Now that we’re into our third month of 2011, I thought I’d check in and see how you’re doing with Project Life.
I sorta kinda … definitely have a feeling some of you are trying for the picture-a-day format and some of you are a little … uh, behind. Am I right?
GUESS WHAT friends?
If you have a couple weeks or a couple months that are just crazy, pace yourself. Don’t bite off more than you can chew. Give yourself a break. Don’t make this more stressful than it needs to be. If you’re keeping up the picture-a-day pace, great! That’s awesome. Good for you.
No matter how little or how much you’re doing, it’s all good.
Please realize that there is more than one way to use Project Life. Project Life has an incredibly flexible format. Use it however you wish! It’s your life. It’s your project. It will adapt to your needs. Here are a few ideas to inspire you.
…
{ SCHOOL ALBUM }
Tammy Morales (who distributes Project Life internationally) is using Project Life to catch up on years & years of her boys’ school pictures & memorabilia. You should check out this video she did about her process.
**NOTE: Many of you know we’ve been working on solution-based products to help you tackle the pictures & memorabilia that come with any child … school-related stuff and otherwise. We’re still plugging along and still planning to release those products this year. But if you’re anxious to do something now and don’t want to wait, Project Life can certainly help you get the job done!
…
{ CHILDHOOD ALBUM }
Erin Rollins in California is using a Project Life album for each of her children. Each child’s book is being filled with pictures, art, memorabilia, and general childhood memories. She shares her process here.
…
Jade Conran in Australia is doing the same thing and has felt completely liberated scrapbooking her children’s pictures with the ultra-easy slip-in-the-photos format that Project Life offers. Jade said that she got 250 random photos from Flynn’s childhood finished in one week. “This rocks my world and I feel like an enormous weight has been lifted.” Check out her inspiring pages here. She also did a video that shows flipping through the album, narrating along the way.
…
{ YOUR CHILDHOOD ALBUM }
As in … your old pictures! Do you get what I’m saying? Think about all those pictures from your own childhood that are still sitting in boxes. Um, yeah. Those. That’s what I’m talking about. And that’s exactly what Heatherle in Oregon decided to tackle recently. She said, “I bought the Amber edition because it reminded me of my 1970s childhood. I started with age 4 because the rest of the photos need to still be rescued from the sticky albums, and I am almost to college. The book includes a layout for each year of school, with additional page protectors for report cards and the like, and then topical layouts like Christmasses, Family Members with Trout, Dogs I have Loved, Awful ’70s Fashions. My son visited from college today and spent nearly an hour looking through the book.”
…
{ BABY ALBUM }
So much happens in that first year of life and you don’t want to miss a thing. That’s how Elana in Hawaii feels. Their sweet little girl Alison was born this recent September and they are using Project Life to document Alison’s arrival and milestones and adjustments as a family. Elana said, “With a nearly 3-year old and a newborn I haven’t had any time to scrapbook in the traditional sense, but with this kit I love how easy it is to document my baby girl’s first year of life.”
…
{ REMEMBRANCE }
Tina in Nevada emailed me recently: “Six weeks ago, a dear friend of mine lost her daughter to a brain tumor. She was only 40 years old. While at the funeral, my friend mentioned how difficult it was to find a photo of her daughter to display because all the photos were in boxes. I offered to help her, when she was ready, organize the photos into books. I am a 3rd year Project Life addict and knew your system would be perfect for her. It’s going to be easier than scrapbooking all the photos but more detailed than a regular album because she’ll be able to write details about certain photos. I’m sure you had no idea when you came up with the idea, all the different ways people could use your project.”
…
Thank you Tina, for sharing that. Thank you Elana, Heatherle, Jade, Erin, and Tammy. And thank you to so many of you for sharing how Project Life is revolutionizing the way you not only document life, but also the way you cultivate a good life.
Tags: Project Life
Great ideas! Thanks for sharing!
Love the idea of going back through old photos—I have alot of them and have been thinking of ‘what to do’—this looks like the perfect solution!
Great post. Great ideas.
I really look forward to seeing what sort of school album you’re producing. Fun!
I’m using Project Life to document our year, but I’ve decided to do one spread for each MONTH. For me, this is what works best. It’ll be fun to have an album full of “month at a glance” pages.
I’m just about to finish up my Jan & Feb spreads.
Here’s a post I published when my January pages were still in process:
http://ellieandabbie.typepad.com/bright_eyes_blue_eyes/2011/01/project-life-getting-started.html
I haven’t yet begun project life but the more examples i see the more i NEED to start!! Thank you for showing other examples of how to you this cool product!
