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| My Project Life Box contains my Core Kit, a corner rounder, adhesive, scissors, stapler, labels, stickers, and more |
Did you know I have a Project Life page right here on my bog? It’s always right there at the top of my blog on the Project Life tab. I try to keep it reasonably up to date with photos and video shares of my ongoing Project Life 2012. Since I’m at the halfway point of this year long project, I thought I’d share what I’ve learned so far about this project and how I’m keeping myself on track with it (I can’t believe this, but I’ve never been more than 2 weeks behind).
Firstly, if you have no idea what Project Life is all about, check out beckyhiggins.com to see what it’s all about. She also has an amazing design team that is full of fabulous ideas and inspiration for documenting your everyday moments.
Or check out her video (the intro is quite long, but at the end she shows how the system works):
So here’s what I’ve learned so far:
Throw away the rule book
This project was designed to be flexible and to meet our needs as scrapbookers, so there is no need to follow any one method to a tee. The idea is to document without pressure. I’ve been doing a 2-page spread per week with some insert pages if needed for extras. But some people do a 2 page spread per month, or any other combination. I’ve considered doing a one page spread per week, especially on uneventful weeks, but I always seem to fill up both pages with something or another. I really like that it doesn’t need to be the same each week. I spent a week in Disney in February, and adapted my PL so that each day spanned several 2-page spreads to accommodate all the extra photos and memories. You don’t need a picture per day, a journalling spot per picture, or even a title.
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| Although we were only in Disney one week, the trip spans more than a dozen pages in my book! |
Give yourself permission to skip a week
…or 2, or 10. We have to live our lives first, and document them second. If life gets too busy to stay caught up, then skip it. Or keep track of it, and go back later to fill it in. I know some of us will want to have it all “done” and gaps will really bug those people. But to be honest, I sometimes find that approach stressful. I think if I found myself falling behind I’d rather just skip those weeks and pick up again later. But everyone is different, and we all have to do what works for us. If life gets busy, you can move from a spread a week, to a spread a month, or a summary page that spans 2-3 weeks. Again, the beauty of this approach is in its adaptability.
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| Having a rough week? Document it in a hidden journalling card. |
Snap, Snap, Snap!
I’m talking about your camera, of course! The majority of my PL photos have been iPhone photos because I always have it with me, so it’s the easiest means of capturing my everyday life. But I also use lots of instax pictures as well as photos from Scott’s DSLR. It is far easier to fill a 2 page spread when you have lots of photos. Although some people use PL as a way to document a photo each day (and the Design A page protectors are perfect for this with room for one photo and one journalling card per day with a title and filler card each week), I don’t worry too much about how many photos I have. But I try to take as many as I can remember to take.
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| Filling up your pages with photos makes Project life easier- the remaining spots can be used to describe your pics, and then you’re done before you know it! |
Use products you love to create a project you love
This one seems obvious, but at first, I was trying to use Project Life as my way of using up left-overs, and often chose items that I didn’t really love, but just didn’t want to waste. The result was that I didn’t love my pages early on in the project. I felt like I had to save my best embellies, alphas, and papers for my 12X12 layouts, but this left my PL feeling drab. Although I still see PL as a great way to use up leftovers, I’ve recently started incorporating my favourite and most loved papers, stickers, and alphas, and the result is that I’m having more fun and loving my pages more.
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| Washi tape, markers, stamps, and pretty paper… don’t hoard it- get it in your book where you can enjoy it for years to come! |
Think about what you’ll want to remember…
…and remember it’s all in the details. Use wrappers, labels, pamphlets, magazine clippings, receipts, Facebook status updates, and anything else that shows the details of your life. I like to get handwriting samples, and I’m always sure to label my kids friends when they appear so we will remember who they were all those years later. I include pictures of things like empty rooms, unmade beds, closets, etc. because it shows some of the details of our life.
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| The new $100 bill, the sound of June bugs clicking on the windows, my craft room table, our schedule for the week- these are the details that make up our lives |
Plan ahead for potential challenges
There are a few predictable challenges to this project. The obvious one is that there are weeks when you are too busy to document it all, or weeks when you forget to take enough photos. For the busy weeks, be sure to have lots of pre-made journalling cards on hand. As much as I love customizing this project, the cards that come in Becky Higgins’ core kit have been so convenient on the busy weeks. They are pre-cut to size, corner rounded, and have cute designs that coordinate with one another. If I were to only use a bunch of 4X6 photos and Becky Higgins journalling cards, I could do a week long spread in about an hour. And although I like the customized look, the “plain” look is also quite nice and I’d rather have a few plain-ish weeks than fall behind or have gaps. So giving myself permission to be plain some weeks has been really big for me.
