project life update and links

hey guys! happy thursday! :)

i wanted to share a few project life links and and update on my progress.

 

i know. i KNOW. project life is everrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrywhere! on every blog, and trust me...99% of those people are WAY more in the know than i am. i am really enjoying blog hopping and seeing everyone's take on this idea. lots of pages posted, lots of very detailed posts. but if you are sick of it, then maybe skip today. b/c i'm talking about pl. oh yes i am BABY.

 

because i (for one) am still very excited about this project and what it means for my family.

 

my amazingly amazing friend waleska tweeted something about project life and how her husband said it was "real scrapbooking"- i'm paraphrasing here- and it's so true. this isn't a new concept. it's back to the meat and bones of what scrapbooking is supposed to be about. and for me- it's about what got lost along the way.

 

we have moved seven times. seven. it will be eight this summer. i want to remember everything we were lucky enough to experience.

 

now...on to week one. i'm not going to share detailed shots every week. let's be honest...there's nothing special or revolutionary about what i'm doing. again...there are SO many blogs that DO have revolutionary content regarding PL. but mine pretty much looks like everyone elses. :)

it is, in essence, the same as the scrapbooks i made for jimmy in college. clippings and thoughts and words and memorabilia. i used to look down my nose at those old scrapbooks..why? i have no clue!

like i said...hardly revolutionary.

 

but to my family, this is revolutionary. love that.

i completed week one last weekend.

i'm running my weeks monday-sunday (with this week being different as i wanted to include nyeve and new year's day/j's bday- meaning this 2 page spread covers 9 days) but i got so excited that i did week one on saturday and just left one 4x6 slot open for sunday.

i'm glad i did b/c the program from church on sunday was something i added. i knew the minute i saw it i wanted to add it. and i actually had some pretty deep thoughts on the series that i wanted to share.

is it wrong that i kept looking at that program all through church,thinking that i couldn't wait to use it in my album?

i used the clementine core kit, washi tape (YES!! i am conquering my phobia!!),various extra journaling cards, labels, and thickers.

i took about 30 minutes to put this together...not including the photo printing.

not much thought. very "scrap by the seat of my pants"- as usual. no though to everything being "matchy", no though to having to have a photo for every day. there is a photo or story for almost every day, though. and several "general" stories. i tackled one slot at a time.

every day does not have a photo. out of nine days, i think there are five daily photos.

there's one card about the babies and their new words this week,

there's one card about our rental car and why we have it

a card about the girls telling everyone at publix that their daddy blew up the neighbor's house..

a.not true.

b. don't even ask.

sigh.

this week i had a "project life playdate" with a few other ranger wives. how AWESOME is that? my first time scrapbooking IRL with friends.

i had to subdue myself and my enthusiasm, lest i scare them away for life. i can be a lot to take. especially when i talk about crafting. :)

now onto my favorite products to use for PL right now.

 

top left: chic tags

top right: elle's studio

bottom left: ormolu

bottom right: twogirlzstuff (sidenote...aja MUST reopen this shop. i am starting the peer pressure NOW). no labels compare to these, i've been using them for years and i'm obsessed. DO YOU HEAR ME AJA?????? :) :)

 

a few project life blog links i really enjoyed this week...

monica mcneill

100 bits of life by the mom creative

printable page planners by marcy penner

love how cathy z used a iphone shot of the weather forecast

i'm not a silhouette savvy girl but love this post by lisa

 

umm...that.was.LONG.

sorry about that!

hahaha! have a beautiful,blessed day!

xxo

Comments

[Lefa]

I second the twogirlzstuff must reopen! I'm almost out of labels and I bought a TON - TON of them thinking they'd last a while. lol I was so VERY wrong!

[nicole]

this is awesome. I like your approach to it. I hope that I will get the courage for it one year.

[KristynKG]

a project life playdate?! oh, if only I were so lucky! that sounds like fun!

[Kim S.]

you can come scrapbook with me IRL anytime. I promise you won't scare ME away! sometimes my "non-crafty" friends look at me like i am Crazy when I talk about scrappin'.
Have a fun day!

[Marcy]

I love all the bits you're including! So happy you're finding this project so rewarding!

[steph h]

Can we have a skype pl playdate?? How fun would that be??

[Lynette]

I love your take on PL. I bought my first PL two years ago and it is still sitting in a cupboard...the whole thing of taking daily photos spooked me big time. Do you just highlight some days or do you journal about every day?

