Yesterday I talked about last week’s Paperclipping Roundtable which was all about why people don’t scrapbook. The number one reason given during the discussion is that people don’t scrapbook because they are overwhelmed. More specifically, they are overwhelmed by all the choices that come along with scrapbooking.
So how great is this? This week’s round-table discussion is all about getting past those overwhelmed feelings by letting go of supplies and getting more organized. And (it just keeps getting better) I had the pleasure of sitting on this week’s panel. Yes, it was a really fun morning chatting about two of my favorite things—scrapbooking and organizing. The podcast was recorded yesterday and should be up on the site later today. I hope you listen in…great discussion about the obstacles of letting go of scrapbook supplies and much, much more.
At the end of the podcast each of the panelists shares a product pick. Mine is Project Life by Becky Higgins. I’m so excited about this product because I think it really addresses so many of the obstacles scrapbookers face—the very ones mentioned yesterday. Product selection is made easy—it’s all right there for you in the kit. Perfection is addressed. Everything is already designed for you…you simply slide in your photos and journaling cards. The time issue is addressed—this is a much faster approach than traditional scrapbooking. And the best part, in my opinion, is that you can use this system with traditional scrapbooking, too. So this isn’t an all or nothing proposition—just another way to document your memories.
As I see it, it’s a win all the way around. I don’t personally have this system (yet) but I plan to give it a try. I first learned of this product on Ali’s site (and she shares great things about it in the podcast, too.) Plus, several of the scrapbookers in my online workshops have a Project Life kit (or two or maybe even more) and they love it. That’s compelling enough for me to give it a try.
If you have Project Life, I’d love to hear what you think of it, and how you use it. If you don’t have it, and you’re feeling overwhelmed, stifled by perfectionism or short on time—what do you think? Could Project Life help you? Thanks for sharing.
Love PL! Some days I take lots of photos and many of them aren’t day specific-an example would be our dogs sleeping during the day-they do this every single day so I didn’t use that photo on the day I took it I used a photo of my teenagers helping with the groceries (’cause that never happens-LOL). Then on some day when I don’t have any photos I can use my dogs sleeping photo. I do not feel any pressure to take a photo a day since I keep a stash of photos in the cute box that was included that I can plug in anytime. As soon as I got the kit I set it up so that all I have to do is put the photo in and add some journaling. I am keeping it very very very simple. I find that I have other stories to tell (think Ali Edwards) and then I do a full 12×12, or whatever size I want, layout.
I did Becky’s Project 365 last year and when I first started my family made fun of the “picture of the day.” As the weeks and months went by they started “giving suggestions” on what to take pictures of and I would catch them looking at the book. Pretty soon they were all into it and they absolutely LOVED the final finished book at the end of 2009. We are doing Project Life in 2010 and they are into it 100%! We almost always have more pictures for a day than we need because you really develop an eye for what is going on around you and the whole process is addicting! WE HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT!!!
I LOVE Project Life too! I’m actually using it a different way than the picture a day. I’m using them for my kids’ scrapbooks (I just posted an example of how I’m doing this on my blog: http://www.kennyanderin.blogspot.com)
The process has been so freeing! I’m finally developing my pictures again and starting to feel “caught up.” It’s so doable that I know I’ll be able to stay on top of things. It’s the best!
I actually bought 2 Project Life kits. I bought the first one because I liked the idea of a picture a day. I was always taking random pictures in addition to pictures from special events. I decided to buy a second one after reading on another blog that the planned to use theirs with a pile of pictures that they had yet to scrapbook. I have a TON of pictures that have not been scrapbooked and I figured this would be such an easy way to do it! I always get frustrated because it takes so much time to figure out the layouts and more. So far the second one has helped me scrap a lot of my pictures that were just sitting around with nowhere to go. It is working really well! I still have lots of other pictures and I may need a 3rd book, but I’ll wait until I completely fill the first one!
I live in Sydney, Australia & I bought 3 PL kits. The first one I purchased as our family 365 album. I then the more I read & saw the Pl kit on Becky’s blog, the more I saw it’s potential. I then purchased another two kits, one each for my daughters. These will b their albums (as I’m really behind in printing off my photos of the girls since their birth). Hoping this is going to b my solution!
I have it and love it. However I am not using it for a picture a day. I am doing 7 on the 7th of each month, then do a picture a day one week a month and then I plan to do layouts such as 7 photos of my son swimming, 7 photos of Easter or 7 photos of my house. I am doing whatever I want and getting my story told. However I will still do other layouts as well.
