end of year photo projects

I can’t believe that I wrote that – end of year? 2014 is flying by!

I know we’re not really at the end yet, but when you see what I have lined up for the next couple of months you’ll see why I feel like we’re in the home stretch.

Next week I’m going to follow along with Ali Edwards Week in the Life for the first time. It’s a project she has done for years, choosing a week each year to document in detail with pictures and stories. She offers templates and kits but it’s also something you can follow along with on your own. I’m not buying anything special and I’m not making a special album for it, but I’m doing it at the same time as everyone else. Next week’s Project Life spread will just be a lot more detailed. I’m going to make an effort to use my dSLR and include detailed notes about the everyday/every week stuff. I don’t think I will use any of Ali’s digital page templates but it’s good to have that as an option. I recently bought a bunch of Paislee Press templates which might be helpful if I want to use a lot of photos for each day. I’ve never done this project before and I have no idea how different it will be from doing a normal PL week – I might just do what I always do, but include more of the “boring” details that usually stay in my planner. Or maybe I will include my planner pages in the spread. I’ve been thinking about combining my planner/diary with PL style photos ephemera and stories for a couple of years now.

I have also jumped on Cathy Zielske’s 30 Days of Thankful bandwagon. That’s a month-long project documenting little and big things to be grateful for. Once again, you can buy products and templates to make this project easier and prettier, but it’s also OK to follow along in your own way. I’m thinking that this can be my November Project Life – each day represented by something that I’m grateful for, putting a positive spin on things. Since my usual week has 8 slots I’ll still have one space for something ungrateful! ;)  I’m going to play it by ear. If I’m not feeling comfortable about documenting my PL week that way I can use one of Paislee Press templates to create an insert of gratitude photos instead.

And then of course there’s one more project – another long running one from Ali Edwards – December Daily. Last year I bought the kit and had a good time with it, creating a nice fat album of December/solstice/Christmas goodness. This year I think I’m going to integrate it into my main PL album. I still have leftovers from last year’s kit and I bought a couple of 6″ paper pads at a discount store to stretch them. I’m tentatively planning to add patterned paper and embellishment back into the album for Christmas, after months of very simple pages… I guess? Or maybe I just bought the paper for no reason.

Last year I also signed up for Shimelle’s Journal Your Christmas. She sends out journaling and photo prompts each day of December and right through to the 12th day of Christmas and participants can create whatever kind of project they like around that. The best part is that membership is recurring, so paying for one year gets you on the list forever. I can add to the journal I wrote in last year which I keep with my DD binder. It’s a great project because it acknowledges and allows for all kinds of Christmas feelings – thoughts about past present and future, including the difficult times and the less than Christmas-y thoughts. It’s also extremely flexible and not at all stressful – there’s no obligation, no “getting behind.”

But yeah, that’s potentially a lot of daily scrapbooking and journaling!

And that’s not all. ‘Tis the season for photo books. I have 4 in the works. Three are my usual projects – my own year in review Christmas present book (which may actually be a New Year’s gift this year so I can include pictures taken at Christmas), plus year reviews for my two favorite preschoolers. The 4th book is a surprise gift so I can’t tell you about it. I have my photos organized and I’ve made a start on editing them. I just need the photos from the kiddos’ mothers…  I have another photo related gift project which will be easy thanks to Paislee Press templates. And I need to take a Christmas card-suitable selfie with the hubby sometime in the next couple of months. Thank goodness I have figured out the camera/tripod/remote. Now I just need to find a good backdrop and get hubby and the pug to cooperate :) should be fun!

I’m already starting to think about what kind of scrapbooking I’m going to do next year. My Handbooks have been “updated” in a way I don’t care for (from what I’ve seen so far) and it might be time to try a new size of album – I’m considering doing an 8.5×11′ album with baseball card protectors, which would mean I could fit 2 weeks into a 2 page spread, and maybe a whole year into one album. There’s also a 9×12″ album style coming out soon which might not be too huge and has the advantage of using standard photo sizes. I’m going to experiment. I’m ready to change things up a bit!

Do you have any goals or projects you’re working on for the last 10 weeks of the year?

Talk to you again soon,

Jo:)

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