I’d like to tell you a little something about the year 2008.
I was pregnant 9 out of the 12 months that year. Pregnant for me is synonymous with sick. I was blessed (so, so, so blessed) with 3 healthy pregnancies and 3 healthy babies but man, I did not feel well the whole 9 months. I’m not complaining — not for a second. It’s just the way it was. 2008 also happened to be the first year I attempted taking a picture a day to document our life. I started on January 1st (before I was prego) and that lasted, well … not even 2 months. That pregnancy just kicked me over and it was all I could to do muster the energy to care for our other 2 children and work and carry on with life as a semi-functional human being.
I have a point to sharing this.
2008 went pretty much un-documented. Sure, I took pictures. (How could I not?) Definitely didn’t take quite as many and I certainly didn’t get much scrapbooking done that year. Soooo … fast-forward to now. Guess what I just finished? (**insert squeel**) Our 2008 family yearbook! I am so pumped, people. Like totally & completely so happy about this.
How did I pull off that little magic trick?
I used Digital Project Life. Specifically, the month-at-a-glance template. I chose 7 pictures to represent each month, dropped my pictures in the template, added my journaling, done. One layout per month and just like that, 2008 was documented! Yes, I’ll share more of this with you when I received my printed book in the mail. Of course this can be done with the physical kit as well. It’s all the same concept: Documenting life with the most simple approach to scrapbooking.
Want to see a few digital Project Life books? Today I’m sharing books completed by 3 different customers, each with a different approach. These were all done using last year’s Original design. Of course we now have 2 new designs — Turquoise and Amber. Oh, and psssst. Have you noticed that there is a 30% sale going on right now? If you want to pay in advance for your book (and still be able to take your time creating it), the Digital Project Life books are 30% off through the 31st (Monday). So if you’re thinking about it, play around with it this weekend.
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Brittney made a book as a Christmas gift for her parents who were leaving on a mission. It includes pictures of her siblings and each of their respective families. She removed all the journaling cards to make it a picture-heavy book. This turned out to be an awesome gift that will make home feel not-so-far for these grandparents while they’re away. Check out Britt’s entire book HERE.
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Laurel made a book of her family’s 2010 — all 52 weeks. Showcasing 7 pictures a week (each layout is a new week), she used the Original week-at-a-glance template in its most original format. In other words, she left the default square photo spots all square (you can easily alter the size & shape & scale), which resulted in a very nice, uniform look. Check out Laurel’s entire book HERE.
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Jill also did a 2010 book but she used the month-at-a-glance template (like I did). Some months are represented with just a page and some months take up 2 or 3 layouts. She even added a few full-sized pictures in the mix, which I love. Jill said, I tripped over the Project Life web site in late December and I quickly decided that it was the perfect solution to help get me caught up on my scrapbooking. I was able to put the whole 2010 book together in less than a week. And, I had a lot of fun working on it — especially once I realized that I could alter the template pages if I wanted to. Check out Jill’s entire book HERE.
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Digital Project Life is flexible to your needs, just like the physical kit. I love seeing the different variations and how each customer is making the book work for them. If you have completed and ordered a Digital Project Life book, you would have been sent an email that has a link to your viewable (not editable) book. Feel free to share the link in a comment here … if you’re open to sharing that with everyone.
Tags: digital, digital Project Life, sample books
Hi Becky–
Just yesterday I was chatting with my best friend (who also scrapbooks and does project life) about how I had JUST finished my 2008 sb. I did a 2 page layout for each month and am really happy with the results…BUT…I’m still 2 years behind. I’ve been reevaluating how I want to move forward from here. What do I want to do for 2009? I didn’t do project life that year, but I took thousands of photos. I just might have to make my life easier and do this…but my concern is will I miss the scrapbooking aspect of documenting life?
I noticed you recently cleaned out your stash, I did too, and passed on loads of great product to an organization that helps foster kids, but I still have lots of great products.
My question for you is this: What are YOUR ideas for the products you’ve held onto?
For all the people that are on the fence regarding the Digital Project Life. I have to say – I am LOVING it! I was more than a little skeptical after reading some of the small issues with no undue button, no true zoom, no basic photo editing etc… plus I really absolutely ADORE all the amazing Paper Project Life books that many people have posted; but somehow I knew that as much as I wanted a amazing book like those – I knew that the paper version wasn’t for me. The calm of having a small book when finished just brings me peace.
I am happy to write that after working on the first three weeks of January; Digital Project Life is everything and more than I had hoped for. It’s quick, addicting, versitile (I too am going to be adding full page photos…love that!!) If you are into text, Becky’s Digital Book is so far ahead of Shutterfly etc… with Digital Project Life you have the ability to add text where every you want; change the opacity (love that too!).
If you like adding text of different colors, sizes, fonts in your journaling or over photos, it’s all there. I think that’s what sold me. It gives me the ability to make my pages mine. I’ve decided to write each of the silly quotes my children say in a fun cheerful blue and in a different larger font than the rest of the story. Loving this… !!
