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So, you would think after having boxes and boxes of scrapbooking supplies in storage for 4 years, after day dreaming about all the stamps and stickers that were going unused, after drooling over some of the lovely patterned paper that I didn't let myself buy because I knew I had something similar in a box somewhere ... I would be all gung-ho about scrapbooking again.
You would be wrong.
Instead I was completely overwhelmed.
I was 'behind' ... a big chunk of my supplies were dated. I didn't know where a lot of my photos were. I couldn't even remember some of the stories that I have memorabilia for.
I really need to go through all those boxes of scrapbooking stuff and purge.
But in the meantime, I really wanted to find someway to start fresh with recording my memories - something I had been doing since I was 12 or 13.
I can't imagine not taking photos and journaling stories - but couldn't think how to start.
I realize, now, that this story sounds an awfully dramatic. If this were a movie Becky Higgins would have flown in with her superhero cape and pressed her Project Life supplies into my hands amid my effusive gratitude and protestations of unworthiness. But it didn't happen that way either.
We were in the middle of buying a house. A fixer-upper house. A house that we couldn't even move in to for a full month after we bought it - and even then it was pretty rugged and exhausting. I watched Ali Edwards and Cathy Zielske (and soon Elise Blaha Cripe) making their Project Life books and my first thought was - every week? No.Way.
But then, sometime after we moved into our new house and the windows stopped leaking and hot water was working, I felt like maybe I did have a bit of time for memory keeping. I made a plan.
The more I learned about it, the more I dug into what was available, the more and more Project Life seemed like the solution I needed - the best part (for me) is that the structure is already set, so I can save all kinds of decision-making-time by just having that factor decided.
Becky Higgins - creator of Project Life - recently wrote about how Project Life can work for newbies. My favorite quote: Project Life is whatever you want it to be.
And you know what? It really is.
If you want to use Project Life to document every week - awesome.
If you want to use Project Life to document your week-long trip to Hawaii - do it.
If you want to use Project Life as a place to keep your ticket stubs and memorabilia - perfect.
This is not meant to be an ad for Project Life - but rather to introduce you to a storytelling, memory-keeping option that is 100% accessible.
I started my Project Life book in April 2012 - on my 30th birthday - and I have (more or less) kept up with a 2-page spread every week since then. Same plan for next year.
And that is enough for me. I plan on making Blurb books for big vacations or other huge events, but other than that, I'm pretty happy with using Project Life. Photos and journaling. No real embellishments. Nothing fancy or time consuming.
Here is just a small glimpse of my Project Life pages so you can see just how basic they can be.
Words+Photos. That's the name of the game.
I'm telling you, just give it a shot. Project Life might just come to your rescue too. Start with 1 page design, blank journaling cards and a binder to put them all in. Anything beyond that is just extra stuff beyond the words+photos mantra.
ALSO: I have recently contributed to a Big Picture Classes ebook about Project Life! It’s all about using the Project Life structure to dig a little deeper into your stories. Check out more details including a preview here!
If you have questions about HOW I put these together, you can check out my recent posts on the process with supplies, the process with journaling, the process with photos and the process with design.
