If you read the Bella Blvd. blog yesterday, then you got the scoop on my newly rebooted Project Life effort. Yes, after month of just not doing it, I was finally inspired to pick it up again and work on it. I spilled most of the details about this particular layout over on the Bella Blvd. blog, but I wanted to go a bit more in depth here about why I've finally started working on Project Life again.
So, more details on that after the layout photos!
After completing Project 365 in 2009, I took 2010 off from doing a daily documentation project. Toward the end of the year, though, I regretted that decision and missed all the little things that the project captured that wouldn't otherwise get scrapbooked. So, armed with a Project Life kit (the 2010 edition that I bought on sale the day after Thanksgiving that year), I launched into the project in 2010 and loved it...up until May or so. And then for some reason that I just couldn't figure out at the time I lost interest, and all my Project Life materials and collected ephemera just sat in a sad little pile in my scrap room.
A few months ago, though, I started seeing Project Life blog posts from scrapbookers such as Marcy Penner, Lisa Truesdell, and Michelle Wooderson. Their pages were so fresh...so fun...and so different! And after a little while of studying their layouts, I discovered why- they were using Project Life page protectors and some of the kit elements, but also mixing in (or completely using) their own supplies, as well.
And then it hit me- I wasn't bored with Project Life itself. Instead, I was bored with the format! I mean, I love the divided page protectors, but using the same type and style of product for it week after week was seriously sucking the fun out of it for me. So a few weeks ago, with a renewed creative interest, I pulled out that sad stack of stuff that had become my Project Life "pile" and started to sort it out.
I started by going through the album and labeling each page protector with a Post-It note labeled with the dates that were covered by that week. My plan is to go back and fill in weeks as I feel like it, but I'm not worried on getting caught up, per se. This way, I can choose weeks that I really want to work on and be able to quickly go to just those photos (by date) in my Lightroom catalog.
The dates also helped me to arrange all the collected "stuff" by week. I simply stuck an extra 8.5x11 page protector between each spread that I had collected items for. Later on when I do the actual layout I'll move these items around and put them either in pockets or another appropriately sized page protector.
Some smaller items I did just stick in a temporary pocket, though.
I also had a small stack of photos that I'd already printed up for the album but never put in their slots. I decided to go ahead and finish up those weeks with the supplies that were already slotted in the album (I'd pre-filled it at the beginning of the year) just to get them done, but from now on I'll be doing this album with supplies that I love, including those for both the kit clubs (Sweet Peach and Scrapbook Circle) that I design for along with, of course, more Bella Blvd.
I'm so excited to have this project going again, and I definitely plan on continuing it into next year now that I have it in a format that I love!