A(nother) Fresh Start on Project Life.

...I can't remember the last time I talked about Project Life here (of course I haven't talked about much here lately, so I'm sure that's partly why). I do remember a great start back in early 2013 and I'm pretty sure I blogged about getting a new-to-me printer and how much printing my photos here improved the process. But then in mid-February I missed a week for Katie's bachelorette weekend and before I knew it I was months behind. I attempted the first of several catchups before the wedding (yikes, that was nearly four months ago!) and finally got it all together last weekend. Yes, the first 35 weeks of 2013 are now documented and sitting in a 12x12 album under the coffee table in my family room. It makes me happy to type that. There was sunshine on Saturday and I took photos to share (but they're still sitting on my camera. ha! I just realized my two main hobbies both require FO shots!)

That last bit of catchup covered 13 weeks: four in late February/early March; four in May/June and five from late July and all of August. I learned more about the process and how I like to work as I put it all together. I absolutely love the finished product and I love the creative process ... as long as it doesn't take more than a couple of hours and I'm not playing catchup. In all that excitement I signed up for a three-week on-line class called Project Life Lessons (one of the three teachers is Elise Blaha; I've followed her blog for years and love her style and her album!) Class started Thursday...and week 36 ended Saturday. No more catchup! I certainly hope to have new tips and techniques to incorporate over the next few weeks, but not yet. 

My new much-simplified approach is to print all the inserts myself (if anyone wants a barely used Clementine kit, I have one for you!). I did splurge and buy a few new digital products, including both the Seafoam and Midnight Project Life core kits and a few photo/journaling cards from Paislee Press (Elise Blaha designed Seafoam and Liz Tamanaha designed the rest); but I got the album half-price at Michael's! I'm also including a lot less - like half of what I was doing before. Week 36 took me barely two hours to pull together yesterday and I love it as much as some I labored over.

All five of the photos I included appeared on Instagram last week (four from my feed and one from Marc) and I think that's going to be pretty typical. Three of mine were prompted by the FMS daily photo challenge and that's probably going to be typical, too, as long as they help me tell a story. Loving Cathy Zielske's Instagram template (used on the middle row's 2nd and 4th inserts) - it was free on her blog a few weeks back.

I had more time last night and made the album cover page (I still need to add two photos but I want at least one of them to include Marc and he's not here!) I am kind of in love with the color scheme of black & white, with pops of gold and kraft. Maybe because it seems fall-ish?

...another lesson learned is that quick blog posts are more likely to happen with iPhone photos edited with PicTapGo or Afterlight - and no links!

random thoughts.

...I was delighted that Carole's prompt this week was just what I was wanting to blog about. random thoughts. and because it's Tuesday, this means I'm only sharing ten (lucky you!)

notes I captured this morning about photos/etc to include in Project Life

1. oh my, I have a lot of Project Life to catch up on. as in my last completed week included the Super Bowl. (if you're counting like I am, it's FIVE complete weeks plus a few days. yikes!)

2. wedding shoes. for Katie, Sara and me. Katie is the most urgent; her first dress fitting is next week. thankfully, Sara and I have another eight weeks to find the perfect pair(s).

3. I'm hosting bookclub next Tuesday. thankfully I finished - and loved - the book. but I am caught in that weird place between winter and spring about the menu and can't decide what to fix.

4. taxes are due april 15. our accountant delivered the draft return last week but Marc and I haven't had time to review it.

5. Katie and I joined the Y. now she has a place to swim and I have a place to take classes. I really want to round out my workout but I haven't figured out what that means. Today I ran a fast three miles on the treadmill and then took a pilates class. If my "core" is up for it tomorrow, maybe I'll try yoga.

6. I want to join a running group. my neighborhood group runs on Saturdays but the forecast for this weekend is chilly rain. there's also a group that runs from the Y. just.do.it.

7. Meals to Heal. last month, I agreed to coordinate the ministry at my church and I need to follow-up with our church's chef to see where we're at with our initial list of to-do's. (I'm hoping this isn't an assignment where all I get to do is nag. I hate those).

8. yikes! Google Reader is going away July 1!!! I tried blog lovin' and hated it. I'm now using Lively and I think it might work. (can I vent for five seconds and say why??!! is Google getting out of the reader business??!!)

