DISCLAIMER: There is an abundant amount of inspiration in this blog post. You may be required to cuddle up in your favorite chair for this one. The last thing I want to do is overwhelm you. Remember: Project Life is designed to SIMPLIFY. My purpose in sharing so much, especially in this first week of January, is so that you can pick + choose which inspiration might stick with you. Project Life is a personal thing, and yet we are part of a community and we share a common goal: Cultivate a good life and record it.
My hope is that you will feel inspired + motivated + ready to make a plan for your Project Life in 2012.
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Title page by Kelly Purkey.
Supplies Photo Pocket Page – Becky Higgins; Patterned paper – Crate Paper; Cork paper – Recollections; Vellum – Paper Source; Tag – Bananafish Studio; Stamps – Studio Calico; Ink – StazOn; Stickers – 7 Gypsies, Basic Grey; Stapler – Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher; Pen – American Crafts; Fonts – Avenir, Bebas Neue
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{ most important message about Project Life }
Project Life is whatever you want it to be. Please, please, please keep this in mind as you see a smorgasboard of ideas and examples from others who are doing Project Life. The products are designed to simplify the process of memory-keeping for you. If all you do is add your pictures and write some journaling notes, that was the whole purpose in the first place.
Project Life is designed to be an easier-than-ever scrapbooking system. Simply pair your photos and journaling with pre-designed title cards and journaling cards. Your photos, these cards, and even your memorabilia slip into the Photo Pocket Pages and that’s it. The result is a stylish masterpiece that represents your life or whatever occasion you choose to record. With Project Life’s beautifully simple format, deciding what supplies to use or how to design layouts becomes obsolete, leaving you more time to experience life.
However … I totally realize and appreciate that many of you have that creative instinct to do something more. And that’s wonderful too! Personalizing your project and going beyond the core essentials can be fun and just the creative outlet you need. Kelly’s title page above and Mandi’s title page below are examples of artists who take customization seriously.
Title page by Mandi in Brookfield, Wisconsin.
Supplies for her 8.5 x 11 title page: Crate Paper Neighborhood Collection – Friendly; Basic Grey Basics Micro Mono Stickers; Heidi Grace Beyond the Sea Punchboard Box Set Alphas + Symbols; My Minds Eye Lost + Found One of a Kind Buttons (from Studio Calico’s Handmade kit); Cosmo Cricket Tiny Text Stickers (from Studio Calico’s Brooklyn Flea kit); Studio Calico’s Mister Huey’s Calico Shine; We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper; Stampin’ Up Dimensionals; Fiskars Fingertip Craft Knife
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{ my personal approach to Project Life in 2012 }
For 3 years I have documented our family’s story with a picture + blurb of journaling to represent every single day. I used the physical product to create a 12×12 scrapbook in 2009. I made a digital photo book for 2010 and 2011, both of which I need to wrap up the journaling and having the actual books printed and shipped. Soon. Super excited about that.
Project Life began with that “365″ approach for me, but I want to emphasize again + again: Project Life does not necessarily = Project 365. Yes, you can absolutely do that. Of course. In fact I know many of you have done that, or are planning on that for 2012. The 365 approach is so very cool but honestly – it can be difficult to keep up with that pace if you have a lot going on in your life. I will forever be grateful that I have documented our life with the picture-a-day format for the past 3 years. But even I – a dedicated documenter of life – find the photo-a-day approach challenging because of how much I have going on.
Now. Twenty-twelve is a new year and I am beginning the next volume in our family yearbook series. I am choosing to stick with the digital version and will be doing a Project Life photo book on Shutterfly. I’m using the Clementine template. The Turquoise template is also available and very cool. My main reasons for choosing this method: 1) I can print multiple copies so that each child has a family yearbook and 2) The photo book is much smaller/thinner. I have so many large scrapbooks in our home and they already take up a lot of space.
My approach: I know some of you will be surprised about this, but I am going to relax about the picture-a-day thing. I love, love, love it. But this year I am joining many of you in the weekly approach. Each two-page spread will show a week in our life but there will not necessarily be a picture for every single day. I’m looking forward to this.
Big picture for me: No matter how I document our family’s story, the end goal is to have a family year book each year. Some years it might be photo-a-day (check), some years it might be just a few highlights for each of the 12 months (check – did that in 2008), and some years it might be the weekly approach (new to me). The point is that I’m preserving my family’s story. I can accomplish this - you can accomplish this – with very little time and stress. I have been – and continue to be – very open to how I evolve in my approach.
