Week in the Life 2014

I play along with Ali Edwards’ “Week in the Life” project every year with varying degrees of “success”.  If you’re not familiar with “Week in the Life”, it’s a documentation/memory keeping project that requires you to be intentional about photographing and documenting daily life for 7 consecutive days. Ali describes it so much better than I do. You can read more about the project here and there’s even a video!  When I say varying degrees of success, I should mention that “success” is completely subjective. Some years the outcome is very photo heavy with few words, other years I’ve got lots to say with fewer photos. The process itself can be a lot of work. But every year, I capture some of my favourite photos of all time while participating in “Week in the Life” and it is so WORTH IT 🙂

This year’s week took place October 27th-November 2nd. Heading into this project, I really wanted to focus on 2 things…1) Capturing/telling the stories and 2) Not stressing about it! I love that you can do whatever you need to do to make this project work for you. At the end of the week, the intention is to put together all of this detailed documentation into an album.  So that’s where I’m at right now in the process, and I thought I’d share what I’ve got done so far.A few things about my album: It’s 8.5 x 11, which is what I’ve done for the last 3 years (this year being my 4th). Although the 6 x 8 “handbook” size was REALLY tempting, I like being able to look at several years in one album vs. multiple 6 x 8 albums, so I decided to stick with what works for me. I also decided to challenge myself to use the supplies I’ve already got on hand, and even making a few of my own, as opposed to purchasing a kit this year (but if you think a kit is more your style, definitely check out the one on Ali’s site! There are still some available as I write this post.) So here’s what I’ve got so far…

My transparency lovin’ heart wanted to try something new. I made dividers for each day of the week with clear transparencies + silhouette printable adhesive gold foil + Daily Stories and Photos Word Art (designed in PSE and cut with my silhouette). Once the design had been cut with my silhouette, I removed the excess gold foil from around the design and used a “transfer tape” to get it onto the transparencies. (I have my dad’s brief side business making vinyl signs when I was about 12 years old to thank for that skill 🙂 )That photo above is a peek at my first trial run. I am ridiculously happy with how they turned out and can’t wait to play some more with my December daily album!! For Monday, I added an index tab to the right edge with the date stamped on it. Pretty sure I’ll continue to do that for each day.

I had the best wake up call from Liam on this Monday morning and it’s the first page of my album (so far).The technical stuff: I love the look of pocket pages, and wanted to work that into my album. But 8.5 x 11 albums don’t really have many pocket style page protector options at the moment (and I wanted to work with my supplies on hand rather than tracking down new ones). So my solution was to customize regular 8.5 x 11 page protectors by sewing them with clear thread to the dimensions that I wanted. It definitely takes some planning, because once you’ve sewn a pocket shut, you can’t get back in there. But I’m quite happy with how they turned out! I believe the dimensions for the first page were 2 – 4 x 5.5 cards on the bottom and 1 – 8.5 x 5 photo on the top (allowing a gap for the stitching).  I made the “Monday” journaling card by customizing the 2014 Week in the Life 8.5 x 11 digital templates in PSE and added a few embellishments with supplies from past Studio Calico kits. You’ll also see throughout my album that I’ve made quite a few of my own embellishments with digital stamps, resized and printed onto matte photo paper! I especially love these “Everyday Boxes” and “Everyday Labels”. On the bottom right, I trimmed down some of the artwork Liam made that morning and mounted it on a piece of patterened paper. (Other products used to create this layout: Studio Calico Wood Veneer stars, black thickers from the Alcott add-on kit, black and white patterned paper from The Underground kit, Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher)

The next page is all about Emily in the morning 🙂The technical stuff: Obviously, the dimensions of the left side are the same as they were on the front page 🙂 The right side is a trimmed down baseball card page protector.I bought a package of the Crate Paper Notes and Things Journal Cards a while ago and they are by far my favourite journaling cards to date. I love them so much that I’m tempted to by another package for hoarding purposes. Some of the cards have elements actually stitched on rather than just a picture that looks like it has stitching on it. I used that as inspiration to modify some of the cards for a similar style. Products used: Ali Edwards Digital Word Art “Everyday Boxes” and “Everyday Labels“, Studio Calico Color Theory Chipboard Hearts (Pink), letter patterned paper from Dickenson add-on kit, black and white patterned paper from The Underground kit, Studio Calico Printable labels, Crate Paper Notes and Things Journaling Cards, Crate Paper Notes and Things Sticker Sheet,  Walden Add-on patterned paper, baseball card page protector.

Continuing on with our day…Monday’s aren’t normally a work day for me, which means that Emily and I take Liam to school in the morning and then we get to spend the day together! I wrote a little bit about all her new accomplishments and how darn quickly she’s growing up!The technical stuff: The left side is a trimmed down baseball card page protector. The right side is a hybrid scrapbook layout based on a digital template by Shanna Noel at Studio Calico. (Unfortunately that template is not currently available, but keep an eye out over the Thanksgiving Weekend and Cyber Monday…past digital products might be re-released for a limited time!).Products used: Crate Paper Notes and Things Journal cards, Studio Calico Color Theory Chipboard Hearts (pink), Crate Paper Notes and Things Tags (Dickenson add-on), The Underground Scrapbook Kit (Studio Calico), Walden Add-on patterned paper, Studio Calico Wood Veneer Hearts.

More about what our days at home look like.  The technical stuff: I started off this page (left side) with one of the digital templates from the 2014 Week in the Life 8.5 x 11 digital templates, and it kind of evolved into something completely different! I made my own patterned paper by creating  canvas in PSE and using the “What Today Looked Like” digital stamps, then printing it onto white cardstock. I repeated the same “Home Life” sentiment at the top of my photo strip but digitally erased the “O” and replaced it with a gold chipboard geotag. That tag is actually from Shanna’s digital template that I mentioned above, printed onto matte photo paper. On the right side, I made another custom sized insert and typed my journaling right onto the photo before printing it out. The dimensions of these cards are 5″ x 6″. The top card is made from the “Everday Boxes” digital stamp (I erased the box around the outside of the sentiment but kept the lines), printed onto matte photo paper with a few embellishments. I also included an index tab on the right side of the insert, a technique that I’ve often seen Ali do that I love. Other products used: that skinny red and white striped washi tape is from the Bluegrass Farm Project Life Kit, Days of the Week mini clothes pins by Studio Calico

The next page is the back side of the insert, telling the story of what happens when Liam gets home from school, and what our evening looks like. The technical stuff: Digital word art (“What Today Looked Like“) and journaling directly onto the photos on the left side (the insert). I’ve also got a few small word strips from a piece of patterned paper (Crate Paper Notes and Things – Memo) that I’ve adhered with foam pop dots to add some dimension.  On the right side of this spread, I made another hybrid layout using a template from the 2014 Week in the Life 8.5 x 11 digital templates as my starting point. I typed up my journaling on the top and included some word art from the “Stories of Life” set for a little title. Other products used: “Hola” Scrapbook add-on kit, Bluegrass Farm Project Life Kit

And last but not least, bedtime stories. This is a full page 8.5 x 11 photo printed at home with some digital word art (Prompts digital), a printed sentiment (from “Everyday Labels“) and one sweet little acrylic star.

So that’s what our Mondays look like right now!

Thanks so much for stopping by 🙂