Friday, April 12, 2013

Project Life Celebratory Blog Hop: 2013 25% Done!

Welcome!  

Today I am part of a great line up for a Project Life 1st quarter blog hop.  A group of us is sharing where we are now that the year is (gasp) 25% complete.  Thanks to Michelle for sending folks my way.  I am excited to have some new faces come visit and appreciate Margie for hosting this wonderful blog hop!  After you leave me, please go on and visit Michelle Roger and our other wonderful blogs participating in this hop.

For those of you looking for some Project Life inspiration, I hope you leave my site today with some ideas and motivation.  And, for those of you not "caught up", do not get frustrated or feel inadequate about yourself.  This hop is meant to inspire and motivate.  This is a living process, be kind to yourself as you work through it. 

Real Life

Project Life is such a simple tool to collect our every day stories.  I am amazed that one quarter of 2013 has already flown by and I am so happy that, for right now, I am caught up with my PL album.  You see, we are in the midst of this at our house right now:



Even with a big move coming up next week, 2 kids ages 6 and 3, and finishing the process of building our dream home, I have managed to keep up with my album.  Friends, that is just how simple Project Life can be.  However, I won't lie--the pictures and stories don't just magically appear in my album.  I have albums for 2011 and 2012 and by no means were these albums even close to being complete.  I did manage to at least get every week in 2012 documented via photos but totally slacked in the journaling.  So, what is different this year, especially with all this chaos?

I have made Project Life a focus for this first quarter.  I know that the next several weeks are going to be CRAZY.  I am giving myself permission to document as I feel like it and to let go when I need to.  In other words, this year I am getting "real".

I also introduced more of a process this year and have some tools to help me stay on track.

My Process:

What's working so far:

1.  Batch my weeks together:
While I don't have it penciled in on my calendar, I generally try to reserve a Friday evening and Sunday afternoon about once every 3 weeks or so to  get my past weeks in order.  I don't like to get more than 3 weeks "behind" as then I don't remember things as clearly.  

2.  Keep my process simple:
I print my photos as home, round the corners, pop them in my album, embellish if I feel like it, and get the journaling down.  I usually only spend an hour or two tops on this each time I sit down to finish a couple of weeks.  

3.  Print my photos at home:
I upload my photos from my iPhone via Dropbox and from my camera via Eyefi.  Choose which photos I want to print and print right here at home.  This may not be the most cost effective method-but it keeps me up to date.  

4.  Organize my supplies:




I am sure most of you can commiserate but I have a ton of scrapbooking supplies.  However, for PL, I have kept my stash of goodies to a bare minimum so as to not get overwhelmed.  I have a few embellishments I have picked up here and there, I use the Studio Calico PL kits, and of course, my Becky Higgins PL Seafoam Kit.  I keep all of these together and out of my other scrapbooking supplies.  I use a basket from Target and the box my PL kit came in.  I also organized my page protectors in an album so that I could easily and quickly find what I needed.  When we move, I am looking forward to getting even more organized with all of this.

5.  Let go of perfection:
This by far is my biggest tip.  I knew this year would be crazy.  I knew I could not expect my album to look like a designer scrapbooker...just not going to happen right now.  I don't have the time or the money.  So I gave myself permission to just let my album take shape as I have time, to tell our stories as best I can, and it will be OK.  

My Album

You can see past weeks of my album here and here.

Below I have the last 3 weeks of my album that I just wrapped up this week:

March 17-23
 March 24-30
 March 31-April 6


What Works for You?

Feel free to share in the comments what your process is for staying up to date on your Project Life albums.  I know we could all use some inspiration and motivation. 

Thank You

Thanks for stopping by today.  Over the next several weeks I will be posting how my Project Life is evolving as we move to a new home and how we are decorating and organizing our new space.  Feel free to drop by from time to time.  I'd love to hear from you.

Next up on the hop is Michelle Roger.  Also, don't forget to visit our other blog hop participants and get some other great ideas and inspiration!