When I had my fist child, Lauren, in March 2000 (gosh, has it been that long?) a couple things happened for me. In the process of documenting every five minutes of her life on film, I fell in love with photography. Two more children and THOUSANDS of photos later (thanks to digital photography), my love of capturing our life has grown as quickly as my children.
Somewhere along the way I decided I needed to do something with all the photos. I can't remember how it happened, but I somehow discovered the world of beautiful patterned paper, whimsical embellishments, glitter glue, ribbons, alphabet stickers, and albums of all sizes! I was very happy in my new world! There was even a community of lovely women at my local scrapbook store. I loved being there, taking classes and seeing new products every chance I could get.
At that point I was off and running, scrapbooking my children's lives, but feeling like I'd never catch up. Then, more life happened, and I stopped scrapbooking completely. For years. I was still taking as many pictures as ever, traveling and making tons of memories, but nothing was happening with the photos. And the guilt of not recording all we were doing was really piling up inside.
Here are just some of the many unfinished albums that I've started and now feel completely overwhelmed to finish. And, yes, none of the albums match. Once upon a time that didn't bother me. Today, it kinda makes me crazy.
Recently I stepped back into the scrapbooking world, and I'm beyond happy to have that creative outlet back in my life. But this time I discovered something new that has truly changed my life. That's Becky Higgins' Project Life!
Project Life has been designed for us to record our everyday lives, not just the big moments in life. Even though it's designed for printing and keeping a photo per day, Project Life can take on any shape that works for you.
For me, it's not a photo per day, but sometimes several photos for one day, but none for others. And that's ok. I'm including receipts, grocery lists, enlargements, anything I can think of. I love, love, love the journaling cards that come in the kit. They make it super easy to jot down a feeling or conversation or even just the facts of what's taking place in the photo. The bottom line for me is that I'm doing it! I'm keeping up. It's so manageable!
Here's a little peek inside my Project Life 2011 Album.
I love that I'm using my own handwriting on the journaling cards. It saves time, but it's also something I think my family will appreciate later on. I'm also using Ali Edwards' (LOVE her!) handwriting font available here in the FAQ section of her website. Just scroll down to the "Free Font" section and you're there! Also from Ali, I'm using Hand Drawn Borders available at Designer Digitals.
The best part is I'm giving my family a gift I know I'll never regret taking the time to do. Since I have it set up in my kitchen, I've already caught my children standing there thumbing through the photos and memories and reading my journaling. It's already been worth every effort I've put into it...and it's only February!!
Doing Project Life has also given me a better perspective on life. I'm noticing the little things more. Things that I might not ordinarily document, like the over abundance of catalogs I get in the mail every day, what the front of my house looks like, or the banana bread I just made.
So, thank you Becky Higgins! Thank you for the gift of Project Life! I no longer have to feel guilty that I'm not recording the stories of my family in a traditional scrapbook. Sure, I'm still creating some traditional layouts, but the bulk of my memory keeping is now in my Project Life album.
Becky has created some amazing videos of Project Life. Watch them (especially the Inspiration for Documenting Life and the Project Life 2011 tour) and see what I mean. Life. Changing. Lucky for us there are two Project Life albums to choose from, Turquoise Edition and Amber Edition. Both editions are available for purchase here.
Be sure to leave a comment and let me know what you think. Are you already using Project Life? I want to see how it's working in your life, too!
Warmly,
Jennifer