I have my PL going well after receiving it a couple weeks ago. I can do it as I go. I am even letting go of the perfectionism in thinking it must be done a certain way. It is flexible enough to evolve with my needs. Just getting the story taken care of is making me so much happier.
I loved hearing you on roundtable. You shared great ideas on handling the product we collect. I have scrapbooked for one year but have all my photos in albums as I also love to organize. Project Life is awesome. I ordered it and began it on Jan 1. I do take a photo a day and love to see a journaling of my life. I keep my journaling cards up to date so when I print out my photos every two weeks, I can easily put the photos away. If I have a few great stories to tell, I print extras of my favorites and scrapbook those photo’s traditionally. It has been a great way to “keep up” and so fun!
I do have, and am learning to love, PL. What I love is that it forces me to think about the every day parts of our life; the blueberry oatmeal recipe I tried; the chaos in the basement the morning after a sleepover. I don’t worry about anything but making sure I am recording some small, insignificant part of our life – instead of focusing on the big stuff. I am going to use this instead of a chronological book for 2010.
I did PL life year and found the picture taking very easy to keep up with but had a harder time with the journaling; in fact, I just now finished up the journal for November and December. That said I LOVE the finished product. I am so glad that I captured all the little things in our lives and I know that in 30 or 40 years we are going to love looking at the album seeing what our kitchen looked like and what color the walls were. I’ve started PL again for 2010 and am even more relaxed about it this time around. If I journal I journal, if I do it later I do it later. If I take a picture, good. If I don’t – oh well!
I have always been a chronological scrapbooker who felt compelled to scrap about EVERYTHING. The best part about this whole project is that I can really focus my scrapbooking now on stories I want to tell, rather than feeling I have to include EVERY cute picture of my daughter. Now I can put that cute random picture in the PL book and move on and tell the in depth stories by scrapbooking them traditionally.
Best of both worlds if you ask me!
Scrapbooking overwhelms me. It’s not my talent. So I’m trying the online version, and I think it will be good. Easy and cute.
I need to set a time aside to do it though, otherwise I get behind and that’s overwhelming.
I am thinking of ordering PL as a starting point for bringing together my photos and stories. So far, it wasn’t available for European customers – now that it is, I have to convince myself it’s worth the high shipping cost and I’d actually use it! I think I would use it for the material I have collected for my unfinished december daily project (which is still waiting for the “right time” and the “perfect layout”) and then just fill it up with little stories throughout the year, going with the flow 🙂
Hi Aby, I have 3 Project Life Kits and 2 more on the way. It is the best product that I have ever purchased and would totally recommend it to anyone. I am not taking a photo a day (although most of the time I seem to anyway), but am picking 7 or 8 from a week. Also adding in memorabilia since I collect a lot of this(such as receipts, kids birthday present tags, coffee sleeves, drawings my kids have done etc etc). And despite the additional cost of shipping to the Middle East, it still works out no more than a bag of stash would have cost me from my LSS (which would sit unused). Not only am I enjoying the project, but my family are enjoying looking through it too.
Project Life is the best thing I’ve bought for scrapbooking…and that’s saying a lot. I love photography, and writing, but I had become a “scrap-supplies” collector, loving new product but never having time for making a layout.
Despite agreeing with everything Stacy Julian says about needing to print photos, I rarely printed because I didn’t know what size I’d want for the “perfect” layout in my head. This year, because of Project Life, I’ve been printing photos every Saturday. HUGE! And my three little boys now are constantly suggesting “Hey, take a photo of this for your photo-of-the-day!” I love their participation in it.
There is still plenty of opportunity to mix it up and get more creative…and because the basic idea of it is so easy, I’ve taken time to make small personal touches. All because it seems doable.
I still want to scrap layouts for our travel album and my boys’ school albums, etc., but with all my boys under age 8, I have to believe there will come a day when I have more time for that. Right now we are living the days “to hold on to” and I love that PL has given us an easy way to do it.
Sorry this is so long—I’m excited about it obviously:-) Lastly, a tip: I also use a moleskin notebook dated weekly to make notes, write kid quotes, or record what photo I know I’ll use. I don’t write in it every day, but it is always nearby and has made the journaling part very easy.
I would love to purchase this kit but Amazon is saying it won’t deliver it to the UK. Is there any other method of buying it that will ship Internationally?
@Renee Labelle
Check out this link that I got off of Becky’s blog. It looks like this is the place get Project Life internationally.
http://www.scrapbookersinnercircle.com/magazine/read/exciting-news-for-canadians-and-international-customers_171.html
Aby