Project Life: Week1

Before I had kids, I used to scrapbook.  And I always told myself that scrapbooking would be so much easier and more fun if I had kids to scrapbook about. Little did I really understand that for the first several years of having children, I wouldn't have time/energy to scrapbook.  To put it mildly, I've fallen off that wagon, and have thought of getting rid of all the supplies that are taking up room that could be used for precious yarn or fabric.

But these days, I do have a little more time. And I've been missing having a place to gather the many photos we take along with the stories that matter in our lives. But I don't necessarily want to pull out all the cutters and papers and embellishments just to get started, never mind getting pictures printed first. So I'm giving digital scrapping a try.

And not one to dip a toe in, I've jumped in head first with Project Life.  Project Life is the brainchild of Becky Higgins, and is an easy way to document the everyday stuff. In it's paper version, it's pre-made journaling cards, divided page protectors, and packaged, simple embellishments. In its digital format (available at Jessica Sprague or through Shutterfly in an even simpler format), its drag-and-drop pictures and papers, write some stories, and use Photoshop to put it all together. My plan is to do one layout a week. Sometimes it will be one page, sometimes two. There will be "events" when they happen, but mostly it will be our daily lives. Sometimes there's a picture from every day of the week, sometimes it might be focused on major things that happen.  We'll see how it evolves.

To help hold myself accountable, I'm going to post my layouts here.  Please know that if you are part of our week, you may show up! For example, the first week we had breakfast with friends that are featured.  And one of the highlights of our week was an email we received from one of the boys' teachers, so, it's on there too.

Between my upcoming photography class and learning to use Photoshop, I hope to improve and speed up the process.  But these were done while watching basketball and  there was no mess afterwards to clean up. I'm so excited to have a way to document these important things without stressing that every layout is a piece of art.

So, there you have it.  Week 1 of 2012 is done.