Project Life

2013 goal #1 - document life... and get those hundreds of photographs into albums. Not folders on the cumputer, but albums we can flick through. That the kids can look at, read and remember the things we did together as a family.

As a serious scrapbooker in previous years, this is not new to me at all. Jaidyn (first-born) has a (albeit basic) album for the first year of his life. Elijah (child #2) has one that might be a little higgledy-piggledy, but that still documents special moments from when he was a baby. Poor Lani, with her 3rd child syndrome (and having a 1 yr old and newborn at home at the same time!), has nothing. No wait, I think I started a page for her. Or maybe I even did one. Not much though, huh. It was around her birth that I gave up scrapbooking. Not because I didn't enjoy it, or want to get those moments down, but I think I lost a little sight of what I was doing, and why I was doing it. I lost the reason for scrapping in the first place - to record those moments. I got caught up in the paper, the ink, the embellishments, and mostly in what others were doing, and I was stuck in the 'comparison trap'. (which, when your scrapping buddies are all the big-name scrappers in magazines, well who can compare! They were getting paid to do what they did! And they were good!)

Fast forward to 2012. And my dear husband asked me ever so gently for about the 100th time to please organise my photos on my computer... and added that it would be really nice if we could get them into albums so we can look through them.

And so I set that goal for myself. 2013 was going to be the year I get those photos into albums!

Ok, so yes, I could have (and maybe should have!) gone to the local KMart or Target and picked up a few slip-in albums, and got on my merry way. But as a creative-type, that was just too, well, boring!

And that's when I found Project Life by Becky Higgins. I think I might have been while looking for her Christmas card templates to use for my 2012 holiday cards. And I saw, and I knew that's what I wanted to do!

Project Life is scrapbooking, but not scrapbooking. It sits somewhere in the middle of traditional scrapbooking and just slipping photos in pockets. And its perfect for creative people that are too busy to scrapbook. You do away with all the extra embellishments, the 'creating' a layout that takes time, money and energy, but you still finish with a page that has your all important photos and journalling, but some 'pretty things' in there too. It can be as easy as printing pics, slipping them in, and then journalling on the cute cards that come in the kits - or you can go a little more creative and use your traditional scrap supplies too. And of course, there's digital versions of everything too. And there are SO MANY freebies online too, for your downloading pleasure, ready to print out and write on or just slip in!

You can check out a video below.

Yep, this is what I want to do. Getting my photos into albums, but being a little creative about it too. Perfect.

And so a couple of weeks ago, I embarked on ordering some of the great pocketed protector sleeves, in a couple of different designs, as well as a Baby kit (did you see the elephants!?) to start on Malachi's album now while its all still fresh - and to possibly use for the other kids too - and a general kit (I bought Amber) for our family album. {in hindsight, I probably should have just bought the digi kits - of which I ended up buying a couple anyway - as I want to do my journalling mostly on the computer. But I'm sure I'll use some of the kits, and can sell off the other parts.}

I've also ordered some gorgeous 12x12 leather D-ring albums (I got them for a great price, so *may* have gone ahead and bought 6 of them, oops!) from We R Memory Keepers. Aqua for Kai, pink for Lani, blue for Jai, green for Eli, red for Sebby and a black one for our family album. Yes, I do plan to go back and do the kids albums - from baby and through school (the new childhood kits look exciting!) {woohoo to finally finding something to do with all the artworks!!}

So my time lately (sorry about the lack of housework hubby!) has been spent making a big mess of the dining table - with photos, journalling cards, my kits... and lots of playing in Photoshop too. I decided that I'll use the Clementine digi kit for 2013 (and will probably use my Amber for 2012).

We had a mini photo shoot just for the purpose of my cover, and I LOVE these photos! Got some really great ones of the kids! So here's my title page for 2013. Using some elements from the Clementine kit, plus some freebies I found too. I'm loving this Design F pockets too - they will be used a LOT in my albums I think - a great way to fit in lots of pics. And I tend to shoot mostly in portrait anyway, so this is handy!

Predominantly, Project Life is done with weekly layouts. But the great thing is, there are no rules. I know I couldn't keep up with weekly - especially when I want to go and work on the kids' albums too - so I'm going to do a month at a time, and add in extra spreads for special occasions like a birthday, holiday, Christmas etc.

For the kids albums I want to do an in-depth first year memories (with the help of baby record books and Facebook for finding the memories), then just document special occasions, and also use the Childhood kits for school, scanning in their artworks etc (that are in those scrapbooks taking up space somewhere!) and getting their words in them too. Plus I'm going to do a memorial album for Sebastian - I'm most excited about that one! It will be an emotional journey I'm sure, but I can't wait to start collating all his things, photos and memories in one spot.

Other than that, I have about 5 or 6 half-done pages over the desk. Waiting for a few pics I might have forgotten to print, as well as my journalling. But I'm getting there! And loving it.

And another FABULOUS part is that many of my scrapping buddies from 5 years ago (who also let scrapping go) are taking up PL this year too - so we're reconnecting and getting excited about scrapbooking again - but in ways we can handle with our busy lifestyles. I'm excited!

Are you doing PROJECT LIFE? Link me to your pages please, would love to see them!
Or if not, how are you documenting your everyday life in 2013?