Project Life Week 1

Hello 2012 !!

I welcome this new year with open arms. A new year, a new start, a new beginning, a new Project Life album, you get the idea. Now let's go !!

WARNING : LONG POST AHEAD. 

 I want to do things a bit differently this week. I am going to fast forward to 2012. Yes, I am still working on 2011. And will share it with you all. Week 1 is now complete and I want to take you through my thought process and completion process. Some have asked about how I pick and choose things and how I go about putting my weeks together so I am going to walk you through it. Not a complete in-depth look but a good comprehensive one. (Cause I got a lot of catching up to do).

PLANNING : The first thing that I do is look through my pictures. I am a planner. I like to plan out my weeks. I was so excited to see that Marcy Penner came out with a printable planner. This was right up my ally. You can find her post and link to the printable here.

I look through my pictures and pick out my top 6 4x6 pictures to go in the 4x6 slots. Then I look over my notes, or think of what happened that week to start planning my journaling cards. Some weeks I have something I want to add to a journaling card that is not associated with a picture.  Some weeks I have a few extra pictures that I need to fit in. So I plan out which pictures I need journaling cards for, other things that need journaling cards, and if any extra pictures.

As I am looking through my photos, notes, ect., I also think about the photos that I can use the empty space for journaling. I often will journal directly onto the photo, therefore freeing up space for more smaller pictures or an extra journaling card. Will all this planning done I am ready to write where everything will go.
It might seem like a lot of work, but it really doesn't take that much time. It really makes the weeks were I have a lot to fit in much more doable if I plan it all out first.

Here is what my planner started out for the week. I made some adjustments along the way. But you get the idea. 

Maybe your not a planner. That is just fine too. I have found that for me, this is the best solution.

PRINTING OF PHOTOS : Once I have picked out my 6 4x6 pictures I am ready to edit, journal on them, and or, add my digital elements to them. I chose this picture of me on my computer as an example. It is one of the first things that I do in the mornings is jump on and read my blogs, check email, facebook, ect. So I wanted to include something about my morning routine. I chose one of Ali Edwards brushes from her Everyday Life Journaling Prompts Brushes and Stamps. I had plenty of room to add it to the bottom of the photo. Sometimes I have a certain brush in mind for a photo and sometimes I look through my lists to see if there is one that I can add to the photo.

HERE IS A LOOK AT THE FIRST PAGE OF WEEK 1 

ANOTHER OPTION FOR USING YOUR PICTURE AS YOUR JOURNALING SPACE IS TO PRINT OUT SOME JOURNALING AND ADD IT TO YOUR PHOTO. SEE ABOVE PICTURE OF THE TWO GIRLS IN THE LAUNDRY ROOM. NOT A LOT I WANTED TO SAY ABOUT THE PICTURE SO I PUT IT ON THE SIDE OF THE PICTURE.

THE PICTURES

****EDITED****I FORGOT TO MENTION THAT I PRINT OUT ALL MY PICTURES AT ONCE AND THEN I DO MY JOURNALING CARDS. THAT WAY YOU DON'T HAVE TO CHANGE PRINT SIZES, TYPES OF PAPER, ECT. 

Picture taken on my iphone while driving home on Monday from Utah. Added the tag from the extra digital elements Clementine edition to the photo before printing.

Katelyn's dinosaur egg that we hatched in the water. I wish I could gotten a better picture of it but for some reason this was the best that I could get. THIS IS AN EXAMPLE OF JOURNALING ON YOUR PICTURE TO SAVE SPACE FOR OTHER THINGS IN YOUR LAYOUT.

THE JOURNALING CARDS : 

Found a free car clipart that I added to this journaling card. Letters are American Crafts.

I used this fun free polaroid frame mentioned in my freebies post. It turned out great. I re-sized the Polaroid Frame and then placed my photo right on top and printed that out as a whole. I cut it out and place it on a journaling card that came with the kit.  The word play is from Playing Hand Drawn Words .  Circle sticker is from the Clementine kit.

The number 1 is from Tim Holtz. I used one of the elements from the extra digital elements Clementine edition. I just erased the words that were around the inside of the circle frame and made it fit right where I needed it on the journaling card. Letter stickers from October Afternoon.

Used a tag from the extra digital elements Clementine Edition. Printed it out and put it on the photo. Photo of Katelyn spending her tooth fairy money in the dollar aisle at Target. EXAMPLE OF AN EXTRA PICTURE I WANTED TO MAKE ROOM FOR.

HERE IS THE SECOND PAGE

THE PICTURES :

 

THE JOURNALING CARDS : 

 Rub-ons from Jenni Bowlin. I ended up using a plan grid journaling card, cutting the gray saying off of one of the journaling card that come in the kit and putting it on the grid journaling card. I couldn't work with the lines on the original journaling card. More on the later.

Letter Stickers from American Crafts Thickers. Love this color, think it matches up great with this kit and they are the perfect size too !!  I also trimmed a strip off of one of the journaling cards to add to this card.

Play stamp, can't remember where it came from. Thursday sticker from the core kit.

Love this smash pad. Bought it here.

That is it for my Week 1 of 2012. January 2 - January 8th. I had a lot of fun with my new Clementine kit. So in love with the colors in it.

A FEW MORE NOTES : 

I made a goal this year to do a better job of journaling. To write more in-depth details. Not just the Who, When, Where, ect. Although those are important details I wanted to answer the questions of "Why did I take that picture?", "Why do I want to remember most about this moment?". I hope I am making some sense !! 

One thing that I did with Week 1 was that I picked two main colors to work with. Blue and Yellow. I plan on doing this throughout the year. See which colors work best with the particular pictures I have to work with. Sometimes using the pictures as color inspiration. I know some of you love to mix all the colors together and that is just great too !!

One last thing before I wrap up this post. I am not completely sold on the idea of the lined journaling cards. For me, it is making it hard to add more journaling onto the cards. Because I feel like I have to stay in the lines. Maybe it's just me !! I am sure that it makes it nice for those of you who hand write your journaling though. Maybe it's because they are just different, we shall see how it goes throughout the year. Let me know if you have a thought about this topic.

That wraps up this walk through of my PL process everyone. Please don't hesitate to ask questions, or make comments, if you have any. They are always welcome !