Project Life 2014- Brainstorm

[aly321]

Ok- December was not really my month, so forgive me if this has already been discussed in depth.

I am loving PL style scrapping and LOVE all of my pages from 2013, but I am super far behind. I am still planning on finishing, since I still have photos and documentation for every week.

That being said, I am thinking that weekly is a bit much for me to keep up on. Has anyone done it in a monthly format? How has that worked? Does it help ease the pressure and help you stay up to date?

Just trying to decide what is going to be best for 2014.

[joelsgirl]

I'm with you, Aly. I've been thinking of going to a Library of Memories style of PL, using categories, like
things we did
places we went
people we love
just us

What other categories do you think would work? I'm not even sure if organizing my album would work like that; that might be a better format for scrapping my childhood rather than our everyday life.

I'm curious to hear what other people are doing.

[LeeAndra]

I know KCB does quasi-monthly/more whenever she feels like.

[DawnMarch]

I try to do weekly but I really want to keep it flexible, so I have been known to do a spread every two weeks or even every three weeks if I don't have many photos/notes for a particular group of weeks. If you do it that way, you could just nix the "Week X" in the title and just use dates, or some people don't use title cards at all and just use a little calendar with the time period marked off. I like Kellie's idea too although I might be a little too uptight to completely let go of chronological organization.

[eranslow]

I'm switching to monthly for 2014. I plan on just going with the flow. Will have a January card for the first page of the spread and will have random calendar cards when applicable. I'm not doing too much planning - but I really think it will be so much easier for me to keep up. Weekly is just too much pressure.

[rach3975]

I think it depends on how you use your PL and what your goals with it are. For example, is it to have a summary of the month or week's events? Is it a way to get a lot of photos scrapped relatively quickly? Is it to have a home for photos that don't need their own LO? Something else?

I'm in the middle category, getting lots of photos scrapped quickly. I started PL as a solution to an out of control "To Scrap" folder. Every year I put more in than I had time to scrap, and I fell further and further behind. With weekly PL LOs I've been able to get more of my photos and stories scrapped faster, leaving me a reasonable number of non-PL LOs to do to round out our year. Being a month or 2 behind on PL is the closest to caught up I've been in years! One monthly PL spread wouldn't work for me. I'd have to leave too many of the month's stories or photos off the PL LO and stick them in that "To scrap" folder, leaving me with the problem of still having more things I want to scrap than I'll ever get to. That said, I'm flexible with weeks. There have been some slow weeks where I combined 2 weeks into 1 spread and other weeks where I had to do 2 spreads to cover a week with a special event (birthday, wedding, etc).

[aly321]

Originally Posted by eranslow

I'm switching to monthly for 2014. I plan on just going with the flow. Will have a January card for the first page of the spread and will have random calendar cards when applicable. I'm not doing too much planning - but I really think it will be so much easier for me to keep up. Weekly is just too much pressure.

This is what I am thinking too. Hopefully it will work.

I love to document the everyday little things, along with the events that happen in our lives.

Sometimes I think I just get this picture in my head about what it SHOULD be, and then have a hard time trying something else.

[SweetMelissa]

I do weekly but I don't pressure myself to do it that way. If I have one week that wasn't great then I'll do two weeks on one spread. I also don't use week numbers - crazy I know. lol.

[pomi]

I've done monthly pages for 2013. I definitely isn't much pressure (that's why I chose it for that year) and if you fall 2-3 months behind, you can easily catch up.

One disadvantage I've found in this: most months it's mostly the events that make in to my review pages and less (if any) of the little things and everyday moments.
But I do single pages since I suck on two-pagers.
I also found myself not taking so many pictures of these everyday things.
But my intention for PL-sort of pages/albums is more documenting the everyday life, so I think I go back to weekly pages, or maybe sometimes semi-weekly or so.

[ksbella]

I'm aiming to do weekly layouts for my PL. I've gotten myself a separate little diary so that I can wirte down little things each day in it, things I want to remember, what we did that day etc, so that come the end of each week, I can just refer back to that for my journaling etc. I take photos on my phone daily and they are catergorized on my phone by date, so I can easily see what day I took what photo when I download them from dropbox. I also am wanting to use my big camera for main events - first day of school, birthdays, excursions, special things and then have my phone for the everyday things.

At least this way, even if I fall a week or more behind, I still have all the things written down somewhere to be able to catch up using!

[misfitinmn]

I am going to do weekly again this year - I think I'd fall behind more easily if I went with a monthly, go with the flow type of album (I'm not so much a go with the flow person, as much as I wish I were!).

I AM planning on using Traci's planner to write down more little details. I want the little conversations and funnies recorded better than I did last year. I'm hoping a planner helps with that - and if I get behind (which I know I will!).

[kristalund]

this will be my 3rd year of PL...I haven't finished 2012 or 2013, but I plan to complete them both this month. oh, and i do weekly pages.

[KristinCB]

Originally Posted by LeeAndra

I know KCB does quasi-monthly/more whenever she feels like.

Yep That's me lol. I like the word free flowing that heather (?) posted about yesterday. I choose the pictures I want to put in my album (in order) and place them in pockets with room for journaling/cards/filler

I shared this screenshot on a PL group i'm in on FB



I do it really the same way as nicole except not weekly. I kept my page protector the same style - size A so it took out any confusion. I just have my photos in and when i want to i can go in and add in the extras. I print my photos online and i print the cards and such on cardstock here at home.

I love having the freedom to easily use my stash of digi supplies and i love that i can always add in little extras here and there once printed.

I think the methods work for diff type of people. As much as I wish I could be more organized/strict/time aware.. I'm just not. LOL! So this to me is just easy.

[DawnMarch]

One way to at least try to take some more everyday photos is to join one of the photo-a-day challenges. Even if I don't actually take a photo a day (I never keep up), it does prompt me to take them more often. I like the Fat Mum Slim challenges.

[d2vasquez]

I am going to do monthly pages as we move too fast to try and do pages on a weekly basis. I love Kristin's suggestion of keeping the same page format - I may do the same to keep the look consistent....

[littlekiwi]

I'm doing monthly this year as weekly was an epic fail - full time uni student with everything going on was a bit too much for weekly so I never kept up

[nun69]

I am actually aiming for hybrid PL 2014 weekly....but what I am doing everyday is deciding WHAT photos I want to print and where I am going to put them in my page protector and making a little sticky note reminder.....and I am doing my journaling daily on a PL card or hybrid card.....plus when I go to print my phtoos I will just flip through my already made pages (page protectors) and only print the ones I have notes for...I am hoping this system works for me.....each night I have only spent about 30 mins working on it, and I am really enjoying it.....hope it lasts!

[KristinCB]

Originally Posted by d2vasquez

I am going to do monthly pages as we move too fast to try and do pages on a weekly basis. I love Kristin's suggestion of keeping the same page format - I may do the same to keep the look consistent....

I changed to this after seeing nicole's PL and it was what made things finally click in a way that I knew I could manage and make sense with. I didn't have to worry about a front and back side matching up format/orientation wise. makes things super easy and relaxing! I really do enjoy going into my folder i have them saved and just adding bits and pieces here and there.

[staciahall]

I did monthly in 2013 with insert pages for months with a big event (like a couple of inserts for my daughter's college graduation, my son's summer trip, etc). It all fit into one album which was great. I used all the different smaller page protectors for my inserts for visual interest.