Project Life 2014: Week 31 and Catching Up in Project Life

Happy Tuesday! It's time for another Project Life Tuesday and boy am I excited to share some pages. I am also going to go over a few tips for catching up in Project Life.  I thought I would just show you what I do step by step and please feel free to ask any questions you might have in the comments section below. I am always happy to help others document their lives.

Thoughts on Getting Caught Up

First of all, Project Life does not have to be completed in a weekly or monthly fashion. I know a lot of paper crafters that just make pocket page type layouts when the mood strikes them, and that is totally okay. However you choose to go about Project Life is okay. I promise, it will be okay if you don't work on your pages every week, every month, or every season. 

Now if you are someone that normally keeps up, or just really wants to do this on a scheduled time frame (such as weekly or monthly.) These tips might work for you and help you save much needed paper crafting time.

1. Taking Notes:

Have a place where you take notes of what is going on in your life. I use to do this by using a small notebook, but that stopped working for me. I found that I did not have that notebook with me the majority of the time I wanted to take notes. I needed a solution and something that I have near me at all times. For me, that is my I-Phone. We do not have a home phone, so it travels with me around the house, and serves as the perfect place for jotting down a few things for Project Life. I spend a minute or two most days of the week adding quick little notes and looking over my photos on my phone

This has saved me so much time when it is time to print pictures, because I have already written down what pictures I want to use, often times what sizes I want to print, and what quotes I will use. Also, I will sometimes take notes of stories or little anecdotes about our kids. This has worked absolutely brilliantly and therefore my #1 tip.

2. Printing and Editing Photos:

There are a variety of ways to do this. For me, I print the majority of my photos at home and use Photoshop Elements. It is convenient and I know how to use this program fairly efficiently. I am going to refer you to THIS Project Life tutorial from November of last year about how I edit photos. It also goes over how I decide where to place photos, making the layout flow, etc...

3. Putting Pages Together:

My best tip for this is to pull our a relatively small amount of supplies ahead of time and tell yourself you will only use those supplies. This really makes the process more enjoyable and also much quicker. I pick supplies based on the photos I have selected and I also heavily rely on kits, especially the Studio Calico Project Life Kit. Once your photos are printed, slip them into the pockets so they are ready to go. When you pull your supplies, place them all in one specified place. That way you can work on your Project Life layout whenever you have time, that might be an hour at a time, or even five minutes at a time. You have to make this process simple to get 'er done.

4. Be Realistic:

You will never be caught up in your Project Life pages if you do not know what you have left to catch up on. Yes, I am recommending you go through your album and write down any missing weeks.

Here is where I was at last Tuesday, when I mentioned that I had quite a few weeks to catch up on. I was surprised that when I went through my album, I did not have as much to catch up on as I originally thought. Now last year, I had the opposite problem, but either way it is good to know where you are at. 

And if you have been following my blog for any time, you know I love a bullet point list. I mean really, is there anything more fun than crossing things off of a list? The answer is always no, nothing is more fun than that. And so in true Toni fashion, here she goes...

Weeks to Catch Up On for Project Life

 (items that are crossed off and hi lighted were finished this past week) 

• Week 28, July 7-13
• Week 29/ 30, July 14-27 
• Week 31, July 28-August 3
• Week 32, August 4-10
• Week 33, August 11-17
• Week 34, August 18-24
• Week 35, August 25-31

I have 5 weeks to catch up on (and this includes the week that just ended.) I feel confident in stating that this will all be caught up by October 1st. I also need to finish my WITL pages from last fall and print those by October 1st as well. I am putting it out there, so I really have to reach my goal now.  

Now you might be wondering how I am going to do just that. I figure if I finish a current week and an older week,  every week this month. I will be caught up by then. Totally manageable. 

I think the most important thing to do, is just not to stress. It's only pictures and paper we are talking about here. Live your lives, document it, and when you can make time put it all together.

I did promise you a new week of Project Life, so here goes that.

Products Used:

• Studio Calico Sandlot Project Life Kit
• Studio Calico Smalls Kit
• Studio Calico Sandlot 4 x 6 paper pad
• Ink-Versafine in Onyx Black and Studio Calico Blush Crush Dye Ink
• Tiny Attacher
• American Crafts Precision Pen .03 nib
• American Crafts dot roller adhesive

If you are interested, I have another Project Life tutorial from February of this year. This one is on making a simple digital collage in Photoshop Elements. You can find that tutorial HERE.

I will be back tomorrow with a layout I made for the current issue over at Paper Issues. If you would like to play along with me you can find all the details HERE and you will be eligible to win a prize pack from our sponsor, Jillibean Soup. Until next time...

Happy Scrappin'

xoxox

Toni