Project Life Introduction & Week 1

I have been thoroughly enjoying working on my Project Life. It sits out in full view every day which encourages everyone to participate. I have it set up in my studio on an elevated craft table. In order to make it simple, I leave out a journaling pen as well as the boxes of journaling cards and fillers. Everything is there at my finger tips anytime I feel like updating it and this is working so well for me. I also have a zippered pencil pouch (like the one you would use for a child’s binder) that I always carry in my purse. In it I keep a journaling pen and a box of journaling cards.
It helps me capture things in the moment and/or keep up with life as it happens. This is so cool and so me right now.

See my previous "diving into life" post to see my set up.
If you are not familiar with Project Life, check out www.BeckyHiggins.com, she sells her kits through Amazon. The whole kit is only about $50 (I bought the turquoise edition) and it comes with everything you need except the photos of course! If you are looking for inspiration on how this kit can be used, check out Ali’s blog at www.AliEdwards.com. I believe Cathy just started using the monthly version, you can check her out at www.CathyZielske.com. And of course, you can stay tuned here :-) Since I am not quite the superstar that Ali is at keeping up-to-date with my book, I’ll post my weeks probably 1-3 weeks behind. That will keep it fun (and not stressful) for me and you can follow along.
I resisted my perfectionist tendency to try to fill in the first few weeks of the year and instead gave myself a break and just started when I got the kit. Consequently, my week numbers start with Week 1 in February.
Totally love that it even came with filler blocks to make the cover page look all artsy with little effort.

Journaling card: I’m hoping this project will become a family affair for all of the Happy Harringtons!

You can see all of my journaling boxes lined up right next to the book – I’m sure this is one of the only reasons that it is actually getting done!

The family contribution is working already, every so often I hand a card and a pen to my husband, son or daughter and show the pictures from the week and ask them to write something about it. This is the part that is PRICELESS!
I’m also putting digital overlays on most photos with a short caption. That way I don’t feel like I need extensive journaling about every single photo on the page.
Journaling cards read (from left to right): Bryce’s troop went to a shooting camp. We shot skeet and rifles. It was VERY cold but we had a lot of fun. Granddad came out also (written by my sweet hubby)
Bryce & Keith are very fond of anything weapon related. It was so nice that Keith had some time off to spend with Bryce doing something they share a love for – guns & shooting!
School Project: Summer got very creative on her Roman school project. In addition to the adorable little man below. She also made a chariot and drew a coliseum full of people.
Her graded paper is inserted as well, she is very proud of her “A”.
I went back and added an 8.5 x 11 page protector to enclose the actual Roman dude she created, I love having these slices of  life in my book.
On the right side I continued using overlays and captions on the photos and shared the stories that were pertinent.


Journaling cards read:
What is cuter than little puppy footprints in the snow?
Danielle was very sweet and sent me some inspiration for my quest to finally remove the excess poundage :-)
Betty’s birthday gifts for Frankie and Keith were a big hit. They wore those silly head lamps the whole night. Now the boys want them to play flashlight tag in the dark.
We had to get creative with our practice time for the talent show because of crazy schedules. Parking lots, hallways and living rooms were all game.
The look of sheer joy on Summer’s face tells it all. She is absolutely smitten with this pup and thanks us daily for bringing this sweet girl home.

And this concludes Week 1 – whew! Stay tuned…