Juggling it all… How do you decide?

[gracielou]

A short backstory: I have tried P365/PL for the past 3 or 4 years and I always, always end up failing. One of the reasons is because I feel like I am telling the same stories a billion times in a billion different ways. At one time I had a blog, PL, and scrapbooking going all at once.

Here is my question. Those of you that have blogs and scrap and do PL or any combo of those- How do you keep it all fresh and from feeling like you are not just being repetitive with it all. I have recently started blogging again and I forgot how much I love it and I also sat and did a PL page and found I missed that 2 but I want to figure out a method that will keep the burn out away. There are really reasons that I do each. The PL is just such a cool thing to me and I blog because we don't live near family so it is the one way they can keep up with our lives. They are not the kinda to wander into a scrapbook gallery to look at my PL pages to keep up with us. Should I just stick to one or the other? Is there a way to do it all? If so, how do you do it?

 

[jenevang]

Well, my blog is seriously dusty and I haven't succeeded in PL (YET) so I'm admittedly NOT the best person to answer this question, LOL.

That said, when I did blog regularly, I found it easier to tell my stories or put down my thoughts on my blog. Then I used this as my journaling for my pages, literally copy/pasting them in many cases.

Looking back, these are some of my favorite pages because they do focus on the stories or how we were feeling about something. I need to try this again .

 

[heathergw]

I pretty much just blog about my PL pages anymore... I just don't have time to do both anymore

 

[tkradtke]

Same as Heather... my blog posts are basically just about my PL pages. I keep trying to do more, but it doesn't happen.

 

[Karen]

I would start by reminding yourself not to put too much pressure to do it all. Then, consider that all of these things that you are doing are all various ways to capture memories and therefore, in my book scrapbooking. You just do whatever moves you at the moment or inspires you OR what you can fit into your schedule. I don't think anyone can do it all unless they have no kids, no spouse, no job and no life. Then you wouldn't have any memories to scrap.

 

[Nixenkind]

I gave up blogging pretty much... but I do scrapbooking and PL. I often end up putting my everyday experiences into my PL, and emotional "about me"-stuff in my scrapbooking pages... and I make an occasional layout when I have just too many pictures for PL . I try not to stress myself too much, and remind myself from time to time that this is my DIARY... I put in it what I want .

 

[Heather Prins]

well if you are blogging mainly for your family just share what you like, then create your PL pages from that and at the end of the week do a PL post called "recap"-keep it simple.

 

[AnneofAlamo]

bhahaha
I just sometimes drop everything..

let them bounce and pick up the ones I like...the others roll under the bed, gather dust, some are lost forever and others keep my attention longer...

 

[RebeccaH]

i'm wanting to start blogging fresh again too. i have only seemed to blog scrapbook layouts and PL layouts and a few other bits & pieces here and there through 2013. i've found that it's not what i want for my blog. i started it for something other than to showcase my layouts. so i want to get back to the heart of why i have always blogged to begin with.

i also have tried PL for the past 3 years with not a single year completed. i'm coming to terms with the fact that it's not the project for me. that being said, i still love the idea of the documentation of daily life - the idea of sticking a bunch of unrelated photos together just because they were taken on the same week - love it!! i still need to work out a method or system or something that will work for me to get through the year without falling off. if i find something along the way that seems to be working to help me do both, i'll let you know. for now, i guess i'm in the same boat as you.

 

[gracielou]

i'm wanting to start blogging fresh again too. i have only seemed to blog scrapbook layouts and PL layouts and a few other bits & pieces here and there through 2013. i've found that it's not what i want for my blog. i started it for something other than to showcase my layouts. so i want to get back to the heart of why i have always blogged to begin with.

i also have tried PL for the past 3 years with not a single year completed. i'm coming to terms with the fact that it's not the project for me. that being said, i still love the idea of the documentation of daily life - the idea of sticking a bunch of unrelated photos together just because they were taken on the same week - love it!! i still need to work out a method or system or something that will work for me to get through the year without falling off. if i find something along the way that seems to be working to help me do both, i'll let you know. for now, i guess i'm in the same boat as you.

Yes, please do. We sound so much alike!!

 

[mlewis]

I blog, PL, and scrapbook. They each have different functions.

To me, the blog is more like a diary and has a much more detailed calendar of events (per se) as well as my own voice, thoughts, ideas, quips from the kids, etc. I am making a book of the blog each year. I include the pictures from the blog in the book, but they are small and not full-size. To me, the journaling is most important from the blog.

PL is a snapshot of our week. Sometimes I like to scrapbook the pictures that were overflow from PL - for instance just really pretty pictures or a more detailed story that just won't fit in PL. Sometimes I just like to scrap to fulfill my creative side. At this point, I probably only actually scrap 2-4 pages a month outside of my PL spreads. My 12x12 PL album includes both the PL pages as well as the scrapbook layouts and any paraphernalia like report cards, very few selected art projects from the kids, soccer/baseball/class pictures that I don't have in digital format.

So at the end of the year I have two 12x12 PL albums and one 8x10 blog book. I have struggled with Pl a bit this year but I've stuck to it and kept it very basic and I can look back on it and see a whole lot of memories that were documented.

 

[RebeccaH]

i think one of the things that killed my blogging was actually getting more active on facebook. i felt like it was getting redundant. i mean to change that in 2014.