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Sunday, May 27, 2012

Project Life: February Catch-Up

I haven't posted in ages about Project Life because I am woefully behind time-wise.  This is why I'm not a huge fan of chronological scrapbooking, because then it becomes a chore, something to get done and "catch up on".  Hard to be creative under those circumstances!

But through February I was doing ok.  I couldn't post my pages because I wasn't telling anyone I was pregnant, and some of the items on the page made it pretty obvious.  I only got behind in March when my really crappy mood swings hit.

So here are my 4 weeks of February.  (Click on the photos to see a bigger version.)

In the first week, we had T's baked milk challenge (which she passed!), our Valentine's Day cookie decorating and cardmaking adventures, and a trip to Marymoor on an unexpectedly sunny and dry day.  The photo of T and TJ looking off into the distance is one of my favorites.  This is the first time I used my new typewriter to do the date heading card (top left).


Jan 30 - Feb 5, 2012


The second week of February was a lot of me and T hanging out - at the park with her favorite "Rumble Slide", at Redmond Town Center where we bought her first regular 24-piece jigsaw puzzle, making blueberry muffins with milk and butter, and of course, finding out I was pregnant. 


Feb 6 - 12, 2012

Week 3 highlights included taking the 545 bus downtown to see one of the kid's concerts at Benaroya Hall - T found the bus ride more exciting than the show, I think!  We also got a very yummy waffle at Sweet Iron after the show.  We met T's friend H and his family at a park, and started her Spanish classes.


Feb 13-19, 2012

And finally, in week 4 we all had a really fun trip to the Seattle Aquarium that T still talks about now.  She was brave enough to touch the starfish and posed obligingly for photos with the giant octopus (after all, it was Octopus Week!).  But her favorite was the circular jellyfish tank with the rotating current and the color-changing lights.  She also got a haircut and we made lime cupcakes that weren't too good, honestly.  But we ate them anyway.

Feb 20-26, 2012

I was afraid that Project Life might be one of those things that sounded really cool until I started working on it, but after completing around 12 weeks of it, I'm still really enjoying it.  I think the key is to not let myself get too far behind, but also not to stress about it if I do. 

I can use my blog, my calendar and my email to figure out what we did in a particular week, in addition to whatever pictures I happened to take that week on our camera and on my phone.

Currently, I'm done through the end of March.  I just sent a huge batch of photos to be printed at Target that covers Week 1 of our Ireland vacation, as well as this past week.  I am trying to do the current week while catching up on previous ones so I'm not perpetually behind.

I've got most of the supplies I need in one box in the kitchen, so I can work on these pages while T is playing, or working on her own art projects.  She likes us "crafting together, mama!".  She's not a big fan of me working on the computer to edit photos, though, so I save that for night-time after she's in bed.  I think she associates us working on laptops with her not getting our attention.  She's right, of course!

So whaddya think?  Is Project Life something you'd consider doing?  They have a digital version as well so you can build all your layouts online (I think) and you can get the whole thing printed as a photobook.  If I didn't love all the paper and supplies so much, I'd totally do that.

6 comments:

  1. I'm impressed. That project takes a lot of dedication. I own zero craft supplies and lack the creativity and patience to embark on such a projevt. It looks fantastic! I keep a private family blog that functions in a similar way though.

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    1. A blog totally covers it. I just love buying craft supplies :) A friend of mine takes her blog posts and photos every year and gets a photobook made with them so she has a tangible record for her family. I thought that was pretty awesome.

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  2. Yay for Project Life. Glad it's working out for you and is so easy to maintain.

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    1. Yeah! I don't relish going back to do previous weeks (more than 1-2 at a time, anyway) but otherwise it's pretty easy, especially once I've chosen the photos.

      I like that it's as time-consuming as I want it to be! The hard weeks are where I didn't take enough photos and need to figure out how to fill in all those little slots.

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  3. Your mention of Project Life when you started it got me interested... I do well for a while, then get a little behind, but I love that it records more of my day-to-day life, instead of just scrapbooking major events or trips. I also like that the pages have variety in the size and arrangement of the photo/journaling slots. I was a little worried that I'd find them too restrictive, but I think they actually just make me plan a little more and I end up with more coherent pages. It's also encouraged me to take more "just because" photos instead of only pulling out the camera when I'm out of town. Thanks for the suggestion, An!

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    1. Yay! I'm glad you like it. It definitely encourages me to take more photos, too, which also has the side effect of getting me more familiar with the settings on my camera and improving my photography skills.

      Since I'm not a traditional scrapbooker, I actually like the "structure" of the pages - when I think about doing a 12x12 page, or even an 8x8, I kind of get stuck because there are just way too many possibilities of what to put on that page.

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I love comments, so please leave me your thoughts. Thanks in advance!