Welcome to another week of Project Life at Elle’s Studio! This week documents the first week of January and the first week of the 2012 album– it was a full week here!

Not only was it the start of a new year (and I had my camera handy more often), it was also the week of two birthdays in our family, so there was many of milestones to document.

Amid the milestones, I wanted to make sure there were everyday moments included as well.  I snapped a few photos of game night, organizing (which always happens around new years), and my daughter falling asleep at the dinner table.  Definitely the effects of a late New Years Eve.

I also wanted to share a bit about photographing Project Life.  It was a trial and error thing for me in order to find the right place to photograph my layout.  The challenge is finding light that won’t cause a lot of glare on the photo pocket pages.

See my Project Life album up there?  For me, the perfect place to photograph Project Life is on our back deck (where there is a deck overhanging), usually mid morning brings the best, non-glare light.   I use a regular 18-55mm lens and photograph right over the layout.  I then crop, brighten, and sharpen the image in Photoshop.    This is also where I photograph all my layouts.  However it does get tricky when there is a lot of snow on the ground!

Congrats Connie, you are the winner of last weeks giveaway!  Please send an email to info@shopellesstudio.com with the following information.
Name:
Address:
Contest:  January 10 Project Life

We have another giveaway this week! Leave us a comment here for a chance to win a $25 prize pack from Elle’s Studio.  We will announce the winner next Tuesday on our Project Life post.

Project Life was created by Becky Higgins as a way to simplify how you document life and preserve memories. Photo pockets used in my Project Life album are created by Becky and can be found here.  You can read of all the Elle’s Studio Project Life posts here.

 

One suggestion I would make as many of you start Project Life for the first time, is to work on the most current week.   That has always worked very well for me.  There are certainly times when life gets busy and a week goes by where a Project Life layout is not completed– and that is okay!   I suggest picking up at the current time and going back later and filling in the gaps.  You will likely be more inspired when the memories are fresh, and less likely to fall further behind.. 

I usually work about a week out– meaning once the week is complete, I spend the following week working on putting together the past week’s layout, and then post it on the following Tuesday.  I have a few weeks in 2011 that I need to complete, so I have been thinking a lot recently on how to fill in the gaps.

This particular week was the week of December 12-18th, almost a month ago. I (thankfully) had plenty of photos due to the fact it was right before Christmas, but I wanted to make sure to include stories as well.  One idea I had was to just open up my calendar (I am old school and still write everything down in a written calendar) and take a photo of that particular week.  That is my “date” photo and also included a brief summary of the happenings of the week (based off of what was written in my calendar).

Let me tell you a little secret: the instax of my daughter on that first page was not actually taken that exact day (gasp!).  I know it was a recent photo (due to the Christmas tree she is standing in front of), so I used it as a visual and told a story of what did happen on that actual day.   I don’t do this often, but when you are filling in the the gaps I think it’s okay to include items that will help you tell the story of the week.

For this particular week I also included a few “everyday/routine” items and photos.  Photos of my daughter watching Clifford in the morning, a photo of my clean scrap desk (okay, maybe that doesn’t happen everyday:), a photo of my kids helping get dinner ready at our weekly family dinner, and the story and my thoughts on sending/receiving Christmas cards.  These are all items that are more story focused and not so much “what we did”– great options for when you need to “fill in the gaps” and catch up.

I also used items like Twitter, Facebook, and my iPhone photos to remind me of stories, quotes, and happenings of the week.  It’s amazing what you can find and remember about a particular week if you dig a little.

Congrats Janamk, you are the winner of last weeks giveaway!  Please send an email to info@shopellesstudio.com with the following information.
Name:
Address:
Contest:  January 3 Project Life

We have another giveaway today!!  For a chance to win a $25 Elle’s Studio prize pack, leave us a comment here and let us know what your favorite item is from Elle’s new release!!   My favorite item are the new Daily Tidbits— so perfect for Project Life!

Project Life was created by Becky Higgins as a way to simplify how you document life and preserve memories.  Photo pockets used in my Project Life album are created by Becky and can be found here.  You can read of all the Elle’s Studio Project Life posts here.

Happy New Year, and welcome to a new year of Project Life!   I know many of you are starting Project Life for the first time, and we are so excited for you to experience this wonderful method of documentation.   Remember: don’t stress about this!  That’s the whole concept behind Project Life, less stress.

I am still working on finishing (and filling in a few gaps) in my 2011 Project Life album (more on this next week). Today, however, I want to share my title page for 2012!!

This year, in addition to Elle’s Studio products, I will be incorporating items from Becky Higgins Project Life Clementine Edition Core Kit.  The elements from the Clementine Edition are beautiful, and work very well with Elle’s products (in my opinion).  I used a mix of the Clementine cards with a tag from the Handmade Layers Journaling cards, and the Yellow Labeled Lil’ Snippet.

And that little “date” tidbit???  That’s part of Elle’s Studio next launch that goes live tomorrow.  You will not want to miss it– many GREAT items for Project Life! 🙂

A few things I did while putting together my title page was to include two photos– one 4×6 family photo that was taken on Christmas Eve (I printed it in black and white so it wasn’t too Christmas-y). and a fun instax photo.

I included the phrase “Today Matters” on one of the 4×6 spots.  This will be my approach to Project Life this year.  I love that it’s on the very first page and sets the tone for the album.  It will also help me to remember that today and everyday matters– and it means something to document the everyday.  I also included a Bible verse on the cover that is very representative of this coming year for my family.   Don’t be afraid to include meaningful phrases, quotes, thoughts, and verses.

Other items you could include would be the number of people in your family (I symbolized this with four butterflies), have everyone sign there names or design an insert themselves, include a photo of your home, pets, and of course, include the year number.

We are super excited for this new year of Project Life and hope to continue to inspire you here at Elle’s Studio!  And to celebrate we have a giveaway– an Elle’s Studio gift pack worth $25!!   Leave a comment on this post and let us know if you plan to participate in Project Life this year (if you are, and have completed your title page, link it up!  we would love to see it).  We will post the winner next Tuesday, January 10.

Project Life was created by Becky Higgins as a way to simplify how you document life and preserve memories.  Photo pockets used in my Project Life album are created by Becky and can be found here.  You can read of all the Elle’s Studio Project Life posts here.