Everyday telling of a story

Project Life Blog Hop - March edition

Welcome to the March Blog Hop for Project Life!

Today I'm sharing with you my latest completed week, WEEK 5. Yes, I know I am behind but I've written this post to encourage those of you, who like me, are falling behind on this project.

This is the first page of my week 5:

One of the key things for me in trying to finish this project is by keeping things simple. Although I love browsing other blogs for PL ideas and techniques, I accept the fact that if I don't have time for anything fancy that week, it's perfectly alright with me.

In week 5, I had a lot of pictures and not so much journaling and that's ok too. A label on a picture or memorabilia can speak for itself so I don't always include journaling for each thing.

This is the second page:

Again, very simple but with lots of photos. I like that I dedicated this whole page to weekend photos. This is what our weekend looked like for each member of our family that particular week and I did some extensive journaling on a folding journaling card.

Here's the entire 2-page spread:

That was week 5 and this is what week 6 looks like right now.

First page:

This is waiting for some journaling but the photos are printed. Sometimes in between laundry loads I will take 10-15 minutes and do some journaling, embellish a photo or move photos around my page to my liking. Almost all the time, I select my journaling cards and put them in pockets ahead of time. I like matchy pages so I stick with monochromatic colours for each week but that's just me :)

Here's page 2:

In this page as you can see, there are lots of little sticky notes. I've seen lots of PLers do it and I immediately loved the idea. Those sticky notes help me remember about what to journal, what memorabilia to include and it helps visualize the placement of each thing in its pocket. I move those sticky notes aroud quite a bit and the photos as well.

And I just want to share with you one little tip that might help you keep track of those weeks that you have yet to document in your project life album. When I started this project, I came across this weekly chart found at MommyTracked.com. It has become a tool that I use every week and I jot down details of my day, pictures taken, quotes, journaling ideas and things overheard.

Here's a picture of my chart from week 9.

Each week contains different details depending on the stories I want to tell each day. I keep this chart on the main floor besides my computer and jot down things during my day as they happen. This will be my reference guide when I'm ready to tackle that specific week.

Well this is all I got for today. If you have fallen behind on project life, I encourage you to keep taking photos, collect your memorabilia and doing a chart like mine to have the info ready for you when you have some spare time to do some catching up. But remember that this is supposed to be fun and don't stress out about it. Keep things simple and you can always go back and embellish a little more. Posting my finished pages on my blog keeps me accountable but if that stresses you out, then don't. After all, you are doing this project for yourself and for your family to enjoy.

Thanks for reading this far and next on the Blog Hop is Sharon

If you'd like to see the other blogs, here's the list of all the participants:

Jill http://jillconyers.com/

Margie http://xnomads.typepad.com

Donna www.joyfullydonna.blogspot.com

Tamara  http://tamararoach.blogspot.com.au/

Natalie http://dalys2012.wordpress.com

Devon http://www.youhadmeatneurotic.com

Alissa http://lifeonlakeland.wordpress.com/

April http://capturethememories.blogspot.com

Noelia  www.noeliaevangelista.typepad.com  >>>YOU ARE HERE

Sharon  http://projectsofmylife.wordpress.com/ >>>GO HERE NEXT

Jennifer http://vogtstories.blogspot.com

Sarah http://documentingchaos.wordpress.com/

Arlene http://craftymomma-ph.blogspot.com/2012/02/project-life-2012.html

 

 

 

 

Project Life 2012 : week 4

I know we're starting week 7 but what can I say? I'm still finding my groove. I must say that week 4 has been 99% completed for almost 2 weeks but I procrastinated with the embellishments.

So here's the first spread:

Joshua was sick for most of the week, so we didn't do much outside the house. I did enjoy having him with me for a little while, we cuddled a lot and took afternoon naps together.

Here's the second spread:

Joshua was feeling much better heading into the weekend. We skyped with the cousins in Montreal, I baked some chocolate chip cookies. Dan was away every single evening that week for work related events and dinners except for Friday night so we went out on Friday night for some Italian. I love having a picture of Dan and I in here. I was inspired by fellow PLers to do a monthly family picture or a monthly couples' picture. I think I might try both.

