Project Life Update

Did you know that I still scrapbook?  It's true.  I no longer make the big 12x12 scrapbook pages, but I do try my best to keep up with Project Life aka pocket scrapbooking.  I've been a Project Life participant since 2012!  (You can read my very first Project Life post here.)

After 7 years, I still love my Project Life albums.  They're super fun to flip through because they're packed full of memories.  It will not surprise you to know that I approach my Project Life albums slightly differently than other people do.  Today I thought I'd share some recent pages and how they align with my personal memory keeping philosophy.

These albums are about me.  100% unapologetically about me and my life.

This means the pages are filled with photos of me.  Yes, there are photos of other people, but I don't really tell their stories.  I think sometimes -- women in particular -- end up trying to be the memory keepers for everyone.  Not me.  This is my album, from my perspective, about my life.

I make no effort to coordinate anything -- colors, patterns, style, etc.

For me, these albums are about recording memories with ease.  Part of what makes pocket scrapbooking appealing to me is that it consists of lots of little separate canvases.  I don't have to coordinate a big overall canvas.  That would make this project way too stressful for me.

Related: I make no effort to make the pages "pretty." If they look good, that's great, but it's not my goal.

I often choose odd or ugly photos because they represent a memory or story I want to tell.

I write all over my photos. 

I use two Sakura pens which work on slick surfaces to do this: (white) (black).

Or I use a label:

I do about 80% of the work in Photoshop and then 20% in my craft room. 

I outlined my process in this video and blog post from 2015 and it's the process I still use today!

Sometimes I print the journaling right onto the photo and then just add stickers/embellishments...

...and sometimes I just add the journaling by hand after it's all been printed.

I include bits and pieces from my digital life -- screenshots of texts and instagram posts and everything in between.

I fill my album with pictures of the art I've made.

Making art is such a big part of my life. I can't imagine telling my story without the art.

I do one two-page spread for every week.  If I have more photos than will fit in two-pages, I use an insert.

Sometimes the inserts are little.

Sometimes the inserts are major.

It's the journaling that makes this better than a photo album.  So, I tend to say something about most photos.

It doesn't matter if you don't have a photo.  There's still a way to capture that memory! 

Download it from the internet -- as in this movie poster.

Write a card.  Who says your album has to be all about the photos?

I'm still working my way through my 2017 and 2018 albums, and while the completist in me says that I should finish these albums in chronological order, I've decided not to.  Memory keeping is so different when you do it close to the memory vs. far.  In that vein, I am almost up to date in my 2019 album and will continue to slowly back slog through 2017 and 2018 while keeping up to date on 2019.

Are you a scrapbooker/memory keeper?  Would you like to see more posts about Project Life?  Let me know!

Thanks for stopping by!