Project Life - January

2013 is the year. I can feel it. I'm juggling more now than I ever have, which is why I think this is the year I am going to learn more about myself, stuff that I didn't know, and stuff that I may have, but maybe forgot about. Sometimes you just have that feeling. Right now, I am in the thick of that feeling. Its a good thing.

So, with that in mind, 2013 is also the year that I want so badly to keep up with my Project Life. I have been doing this for 4 (going on 5) years now, and I love the record I'm keeping. What I don't love is the feeling of being 4 months behind on keeping that record, which feeling I am not, by any means, a stranger to. This year I've set out to be more prompt in getting my weekly spreads done so I can keep living in the moment, and not trying to remember what the moment was when I go back to document it. Without further adieu, here is January's Project Life:

Week 1

For me, my favorite part of this project is making it messy. I love the mix of big words and photos. As I've looked back through our family albums, the words and the photos are the key elements. I don't think that will ever change. For the first album for 2013 (I usually have at least 2 books that cover one calendar year) I wanted to incorporate some constant design elements, which include the quote cards (from Elise's blog), a weather report (from my iPhone), and a card that has the dates for each spread. (See the first photo for week two to see what I mean). I thought it'd be fun to look back and compare temperatures in the future, which is why I wanted to add that in for this album.

Week 2:

 Week 3

Week 4:

Hooray for 4 weeks in a row! There are still a few photos that need to go in Week 2, but overall, I'd say I've got a good momentum going on. Were it not for my iPhone (which I didn't get until the tail end of November, 2012) I don't think I would be this caught up. Every iPhone user knows: that thing changes your life. After seeing the photos I took of the spreads (also taken with my phone), I think I will try to use my DSLR to take my recap shots. I can manipulate more with it to get better photos of my spreads in the page protectors.

**Funny story: The photos for week 4 are all a bit off, size-wise, because I attempted printing them from home on 4x6 photo paper. Yeah. It was a mess. But I didn't want to waste so I made the misfits work. I was carrying out an experiment to try to see what was easier for me, either having them printed at Costco, or just doing it at home while watching a movie. I learned that while doing it at Costco is more cost effective, I'm not always happy with my prints. If I do it from home, I think printing from my HP B8550 will work better than my C4200  (which is what I used for week 4 that wasn't quite cooperating with me), plus I can print exactly what I need. Really, I don't have any excuse to get behind because I have all the tools I need to stay caught up with this project. Hooray for January documented!