‘how to USE’…
I am so inspired!!! Thank you for sharing these wonderful ideas!
You are very very correct Becky! I had lots in January that I documented. February has one spread but several added pages in between from a recent day trip into the city (Washington, DC) and some other things. This is a very very fluid project for me. It’s what I choose each week/month to make it.
Additionally, I have a second project life for 2005-2006 that never got scrapped. I’ll do it ‘sometime’.
The beauty of this album is in its flexibility. The best thing is being caught up!
When I used to be a SAHM, I found time to take the pictures and document them. Now, I’m working full time with 4 kids in school and I still find the time to take the pictures, but not the documenting! Thanks for sharing other ways to use PL. So inspiring!
I’m working on 3 Project Life books right now: 1 Present Day, 2 Heritage, and 3 I’m finally documenting my children’s stories and pictures from birth on (the oldest two are 23 so I’m gonna need LOTS of P.L. kits!) But IT”S HAPPENING! The photos and memories are finding a lifelong home and I couldn’t be happier! Thanks Beky!
What great ideas on how to use Project Life! It changes my thinking about its uses.
Loved seeing all of these! Tammy’s video from the other day inspired me to think about that as well!
Love seeing I’m not the only one not doing a daily photo Project Life! I honestly do not have the time with 5 children and a husband to scrapbook that way. I love the versatility of this book and that I can just do a random page when I feel like it about any old pic!
One idea that I have had as I work on my PL is how great it is to have my pictures out and easy to see. Because of the easy slip format, however, I have repeatedly thought that if in a few years I find a connection to other photos – like a common type photo or relationship type picture (think Stacy Julian’s LOM) – then it will be easy to either pull it out of the album or know when it was taken with much more accuracy for a reprint. The pictures are available to be seen, but still useable for other projects.
YES. I’m behind. But still attempting to take a picture a day…but not stressing if it doesn’t happen. I’m keeping little tidbits here & there. The really fun thing??? I convinced 2 of my sis in laws to get the kit, plus my mom again too! I seriously can’t wait to see what we all do with it!!! Thanks Becky! I love your post today
I have been using mine on kind of a weekly thing, if some days I take more, oh well, and I know there will be times, whne the whole page spread will be one thing, but I find this works for me. I am loving this, only 2 month in, and already my kids have looked back at it, I have it sitting out in the open, in the dining room, so even guests have commented on it. Thanks so much for this!!
Wow. Thanks for this. Sometimes it’s hard to “think outside the box”. I still need to order the new kit (or win one!? ;0) but my wheels are spinning. I mean, it’s better than the pictures sitting in boxes, right? Love that.
Hee! This is so funny. Me and my friend Brek just made a challenge yesterday to make sure we have our week done by Sunday at 10:00. One of us has been better at taking photos each day and both of us haven’t even got the supplies out of the box. I love the picture-a-day concept and this will be my 3rd year but as you can see I still struggle. Oh and if we aren’t completed with our week the other has to make a treat for the other family for FHE.
LOVE all of the examples. Feeling motivated to organize some photos today!!!!!! Thanks.
Amy
Washington, IN
Becky,
Thank you for posting all these variations of PL. Last year was the first year I had done the POD format and I kept up with it most of the year. When I got behind I just condensed the month into a 2 page spread instead of worring about a POD. I wasn’t going to order another one this year, but I did yesterday. I ordered because I have found so many more ways to use it this year than last. I thank you for making this project so effortless and after today post I think I will order another one to start my daughters scrapbook since she is 10 and not a photo has been put to paper or photo sleeve. Thanks again for this wonderful product
Another great alternative(s) to use PL. Thanks for sharing this Becky!
Thank you for inspiring me again, Becky. I just got motivated to start my kids’ first year albums again.
It’s great to see all the different takes on using Project Life! I’m a first time user and while the system is simple, I’m still adjusting how to use it for me. I know I’ll figure it out and I’m loving the process and quite simply, the ease of it! :>
My kids are grown and no grandkids yet, so I’ve struggled with the POTD idea. I’ve decided to take my amber album and put in the photos from my Alaskan cruise last year. I have 500 or 600 photos (still on the memory card!!) so I’ll need to condense, but then I can journal about each photo. If I try to traditionally scrapbook the trip it will be YEARS before I get it done!
[...] the Becky Higgins blog again today for my post about Flynn’s childhood scrapbook check it out HERE and Becky, thank YOU for understanding just exactly what we need and having the courage to go out [...]
