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I love my card reader because a dead camera battery doesn't mean I can't work with photos I've already taken.
Now I get it, you needed the charger to take the photos for the posting...since I never do that piece of it, I didn't think of it earlier.
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Ali, thank you so, so much for taking your time to answer this. And you are so right! Sometimes I should stop thinking and just keep scrapping our memories. :)
Take care!
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My camera and I haven't really "clicked" this year (that pun makes me smile), so I've been doing nothing but stuff weeks! That said, all my notes and snippets are just one big pile, as I haven't actually put together a system yet. Still feel like I have recorded a lot of details though, so that's fine with me. Plus, a few photos have found their way through my lens anyway, so it will be cool to see what snaps I can add to empty "slots" when I have my page protectors ready. Thanks for sharing your weeks with us!
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I'm actually doing this for the first week weeks of the year. I'd been on the fence about ordering. Then I did. Then when I went back - I realized there were hardly any pics for the first few weeks of the year and hardly any "stuff" either. So I'm using those weeks to fill in some general stuff - our house, cars, regulars (that I"m able to recreate - like coffee pkgs, food pkging etc). It really makes to you outside the photo when you don't have any - but at the same time realize you can still tell your story!
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Hi Alie, can you pls advice me whats the brand of the plastic divider that you use to make this project life? What size are these?are you using one brand of different type of brand?
And also what brand is the folder that you use?
Pls advice.
Thanks
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