The best thing about PL...
 

is that it keeps me on top of my photo organizing so that things actually get scrapped instead of sitting around in folders to be sorted "eventually." But the worst thing about PL is that I have to put in the time to keep on top of my photo organizing! It's easy to get them in folders by week, it's deleting the blurry/bad ones and choosing the best few to scrap from each photo session that takes me forever. The batch I'm working on from the last few weeks has my birthday, DS's birthday, a visit from relatives we haven't seen in months, and a couple of other photo-intensive events. Aaargh!

How about you? Any bests or worsts? Tips for speeding things up?

I would love to know some tips since I'm already behind...yikes...I think I over think too much and end up with nothing...I'm going to stalk this thread...

For me it's getting photos printed on a regular basis (since I do this hybrid style). I feel like PL is my main form of memory keeping and my digiscrapping has become more of an artistic/creative thing for me rather than straight memory keeping (though I still like to tell stories on all of my pages!).

I struggle too with loads of pictures and narrowing it down. Last year I really wanted to include EVERYTHING in my album but I have changed my mindset to now knowing that I will be selecting 1-2 photos from each "event" (I mean, I'll do more for birthdays and such) that I feel best represent the day/event and putting those in, and the rest I cover in my scrapbook pages. It's a system I'm still working on - editing and choosing my photos for a spread is still by far the longest part of the process for me!

Even though I'm not good at y'all in keeping up with scrapping weekly (in the current year ;))... the best for me is that PL forces me to stop and take photos of things I wouldn't think of taking photos of... even when I go back and scrap pages from 2012, the photos jog my memory as to what happen that day. And even though I'm 2 years behind on scrapping... I'm happy that I've stuck with it and some day I'll get those pages done... like now I have to work on 2012 - I need the space on my hard drive and those pictures need to go! haha (note - they are also backed up, but I have 2012 full year on my desktop... think of all the digi supplies I could store on my hard drive if that year was archived for good! haha)

worst for me is how long it takes me to do a page - especially 2013... I so want to have them be clean and simple, but I end up wanting to add elements... well pretty much everything but the kitchen sink... haha. I love my pages in the end, but they take three times longer to scrap than my regular layouts!

yeah... I have the same problem with photo selection, Sara... I take way too many photos!

The best thing about PL for me is it has gotten me in the habit of writing everyday!! I have recorded so much in the last 18 months it's not even funny!! Now it doesn't all make it into my PL, but the app I write through keeps in in like a "blog" format so I can access any day at any time!! I've also been putting it in my actual blog and "key wording it" so it's easier to find too!!! I love being able to pull up a day at anytime!!

The worst thing - I'm not even sure there is a worst thing. I did switch from 100% digital to 1005 paper this year and of course that was a challenge but once I got a system down it's actually way easier to do it in paper then in digital!! I guess if I HAD to pick something it would probably have to be there is no INSTANT gratification with paper in respect to buying - if I'm in the middle of a spread and all the sudden decide I have to have something for the page that I don't have on hand - chances are I wouldn't be able to drop everything and go to the store and buy it!! With digital if I wanted it, chances were I'd find it online within minutes!!! :D :D :D

That's something I'm working on this year, too. Last year I tried to fit too much in my PL pages and didn't save enough for "regular" pages, so I'm trying to find a better balance. I've got to admit that I love the weeks when I sit down to do a spread then realize it was a slow week and I only have a handful of photos I want to use. That doesn't happen too often, unfortunately! I'm wondering if that will change in the fall when my youngest starts full day school.

Yes, yes, yes! My PL layouts take forever. I think the embellishing stage takes me about as long as it would for a regular 2-pager, but the photo selection and placement easily take double (or more) what I spend on the scrapping itself. Because my PL layouts are so busy I'm starting to really crave simplicity and white space in my regular LOs, which makes them even faster in comparison.

One way I deal with it is to batch my PL LOs. Rather than planning to sit down and do a PL LO every week, I plan on every 3rd week being a PL week. That week I only scrap PL LOs and get caught up. I learned last year that when I try to do it weekly it ends up taking over and leaves me no time for regular scrapping. Doing a few back to back helps me stress less over every individual decision and get into a better PL groove.

Yeah for writing everyday! Journaling is what brought me into scrapping in the first place; I didn't want to forget what was happening in my photos and knew there had to be a better way to pair photos and stories.

I see all the gorgeous paper and hybrid LOs, but they intimidate me! I started last year using pockets with the intention of doing it paper or hybrid. I think I got through about 6 weeks before I'd switched to using digi kits, and by mid-year I was doing it all as 100% digital 12x12s. What makes paper faster for you? Is it having fewer options?

I love that im recording all the little moments. I dont have tons of time to scrap, so i used to always just grab whatever photo inspired me when i did have a spare hour. But now i can do a page with three or four 'topics' all in one, rather than needing to a separate page for each, if that makes any sense? I love that im writing everyday as well. I have a notebook on my kitchen bench, and whenever i think of something that i might want to record, i jot it down. Im already about 6 weeks behind, but it really doesnt matter because all my photos and journalling are done!

What im not liking is, like above, it takes a long time to do a page. Im definitely not just doing photos with cards. Im treating each little spot like a mini layout. So yeah, that takes twice as long as a normal page, but im getting my creative fix at the same time, and dont feel like im missing out on doing a regular layout.

Yes that is one thing, also I'm a very "simple" paper scrapper!! When I was scrapping 12x12 in digi form I was a cluster-er and when I started PL I felt like I needed to bring that style to my pockets and I soon realized I couldn't!! I just had way to many pretty things I wanted to include and the "mini canvases" were just not big enough!!