Project [This Is Your] Life

I am trying people. I am trying really hard.

The good news is, it's not taking over my life! The bad news is, it's not getting done.

Fits and starts, and good intentions, and realistic expectations are all coming in to play here.

But when I finally do sit down to play a little, it feels wonderful!

The photos on the left are Instgrams printed 4"x4" and placed in a Project Life 4x12 page protector. I have to cut the top off to fit in my 8.5x11 binder, and re-punch the holes, but I love these damn things!

Stickers and text right on the photos means I can add more photos and less fillers. Still needs some journaling though!

Super simple...missing some journaling still...and some background paper now that I look at it! Oops!

Here you can see how I incorporate my layouts into the body of my Project Life. I don't have a separate album for my "traditional" scrapbooking layouts, so they get inserted into the right week in my complete album. And these ones all happen to match! HA!

I made these layouts using the July kit from Treasured Memories...that I pulled together all by my little old self! I made a butt load of layouts and still have a tonne of product left over. I am awesome...

 With most of these latest spreads I have been focused more on adding photos and explaining them, then getting fancy with my embellishments. I guess it saves some time, but it also saves bulk and space in my book!

I write on my photos with an American Crafts Slick Writer, or this random old pen I found in my stash! Sharpies are also a good plan. When stamping on photos, use your StazOn ink.

Favourite supplies for PL: sticker labels! They are good for titles and journaling, and add a little extra colour and fancy things up a bit without adding too much time and bulk to the book. And they come in every damn colour now!

More pretty - and recent - layouts. Apparently I am on a sorbet-pastel-colour kick lately!

For this title card, I had mis-cut the papers in the slots below. So I ripped some washi tape to fit, used some sitcker letters and stamps and called it a night! I actually LOVE how it turned out and might use this technique for future weekly markers. Thank goodness for super wide washi.

I haven't shared everything here. There are still a lot of spreads not pictured that need a lot more work! But you get the idea. I have been working on weeks 17 through today...week 34. Yep, I am super behind! But I also enjoy taking my time and plodding away at it as I go. I haven't even touched the majority of the photos I printed from vacations this summer, but those will come.

I've learned something about life and Project Life in the past month or so. When you are feeling crummy about your life, it's really hard to want to document it. Good parts included. But at the same time, reliving those wonderful moments help take some of the sting out of the bad.

And that's my two cents for the day!

later loves

Project Life...I am SO BEHIND!!

So I am not quite caught up to where I want to be, but who cares?! Ill share a little more of what I have for you so far, and then we'll see what happens from here.

The end of WEEK 16. I realized I had more photos to go in after I had completed the spreads. Well, after I thought I had everything finished. So I added in this page, and now we're all good!

WEEK 17 >> So I forgot to print some photos. Obviously. Thank goodness for sticky note placeholders!

Still loving adding text on the pics. Still loving the simple layouts.

This was a busy week for me...apparently. There are lots of layouts to fit in as well.

Week 17 Highlights Include: Still getting adjusted to my new job! // it's finally starting to get warm out // crop night with my dorks // shopping for bathroom stuff // lots of painting // BFF's fabulous 30th birthday party!

I still have some things to finish up in here. Including add some layouts! Those sticky notes are the best!

I love this spread the best. Dorky and hungover. This is my life!

And so Week 18 begins....and does not end. This is where I lost the momentum, went to a weekend-long crop, got busy, lived my life....you know how it is.

Yeah. Week 18 started strong. And then this happened.

At least I look really organized!

Hello Project Lifers! How goes it? Are you behind? Are you busy catching up? Have you given up??

later loves

p.s. I drafted this post weeks ago. I hope I have finished more of my PL since then, especially to get me caught up before heading to Mexico, where I am right now!!! I am so bleeping excited to get out of Dodge...but I do miss my Original Mexico Buddy! Hi BFF!! I hope Edmonton treats you well and you don't miss me too much while I'm gone. We will book a de-briefing on my return. Coffee, drinks, something wonderful. I will drink a mojito or ten in your name.

Three Weeks in a Row!

That's right people. I have finished three weeks of Project Life in a row. I hate to say I'm on a roll and jinx myself, but I am pretty darn excited!

Here is Week Sixteen for your viewing pleasure...

I thought I would share a pic of how my week looks with the layouts included right in with the spreads.

Well...that's it! Pretty simple.

There's that yellow/green card from this post. I love how that worked out. I have a bunch of photos from my last day of work that I will include as well. I made sure to take a photo of myself with all the ladies! (Except Party Pooper.) And Fayaz was in as well, so I made him feel loved with a piece of cake and then awkward with a photo! HA!

And here's another. Layout that is.

Photos censored for BFF birthday purposes. I just found out he sometimes reads my blog, so...