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| There was a LOT of documenting to do for the week we spent in Disney World, so journalling cards from the Core Kit feature prominently in most of these pages. I completed all the pages in a weekend. |
For the weeks when I have fewer photos I have a backup plan. I keep a folder of filler ideas, photos, and clippings that I could use for any week. These include cute images or sayings I printed off Facebook or Pinterest (but that aren’t related to me personally), timeless photos that don’t have to be used the week they were taken (e.g., a photo of our coffee maker) and other filler items like the wrapper from my favourite candy, tags from the girls clothes. If I ever have holes in my spread, I can just plug these things in to fill up the week. This has been a godsend for me. I also plan to give a few cards to extended family so they can do some journalling to include in my PL. They can give me back a photo and a completed card and I can use them to fill in gaps on uneventful weeks.
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| Things like our favourite TV show, a stamp I really like, and a pink wood grain screen print make excellent filler material as it is not date-specific. Collect these items when you have time and use them when there are gaps in your spreads. |
I think it’s also important to think about other challenges that might be specific to you. For me, I always dreaded making up a date card. I would go to work on the project but because I had no inspiration for a date card, I’d just leave it and do something else instead. So one night I made up a bunch of date cards and put them in each week’s pages. That month was so easy to add to because I knew which week was which and I didn’t need to feel inspired enough to make a creative date card.
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| The Becky Higgins Core Kit comes with more than enough date/title cards for a whole year. Here I used orange Thickers and a border punch to punch one up a bit. |
Work it into your routine
I use page protectors to collect my “stuff” all week. I keep them on the main living level of my house and drop things into it all through the week. I keep a box of journalling cards in my purse so I can jot notes if I want on the fly. And I keep a self-contained box of basic PL supplies in a designated spot in my scrap room. It has even a small corner rounder, adhesive, and extra scissors, so I don’t have to gather up those staples from my craft room. I can just grab the box and go upstairs to scrap while I watch TV (speaking of which the descriptive video channels for the visually impaired are really great for scrapbooking while you take in some TV). My box might not have a huge selection of goodies, but it has just enough of all the right things to allow me to get a basic layout completed. Everyone will have their own routine that works for them, but I thought I’d share mine (I scrapbook Project Life on a 2 week cycle):
- Monday
- Final touches on the previous 2-week’s spread, if necessary (time varies – never more than 2 hours)
- Create a date card for this week (if I want to) (5-15 minutes)
- Take pictures and drop items into page protector to save for this week’s spread
- Tuesday
- Take pictures and drop items into page protector to save for this week’s spread
- Wednesday
- Take pictures and drop items into page protector to save for this week’s spread
- Thursday ( week1- about 30 minutes or less; week2- 30 minutes to 2 hours)
- Print photos from Monday-Thursday
- Roughly place items (photos and items I’ve been collecting in the page protector all week) in the pockets of PL based on where I think they will go
- Take pictures and drop items into page protector to save for this week’s spread
- If this is week 2, I might spend more time scrapping the cells from last week or this week, if I have the time and want to.
- Friday
- Take pictures and drop items into page protector to save for this week’s spread
- Saturday
- Take pictures and drop items into page protector to save for this week’s spread
- Sunday
- Get up early and spend 1-2 hours on this week’s (Monday-today) PL spread.
- Print photos from Thurs-Sunday
- Place items in the Project Life pockets where I think they will go
- Create a date card if not done already
- Begin scrapping each cell, leaving room for today if necessary
- Work on Project Life as time allows today
- if this is week 1, I might not work at all on PL besides the 2 hours early in the morning.
- If this is week 2, I will spend as much time as I need to complete most of the 2 weeks today. If I don’t have much time to scrap today, this week will be simple, relying a lot on the Becky Higgins core kit cards. If I have more time today, and want to spend it on this, it will be more elaborate.
Total time spent per week:
-about 2.5 hours on week 1
-about 4.5 hours on week 2 (could be less or more)
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| Hexagons, chevrons, a sunburst, mail-stripes, arrows, letter stickers, hearts, butterflies, twine, and paper clips… ahhhhhh, all my favourites in one tight shot. I {heart} Project Life! |
