I know it's only September, but I'm already thinking abt next year's PL. Since I only do Countdown to Christmas (December Daily) in December, I finish my PL for the year on Thanksgiving Day (and if anything interesting were to ever happen between Christmas & New Year's, I would either include it in my Countdown to Christmas album or smoosh it into the new year). ANYWAYS, I do both a weekly PL spread + 'regular' layouts as I feel so inspired... but I'm bored with it. I like how PL captures the bits 'n' pieces of our lives that don't warrant a full page, but I guess I'm just tired of doing everything in the same little squares and rectangles week after week. I don't want to do hybrid, so does anyone have any other suggestions for me for my PL next year? I think that Shimelle Laine has an album with a traditional page on one side & a pocket page on the other which I am considering doing. In my mind, that would mean no longer doing a weekly spread, but either picking one big event from a week to do a traditional page + pocket page for OR picking one big event from a week to do a traditional page and then the pocket page would include all the rest of the week's photos. Does any of that make sense? Did anyone else go through a PL slump (this is my second year of doing it) and figure out something else to make it fun for them again? Help!
I ended up switching to monthly my second year because the level of detail required and all the "sameness" got to me the first year. Then I switched back to weekly for this year. I love the idea of a mixture of the two, traditional and pocket pages.
Sounds like it would be interesting. Last year, I did all the same page designs. But I just recently started using Just Jaimee's pocket page templates, and they are a lot of fun. It is more interesting than I would have done with just the same page design. And it got me thinking about how to change other pages or the template even.
I have been feeling the same way... This is my 4th year of doing a pocket type book and I think I need to print two separate books this year as I have too many pages for one book so I've started using a variety of templates and styles- trying to see if anything "fits" for next year. I am intrigued by other sizes besides 12x12- I really think this is one thing that I could get excited about but don't see too many other template sizes. I like books that are 8.5 x 11 ish but haven't seen pocket pages like this anywhere... Maybe we need a support group ;>)
I've hit the burn out point for this year. I'm now three weeks behind with no real reason except for a total lack of motivation. I liked how I switched things up for this year compared to last, but I'm going to need a new plan for next year if I'm going to keep going. I'm behind on project life, behind on another album from 2013 and need to have two gift albums done by Christmas. But instead of working on any of it, I've been obsessively planning my December Daily album for this year. :-/
lol Tracie!! that cracks me up a little. you all have no idea how far behind I am. I really struggle to overcome burnout on this project. I just get bored way too easily with repetition. I enjoy having it done, though.
I take breaks through the year. I start with a plan to work on PL weekly, but it doesn't work for me. I do better working on it maybe 1 week out of every month. I write journaling through the month so I can still do weekly spreads. I do get bored working on it every week. I often fall behind by more than the planned 3 or 4 weeks, but I catch up.
See, I tend to do better if I can keep a rhythm going, but I majorly failed at that this year (as I do every year). I do think that around this time each year (or maybe even earlier than this), my photo quantity definitely sputters. I find it difficult to find interesting photo content. I know there are tons of web sites w/ photo prompts and whatnot, but I just am not good at being that regimented. One thing that I've found to be helpful is keeping a daily journal that is attached to my outlook calendar. It's an app that I DL'd for free, and it automatically attaches the journaling to that date on my calendar. That helps me when I'm so far behind to be able to go back and catch up.
I'm like Rebecca... I need to keep a rhythm going with project life and summer throws me off every time. The inconsistent schedule gets me, even when we aren't traveling. I need a routine!! Now we're back and on week four of school, but I'm still not caught up even though the routine is back. I've also hit my other issue that comes with being behind.... not realizing until it's too late that I'm not taking enough photos. I'm a few weeks behind with my layouts and it's just hit me that I haven't been taking enough photos. This happens from time to time throughout the year when I'm staying current... but since I'm current, I catch and correct this right away after one off week. Now, with being behind, I have several weeks of just a handful of photos. :-( I'm thinking that I may end up just having to do one page spreads for these weeks. It's not the end of the world, but if I would have been aware earlier on, I might have done things differently. My other current irritation with being behind is that I've apparently forgotten all of the things I had tried to be consistent with the first part of the year. I had been taking a photo each month of the kids in the same spot in front of our house to see the changes in them and our block over the course of a year. Totally forgot to do that in August. I did it in September, but just realized that I forgot to label it on my layout the way I've done with every other month (other than August) this year. I also just realized that I forgot the calendar on my last spread. One of my "things" this year was to put a calendar on every page. Yep... forgot it. When I get out of my rhythm/routine, it all starts to fall apart. Again... not the end of the world, just frustrating.
In TOTAL agreement here with Traci and Rebecca! This is my 3rd year and I having a really hard time staying motivated. PLUS my kids - 3 lovely sweet hormonal teenagers - are not cooperating with having their pictures taken every week... I keep telling myself that it's a phase and I will get more motivated... the kids will enjoy the picture taking more... However, I think I need to get much more simplistic with my pages - like a photo a week - LOL!
I'll start my third year in January. I started in January 2013 with a daily diary, had a weekly phase from June 2013 to February 2014 and then returned to daily... I was in a lot of trouble after hour vacation in summer and struggled for half a month because I couldn't catch up, but I'm up to date now and still daily for the time being. I never really got bored because I changed the "how" so often it stayed fresh. I made things more elaborate, then simplified again, did more or less journaling, designed the spots as singles or the layout as a whole, let every photo have its own pocket or always used mats, frames, no frames, more embellishments, less embellishments, I tried a lot. The whole thing is perpetually changing because the time I have at hand differs greatly, and I have to adjust my diary to stay up to date. When I have no photos, I write more and add emo pics from my collection to show how I felt that day. I try not to take it too serious, although I'm a total too-serious-taker, so its a trial... but it's supposed to be fun in the end. What helps me to remember why I'm doing this: printing. I can't imagine how I spent more than one year without printing. I love looking at the books, and they totally help keeping me motivated.
Tracie, I'm waaaaay off on quantity of photos, as well. Rather than there being photos from various things throughout our week, I have a series of photos from one or two things for the week. I'm really thinking I'm going to have to just simplify things, put in extra journaling or journal cards that will help tell my story, and keep it to one page. Or maybe mix it up and insert regular scrap pages along w/ my PL stuff. No rules, right?! I'll just figure it out!!
Maja!! "a total too serious taker"!! I love that phrase I"m always in awe of how you are able to keep up so well! And your pages are great! I love your daily diary approach
