Hi everyone! I started a Project Life album in 2012 as a paper project and have continued to do it in 2013 but switched to all digital pages. The move to digital has made it so much easier for me to keep current. And the more that I do this project, the more that I love it! In fact, I think it may well be the most important project that I’ve done since I began scrapbooking all those years ago! But, it’s a huge commitment of time and energy. And it can be quite tricky to figure out the best way to make the project work for your life!

And so … I thought it might be interesting to share with all of you my top five tips to make Project Life work for me and my life! I hope that some of these might be useful to you as you continue to figure out the best way to make Project Life work for YOU!

Tip #1 - Just Do It. There are moments when I realize that I’m behind with Project Life and have a growing list of non-Project Life pages to create and I think to myself … maybe I should just give up on Project Life and focus on other things. But, then one of my children says something along the lines of “Mom, won’t this be cool for Project Life?” or they immediately pull out our Project Life album to show a visitor and I remember why I do this! I am capturing stories in this album that wouldn’t be captured otherwise and when I look back at my 2012 album, I am amazed at how much I’ve forgotten about our day to day life in just one year! This album helps tell the full story of our family life and is worth every moment that I spend on it!

Tip #2 - Print Your Pages. If you are creating your Project Life pages digitally, I cannot tell you how important it is to have your pages printed! I just had the first 16 weeks of 2013 printed and just putting them into the album made me tear up … to think that I have all of those little bits of our life documented and printed to share with my family just made me so happy that I almost cried! There is something special about seeing what you’ve created on your computer printed out onto paper! It certainly reminds you of just how important this project is … so, take a minute to get your pages printed! It’s worth every penny!

Tip #3 - Write Everything Down. I cannot stress enough how important it has been for me to put pen to paper and keep notes each week about what we did, the funny things the kids say, and what we ate/watched/created in a given week. Having these details at my fingertips as I create each weekly spread has been INSANELY helpful! I use a template (Marcy Penner has a bunch here) that I found online, print them out & then keep them on my desk for jotting notes as I go through the week. Then, I put them aside & pull them out as I create each week’s spread. I can jot down where I want my photos to go, what specific stories I want to tell, etc. All on one planning page. It’s really streamlined my process and made it easy to catch up when I’ve gotten behind!

Tip #4 - Find Out What Works For You. I think it takes time to find a Project Life rhythm that works for you. It took me a couple of different attempts to figure out what really works for me but I think I’ve finally figured it out. For me, I take some time to pull my photos together, edit them & add them to the template (I use one style most of the time to keep things simple). Then, I can just open that up when I have a few minutes to add in some journaling or add in embellishments. Then, I’m working on it in small bits as I have time and feel less pressure to put it ALL together in one sitting. Figuring out how to best prepare yourself for success is key to making this project work for you! I think I’ve also found a place where I’m comfortable with the style of my pages - I don’t get nearly as detailed and elaborate as some others do yet I like to add some embellishing. I don’t pressure myself to make each spread ‘perfect’ - I have found what I like and I tend to stick to that unless I’m feeling particularly inspired to do something different! Find out what works for you and it will make this project so much more manageable!

Tip #5 - Find Inspiration, Ideas and Resources. One of the things that has saved me on weeks when I don’t have as many photos or stories to tell is to visit the Pinterest Project Life board that I’ve created to capture all of the great ideas, resources and cool pages that I like! It never ceases to amaze me at how talented and creative people in the scrapbooking industry are and how generous they are to share their work with all of us! I use a lot of different ideas that I’ve found online to inspire my own pages - how to incorporate social media into my Project Life spreads, using weather apps on my iPhone to capture that aspect of our life, making lists of our favorites (TV, movies, foods, etc), doing a ‘this week’ card each week, and capturing the books that I read each week in my spreads! The list is never ending!

One of the great things about tackling Project Life is that there are so many others who are also doing the project! Learning from others and sharing what works for us is key to making this project work! Over at the One Story Down forum we have a Project Life focused forum that is a great place to ask questions, read about what others are doing and just get support/information about how to make the project work in your own life! Please come on over and join the conversation with us - ask questions, tell us what works for you and share your pages!

One more quick reminder - One Story Down has a $2 Tuesdays sale which will include mostly Project Life inspired products. Each week, there will be a variety of new and old product as part of the sale and each item in the sale will cost just $2. What a deal! Shopping this sale is a great way to begin to build up your digi stash full of fun products perfect for Project Life pages!