[Carrie Rosalind]

So fun! I love seeing everyones' Project Lifes! Keep up the good work!! :)

[Stephanie Howell]

lynette- this week was saturday night (new years eve) through sunday- a longer week b/c i wanted to include jimmys birthday.

for nine days i had five daily photos...so no i dont take a photo every day! hope that helps! xxo

[Kim Schaffer]

Stephanie where do you order the sleeves for this or are the stuck to a page & put in a regular sleeve?

[Jules Hollis]

this is beautiful!! Love all of that handwriting.

[Stephanie Howell]

kim- you order them through amazon. search for project life page protectors. i got the a pages.

[tara pollard pakosta]

I love the way you are so EXCITED about this project! I am not doing the traditional PL this year but I am still doing it and enjoying it even more than last year(still haven't finished my 2011 book yet though--that's going to be done this weekend!)....
I am having the time of my life, mostly journaling into a family journal, but going to print some photos this weekend for the photo part of it!
You have got me all giddy just thinking about it!~
tara

[diana]

Wow, your PL pages do look SO real ... like real life! They do indeed remind me of my childhood scrapbooks with their big newsprint pages filled to overflowing. Thanks for sharing. What a great way to document the daily life for your family, especially your husband. ;-)

[laurie lariviere]

your project life looks great so far, thanks for sharing everything!!

[melanie bauer]

yay! loved seeing your take on this. :)

[Jayna]

Ummm...you can't leave us hanging about Jimmy blowing up the neighbor's house and how that's not true. Sounds like a hilarious misunderstanding that only kiddos can do!! Ha ha!

[Stacey]

Love this! I am working on it. I am having trouble with something, so I havent' started. It seems that many examples have photo sleeves with both vertical and horizontal photos sleeves. So you have to look at the sleeves to determine whether to do a horizontal or vertical photo? I have been taking both (of same photo) each day until I figure out how to do it. So far I have just taken pictures, no real work. can't wait to start!

[elizabeth]

Love what you have done and your excitement for PL. Please don't discount yourself, it is great! Thanks for being "real" with your scrapping and pl. Helps to see the real life scrapping mixed in with the so called
"professional"! Thanks again!

[pegg]

I like your take on this! I like seeing people's PL pages so thanks for sharing. That is so fun you have friends to do this project with. I think that must make it extra special. Plus you can share supplies and not have to worry about specific styles, etc.

[christina rayevich]

Cool! you are soo lucky that you have people to scrap with . None of my friends scrapbook =(
xo

[Sherry]

I love your take on this project. And, I like that everyone's book and outlook for the year will be different.

I am tackling PL for the first time this year, but knew the 12x12 format was too big for me. So, I'm working a week at a time using baseball card page protector base. I am so enjoying this creative project.

[Michelle]

Yes, Steph!! You have to share!! You can't mention it and not explain. It sounds like quite the story!

[Jen Strange]

way to be an enabler, girl. LOL. I'm using the Clementine kit too! I may incorporate digi a bit since I have the biggest digi stash in the world. Plus I think I'm going to do one page a MONTH instead of a week. Because that's even LESS pressure! LOL.

thanks for all the links and all the great ideas :)
jen

[Kimber-Leigh]

love your take on PL steph. it's perfect. that is what i love about this project (and what makes ME so excited about it too.) it is perfectly customizable to fit you. i know some weeks i will have more pictures. some weeks more stories. and likely, some weeks where i just have to use ephemera from our week to fill in the spaces. but it ALL tells the story of our days.

[caroline hancock]

love it girl, it is just the most amazing project, you sound as excited as i was to start it too and i can't believe its my 6th week now eeekkkk. Gary loves to read through it and see what we done while he off shore. LOVE it :)

[Nirupama Kumar]

I think it turned out amazing! And, you probably are more 1% than 99% when it comes to scrapping anything LOL. I love traditional scrapbooking too, but other than our Disney trip, I pretty much always forget to include memoribilia, or don't know how? Anyway, still working on that.

Those ormulu tags look so chic. I hope you keep sharing your pages, I want to see them!

And, what are the babies new words? I love hearing that stuff. My Nandini just started saying Buh all the time and I love it so much people think I'm crazy.

[KathyChen]

So inspirational - I'm tackling Project Life this year too and love your pages. What printer do you use and how do you print Instagram pix?

[toni from]

I also love Project Life, so no complaints from me, zero.

It looks like your layout is quite nice, but I wish you would please, please post a picture of the layout head on or better yet one of each page individually. I love the ideas you implemented, especially the thickers.