I forgot some journaling on this next one! Oops!

Ratio of "real camera" photos to Instagrams: 9 to 16

Holy Shit! I got a lot of photos in!!

Highlights of this week include: Bliss-ologie business cards arrive // Lakewood AGM // Delicious ice cream treat // Last day of work!! // Beers with BFF // Famoso dinner with the boys  // Uncle James came over for games // Cleaned the whole damn house! // Lots of art-making...

For more on how I make Project Life work for me, check out these posts:

Staying Organized

Supplies

Other Project Lifers who inspire me...there are a couple more to add to the list now!

How I really feel about it most days!

later loves

Project Life...let's try this again...

Okay, so I started it up again. I was going to try and catch up, and then (thankfully) Kayla shook that crazy idea right out of my head! I was just beating myself up about not thinking I had the time or the energy to catch up, and was feeling really low about it, and she called me out and said: "so don't." So I didn't. I just started fresh. And that was much better!

Here are weeks fourteen and fifteen...oh lordy, this is a long post!

 I tried something new this week. I added text to some of my photos right in my "photo-editing software". I chose a simple font that would stand out against the colours and patterns in the photos, but also looked modern and hipster enough for my liking. And I really like this! It saves me from adding sticker letters later, which just end up being crooked and covering up too much of the photo. This idea is a keeper!

I realized a little late that I had an extra photo for the page, and nowhere to put it. So I taped it on the edge of the card from our dentist visit, and made it into a little "interactive element"! And I got some extra journaling in there!

More text added to photos. See, a keeper. I should really write down the font I'm using there...

Highlights of Week Fourteen include: I got a new job! // My bikini came in the mail! // I made delicious cookies...and ate them all! // It was warm and then not warm, then it rained and then it snowed again! // I had a lovely coffee date with BFF // I took a First Aid & CPR course // Dude & I got our teeth cleaned! // and we also jumped in some cold and dirty puddles!

Ratio of "real camera" photos to Instagrams: 10 to 8

(k...you're at the halfway point. If you've made is this far, congratulations! Go grab yourself a sports drink, or some PB&J and jump right back in!)

More of the same really. Me being a dork and taking pictures.

Nicole sent me a lovely care package, and I included the card right in my spread! I love being able to include and memorabilia and little paper bits I (already) collect. It's nice that they can have a home, not only to remember the event/person/moment, but also so they get the heck off my dining room table!

I try and make notes right on the symphony program about what we/I thought of the night. This one was super boring! But the guest conductor was interesting. I put my scrapbooking layouts in my album, right in the week the events happened. At the end, in the middle, wherever it fits. Here you see a little snippet of one I did featuring Beers with BFF (a recurring theme in my life). I'll be adding some for the birthday party we attended on Saturday night as well.

Highlights of Week Fifteen include: Oilers game (asses handed to us) // Tried some fun new wine (drank wine...put son's underpants on my head...) // Dude makes laundry fun! // I got fun mail from Nicole // Symphony (boring) & beer (awesome!) with BFF // Happy 40th Birthday Cory!

Ratio of "real camera" photos to Instagrams: 0 to 9

FYI: Products Used:
- I use an 8.5 x 11 binder (free...from my Dad) as my "scrapbook album" so all of my page protectors have to be adjusted accordingly. I buy my 8.5 x 11 pages from Staples by the 100s. All of my layouts and a lot of my larger memorabilia go in these. If I can find a box at Value Village I know the gods are smiling down on me!
- The divided pages are 3.5 x 5 photo pages from the Container Store. My step-dad stocked up on them the last time he was in Houston, so I should be good for a couple of months! One week usually takes up at least two full pages for me (that's front and back...and front & back).
- I don't use an official licensed "Project Life" kit, so all of my product is scrapbooking stuff that I already have around the house. I see some Glitz in there, bits from a couple different Studio Calico kits, American Crafts, some of my In A Creative Bubble journaling sheets, and some other stuff I guess. Anything on my desk is fair game! If I do buy anything made for "Project Life" I always have to cut it down to fit.

And that is a little catch up on Project Life in my life...you're welcome Nicole!

Any questions about Project Life? Any questions about anything? How's your week going so far?

later loves

Project Life Documented

I really don't want to call this "Project Life" any more, but if I call it something else - something Lisa-made-up - will you even understand, and will it make sense and am I just doing this to be difficult, and what if no one finds me on Google?! Ah Farty McFarterson. (which is something I actually say out loud on a daily basis...)

Sigh. Woe is me, right?

Anyhoo, here is my first couple weeks of 2013. I almost sort of totally stayed caught up in journaling, and saving (& dating) my Instagrams. I cannot commit to completing each week as it comes. I just can't. LIFE gets in the way of documenting said Life. It just does. I am a very popular person. And also sometimes incredibly lazy.

