Long Term Project - Keeping the flow
 

I'm working on Week 4 of Project Life and I find myself wanting to use different colors and styles each week. I'm afraid in the end it's all going to end up looking like a mess.

Does anyone use a set list of kits or another method to keep their pages looking uniform for long term projects like this? What do you think about each spread being totally different, yet representing that week?

TIA for your opinions and info!

I haven't done project life, but when I did P365 and P12, each month was different and it turned out great. I say do whatever you want, to keep the excitement there. If you're bored with the colours after only 4 weeks, imagine how you'll feel by mid year!

You can keep uniformity by using the same fonts/title work. Or choose a neutral/kraft paper to use on each spread, then accent with whatever other colours/kit you like. You'll be surprised how cohesive it looks in the end.

I do PL- on year 3. I pick a couple cohesive elements to use all year to tie things together- like the same weekly date card, etc. and then just use colors/kits by design

I'm another that uses similar elements per page...like I'll use kraft background, Cindy's weekly 4x6 cards, Nicole's week stamps, typing with a typewriter font on all photos and little theme elements... but all the kits are different each week.

Yep - like the others have said, I keep something uniform (last year, I always put a week in review card in the bottom right corner; this year, I am using the same weekly card) but I switch up kits & layouts & colors each week. I did that last year, too, and my album looks pretty good (in my humble opinion!) :)

I'd be bored in no time trying to keep everything similar. I give the album a cohesive look by using Traci's stitched grids for every layout, putting my date card in the same slot on each LO (upper left of page 1), using a similar style for most of the date cards (most were 2 papers divided by a ribbon or border, a font for the dates, an alpha for the week number, and some additional elements), and being consistent on round vs. squared corners. Other than that, I use whatever kit and colors I want each week. I've got a lot of PL pages in my gallery if you want to take a look and see how you think they work together.

The way I see it, no one would look through my yearly albums from before PL and think they looked bad because I didn't stick with 1 kit or color scheme, Why should that be different just because the pages are pocket style?

I only made it through March last year with PL but I had a consistent design for my weekly title cards and used the same kit/color scheme for a full month. That way it had some cohesiveness but didn't get boring for me to use. When I did P365 I used the same stuff the entire time and I got tired of it real quick, haha.

Love the idea of using the kraft paper behind my photos. I have done that on weeks 1 and 3 so I just need to switch out Week 2 and it will be consistent. I have been using Zoe's Everyday Basics stamps and labels so I guess over time that will be consistent too. I'm so anxious to get it done but I'm also worried that after all the hard work (it takes me a full day to finish a week spread) that I won't like it and well, who wants to feel like that after you invested all that time? Right?

Sounds like a good plan! As for liking it, if you like each spread individually you'll love it all put together at the end of the year. This is my 2nd year of PL, and it took me a while last year to get into a good rhythm and find my PL style. I had pages early on that I didn't like very much--I was trying to include too many pictures and too many unimportant details, and the end result was cluttered. But when I look back at them, they aren't nearly as bad as I thought they were and I still enjoy having them in the album.

My pages take me a while, too. Each one probably averages 2 evenings-1 to choose and edit photos and get all the photos and journaling placed in the template, then 1 to scrap it all. I'm in the minority on this, but I don't scrap a PL page every week. I end up with 52 spreads, but it works better for me to work on PL every 3 weeks. Something about batching it like that and having a little distance helps me speed it up and be more selective about the photos and journaling I include.

And I'm one to change it up every week. I have no problems with it. I tried my first year to use a core kit and got so bored with it! So I know that I don't really care at the end, I just love all the memories I captured.

I change the kit every week but I keep the same style throughout the year. Last year I went clean and graphic. This year I'm doing more kit based and "cozy." I use the same journal card every week and the same 3-4 fonts (handwritten, typewriter, san serif, script). Otherwise, I just try to stay true to the style I'm trying to achieve.

I'm completely different every week and now my weeks are only one page instead of two pages and I still use totally different kits... but my regular scrapbook albums are the same way... each page is a different kit and it doesn't bother me... to me, each week is a new story, or several new stories, so why not have each page look different... I suppose the cohesive part of it for me is that I'm using pocket page protectors so it makes it a "project life" album instead of my regular scrapbook albums

i just have way too many Kits to only use one throughout the entire year. each week gets a new kit :)

I change it up from week to week....why does the album have to look cohesive? :D

I try my hardest to stick with a font but then Darcy has to come out with something new that I love...

Having a very hard time picking the kits i want to use, there are soooo many amazing ones to choose from.

Oh my, there are just WAY too many awesome Pocket products out there to limit it to one "look", in my opinion. All of my weeks are different, but each has a weekly review card (different ones) and I use the same font for most journaling. O/W, it's just what I'm in the mood for.

I do 2 pages a week, and this spread is sort of coordinated, but that's all my ADD will allow :). That would drive some folks nuts but it makes me happy and that's what matters.