Here's the complete week:

I'm still tyring to find a better way to photograph PL with the page protectors. Do you have any tips? I'd love to hear about them.

All my pictures are printed for week 5 and it's 80% finished. I might get it done by the end of the week or at my usual time, on Sunday evenings. Thanks for reading!

 

Project Life 2012 : week 3

Finally I'm able to post my week 3.

I know week 5 just ended and I'm slightly behind, but I'm trying not to feel pressured to keep up with everyone else and get all stressed out about it. As long as I enjoy doing PL, I know I will continue to do it, once it feels like a chore, then it's not fun anymore and I will most likely drop out.

Looking back, week 3 has a theme of where I'm going this year spiritually. I started a Bible reading plan called Discipleship Journal. Hopefully I will be able to read the Bible in one year, something I've never done before. Dan received a beautiful black hardcover ESV Bible at a conference he attended last year and he gave it to me because I needed one in that version. I so love that Bible, it's so beautiful and artistic. On the cover there's what looks to be splattered paint in gold (representing the glory of God) and red (representing the blood of Christ). It's the second picture from the top.

Here's the first spread:

The second spread documents quiet evenings activities.

Here's the entire 2-page spread:

So that's week 3.

Week 4 is in progress and I'm having fun. Last night my daughter Danelia asked something about Project Life and she referred to it as "our project life". I was happy to know that she considers this project to be a family thing and not just a project mom is having fun with. My little Joshua is also very interested in knowing which ephemera items and pictures will make the cut for that week.

I will be posting week 4 this week so come back soon.

Project Life Blog Hop :: my scrap area

This blog hop is to showcase Project Life participants like myself and how they're approaching this project. The topics will vary from one blog to the other so I invite you to join in the fun and hop along!

The post I want to share with you today will be about my craft area where I put together my pages for my Project Life album. My craft area is in my open concept basement where I share it with my laundry area and the kids tv/play area. I have to apologize for the poor quality pictures, I will eventually learn how to better use my camera :)

Ok let's start!

This is an overview of my scrap area:

My work area is shaped as a "C". The pictures below are in the left work area. Here you can see several colanders that hold embellishments, a caddy with markers, stapler, scissors etc, the Clementine core kit sits on my table. I also collect here the ephemera that might go into the album, printed photos (I'm finishing up week 3 and will be posting it tomorrow) and I also have a "Week at a glance" chart that I downloaded for free from "Mommytracked" This is a great way for me to keep track of all family activities. The chart is so pretty, you can even include it in your album. On this end of the work area sits my Project Life album, wide open.

What I also use is a checklist of "Everyday Photos" made by Rebecca Cooper. You can download it HERE

I also like "the Mom Creative" 100 bits of life for PL. You can download that one HERE

Here's the MM carousel and against the wall I have four wooden boxes that hold ribbon, stamps, minis and more embellishments.

This next picture is the middle on the desk, it's the longer side. Here I have 2 binders open, one with alphas and the other one with stickers, rub-ons and so on.

This is the end of the work area where the printer is. Here I have more stickers and also pattern papers that I'm using for my PL.

This next picture is where I keep all my PL page protectors. I think I bought every single kind of page protectors but not sure if I'll end up using them for this project. They are stored in one my drawers.

Well, thanks for reading this far. I'm really enjoying Project Life, this is my first attempt and I like that it doesn't have to be too complicated for the average scrapper like myself. I would love to see how your scrap areas are set up for PL.

Next on the list of Project Life blog hop participants is April

You can visit her blog HERE

This is the list of all the participants for the Project Life Blog Hop:

Jill http://jillconyers.com/

Margie http://xnomads.typepad.com

DonnaB http://donnasprojectlife.blogspot.com

Sharon http://projectsofmylife.wordpress.com/

Noelia http://noeliaevangelista.typepad.com   >> YOU ARE HERE

April http://capturethememories.blogspot.com

Brooke http://everysnapshot.com/

Lynn http://crafty-creativity.blogspot.com

Donna http://joyfullydonna.blogspot.com