(cover page for the year...again, apparently)

Week One

Oops....looks like I missed some journaling. Oh well!

 (I don't like this spread. It's too matchy-match. But I am still loving my thrifted almost-4x6 photo pages!)

Week Two
I cut one of my thrifted almost-4x6 photo pages in half for this one. I'm liking it! Those are most of the tags from this magical VV shopping trip.

I'm still putting my actual layouts right in the book, in the week they belong. And sometimes I double up on photos. But I don't care.

Here's a couple of unfinished pages for you! You can kind of see how I organize things with sticky notes too. I'm going to need to yoink another stack from work soon...wink!

I will continue posting my Project Life // Life Documented layouts & spreads here on the blog. Along with tips and tricks I find useful, and other people who inspire me (and who might in turn inspire you!)

Things to consider...
- I am now keeping track of week numbers. We'll see how long that lasts.
- I am trying really hard to include the "little things", like new albums downloaded, funny things Dude says, etc. It's tough to remember to put them in the album, but I have at least been writing them down in my notebook.
- Writing on photos is my new favourite thing. It saves me having to use up precious pocket space for journaling cards, when I have so many dang photos to include every week and those pockets are a hot commodity.
- I am going to finish December, dammit!
- I need to learn how to take better pictures of this stuff. Lordy, these are bad.
- I don't care how many pages are happening at this moment. We'll see how my tune changes in March or so. I did get ginormous (free from my Dad) binders this year, so there's that.
- The envelopes and notebook idea is genius yo! They are keeping me on track, and keeping me (sort of) organized. My dining room table still looks like a hoarder's paradise, but we're getting there!

Any questions, concerns, considerations from the reading audience?

Didn't think so...wink!

later loves

Blah Blah Blah "Project Life"

I sort of "laughed out loud" when I read this excerpt on Becky's site: "Project Life provides an ultra-simple solution that helps us get those pictures into albums without draining our time, energy, and wallets." HA HA HA HA HA HA! That's hilarious! Doesn't drain your time, because instead of spending an hour or so each week scrapbooking last month's holiday we spend twice that amount of time every week organizing photos, and saving memorabilia, and writing out what my kid said (or didn't say), and filling pockets, and cleaning up after all that creating. Well, that's what it looks like at my house at least! Oh, and don't forget to buy the basic kit, and the page protectors, and the digital files, and the album, and some extra cardstock just in case....but it's really inexpensive I promise!

It's an exhaustive and exhausting project. And I've decided that I don't want to call the thing I do "Project Life" anymore. I don't buy her kits. I don't buy her page protectors. I don't buy her binders or extras or digital files or anything. I don't buy into "Project Life". I guess mine is more "small l" as opposed to "big L"...if you follow Canadian politics at all, that might actually make sense! HA! That's a good one Lisa....

please note: I am NOT trying to poo-poo on everybody else's experience with the actual Project Life, because I know a lot of people that really makes this work for them and their life! And kudos to them for doing so!! I am just really cynical, and lots of this make-it-easier-but-in-reality-not-so-much-but-it's-gonna-cost-you stuff like this bugs me. And so you get the slightly dark and super sarcastic Lisa-version of things. Yep...I'm kind of an ass.

I thought I would share a bit of my planning process, and how I keep myself organized. Reading about what works for other scrapbookers has really helped me figure out what to try. And more importantly, what to abandon when it fails to get the job done!

So, welcome to my "Life: Documented". So begins 2013.

I have been taking notes in this notebook since October 2012 and it really helps me keep track of what happens during the week, and what Instagrams belong to which days!

 Most of the time I just add some point form notes to each date. I also make sure to include funny things Dude said, new album purchases, and maybe a favourite video game or app of the week. Most of this stuff makes it into my spreads.

This next trick is a new one for me. I needed a place to store all of the printed photos and "memorabilia" that I was collecting each week. I am always behind, so I would often lose track of which ticket belonged on which day. And the piles were getting out of hand. So I went upstairs to my stash of large envelopes, pulled down a bunch that are still in good shape, and started filling them up.

Each envelope gets a range of dates written on it (my week runs from Monday to Sunday). Once I have finished scrapbooking that week, the envelope will get a new date range written on it and it will start all over again! And pretty much anything and everything I collect over the course of the week fits inside. I've got NINE envelopes on the go right now, but I have a feeling that a couple will be moved forward by tomorrow night!

Do you have any amazeballs "Project Life" tips or tricks to pass along?

Do you have any "Project Life" issues that you need help sorting out?

I'm going to post my first week's spread (done!) or so, and then see what happens, and what the interest is in these kind of posts. Any interest out there? Any at all...???

later loves