Week In The Life™ 2021 | Ali's Starting Place

Week In The Life™ is coming next week! 

From Monday, May 10th through Sunday, May 16th I'll be documenting stories of our week alongside an awesome community of memory keepers who believe in the power of storytelling to make a difference in their lives. 

This year I'm mixing things up for myself + giving myself wholehearted permission and space to be really playful and have fun. After embarking on this project every year since 2005 I'm embracing being a little more free to see how it all unfolds. There will absolutely still be photos and still be words but it might look a little different than it has in past years. 

In this Saturday's Week In The Life™ Prep Day I'll be sharing more about my 2021 documenting approach, a video walkthrough of how I'm setting up my album, how I put together the pages I'm showing below, digital downloads (some seen below in my set up), and a couple fun page ideas to add to your project. Jess Forster and Lisa Varshine will also be joining me to share some of their wisdom + experience related to this project. You're invited to join us for this $5 event that starts at 7am Pacific and goes through 2pm Pacific. All videos will be archived + recorded for future viewing. 

Please remember as you take a look at my set up for this project this year that it's just that: my personal set up. This project is all about you and your own particular story in your own life right now. There isn't a right or a wrong way to approach this (or any) memory keeping project and I want to encourage you to find a rhythm that works for you. You might have fewer photos or you might have more photos. You might have a whole lot more words or fewer words. You might be using everything from your stash or all new products or a fun combination or no products at all. It all works.    

I also invite you to check out my Week In The Life™ archives for a look at all the ways my albums have come together in past years.  

In today's post I'm sharing a look at my very colorful beginnings along with the design formula I'm planning to follow for each of my days. 

Let's dive in: 

As you might have noticed, I'm going super colorful this year and I'm so enjoying the process of play. The Week In The Life™ circle is included in the Mini Kit and the background "this week" paper and the date circle are downloads that will be available during Prep Day. Tissue paper + Mod Podge (inspired by projects from Hello Story 3) came together on top of the printed "this week" page to bring the whole thing to life. I'll share a process video for putting this together during the first hour of Prep Day.  

Behind my title page I added a "reason why" page because I love using that as a jumping off point for my album. The background "reason why" paper will be a download during Prep Day. The "why" was stamped using this alpha stamp set. 

After my title + reason why pages I set up a design formula that I follow for each day (some things might change as I bring it all together but this is my starting place): 

I'm starting each day with the daily overlay included with the 2021 album bundle. 

The first page protector in my formula is the 2 pocket, 4 inch x 6 inch (included with the album). In the top pocket I'm including one of the plastic half circles and cutting off some of the page protector along the top so that the circle comes up out of the page protector. In the bottom pocket I'm adding the 4 inch x 6 inch journal card from the Mini Kit that includes 10 -ing words. I'll be handwriting my responses to each of those each day during the week. 

The next page I'm adding in each day is a printed (sized to 7 inches wide x 8.25 inches tall) day of the week design from Week In The Life™ 2021 Layered Template + Overlays package. I printed those on Epson Ultra Premium Matte Presentation Paper. 

Here's a look at that layered template + overlay set: 

On the back of that printed page I'm planning to include a full page photo or photo collage (and it might end up being a two-page photo spread along the lines of something I saw Pam Baldwin share on IG this past week). 

In between that photo enlargement or photo collage I'll be including a couple page protectors as inserts for story + more photos: (1) a 6 inch x 8 inch that's cut down to 3 inch x 8 inch and holds the "today" card from the Mini Kit and (2) a 3x8 page protector holding one of the 3 inch x 8 inch cards from this set. 

Currently I've got a full page 6 inch x 8 inch page protector in there after the 3 inch x 8 inch but I might end up taking that out. 

And repeat. 

My journaling plan this year is to simply respond by hand to the prompts on the journal cards. I'm going to let those prompts lead the stories I capture and I'll be doing that writing each day. In past year's I've generally just focused on my words + photos during the actual documenting week but this year I'm planning to write on the cards during the week and deal with my photos + embellishing after the week is over. 

This year it will be me + Aaron here from Monday until Friday afternoon when the kids come back. I love the opportunity to tell the story of what that kind of week looks like around here (our every other week reality). Currently I'm planning to take photos as I feel like it and I honestly don't feel pressure to use them all. In the past I've taken some of my most favorite photos during this week and I can always use photos from this week to support other stories I might want to tell in my documenting adventures. 

I'm super excited to embark on this project for my 16th (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) year and so look forward to telling stories alongside you next week. 

SUPPLIES

• Week In The Life™ 2021 Polka Dot Album Bundle
• Week In The Life™ 2021 AE Mini Kit
• Week In The Life™ Alpha + Numbers Stamp Set
• Week In The Life™ 3x8 Journal Card Set
• Week In The Life™ Prep Day Digitals
• Week In The Life™ Large Plastic Half Circles
• Week In The Life™ 2021 Layered Template + Overlay Package
• Tissue Paper
• Mod Podge
• AE Slickwriter Pen
• AE Precision Pen
• Epson XP15000 Printer