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I decided to do Project Life Tuesday a little differently this week and include for you all of my layouts so far for the year. I might do this is on a regular basis so you can see the pages all put together. I am again loving this project this year and enjoying the quick easy and simple process of putting it all together.
Just to recap for those just tuning in, Project Life is a concept of documenting your life in photos for an entire year. You take one photo everyday of the everyday stuff and also the event based things that happen in your year like birthday’s wedding’s etc. You can really take a photo of anything, remember what seems silly to document now will be so interesting to look back on in 12 months or even 12 years. It is such a great window into your life and what you are doing right now.
Right now onto the kit. If you have purchased the Becky Higgins Project Life kit you should have received it by now. A lot of people said to me they felt overwhelmed with the amount of stuff you got in the box and that you didn’t know where to start and how to put it all together so I thought I would out together this huge post on what I did. Firstly in my opinion you need to try and allow 2-3 hours to put this together (in the format I did) as a full album. Do it when the kids are in bed or happily playing an activity- I put a movie on for Flynn and set mine up on the family room table and then just stopped to make snacks/dinner etc.
Getting everything out of the box and checking it’s all there is a great first step- then remove any packaging from the box and throw it away with the box and foamy bits etc. This will give you a nice clutter free area to start off with. Then get yourself out the pen you are going to use for this project for the year and also a diary with a 2010 yearly calendar in it.
Now you could get super pedantic about where you put all your cards and what order they go in etc and spend HOURS even days on this part but seriously it’s about the photos and the story and trust me after doing it last year thats what I look back on with fondness and great memories not the order and placement of the cards. The way I did it was I layed the weekly cards out on the table and then put them in an order I like ie- no two colours backing up on each other week on week and I then created one large pile of all of these cards in that order. I then applied the same process to the smaller cards and then the journaling cards.
Now that I had all of my cards in the right order I started dating the weekly cards using the calendar. This will mean throughout the year I know the dates when I sit down to do my journaling. And then it was literally a matter of working through the divided page protectors and filling them up with the weekly cards and journaling cards until it was all full. You should have a few extra weekly and smaller printed cards left over. I decided to use a different album for my Project Life than came with the kit- it is a red W R Memory keepers album and you can buy them from here. I use these for our Family and Flynn’s scrapbooks and so it just made sense for me to keep them all the same.
Ok so now to sharing what I have done so far first I will say that my concept on the project is to get a snapshot of my life at the moment. If I miss a day I really don’t stress as I might take photo’s of 20 things the next day I honestly don’t get too pedantic about what photo goes into what day for house type photos- its is still telling the story of our life just as well and it reduces my stress levels in having to make sure I have something for everyday. Also I know a lot of people have decided to corner round their photos and not get a white border printed on them, this really is a personal choice- I took 893 photos in January so when I go to get them printed every week for me to print my 365 separately is just not a practical idea, I know it will only last a few weeks and then I will get stuck with a stack of photos with borders. Like I said before about the journaling cards the focus will be on your photos and cards when you have finished but if you only print 365 photos in a batch you might be able to manage fine with printing them minus the border it’s up to you.
My cover page, I kept this pretty simple and just used a mixture of the cards in the kit- you could get really creative with this if you like though.
January Week 1 My week started on the Sunday the 3rd Jan as last years 365 finished on the Sat 2nd-
January Week 2-
January week 3-
This is what I am doing at the end of each month to use up the 12×12 paper you get in the pack. I used 12×12 page protectors and put them all in at the end of each month. Then I used this Calendar download from Project Girl here I am planning to add our everyday stuff to this calendar such as kindy schedules, when we went swimming etc as I might not have necessarily included photos of all of this. She currently only has Jan- Sept up on the site for download but I am hoping she will have the rest of the year up soon !! This is not stuck in or written on yet as you can see I have just slipped it in to get to later.
This is the back side of the extra page- I plan on getting an enlargement of my favourite photo of the month to place in this side of the paper.
This week, I just to get a photo from Julie’s wedding on Saturday to finish this off.
