Believe it or not, I actually debated not doing Project Life next year. Like, at all. Not because I’m burnt out, but because after two full years of Project Life-ing our lives by the week, I’ve finally found my creative flow with this project and there is so. freaking. much that I constantly want to document and sometimes it feels overwhelming (when I try to do it all) or unsatisfying (when I fail to do it all) or unsatisfying-er (when I fail to do it at all). But not keeping track of my family’s memories is a ridiculous idea and 2015 has some really great things in store, so I’ll be back Project Life-ing our lives in 2015.
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.::Looking at: 2014 Week 39 ::.
After *almost* two full years of memorykeeping with the Project Life process, I finally feel like I have a style and a system down with this project – and I don’t plan to make much change to either in the new year. Here’s what’s staying the same:
SUPPLIES
A 12×12 album. I’ve toyed with the idea of using a 6×8 album for Project Life in the past, and I’ve attempted multiple 6×8 album-ed mini projects, but it’s never worked out. 12×12 is where my heart is at for weekly Project Life layouts.
Design A page protectors. To me, Design A provides the most visually balanced arrangement of elements on the page. Since formally beginning Project Life in January of 2013, I’ve never deviated from Design A…and I don’t plan to start now.
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AESTHETIC + DESIGN
Very few (or no) embellishments. I don’t have money for them, nor are they really in line with my aesthetic. For the most part, I’ll be staying away from embellishments this year, save the occasional chipboard sticker or confetti pocket.
White border templates. White borders feel classy to me, and they also help separate images and define the layout.
Square corners. I like sharp + crisp in design, both literally and figuratively. This is the “literally” part…
Weekly title card. I like the look of weekly title cards, especially when used in the same spot each week and when each week uses the same style of card. For part of 2013 and all of 2014 I used Caylee’s handwritten title cards. I haven’t decided if I’ll use Caylee’s title cards in 2015 or try something new, but I’m not not happy using Caylee’s title cards, and I don’t really feel the need to switch them up. So most likely, I won’t. But if I randomly come across something new in the next two weeks that grabs my attention, switching shit up is fair game.
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.:: Looking at: 2014 Week 38 ::.
PROCESS
Primary memorykeeping approach. Sure, there are mini-albums and mini-books thrown in for good measure, but Project Life as I’ve practiced it over the past two years is going to remain my primary memorykeeping approach.
Weekly layouts. For me, this is the perfect interval for capturing and documenting – not too frequent, but spaced closely enough together to capture the seemingly minutia, which will be the best stuff to look back on in the future.
Free hand journaling. I like my handwriting but having a bunch of it scribbled all over my pages each week isn’t my most favorite look. BUT. As much as I love the look in graphic design and other people’s pages, I am not a fan of printed text on photos or cards as a primary journaling approach in my album. So I’m keeping my free hand journaling routine going next year. Besides, having handwritten memories adds to the story, I think.
Week in review card (typed). Even though I’m not a fan of typed journaling, I’m definitely keeping my tradition of using a typed weekly review card. I like having a quick snapshot of the week to reference as I flip through the pages, and, if we’re being real, keeping a “week in review” card forces me to (or, more gently, “ensures that I…”) document even the littlest of things each day. It help me to really capture all of the things going on in our lives right now.
Printing at home. For me, printing my photos at home is the cheapest option. It also provides immediacy. I don’t have to wait on a printer to print my photos, nor do I have to get in my car and go anywhere to pick them up. Laziness…er, I mean efficiency for the win!
Image may be NSFW.
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.:: Looking at: 2014 Week 19 ::.
So. Those are the things that are staying the same. Here are the things that are going to change:
SHARING
Monthly v. weekly. In 2015 I’ll be moving from weekly(ish) Project Life posts to monthly posts. At the end of the Month A (or beginning of Month B), I’ll post a few photos of each week’s layout from Month A. There are a few different reasons I decided to make this change, including efficiency and content.
In terms of efficiency: Photographing, editing, drafting, and finalizing weekly Project Life posts takes infinitely more time to do with each layout than it does to actually ‘design’ the week’s layout and put it all together. Quite frankly, I don’t have the time to do all of this, all of the time.
In terms of content: I’ve never used core kits. I rarely use other people’s designed cards or digital elements. And ever since I cancelled my Studio Calico monthly subscription kit, my layouts are the epitome of extreme minimalism. Maybe you think that’s good. Maybe you don’t. Personally, it makes me happy because it makes things simple. But it also makes things repetitive, and that can become boring.
Since switching from using other products in my layouts to using only white-bordered photos and my own hand-written words, I’ve seen a sharp decrease in traffic to my Project Life posts here and on Instagram, and I presume this is because, again, repetition can become boring. Plus, I know that my layouts may be “too” simple to derive any real inspiration from week after week. After all, how inspiring can something be when it never changes/evolves? Besides, this blog was never meant to be a Project Life blog.
In terms of efficiency and content (together): In recent months I’ve found myself filling this space up with primarily Project Life posts. Part of that is because I’ve been busy with school and the rest of life, but a big part of it is because I’m constantly working to make sure I have every week documented in my album and on the blog. As a result, I’ve found myself refraining from posting content here for two main reasons: (1) because I don’t have time to write any of the stuff I actually want to write about, and (2) because I’m worried about over-saturating this space with a separate blog post about Event ABC, complete with a full write-up and photos, and then posting that week’s Project Life layout, which is an abridged version of the original post about Event ABC.
So. In 2015 you’ll see less sharing of photos of photos (Project Life posts), and more writing and photo-sharing of just photos in this space. I think. Yay!…?
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OTHER PROJECTS
More projects. While Project Life ‘proper’ (documenting weekly, as I’ve been doing for the last two years) will be my primary memorykeeping system in 2015, one big change I plan to make to my approach in 2015 is adding a few smaller projects and a few other ongoing projects to my revolving To Do list. Think mini books and mini albums for all sorts of occasions – birthdays, anniversaries, holidays, traditions, and a few other special occasions/memories/events. These are the projects that will use more products, more variation, and more creativity. And I’m hoping they’ll be more inspirational for all of you.
How do you plan to tackle this project in 2015?
PS: Check out how Andrea, Carly, Caylee, Kellie, and Rachel are planning to tackle Project Life in 2015!
Related: Learn more about getting started with Project Life; check out all my 2013 Project Life posts or (and?) all of my 2014 Project Life posts; read about my photo editing process or my Project Life process; or check out all of my miscellaneous Project Life-y projects.
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