Project Life Weeks 4 & 5: What to do when you don't have photos

Have you gotten to the end of the week and freaked out because you don't have any pictures for Project Life? 

That was my dilemma a few weeks back. I spent most of our post-California week at home in bed with nothing to show for it. Which inevitably led to major procrastination when it came to putting together my PL spread for the week.

I was ready to throw the towel in and skip ahead two weeks; but I got some new supplies in the mail and thought I would give it a second chance. They definitely aren't the best spreads I've created, but I'm okay with that. Any type of recurring project is going to have its ups and downs; and I can't get upset if I don't out-do myself every single week.





So after finishing up weeks 4 & 5 I came up with a list of ten techniques to use on weeks where there just aren't enough pictures to tell the story.

1. Add any random picture from the week and let that flow into to a story
2. Use a card/invitation/newspaper articles to add a 'current events' feel to the spread
3. Use a calendar card. Highlight the week of the spread or circle a special date. 
4. Journal! Just write about how life got in the way of taking pictures this week. It's real and its honest. 
5. Use project life challenges like Currently to fill in a pocket each week.
6. Throw a pretty card or some patterned paper in the spread. I love to look at pretty paper; and that's a good enough reason to put it in my book.
7. Use leftover letter stickers and make a quote card. 
8. Print out facebook or twitter status updates. Take a screen shot of a text message conversation. 
9. Find stock photos of a movie/tv show. Write a review. 
10. Just throw a filler card in. Finish it up. There are times when done is better than perfect. 

...and now on to my Project Life spreads 

Week 4

I had absolutely no pictures for this week. I spent almost the entire week in bed or on the couch reading and watching TV. I really wasn't sure what I was going to put in this week's spread until I pulled the inauguration announcement off the refrigerator -- yay for current events!  

I added a bit of an explanation for the lack of pictures -- along with some random embellishments I had lying around. (I'm a big fan of those cut-out E's -- there are never enough E's). 

Because the announcement was so big, I cut it up into four piece  and backed each piece on a Seafoam core kit  journaling card. Because there are so many duplicates in the core kit, there's no reason to feel guilty about using them as mats.  

I added my currently card to the bottom and finished off the spread. Learn more about the Currently Journaling Challenge here. 

Week 5

I had a few more pictures for week 5 (my birthday week)-- although nothing really exciting. 

Even though I used a 3x4 horizontal currently card (I was originally envisioning a huge birthday week spread) I added it into the vertical slot; I don't mind turning the page slightly to read the answers. 

I kept this week very simple. 3x4 photos with the journaling on tags or directly on the photo itself. Lots of filler cards. The goal was to get it done and move on to the next project. 

I love journaling directly on photographs. I use a Sakura Microperm pen (check out a review of all my favorite pens) which is permanent but still has a great tip for precision writing; it also doesn't smear at all. 

And the final detail for week 5 was this great little envelope from Pebbles Inc. I folded up the letter Jeffrey wrote me for my birthday and added some number paperclips (27) from Anthropologie (I just love that store) as a finishing touch. 

Thanks for stopping by and checking out my less than stellar two weeks of project life. I hope that my mediocrity can inspire you to get through those weeks where you don't have enough pictures or you aren't sure which stories to tell. 

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