Recording the Stories / How I Got Caught Up with Project Life

I began doing Project Life in 2012. Like any avid beginner, I started off strong. Then, I flew to Toronto for a couple weeks which put me in a situation with more memories to document and no supplies to do it with. I fell behind a bit and for the rest of the year, my enthusiasm went up and down leaving nice big gaps in my memory keeping for that year. By the beginning of this year, I had started 6 albums and only managed to complete 3 of them.

The idea of leaving the incomplete albums as they were did cross my mind several times. Every time I thought of filling in the blanks, I pushed it away - it was too much work to recall the stories. After all, two of the albums were from 2012 and I had doubts about whether I would be able to accurately recount the memories.

But at the end of January, a wave of creative energy swept over me and somehow I managed to finish my first album for 2012. As the weeks went on, I finished my second album for 2012. And then my second album for 2014. In less than a month, I had caught up with things that were sitting on my to-do list since 2012.

Aside from intense focus (which I can only attribute to nesting), here are some things that helped me get caught up with Project Life:

KEEP IT SIMPLE, GET IT DONE
That was my mantra for the times when I got stuck. I still wanted my spreads to look good but they didn't have to be perfect. I didn't need the spreads to have a cohesive look and I used way less embellishments on the “catch up” spreads. The goal was to get those stories documented before I forget.

PLAN IT OUT
In 2012, I roughly planned out each layout with which photos to use, dates, and little notes about journaling. (Marcy Penner has some really great planner pages available.) I had the photos printed and put into their slots, and that was huge for getting caught up. Most of the work was done - printing is the longest and hardest process for me (choosing, editing, resizing, uploading, waiting, picking it up from the store).

More recently, I've been trying to keep notes in my planner of what we do each day. I write my boys’ quotes in an app on my phone and I’ll also write down journaling if I have the words for a story but haven’t quite figured out how I want to lay it out/design it into my spread yet. That way when I'm catching up, I can just quickly copy it onto the card.

KEEP EPHEMERA
I keep a random assortment of little bits and pieces, like business cards, packaging or the boys' work. A lot of the time, these pieces don't make it into my spread because I have way too many photos but they do come in handy when you have extra pockets to be filled. Now, I just have to learn how to let go of the pieces that don't get used, except for the boys' drawings because I will cling onto those forever.

LOOK THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA
If you’re like me, Project Life isn’t the only way you document your life. I post quite regularly on Instagram and on this blog. Digging through my archives was especially helpful when I just could not remember little details about an event. You can also try Facebook and Twitter if you use those often, and news websites if you like to include some of that.

My text messages to Andrew were a gold mine for me. I tend to send Andrew messages about what the boys are up to, things they've said, things they've done through out the day so I don't have to wait until he gets home to tell him (because I'll have forgotten by then, no doubt). It takes a lot of scrolling back but sometimes it's worth it.

LOOK THROUGH PHOTOS
For those stories that did not make it into social media, I went through the photos on my computer. Recording the date was especially helpful here because I could go straight to that folder and sift through other photos from that day to help jog my memory.

DON’T FORCE IT
Work for as long as you can, take breaks when you need to. The more you force creativity, the less fluidly it comes out. There were times when I knew exactly what I wanted to have on each spread but I just didn't have the energy or creativity to put it together so I either moved on to the next part, or I had to walk away. Other times, I was physically aching for a break but my hands kept working and ideas kept coming so went with it.

Remember, just do what works for you. Memory keeping should be a good experience, not a torturous one. Enjoy the process!

Project Life 2015 | Title Page

Title pages are typically very difficult for me. There's so much pressure to make it look perfect because it's the very first thing you see when you open the album cover, and it's supposed to somehow represent everything that's inside. If it doesn't look fantastic, why would you keep flipping through, right? (I'm totally a person who judges a book by its cover. Can you tell?)

This year, somehow this all changed for me. When I was designing the title page, it came together so quickly and so easily. I kept the design pretty clean and simple. The basic elements I want for all my Project Life title pages are there: something to represent the year, something to represent our family and something to represent where we are geographically. 

