my week in the life plan...and i really mean it this time!

They say that the definition of insanity is doing the exact same thing over and over again, but expecting different results. With Ali Edwards' next run of Week in the Life rapidly approaching, I'm doing my best to step away from crazy territory and firmly back into something that's a little more sane (or at least a little less insane) for me.

Given that I've now tried to tackle two huge projects (Journal Your Christmas and last year's Week in the Life) as digital photobooks thinking they would be easier that way, then finding out that's not the case, I think it's best that I step away from that idea for a bit and try something that does work for me.

You see (and I'm embarrassed to admit this), neither one of those albums I just mentioned is finished. I don't know if it's the digital (I'm actually fairly competent in Photoshop, but maybe all the gear switching between paper and digi is what's hosing me) or the size of the project, but I just haven't been able to wrap my head around completing either (I'm determined to get through both though, so I'm plodding along little by little). And I know I've done it before. Though I procrastinated on the last round of Week in the Life and finished that album almost a year later, the first one I ever tried was done within a week. Same for my Christmas journals- I was sometimes still working on them in February, but it's never been like this.

So I'm switching to an approach that I know does work for me- a Project Life approach. Earlier this week I hatched a simple little plan to get me through Week in the Life without using digital templates, printing photo books, or even buying any new supplies since I already have everything here on hand! And I'm sharing my plan here hoping that maybe it'll also help someone else who might be in the same predicament.

It's very easy- I'm starting with these, Becky Higgins' Design F Page Protectors from Project Life.

Yes, they do have a lot of vertical photo slots, but Ali does this project every year with baseball card pages and it works for her, so I don't think I'll have any trouble. My plan is to use four of these protectors- one side for each day of the week, plus room for a title page. Last year I also took lots of photos of the house and yard on the last day of the project and am making a special section of the photo book just for those photos- it's so fun even now, not even a year later, to look back at them! I may use a couple of plain 6-up 4x6 page protectors for that if I do it again.

Then there's the journaling. Again, I'm going with easy for that. Last year Ali provided free downloadable printable daily sheets, and my plan is to write on them throughout the week and then stick them directly in 8.5x11 page protectors with each day's photo page.

 

I'm sure that even this simplified version of the project will have room for a little scrappy fun, so I'm going to pull out a Studio Calico kit to work with. I haven't decided between Story Hour and Daydream Believer yet, and I probably won't settle on one or the other until I see the general tone of my photos for the week. Something tells me it will be Daydream Believer, but I'm leaving the option open for now.

 

And when I'm through putting all of that together? I plan on sticking it right into my Project Life album, sandwiched like a massive insert between the two regular Project Life pages for the week. I managed to fit the previous two Week in the Life runs into one album, but it's a bit full now and I really don't want to start another. I've already resigned myself to the idea that my Project Life will be 2-3 volumes per year, so might as well stuff everything in there, right?

I'm quite optimistic that this simplified and somewhat minimal approach is going to work for me. And if it works well I'll be doing something similar for Journal Your Christmas this year, too!

Are any of you taking on Week in the Life later this month? Have you got a game plan yet? I'd love to hear it!