Thanks Becky! It’s a wonderful feeling to be “caught up” with my 2011 Project Life. I’ve been taking a photo a day since you started this wonderful concept in 2009. So, yes, I have loads of photos. I now know that YES, I CAN and WILL complete 2009 and 2010!
I am using the digital version of Project Life this year for the first time and absolutely loving it. I have completed both years of the normal Project 365/Life. The digital version is so much faster. I really love my other books, don’t get me wrong, but will never go back to that version again. I can’t wait to look at the books you have highlighted here. So far I have just been keeping all the boxes the same size, like Laurel’s. I did not even realize there was so much you could do to change the sizes, etc. that much. Would love a tutorial that showed more of that kind of thing.
Probably the only negative I could say about the digital version is that it is so easy that I forget to do it and every few days I realize I haven’t taken a picture or caught the book up to date. Before, I would type an ongoing Word document to keep track of what happened every day until I got around to hand writing all the cards. Then I would take my pictures, edit them in Photoshop, save in a file on my PC, print them on my home printer, round corners and get it all in the book. Now I just drag the photo in and type the text right there – one step!
Thank you so much Becky.
Yay for you! I also got caught up on some scrapbooking with Project Life. I bought the first version when it first came out but it sat in the box for a year! I took a bunch of pictures (not necessarily every day but enough to do 50 out of 52 weeks (I just skipped the other two weeks since the album is so flexible).
A few weeks ago I organized the pictures and got them printed at Shutterfly. When they arrived, I put them into the album in 3 hours! (assembled most of it while they were shipping the photos).
So after that I had a base album for a whole year in just a few hours! I quickly stamped the date filler cards in a few minutes. Now I just have some journaling to do (referencing facebook and blog posts for that, I also kept a small notebook I can match up to things.)
I also purchased the new Turquoise version for 2011 that I hope to keep up on better than 2010. I also may just go back and do previous years since it’s so easy! Thanks Becky for a great product!
Hooray! Thank you, thank you! I have really been enjoying the project life community posts and seeing all the “real” pages was making me crave the real thing again! I was feeling like I was the only one trying digital…it was so great to see these CREATIVE examples!
I am going to stick with digital for 2011!
A tutorial would be a great idea so that some of us can be more creative – and is there a vertical format in the digital that is like the new page protectors available?
Good luck my fellow digital do-ers and keep posting digital examples for the rest of us!!!
Love the concept of the digital. My only concern is: what do you do with all the little mementos? The little programs or ticket and little pieces of paper? Any ideas?
Scan them and save as jpeg images and then add to your book.
Bingo!
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Sudie and Renee , Becky Higgins. Becky Higgins said: How I documented a whole year in one day. http://tinyurl.com/4kuqak2 (Possible weekend project for you?) [...]
I have a question about the pre-paid sale. If I buy a Month-at-a-Glance book now, will I be able to add pages and pay for those when I finish the book? I’d do the pre-paid option if I knew I would also be able to add pages.
Amy – I did this with my Week-at-a-Glance book in Becky’s post above. I added one or two pages when I was done. I had the prepaid credit and then I put the additional pages and the shipping on my credit card. It was super easy!
Good to know! Thanks!
Okay, so I am loving the idea of Digital Project Life!! I’ve made other photo books for Christmas gifts for years, now it’s time to be all about MY family! SO let me get this straight…in the digital version, there is room for making it whatever you want it to be?? Lots of options for layouts/journaling to change it up however I please?? I really don’t think I want the picture a day, since some days I don’t take photos, and other days I would want 3+ photos in an album. A whole month in a glance???? This sounds PERfect for what I was thinking. Can’t wait to see yours so I can start mine!
This is so awesome!!! I have last years project life album that I got in December for last years photos and I’ve ordered the Amber one for this years photos. That way I won’t feel so far behind! Love Love Love this idea to be kind of caught up!!!!! Although I know that will never happen… LOL
Hi Becky!
I stumbled across your blog last night and I love it! I know this is totally off the subject but I am building a new home and am trying to find a turquoise subway tile backsplash to go with my white cabinets. Would you be willing to share the info about your kitchen tile with me?
How exciting! Thanks for featuring my book, Becky. It was really a fun project and I love the finished book. This year, I’m doing the paper kit just to see which I like better. So far, I love them both!
Thanks for sharing some digital versions. So neat to see some things I did not realize I could with the digital kit. I started this project this past Fall and did the last quarter of the year. I did that to see if it would be a project I could keep up with and I enjoyed it so much. I wish I would have started sooner. I got my finished book this week and I was so happy with it.
I would love to share:
http://beckyhiggins.ziblio.com/share/p/3007171377765160
Great book, Sharon. That is just how mine is turning out. Your little guy is a cutie.
I love how you have several smaller pictures in one photo spot. How did you do that? Did you make a collage of them first and then add to the book, or did you add all the pictures separately to the photo space? Does that make sense? If you did it separately, how did you do that? Thanks….and awesome book by the way!! : )
Thanks Sue. It is a fun project! Good luck with yours!
Cheryl,
I did the smaller photos with photoshop. I crop several photos and open a 4X6 canvas and drop them into it and save the new photo in my pictures and upload it to Project Life like that (hope that makes sense). I like doing that so that I can get a few photos into one day.
