Reading the multitude of fabulous articles on the topic, I have been infused with enthusiasm over Project Life. For the last couple of years I've looked, with longing, at all of the projects being completed and thought it was just too big a commitment for me to handle.
In reality it is perfect! It can be as big or as small as I choose for it to be.
I have a thing for "order" and "control". I know, surprised you, eh? The problem is that particular trait often wars with my desire to be interesting and creative.
I'm planning (er, hoping?) that this project will help me keep control of our ephemera and photos as well as provide order in my story telling. Every once in awhile - STOP, who am I kidding? - ALWAYS, our life is going at such a break-neck pace I'm hoping it will help me easily recognize the flow of our lives, identify routine stories and the extraordinary stories, and all of the stories in between. I love how the ladies on the creative team are so very different and how they've approached the project to work best in their lives.
This is something I can do.
I'm happy to know I can have order and control and be interesting and creative. All in one box :)
Okay.
So, I've finished my first week and I'm pleased (can you tell?) with how things are going:
LEFT SIDE
INSERT (6"x12")
RIGHT SIDE
Now, I have to admit apologise for my photos. In this new house I have yet to find a good place to take a glare-free photo. Not as easy as one might think! Bare with me, it will get better over time, I hope.
Oh, and a quick shout out to Marcy Penner who posted these wonderful printables which greatly helped me, the spacially unaware, figure out how I wanted to organize my first pages. I know these will come in handy for future weeks!
Remember thosearticles I've been reading? Well this one has me convinced to write a letter to my children each week, or, as is the case this week, a quick list of observations:
And, over here? I love the idea of taking a photo of all four of my kids - together - once a week. This is our first installment:
Yes! Got them! With eyes rolling, all four have agreed to pose for one photo a week - together - for 52 weeks. I was brutally honest with the ENORMITY of their commitment and they've decided it's not a fight worth having. Yay!
With all of that, I have to caution myself to pace myself. I don't want to set some crazy precedence nor do I want to have multiple albums by the end of the year. This, for me, is to be simple and do-able.
As I promised myself at the outset, I've included a couple of inserts. This week these are inspirational things I've found on-line over the last little while. There has been an EXPLOSION of ideas and I wanted to narrow it down to two things that resonated with me, now.
Over on Be More With Less, Courtney Carver posted "How to Make a Love List" and it really appealed to me. As much as my Project Life is about my kids and our life here and now, it's also about me. I want to include some snippets of things that interest me within the book. In this case, I quickly printed out my own Love List on a 6"x12" insert:
and while I was cleaning out my computer I came across a Steve Jobs quote printable - I can't attribute it because I have no idea where I found it (probably life pre-Pinterest) - I didn't want it "lost" in the computer, and it's so brilliant, I had to include it. With my kids being teenagers and well-on-their-way to their own lives THIS is the message I want them go get:
Smart, eh?
Yeah, the quote and the project.
