don't let stories get left behind

Resetting Project Life

My sister recently shared with me how different it is now for her to create weekly Project Life layouts with most of her kids having left home. She even put it, “there’s just not as many photos now.” I did not know she had transitioned that memory keeping aspect of her’s into a monthly recap. 

This sort of piggy backs what Ali Edward’s is now attempting for her 2019 Project Life album. She posted on her blog earlier in January how she was going to try for a monthly PL as opposed to weekly documenting.

I have been impressed with this idea. This monthly Project Life idea is causing me to lean into a monthly recap for our family album versus trying to answer this call every week. Being a creature of habit it is hard for me to sort of ‘let go’ of printing ALL THE PHOTOS. I mean. That’s what I have always done, no? So…how can I change that up?

I don’t think we can keep doing the same things and expect different results. By that I mean, for me, as I have shared here recently, my memory keeping of the past two years has not been what I want it to be. So I can’t every other month jump into a huge project life session and get two months caught up from a 24 month miss and be able to maintain that. I need to make an adjustment which means I may need to modify what I want the outcome to be as well.

Like Ali says in response to her change up, she does not know how she is going to feel at the end of the year with her Project Life re-creation. And I thought…that’s it! Fear. There it is again. Being afraid of the outcome. Not knowing where a modified form of family memory keeping is going to take me can make me not want to start in the first place.

When you get that down in writing it actually sounds kind of silly, doesn’t it?

Ah ha! Thus my argument for ‘writing it down’.

But I digress.

All that to say, January 2019 is in the books. And here is how it happened.

FIRST I gathered all my photos from my phone and from my camera

My file system in my computer stays the same: 

>I have a month folder: _01Jan2019

>Then I have folders within the month for the date + the week of the year:  _wk4 jan20-26

This is just how my brain works. I need to organize chronologically. This system works very well for me and so I keep utilizing as I have done for about a decade now.

The next point shows what stories I decided on for the month. I then took a photo from each happening, and created a gridded layout of those highlighted photos. This is just what Ali did and I wanted to give it a try. The above is how mine turned out.

SECOND I decide what stories should be part of my family Project Life album

Hmmm…this one is sort of hard for me. Because I can place value in every. little. photo. I. take.

That’s the mom heart in me. 

But I really want for a system that works better so I will do the work to decide on the stories to be told.

Based on the photos taken this month I have determined upon these stories:

• january family hike
• girls and me winter explore
• avery’s outreach
• winter camp
• gracie and new college schedule
• creativation PHX
• Grand Prix
• J&J HipHop @ Nuggets

THIRD Settle on a format for January

I don’t know if this will work for February. And that’s OK.

But here is how I think this will play out:

1. January title page with an image that represents January for me
2. 12x12 grid page  (as I am still using what is right in front of me and that is 12x12 albums) of the highlights of the month 
3. a journal page speaking into the highlights (this is strongly influenced by Ali’s layout)
4. After the above is established, I am giving myself the storytelling as well as creative freedom to add traditional layouts that will be filed behind these first pages. Because I just can’t put myself in a box and stick only with the basics. 

I fell in love with this format.
I love that grid page with highlights from the whole month in one place. 
I am pretty excited about this actually. Looking forward to moving forward with this concept.

If you made it this far in this post I congratulate you. Cause here is the thing. I think there are a few of us who are stymied by the number of photos we take. And are feeling overwhelmed as to how to go at them. I am not here to say I have all the answers. But I am willing to do some work so I don’t let these stories get left behind.

It would be an honor to hear from you and what creative storytelling is working for you…or isn't. Please comment below with any thoughts and ideas.

supplies | Paige Evans Pick Me Up Collection: Paper No. 5, Paper No. 11, Paper No. 7, Mini Alpha Thickers. Maggie Holmes Bloom 6x6 Paper Pad. Silhouette Cutting Machine. Paige Evans Cut Files: Folk Art Flower Group, 2019.