Great! Thanks for the info!
I just discovered Project Life this year thanks to Becki Crosby and Whippy Cake. I am in love with it. I chose the digital version because I cannot stand clutter and my scrapbooking supplies always create a bit of a mess. I now take pictures of items instead of keeping them. How wonderful it is to have downsized in materials. Also, the books are more compact, so I can make them every year and not have them take up a lot of room. My parents have requested a copy when I am done and that takes just the click of a button! Love Digital Project Life Becky!
Thanks again for being such a great example to women everywhere!
I am going to add my two sense on here at well….I too started the Digital Version of Project Life in 2009. I put my pictures and text into a digital Project Life book but only got to March, but then after it started getting warm outstide, I abandoned it. We got busy with well Life. Life and residency. I still took a picture of every day that year but didn’t finish putting it into the digital online book. The pictures are just sitting in a file on my computer.
After Becky posted that she got her’s finished, I went back online today and found my book I had started. It brought tears to my eyes. My kids seemed so much smaller. I laughed at some of the food crafts I had done with them. My two youngest came up and started saying, “Look how little I was”, “there’s when I played in the soccer game” and wanted to spend all day looking at our book. I was awed by my photography when back then it didn’t seem like anything special. I tried different angles and there was so much of interest to view in those pictures. And for heaven’s sake it was only updated through March!!
This project is invaluable and I know what my weekend plans are….to finish putting in my pictures for the rest of the year and finish it. It won’t even matter if they weren’t on the exact date because as I was flipping through it today, I was only noticing the pictures…not the time or day.
Thanks for the motivation Becky to finish a project I once started and to keep plugging along with 2011….
Awwww…what a great story. It inspired me to keep motivated to catch up *some day*. : )
Thank you to everyone for sharing your digital books and for the great info! I have spent the last month debating what to do with my 2010 pictures. They are just sitting on my computer… It really helps me to know more about the Digital Project Life options and results.
I am so overwhelmed with my pictures. I have been taking digital pictures for six years and I am basically behind that and more.
I am thinking that perhaps the digital version may work for me. Just wondering if you MUST use the weekly prompts. I haven’t followed along daily. Just not sure whether a month at a glance would be enough. can you add pages and if so-is it easy?
Yes you can add pages and yes, it’s totally easy.
I did my own version of Project 365 in 2009. Skipped 2010, and am doing the Amber Project Life. I am also interested in the digital version. Right now I edit every photo I print. It’s really TOO MUCH. I enjoy some editing, but I have 4 kids and take a ton of pictures.
Anyway, w/ the digital version, do I still need to edit my pics before uploading? Is there color/density correcting automatically done?
I’m on the fence, RE going to digital photobooks vs. 3-ring binders w/ page protectors of pics, and some traditional SB layouts. All b/c I’m concerned w/ how the digital printed product will look. If I print pics and a few 4x6s are “bad”, it’s easy to reprint those.
I noticed that you were sick during your pregnancy, and was wondering if you were diagnosed with Hyperemesis Gravaria (unrelenting nausea/vomiting during pregnancy). Unfortunately, I was diagnosed with this life threatening illness, and ended up losing the baby. I have done project life in years past, and had started one prior to becoming sick – do you have any suggestions for how people have continued with project life while also facing extreme illness and loss?
For those readers that are interested http://www.helpher.org has more information regarding the illness.
Does anyone know how to add a picture to cover the whole page? Is it just a matter of resizing the photo boxes to cover the page? I love this idea for adding in pages for my son’s scanned artwork. I have been struggling with paper vs. digital for this very reason…I didn’t want just a small picture of some artwork, I want to keep it true to the original size and this would be a great solution without keeping the actual artwork.
Cheryl, this is exactly one of the projects I’m working on now for our son’s art, so I’ll be sharing the completed book soon. To answer your question, you can just drop the image onto the page and just resize it until it fills the entire page, yes.
Wow…a personal response! Yay! I feel like i just had an encounter with a celebrity. ; ) Can’t wait to see the book of Porter’s artwork…he is an awesome little artist!
I just delete the whole background (i think you highlight the page, then hit delete) then it deletes all the journal cards/photo spots in one step. Then place my photo on the page, hit resize til it fills up the page, then move as needed. Easy and fast!
Thanks Jill…Great tip, I can’t wait to try it!
Becky,
Did I miss the link to your 2008 book? I can’t seem to find it in the post. Thanks!
Stacey
Did Becky put up links for any of her own PL life albums for 2009 or 2010? Specifically looking forward to seeing her digital books.
Becky what is the best way to contact you??!! I have detailed questions I need to ask you about your recipe album and school scrapbook!
Hey Becky, first of all, I LOVE project life! It is just such an amazing concept that has completely changed my view of scrapbooking. I do have one question….I am on the fence between the paper and digital version. I absolutely love being able to put memorabilia in the paper version, especially being able to add in additional page protectors. What do you do with all the memorbilia for the digital version? I would like to go digital, but that is my one hang up. Any ideas from you or other Project Lifers out there?