Project Life - More Pages (caught up!)

Here are the last of my Project Life 2012 album and then I am caught up to this week!  I have one page left to add pictures to, but the photos are sitting here on my desk as I type this.  I know, I am a slacker!  I have one half of the 2 page spread done and posted at the bottom, but I still need to do the journaling for the pictures I printed. 

The journaling on the page above is about the prep work and packing for the Skyline Retreat I plan twice a year. Between grocery shopping and packing, my week was taken up!  Sophie tried to help pack too...by adding herself to my Creative Memories rolling tote!  I took a picture of the pantry after I shopped because it is a "slice of life" kind of picture.  Slice of Life = stuff you really need to get a picture of in your daily life.  I mean, those are the things you tend to forget and sure they may be meaningless to you now, but in a decade or two when the kidlets are grown and you can't remember what their favourite cereal is...you go to the "pantry picture" and see which ones were on the pantry shelf at that time!

A friend of mine has rubbed off on me....I have recently started grabbing our large mixing bowl and making a HUGE salad for lunch.  What a great picture that salad made and OH HOW YUMMY!!!! 

Once again, the versatility of the pocket pages allows me to share a special occasion for our family - The Montreal Canadiens hockey game versus The North Carolina Hurricanes.  It really worked out well with these pages and I am really happy with the outcome. 

People say that their lives are boring.  People say that they are single and all they do is "routine stuff" or "just go to work".  There HAS to be something to photograph.  In the next little while, I plan to make a short little list of things that may be good to photograph and post it here on my blog.  Keep an eye out for it!

Until Next Time,
SCRAP ON!
~Cyn~

Project Life 2012...PROGRESS!

I promised a post about progressing through the Project Life 2012 album, as well as the journaling part of Project Life.  So, here we go!

Most people find that journaling is the hardest part about scrapbooking. I think that part of the problem is that most people don't know what to say or what to include in the writing.
I personally believe that as long as the story is told, that is all that matters.  Generations to come will love to see our handwriting and read the stories that go along with the photos.  I also believe that our children will be able to "hear" our voices, long after we are gone, through our written words.  That, alone, makes me smile.  

Now, about the journaling in MY Project Life album:

I decided to do the majority of the journaling in my own handwriting.  Some people don't like their handwriting and do their journaling on the computer using a program like Word or Adobe Photoshop.  I like my handwriting.  Now, there is one instance in this album where I had to type out what I wanted to say.  Well, actually, I copied what I wrote HERE on my blog about our trip to watch our hockey team, the Montreal Canadiens, play up in North Carolina.  I wanted the entire story to be told and I used a 4x6 pocket to tell that story.  I used Microsoft Word and set the margins to 3.5 inches horizontally and 6 inches vertically.  

I got the idea for how to keep track of my journaling from my good friend, Beth McMeekin.  She keeps a log of what her kids do on a daily basis and then sends an update letter at Christmas time.  It has little things her kids say and do, as well as what the entire family has been up to throughout the year. 

So, I have a little calendar in my purse that I keep with me at all times.  Every day, I try to take a minute or two to write down what we did that day or anything funny the kids say.  This jogs my memory when I go to write my journaling for the week.  Also, since the beginning of 2012, I have been doing some weekly blogging in the form of "FILL-INS" to use for journaling throughout the year: Simple Woman's Day Book and Diary of 5.  This can also be used in your Project Life album to give a good little review of daily life.  Blogging is awesome for journaling.  Use it!!!

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 Now, there are things you need to think about BEFORE you start your album:

• Something that I figured out while I was putting the album together, was that I take a lot of VERTICAL pictures.  More than horizontal pictures, which surprised me. If you look through your photos before you even order the page protectors, you are set!  
• Another thing I didn't think about before I started sliding the photos into their slots:  MONTHLY CARDS.  To separate the months from one another, I used the monthly stickers that came in the Core Kit to create a 4x6 MONTHLY TITLE CARD.  Had I thought about it before I started, I wouldn't have had to pull all the pictures out of the slots and start from scratch.  I think I pulled out the pictures and journaling 3 times before I got it right! Third times a charm, eh?  It was frustrating, but it is now together and looking awesome.
• A date stamp, like they use at the library, works great for labeling the journaling cards and I also used the arrow stickers that came in the Core Kit to point to the correct photo.  I didn't have it with me at the retreat, so I had to do the dates once I got home.  Easy Peasy!
• I used a template in PSE to create 3x4 pictures to print at CVS.  You can put 2 - 3x4 photos onto one 4x6 picture and cut the cost of printing your photos. Or you can add more photos to your pages.  FUN! 
• These page protectors really are versatile!  By printing 2 pictures to a 4x6 photo, it allows you to use more photos to tell a story about a trip or special occasion without really messing up the flow of the album.  The pages above show you our trip.  It was a special trip and adding in a few extra pictures allowed me to tell more of that particular story. My Project Life Album is not done on a weekly basis, like most of the other people's albums.  It is a daily snapshot of our lives and I can stretch the weeks across 2  or 3 pages depending on what I need it to do.  I LOVE that about Project Life.  
• Setting aside one day a week to go through your photos, upload to the printer (personal printer, CVS, Walgreens, etc.) and get them in their slots is not a huge time hog. It is actually easy and fast.  I have to say that even doing the pictures from 1-1-12 to 4-8-12 really only took 1 day to get organized, trimmed and journaled.  Not bad for a day's work!  If you do it in weekly chunks, it takes a couple hours.  **Naptime works great for me!**

Now, I think I have given a lot of info here about how I am working Project Life. Keep an eye out for my next post to see what I have done so far in my albums.  It will be photo intensive, but it will give you a good idea of how I am "workin' it".  

Until next time,
SCRAP ON!
~Cyn~ 

(Note: To look at all my Project Life Posts at once, you will just need to click at the bottom of this post "Project Life" and/or Project 365 and it will bring up all the posts I have written about this topic.)