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{ advice to those who are brand-new to Project Life }
1. Don’t make this harder than it needs to be. Project Life is designed for SIMPLICITY.
2. Watch my Getting Started video. (NOTE: I did this video last year when the products were slightly different. When you see little things that look different than your new products, look past that and focus on the core content of getting your album set up.)
3. Check out the Project Life Community. This is a great place for Project Lifers to ask each other questions, share ideas, and of course share finished pages to inspire each other.
4. Follow me on facebook or twitter (same content; two options). I share almost-daily inspiration for picture-taking + life-documenting. I’m sticking by your side on this. We’re in this together.
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{ advice to those who are “behind” }
Yuck. Don’t you hate that word? Who wants to feel behind on anything right? If you have already been doing Project Life at all in the past few years, and if you have a year (or more) that you haven’t “finished” please consider this: Let it go.
I sooo know that it’s easier said than done. But let me tell you from personal experience, that “letting it be what it is” is a very liberating feeling. My first year of trying to do the daily documenting thing went completely by the wayside when I grew more and more sick with my pregnancy. I simply couldn’t keep up. So you know what I did? I compromised. Instead of having nothing for my family that year, I decided that it would be A-OK to create a photo book that simply highlighted each month on a two-page spread. That’s it. And you know what? We love that book. And it tells our family’s story in 2008 – even if it’s less-comprehensive than I originally intended it to me.
Let’s say you got part-way through 2011 and you just burned out. Guess what? What you did document is utterly fantastic and you should be pleased as punch that you cared enough to document with pictures + words at all. What now? Well, obviously that’s up to you but you should seriously consider just letting it be what it is and starting fresh with 2012. Perhaps a different approach for this year is what you need. Perhaps a simple month-at-a-glance photo book is more manageable. By lightening your load, you will likely be more motivated to stick with the project.
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{ excellent “getting started” inspiration from a few of our Creative Team members }
Ali: Reflections, Ideas & 2012 Title Page
Michelle: Organization | My Work Space + Favorite Products
Deb: Photography Inspiration for Documenting Life + Random Project Life Tips
Jennifer: Getting Started
Monica: The Beginning | Finding my Project Life Rhythm
Cathy: Project Life, Take Two (+ free download)
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{ more inspiration on the world wide web }
I was “off the grid” quite a bit over the holidays – happily directing all my focus on family. As I’ve worked on getting back into my groove I’ve noticed an almost overwhelming amount of conversation and sharing about Project Life. There aren’t words for how that makes me feel. Everyone is doing their own thing. Some are taking the daily documenting approach, some the weekly approach, some the monthly approach. Some are using Project Life to go back and scrapbook past years, some are using it to document specifically about life changes (weight loss, losing a loved one + adjusting to their “new normal”, etc.).
It’s allll good, folks. It’s all good.
Enjoy a sneak-peek into the minds + albums of some who are embarking on doing Project Life in 2012. You’re in good company.
Title page by Nicole Reaves.
Nicole: My Title Page, Goals, + Products I’m Using
Kelly: Making it Work for Me / Title Page
Noell: My Intro Page / “Yep I’m Doing This”
Susan: Debated but now I’m Committed + Title Page
Stacey: Project Life 2012
Lindsey: The Beginning + Documenting Vacations
Jenni: Today Matters
Aby: Thoughts from a Professional Organizer (*And she’s giving away Project Life too! Enter for a chance!)
Jessica T.: Plans for Project Life 2012
Jessica: Project Life Newbie
Stephanie: My Goal is to Keep it Simple + My Organization
Robyn: The Start of Project Life
Shirley: Hello, Project 365 + Title Page
Kristina: Jumping on the Bandwagon and Staying Accountable + Setting Up my Studio for Project Life
Natasja: Project Life Preparations
Jeanye: How Project Life Will Become a Part of My Life
Melissa: Wrapping Paper + Pocket Pages
Catherine: Title Page + Free Download
Paula (empty-nester!): Return to Scrapbooking
Lisa: How I Make it Work for Me
Kristine: I’m in Love
Kami: Focusing on our Everyday in 2012
Shelley: Documenting a Happy Life
Allison: Doing this for my Kids and my Kids’ Kids
Jenny: Lessons Learned from Last Year
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{ want to share YOUR Project Life? }
You are always welcome to share with us. We love to see how everyone is using Project Life! Email your pictures to submissions@projectlife.com. Likewise, we always love to see pictures of happy customers with their product.
