31 DAYS of CREATIVE INSPIRATION:: Day 12 {Catching Up on Project Life}

This is the 12th post in a 31 Day series: Creative Inspiration. Check out all the posts here.

Are you 'doing' Project Life? Have you fallen behind?

If you are like me, you would have answered 'YES' to both questions.

Well that won't keep me from giving up. I have been taking my photos all year (save for a few weeks, like when my husband became critcally ill) and I am not going to allow that to stop me from finishing this really cool project.

I was asked one time how I could do my journaling if the week had already passed. It never even occured to me that I couldn't. I just go back and write down what I remember from that day. If it is only a few words or one sentence, that's OK. Sometimes the photo is enough.

I also blog my photos once a week and write a few lines with every picture so I can always refer back to those posts if I need to refresh my memory. 

The beauty of digital photography is that your photos always stay in chronological order and if you have a basic organizing software, it is so easy to organize your photos. I use the keyword POTD for my one photo of the day, I also rate my POTDs 2 or 3 stars. I have a smart PHOTOSET created in Lightroom and upload automatically to Flickr on a regular basis, so I have back ups there in case anything ever happens to my digital files.

I also write notes about my photos in the NOTES section for each photograph. That can also get uploaded to Flickr if I want it to, so that can be saved to in the event of a disaster.

This is what the pages look like that I haven't gotten to yet. I leave my album out on a table near my desk. This allows me to insert memorabilia as I go along then once I get my photos printed, I insert them, add a few journaling cards and I am done. 

I don't have an example in this post, but what I have started doing lately, is if one of my kids says something funny, cute or clever, I immediately write it down on a journaling card and insert it in the corresponding pocket for that day. 

With this method the most important thing to do first, is fill in all of your title cards for each page. What I mean by title card, is the orange card in the top left hand corner of the above photo. That has a white area for you to add in the date. I do my album by weeks so mine has the first day of the week to the last day of the week (ie., October 8 through October 14) listed on that card. Then when I want to add my memorabilia or a journaling card, I know exactly where to put it.

If you've gotten behind with your album, please don't give up! Just start this week. Place your album on a table where you will see it everyday. Bring home memorabilia from your day (clothing tags, receipts, movie tickets, mail, advertisements, things cut out of a magazine, business cards, menus, packaging of favorite products) and tuck it in the pockets for this week. You will feel like you are making progress (which you are) and it will make finishing the rest of the project so much easier.

Then when you have an hour or so, work backwards until you get the album finished. You could also decide to do two spreads each week - the current week now and one week from the past that you haven't finished yet.

The most important thing is DON'T GIVE UP! Even if you stopped taking photos, start again today and you will still have a really nice album capturing Fall and early Winter 2011 and that is more than you would have if you did nothing, right?

Now go work on that album!

To see all things Project Life on my blog, click here.

To see my Project Life Daily Photo Set on Flickr, click here.

Comments

[Astrid]

I think I need to do that as well! Have you tried the digital version of project life?

[Nihao, Cupcake! by Margie]

You have a lot document this year, dont you?!I have not tried the digi version. Although I do like digital scrapbooking, my preference is traditional. I think if I were to do this as a digi project, I would probably find a template I liked and make a photo book that way. I like the designs of the PL kit, but not necessarily all in one project. Though Ive only been working with the 2010 kit so I cant speak for the more recent designs.

[Rebekah]

Hi Margie, catching up on some blog reading! And guess what??? My project for this Monday and possibly Tuesday if needed is to catch up on PL! I have my private blog and that is up-to-date, but my book hasn't been updated since June or July sometime. So...it's going to be fun pulling it all together! I hope to blog about it too, so hop on over in the next few days to see how I do! I'm so thankful for the blog idea I got from another PL'er. I also have a basket that I keep in the dining room where I throw in stuff that needs to go in the actual album. So hopefully it will all come together easily. I'm going to copy/paste my blog post journaling part and print them out...no long, extensive hand writing to try and catch up. Just copy, paste, print and cut! :) Wish me luck LOL!

[Nihao, Cupcake! by Margie]

I cant wait to see your album, Rebekah! I will definitely be checking back on your blog. For me hand writing my cards is much faster - isnt that funny? I like pulling out the card, grabbing a pen, jotting it down - done. Ive never timed myself. Maybe if I did it on the computer, it would actually be faster, but in my head the computer seems like a longer process. I wish I was better at printing on the actual journaling cards as that might be fun to try. Maybe someday...