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! 


28 comments:

  1. Letting go of perfection is something I'm doing this year too. I would love for my pages to be scrapbooking masterpieces but it isn't necessary for me to do that. I'd much rather stay caught up and get it done and embellish when I can. Thanks for sharing some great tips with us!

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    1. Thanks Emily. This has been a constant struggle of mine in terms of striving for perfection.

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  2. Wow, kudos to your for keeping up, that's awesome with all that's going on in your home!!

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    1. Thanks Rebekah! Let's see if I can keep it up as we move next week. Just hoping I don't get too far behind or lose my mojo :)

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  3. I have a small group of PL friends locally. We try to meet up once a week if we can. That helps us all stay up to date. We also hold each other accountable so if we do miss a week or two or five of getting together we remind each other to keep at it! It's fun to have some girl time and we get to keep up with our books.

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    1. Michelle-what a great idea. My new next door neighbor also does PL so I'll have to suggest we get together to keep each other accountable and have some girl time-win, win!

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  4. I am in awe that with all that comes with moving you have kept up with your album! That is certainly worth celebrating!

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    1. Thanks! Like I told Rebekah, we'll have to see what happens when I move. This is why I love PL though. So super simple.

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  5. What a great post Kristy! Love how you are "getting real" lol! And I love your attitude, the important thing is that you are capturing these memories, whether it is weekly, or more sporadically if things get crazy!

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    1. Exactly! I just need to tell myself this next week and the week after when I am knee deep in unpacking all of our "stuff".

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  6. I just got the Eye-Fi card for my camera! I'm glad to hear it works for you. And I'm AMAZED that you're keeping up in the middle of a move. Great job!

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  7. I love your album and its amazing & wonderful that you have been able to keep it up during a move!!!! :) Amazing!
    Katina Martinez
    http://www.lovinglifeslittleblessings.com

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  8. I love that you are doing your album while you have all that chaos going on. Your tips are fantastic! And I know exactly what you mean about "getting real." I am on my fourth year of PL and I feel like that is the difference for me this year as well.

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    1. Funny how we purchased PL to be simple and then most of us put this crazy pressure on ourselves to make it more complicated. I guess I tend to do that in all areas of my life :)

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  9. Great post! Great job keeping up! Striving for perfection is one of my downfalls, still haven't beat it yet! Haha!

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    1. It is definitely hard to beat! Good Luck!

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  10. great pages! I think one good thing about moving is we get a chance to purge!
    Thanks for joining the hop! it's fun to see what everyone is doing. Hugs - Sonia

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    1. Most of my stuff has been packed up the past year so I can't wait to get in there and get rid of some of my stash to make room for some of my new PL goodies.

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  11. I love your approach! Good for you for keeping up! Although I promised myself to keep it simple it still takes me few good hours to complete one week. It turned out to be much more time consuming that I imagined. LOL

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    1. Don't put pressure on yourself to make it simple if you like to take that time to make your spreads...I am sure they look awesome!

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  12. You got a great approached to PL, I like how well your pages turned out too. Your doing so well with PL and the move it is amazing

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  13. Anonymous6:48 PM

    i can so relate to the keep it simple part. if i want to get creative then i do. I want to print at home but do not like the quality of printing. Might research again. Loved your pages, thanks for sharing.

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    1. Not sure if you have tried Epson for printing at home but I use the Epson Artisan 810 and I think the quality if pretty good. I only use Epson paper and ink too. Good luck!

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  14. Thanks for sharing your process. I really agree with what you're saying about printing at home maybe not being the most cost-effective but really making a huge difference in staying up to date. My process was similar when I did PL in print back in 2010. I miss the simplicity of it. Digital could be simpler than print, but it lures me into trying out really complicated things, which of course means I get super behind on the weeks I don't have time for really complicated things. :)

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    1. I have not delved into digital but think I might try a mini album to see how I like it. Though I am sure i will complicate that too :)

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  16. I love seeing all of your PL pages! You're so current; I'm jealous! ;) Thanks for sharing, Kristy!

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