I'm on Ali Edwards' email list and I received her announcement the other day with the summer dates for her Week in the Life 2011 project.
For those of you who are not familiar with the Week in the Life project, it is a project Ali Edwards used to teach at Creating Keepsakes University. For one week you document as many details of your life as you possibly can. You do this by taking photographs, collecting memorabilia (brochures, business cards, menus, packaging, clothing tags, receipts, emails, snail mail, ticket stubs, programs, anything you can think of that relates to your life that week) and writing down details about each day. And finally compiling all of this information into an album.
What an amazing keepsake this can be!
Ali is doing A Week in the Life in the summer this year - July 25th through July 31st, 2011 - and she encourages others interested in documenting their lives, to join along. (Click the link above, just below the photo for more details and examples on her website.) I love that she chose summer this year since it offers a different routine than the other three seasons, especially for those of us with kids in school, for example or teachers.
Summer is especially different for our family since we go back to our home country during that time. I have spent a lot of time recording the details of our lives abroad, but surprisingly I have not done a good job of capturing the details of our lives when we go home in the summers. I'm typically tired, jet lagged and want to relax so the camera stays packed away.
A Week in the Life seems like the perfect motivator for me to to pay more attention to the routine of our summers. We stay in California for several weeks and develop routines. The kids go to summer school, we visit our favorite food stores, and I do a lot of shopping - stocking up on clothes for myself and the kids, buying lots of food and other goodies we can't get in China (but that's a post for another day). We catch up with friends, visit favorite restaurants, go to the beach on Fridays and walks to the Village and the library and take picnics at the park. So many special details to capture.
I'd really like to do this project. But the reality of it sounds overwhelming - especially while away from home. I will admit that I have attempted this project before. I have taken lots of photos all week long, collected memorabilia and written things down about our routine at the end of each day, but I've never put anything in an album. I've contemplated doing it digitally but it's the traditional method that appeals to me.
So will I try again this year? I'm seriously considering it. Will I actually complete the album? In order for me to succeed, I've come to terms with that fact that, I will need a plan and I wlil have to do a good deal of prep work - something I typically avoid. As I evolve in my scrapbooking, I am becoming more realistic about prep work.
I'm thinking of coming up with a formula for each week that includes divided page protectors for photos and memorabilia as well as 8.5 x 11 page protectors for journaling and maybe one accent photo. None of these ideas are original. Many amazing albums have been designed before, but I feel strongly about designing my own album however simple & unoriginal it might be. Who knows, maybe someday, I will get over the need to design it myself and I will give in and use one of the templates available on the market. But at this point in time, I am imagining planning out my album before hand and getting an album ready to go before that last week in July arrives. I will then insert memorabilia each day and hopefully jot notes down on preprinted journaling cards that will slip right into the page protectors. Once I print my photos my album will be almost complete.
I can dream!
Only time will tell if I actually complete it. At least I'm being more realistic about it this time.
How about you? Have you ever done a Week in the Life project? Have you started it only to stop part way through? Or have you been like me - documented everything all week and never put anything in an album? If you completed your project, what helped you make it to the end?
Or if not, what got in your way? Please tell me. I'd love to learn from you.
And finally, will you do a Week in the Life project in 2011? What is your plan?
Fantastic step towards the the real exploration of the life. I hope this will be exciting further in the life of all human beings.
Posted by: wordpress developers for hire | May 30, 2011 at 23:28
I did it last year for the first time, but like you, have not gotten my album put together. I do have 1 or 2 or 3 pages done digitally using her templates. They are printed off and waiting for the rest to be finished. I too am leary of the summer week of doing it, but I want to give it an honest shot I think!! :)
Posted by: Rebekah | May 31, 2011 at 19:12
I'm not sure if I will or not. I'm glad it is in the summer as my schedule is more accommodating for scrapbooking during the summer. I do a day in the life book for my daughter, but I am toying with the idea of doing a week in the life.
Posted by: Stephanie Medley-Rath | June 02, 2011 at 15:41
Hi Margie, I did manage to finish mine last year. However, if I'm honest I did it as I went along (otherwise I knew I wouldn't finish it!) which kinda took a lot of the week up. I used Becky Higgins PL page protectors and a copy of the Project 365 (free to download from her blog). It was a lot of work and I'm not sure if I will try again this year. I also did a digital version, which really only needs a little tweaking to be complete. Digi is always easier, but the paper version had my handwriting in it and memorabilia. Can't decide which one I like the best!
If I do it again this year, it will be digi (especially as we will be travelling for the latter part of the week). Probably create a personalised post bound album from Persnickety prints and have the pages printed there (I have always favoured photo books in the past, but I like the idea of page protectors that I can add memorabilia in at the back). Mmm ..... I like this idea, maybe it won't be so hard after all if I stick to digi. Thanks for making me think about this and get organised!
Good luck deciding what you will be doing!
Posted by: scrappysue | June 08, 2011 at 20:56
Hi Sue - I love your ideas. I was thinking about the PL photo pages as well for this project since when I keep up with PL I love adding the memorabilia as I go along. Do you have photos of your projects posted any where? I would love to see.
Posted by: Nihao, Cupcake! by Margie | June 09, 2011 at 04:00