Category: project life

Yay! Another spread that I am happy with. I’m still culling my photos so that I have more white space and journaling in each spread, and I’m loving it. I’ve also been using the Project Life app to plan and it is helping immensely! Next week I’m going to have a comprehensive look at it for you guys.

On the left side we have a picture and story from my first 10k, a couple books I read, a classic #toddlerfashion, and just a plain ol’ cute pic of Liam and a pretty sky.

I liked typing up some of my journaling in PSE this time.

On the right side: the kids playing outside, at the toy store, journaling about our anniversary (didn’t get a pic – fail), selfie from when I dressed up all business-like for meetings, David’s hospital bracelet from his pneumonia, and the finished quilt.

I really like this little card I created digitally in PSE. I’ll probably do more of this in the future.

I’m so glad I’m back in my sweet spot with this project! I never lost the love for it, but I did lose my way. But with crafts it’s all phases for me, and I just gotta learn to keep going and ride them out. :)

With this Project Life spread I feel like I’m back in the groove and inspired again. I love the way it turned out.

As mentioned in my last update, I haven’t been happy with my spreads lately, and I realized the reason was because I was trying to cram too many photos in. It ended up feeling busy and chaotic with very little room for journaling or white space.

I thought about going to weekly spreads, but decided against it for this year. The answer for me right now is to simply include less photos. I had been putting in almost every single cute pic of my kids just because it was hard not to. But I realized that I only need one or two of them to tell our story. If I ever really need to see more cute pics of my kids I can look at the digital photos.

So I love this spread because it has more photos of things that aren’t my kids – because my life is so much more than just them. Hmm does that sound bad? Well it’s true!

I also love that this page seems to be able to “breathe” more than the others lately, and that I got to write down a little bit more of the story.

So! This was from September 8 – 21. It’s actually kind of ironic how calm the spread turned out considering it was kind of a stressful time for me. David sick, Meredith acting out, stressed with work stuff.

I’m glad I got to include my fall goals list. I like to be able to look back and see what I was thinking and striving for at that time. By the way, I got my handwriting on that photo using an iPad, a stylus, and the Skitch app. Super fun and I’ll be doing more of it.

Have you noticed that some of my corners are rounded and some aren’t? I thought it would bother me, but it really doesn’t. I still like using the core kit cards when they fit the spread, and those come rounded. I like the square corners in general though, and I like not spending the time to round them.

I love this picture of all the kids from our church life group crowded around our little kitchen table. Meredith is by far the youngest here but she wanted to be right there with them.

This little journaling card gives a  pretty good overview of the whole two weeks. Even though I include each week’s events on a day-to-day basis, sometimes you miss the overall feeling without room to tie it all together.

I’m so happy to be back on target with this project! I even converted another woman at my church to give it a go. Sometimes I feel like an unofficial ambassador for it. :)

p.s. – my project life process and some tips

Kind of a funny story about this spread. I thought it would be fun to make a video of me putting the entire thing together from start to finish. Problem: my only camera is my iPhone. But I get these ideas in my head and I can’t relax until I figure out a way to execute them.

Picture me on Saturday afternoon during precious naptime rigging up an elaborate harness using yarn and thumb tacks in order to hang my iPhone from the ceiling. I was climbing on the table and moving furniture. Positioning my supplies just so. I finally got it figured out and went to work.

I didn’t give any thought to the spread beforehand, so there was a lot of downtime on the video where I was just staring and thinking. The next day I was halfway through editing the video and thinking it was going to work, when I realized it cut off when I was about 75% through with the spread.

I was tempted to be upset by the wasted time, but instead I just had to laugh at myself. The whole thing was ridiculous. I still want to make a video one day, but I don’t think I’ll attempt it until I have a real camera with a tripod.

So anyway, this is from August 25 – September 7. It’s not one of my favorites, actually. I think I was rushing for the video. Lately I’ve been a little unhappy with my spreads in general. I love how sustainable it is for me to complete one every two weeks, but then the spreads themselves are full of photos and there is very little white space or room for journaling. So I’m trying to find a balance of simplicity.

The photos I turn black and white are usually either grainy or have colors that stand out in a bad way. My dad always takes pictures of our family when we get together (see below) but they are just simple snapshots, usually in bad lighting. But turn them black and white and brighten them up a bit and they are a great addition to the album.

I’m also so glad I captured a photo of David and Meredith going through their bedtime play routine. They have several little games they’ve made up and I think it’s both of their favorite things they do together.

Half of the right hand side was devoted to the room switch we did. It took a lot of time and energy.

I’m not done decorating their room yet, and I’m also not set on the final furniture placement. But I do hope to share it with you one day.

I love combining two or more photos on one 4×6 card when there is a similar theme going on.

So that’s another spread in the books. I’m going to continue doing two weeks per spread for the remainder of this year, but I’m feeling the itch to reassess my method going forward.

Here’s my latest Project Life spread, which I just barely pulled off in time for my self-set deadline of posting every other Wednesday. I usually work on this on Saturday mornings, but over the weekend I turned our house upside down painting and rearranging rooms and all my craft stuff was displaced. So I did this yesterday afternoon instead, since I got to come home early from work.

This is from August 11 – 24. They were pretty normal weeks. Meredith completed swim lessons, Liam turned 7 months old, it was really hot outside, I was working and running and quilting. The usual.

Gosh I just love the way Meredith loves Liam, and how he has special smiles and laughs just for her. For those of you with a second child on the way or are thinking about it for the future: don’t worry! It’s awesome!

I guess I don’t have a whole lot more to say about this spread! Feeling a bit worn down at the moment from all the chaos at home. It’s taking me longer to recover from things these days…must be getting old. :)

Time for another Project Life update!

Here we have the usual two week spread ranging from July 28 to August 10, in my usual neutral style with no inserts.

On the left side I documented our date night, the start of Meredith’s swim lessons, and her sickness. Filler and journaling cards are from the Midnight edition.

On the right side we have a few everyday photos, the start of my half marathon training, and a QR code with a link to a video of Liam swinging that I thought was hilarious.

Here is a good tutorial for making these QR code cards. I put it together myself in Photoshop Elements without a template.

(And also, I am under no illusion that QR codes will stand the test of time. But they are fun while they last and I still have the video uploaded and accessible, so if the codes go defunct maybe this will at least remind me to look it up.)

I say this all the time but I still love this project! I also am happy with the style and format that I’ve settled into and don’t have any plans to switch it up at the moment. Of course I will evaluate again near the end of the year but right now I’m pretty satisfied. :)