Last week, I shared some tips about Project Life that I've learned work for me after 4 years of doing this version of memory keeping. This week, I've got 3 more tips for you - all photo-related.

4) Print often.

I don't print at home. My printer is great for a lot of things, but photos is not one of them. I send my photos to the CVS down the street. They do a good job and I can usually pick up my photos in about an hour. CVS sends me a lot of coupons for photos. Unfortunately, I usually have to order 50+ photos to qualify for the discount. I used to wait till I had 50+ photos to place an order, just so I could get the discount (which was only a few pennies per print). Even when I did PL weekly, it would be 2-3 months before I had that many photos! By then, I wasn't excited about the photos anymore (I wanted to work on more recent ones), and I was overwhelmed with 50 photos at a time. I just didn't have a large enough chunk of time to put them into my album with cards and ephemera! Way too much at a time. I decided that the discount wasn't worth my sanity. So I began printing every 2-3 weeks (depending on time available, # of photos, and events that happened). I ended up with about 15-20 photos, which is way more manageable.

5) Take a lot of photos.

Take photos of people and events, yes, but don't forget about things. Take a photo of your new shoes, your favorite soda, the book you just finished, the state of your desk or work area. Take photos of the places you go all the time but are not 'special' - the grocery store, the coffee shop, the gym. These photos tell your story too. They tell your story perhaps more than the event photos. They tell who you are on a regular day and that is important. And when I look back on 3 years of PL, I like those every day photos the best.

6) Don't take too many photos.

I know, I just told you to take a lot of photos. What I mean is that while it's good to take a lot of photos of what you do and who you're with, don't let taking photos be the activity that takes over the other activities. Enjoy your life, experience your life, snap a couple shots, then get back out there and do something fun! After all, that's what Project Life is all about - living a good life and recording it! Living it comes first!

Thanks for reading! I hope some of my experiences help you make Project Life work for you. Next week, I'll share my final installment of Project Life where I share why I decided to ditch the physical version and go digital this year!

Happy Crafting!

I've been a devoted Project-Lifer for 4 years now. And I've learned so much! I'd like to share some of what I've learned here with you. Be warned - I like to talk about Project Life. A lot. So I'm going to split this post up into multiple parts.

First, a little history:
My first year (2012), I did weekly layouts, I journaled everything, I took photos of everything, I saved all my little extras to put in the book. And I ended up with 2 volumes for one year. That's a bit much.

The second year (2013), I went monthly. I only made 2-3 spreads per month, so I was able to cram the whole year into one book. Barely.

The third year (2014), I became much more zen about the whole thing. I put photos in as I took them, collected less stuff, and I journaled less. I fit a whole year of PL plus an extra project (Me: The Abridged Version) in one book. With a bit of room to spare.

This year (2015), I spent the first 3 months of the year wondering if I even wanted to continue PL. Then I found the PL app and my whole life changed. But that's another post...

So here we go:

1) Write stuff down - you will forget.

You think you'll remember, because how could you forget that funny thing your husband said or the details about your friend's party or how you felt after the series finale of your favorite show ever!?! But you will forget. Trust me on this. Write it down. Write it anywhere - a journal, a planner, a word document, a post-it note, or directly onto a journaling card. Just make sure all the notes you write down end up in the same place. These are what you will use to fill in your Project Life book. These are the important bits of your life. These are the things you want to remember!

2) Don't worry about separating weeks or months, just let it flow.

To me, the thought of keeping up with a weekly layout is daunting. Filling up a whole spread of photos and ephemera for a week or a month or any amount of time is restricting and nerve-wracking. And trying to keep all my photos in perfect chronological order is anxiety-inducing. So I let it go. *insert Frozen song* When I get my photos printed, I put them in a more-or-less chronological order, then start filling pockets. If I have 2 photos about one event but only one spot left of a page, then the 2 photos go on the next page. No biggie!

3) Don't plan to do something each week or month, you will only get discouraged when you fall behind with it.

My first year, I used the week cards provided in the kit. It was easy to fill them in, even if I was behind, because all I had to do was write in the dates. My second year, I wanted to do a weekly review card to record the things that didn't make in into the photos. I lasted 4 weeks. Then I got depressed about being behind. My third year, I knew I couldn't keep up with a weekly review, or even a monthly review, so I decided to just make a card (any size) to denote a new month. It didn't matter where it went or what size it was or how it was decorated, I just wanted the months shown. I got through March. Then I decided to just go with it. I date enough of my journaling cards that if I really want to know where I am in the year at a certain place in my book, I can just look at my journaling cards.

That's all I have for today, I'll be back with some more Project Life musings next week!

Happy Crafting!

I am so not ready for Christmas yet. But I know in the crafting world, Christmas comes early. If you want to sell gifts, make gifts, or make cards, you have to work early. And with it being October already, I needed to get my butt in gear.

So while I was out shopping today, I came across some lovely wooden snowflakes. I thought they looked nice, but they needed a little something more... some sparkle!

So I brought them home and covered them with glittering embossing powder! That did the trick!

You can't really see the extent of the sparkle in the photos, but they are shimmery and gorgeous! The one on the left is holographic embossing powder, so the wood color shows through the glitter. The one on the right is a pale, glittery blue. Very icy.

They really do shine in the light and it's so frustrating that the photos don't show it!

Anyway, I'm going to make more of these and put them up on Etsy. I will also bring them to school to sell, so if you work with me, you'll be seeing them soon!

My next big project is my Christmas cards. I have a lot to make this year!
Have you started working on Christmas/winter projects or gifts yet?

Happy Crafting!

I hate to admit it, but I have not made anything crafty in a while.

Like, almost a month...

And it's driving me crazy!

I just haven't had the time! Between school starting up again and working on much-needed chores and projects around the house, I just haven't found time to escape down to my craft room on a regular basis.

I'm afraid at this point that when I do finally find the time to craft, I won't know what to do! So I'm turning to an old friend: Pinterest!

I'm hoping that with a proper infusion of "Pin-spiration", I'll be able to get right to work once I"m able to find an hour or two to craft again (hopefully this weekend!)

If you want to check out what I've been looking at lately, you can check out my card-making boards, my invitation board, my general crafting board, or my whole Pinterest page.

And please, let me know what your username on Pinterest is, I'm always looking for new people to follow for awesome inspiration!

Thanks for stopping by, and Happy Crafting!