i’m committing myself this year to participate in Project Life by becky higgins. Though i am good about documenting the every day around our home, i want to commit to actually following through on these photos…to print them for my children to see! I’m terrible about writing down memories (though i am great at the visual documenting)….what good, however, is the visual if the kids don’t know when it was taken or who was in the photos? My awesome cousin Courtney is a great inspiration to me in the documenting department (and i promise, Court, that i’m going to write those letters to my children soon!).
soooo…..one of my 2011 projects is to participate in Project Life! this kit provides users with all the tools they need to document the everyday. i’m even joining in with a few of my friends once a month to put together our albums over coffee.
Here are some tools i’m gathering as i’m waiting to get started:
- my camera (obviously), my point and shoot camera and my camera phone
- my kids (hahaha)
- the project life album kits (i ordered one for each kid)..one in amber and one in turquoise
- the fuji mini instax camera and film (for cute, mini instant photos)
- i ordered some impossible film for my old polaroid camera (once again…just for an instant image)
- i’ll be printing all of my family photos at costco.com and picking up at our local costco (when i order prints, i make sure to turn off the “auto color correct” option.
- and i’ll be saving all of our family photos used in our project life album into a folder which, at the end of the year, i will create a shutterfly 12×12 hardbound coffee table album for each child.
- for writing on photos, i’ll be using this pen: signature photo pen
- for the other journaling, i’ll be using these pens (my fav): ek success pens
- and to organize my thoughts on dates/events throughout the year, i will be using the log your memory journal set. they will fit in my purse and will keep me super organized all year long.
i plan on storing all of these supplies in one handy location (and living in a very old house that has NO storage, this is really important), so i scored this basket at target this week. i’m going to leave it in our dining room for quick access.
and here are some GREAT bits of info on project life as shared by my awesome friend, trish!
a video on what one project life user did for 2010:
some flickr photos of project life albums: Project Life on Flickr
becky higgin’s website/blog with more info: Becky Higgins
and a tour of becky higgin’s project life as presented by her:
some resources for taking a photo a day:
- project365
- photo jojo how to take a photo a day
- ali edwards week in life flickr group
- ali edwards week in life 2010
- big picture scrapbooking has a GREAT new free project life forum
- jessica turner’s the mom creative: project life tuesday
i’ll be adding more info to this post as i receive my kit (i’m impatiently waiting until january 4th comes and my kits are delivered).
my goal is to share my weekly project life posts (but, i’m not making any promises!).
if you have any project life experiences or links, please, please, please share them below (and do be shameless if you would like to link to your own project life images/blog posts). i’m so interested in seeing what all of you do.
About kelly mcmahon willette
This is a fabulous idea. It’s all together to keep you going. I have been so bad at putting photos in albums, so this is what I need to kick me into gear! Thank you so much for sharing this. Oh, and I love the changes you’ve made to your blog!
I’m going to be trying a version of this idea, though I can’t afford the kit right now. My problem is printing pictures. I never seem to be able to budget for that each month. I have to wait for shutterfly or snapfish to have 100 free photos codes.
Hey Beth,
I’m the same way! I did this from 10/22/09 – 10/22/10 (first year of my baby girl’s life). I just kept a folder on Snapfish with all the photos and a word document with all my journaling. At the end of the year when Snapfish had some super duper deals I printed all the photos. The Project Life kit was also major on sale then as well. ($30ish). I just spent the last two nights putting all the photos in the binder. Now I just need to figure out if I’m going to print out the journaling or actually write it all! : )
Anyway…all that to say: even if you can’t budget it right now, go for it! It’s been really great to go back and remember all the little moments through that year while I put it together.
WOW! What a wonderful post and perfectly organized way of looking at this amazing project! I did it this year and am gearing up for the boxes to be on my front steps tomorrow! I LOVE the idea of doing one for each kiddo! how amazing and I ordered two just in case I needed to give one away but I may just keep it for those two kiddos…Christmas next year!
Wow! Way to lay it all out there for us, Kelly. Thanks for taking the lead, I’m right behind you
I am jumping on board, too! Got my kit yesterday….way cool fun!
Which log your memory do you order that will fit in your purse? I cannot decide which size will be best for me and I think the purse size will “make” me write more.
Hey Lori…I got the half year combo set …and my current purse is a diaper bag…lol! So perhaps my bag is larger than most carry
I am so excited to get started on my 3rd year using Becky’s kits for this project. With 3 children & another on the way I don’t have the budget to do 1 for each of my kids but I was thinking of doing a digital version for each of them & printing it out for them at the end of the year. Last year I got my 2 older boys each their own camera so they were able to contribute more to our 2010 book, so much fun to see how they see the world.
I just finished my first project life (2010). I was contemplating doing it again for 2011. It didn’t take me long to decide as I had so much fun documenting a whole year in pictures! It helped me capture the everyday and be more aware of the everyday. As I looked through the project at various times throughout the year I was amazed how I would have forgotten so much had I not documented our lives week by week. Even my husband (who is an engineer and not the “artsy” type) commented how “cool” this project is. He even has become more interested in my hobby and documenting the everyday.
This is a project definitely worth experiencing!
I love everything about this post! I too want to capture more of my families images! Thank you for all the wonderful links and information! This looks like just what I want to do!
Thanks for letting us know your plans for putting this all together. I decided a couple days ago to jump in and do a 365 project but my only goals have been to take the pictures and get them posted on my blog each day. The Project Life overview gives me some great ideas for documenting each memory and creating a keepsake, too. I love to see what others are doing with projects like these, as it provides me with encouragement to keep going! Thanks!!
i’ve set up a blog to share my poject life images. just click on my name and you’ll be linked.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for introducing me to this fantastic idea. I just received mine in the mail today! I am so excited!
Love this blog!