Project Life 2018

Welcome to 2018! I can feel that this is going to be a good one. And that it should be documented. Memory Keeping is such a controversial topic (within reason) as it evokes feelings of either 'that is so lame' or 'that is so overwhelming'. I believe I have completed 2 full years of albums since beginning this hobby/obsession in 2011. I can honestly credit most of my creative career to this though as it got me into regular blogging and brought me so many new friends and connections, (it's how I met Caylee! and therefore began building my current career) but it also has led to the acquisition of a lot of product and mess and a good bit of guilt over not keeping up with these books. We sat down recently and looked back through this album  and we LOVED being able to see such a big overview of our year through the weekly pages.I value memory keeping VERY much because of the way it preserves our memories and life. But! I recently made a spread and was SO overwhelmed with all the design elements, design making, product, etc etc that I committed right then and there to finding a simpler solution if I was going to make this work.  I know that consistency or a giant push is the only way to complete things for me. Enter this years approach. Like with all my creative decisions in life, I talked it through with Caylee and she helped me narrow down my plan and create a solid, minimal approach that will be so easy to follow through on it will be embarrassing to not.

My new minimalist approach for 2018:

• 2 photos
• The same journaling card
• Size: 6x8
• Complete my spreads on Sunday from the week before
• NOTHING MORE.

To get started I chose an Ashley Goldberg 6x8 book from Studio Calico + made sure I had enough page protectors and printer paper. Then I chose a set of templates from Liz at Paislee Press,  Travelogue and Scenic Route, that fit our life and would work for the entire year. I made a beautiful title page using photos from the beautiful Amy B Photography to set the tone of the album. Then I made an facts page, I've done this before here and here, and those pages are honestly worth the whole album for me. It is the perfect way to start the year and give some background to who we are and where we are in our lives. For some people it is amazing way to watch littles grow or to see a personal evolution and for travelers like us, it is honestly necessary to know which country this album takes place in. You can do this for each individual person, a family, more fact based or favorites based. Either ways, it's so fun.Now, we are into normal pages and the format for the rest of the year! I chose the Field Notes card and created a little template with it in Photoshop so that each week all I have to do is plug-in a date, location, and tell our story. The stories are really important to me and I wanted to be able to honor those and have a place for them each week. Then I chose my two favorite photos and popped them in. The plan is for this process to take about 5-10 minutes each week and then at the end of the year we have a small, manageable, beautiful, coordinated album that holds a year of memories. The part that has been tripping up my planning is what to do with the 100000000s of travel photos we take and honestly, those need their own albums. There is no way to honor them in these small books. So 2 photos from a trip will be selected, as you see above from Sri Lanka, and then a separate album can be made from them.

This album's goal is to tell the day-to-day story of our everyday life. 

Tips for creating your own minimal scrapbook:

• think of your goal, plan the book around it and then stick to that goal each week. let it guide you as you choose your photos, papers, stories, etc
• choose a color or theme or specific card/paper to use
• prep your book. if you are using physical cards, slide them in to the spot they will go each week to avoid having to find them or the temptation to change them each week
• set a format that you can stick to throughout the whole year
• create a station that has all your supplies you need (not extra supplies like extra paper, etc, but the ones you are actually using in your plan-avoid distraction)
• set up a simple digital system that will keep you organized and not create extra, annoying work each week
• set a consistent time to work on your album each week, set an alarm, put it in your planner
• create a folder on your phone of the (edited) photos you want to use so that is one less decision you need to make when you sit down to work
• take your idea and make it even simpler.
• get started and don't worry about all the other fancy ways people do their albums, do yours the way that works best for you

That's it! This is the year of simplicity and freedom. What other tips or tricks do you use to keep your albums so stupid simple they almost complete themselves? I would love to hear and I would love to see your albums! Be sure to tag me on instagram if you use this method so I can see @laurenlikesblog Happy making friends!  I'll pop in every month or so and share my pages, but, you guessed it, they will all look like this! I'll share more instagram as I make them each week so follow along.