Comments on: project life advice

By: J

Wed, 30 Jan 2013 09:27:47 +0000

Can I ask a silly question? Other than glueing the photos together, how do you make sure that the photos line up back to back? I can never get my photos to line up or stay lined-up, so the backs of the photo on the reverse side can be seen sticking out of the edges. Any ideas?

By: brandi@beckyhiggins.com

brandi@beckyhiggins.com — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 16:03:36 +0000

Hi Laura,

We area ll sending good vibes your way! Hang in there. I recieved an email from another PL fan who saw your post but was having a tough time responding to your post. She asked me to post this response for you:

Laura,

2012 was my second year of doing PL and I was diagnosed with breast cancer Feb 29. I decided to continue to do it, and as I\’m finishing up my 2012 album, I\’m so glad I did! I have 3 young kids and want to be able to look through the photos with them and talk about it in the years to come. I also included cute little stories of them through the process (like my 3-year-old telling me a bedtime story of the three bald pigs!). I also documented as much \”normal\” as I could – my kids playing in the back yard with the sprinklers as I watched them, kindergarten graduation…I think you’ll be grateful to have a record of how strong you’ll be through this process.

Do take it easy on yourself as far as expectations go. I took a LOT of pictures on my phone and didn\’t take out my “real camera” as much as I normally would, but I still have the photos, and I\’m grateful.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions about treatment or fears…I completed treatment the end of October – I had stage 3, triple-negative breast cancer and am happy to say I\’ve gotten the “all clear” from my doctors (who weren\’t this optimistic when I got the diagnosis). Hang in there, sister!! Wnebenson@hotmail.com

By: Jane

Jane — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 10:48:33 +0000

I’m so pleased your condition was caught early. I agree absolutely that these things make us stronger, and so much more appreciative of the everyday. I often think PL is best done by people who have had a reason to take stock of their life.

I am thinking of you, and I hope you keep us posted with news of your way back. I participate in a breast cancer walk each year, and I will add your name to my survivors list!

By: brenda

brenda — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 17:58:12 +0000

You might want to take a peek at 2013 design team member Donna Gibson’s blog – she has grown children at home and away and seems to be including photos and journaling about their lives as well as hers. You could alternate featuring each of your kids each week/month.

http://365daysofdonna.blogspot.ca/

You might also want to just try something like part of a 2 page spread (whether it be a week or a month per spread) about what’s happening in your (and extended family’s) life right now and the other part on things that had happened in past years. Sort of a way of capturing/celebrating what’s going on now and contrasting it a bit with what had happened the past year or decade during a similar week/month. I’m sure you’re still very sad about the loss of your husband, but this could be a way of going back and remembering/celebrating all the things that things that were similar/different about your life in recent years.

This could be a way to ‘catch up’ if you’re behind on getting photos and stories from other years scrapbooked.

By: laura g.

laura g. — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 15:41:48 +0000

i think i just need to get started and it will all fall into place. feeling better today and only have to go in for a shot. my grandkids love what i have done and love to look at PL so that gives me inspiration.
my daughter does PL as a way to catch up on her pictures from last year
everyone has a different approach and ideas, and it’s great!! l.

By: laura g.

laura g. — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 15:37:02 +0000

Good advice! i am expected to make a full recovery as it was caught in an early stage. i am a stronger person because of this i know! Many blessings and a whole new respect for the health care professsionals and the discoveries that have been made!

By: laura g.

laura g. — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 15:33:18 +0000

congrats and hugs to you!!! i was surprised at how many people have been diagnosed with cancer! while waiting for chemo yesterday i ran into a former classmate i had not seen in awhile he has stage 4 colon cancer and is doing great!!
knowing you were able to do chemo with three small children gives me courage! my kids are grown and helping me alot. i just wish i could be around my grandkids more, but if they have coughs they can’t come to nana’s house. my husband really doesn’t know what to say or do, he just hangs in there. lol is never one to be emotional etc (that would be me!)
what is stage 3, triple negative breast cancer? mine was stage 3 not lymph node involvement, but because of the high grade , i get chemo. i elected to have a bilateral mastectomy, my mom had breast cancer and didn’t do any treatment, and then had colon cancer 5 years later and she passed away from that. the surgeon was a bit reluctant to do the ‘aggressive’ surgery, but precancer was found in the ducts of the other.
will have reconstruction later hugs to you and thank you for your encouragement!l.

By: laura g.

laura g. — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 15:24:14 +0000

i, too, am convinced that the power of love will trump cancer!
good idea about putting in all there. balancing the bad with the good, although i think there is more good than bad!
i cannot imagine having my children diagnosed with a disease, am glad this is me! prayers to you and your precious boys! am not sure what Langerhan’s Cell Histiocytosis is, so i am going to look it up.
yes, doing PL is theraputic and i hope to work on a large part of it today!
i cannot say enough about the health care professionals that i have been working with, all have been GREAT! the treatments so far have been fairly painless etc. will see how the rest of chemo goes!
hug those boys for me!! l.