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{ inventory update }
As some of you know, we are currently sold out of some products. Please know that we really did order a lot, but thanks to the wonderful viral affect of word spreading rapidly about Project Life, some things literally flew off the Amazon shelves over the holidays.
Have no fear. More product is on the way and we’re re-stocking inventory as fast as we can. If you aren’t able to get your hands on something that you want, remember that documenting life can + should still happen. You can still get started on taking pictures and writing a few notes, even if you’re waiting on Photo Pocket Pages.
This is what is sold out now but will be back in stock on Amazon in about a month (early February):
Journaling Cards (box of 100, grid design)
Photo Pocket Pages: Big Pack of Design A (60)
Photo Pocket Pages: Big Variety Pack 1 (60)
Photo Pocket Pages: Design G (pack of 12)
6×12 Page Protectors (pack of 12)
Big Envelope Pages (pack of 12)
Scrapbook Dividers (pack of 12)
Everything else is in stock. Check it all out HERE. As for the black + white Signature Binders? Those will be showing up on Amazon this week. I’ll let you know when they’re there.
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*NEW* items that are part of that same shipment for early-February:
Photo Pocket Pages: Big Variety Pack 2 (60) – This has 40 of Design A + 20 of Design D
Big Pack of 12×12 Page Protectors (60) – Just like what it sounds. Good ol’ classic page protectors with no pockets for full 12×12 scrapbook pages
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{ digital update }
I will have an entirely separate blog post about the Shutterfly option, which I mentioned is the product I’ll personally be using to document our 2012. Stay tuned.
In the meantime, for those of you who are interested in the Digital Project Life components/kits/templates available on JessicaSprague.com, there is some great inspiration from The Daily Digi: Does Project Life Fit in with my Life?
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Oh my stars. How’s that for a loaded blog post? : )
Tags: Project Life
So excited to be starting fresh Becky and to be kicking off the 2012 linky Project Life Tuesday next week! Thank you for all the posts and inspiration.
Can’t wait to check out all the link-sharing next Tuesday. Thanks for doing that Jessica!
I have been such a failure with Project Life. I bought the kit in 2010 and made it 1/2 way through the year. Gave up and decided to try again in 2011. I couldn’t get motivated. Our family was dealing with a family member that was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. My brother-in-law passed away after battling the cancer for 10 months. I am hoping this will be my year to keep up with the project. I hate to see the 2010 kit go to waste.
Laura, I’m so sorry to hear about your brother-in-law. Pretty please do not look at yourself as a failure in any way. That’s not fair. Like I said, celebrate the fact that you documented so much! Here’s to a new year, and a resolve to be gentler on yourself.
Looks like lots of inspiration! Can’t wait to check ‘er all out
This will be my fourth year, and so far, I am STILL loving this process. I was too debating about switching to the “weekly” method, but I am not sure if I will begin to twitch if I don’t take picture a day! HA!
Love the posts today–always looking for inspiratioin.
Would love to see some pages from your PL 2011 album…can you oost some?
OMG Squeee! Thank you for sharing my title page!
Love these long posts from you, Becky, and all the information they include. Eagerly watching for your school memory keeping post.
Do you know when the design A photo pockets will be available again??? Amazon is sold out.
Becky, The 12 pack of Design A & D are out of stock on Amazon. Do you know when those will be back in? Thanks!
Disregard my previous comment. I see now the status at the end of the post. Thanks!
I am thrilled to be starting year 3 of Project Life for our family…and even more thrilled that my PL year begins in February. Here’s to my goal of finishing up 2011′s book before February 1
Becky,
Thanks for this post! After a long 3-year adoption process, we brought our son home from India in July. I knew that I wanted Project Life to start the day we arrived. With the new adjustment of being a new mom (yay) and life, I fell behind and then even further behind. I have a huge amount of guilt that I didn’t follow through. So, I appreciate your post to help me revisit how I might be able to move forward. Thanks! -Shana
I can’t wait to get started, but like lots of people overseas, I am really disappointed that the products are not on sale in the UK yet. I would appreciate any update or influence you have in this area. Thanks!