9. my photos are out of control. iCloud has been so easy... I now have 1,300 photos on my phone and who knows how many gigabytes of photos stored on my computer. Must get a routine established that works. (does anyone use flickr still?)

10. I'm two-thirds through my Lenten yarn & pattern fast. as usual (this is my third year giving up buying yarn and patterns during Lent), some days are easier than others. but in all, I still feel like this is the right discipline for me. (not just because I've spent a little time thinking about what projects I get to start on April 1 :-)

...and there you have it - ten very random things on my mind. right now. and I can't wait to see what the rest of you are thinking about!

click here to join the Ten on Tuesday fun!

project life 2013 | weeks 5 & 6.

...it feels pretty good to have the week that ended just two days ago already done. too soon to say for sure, but printing everything myself might be the way to go.

First, though, week 5, which ran January 27 - February 2 (with photos I printed at Costco). It was a full and busy week, with plenty of "stuff" in addition to the photos.

I smiled when I saw that weather snap; that was the week I smugly blogged about no winter blahs. When it's 60-some degrees in January, no blahs allowed.

The requisite Downton Abbey "photo".

And the start of Month of Letters (along with a piece of the CABi catalog from the "party" I attended Saturday afternoon.

And then on to week 6, February 3 - 9. The big story about this week is the knitting (which I shared in two blog posts last week).

And a little Superbowl story. Love that Rob put together a game so we'd pay attention to THE game (I still fell asleep...) and then Katie made a spreadsheet to track the scores. And I have to laugh at how poorly I did.

I snagged a screen shot of the spreadsheet, pulled it into PSE to resize and print on a 4x6 index card; added the orange date, journaling and stamp to the printed card.

This postcard from my mom arrived early in the week. Love that she responded to our Ten on Tuesday about what's in our cars (how different her list is from mine!)

...and there you have it. I'm still not using those Core Kit journaling cards like I wanted to. But otherwise, I'm good with it. I'm really seeing a difference in the amount of time it takes (week 6 was under four hours) without sacrificing much on the content and overall "feel". because that leaves more time to live the stories, not just tell them!

project life 2013 | weeks 3 & 4.

...I actually finished these pages on Tuesday afternoon and planned to blog about them yesterday, but got so excited about my one little word, I decided to wait til today. happy to report that the printer issues that slowed up week 3 got resolved for week 4 and I'm actually considering printing everything myself for week 5. we'll see!

up first - week 3, which ran from January 13 - 19.

I think you can click this photo to see it bigger...

Marc left for Asia dark-early on the 14th and I found plenty to amuse myself while he was gone. special favorite (tie) - I used my free week pass at the Y and I bought new running shoes. 

yes I am that woman who cuts up the shoe box and wildly collects business cards...to scrapbook

Runner-up special favorite - my sister and sister-in-law brought food and wine and knitting to my house and we had a ball for SEVEN hours on Saturday (lower right). I never blogged about any of that.

Yep, I realized as I was putting these pages together that some of the stories I used to tell here on my blog are now getting "saved" for the album. another case in point:

oh yeah, I LOVE capturing screenshots from my iPhone! ...and I LOVE that we've made a date to snark on the Oscars red carpet - all three of us - together at my house!

...and that if I were to stop saving them, I could probably get back to much more regular blogging. which would, I think, be good. (side note - my instagram feed has also replaced some of my blogging...I'm now posting there at least daily and I don't intend to replicate that here...if you're on instagram, let's follow each other!)

For week 3, I followed all my rules and added a Downton Abbey feature. Finding the photo was fun (finding the photo at a high enough resolution to print...not so much). I plan to continue this through the 3rd season (sniff, sigh, only three more weeks!!) I also managed to include one more of the core kit cards (upper right). Note to self - need to PLAN to include these cards.

and now week 4, which ran January 20 - 26. Marc got back just as I left for a quick trip to Florida to visit my mom and dad.

I "broke" one of my rules and bought a digital kit from Paislee Press (day planner). I layered one of  those patterned papers in the Week in Review card.

And while I did blog about the reading (or lack thereof) featured upper middle-right, the rest is all new stuff. see what I mean? there is plenty to blog about and I just need to do it. 

Love that Marc emails photos while he's away; I included a photo of the high-speed train station in Shanghai (middle, middle-left) this week...along with a cutout from another cardboard box:

And my visit with my mom and dad. LOVE this photo from Friday's lunch (journaled on the restaurant's feedback card - you can tell Project Lifer's - we're the ones who pick up ALL this stuff!) ... and the wine label from the wine my dad and I enjoyed with our steaks that night.

