Project Life 2013

I finally, finally finished my Project Life album. I know, I know. A little late. (I talked about that here, if you're confused at what the heckfire I'm talking about.) But I'm the Queen of Unfinished Projects so this is kind of a miracle. I wanted to share just a few of my favorite spreads from my album. I put a ton of time and effort into this album and I'm so, so glad it's finished so I can concentrate on 2014!

I initially printed all my photos at home on my Canon printer. And I hated it. I stopped doing it all together when Maddox was born because hauling everything out and cutting pictures and trying to get as much use out of one sheet of paper just got too ridiculous. I totally cashed in on some Shutterfly and CVS deals and found out that it is way cheaper to have your pictures printed for you than to spend $30 plus on ink every month. So, that's how I do it now. And it's so much more enjoyable. I create a collage for my 3x4 pictures so they come out as 4x6 and then I just cut them in half.

I also had a subscription to Studio Calico but I ended that because I was drowning in supplies. I mean, it's totally fun to get new stuff every month but I figured I should use up what I have before I get any more. I also used the Seaform Core Kit (by my favorite blogger, again. Holler.) but I'm kind of sick of it (and almost out of it!) so I'll probably order a new core kit in the new few weeks to give this album some different patterns.

I made a layout for each week using pictures from my camera and phone (and some of Evan's, too!) to complete the pages. So, each week is two pages, from left to right (see Evan's birthday/Seattle layout below if you're still confused). I journaled about what was going on in our lives and included some of my favorite blog posts. Each week has a layout but I didn't try to keep certain days on certain sides or anything. I was mostly concerned with it looking good than having a chronological order to the pictures. For weeks where lots of stuff happened, I usually included a smaller page to house more pictures.

I love how flexible this project is. If you want to only document big events, do it. If you want to do every week like I did, do it. There's no right or wrong way to doing it. I thought that my life was pretty boring and nothing big happened but I am so glad that I documented 2013 weekly. When I finished the album last night, I flipped through the first few layouts, back when I was still pregnant. I read all my journaling and weird cravings and all the funny things I thought being a mom would be like. There was so much stuff that I had already forgotten and I was instantly so glad that I stuck through this and documented those moments that seemed so small and insignificant. But I'm the type of person who likes to look back and remember, but that technique might not work for everybody. PL is a document your life YOUR WAY type of thing. And I love it for that.

Here are just a few of my favorite layouts from 2013:

Maddox's one month layout. Maybe pink is a little girly but I love love loved the "you are so very loved" card so in it went. Most of the pictures are from my one month post and real camera but I have no problem using my iPhone pictures, too. (Bottom left and middle right are both phone pictures.)

Maddox's two month layout. Sometimes I would get Studio Calico cards and they would be so perfect for my life it was kind of scary. (The "you are so very loved" and this "everything here is wonderful" cards. Yes.) I machine stitched around the bottom left picture and kind of love that look a lot and have to literally put my sewing machine in a different room to keep myself from doing that on every picture. I kind of loving sewing paper a little too much.

This layout was for the week of our anniversary but our anniversary took up most of the spread because that was the main event/I didn't have other pictures. And again, that top right card says "Today. Tomorrow. Forever." It's like Studio Calico actually lives inside my head you guys. And had to include something sewn, so I put some confetti inside that pocket and sewed it shut.

The week of Evan's birthday/Seattle layout. We had a photoshoot for Evan's birthday so I included all the pictures from it. 

And the other side was dedicated to our Seattle trip. I added a 4x4 insert page to hold some extra pictures from our trip and sewed a little tab on the edge. (Again with the sewing.)

And here is that same page but with the insert flipped. That "Adventure" card was one of my proudest creative moments. I knew I wanted to use it for this spread but when I had 40 billion pictures to chose from I had to get creative with it. Since it's a clear transparency I just put it over a picture I took from the plane window as we were landing. I'm slightly obsessed. And the card that says "Seattle 2013" is actually a folded card so if you pull it out, there's journaling on the inside. Couldn't forget all our Seattle memories and stories!

Maddox's six month layout is another one of my favorites. I knew it needed something extra special because it was six months and so I cut up one of my sheets and used a 4x6 slot for the 6 month (glitter. yes. holler.) "thickers" with some patterned paper and on the back, as you can see below, one of my favorite pictures of Maddox and some confetti. I also stitched it shut so the confetti wouldn't fall out. I stamped the picture with "you're my favorite" but it looks a little messy in these pictures, not so much in real life.

This layout was for the weekend we went to the pumpkin patch. I wish that the two top pictures were in black and white (and maybe I'll go back and reprint them. Who knows.) but I love the two cards ("I will remember this day forever" & "there's no place I'd rather be than right here") and had to include them both in this layout. I felt like the pictures spoke for themselves and didn't do any journaling on this page.

This was one of my favorite techniques to include in the album. I did this a lot when I didn't have enough pictures to fill up two entire pages. I cropped the picture into six 4x6s and it basically printed in a 12x12 picture (in six different sections, obviously) and then I cut it up to fit the layout. I did this with a couple of my favorite pictures. But this one is by far my favorite. Sometimes cutting the picture up will cause you to lose an eye or an important piece of the picture, and it takes a lot of time and practice to get good at cropping the picture evenly. But this is one of my favorite ways to use the big pages and really make a statement.

And that's that. An entire year bundled up in my pretty little seafoam green binder. I'm already obsessing over it and looking through all 52 (plus a few more) pages and remembering the greatest parts of 2013. It was such a good year and I'm so glad that I stuck with this project. But, by far, the greatest moment was when I told Evan that I had finally finished it and he looked through the last few layouts that he had not already seen and turned to me and said, "Babe. I love it." I mean, what guy even cares about printing pictures? My guy. That's who. So, that made it all worth it.