24 January, 2015

My 2015 Memory Keeping Plan



I finally came up with a way to document 2015 that I'm super excited about, and I thought I'd share! I've been working on my December Daily album this month and am on track to finish by the end of the month, which was my plan. I've been loving going through last month's photos and stories and working a month "behind" so I wanted to do something similar throughout 2015... except I don't want to document every single day.

I've tried Project Life in the past, and it just doesn't work for me. I need lots of freedom, and I need to be able to include as many photos and as much journalling as I want without feeling constricted. I've also discovered that I don't really like using PL cards. I prefer cutting up my patterned paper and embellishing it myself. I also felt like my stories were getting sort of washed out when I did Project Life. I wasn't focusing on the tiny little moments that were actually fantastic stories. Instead I was focusing more on "this is what we did this day, this is where we went that day." And the whole thing was just super boring to me. I'm not saying Project Life, in general, is boring or that it's like this for everyone. Not at all! But for me, it didn't work.

So what AM I doing?? For now, I'm just calling it monthly stories and notes. It'll take up as many albums as it needs to, and within my albums, I'll have dividers or title pages that say "January Stories & Notes" or "January Stories." Something like that. My plan is to look through my photos towards the end of that month and start piecing together some ideas for what I want to include in my album. While going through January's photos, Instagram posts, and notes in my phone, I put together a template of some things I can consider including every month. Here is what I've come up with so far:

• various standout stories
• photo collages of anything recurring, if applicable (e.g. in January, we went to the same cafĂ© for lunch a lot, and I took pictures of Cecily eating every single time. Instead of including these in chronological order with several stories, I'm going to just put all the photos together and make it one story. I think it'll be more interesting that way.)
• what we're eating
• what we're reading
• scrapbooking notes (things I'm into, new stuff I'm trying, collections I want, products I've purchased, any industry stuff I'm excited about, classes I'm taking, etc. Screenshots and packaging would be fun to include here.)
• bedtime story favorites
• Cecily notes (new words/phrases, funny habits, current favorites, etc.)
• what we're watching
• stuff going on at church
• what's in the news (I only plan on including things I want to remember and document or that are personally relevant)
• photos from the month that I love but that don't really have a story. I may or may not include a simple caption with these.

Knowing me, I'm sure I'll come up with more! A lot of these things will just be documented in the form of lists. I'm probably going to do this in a 9x12 album, but I may switch to my beloved 6x8 if I don't like working with that size. 

I think it'll all be really fun to look back on, and I'm really looking forward to documenting this way! I feel like my album(s) will turn out to be a scrapbook, diary, journal, and photo album all in one. And I love that! Switching gears frequently keeps me engaged and invested. I've come to realize that I am GREAT at starting projects but not so great at finishing them. This feels like a project that I'll be able to finish because I won't get bored or overwhelmed as I go. 

2015 is gonna be a fun year to play with paper!!


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