Feels like this project is really coming together this year...and I'm hoping to figure out a routine to get the pages done and posted here in a timely fashion. soon. (because yikes y'all. it's FEBRUARY already!!!)

project life 2013 | weeks 1 & 2.

...nothing like a football-filled Sunday afternoon & evening for scrapbooking! I'm still doing project life Sundays to Saturdays and it's a rare Sunday that I have time to actually work on my pages. But yesterday I did and I made a quick trip to Costco this morning...and now I have two finished weeks to share.

First up, the title page. Totally lifted (with her permission :-) from Cathy Zielske. I'm using the Clementine core kit this year...and she is not. So I was pleasantly surprised that her colors seemed to work. (of course as you'll see in the photos below, I've used only one Clementine card so far...and I'm not much into matchy-matchy anyway.)

Simple. love that I have a photo of me & Marc (thank you, Katie) to include. so I can represent all the relationships and goals closest to my heart for the first half of 2013.

and now on to the first week. which was just five days. it's a good thing I take lots of pictures and keep plenty of "stuff".

that blue card at center right is the only core kit piece I've used!

Cathy Zielske's Week in Review card - something new

an iPhone screen shot (with some journaling) from my first long(ish) training run

hope to keep this format for all my cast-on's - Ravelry pattern page, who it's for and the date and a snip of the yarn I'm using

and week two. a full seven days and I found myself making hard choices about what to include and what to leave out. which is good I think.

the church bulletin cover with the last few lines from the Prayer of Confession; I loved snipping the words apart and gluing them back together during Advent!

ahhh...ode to DA. glad I wrote this before I saw episode 2!

this week's six mile run and one of Cathy's weekly lists

I'm doing some things differently this year - hoping to streamline the process and create a better product. When I started Project Life last spring, I just dove in. I bought a variety pack of page protectors (I think that gave me seven different options for a layout). I didn't get a core kit, but instead bought digital journaling cards from half a dozen different designers and kept a 3" binder of patterned paper and a few embellishments handy to include. I wanted to use the supplies I had and that seemed like a good approach. but all that flexibility meant I had a lot of decisions to make every week. which meant the pages took more time. and while I really do LOVE the finished album, I was ready to create a smaller creative play space for 2013. two weeks in, here are the rules I've established:

1. I'll summarize each week (including the dates) with one of Cathy Zielske's week in review cards.

2. rounded corners (this is hard, but yes, I do think the pages look so much better!)

3. page protector design A unless there's a good reason not to.

4. no ad hoc patterned paper.

and the guidelines I'm hoping to follow:

1. always include: church bulletin, inspirational quotation, one of my daily photos, something related to my half-marathon training (with the 13.1 overlay), knitting projects started (the three I've cast on this year have used the same format...I hope I can keep it up!) and some acknowledgement of every knitting project finished.

2. usually include: something about the weather and one of Cathy Zielske's life list cards. love how timely they are. but in a week where I have more stuff, this will be something I let go. so far, I'm two for two. we'll see.

3. hope to include: more photos of people (me included), not just things.

4. limit the fonts. I'm mostly using Arial with Bebas for the photo overlays. I'm also trying to be consistent about how I add text to my photos. will definitely make the album more cohesive.

5. finish the previous week before the next week ends. and blog about it. share photos on instagram. anything to help me be accountable ... and encouraged.

10 goals for 2013.

...katie asked me last week if was making any resolutions for the new year. I quickly replied "no". and  shortly thereafter stumbled across an inspired idea to collect knitting resolutions and blog about them...and of course I had to participate. so that was three.

my knitting goals for 2013 (see #1-3)

and then yesterday carole asked about ten. and what the heck. I guess I'm in!

1. knit something for someone else for every something I knit for me.
2. steek a sweater (likely this one - and most of my sunday students are going to try it, too - love that they'll hold me accountable!)
3. work to a smaller stash...with nothing "new" from 2013.

4. fill up two project life albums with weekly spreads.
5. participate in my third year of ali edwards' one little word class (more coming on that soon...I'm still putting the finishing touches on last year...more coming on that soon!)
6. take 365 daily photos based on chantelle's prompts. 