Your album is looking really good Jade!
I am one of those OCD types of people and had to spend hours and hours sorting through and arranging the cards in the right order… and come to the same conclusion in the end… after hours and hours… that the focus is going to be on the photos and not on what cards you have on the page. LOL
But it was still fun none the less.
Thanks Diane, your album is looking fabulous and as long as you are happy with it thats all that matters and you had fun anyway ; ) Here is the link if anyway wants to see Diane’s progress- http://www.chaosonagoodday.com/search/label/ProjectLife (hope you don’t find Diane) x
Hi Jade,
Your Project Life is looking great. I got mine last week & was soooo excited! Anyone would have thought that I got a letter from the Queen I was that excited, lol.
It was because of your blog that I was introduced to Becky Higgins & Project Life, so thank you so much for that.
I was just wondering where you purchase the 12 x 12 full page protectors from?
Thanks…
Also this may be a dumb question/statement but do all the photos need to be taken horizontal? Any tips on vertical photos?
Hi Bree so happy to hear you are joining Project Life this year : ) It is so much fun. 12×12 page protectors can be purchased from any scrapbook shop. I take horizontal for 354 but if I have vertical I would probably print two together on the one 4×6 card at Big W and use 2 photos that day, Hope that helps.
x
Thanks Jade, no I don’t mind at all!
That is a great tip with the 2 x horizontal photos on a vertical card. I never would have thought of that, but will do it now!
OMG Jade it looks awesome!! So jealous you have yours! Mine should be here any day now. I keep jumping when someone knocks hoping it’s the courier!!
For vertical photos I was planning to print two together on the one 4×6″ card at Big W as you mentioned but then cut into two separate pics and put in the vertical “slot” normally used for journalling
Oh wow, your album is looking so stunning!!!! I love it!
Thanks girls : ) I was doing the same things for two weeks Jen, so excited when it finally arrived !! Great idea Jeanette I love that one too : )
You’re album looks amazing! I am still trying to finish my 365 from last year, but the pictures are all taken and printed, just need to finish sliding them in. I have kept up with it this year though! Love your belly pictures, what a great idea!
Thanks Delane : ) As long as your pictures are all taken phew that makes it a lot easier !! You will catch up soon : ) Thanks , we did the weekly belly shots with my first pregnancy and so I thought i’d better continue the tradition !!
is that your scrapbook space at the end of week 2? i love the boxes and bookshelves. how about a picture of the whole room? i love to see where people create! (found you on the mom creative!)
Susanne- It’s actually my living room Here is a link to the entire cabinet.
http://www.beyondthebaby.com.au/superorganisermum/organising/that-cabinet/
Here is my scrap room-
http://www.beyondthebaby.com.au/superorganisermum/organising/craft-scrap-room/
http://www.beyondthebaby.com.au/superorganisermum/organising/craft-scrap-room-2/
Hope that helps : )
Hi Jade,
First I have to say you have a beautiful name and looks like it suits you. I love the belly shots, wish I had thought of that for my 4 kids. Do you know what your having or is it a surprise. I checked out your scrapspace and love that it’s just tucked into a workable space. The cabinets are pretty and nice to hide away everything. The ideas you have for your album are great too. In the first two weeks I see clipboards is that your to-do list, where did you get the clipboards they look pretty. Loved visiting here and will come back. Have a great week.
Project Life looks like such a fun and easy project to do and a great way to capture a year.
Can i just say your scraproom looks fantastic. You said you got the cupboards from IKEA can I ask what ‘brand’ of cupboard they are? I just haven’t seen anything like them there before.
What a beautiful album!
Cxx
My cousin recommended this blog and she was totally right keep up the fantastic work!
Hi,
Brilliant pages!
Just curious, how do you label your pictures when they are in the photo sleeves?
Hi Julie, I just stick the sticker right over the page protector : ) That way you have no risk of ruining the photo. Hope that helps. x
My cousin recommended this blog and she was totally right keep up the fantastic work!
Great site. A lot of useful information here. I’m sending it to some friends!