Project Life 2013.

Last year I stuck my toes in the water to try my own digi version of Project Life.  I simplified the process for myself quite a bit by doing it only through Shutterfly using all of the pictures I load and store already in one place.  I have to say ... this TOTALLY worked for me.  It made sense in my life, it was "easy" to keep up with once I got the hang of the album I chose (they offer several Project Life album styles, I chose Turquoise last year).  I was able to TRY to sit down for a few minutes weekly and update my album.  And THANK GOODNESS for Instagram because with Shutterfly you can link to Instagram and use all of those pictures too!  So easy.

I'm happy to say that I've already proofed and ordered my 2012 Project Life album!!!!  I'm so excited to get it into my hands!  More than that, I'm excited to hand it over to Mike.  He has NO IDEA I've been doing this all year long.  I can't wait for him to "catch up" on the last year of our life!! ;)

So that left me wondering what I'd do THIS YEAR for Project Life.  I do crave the tactile nature of the scrap book process and I love the concept of PL.  Do I take the risk and go for it when the digi version was equally satisfying and likely easier?!?!?  I left it up to Christmas to decide.  I put a couple of Amazon Project Life items on my "wishlist" to family for Christmas.  I thought "if I get something, I will go for it."  Sure enough, my mom got me some of the basics I'd need to start an official Project Life album.

And after a successful December Daily album, I decided to just dive right in and go for it.  

(this page isn't totally complete ... still tooling around a bit)

I felt a little more confidence after getting some great tips from my friend Susan when she wrote that blog post about her process.  I'd have to confess that she is my PL idol.  I love the COLOR she uses and how she coordinates it to her beautiful photos and how she uses elements together so cohesively.  LOVE.

I don't aspire to do anything quite on her level yet, but I'm going to do my best to be authentic to ME and to OUR STORY.  And in the end, that is what it is really all about.  I have no idea how this will impact the rest of my memory keeping this year.  Will I still do regular scrapbook pages?  I hope so but since I barely did that this year I'm not going to hold my breath!  Perhaps just special events?!?!

The hardest part for me of getting started was getting organized.  Here is how I'm starting my process and I'm sure this will evolve.

I don't have a dedicated space outside of my craft room to keep this project (which I think helps many people be successful) so I have to encompass it in my craft room.  I've given this top drawer a make-over with an IKEA drawer organizer to hold some PL starter kit items, other scrap paper I intend to use and some of my favorite bits and pieces.  Here are some of my favorite bits ...

The one thing I'm still muddling through is the picture part of my album.  Print at home?  Print weekly?  Susan uses Costco.  This could be an option for me too.  I've got to see how this week goes and continue to tweak it over the weeks.  It's not like I'm not in CostCo nearly every week anyway .... still muddling.

And there you have it.  I think I'm putting more than just my toes into the water this year!  And quite honestly, I'm going to be kind to myself.  This wasn't on my GOALS & RESOLUTIONS list for this year.  I knew I wanted to do this ... but I didn't want it to over shadow my true priorities.  It this gets completed, or even semi-completed, it would be the icing on the cake.

In any case, I'll keep you posted!

Comments

[melanie]

woot! so excited to see you do this!

[mama]

good luck! maybe I'll be inspired to do something.