At long last I’m sharing some photos and reflections on my Week in the Life Projects. I say projects (plural) because I never shared any pictures of the first time I did this project. So…no time like the present, right?
The first time around I used divided page protectors from Scrapworks. (I think these are no longer available for sale, but if someone knows otherwise please share in the comments.) This is the opening page which shows one photo of each of us, along with our ages and the dates of the project.
This time around I used divided page protectors and journaling cards from Becky Higgins Project Life. Here’s how that one looks:
Here’s how a full day looked the first time around. Left side…
and right side. I can’t believe I got by with just 12 pockets per day…this was all the space I gave myself for journaling, photos and memorabilia. So, on some days (like Wednesday, for example) there wasn’t much journaling or memorabilia. But perhaps the photos say it all — we went to school, we worked, we ate, we did laundry and we cleaned. 🙂
Here’s how a day looked this time around. Left side…
Right side…
Page two…left side…
and the right side.
Right side underneath the page protector…
Observations + Reflections
First and foremost, I have to say I just love this project. It really reignited my love of scrapbooking, and especially my love of creating finite scrapbook projects.
The approach the first time around was much simpler because I had just one size photo to print and just 12 pockets to fill. But I did far less documenting, and had to really edit down my photos and journaling. This time around I thought I would do just one, two-page spread per day and have 16 pockets to fill. But after all the documenting that was done and after all the memorabilia that was captured, I realized I needed more space. So, I ended up with 32 pockets to fill each day. The number wasn’t the hard part, it was the two different sizes that complicated things because not only did I have to choose photos, I had to decide what size to get for each photo, crop and size them, etc.
This led to a bit of a chicken and the egg situation. Do I carve out spots for journaling first? Or do I figure out where photos will go and then work in the journaling? I opted to start with journaling, so the first step in the assembly process was to transfer the journaling onto the Project Life journaling cards.The first day took forever as I tried to do a quick scan of which photos I had chosen as my favorites…and then select journaling cards that best matched the colors in the photos. That idea quickly went by the wayside when I realized I would never (ever) finish the project using that approach—especially because I hadn’t really selected the photos yet. So trying to match the photos and the journaling cards was just making things too complicated, so I just grabbed any card that looked nice to me, and transfered my journaling to the journaling cards. Then, I counted up how many photos I needed to fill the remaining pockets.
I ended up creating a “to print” folder for each day of the week. And I’m soooo glad I did. This helped me keep track of how many photos of each size I needed for each day, and was very handy when all the photos came back from the printer sorted in a completely random order. (Hello? Why did they do that?)
This project, like all scrapbooking projects for me, is an interesting tug of war between my real reason for scrapbooking and the desire to have it turn out as close to perfect as my scrapbooking abilities allow. Yes, it was an ongoing battle between the recovering perfectionist in myself and the loving Mom who just wants to do a scrapbookig project to document what things were like in a regular week in the year 2010.
I had to keep reminding myself that even though the photos aren’t perfect, and even though my handwriting isn’t perfect, and even though some of the photos aren’t cut to exactly the right size (which looks a bit messy), and even though things don’t coordinate perfectly—no one will care. (Not even me!) No one that encounters this project in real life (in my home) will be judging my scrapbooking or photography skills when they look at this project. All they will see is the memories. They’ll read the journaling and they’ll see how the people looked and how the cars looked and how our home looked and they’ll say “Wow, that’s so cool. Things were so different then.”
How do I know this? Becasue this is exactly what I do with the photos from my own childhood. There aren’t many photos and I cherish every single one of them. I’m not worried if the photos are a little too dark, a little bit out of focus or a little too anything that I would notice and critique in my own photos. What I see in old photos are memories and little snippets of the way life used to be. Someday, that’s what my Week in the Life photos will be to me and my kids. It’s the memories—that’s all that matters.
Aby, the albums look fantastic. What a great piece of your family’s history, I really want to do this!! I love all your reflections as well, good for you, letting go of the perfectionism and just getting the project made. It’s perfect just as it is 😀
Aby, this is fabulous! I’ll be purchasing “Project Life” as soon as it is available again…
I completely agree with you about photos not being perfect to have impact. About a year ago, I fell into the trap of trying to edit most of my photos before uploading. So much time and effort for really, such a small change in the photo. So now my priority is upload and print and know that I can edit and reprint any that really need it.
As far as page protectors, We R Memory Keepers has a huge selection of divided page protectors for 12×12 and 8 1/2 x 11 albums: http://store.scrapbook.com/wermekealre.html
Thanks for sharing Aby! I like all the little bits and pieces you incorporated. Why is there a timer in one of your pictures?
Thanks so much for sharing your pages and your thoughts in putting together your album. I didn’t participate in this project although I really wanted to (and I still might) because of the idea I have of it having to be perfect. I really related with your last three paragraphs. No one will notice that it’s not “perfect”. People will just focus on the photos and words because like you said I’ve noticed this when I’ve looked at albums I’ve made long ago. I like the stuff I did to “decorate” it but it’s really the memories I love and focus on.
Love it Abby! I like the pocket concept…. a lot.
Thank you for sharing pictures and relections of your projects with us. While reading the last part, I started laughing because this is exactly the type of inner dialogue I have on a regular basis with my inner perfectionist! I am glad to see I am not the only one struggling to try and be satisfied with things even if they are not the way I would like them to be! But seriously, just like you said, who cares?
Thanks so much for sharing your albums! I have wanted to do this project the past couple years but every time it doesn’t work out with my schedule. I am hoping to do it for another random week later this summer when my life is a little more “normal”.
Thanks, Aby! This is timely. I’m still struggling with getting my pictures formatted to print and I’ve only tackled the journaling for the first day, so far (though, really, now that I’ve done that, the other days should be a breeze.) Somehow, this got intensely complicated. Next time, I’ll know better!
@Petra,
The timer is on my desk. When I work I always have my timer close by…to time fifteen minute declutter sessions or to time writing sessons, etc. The timer helsp me stay focused on one task for a set amount of time, and then reward myself with a break. 🙂
Aby
@Kate,
Do this project…even if life isn’t normal. The first time I did this I knew I wouldn’t have time to complete the project soon after doing the documenting…and it did take quite a while to finish up. But…if I had waited until the timing was better, I never would have done it. Pick a week and do it. 🙂 You’ll be so glad you did.
Aby
love your results! I tried to follow Ali’s smaller card format but I don’t seem to have enough materials to fill it up, I have some 4×6 around, I am off to see if that works better…
Thanks!
Thanks for sharing your project and your thoughts and reflectins Aby. I love your pages and the great memories you have captured. I am definitely going to do this project – maybe I will tackle it before Ali runs it again next year 🙂
thanks for sharing yours Aby. It looks great and I really don’t see any Oops in there at all. I love the timer in there… I need to take a pic of mine cuz it’s become a friend to me now 🙂 and I also did mine in a not perfectly normal time Saturday was a National Scrapbook Day so I looked silly I’m sure taking pictures of the steps putting my tickler together 🙂 I still need to go back and sort and put it all together (man there are soooo many pics) Thanks for the push to get back on that project 🙂
Love that you shared this! I really love the little April 2010 card you had. Can I ask where you got that? Or did you make it? Love it! I’m doing Project Life for this year and loved seeing your interpretation.
@Lissa,
The April 2010 card was made using cardstock and rub-on letters, and the calendar page from Real Simple Magazine. Let me know if that makes sense. 🙂
Aby