7. train for and run a half-marathon at a 10-minute mile pace (we're signed up for a march 17 event - once I see how that goes, I'm planning to make a longer-term goal).
8. read mere christianity.
9. do something fabulous with marc to celebrate our 30th anniversary.

10. revitalize the church's prayer shawl ministry.

there are also the big things of katie and rob's wedding and my mom's 75th birthday...but those aren't all mine. and well, neither is #9. but it needs to be on my list to ensure it actually happens!

I look forward to the accomplishments we'll all see...and the encouragement we'll share. I'm sure it will be required. and welcome!

project life weeks 40 and 41.

...showing again that when things are quiet here on the blog, it usually means there's a lot going on in my real life. truly grateful for that time on tuesday to map out these last two weeks of 2012 (because I am so itching to get started on 2013!) and then time yesterday evening to put it all together (and while I'm at it - huge thanks to marc for being patient with leftovers so many nights in a row - I do think tonight will be it and we'll have "new" food tomorrow!)

week 40 covered december 16 - 22. most of the photos have already shown up here, but the extra stuff, what's on that right-hand side, is new.

katie sent me those three postcards - and I loved using the new "G" page protector to showcase them front and back. it was also fun to include the front and back of the super-cute tags katie made and used (top row, center). each of her gifts included one of those tags, tied with bakers twine or adhered with washi tape.  I punched a hole in the page protector and tied the bakers twine through the hook to hold it in place.

and yes, I finally learned how to use the smudge tool in photoshop - if anyone wants my address, I'm happy to share it - just send me an email!

onto week 41, which included ... a lot. I ended up with three 12x12 spreads. 

this is just december 23!

we hosted the annual family gathering, which always includes photos. I was really pleased with the ones we had this year and love that this format accommodated my favorites.

and the rest of the year....

the rest of the year came together once I knew what photos I had and what stories I wanted to tell. I was careful to save ephemera from the whole week so I'd have plenty to work with. two wine labels, a piece of notepaper from maggiano's, church bulletins, and gift tags from christmas morning. I only ended up using one of the gift tags, but it was the most special gift. so it's perfect.

from the first year I did Journal Your Christmas (2007, with Shimelle Laine) I've tried to include a bit of how we wrap gifts in each album. this year was really simple - I have a huge roll of brown packing paper leftover (and bonus points that marc smiled when he found out I was using it instead of buying new!) - I added a glitter snowflake (bought a box of 20 at target for $5) and stamped "merry merry" on shipping tags. ...I still have a huge roll of brown packing paper and lots of shipping tags and I'm finding glitter in the oddest places...

...and that wrapped up the last week and my 2012 album. I had an empty page protector to fill and found this terrific idea on pinterest. a few hours and many google searches for free clipart later:

I saved each of these cards as a template to use for future albums. the counts were kind of surprising to me - I expected more running and finished objects (and maybe a few less self portraits); maybe I wasn't consistent about how I counted. oh well. I don't think it really matters. it's still fun.

...and it's done!

2012 favorites.

...inspired by sara to share my favorites for this year. it's a fun way to look back. and it really does make me realize (yet again) what a wonderful year it has been. thank you to everyone who's reading this for being part of it!

of course sara told her story in words, but I'm telling mine in pictures*.

favorite photo of the three of us.

favorite photo of the two of us.

favorite photo of the two of them.

favorite person to hold my hand for a 30-mile walk.

favorite dinner when marc's away.

favorite thing I knitted for a baby.

favorite thing I knitted that surprised me. this one is also a favorite because it's for someone at the nursing home. and knitting with the ladies there on thursday afternoons is one of my favorite blessings of the year.

favorite cocktail party.

favorite thing(s) I knit for someone else.

favorite thing I knitted for myself.

favorite field trip.

favorite recipe I created.

favorite purchase.

favorite long-time documentation habit. (I'm now into year seven and journal #17.)

favorite new documentation habit.

favorite iphone app.

favorite tv show. and how cool that I watched the first two seasons on my laptop. (this was a hard choice... I also considered boardwalk empire, homeland and mad men but DA wins because I share it with all my girlfriends. and because it has maggie smith.)

and one last shout out to my favorite book of 2012, erin morgenstern's night circus. apparently, this one never made it to my flickr feed!

*click the photos to see them in flickr and read a little more about them.