Project Life: Still Pondering

I've been working a LOT on my 2011 album lately. I decided to do a Shutterfly photo book, and I'm designing it using their custom path layouts and idea pages. I have a coupon that expires at the end of the month, so I'm really rushing, but today I'm taking a little break to think about Project Life for 2012. The Daily Digi's Funtastic Friday post got me thinking about it again when I saw this template set from Funky Playground Designs:



I like the design, and the fact that you can mix and match the pages, but it's a little too heavy on the elements for me. I know I would spend hours virtually clipping and unclipping different papers to all those great little pieces.

I did a search of some sort after that (sorry, I can't remember exactly what I was searching for) :), and came across this set of templates by Wishing Well Creations:



I love the colors she used (I know, they don't really matter since I'm going to clip my own paper choices or pictures there, but I love it anyway!). Some of these look exactly like the original Project Life page protectors (which have also been turned into digital templates):



There's also a set by Studio Wendy that uses the same designs:



They're all basically the same, but I know from experience that all templates are not created equal (equally?). Some designers are meticulous about alignment, spacing, layer order, and layer names, while others are less so. So, I'm debating... do I order the cheapest option and hope for the best, or do I shell out the bucks to buy the original, and hope that it lives up to my standards? I'm not even sure I'm going to do Project Life, though, so I don't want to WASTE money (even if it's just a little bit). I know... I'm WAY over analyzing.

I've been journaling every week so far (you know, for all TWO weeks of 2012), and I'm really excited about doing that. I took some time yesterday evening to set up a document with all the dates and journal spots pre-organized. I've got a Word table for each week, and just seeing them all lined up in that document makes me smile. I really do love organizing stuff on paper (in real life, like on shelves or in closets, not so much, but on paper, or more specifically on my computer screen, YES). Here's what it looks like:



And up close at just one week:



Want know what I really love about it? Since each week will be limited to one page, the page numbers will always match the week numbers! Doesn't that just make you happy? No? Just me? :)

Now that I've done two weeks, and started on the third, I'm getting a little bored with recording the mundane details like where we went and what we ate. I want to record more MEMORIES, so I've started trying to remember to include cute or funny things the boys say and do in addition to the basics. I may also add a short list of what I'm thankful for each day. Anyway... that's what I've been up to! How 'bout you?

UPDATE:
I decided to go ahead and get the templates by Wishing Well Creations, which were available in a bundle with some cute papers and journaling cards.



I got this set (vol. 2) , and then used the included 50% off coupon (good through the end of January) to go back and get the other bundle (vol. 1)



I opened up the templates in Photoshop Elements to play a bit, and I am happy to report that they are great! Very well organized - she even labeled the rows in the layers! They also have nice drop shadows included and come in both square and rounded corner versions. I'm really pleased!