Well, you wouldn't know it because I haven't posted any Project Life pages in forever, but I FINISHED my 2014 album! I am amazed that I actually got it done! This is a first for me! Woo-Hoo! :)
The key for me was to just keep going and to just stop blogging about it. I know... womp womp (sad trombone). I love sharing my pages and interacting with other scrapbookers, but I figured out that blogging every layout was seriously slowing me down. I had to sort out my priorities (spoken in my head by Ron Weasley). Finishing the album was more important even if it meant my immediate family would be the only ones to see it.
Here's the closing page for 2014:
And... here's the opening page for 2015:
I have been thinking about my plan for 2015 a lot. 2014 was the first year I actually finished my Project Life album (my 3rd year doing the weekly format). I finally feel like I’ve got a groove going, so I am keeping it much the same for 2015 with a few improvements.
I spent the last few weeks of 2014 catching up (I had stalled out at week 26), which taught me that I really can get it done quickly. So, I’m planning to apply that to 2015. I will still do weekly layouts, but I may only work on the project once a month.
I switched from a digital photo book to a physical album for 2014. It was a tough decision for me, but I think gradually filling up the physical album really helped motivate me to get it done. My boys loved having it out on the table all the time and flipping through pictures of things that happened fairly recently. That brought me a lot of joy, so I plan to use a physical album again in 2015.
I decided to have my cake and eat it too, though! It dawned on me a couple of weeks ago that since I design all of my Project Life layouts in Photoshop before sending the individual 4×6′s to be printed, that I could just upload those pages to Shutterfly and have a digital book of the year ALSO. Why would I do both? The big 12×12 album is heavy, and once I get the new one for 2015, the 2014 album won’t be sitting out on display anymore. I don’t think my boys will look at it much if they have to drag the huge thing off the shelf, but I think they WILL look at the photo book version. I think they’ll be even more interested in looking at it than my previous Project Life photo books because they’re already familiar with the pages.
These are 8x8 photo books from Shutterfly. I considered getting the 10x10 size because I thought the text might be too small to read, but it turned out OK (at least for now... in a few years, I'll probably need a magnifying glass). I know that my boys prefer looking at the smaller books, though, and these are for them, so I went with 8x8. Also, you may notice I combined two weeks on the spread showing. I only did that a couple of times when I had very few photos, but it worked fine. I still love to include the inserts (link on how to do that below). :)
So… My plan for 2015 is weekly layouts in a physical 12×12 album AND a digital photo book from Shutterfly (well, technically two books since with all the inserts and extra layouts, I exceeded the 110-page limit). Here's a bulleted list of my plan with a few more details:
Project Life Plans for 2015:
What will stay the same:
-12x12 We R Memory Keepers Leather Album (probably the same as 2014 - the aqua Albums Made Easy version from Target)
-Weekly spreads using Design A page protectors plus various inserts
-3x4 calendar cards (I'm making my own this year using the fully editable calendar from Designs by Lili)
-Week label on top of the first photo (still working out exactly how this will look)
-Print a photo book version at the end of the year
What will change:
-No blogging or sharing online. I *might* try to do a monthly share, but I doubt it. Maybe. ;)
-Set up dated weekly Shutterfly-ready templates in advance (working on this now).
-Work on weekly spreads once a month instead of all the time. I'm thinking I'll work on it during the first week of each month, and do the four weeks from the previous month at that time. I'll see how that goes in real life, but in my mind, it will help me avoid burnout from working on it constantly and should help with continuity. Plus, I'll need to reserve some time each month to work on the baby album - YAY!
Links to past posts that you may find helpful:
Using inserts in digital photo books:
http://familybees.blogspot.com/2013/10/2013-project-life-book-one.html
Choosing to switch from digital photo book to physical album:
http://familybees.blogspot.com/2014/01/project-life-albums.html
How to print individual photos from digital layouts:
http://familybees.blogspot.com/2014/03/printing-photos-from-digital-project.html
So, are you doing Project Life in 2015? What are your plans?
