A few weeks ago I posted a (not even good) photo on Facebook of my finished 2012 Project Life album. I had no idea so many of my friends would respond or ask questions about it...I simply posted it because I was so stinkin' proud of myself for following through with a goal from the past January...and was excited to start the process all over again this year. In my caption I just stated that I was happy to have finished the year...but I didn't go into any details about the Project Life system until I got a few messages asking about it.
Can I tell you how much I LOVE
Project Life ???
This is a memory keeping system designed by a brilliant mom and scrapbooker Becky Higgins. Before you close this window and go on to something else because you don't scrapbook...WAIT! This is the simplest, easiest, funnest (yes, I know that's not a word, but it is the FUNNEST) way to document the events of your life. It is designed to be flexible and fit your life, anyway you want to do it. Everyone's approach is different, and there is no right or wrong way to complete it.
I have made scrapbooks all of my life...I can remember taping (not acid-free...gasp!) really bad snapshots of Washington, D.C. that I took on my 7th grade patrol trip...circa 1977...on to pages of grey construction paper in a pitiful scrapbook that I bought in a drug store at Northlake mall. ( This might have been after a trip to Farrell's). I also wrote captions in markers and remembering thinking "these pictures without people are boring." I wonder where that lovely scrapbook is....
ANYWAY...my point is that I love to document life with my family and friends (an travels, and food, and pets, and so on...). I have lots of scrapbooking supplies and a nice area to dedicate to my craft. I have a lot of experience and scrapbooking doesn't overwhelm or intimidate me. I even have an art degree. You need NONE of the above to do a Project Life album!!!
Go to http://beckyhiggins.com/blog/ to get started. She has a video that is short and sweet and is the best way to understand how the system works. Basically, she has designed plastic sleeve pages that are divided perfectly to fit 4x6 photos and smaller slots for journaling cards. Don't want to journal? Cut a picture in half! Or print an instagram photo!! There are also many styles of slotted pages to choose from. But don't get overwhelmed...you only need to watch the video...
I love how much of our "everyday" gets documented in this book. Naturally, the big events are in there: holidays, birthdays, when we are all together sitting down for a meal...but the everyday things are saved also! Like the favorite song from carpool that week, or a funny fortune from our Chinese cookies, or that text from someone that made my day.
I chose to do a "page" a week...meaning for me... every Sunday I printed pictures from my camera and my phone, sometimes from my Ipad, and sometimes from my kids' phones...and I stuck them inside their little slot, wrote out a few lines, (or a lot, depending on the story I wanted to remember), stamped out the date of that week...and moved on.
Now we have the whole year to look back on...the good, the bad, and the beautiful.
Did I spend alot of money on ink and photo paper? yes! (can you print at Costco or online cheaper? yes!)Did I spend alot of money on supplies? no.
Did I spend alot of time on each week? sometimes...spring break week was a couple of pages because I had a lot of photos I wanted to use. But usually no more that an hour after printing.
Did I ever get behind? yes.
Was it hard to catch back up? nope. A few weeks are a little more "minimalistic" than others. But they are all there!
Do I wish I had this system when my kids were babies and changing every single week??? YESSSS!!!!! (...or my wedding...or my oldest's senior year of high school??? YES!)
Do I wish Lance Armstrong would not have lied so much? YES!! (sorry...TV on in the other room...)
Do I wish everyone would start doing Project Life so we could all talk about it and I wouldn't feel like I might be slightly obsessed? Yes!