Thank you Becky! I’m so honored to be featured on your amazing blog. You have helped so many people and have made scrapbooking so fun again! Not to mention doable.
You are such an inspiration and I will be forever grateful to you for what you’ve given me with the Project Life kits.
I love the idea of using Project Life to document your own childhood pictures. I have recently rescued my husband’s childhood pictures from those (eek) magnetic albums, and have gathered stories and info from his mom, but had no idea how to throw an album together, with my very little free time. This would be PERFECT! Thanks!!
I’m loving my PL album. I bought it January of 2010 and did good taking pictures ALL year long … but never put them in *blush*! SO, this year .. I was going to buy another kit but figured since I NEVER used last year’s one .. I’ll use it for this year. Pretty sure I’ll switch to digital next year (just based on size alone).
I am loving it. I still keep mine by the week, but not necessarily by the day. Some days are FULL of activity and great moments – which is helpful for the day or 2 that I may forget to snap a photo.
Time just keeps sifting through our fingertips and as my children (age 5, 8, and 10) are just growing so fast – I’m trying to soak up and savor every second with them and PL definitely helps me capture these amazing but fleeting moments.
Thanks!
I love seeing everyone’s variations on PL! So organized and so inspiring.
Tina – what a wonderful gift of time and friendship you are offering to your dear friend. I am sure there will be many memories, many tears and some laughter too as you take this journey with your frined. Blessings to you both!
Fantastic ideas! I love the flexible format of Project Life. It sounds like it’s made lots of people’s scrapbooking less stressful!
My BIG QUESTION is this…..
If you don’t do a picture a day, but you already have all the date cards (the one you put in the upper left corner of the pages with all the weeks already stamped)…..stamped with the weeks of the year……
what does a person put in the pages in place of a pic, if you don’t have tickets etc to add to the page???
Are there enough 4 x 6 filler cards?
Or what about cutting up some of the 12 x 12 paper that came with the kit, as it matches?
But what if you don’t have time to cut up those papers to fit?
What if you don’t have enough pics of a specific week to fill all 7 spots?
What do you add to your album in place of a pic a day?
Can you tell this is my first year doing Project Life and I want it to be a success. I was sick for a month with bronchitis and my hubby had strep for a week while I was sick, so my mom came over lots to take care of us and the kids (THANKS MOM!), so I am a little bit behind in my project life, plus I am also reorganizing our entire craft/home office (my hubby works from home, since he took over my space I haven’t had a work table, so once it is all done we will both have our own space in that room)….
what I am doing while waiting for pics to get printed…I am jotting down ideas on post it notes and putting those in the journalling spots, after my pics come I can then choose if I want a smaller or bigger journalling card…
But what do we put in the photo spot when we don’t have a photo for that day???
thanks so much for your help.
Sincerely,
Marcia
Marcia, I envision you sitting with wide eyes, lots of photo files and an entire PL kit staring you in the face. There isn’t a big blinking arrow pointing to a spot, saying “START HERE!” but you sure wish there was, don’t you? I think your entire craft/home office – every paperclip and brad – is hanging like a massive cloud over your head, threatening to rain down bits any second. Am I close?
Take a dozen deep breaths. Do whatever empties your mind. (I write lists of every.single.thing I can think of that needs to be done – including things that have been on ‘the list’ for a zillion years.)
… Here’s what I am doing for Project Life:
~ There are not enough 4 x 6 filler cards. There are a few extra journal cards – less than 20 because I marked up one of each design and umm, I’m a few short.
~ sometimes there’s no photo to match the journaling; I just use an unrelated photo I took that day/week/month – whatever catches my eye.
~ for days that have truly absolutely nothing of interest [rare, really rare] I have a standby list: all my collections around the house, the recycle basket, the dishes in the dishwasher, dirty and clean, laundry, every product that touches your body when you take a shower/bath, and more. I snap a photo of one of these ideas, write a few sentences, and declare the day done.
~ I rarely need to consult the list because I’ll include my socks – Nike DriFit with R & L on the appropriate sock!; or my to-do list; or whatever mundane thing I notice.
~ I’ve grabbed and printed an ad image for movies and stapled one ticket [if I have one still] to the photo
~ One day I went to Target and Staples. My journaling says a bit about the trip, and the 4 x 6 is both logos
~ I am very wordy [really? really] so I’ve challenged myself to keep my writing to one 4 x 3 card. So far, since Sept, I’ve spilled over less than 10 times!