By: laura g.

laura g. — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 15:16:17 +0000

thank you April! for every rotten thing i have experienced there have been many blessings! drawn closer to friends and family, and God. mine is curable, and caught in an early stage! thank you for your prayers, i really appreciate them! l.

By: Margie S

Margie S — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 01:52:30 +0000

Laura, I too would encourage you to keep going. Maybe cut back on the number of photos, etc. if you are not feeling well. You might also use it as a way to focus on the positives in your life when you might be feeling down. Anything you have will be cherished in the future. This year I really want to take a photo a day. Often when I m feeling down or stressed, I don’t take photos. So my challenge to myself this year is to take a photo of something I am grateful for any time I am not taking pics for this reason. So far it is working wonders. It lifts my spirits and then I inevitably end up taking more and I get meaningful photos on a day I wouldn’t normally have pictures. It has really helped me stay focused on the positives and the blessings in my life in a much more conscious way.

By: Katie

Katie — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 00:23:14 +0000

NEW to PL but love it! I have always been a scrapbooker but just can not keep up scrappin the way I was with every single page being a huge piece of art I love this for the simplicity but ability to add to it the few full page layouts I still occasionally like to do!!! So here is my delimma …. I am finding it hard to journal ! I have so far only purchased the clementine set and having a hard time because most of my pics are vertical requiring horizontal 3×4 cards… I don’t love my own handwriting either ! How do you use the 3×4 cards and print on them like the layout at the top of this blog topic?

By: Jenn

Jenn — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 23:58:31 +0000

Just wanted to let you know that when your site is listed as a result in Google Search, it has the “this site may be compromised” warning under it. If someone was to search for scrapbook solutions or Project Life, that warning may deflect traffic when your site shows up in the results. I’m sure you get plenty of traffic, but thought you might want to know anyway, just in case the site really has been compromised somehow.

By: Pheeebzzz

Pheeebzzz — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 22:07:42 +0000

Great advice and inspiration, thanks for sharing !!

By: Jane

Jane — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 21:16:26 +0000

Laura, for what it’s worth, I think it’s well worth doing. I began PL very enthusiastically in 2010 with my brand new kit, and three weeks in my husband fell very ill with a stroke and a suspected aneurysm. It came out of nowhere as he is an athlete and very healthy. During the time he was ill I took few photos but kept a journal. When he was released from hospital I started taking photos again with a vengeance, and used the journal to “catch up”. I’m so glad for the few photos I did take, and I wish I’d taken more. We love looking through that period now. As a previous post says, it’s a great reminder of how strong you really are.

Stay strong and positive. So many, many more survivors now. I have two friends who are completely disease-free five years on from breast cancer. Thank goodness for modern medicine. Good luck and I wish you dozens of healthy and happy years.

By: Project Life Advice » Heather Johnson Photography

Project Life Advice » Heather Johnson Photography — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 19:59:03 +0000

[...] this week, so I thought in lieu of not posting at all I would add my own advice as an add-on to the great stuff I just read over on Becky’s Blog. Here are my two cents on Project Life for those just beginning and for those just beginning to [...]

By: Jenn

Jenn — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 19:45:03 +0000

If you google, you should be able to find a tutorial on how to print directly on the paper journal cards. I have heard people mention it in PL groups on facebook; it might be worth a web search.

By: Lisa

Lisa — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 18:32:41 +0000

My biggest lifesaver for finishing PL2012 was to work on what was happening now – I did get behind, MANY weeks behind, when I was taken off work early before hte birth of my son, and then for a full 10 weeks after he was born. I was so very behind that it was daunting to go back and ‘catch up’. So what I did instead was to leave those pages for a bit, and work on my CURRENT week. Once I got back into the flow of things I started adding an extra week here or there from the weeks I had missed, so catching up became more manageable with working on smaller chunks at a time.

By: Paula O

Paula O — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 18:30:09 +0000

Great inspiration and advice!! This is my second year doing project life, I do weekly and bi weekly spreads sometimes. I needed to let go of getting behind last year too, but exactly as alot of ladies said is that I still ended up with more than i had before and my kids and I love looking through the past year! I just did a montly round up of 2 two page spreads for some months where i had gotten “behind”, just the highlights.

By: Paula O

Paula O — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 18:26:32 +0000

oh i like the printing on transparency idea!! i never thought of that! endless possibilities of see through overlays!

Thanks for the inspiration.

By: karen

karen — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 18:05:50 +0000

I have put off my own PL for the last year, and now feel as if I need to get started (how things have changed so much in the past year). Still so undecided on how I want to approach this as it is just me now. I lost my husband 8 months ago, the kids are grown and on their own all over the us and in Europe, and I totally feel that each day is the “same old, same old”. I think that is what keeps me from just throwing myself into the project and plain old just doing it. I am going to reread all this advice and figure out my own approach to document life now.