In fact, I ended up making a double-sided title page this year. I finally got around to taking individual pictures of each family member this new year's so I used some of those to fill the spaces. I like that there's just enough colour to keep it interesting and that I could include my One Little Word for this year. I liked the idea of that shaker pocket but it's driving me absolutely crazy now because the wood veneers keep stacking on top of each other, making the pocket really thick! How do I make it stop?

As you can see, I went ahead and popped those less-than-perfect photos into the pockets anyway. I might reprint them later on but for now, I like that my title pages are complete.

You can see some of my previous title pages here: 2013 - Album 1, 2013 - Album 2, 2014 - Album 1

Project Life | Plans for 2015

THE FORMAT
When I was planning out how I was going to document this year, I fully intended on using the new Studio Calico Handbook system with the 9x12 pages. I liked the idea of having a slightly smaller canvas to work with, just to change things up and because I knew my hands would be full this year. They weren't available at the beginning of the year so I just planned out my layouts on paper.

Then, I learned that the holes of the new page protectors would not match up with the Project Life page protectors and binders that I previously used (and still have a ton of). So, change of plans! For one more year, I'll be documenting our lives in 12x12 format.

I went back to the 12x12 drawing board, redesigned my title pages and continued on doing the weeks with a twist. Instead of doing only 12x12 spreads, I'll intersperse with different-sized pages depending on how much I want to document for that week.

Things were coming along.

THE CONTENT
I'm trying to focus a little more on documenting stories this year. My previous spreads were very photo-heavy which is fine, but I want to make more space for the words this year. Having less photos makes my process go much quicker. I had photos ready to print and I hadn't really fallen behind yet.

And then my photos came back.

Insert Hulk scream and smash.

So much for staying ahead of the game!

THE PLAN
I try to write down a bit of what we did that each day in my agenda. Quotes from the boys are kept in my Day One app as I hear them and ephemera is tucked into a little plastic pocket in my agenda.

I'll continue working weekly. Some weeks will have bigger pages and take up the full spread while other weeks might have smaller pages or share half a spread. At the end of each week, I'll go through my agenda and plan out the spreads, hopefully doing a majority of the journaling cards as I go.

As for photos, well it looks like it might be time for me to invest in a home photo printer.

Project Life 2014: Week 14 & 15

Week 14: March 30 - April 5

This week was a busy one. After I returned from my overnight getaway, it was all hands on deck, preparing for Nathan's birthday party. This is one of my flattest spreads. I embellished with printables and die cuts to keep things simple.

You won't find a lot of adults in my Project Life, somehow the kids have taken over my albums but we managed to snap a group selfie over breakfast before we left the coast so that had to be included.  I also love the photo of Caleb and his teacher. That was probably his very last session in the infant-toddler program and his teacher has been so supportive with his learning and development so I'm glad I could capture that.

The rock-climbing party was a huge success. Everyone had a great time and even a few of the dads got some climbs in. And there's Caleb cutting all my scrap papers into bits. It was the only thing that would keep him occupied while I ran around gathering everything in the morning before party.

Week 15: April 6 - April 12


This was the first week of our Easter holidays and I kept the boys occupied with swimming lessons in the morning and activities at home, interspersed with play dates in the afternoons.

I had to add two extra inserts for this week. One contains two drawings Nathan did for me, and the other holds the boys' swimming certificates for graduating to the next level.

For journaling, I used a combination of the typewriter and my own handwriting. I love that so many ordinary, everyday stories were documented this week.

And I finally got to put some of those 3x4 cards that I've been collecting from my kit subscriptions to use.

Project Life 2014: Week 12 & 13

Week 12: March 16 - March 22

This was another typical week at home. We had a lot of new food this week - tried out a new restaurant and went to check out the Eat Street Market, did some light homeschooling with Caleb and the boys made their own lemonade concoction.

The boys spent a lot of time collecting these Dreamworks Hero cards from our grocery trips so I kept one of the wrappers. I also stapled in a few paint chips that I had collected to do school work with him. Matching colour chips was a little too easy for him so we moved on to colour gradients and putting colour chips in order from darkest to lightest.

The second half of our week involved a lot of food. From homemade scones and Eat Street Markets, to homemade flavoured lemonade and our regular orders from the West End Market. The boys also managed to find some time to build a spaceship out of Jenga blocks so I snapped a picture and put that in as well.