~ several times, I’ve realized that I wrote about Tuesday on Tuesday’s and Wednesday’s cards. Well, Tuesday’s events were memorable, huh? Whatever; I’ve used two photos from Tuesday too.
~ Snow photos were [finally] getting stale, so I photographed one son’s dirty car – he’s got the black car, heeheehee. Same with swim meets; one meet’s 4 x 6 is made of the paper inserts from a pair of new goggles.
~ I find it easier to keep up with the journaling cards as the week goes by. I usually only have two or three to write, though I was an entire week behind when I sat down yesterday.
~ I keep a 6 x 4 lined pad of post-its with my album. I write Sun – Sat twice on a sheet. I slap a sheet on each 2 pg LO. Every day I jot down the photo or idea for that day. This I try to do EVERY day; my album sits open on my dining room table. (An advantage of having ‘babies’ who are 18!) I have 4 or 5 sheets slapped in,, usually ‘this week’ is the middle one. When I decide on photos to be printed for a week, that sheet moves to the next blank week or is tossed if it’s been used twice.
~ I fight the urge to use pens other than black, the urge to get artsy with my photos, and any other urge to do ‘just a bit more’.
I’m sorry – your eyes are really wide and wild now. One step at a time.
BTW – did you know the captcha code times out? yup – write too much and it’s not valid. giggle
Hi Gypsy,
I actually don’t feel overwhelmed by it all, for our craft/home (my craft space and my hubby’s work space for his job, just a few computers for him – our home supplies stuff is up in our kitchen) office, I have all my embellishments, and pretty much everything organized (my hubby and mom says that I am a little compulsive with my organizing), and if there are a few things that I don’t have organized I already have a list of how it will be organized once the room is finished. Basically we are taking out the desks, and shelves that are on the walls (which holds most of my small stuff) and painting the room, then putting the desks/shelves back into a different configuration so that my hubby’s desk will be better suited to him (for multiple computers/monitors) and that I’ll have my own space with a work table that is better suited to me….so we are using what we already have and just rearranging it…it is just a matter of packing up everything and moving it out so we can sand/paint the walls. Then just putting it all back (I made sure to take pics of how each surface was organized to help the putting back process go quicker), then in the alcove we can add some much needed storage. So I don’t feel overwhelmed with all the brads etc, just wish it was already accomplished and done so we could move on, but in our area where we live right now there are a tons of viruses going around and so it seems someone is always sick in a family of 6!!!
I set up my project life album as Becky suggested in her video tutorial, and have stamped all the weeks etc on the date cards. I pull out the journalling cards in random order as I go to do my journalling once pics are put in…so while I am waiting for the pics to get printed I use post it notes about what I want to say for each space so I don’t forget.
I was just wondering what people do for a photo space when they are not using a photo. I have all my photos organized into storage photo albums (the ones that are printed) and I have a great plan for scrapping all my kids albums as well. I am using Becky’s school album for my oldest (through CK, so can’t wait for her new one for my youngest two children) as the back bone for the albums, then doing one layout/month for all the inbetween stuff, I love that system for scrapping their albums. The Project Life album is our family album, and I’ll probably add in a few layouts in between as we go along, for those events that use more than one or two photos. These extra things I work on every 2 months or so.
It is just sometimes I don’t take a photo everyday or sometimes I don’t have a lot of variety of photos from the week…and was wondering what other things other scrappers put into the photo space if the don’t want to put a photo in that spot.
Sounds like you have a wonderful system that works great for you where you are at in your life. I have to go since my 2 yr old is ‘gently’ calling me from the other end of the house!!! ; )
thanks for all your great ideas, I’ll be sure to read it again when I have more time, and see what tips would suit my scrapping process.
Have a great day!
Marcia
Becky,
Thank you so much for featuring me in your blog post today. I am very honored! I love the freedom that Project Life has brought to my own scrapbooking. AND I LOVE sharing this concept with others.
thanks again for all you do!
Warmly,
Tammy
Love – love – love the idea to use PL to document baby’s first year.
Actually, I gave my lilsis a turquoise edition at her baby shower. I inserted the week, patterned, and journal cards already. I put Week 1, Week 2, etc on the week cards; she can add the actual dates. The first two page layout is all photos. I included the baby’s two great-grandmothers, grandparents, aunts & uncles, and first cousins, using photos from baby’s parents’ wedding. Baby has the perfect size family! ; )
My lilsis is thrilled; they’ll also be moving during the year so she’ll have plenty to capture.