I have not scrapbooked on a regular basis since 2009, which left the past two years void of documentation. A real bummer for a big family (and mom) who loves to look through our collection of albums. I, thankfully, have a great organization system of dedicated monthly slots in a paper holder and religiously add papers and save all of my digital pictures in monthly folders on my computer. I committed to doing a modified PL for 2012, and then, had an “ah ha” moment when I realized that I could quickly and easily (did I say quickly?) put together the albums for the last two years using the PL style, afterall, I already had all of the photos and documents on hand. So, last Friday, I started and COMPLETED 2010 and, working diligently Sat-Mon, I also started and COMPLETED 2011. This morning, I even worked on 2012. Becky, thank you so very much for listening to your inspiration to bring this idea to light so that all of us can benefit from it. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Wow! So excited for you! That motivates me to keep everything organized so that if I do fall behind I can easily catch back up. Can’t wait to finish my 2011 and start 2012, but first I must clean the house.
The best unanticipated surprise when I was pulling all of the papers out was that they were in reverse order, so all I had to do was match them up to the photos and wa-la! I had a story. I also printed out all of my Facebook posts for those two years so that I could verify dates and have actual comments from the events as they were happening. It was SO much easier than I thought it would be. I have been dreading the “catch up” (and putting it off because I *knew* how much work it was going to be) for two years. Little did I know… Lots of unexpected little blessings in being able to get it done so easily!
Congratulations, what an awesome accomplishment! Curious- how do you print out all your facebook posts? Thanks and enjoy PL in 2012
That is wonderful! I’m planning to use PL to catch up a little, too. And your comment shows that it is possible!
You have given me the little push that I need- to know it is possible. I am “behind” in my Project Life but I have the documents all stored in a box and my photos on the computer. After reading your post, I think this weekend is the weekend to finally get it done:)
I am really looking forward to your post re: Shutterfly PL. As an avid Shutterfly user (over 30 books created), I am finding their new format difficult to use (not your fault). Just to get it to load up on my computer is painstakingly long. I’m also having difficulty finding a format similar to the Ziblio with enough journaling space to drop a photo a day and write more than 10 words in the 9 font size. This is my 4th year with PL and my 3rd year doing the digital and even though Ziblio had its challenges, I got used to it. It’s only my 3rd day with Shutterfly and I’m already very frustrated at the layouts and journaling options for those that want to stick with the photo a day concept. I also want to stay with the 8×11 size and really want to stick with the ease of dropping a photo in each day and journaling more than one sentence.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!!!
Oh darn, I was hoping the design A page protectors would be available sooner. I did not shop for myself during the holidays (it seems so selfish somehow) and was disappointed to discover that everything I wanted was sold out post holiday (except for the Clementine paper kit.) At least I have a few plastics in style A left from last year that I did not use to tie me over. Meanwhile my Clementine kit comes on Friday and I can’t wait to play this weekend. Early February can’t get here soon enough-design A, dividers, and much more-can’t wait!
I can’t tell you how relieved I feel after reading your post. 2012 will be my fourth year of Project Life and I am beyond excited. I have had Project Life in my cart at Amazon for the past few weeks, but hadn’t ordered it because of some financial difficulties we’ve had recently. I’ve been hoping and praying that nothing would sell out before I could order, but when I saw this morning that the Big Packs of Design A page protectors were sold out, I was literally in tears. I remember that last year some things didn’t come back into stock for several months and so I was despairing of how in the world I was going to keep on track without page protectors. Whew, what a relief that it will only be a few weeks rather than a few months! I think I can manage that long…
I am looking forward to start my PL album. In fact, it is my christmas gift !!
But, I live in France and I have to wait that it’s available… Do you know how long will I still wait ?
I try to take photos and write some notes everyday….
What an excellent post…thank you so much Becky!!!! I am not even done reading it but I have to go to work so I will finish tonight!!!! Looking forward to getting back to the rest of! Love seeing how others are making PL work for them!!!!!
Saw your post about Oreo!!! Thinking about a dog for our 5 year old son…I’m not a dog person but I can’t believe I am trying to talk husband into it!
I have a question about how to keep the things in the pockets. I did PL for my mother with her old photos (1960s and earlier) and when she turns the pages, often the photos and cards slip out. Should I have stapled or taped? Or am I the only one this has happened to? Thanks! Mom loves her photos, but is not sure of the presentation because of this (she’s having trouble showing them off).