Week 13: March 23 - March 29

This week, we celebrated Nathan's 8th birthday. It started off with his class celebration and ended off with a dinner at Sizzler on his actual birthday (his choice). I also did a bit of celebrating of my own on a one-night getaway with a few girlfriends down the coast.

I had a lot of fun putting together the "Nathan turns eight" insert. That and the Happy Little Moments one below it are my favourite. I'm hoping to work towards this brighter, cleaner style in my next album.

There's a slim 6x12 insert for this week, documenting the morning of Nathan's birthday. Caleb and I got up super early to decorate Nathan's birthday cheesecake. It is mostly pictures with the story captured on a 4x6 card on the front.

Project Life 2014: Week 10 & 11

Week 10: March 2 - March 8

This week was pretty normal. Other than our usual routine, we had dinner with friends, I got back into yoga, Nathan had a class breakfast, his first outdoor soccer practice session and his final futsal game. 

Caleb was playing with my leftover gouache and made me a piece of art for this week's spread.

I had a bit of fun this week making that date card. Originally, I was going to mark off the days of this week with sequins. Then I decided it would make more sense if I kept the days of this week uncovered and covered up the remaining dates with the sequins. Now I can clearly see the dates for this spread and it uses up some of my sequin stash. Awesome.

Since it was the end of futsal season, I printed off the team's schedule and record after Nathan's last game. The boys did a fantastic job only losing one game during the regular season so I'm sure that's something Nathan will like looking back on one day.

Week 11: March 9 - March 15

Whenever Andrew has a week off from school, I try to pack in as much as possible to get things done. We ended up going thrift-shopping twice this week, made birthday party invitations for Nathan's party and brought our friends out for dinner. 

I played around with some printables and die cuts this week to add a bit of interest and colour to this week's spread.

Since I started making the boys' birthday invitations, I've always made them 6x4 so I can include them in my Project Life spreads. I also grabbed a coaster from the restaurant we went to, that black on kraft looks good.

Project Life 2014: Week 8 & 9

Week 8: February 16 - February 22

This week, we were right back into our routine of cooking at home, going out for morning tea with our friends, and spending part of our weekend at the markets.

One night, we let the boys eat McDonald's in front of the "TV" (aka my computer) to watch a hockey games during the Olympics. They thought it was so awesome. And I had to include one of the better photos of Caleb and I on the morning we went to celebrate my birthday with a few friends over morning tea and mimosas. It was fabulous!

I used up some old alpha stickers on this spread, a folded card documenting yet another swollen eye incident and a few badges I had sitting around.

Week 9: February 23 - March 1

We started this week off celebrating the Canada's gold medal in Olympic men's hockey. We managed to catch the game with our favourite Canadian in Brisbane. Then, we found out my nephew was born that same night! So much to celebrate.

This spread was pretty flat - not a lot of embellishments at all. Most of the journaling was done straight on the photos so it came together pretty quickly. There wasn't too much to say and most of the photos were little glimpses of our home this week.

I included a few shapes Caleb had cut out from a later week as a filler and date stamped it to indicate when it was from. That's one of the perks of being behind - you can choose from a wider selection of ephemera that might relate back to something that happened that week.

Project Life 2014: Week 6 & 7

Week 6: February 2 - February 8

This week was our last week in Toronto and it was absolutely filled with snow. What better way to document our last days in Canadian winter weather than with photos of me (in my pyjamas) standing in the snow, and one of the boys shovelling snow with my dad.

Andrew was away, doing his Geriatrics rotation which meant we didn't get to see too much of him during the day. He did save me his hospital parking pass to put into this week's spread as a representation of his time in the hospital and clinics since he couldn't take any photos there.

This right side covers our last few hours in Toronto with a luggage tag to remind us of how much luggage we had to bring back to Brisbane. Our flight home included a 13-hour stopover in Hong Kong. Instead of hanging out at the airport all day, we met up with my dad's side of the family. The boys got to spend some time with their cousins and my grandmother which was really special to me.

Week 7: February 9 - February 15

Our flight home was pretty uneventful so there isn't much to document there but Caleb read the safety card as we were landing and assumed the brace position as the plane touched down. I thought that was pretty cute.

