Project Life 2013: Getting Started

Beware. This is wordy. And organizing my thoughts on this to pare down the wordiness was not easy.

All of 2012, I watched Elise Blaha Cripe blog about Project Life. I was captivated to say the least. I had never heard of Project Life before. I started to think more and more about doing Project Life as 2013 approached but wasn't really sure I could pull it off. I'm not exactly "crafty". I've never scrapbooked a day in my life or had any interest to do so. I love making photo books. I loved my Instagram project in 2012. But I wanted something more. I wanted a way to "document" more of life. And I didn't want to have to wait until the end of year to see all of it like a photo book, and I really wanted a way to keep the little miscellaneous things.

Then it was announced Elise was designing a Project Life core kit for 2013, and I figured it was a sign I should give it a try. I love her style. Then when my father passed away and I was going through pictures to put together some photo boards for his service, the value of doing something like this really hit me.

A lot of people do Project Life on a weekly basis. They'll do a two page spread for each week of the year. I'm not doing that. There's no way I could ever keep up with that and eventually I know I'd end up feeling overwhelmed and get really behind.

I'm just going to add things as the year goes. With trips to Arizona, Texas, San Diego, Montana, Carmel (2x) and probably a few more, we already have a full 2013. Add in there my husband's 50th birthday, 5-6 cycling events, at least 2 running events, day trips to San Francisco, and then whatever life throws our way - I have no shortage of things to document in 2013. But most importantly, I have a 2013 full of things I don't want us as a family to forget!

And I'm keeping it very basic - again I'm NOT crafty. I'll be using the Seafoam Core Kit, Design A photo pocket pages (most of the time), a few stamps here and there, and a few free downloads I can print on my own every now and again. That's it. As simple as possible. And full of photos.

2013 Title Page - including our ages on the 1st day of the year. This is a mix of the Seafoam core kit and a few free downloads I found online and then worked with a bit in Photoshop Elements.

1st page - New Year's, some of my favorite photos of my dad, and my dad's obituary which I copied and pasted into Photoshop to size it correctly for PL. And I chose the Celebrate Everyday card from the kit to add to the page with my dad as a reminder to do just that - celebrate life, celebrate everyday. Eek out every moment.

My sister performed the eulogy at dad's service and I spoke as well. I printed out both of our speeches and cut down a 12x12 page protector to make an insert then just secured the edges with washi tape. 

I'll probably do a Project Life update once a month. I may from time to time blur out images and names when posting. Figuring out how to best photograph the pages is tricky as the page protectors create quite the glare. The important thing in all of this is I just keep up with this project in 2013. And did I  mention lots of photos?

How about you - How do you document life for you, your family, or your children? 

Supplies:
Project Life Binder
Project Life Core Kit - Seafoam
Several inserts from Cathy Zielske - I've learned so much from her PSE tutorials!
Design A Pocket Pages
This stamp by Elise Blaha