I have used clear transparency sheets cut to the size of the pocket (4×6 or 3×4) and then adhered the photo to the transparency. You can’t see the transparency through the plastic and then the smaller sized photo stays put. I bought a multi-pack at an office supply store (ones used for overhead projectors).
I have cut 4×6 pieces of paper and slipped them behind smaller photos. This seems to help.
Thanks! I used the cards in PL and adhered the photos to those, but they just don’t seem to stay put, especially the larger photos/cards. It’s the entire photo/card that slips out. I didn’t think of transparencies. That’s an idea.
Shelley Oenema Bowker
Becky – I have a couple of questions. Do you and most “Project Lifers” have a printer that you print your photos on daily or frequently in order to stay up to date? If so, what kind of printer do you use or know to be a good recommendation? Secondly, as much as Project Life looks so amazing, and I would love to try it, I’m not sure how I would approach it. My oldest daughter is 20 and in university, my next daughter is 19 and headed to university and my son is 15. I am an old-school scrapbooker, with a scrapbooking room full of years of photos to catch up on, paper, embelllishments, etc. etc, and I would like to know how you would think Project Life could be used by someone in my situation. How I wish I could have had something like this years ago, as I am also a procrastinating scrapbooker!!
Like · · 2 minutes ago ·
Bec
NEED PHOTO PRINTING ADVICE, PLEASE!!
Yes! I would LOVE to hear people’s responses about photo printing. That’s what’s holding me back–especially because I take almost all of my photos with the iPhone 4, and many are square.
Any advice would be so appreciated!!
First timer,
Joanna
I too would love to hear about photo printers. I have an Epson Deluxe Viewfinder printer that I have loved for so long. It enabled me to print 4×6 and smaller; I loved the smaller 2×3 photos for so many things. My wonderful husband bought me a new camera and the memory card is not compatible with the picture printer–total disappointment. I can hook the printer up to the computer but can only print 4×6-which I do but REALLY miss the variety of options I am missing out on by not being able to insert my memory card right into the picture printer. I would a printer that was able to print 5×7 and smaller. Can’t wait to hear what others are using.
This might sound a bit much to most but it’s what works for me. I usually get me photos developed at Walmart unless I am doing a Shutterfly order for other things. I am a VERY frequent customer at my local Walmart! Somtimes I am able to keep up and go weekly to develop the photos I need for the week I am working on and sometimes I get a few weeks behind so then I develop what I need at that time. I find this works best for me and I have been able to keep up with it. I have a few things to finish up in my 2011 album, like develop a few pics from last week and get a few other pages done as I also incorporate traditional scrapbooking into my PL album… and hope to get that done this month while I also start my 2012 family PL album and my son’s PL album! I know that’s probably more info than you were looking for. Good luck. Hope you find a system that works for you. I have never had my own photo printer but sometimes I wonder if I should get one!
Also, my suggestion for products would be more of the 4×6 cards. We used many of them as background for smaller photos (many of my mothers 1960s photos were 3×3 squares that were too large for the smaller pockets, but too small for the bigger pockets on their own. So we ran out of the bigger cards very quickly. I should have bought the paper addition, but I did not realize this issue until it was too late. It shouldn’t be a problem with newer photos that print 4×6, but older ones perhaps.
I started PL January 2010, and I have been doing two 2page layouts a month… just finished up with December. I will be starting 2012 with the Cobalt kit the same way. Just a note , I have found that the We R Memory Keepers variety pages also fit in the album well.. that could be an option until the PL pages are back in stock on Amazon. I’m so excited about starting this year’s Project Life!
YAY! I’m glad to hear about other people doing 2 spreads per month
Doing 1 spread per week seems like a LOT for me. . .
How do you handle the dates of the spreads? Is it from the 1st to the 15th and the other from the 16th to the end of the month? Do you add a card to show these dates?
This was great Becky! My daughter and I started out at the same time, but she was unable to finish hers due to family obligations and her little ones. So I gave her a messages from you and explained to her what your message said. She feels better and she does want to start again this year. Thank you Becky.
Becky,
The turquouis edition core kit sold out before my eyes….Was waiting to see if the big pack of page protectors was going to come in this week, when you said Feb I went to buy them and now they are gone. Do you think you will have more of these coming too?
Does anybody have current solution on how to plan your project life while waiting for products to come back in stock? Would love suggestions, dont’ want to get so far behind.