[toni from]

I had the same problem last year when I first started Project Life in January, but this is the solution I came up with and I hope it helps you. I use the basic A pack of plastics..it's the one with 8 horizontal pics, and 8 spots for vertical journaling. I find that I take more horizontal pics, but I also take a few vertical ones each week. My solution: I either print out the vertical ones larger (if I really like them and put them in an extra page protector (usually and 8.5*11 that I trim down to 8*10) or I print the vertical pics out 3' * 4" and then I just slightly trim them as needed to fit in the journal spots that are already vertical. I then might journal some more on one of the 4*6 spots if I need extra journaling room.

Another thing to note, if you have a Target near you, Target photo machines now have the option to print 2 (3*4 prints) onto each 4*6 print...I love this, you can do the instant photos for 29 cents I believe for two small photos.

Good luck. I wish you the best with Project LIfe, you won't regret it.

[Diana Waite]

so funny I plan on blogging about Project life as well today, just have had NO time! So happy with how it's turning out so far (yeah one week--but who's counting!) Enjoying the process as well with my own stash and ideas. Enjoying your view through instagram as well! :)

[Stephanie]

Even if you don't want to do a write-up of each week, I, for one, would love to at least see pictures of your finished weeks. I am loving your style; very inspirational!

[aja]

i hear you! i'm thinking about reopening. if i do, it prob won't be til closer to february. i want to make sure i have a stock of stuff pre-cut and ready to throw in envies. what do you think about me just listing the smaller versions? or should i include the original sizes too?

[Stephanie Howell]

I think ANYTHING would be great!!!

Sent from my iPhone

[Noelle]

I managed to complete project life in 2011, which covered life with my daughter from age 6 months to 18 months. I'm excited to do it this year, particularly because we plan on moving. We meet with realtors next week about selling. It's not a big move. Just from a condo to a house with a yard somewhere within the same general area we're already in. Still, I'm overwhelmed by the amount of decluttering and packing, let alone the stress of finding a buyer and then quick finding a house. How have you done this 7 times without going insane? I'm only moving my husband, daughter, myself...and 3 cats and 2 dogs!

[Janna]

WHY won't you post about pl every week??! PLEASE!! I'm loving it too - and I want to see YOURS! I don't care what EVERYONE ELSE is doing;) I really, REALLY want some of those labels! AJA open back up for the newbies - PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE!!!!?

[Dawn F.]

Please keep posting your pages. You are right that there is a ton of stuff out there in blog land but since I only follow a few select blogs, you are at the top of that list, please post your pages. I love the ideas, the "wow, I didn't think of using my stuff that way" when I look at your pages. I just started back with PL after not doing it for a couple of years and am so excited. Love your inspiration-scrappy and motherhood-thanks always for sharing from your heart.

[Jennifer Sanborn]

Great start! :)

[sherried]

I'm with Jayna and Michelle. Don't leave us hanging. :0)

[jessica]

I agree with Janna..Weekly project life post would be amazing! loving your spin on it

[Bessie Segal]

What is Project Life, Stephanie? I follow you blog faithfully but have never noticed a reference to it. Is it the same as scrapbooking?

Whatever it it, you will do it beautifully.

[jamie hansen]

Are you using the binder it comes with? Do you find that it is good quality and sturdy? Well made? Not so sure i am a fan of the colors of the albums, I might rather have a plain album. What do you think?

[Stephanie Howell]

jamie-
i am using an american crafts d ring album!
s

[Stephanie Howell]

bessie-
you can see lots of info here! xo
http://www.stephaniehowell.com/my_weblog/project-life/

[Stacey]

Thanks Toni! Those are great ideas. I really appreciate your help. Glad I'm not the only one with that issue.

[Melissa Priest]

Hey Stephanie! I noticed your 'blessed life' logo from your church program & had to comment. Alex & I host a marriage lifegroup for church every Wed in our home, and this semester we are studtying 'The Blessed Life' by Robert Morris. Robert was orignally from our church before he moved to pastor Gateway Baptist.

Anyway, if you havent read his book, you should! It has been a constant blessing to Alex & I and truly opened our eyes about giving & prospering (and most definately not just moeny wise, either!). I think you will love it. I read a ton - but not usually books like this one - and consider this book to have been life changing for us. You can also learn more by watching his videos on the Blessed Life website. We've never watched any, but it is on our list!

Anyway, just have to give the book a plug. It is definately worth digging into to.

[Kim Schaffer]

Thank you Stephanie!