Thursday, January 16, 2014

My Plans for Project Life 2014

Hey everyone - this week we're all about organization here on the blog!!!  I have shared my crafting room here in the past, so I thought it might be fun to share specifics on how I have organized myself for Project Life.  I don't claim to be any sort of expert, in fact I still consider myself a newbie with this whole method of recording memories :)  This year I have vowed to #1 - complete the entire year, all 52 weeks & #2 to focus the majority of my memory recording with this method.  I still plan on doing some traditional pages each month, but I have found Project Life to be easier & allow me to get more memories actually recorded over the course of the year.  Plus my kiddos actually prefer to look through these albums - there are more photos - which is what they love!!!  I have prepared an area in my craft room specifically to work on these pages & that is what I will be sharing with you all today.

When you first walk into my room, you will see two large oversized desks in front of you.  I purchased these from Target a few years back & they are AWESOME!!!  On the left side I have everything set up for traditional scrapping, while on the right I have set up a Project Life station of sorts.

 photo nm1_zps999ccc82.jpg

Here is a close up of the right side.  I spent time really digging through my stash to collect products I thought I might use while working on my Project Life albums.

 photo nm2_zps75e277cc.jpg

In the middle of my desk you can see the method I'm using to plan out my pages.  It's nothing fancy, just a spiral bound notebook of graph paper.  First I list out the days in that week.  Then I go through my photos and list events for each day.  If I have pictures I want to use, I list them & the size next to the event.  Finally I sketch out the page protectors I want to use, and fill in where the photos, journaling cards, and filler cards will go.

 photo nm3_zps15190926.jpg

On the left side of my desk, I have these two wooden divided boxes I found at TJ Maxx.  They are perfect to house 3 x 4 cards and other small embellishments.

 photo nm8_zps1d3f3da6.jpg

The next set of organizers hold my stamps & washi tape.  I found both of these at Target.  I rarely use stamps because I have always had them in drawers.  I'm hoping with them at close reach, I will incorporate more into my pages.

 photo nm4_zpsd6c9019c.jpg

Next up is just a collection of various stickers, tags, and alphas.

 photo nm7_zps049e9407.jpg

I found this cute fabric covered box at Target the other day & it fits 4 x 6 cards perfectly!!  Next to it, I have a small basket filled with various stickers.

 photo nm5_zpsc793c617.jpg

The final two items on my desk are a 12 x 12 paper holder with file folders and an album.  The paper holder is American Crafts.  I use these for all my patterned papers too :)  There are file folders for each month.  I stapled each folder along the bottom and side to create a pocket of sorts.  I'm planning on dropping any tickets, drawings form the kiddos, notes, or other "real" momentos from each week in here.  Then I can use these items in my pages :)  The album is full of all my empty page protectors.  My favorites are Becky Higgins and I have a large variety in there organized alphabetically by design style.

 photo nm6_zpse657625d.jpg

Thanks so much for letting me share my Project Life organization "station" - hopefully you were able to grab an idea or two for your own space :)


2 comments:

MichelleB said...

Thank you for sharing this. I'm trying to figure out a good system for me that keeps me motivated and this will help!

Hazel said...

This is a GREAT idea. If you don't see it, you tend not to use it. Now everything is right in front of you. Thank you SO much for sharing.