Becky!! i found this website today VIA http://wildblueberryink.com/
There’s this website that e-mails you daily, “How’d your day go”. All you do is reply to it with your journaling, and it saves it all for you. So when you’re working on your project life pages you can just copy and paste!
I feel like a lot of people could benefit from it, especially if youre doing digital!
http://ohlife.com/
Megan
Thank you Becky for a great post…..
You know what the best thing about PL is? My children won’t care that our albums are not the most decorated or the prettiest but that they knew how I LOVED and CARED enough about THEM and our family and friends to capture their life and keep that memory forever.
Hi Becky – really inspired by all the project life info and can’t wait to start. Any idea when stock will come to the uk? I first heard about the project in the autumn and did a DIY version as no kits available. This worked ok but so looking forward to the proper kit and dividers which will save stacks of time. I work full time and was despairing of keeping up to date on memories until I saw the wonderful examples from you, Ali and others. Thank you – you have kept my scrapbooking alive xx
Becky, I love the release of your new plastics designs. I would also love to use the pocket pages that were in the Project 365 kit (the first kit with CK) – with all the 4×6 photos on top and middle, and then the 4×3 journaling cards on the bottom row.
Any chance you will be releasing them again, please?
I second these page protectors coming back! I had 2 kits that year and I’ve used those page protectors mixed in the past 2 years as well. I love the colors of that kit and would love that one brought back!!!
Well haven’t you just made my morning!!!
Most Inspirational post yet Becky, can’t wait to sink my teeth into journalling and photo editing at the end of my very first week with PL.
My new Cobalt kit is begging for it’s 2012 content.
Thanks for being so amazing xx
Becky,
Thank you for the inspiration last year and now for this new year! I started documenting 365 last year and can say I did it…..but, it didn’t make it into any format (I was going to do it my own way without PL). I was so excited this Christmas to receive the Clementine edition from my husband and have gotten it started for 2012. I decided after reading this blog, that I can easily get caught up by doing PL side by side (2011 and 2012) since I have all of the content electronically. I just ordered the Amber edition for myself to do for last year and am pretty confident after seeing and setting up my new PL that I can tackle this in a couple months! Thank you for such a quality product and the inspiration to do something with all of those digital pictures I take. It was such a great experience taking a picture a day and writing about the everyday. Looking forward to an even better year…and more of the sleeves to be in stock
Similar question as the commenter above – if we’re totally new, but we want to talk the plunge, do any of you guys have recommendations / more info on how to “get started” if the photo pockets wont be available for a while? Thanks!
Write a short, abbreviated journaling note in a small notebook, small pocket calendar, etc. Just a brief note to jog your memory when you need to write the “real” journaling. It is super easy to transfer your “thought of the day”. I did this in 2009, P 365, but made my own album, and it worked great.
I print pics about once a month for P 365. So I suppose I’m always a little behind, but it’s super easy to get caught up. I organize my P 365 photos in a Project 365/Project Life folder, with monthly folders. Easy, easy to figure it all out when the product arrives.
I’m using the Clementine edition this year, and am going to incorporate P Life with a few traditional layouts, plus more WRMK page protectors w/ extra photos. I just want everything in one place; not a Project Life album and “regular” photo albums/scrapbooks. I love too many pictures to narrow it down to just one a day for things like vacations, holidays, b’days… That is just me, and I am looking forward to doing this project again in 2012.
I did the Amber Project Life for 2011, but we looked for a house, packed, moved, etc!!!!! in the spring, then moved in July, so I haven’t printed pics since March 2011. However, my photos are all organized by date and month, so it will be very easy to catch up! I have a Shutterfly order to place tonight, then I will be able to quickly slip those pics in. I’m writing journaling cards here and there while I wait for computer pages to load, etc… It really doesn’t take too long. Good luck!
Thanks for sharing all the inspiration. I had fun putting my book and process together today. I love this process of documenting our life. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you. I have been doing this since your original kit with CK. I have even made my own spin-off to capture my daughters 5th grade year (her last in Elementary School). Some day I’ll send you some photos. I think this will be awesome for her to have. A whole book devoted to her and what her life was like in 5th grade.
This is a surprise for her that I plan to give her after their graduation ceremony.
