A twist on Project Life

 

Happy Leap Day!  What will you do with this "Extra" Day?  I had big plans but now not so much.  :)  I would love to hear if you are doing something special.  In the meantime, grab a cup of tea and pull-up a chair.

A couple years back, I read Stacy Julians book, the big picture and loved her concept of creating a month in review style book.  I created a month in review album in April 2006 and again in June 2008 and I have to say to date they are my most cherished albums.  That says a lot since I have many of layouts from over the years; all cherished memories.  But what makes this month in review style is the detail of everyday life.  I often go back and look at what I included in that album; receipts, sayings, What was for dinner, The weather, etc.  I even tracked my mileage, mail, phone calls, loads of laundry/dishwasher, and e-mails.

Fast forward, to the present and I now utilize Becky Higgins' Project Life to capture our family.  

So, What's the Twist? 

Capturing milestone school years.......

My oldest daughter is in her last year of Elementary school and will very soon be entering middle school.  I wanted to capture her 5th grade year but more than in our family album and not just in a layout.  Really capture, the day to day of her life in 5th grade.  The good, the bad, the funny, and the ugly.

I decided to combine the concept of Stacy Julians Everyday Life and Becky Higgins Project Life.  

I had a 3 up (4x6) style album (Pottery Barn) on hand so that's what I went with but you certainly could do this with any style album.  At first I wasn't sure that I would like it because I wouldn't be able to add sleeves for larger memorablia.  My solution is that I either take a photo of the object or scan it or reduce it on a copy machine.

This is the inside cover page.  A simple title "5th grade, Remember these Moments".  A drawing that Autumn made of her school that I reduced on my copy machine and cut to fit in the sleeve.

First week of school.  Most of these are typical back to school pictures I would take.  Memorabilia, I included the little lunch note that I put in her lunchbox.

Note:  There are only 6 sleeves and typically I use 1 for journaling.  I don't use this as a day to day style but a week in review.  What do I want her to remember, what were the big defining moments, what little story did she come home and tell me about, how did she do on her science quiz, etc.

Simple, Recap of our vacation to Florida.  I included bullet point journaling.

This was a busier week that I couldn't narrow down photos.  Instead of using a sleeve for journaling, I used journal stickers on each photo to talk about what was going on.

Quick Tip:  One of the things I discovered by accident is printing smaller prints to include in Project Life and this project.  On my print screen I have the option to print a contact sheet (thumb size prints) but if you click Customize there is a slide bar that you can increase the size of the thumb.  This is a great way to add smaller photos (see the inset small photo in the bottom left print, above)

 Some journaling stickers, Here I split a sleeve to include a journaling card; label, and drawing that Autumn made for a Girl Scout event.  Also, the drawing of the building is a notecard that her art teacher sent us about a drawing Autumn did.  I wanted to also include the photo I took of her in front of the drawing so I used the contact sheet so I could include it right with the notecard.  I also included a strip style of thumb prints of an event.

This week there were a couple of e-mails between her teachers and I that I included here.  One was a back/forth e-mail and I wanted to include the conversation so I simply printed the entire sheet and folded down to slip into the 4x6 sleeve.  The other e-mail, I just wanted to include a comment her drawing teacher made about her so I cut only the comment out and included it on my journaling card.

I mentioned before that there is some adjustment that in this style of album I can't add a sleeve for memorabilia, however, there is this small sleeve at the very back of the book; it's about 5x7 in size.  I'm not exactly sure what I will use it for but for now I have been collecting extra things that don't make it for the week but that are still worth keeping.  

I only plan on keeping the book until she graduates from 5th grade and will probably give it to her mid-June after school is out.  I have figured out that there will be extra sleeves so I plan on putting extra memorablia pictures at the end.

This has been a fun way to capture her life.  I wish I had this from when I was in 5th grade.  I wonder what my favorite candy bar was and what kind of things I came home and told my mom about.  I hope Autumn cherishes this book forever.

Notes to get started:  Decide what type a book you will use.  Create cover page. Create a journaling card and put the weekly date on each journal card or insert into a sleeve.  Prep as much as you can now to make for less work every week.  Compile simple journaling cards and stickers, sticker numbers and letters.

I have a station set up on my desk for both this project and my Project Life.  Just glancing over at the stack I see October Afternoon Word Stickers, Bella Blvd Stickers (my favorite go to), Martha Stewart Home Office from Staples, Crate Paper, Elles Studio.  Just to name a few.  

Thanks for stopping by; I hope to see you again tomorrow.  :)

Comments

[Madeline]

Love your take on project life!

[Lisa Swift]

I love this idea, especially since I also have a 5th grader. :)

[erica w]

I LOVE this idea. My son will be going into Kindergarten next year and everything is going to go by so fast from there. I love the look of this. Its like mini PL.

[Angie Gutshall]

Love your idea to combine and make it your own!

[Pamela Young]

Fabulous work!! :)