This has just giving me a fabulous idea for helping to organize all of my mom’s photos that I had been uncertain what to do with. I think this might be the perfect solution, and Heatherle’s childhood album was the inspiration!
I’ve only just discovered Project Life recently (what planet have I been on??) and my kit arrived a week or so back. Wow – I feel like I’ve had an epiphany. LOVE LOVE this way of scrapbooking everyday life. I can’t believe how much I’ve completed in such a short time. I love scrapbooking but just haven’t squeezed it into the week the last few years – this is just so DOable! Thanks heaps. Am about to order 2 more to get my ten ton of 2009 2010 photos from a big pile to an album.
I feel so liberated using Project Life! I am using it on a weekly basis, and feel no pressure to take a picture every day. Sometimes it happens, sometimes not. I think I’m going to buy one for my newly pregnant sister to record her pregnancy journey and later, her newborn. Thanks Becky!
I did Project Life the first year (when it was Proj 365) and kept up pretty good with the pictures, but still need to finish the journaling onto the cards. I just recently ordered some of your page protectors and I plan to do a Disney album with them. There is no way I could ever scrapbook all of them, so I plan to just do a page or two for each day of the trip and then put the rest in the protectors with journaling. Can’t wait to get started! Thanks for such an awesome product!!
I am using project life to catch up on our family photos that have never even been printed. I do a year at at time, going through our photos and picking my favorites. It is so liberating to think about having a whole year worth of photos and memories documented – and in a stylish way. Thank you Becky!
As I live in AK and my friend is in TX, I was unable to be with her when she got news of her 23yo son’s death in Germany while active duty military. I was also unable to go to her when she dealt with funeral and all that comes with that. I sent Project Life to her so that she can use it for memorabilia and pics of her son’s life. When I can be there with her to help her go through his belongings as they arrive we will use things from his life to commemorate his likes and activities. Thank you for giving me something to send her to help with the process she is facing now.
Hi Becky. I’m using my album as a “tell the story behind the photo” album. Using iphoto it’s very easy to look back over all of our photos and see just how many we have. The sad thing about doing that is there are so many great shots of special times but no journaling to tell why the photo was taken. My goal in doing Project Life (this is my first year) is to tell the stories behind all those photos. Going from past years I know I’ll easily have 365 and there is absolutely no pressure to do a photo a day.
I don’t have the kit yet because I was afraid to make the jump to a photo a day, but uses ideas are wonderful and at the very least your FB photo ideas are changing the way and what I am taking photos of. TFS!
I started out at a picture a day, and now am just taking pictures “most” days of the week. I am not worried. My memory book will be amazing just to have no matter what, even if there isn’t a picture from each day of the year. Some days have more pictures than others anyway so I know it will work out. LOVING it.
[...] Kyra are ambitious enough to do the picture-a-day format (good for them!) but remember — Project Life doesn’t have to be used this way. So far they’re keeping up. They’re both contributing. They [...]
This is my first year using PL, and I have been doing it weekly.. seems that is when I have the time, to update my journal, and while I’m at the computer, I quickly write down cards and insert them into the pages.. Snapfish.com is my life saver, each week I upload my photos, and then once a month, I order my photos, and when they arrive, I add them to their coordinating pages.. its a system that I find works very well for me.
At first I was considering in making it a Genealogy Scrapbook, I have a ton of archives, and I am thinking of ordering another PL kit, and using it just for that. I have found page protectors that hold 3×5 photos or in my case, Funeral Pamphlets, I can get four in each, and then have space to write something about the person on the Reverse side. And mix it in with my Ancestry charts, family sheets, etc. It is my great hope to have everything that is considered ancestral, organized neatly for future generations to flip thru. Preserving the family history in the written form has taken 20 plus years, and having it in one album is my greatest wish, and now that I have been introduced to PL, it will happen sometime this year. I have over 1400 family members in my family tree, but I’m going to narrow it down to the last 6 Generations, as that is what I have for materials.. obits from the last 125 years, birth cert. Teaching diploma from 1886… stuff that I want to preserve….
Matt…
[...]alternative uses for Project Life « Becky's Blog[...]…
anses…
[...]alternative uses for Project Life « Becky's Blog[...]…
uggs…
[...]alternative uses for Project Life « Becky's Blog[...]…
[...] the Becky Higgins blog again today for my post about Flynn’s childhood scrapbook check it out HERE and Becky, thank YOU for understanding just exactly what we need and having the courage to go out [...]