project life 2014 | March

I have been obsessively watching Project Life YouTube videos over the past year. And while I enjoy sharing my pages on the blog, I've fallen way behind. So I decided to video my March pages instead. One day I may do a voice over but baby steps for now. :)

project life 2014 | week 12

{mar 16-22}

full spread

A quiet week. I am doing my best to pick out random moments from the week I want us to remember.

left side

Lots of people pictures and writing. Our life is full of boys :)

right side

Some highlights:

My sister actually took that adorable pic of DD - social media can be a good thing. I love being able pics of the boys when I am not there. 

Joe bought Kylie's new album and it has been on repeat in my car for the last 2 weeks. Definitely some gems in it - hope she comes on tour soon!

Cards used from Midnight core kit and Plus One mini kit.

project life 2014 | week 11

{Mar 9-15}

full spread, no inserts

Another week in the books. 

full spread, insert right side

Another insert for this week - we threw a "Moon Day" party on Saturday night in celebration of not having to wake up early to practice yoga on Sunday!

left side

I had fun picking coordinating cards and using circular photo templates as a change.

insert, front side

We also celebrated March birthday on Saturday night - we had 4 Marchies :)

insert back side

Our yoga peeps are definitely becoming more important people in our lives.

right side

My everyday life photos are all taken with my iPhone these days. As much as I love my Nikon, it's just SO BIG. Using it at a party or event is fine, but I have less inclination to drag it with me everywhere like I used to.

full spread, insert left side

I have recently reorganized my PL cards so I can see them all easily, which explains the appearance of all the fun bright colors this week. Stars make me happy.

Cards used from Studio Calico, Midnight and Honey Editions.

project life 2014 | week 10

{Mar 2-8}

full spread, no insert

This year I have made the conscious decision to "design" each weekly spread instead of put photos and cards in willy nilly. And I've really loved the result. I haven't been consciously taking less everyday photos but I don't take a photo of every single meal that we eat either ;)

full spread, inserts right side

We celebrated DD's 3rd birthday this week so naturally I had to include the party invite and extra photos.

left side

My title card was actually taken by JJ - it's a blurry photo but looked interesting to me. Our Amsel Adams in the making! And how could I not include Ellen's Oscars selfie - what a fun pop culture moment.

insert 1, back side

My sister's family is too beautiful to me. Love these guys so much.

insert 2, front side

DD loves watching Woody Woodpecker on YouTube with my mom, which is how the Woody theme originated. Super old school so my sis had to create her own decorations.

insert 2, back side

Collages are my friend when lots of photos from one event need to be included. Joe and I bought his first bike, like his brother, for this birthday. We love to be included in their lives like this.

right side

Not a ton of photos (besides party photos) this week, but that gives me an excuse to use the gazillion Project Life cards I have in my stash!

full spread, inserts left side

White space is making me happy. And I bought a bunch of new style page protectors, which are going to be fun to include this year.

Cards used are from Seafoam, Midnight, 5th and Frolic, and Vintage Travel Editions.

project life 2014 | weeks 8&9

{Feb 16-22}

left side, part one

I say this all the time, but this year is flying by. Been a while since I posted my layouts, although I have been keeping up fairly well with the project. I am still loving the minimal look with lots of white space. 

I am making an effort to include more of Joe's POV this year and more meaningful writing. Not always easy, but always worth it.

insert one, front and back

We went to Crested Butte to celebrate a friend's birthday as well as ski, this week. Our first trip of the year! Loved using an enlarged photo as an intro to the trip.

insert two, front and back

I had fun using different sized inserts to include more photos and cards from the Vintage Travel Edition for this week.

right side, part one

But instead of including every single photo I took from the trip, I chose my favorites from different moments that I wanted to remember. That cereal photos still cracks me up (notice the strategically placed vodka bottles, which the boys did NOT drink with their breakfast, thank goodness!).

left side, part two

Taking a trip, however, will always inevitably include tons of photos so I made this week a double spreader. I know I will never make a mini album I want to document as much as I can here. Maybe someday I will transfer all my trip pages from my PL albums into an exclusive travel album.

right side, part two

More favorites of lots of people from the trip. Our friend had over 40 people from childhood friends to new friends to help him celebrate. That's love for you!

{Feb 23 - Mar 1}

left side
Photos from the last couple days of our trip. I love all the blue in this layout.


right side
Coming home after a good vacation is always hard. A bit lacking of photos because no mountains around to inspire me!

project life 2014 | week 7

{Feb 8-15}

full spread, no inserts

Still keeping things simple and clean. I really love the look of lots of white space.

full spread, inserts right side

Valentine's day was this week, so I included the cards we gave each other, as well as ones we received in the mail.

full spread, insert right side (without cards)

V-day is such a contrived holiday, but we celebrate it insomuch as we give each other little gifts and go on a date. This year, I added fun photos of us from years past. I want to include more old photos in Project Life to give more depth to our everyday stories.

left side

My favorite photo from this page is actually the blurry one - "baby" J took it of my sister, mom, and me. I guess he's no longer a baby anymore! 

insert, front and back

For this Valentine's day I decided to pull out some favorite, already printed photos of us and put them in our album so they can be enjoyed, rather just in a drawer.

right side

This year I am also making an effort to include more things that are important in our life. Like, I want to remember that this year Joe has started Cross Fit and rediscovered his love for skateboarding.

full spread, inserts left side

Seriously still love this project.

