I seem to have an innate need and/or desire for keeping track of memories. I frequently tend to feel like my pictures and written anecdotes and memories are one of the most valuable things that I can leave behind for my kids. That being said, I constantly feel under water and behind when it comes to documenting our family happenings or various milestones.
I have tried different methods over the years… baby books, journals, photo albums, traditional scrapbooks and photo books. They all start out promising enough and then I eventually leave them in the dirt – incomplete and forgotten about. They sit on a shelf where they continue to collect dust for years to come.
The bottom line is that I need something affordable and simple. I have joked with Bob a few times that when I die I’ll just leave my Facebook password with Lily since all of those silly, seemingly mundane family happenings that I post are the ones I’d actually love to remember. The funny things she says, the random snapshot from our average Monday, you get it.
Over the past couple of years, I have seen other bloggers post about Project Life. Simply put, Project Life is a scrapbooking system of sorts that combines journaling cards with your pictures and lets you put your words to pictures without slaving over page layouts and designs. Even though it all looked fairly simple, I have resisted the urge to join in. I worried that it would still be too much to keep up with or that I would get tired of it.
I am now a few weeks in with Project Life and I am exuberantly happy to tell you: I LOVE IT. I love how simple it is (especially compared to other memory keeping methods that I have tried in the past). I love how beautiful my pages look when they are finished. Most of all, I love the thought of passing this collection of my words and pictures to my children someday!
Project Life is a pretty simple concept. You only need a few things to participate:
- Any 12×12 d-ring binder
- Project Life Photo Layout pages
- Project Life Core Edition (choose your fave theme!)
- Your pictures
- Your memories
- A pen
You can purchase Project Life products in several places – I got some of my products on Amazon and some at Michael’s with a coupon. I have also seen HSN run deals for various Project Life products.
I started out with a basic set of photo layout pages, the Honey Core edition and a binder (that matches the Honey theme). I also grabbed some other mini kits – the seasons mini kit and the holidays mini kit.
My goal is to backtrack to January 1, 2013 and begin my album from there.
While I was on my shopping spree I picked up a 2nd binder and the Baby Edition for Him Core Kit. I would like to use this kit for baby #2 instead of a traditional baby book.
I could not WAIT to rip into these products and get started. I also bought (which is definitely NOT necessary) a small photo printer. Even though printing from this printer will cost more in ink than, say, running to CVS to pick up prints, it’s way more convenient to be able to print instantly as I work through my pages. I plan to use the printer in addition to ordering prints when Shutterfly, Snapfish, etc run sales.
Here’s a look at what I started out with:
The Project Life Core Kit – Honey Edition:
Stay tuned each week – I will show you my progress as I work through Project Life.
Do any of you use Project Life products?