Project Life - a method of memory keeping developed by Becky Higgins that simplifies the scrapbooking process down from full pages to little photo sized pieces.
I debated with myself for few months in the fall of 2012 as to whether I wanted to jump in and try Project Life. You see, I'm not one of those people who has the camera with them everywhere and takes pictures of everything. We have a good friend who is always snapping photos, and though we tease him about it, in the end we LOVE when he shares them with us later and we can reminisce! I like to write... but have yet to figure out exactly how to journal my story. I have a ton of journals, diaries - whatever you'd like to call them - scattered around the house. Many have been started with good intentions but eventually sit on the shelf and begin to gather dust.
Part of my Project Life debate revolved around this journal reality. Will this be another project that I start, but leave to collect dust on the shelf with all of the others?
And then, I began to work on the gifts for my brother and nephew. Small photo albums that I pre-made several inserts for. Simple title pages, and cards for them to write down some notes on their thoughts / favorite parts of the days. The rest of the pages we would fill with photos of our adventures together in Florida while exploring my parent's new home and neighborhood. (my mother is another of those people who carries her camera practically everywhere!!!)
And while working on these gifts I decided that I would just GO FOR IT and begin my own Project Life Album in 2013.
I wanted to start small, so I ordered a small package of the photo sleeve pages (in styles A and D). I also looked through the core kits. I want to make this project as easy as possible, but I want it to feel like us. As I looked through the options I wasn't getting a warm, fuzzy feeling. The colors were too bright, or the patterns were too frilly. In the end I decided on their "Cherry" edition of the core kit - the designs and colors were the closest fit to my personality.
My kit parts arrived at the end of 2012 and I have played with them on and off since then. The core kit looks much better in person than in the online photos. I may have to tone down some of the colors, but what's most important - I CAN WORK WITH IT AND BE HAPPY! Which is much different than, I can work with it and get by. The paper was thinner than I had anticipated, but my guess is that it works better in the album sleeves that way.
My Project Life Goal - to complete a double page layout for each month. Based on the projects that I've seen posted on the web, folks seem to do a double page spread for each week of the year. This idea overwhelmes me - and I want my Project Life documentation to do more than gather dust on the shelf with the rest of my journals. Filling eight 4x6 slots and eight 3x4 slots each month seems far less daunting!
Whew! If you've made it this far - thanks for keeping with me through this very wordy post!
~ Kathy
3 comments:
I think you have done a really great job so far...I was thinking about doing this too. I know what you mean by starting journals, etc...and never completing them, so that was part of my hesitation too. I enjoyed seeing what you posted so far, hope you keep us updated.
I really like the elements you used in these pages! It's the beginning of a fun adventure in documenting your lives, and I think it's a great idea! Stick with it - there will be no regrets when you pick it up 20 yrs from now :)
Enjoy this journey! It will be great to look back on!
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