Well I was super excited to start but all the page protectors I wanted are sold out!! So sad….my fear is that I will lose interest because I cannot put anything together until February! I know it was my own fault for not ordering sooner but I have been on the fence for awhile…..being a new empty nester I was afraid I would not have enough to put inti an album. But have decided to take the plunge. I get my core kit this week……so we will just have to see how things go. Thanks for the update on the plastics and journaling cards.
Thank you so much, Becky. You rock! You inspire me in many ways.
Becky, with all you have to do, I don’t know if you’ll have time to answer this or not….my question is that I don’t know where to go from here…..I have followed you since I was fourteen!
That’s sixteen years now. I have 12 x 12 family albums (used hundreds of your sketches for those), plus two 12 x 12 albums for each of my four kids. I own seven school kits too!! In 2007, I started blogging and haven’t scrapbooked much since because like you know kids=time, and less for scrapbooking.
I hope to print that blog from the last four years but with baby number five due in 20 days, I don’t know how to keep going with the whole process. I don’t know whether to do a regular 12 x 12 album for the baby, a digital project life, a hard copy of project life, etc.
I guess since I am getting long winded here
, Are you still doing 12 x 12 albums for your kids or is your digital project life taking place of those albums now? If so, is that hard or bugging you at all?! I am such a creature of habit that I don’t know if having some 12 x 12 albums and some digitally printed books will bother me or if I should do a Project 365 for each child and keep it in 12 x 12 format, etc. I would love direction on this! And just wondering what direction you’ve taken now with the kids/school kits scrapbooks.
Becky,What do I love about PL? This is the 3rd year of doing it for me and the second year with your kit(love the clementine). I am a single girl with a love of collecting bits of stuff. I love to scrapbook, the problem for me has never been a question of whether I need to simplify or not. It was how do I include all of these little things like ticket stubs, my current iTune playlist and the last promotion I got at work into my scrapbooking. It is very hard to scrap the playbill and ticket for a musical you may have seen. Then enter project life. I am able to quickly write a few lines about tha musical and include the ticket stub and continue on with all the little bits of my life that I want to rememeber years from now. It’s like a visual monthly diary of my life. Thank You.
Hi Becky,
Not sure if someone already posted this or if you already know, but I tried to purchase both the 12 packs of Design A and D last week and both were not available on Amazon. Your list above didn’t mention those and I wasn’t sure if something may have been wrong with Amazon site or if it was just missed.
Thanks!
[...] Family yearbooks: One book per year, through their entire childhoods. These are thin photo books (I’ve done the past few years this way and will continue now with Project Life templates on Shutterfly). Some years will be more dense with loads of pictures and memories and some years will be just a handful of favorite highlights and moments from the year. And that’s okay. I’m not trying to have them all exactly the same thickness. The idea is that 1) we will have a collection of books that will span across many years, 2) the focus is on family photos + togetherness + memories, and 3) each child will have his/her very own complete set to keep forever. I talked a little more about my approach in yesterday’s post. [...]
Hi – I am considering doing PL for the first time, I live in the UK and I understand that I won’t be able to get the PL products until February, if I want to start putting my pages together now ready for the page protectors and binder when they arrive, I need to know what size to make the inserts. I am wanting to use the type A and Type B protectors.
I think the Turquoise core kit is now sold out, too! I can’t find it on Amazon, anyway.
[...] and recording your moments. Yesterday Becky had a very inspiring (yet maybe a bit overwhelming) blog post about starting your 2012 Project Life. She gives oodles of links to other bloggers who are embarking on this project in their own [...]
I really love my pl for 2011 I had a great time keeping up. 8t was really important to document 2011 because my son got married and had twins and I also was planning a wedding and got married on 11-11-11. So I documented all the wedding details. I just started my 2012 book.
