Project Life and How it Works for Me

Two more weeks and I’ve wrapped up my 2012 Project Life album. In just the last few days I’ve been reminded how much I love this project as I watch my girls sit down with the first half of our 2012 album and show their visiting uncle and aunt the completed pages. I’ve been asked what working on the album looks like for me so this is a run down on how I work on it usually, always with the proviso that there are some weeks where I just can’t get to it and have to play catch up later. But, in general, this is what it looks like. : )
In 2012, I ran my week from Sunday through Saturday. At some point on Sunday I print photos from the previous week. First thing I do I draw a sketch of my page protectors.

Then, I start filling in what I want to go where. I used to just print all the photos first and found that I could save time by planning (fancy that!) and paper and ink by not printing more than what I needed.

This is when I try and make any photo collages I need to in Photoshop – the most time consuming part of the process for me but such a big help if I’ve got too many photos for my sleeves and not enough to justify an insert.
Next is journaling. I keep my PL journaling cards in these two little caddies that I picked up in the $1 section at Target.

I have the cards divided into sections with library cards so I can find something easily. In the red bucket are my original Project Life cards, i.e., the cards from my Project Life Core Kit - Clementine Edition (you can see how many I still have left!), 3x4 grid cards , cards that I have already printed my from http://www.acdigitals.com/collections/seafoam-edition, the folded journaling cards, and my Smash journaling cards (which I don’t use as much as I thought I would).
In the white bucket are the digital cards that I’ve purchased and printed from various scrappers. Some I’ve purchased:

• In a Creative Bubble (my very favorite)
• Life Love Paper
• Plucky Momo
• Erica Hernandez
• and of course there are tons of freebies out there as well.

The larger back slots on each side hold random labels, misc pattern paper scraps, and the 4x6 journaling cards and title cards that I need. This is what I work from weekly as I fill in the holes in my album for the most part, restocking different sections and reprinting when I need to. One thing that I am adding for 2013 is that Studio Calico Project Life kit that you subscribe to. I have never subscribed to kit before and it’s hard to find time for me to get to the scrapbook store (without little helpers anyway). I decided to give it a go this year – especially since I am saving some money by not buy the full Seafoam kit on Amazon (printing my own cards from the digi kit at home) and using American Crafts albums instead of the one that matches my kit since I use such an eclectic mix of cards anyway.
Anyway, now it’s just time to journal and stuff the pockets. If my munchkins let me, and I stay on task, I can usually put together a week’s layout in about two hours on Sunday afternoon or evening – and that includes picking photos, printing photos (and photoshopping what I need to), and doing my journaling. I get bogged down when I have a story that needs longer journaling or I have multiple inserts and some weeks that’s just how it is. If I can’t get it wrapped up on Sunday, then I try to find a pocket of time during the week to finish it … and sometimes it’s the following Friday afternoon or Saturday before I get another window. All to say, it doesn’t have to be a long and/or complicated process. Some weeks I have the time and desire to get a lot more creative with my albums and some weeks it’s just a matter of getting it done. : )
Let me know if you have any questions … I’m sure that there is something that I’ve left out, but the kids have finished their video, there is laundry to fold, and a grocery list to make so that we have food for next week. The stuff of life. : ) Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! Christmas Eve and Day were delightfully low key for us, and we’ve had family visiting for the days since. Today is our day to regroup back to the six of us and play a little much needed catch-up. Happy Friday!