Cards used are from Seafoam, Midnight, 5th&Frolic editions, Polka Dot Party mini edition and Studio Calico.

project life 2014 | week 6

{feb 2-8}

full spread, no insert

My goal for our February Project Life was to use all black and white photos but that didn't quite work out here. Some images, to me, just look better with some color (like the one of the hubs' skateboard). 

left side

The photos I have been using as my title cards this year are usually random ones from the week. This week I wanted to remember that I had to commute to the Woodlands (about 1 hour north of where I live) for work.

We took the boys to Chuck E. Cheese on morning because the zoo was rained out. My favorite 2 photos were 4x6, the rest I included in a collage. 

full spread, insert right side

The first insert of the year!

insert, front and back

We went to Oxheart for dinner with our dear friends E&R on Friday night. Reservations must be made one month in advance. Some of our friends don't see the value in paying $$ for vegetarian fare, but we thought it was delicious!

right side

The aforementioned photo of the hubs' skateboard was actually taken by the hubs and the writing was taken from his FB. I am definitely trying to get more of his POV into the album this year, as it is supposed to be about our life, not just mine ;)

And we've been spending lots of time with our yoga friends this year. I really love them all so much. Yogis are good peeps!

full spread, insert left side

I've been using a combination of computer and handwritten journaling. The computer print is much easier to read, but I'm working on my writing!

The cards used were from the Midnight, 5th and Frolic and Vintage Travel editions, with a random card from a Studio Calico kit (I don't subscribe but I buy them when I "need" something, usually a stamp, in that month's kit!).

project life 2014 | week 5

{jan 26-feb 1}

full spread

This year seems to be whizzing by. And I still totally adore this project. The immediacy of having our memories in a tangible place makes me so happy.

left side

Items of note from this week:

Joe's parents stayed with us most of the week. I didn't take as many photos as I normally do but luckily cell phones are easy to share pics!

The Grammys were on Sunday. Daft Punk won 4 awards for their amazing album and 33 couples got married on the show. Loved it. {Photos taken from Google}

right side

Other than the visit from the parental units, this was an ordinary week. I am still using lots of white space and minimal design.

Not seeing the boys as much as usual these days. J is in school 5 days/week and F 3 so I squeeze in time whenever I can!

project life 2014 | week 4

{jan 19-25}

full spread

I love the design of this week's spread. Lots of photos but lots of white space with a bit of color as well.

left side

Joe ran the half marathon this week and we practiced a lot of yoga. I've been taking less photos lately but being more deliberate in what I photograph. 

right side

Joe's parents arrived on Saturday this week. So good to see them. And I stole a photo of the boys' new haircuts from my sister's FB account. Love those cuties!

project life 2014 | weeks 2&3

{Jan 5-11}

week 2, full spread

This is my 3rd year of memory keeping with Project Life and I still adore it.

left side

This year I am making more of an effort to capture random moments and do more meaningful writing.

right side

I obsessively look at Project Life photos on Instagram and am always attracted to the layouts with white space and less stuff. So I am working on adding more white space to mine.

{Jan 12-18}

week 3, full spread

There is something about physically printing photos out that is so satisfying. Who wants to look a pictures on a computer screen?

left side

Also trying to take more photos of things in our life, not just people. Although I love people photos!

right side

I think almost all these photos were from a Saturday. And that's ok too.

project life 2014 | the beginning

January is seriously flying by! I guess life goes by quicker and quicker the older we get. -Sigh-

One of the reasons I love memory keeping and Project Life so much is that I want to REMEMBER all (or at least some) of the little things that made up our daily lives. I'm finding these days I am less motivated to take photos at big functions (or at least as many photos) and more wanting to take a picture of our farmer's market veggies. But it's all good.

title page

The only way for me to do this project is to keep it super simple. Print our my favorite photos, use some cute cards and add a few little embellishments here and there. Voila, it's all done!

Like clothes (or any hobby, really), it's easy to get caught up in all the new product available out there to buy. I've got enough stuff to make scrapbooks for me, my family and friends and still have left over. The goal this year to use up what I have and not buy buy buy.

week one, full spread

I also want to have more white space in my layouts this year. I obsessively look at Project Life photos on IG and the spreads I am most attracted to have lots and lots of white space.

week one, left side

Still doing this weekly, but using a full photo for the title card this year. I also would like to include more meaningful journaling, instead of just adding what happened in the photo. The writing is the most difficult part for me.

week one, right side

Since the first week of January was a shorter, I decided to dedicate this whole page to my friends' birthday night. So even though I said I won't be taking as many photos of big events, I happened to take quite a few this night. And that's ok too!

project life 2014 | new process

I am in the middle of finishing up our 2013 album. Taking a trip at the end of the year is fabulous for everything but staying caught up with Project Life! Even though we were only gone for 4 days, I obviously took more photos than a usual week. After much deliberation, I decided to print all of my favorites and include them all in the album. While I love the concept of mini albums for travel, etc, the execution never seems to work for me. Hence my 2011 India photos all still in a box! So into Project Life they go. Yes the album will be a little fat, but at least they will be in there for us to enjoy in the future.

For this year, I am making the leap and doing everything on my Mac! Since the hubs works from home the majority of the time, I find myself fighting him for time on our main computer. Then it dawned on me that my laptop could be used for more things than blogging and surfing the internet!

Currently I am using iPhoto to organize my pics and PSE12 to edit them. Unfortunately many of the cool actions I used in PS doesn't translate but I'm hoping this will force me to learn Photoshop a little bit more on my own. 

The photos will automatically go into smart folders by date, which is making things so much easier. I've got a pretty good system going so far and am actually caught up with 2014, almost 2 weeks in. Yay for learning new things!