I'll miss your weekly layouts, but I understand. I never thought to have a physical book and a smaller printed book. You're so creative! =)
ReplyDeleteThank you, Donna! I miss sharing them too, but every time I forget my goal and start working on a blog post, I'm reminded of how much time it takes, and that usually brings me back to focus. I would love to find the sweet spot where I can keep up with my pages and share them. Surely, there's a way... maybe I will figure it out one of these days! :)
DeleteCongrats on finishing 2014!! I would so love to do a physical album, but I have a good groove going with digital now that I'll save that for later when I need to switch things up. That's a brilliant idea to print the smaller books! Everyone always asks if I print copies of my books for each kid. I don't because they're just so huge and add up expense-wise to print. I also don't think my kids would appreciate a whole big box of 12x12 books of their childhoods to box up and move around once they're on their own. But 8x8s might work!! I wonder if I used too small of a font though. I use 10 a lot of the time. I totally understand about the blog posts. I get way behind on them and wonder what the point is... but I'm trying keep going with it though (although I have been known to set up auto posts for weeks at a time when I find myself with free time). Oh... and how exciting that you're expecting! Congrats! (I wish there was a way to edit comments... or maybe I should just proofread before I hit publish)
ReplyDeleteThank you, Tracie! I say, if it's not broken, don't fix it. ;) I always wonder if I should be making multiple copies so my boys can each have one, but so far, I haven't actually done it. My husband says they're boys and they won't care, but their future wives might. :) I always wait for coupons before I order, but it's still not cheap. This last order, I think I saved over $100 with the 50% off deal and free shipping code they were offering plus a $20 gift card I had, but it was still about $60 to get both books (8x8 volumes 1 and 2). I usually use 12 point for my journaling font, and it is just readable to me. It's very small, though. My oldest son said he wishes I would have ordered the 10x10 size. So, I guess when the next round of coupons start up, I could go ahead and order him his own set of 10x10's and my youngest could keep the 8x8's. We'll see! :)
DeleteOkay, here's Mom weighing in. The boys (and their wives) will like the photo books when they get older. As David said, boys don't care, but that is from age 12 to maybe 30. So, you will need to keep their books for several years after they leave home. The 12X12 scrapbook will not be desirable; go for photobooks for each of them. Just make sure the printer is using paper and ink that should last a century. (Am I dreaming????) I still think about making a book about your childhood and mine, but other concerns seem to get in the way! And, now, I must print three books... Woo Hoo -- if I ever get them done. :-)
DeleteP. S. I couldn't comment using my Google account because they have me locked out. I can't figure out how to get back in! Love you, Mom
DeleteHi! I really like the look of the stitches around the photos in your digital pages! It's exactly what I've been looking for. Where can I find them? And the template is Becky Higgins, right? Thank you so much! Your pages are wonderful!
ReplyDeleteHi Michelle, Thanks! :) The stitches are by Katie Pertiet. I used one of her long straight stitches to create the grid. She has some pre-made stitched grids also, but I wanted flexibility, so I created my own. The template is just one that I made in photoshop using 4x6 and 3x4 rectangles. I wanted them to be actual size so I could generate jpgs of each picture directly from the template for printing. I added some padding around the edges to allow for cropping in the photo book, so I think the actual page size ended up being 13x13 (or 13x26 for a 2-page spread). I hope that makes sense! :)
DeleteHere are Katie Pertiet's stitched grids:
http://www.designerdigitals.com/digital-scrapbooking/supplies/product_info.php/products_id/20238
Here is the set that contains the long straight stitch I used:
http://www.designerdigitals.com/digital-scrapbooking/supplies/product_info.php/products_id/12602
Hi Jenny! Thank you for your reply! I really like this hybrid type of system. I've run into one problem, though. I am using PSE 14, which doesn't have the option to generate image assets. Do you know of a different way I could do this step? Thank you so much!
DeleteHi Michelle, You're welcome! Not sure if I can help, but I have a few ideas. :) My first choice would be to convert the sections into smart objects. In PS CC, you can highlight the layers (in the layers palette) that you want to put together, then right click (near the layer name, not on the preview), and choose "Convert to Smart Object." Then, you can double click on the little smart object icon that appears on the preview in the layers palette, and it will open up the new smart object in its own window. From there, you can save it as a jpg. I don't know if PSE 14 has that capability, though.
DeleteA second option would be to create your layout in a full page template and then drag each of the sections onto a new 4x6 canvas where you would save them as jpgs for printing.
A third, and most tedious option, would be to crop your layout repeatedly to basically cut out the 4x6's for printing (saving each crop as a jpg and then undoing to go back and re-crop a different section).
I hope that helps! :)
Thank you Jenny! I will try these options! I think I remember seeing something about converting to smart object, so I'll try that one first! Have a great day!
DeleteThank you so much Jenny! I am going to try doing my Project Life digitally this year, so I was looking for ideas. I love this setup!
ReplyDelete