Once we landed in Brisbane, we got right back into the swing of things. We dropped off our luggage and went straight to church, then picked up our computers from our friends' place and headed out for a hot pot dinner to celebrate some February birthdays. We celebrated my birthday and Valentine's day this week but we kept things very low-key this year.

Nathan brought this picture home from school one day and I wanted to keep it. It had gotten wet from his ice pack and tore in half so I placed it into a Studio Calico 6x8 page protector and placed that in the album. The holes in that protector didn't quite match up with the album rings so I had to punch an extra hole. 

Project Life 2014: Week 4 & 5

Week 4: January 19 - January 25

This week, we travelled from a warm and sunny climate, back to the cold, snowy winter. The first half of our spread was filled with pictures and memories from our day in Miami, after we had disembarked from the cruise and before our flight home. After that, we had a pretty low-key week and it's all documented on the right side of the spread.

The insert here holds a couple pieces of the boys' work that I had hung on to.

I usually don't keep colouring pages from restaurants but Nathan actually finished this one and put a good amount of effort into making it his own. He had the option of leaving it behind to be put into a colouring competition but he decided he'd rather bring it home.

On the reverse, I have a sheet of Caleb's work. My dad had gotten the boys to sit down and do some homework every morning while he studied for his online class and since Caleb didn't have a workbook like Nathan, my dad drew up some letters for Caleb to trace the letters of his own name.

Week 5: January 26 - February 1


Food, family and friends were the major players in this week's spread. With the end of our Toronto trip in sight, we made it a point to meet up with as many people as possible.

This spread is pretty simple with a few pieces of ephemera (two business cards, a button and a red pocket) and a slightly embarrassing story about me and a swollen eye in the middle of a passport office tucked away in a folded card.

Project Life 2014: Week 2 & 3

Week 2: January 5 - January 11

This week was absolutely freezing outside but with Andrew out studying and writing his Canadian exam, the boys were going crazy at home so we brought them out to the library I went to when I was a kid. Then, we went to my parents' rental property and brought them to a mall to let them have a change of scenery and keep warm at the same time, but somehow, they always ended up back outside in the snow. They could not get enough. 

There's a lot of journaling this week, but it's spread out among the photos enough that it doesn't look like it's all text. I made use of those snowflake wood veneers that I had gotten just for this trip.

Week 3: January 12 - January 18

The boys and I joined Andrew's parents on a week-long cruise in the western Caribbean. Every time I go on vacation, I take way too many photos of every thing to capture all the details I might want to look back on. Knowing this, I made it a point to choose key photos and moments to highlight in this spread.

I planned the whole layout on the cruise so when I got back, all I had to do was print out my photos and put the layout together. It came together so quickly and I loved that.

I kept pieces of ephemera from the cruise, like the ship map and tickets from an excursion that got cancelled. I was careful to limit the bits and pieces I kept for this layout because a lot of the time, I finish a spread and have a lot of ephemera left over with nowhere to put it.

This week's spread really injects some bright colours into the album which is a nice contrast to the cold and dull colours of winter that's been the focus of the album so far.

Project Life 2014: Title Page & Week 1

It's almost the middle of the year and I'm just starting to share my Project Life layouts for this year. I hope there's no rule against this. I've been taking it easy with Project Life this year - it's a big commitment and I find it a lot less stressful if I work on it leisurely with no deadline in mind. It doesn't bother me too much that I'm "behind", it'll all get finished eventually and I'll share my spreads as that happens. 

So here we go with my title page for this year's first album. It's not my favourite. I had a plan but it didn't work out so I just used what I had on hand to finish it off. If it still bothers me at the end of the year, I'll fix it up, but for now it's done.

Winter was the main theme for this title page since we were in Canada for the beginning of the year. We came back soon after so I thought that photo of the boys (wearing their Canada shirts) would be appropriate. The script insert is an image from Kal Barteski.


Week 1: January 1 - January 4

Again, a big winter theme going on here. We started off the year watching the Winter Classic and spending a lot of time on the ice. The rest of our time was spent with family - at home, eating out and a highlight for the boys: at the Playdium. The boys were kind enough to let me keep a couple tickets to tuck into a pocket for this spread.