Project Life 2011

Pin It A couple weeks ago I told you about a dilemma I was having with scrapbooking.  I'd gotten the "itch" and really wanted to start one, but really had no idea where to start.  You can read my questions and concerns HERE.

I wanted to update you and let you know I've started working on my album because my sister-in-law and her family bought me a Project Life kit for Christmas!  I'm so excited!!  It arrived the week before Christmas and I could hardly wait until Christmas morning to actually open it and start "playing!"  I was like a little kid!

I decided that I wanted the album to be about Maia's first year - even though technically she was born in 2010.  It will end up being a 13 month album for the first year.

I went ahead and ordered all of the photos I wanted from Snapfish.com.  While initially I was enticed by their "join and receive 50 free prints," the $17.95 they charged me to ship the photos didn't make me too happy.  I'm still not sure how I'll proceed with this year's album, but that's another story!

Anyway, I spent two entire nights working on the album and wanted to show you what I have so far.  Did I mention I'm super excited?!?!

I picked the Amber edition and I just love how vibrant and colorful it is!

The kit comes in a nice, neat box.  It has everything you need to fill your binder pages.

Here is the first page of the binder.  Everything you need for this gorgeous page is included in the kit!  (This is MY kind of scrapbook!  Everything is included - all you have to do is fill in the pages.)

I'm way too analytical and could never sit down and come up with something I liked without spending days and days on it.  With Project Life, I get to just pick the kit I want.  It's so relaxing and actually fun!

I've seen people completely edit their first page.  They add their own photos and embellishments and it looks amazing!  But I'm looking to just complete the album.  Remember, I'm already 13 months behind!  Here's a close-up:

I was able to journal the first couple pages.  I started it before the pictures had arrived to try to get a head start.  I didn't get very far, but that's because once the pictures arrived, I stopped journaling.  I want to have all of the pictures in the album and then I can worry about filling in the story.

Here is an example of the journaling I was able to do.

The rest of the album still has blank cards like this:

But it's ok!  It's only the beginning of January and I've been able to add photos up until July!  I'm half way done!  The pictures take a while because I punch all of the corners - see how the photo above has rounded edges?  I also have to decide how to put the pictures in the album.  Since I have no structure, sometimes I have too many photos and sometimes too little.  (Some people take a photo each day and fill the seven openings with seven photos.  Some make each spread one week and have roughly seven photos.  Days they don't have a picture, they fill in the spot with a receipt or a list…anything to document the events of the week.)  My 2011 album has no structure.  I had no idea I would be making an album when I took these photos!  I don't really care how they end up once they're in the album but I would like to avoid having two events on the same page.  (That's just my own OCD!)

My other OCD issue is vertical vs. horizontal photos.  The photo pages I bought are for horizontal photos.  It's seriously KILLING me to put vertical photos in the slot, but I tend to take a lot of vertical pictures!  I've had to make the following concessions to calm my OCD and continue working:

1. Just finish the album!  If I start getting too technical about it, I'll never finish it!!  If I put too much thought into it, I'm losing sight of the whole reason I chose Project Life in the first place!!  
2. Once everything is in place and journaled I can worry about it.  But until then, I'll just keep on truckin'!
3. I know for the 2012 album to try taking more horizontal photos.  Hopefully I can avoid the issue completely by just being conscious of the orientation of my shots.

The vertical vs. horizontal has been my biggest issue with the album.  But I genuinely like the horizontal photo pages better so I'm sticking with them.  

I have one last photo to show you.  As I was taking it, I realized how silly it was to be taking a photo of a photo!  I just thought it was so cute and had to snap away!!  This is Maia eating sweet potatoes...

I've been a busy girl lately!!  I'm simultaneously working on Project Life 2011 and 2012!  I can see why so many people LOVE it.  It's made scrapbooking fun and given me a reason to take lots and lots of photos of our everyday adventures!

I'll keep you posted as I continue to work on both albums.

Do you have a Project Life album to share?  I'd love to take a look!

Pin It

email newsletter signup with email marketing privacy protection