Crafting My Story with Project Life

    I know there are many of us that want to tell the story of our life but may feel like we don't do enough to document on a weekly basis. Or maybe just feel like we don't have anything exciting to tell. Or could it be that we feel that our lives are boring because we do the same thing every day? I say this because all three of those describe me. I felt like I didn't have enough to create a weekly Project Life layout,that I didn't do or have anything exciting to tell and I basically do the same thing every day. Where is the excitement in telling that story?

   For those of you who may not know what Project Life is, it is a really easy and simple way to tell your stories using photos, photo pocket pages, journaling and decorative cards. You can do this digitally, in a physical book or a hybrid book (combination of digital and physical). Your journaling cards and decorative cards can be from a core kit like those sold by Becky Higgins, Studio Calico, and Ali Edwards, just to name a few or you can create your own. I do both. I have two core kits from Becky Higgins (Honey and 5th & Frolic) and several mini kits (Seasons, Flea Market and Holiday). I just started the Ali Edwards Story Telling kits. I have the Eat and Lens kits that I'm working with now. I like Ali Edwards' subscriptions because you can do a physical kit, stamping kit and/or a digital kit. If you sign up for both the physical kit and the stamping kit you receive the digital kit for free. Telling your stories by using the Project Life style gives you the opportunity to tell your story and leave you plenty of time to create more stories. The added benefit is that you can make it as simple or creative as you want.

   I have wanted to do Project Life for years. In fact, I've started a Project Life album every year for the last 3 or 4 years only to quit by March. I think one year I didn't even get through January before I got behind and gave up. I kept trying to make my pages "perfect". Color coordinate, make creative cards, print out just the right photo and make sure I had photos for every week. Doing Project Life became more of a chore than fun. And it depressed me. Because there were weeks were I didn't have a single photo or story to tell.

   I decided I wanted to take class on Project Life. Ali offers a class called Story Telling Through Project Life. I have not yet completed the class but what I have done has changed the way I think and do my story telling. This is an awesome class. If you have wanted to do a Project Life album or are thinking of doing one I highly suggest you taking this class.

   To give you an idea on how fabulous this class is here are the layouts I've completed so far. I just started taking this class about three weeks ago and I am further along than I've been in the past. The awesome part is I am enjoying the process. And look forward to doing my pages.

   One of the biggest changes I'm doing this year is I am NOT going by weeks. My album is by the month, basically flowing from the first to the last of the month. Some of my stories are out of order depending on the pocket pages and photos I use but it stills work. This way if I have a week where I've not taken many, if any, photos it's no big deal. I still have stories to tell. This change in my thought process has given me a wonderful exit from being confined to a certain format and the result has been liberating. I am also focusing on telling the stories not on how pretty my pages look. Another liberating concept.

   The next change I have made this year is I am not waiting until the end of the week to go through my photos, figure out which ones I want to use, print, journal and put in pockets. That was a chunk of time out of my day that I just don't have time for. This time around I am taking a "do a little here and there" approach. I take 15 minutes and print out a couple of pictures. The next day I'll do my journaling. And so on. This has really taken the pressure off of me. I am amazed at how much I get done each week. Now that's not saying I'm not "behind". I'm still doing January's layouts but I have decided to work on April's layout at the same time hoping that will catch me up quicker and keep me current at the same time.

   Take a look for yourself and see what you think. I don't have my title page done yet. I haven't decided exactly what I want that to be. Here are the pages I have completed for January.

Pages 1 and 2

   Three of the 3 x 4 cards on Page 1 have stories on the inside. These cards are 4 x 6s that are designed to be used as a 4 x 6 filler or to fold in half and become a 3 x 4 filler/journaling card. Both are from my Project Life Core Kits. 

 Here's a closer look at Page 1. The title card is my own creation. I decided this time I did want to show my creative skills by doing a fancy monthly title card. I had several longer stories to tell so I used Project Life cards, wrote on the back and folded them..

 Page 2 didn't have any longer stories but I did have a story to tell about my Rosie but didn't have a slot to put the journaling card in without rearranging my layout. I decided to use a 3 x 4 Project Life journaling card and tuck it behind her picture. I used a little metal clip I had as a pull out tab.

Page 3 and 4 - Page 4 is a smaller insert page. I'm going to put an Avery tab on the edge of this page for easy turning. I'll stamp the tab insert with the saying Today's View for the Lens Story Kit Stamp Set.

 

Pages 5 & 6 - these pages are just stories and photos

Pages 7 & 8 - Stories and photos

Page 9 - Stories and photos. I did include journaling that tells about what I love about my life. The "Love the View" is also from the stamp set Lens from Ali Edwards. The 4 x 6 card in the top right slot is from a Project Life Card Swap I participated in on Facebook. Behind the picture of the old mill will also be a pull out journal card that tells the history of the mill.

 Page 1 for April (I accidentally put a goal card for January in here)

    When I started looking at my pictures and thinking about the things I do, I realized that I do have a lot to tell. I read and listen to a lot of books so I decided to start doing book reviews. I thought "Well, if I'm going to do book reviews then I need to add movie and series reviews too." I keep track of my fitness goals every week so I'm putting my weekly fitness accomplishments in my book. I love to try new recipes and after reading the class materials for the Story Kit Eat I'm adding photos and reviews of what I make. I'll also be adding more pictures of food in my album. I'm taking a photo class called Capture Your 365 and I'm adding those photos as well. I'm putting in the different types of story telling that I learned about in the Storytelling Class. If you're curious about crafting your story check out the facebook page "Craft The Story with Ali Edwards" and see how others tell their stories. I have to say that I am enjoying this adventure so much more than I have in my past attempts. There is a very good chance that I'll go back to those past years and do catch up with those albums. But that'll be after I get my flow going with this year's book. 

    I'll keep you posted on my progress for future pages. I really like how the monthly idea flows. No weekly time frame constraints means I can add as many pictures for a week as I want and not be upset or feel obligated to have pictures for another week. I am so loving this way!!

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Down Home at Dee's