I just wanted to say THANK YOU for dividing up all the Project Life supplies this year. I’ve been a HUGE fan of yours since your Creating Keepsakes days and have always appreciated your simple, yet beautiful approach to scrapbooking. I miss your column terribly but was thrilled to find your blog last summer and finally purchased some Project Life supplies (binders, photo pockets, and envelopes) just after Thanksgiving. Getting to purchase what I need and not what I don’t need is a big plus! While my personal albums (traditional scrapbooking) are fairly up-to-date, my 3 children’s albums (of which I haven’t even started on the younger 2…the oldest just has a few pages) have always been a “need to do but don’t have the time” kind of thing. Project Life is the answer to that! Now I am starting to get their books together and it feels great
I didn’t buy the inserts but Project Life has been a great way to use up all my scrap paper. It’s been so simple to just cut a 4×6 of some scrap I have and put it in there. The envelope pages are perfect for holding all those school things I’ve been saving over the years. I am very excited that you will be stocking more insert G pages. Didn’t buy those when I purchase my earlier stuff. However, it will even be super handy for my traditional scrapbook. We took a trip to Grand Canyon last summer and I took sooooooo many amazing pictures (how can you not). I was stressed as to how I could showcase more photos but keep it to a 2 page lay-out. Then it hit me…..Project Life! I am now planning to do a 2 page traditional lay-out in my scrapbook and use the smaller insert G pages to go in between the 2 traditional pages to hold extra photos. So I’ll be stalking your blog faithfully for when more arrive at Amazon. Thank you Becky for helping out this very busy mom, wife and business owner!! Project Life really is a lifesaver.
[...] April. I have decided to start Project Life. If you haven’t heard about Project Life, go here http://www.beckyhiggins.com/blog/2012/01/project-life-getting-started-in-2012/ to read up on what it is. Basically it is a much easier way to document/scrapbook. Heaven knows I [...]
I don’t own a photo printer, so I’ll be ordering prints periodically. I’d be interested in knowing how others handle this? How often do they order, do they use a local printer like Walgreens or wait for shipments through the mail…?
Hi Pat
I develop my photos weekly at my local Walmart. There are some weeks I don’t get there so then I might have two weeks worth of photos to develop. This works for me. I just purchased a new printer for my home that can print photos. I want the option to be able to print some photos at home, too. We’ll see how that goes. Hope that helps!
Juli:
I am just starting Project Life (Waiting for the Photo Pocket Design A to be back in stock). I do not have a photo printer at home. How are you printing your photos at Walmart in odd sizes? They do not offer that many choices for photo sizes and I am finding they do not fit in the Project life photo pockets (if you wanted to attach one to a journalilng card). I could cut the photos, but most of the time with it being a 4 X 6 it cuts off important parts of the photo or the photo is too big. Is anyone else having this problem? Any suggestions?
Thanks,
Stevie
I’m hoping to see you address concerns about your Shutterfly product soon since we are now nearly a week into the new year, and it doesn’t feel good to already be behind.
Have you considered offering an 8.5×11 digital template similar to the Ziblio format? That would allow me to proceed!
Thanks for your consideration.
Hi Becky,
I feel like I have been living under a rock! I had not heard about your product until now. I have been looking into buying a full kit but can’t find it anywhere. Do you sell everything in a boxed kit like you did in 2010? I can’t wait to start!
I only wish that I had found this sooner so I could have documented my daughter’s first year. She will be one jan 23.
Thanks!
Michelle
[...] recently added new members to the Project Life team, and I’ve found so much inspiration by reading about how they approach the project. I have also realized how easy it is to collect supplies and just watch others make beautiful [...]
I did the photo-a-day Project Life this past year and loved it. I’m thinking I would like to do a more weekly approach like you mentioned, but I’m struggling with what that “looks” like. I’m sure if I dive in I’ll figure it out, but just trying to get some ideas and inspiration for the weekly approach. I suppose it means filling several pockets with pics from one day and none from others – if that’s what you want to do – and some weeks having a picture for every day? Thanks for any help!!
[...] Becky’s Blog [...]
I created a location based scrapbook application for the iphone. You can actually scrapbook photos, video, and voice memos by location. Check out iCaptureIT, it’s only a dollar. :}
APP STORE LINK: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/icaptureit/id492415501?mt=8
APP’s PAGE: http://ibigsoft.com/iBigSoft/iCaptureIT.html
[...] started out by reading tons of information online-including all of the information contained in this post on Becky Higgins blog. I especially liked Michelle Wooderson and Ali Edwards’ ideas. I [...]
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Would love to see Becky’s view of using DIGITAL PL!!! Any update on the comments posted on your blog under:
{ digital update }
I will have an entirely separate blog post about the Shutterfly option, which I mentioned is the product I’ll personally be using to document our 2012. Stay tuned.
Thanks!
Woah! I’m really digging the template/theme of this blog. It’s simple, yet effective.
A lot of times it’s very difficult to get that “perfect balance” between usability and visual appearance. I must say you have done a great job with this. Also, the blog loads super fast for me on Chrome.
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