....poking my head in here....

[klee73010]

Um.... hello. My name is Kristina, and I do not do pocket style scrapping.....

Well, I did one. And it's the first one I've ever completely loved. And so now I feel that it must have been a sign or something, telling me to "go ahead!" with a project for next year. (I'd been toying with the idea for a bit.) I do not yet know what the project will be. I feel like I should probably start small, low commitment, sort of thing. I'm toying with a 16-on-the-16th-in-2016... or a P12... maybe it ends up being a 52, and ends up being an all out project life situation.

I. DON'T. KNOW. It's driving me crazy.

So I suppose my question is... if you had to start back at the absolute very beginning of your very first year-long project, what are the top 3 things (or 5, if you're ambitious) you would tell yourself before beginning?

Teach me, oh wise ones!!

 

[tkradtke]

My first year I kept things super simple in order to give myself the best chance of success. I did a pretty traditional PL that year. I used the same template for every page (the basic, original design A) and the same basic layout each week. Keeping things simple made it easy to keep caught up while figuring out what it was that I really wanted out of PL. My first year was not my most creative year, but it was a great learning year.

I don't know that I have three things, just one major one... keep things simple. Let go of what you would eventually want this project to be and instead, focus on the bare minimum of what you want to accomplish. This is a project that evolves with each year, start small with room to grow. Too grand of plans from the beginning and you run the risk of getting overwhelmed.

Anyway... that's what works for me. I still do this to some extent. I'm planning for year 4 and although I use more than one template now, I still only let myself use one template set each year. I pick a font for the year too. I don't do this because I *need* a consistent look, I do it more because I still need to keep my choices reined in when I go to work on my pages each week. Too many choices and I go into overload.

 

[klee73010]

I looked at my templates, and have been eyeing some "series" as far as kits. The most obvious to me, is to use the subscriptions I'm already paying for. Lolol! But as far as templates, I have over 20 different pocket style templates I have always said "someday, I'll use these for something" (because they came in some bundle of something else I was buying), and really, I'm surprised at how many possibilities there can be at a way to configure a pocket page! Lol
I like the picking of a font idea. Sounds like a plan. And I know I read in another thread at some point, Aaron saying he limits his kit choice to just MPM for the month (why do I remember which kit Aaron uses for his PL layouts, but cannot remember to take the meat out of the freezer without a checklist every night?! Gah.... )

 

[RebeccaH]

My #1 tip would be: Know why you're doing this and what you want to accomplish.

In the beginning, I was super torn by the pressure to do fancy, fabulous pages. As time progressed, I really focused in on the fact that I'm doing this to tell our story and to have real live books to look through.

Um, Other tips? ...

* You do NOT have to take a photo every day. Or every week.
* On the flip side of that, don't forget about taking photos... even of the mundane... the things you don't even think are 'things' right now... because they will change and not be a thing some day, and you will be glad it's in your album.
* Get a cheap planner book or a free app or something that you can use to jot down super quick notes for the day - not necessarily every day, but enough that you can get a picture of what your week was about. That way, if you do get "behind", you can have something to jog your memory later. I super regret not doing this for the first few years that I attempted PL.

 

[Lindzee]

I like the idea of choosing a font (maybe two for headline, journaling) and I particular template or matching set. These are the two areas I always start going down the rabbit hole in. I think it's very important to remember you are creating a book, not a page.

 

[berniek]

In 2011 I did my first year and I actually got really far and then got behing and I didn't finish.
In 2012 I jumped back on and bought the monthly kits from Conny Prince and then after a few months I got behind and didn't pick it up again that year.
Every year after that I wanted to do something but was discouraged because of the two fails I had.
And then at the end of October this year I decided to just jump back in. I figured that maybe if I can get this end of the year to go well, I can do the whole of 2016?

I think it's important to not make the same mistake as I had, which was that once you get behind you can't get back in the ring. Of course it's a pity to not have a full year in your album but half a year is still more then no year at all. So just go for it. If you can only manage three months, then yay you captured three months of daily living!

I went with Aarons advice on using only the MPM collection but I've also already bought JCs to use in my project album. So make decisions about what products you'll use so you don't have to dig through your stash every time but don't let it restrain you, if you decide to make a different choice this week then just do it!

Don't try to capture your whole life. That's never going to work. You'll either get frustrated because you don't have photos of everything or you'll get frustrated because you have way too many photos. I've set myself the rule that every week is only going to be one double pager. I use my PL as a week in review project and I'll make layouts for the photo's that matter to put into a diferent yearly album.

 

[klee73010]

In 2011 I did my first year and I actually got really far and then got behing and I didn't finish.
In 2012 I jumped back on and bought the monthly kits from Conny Prince and then after a few months I got behind and didn't pick it up again that year.
Every year after that I wanted to do something but was discouraged because of the two fails I had.
And then at the end of October this year I decided to just jump back in. I figured that maybe if I can get this end of the year to go well, I can do the whole of 2016?

I think it's important to not make the same mistake as I had, which was that once you get behind you can't get back in the ring. Of course it's a pity to not have a full year in your album but half a year is still more then no year at all. So just go for it. If you can only manage three months, then yay you captured three months of daily living!

I went with Aarons advice on using only the MPM collection but I've also already bought JCs to use in my project album. So make decisions about what products you'll use so you don't have to dig through your stash every time but don't let it restrain you, if you decide to make a different choice this week then just do it!

Don't try to capture your whole life. That's never going to work. You'll either get frustrated because you don't have photos of everything or you'll get frustrated because you have way too many photos. I've set myself the rule that every week is only going to be one double pager. I use my PL as a week in review project and I'll make layouts for the photo's that matter to put into a diferent yearly album.

I love that advice of not waiting to start. Lol! I spent a great deal of time today stalking IG and Pinterest, for DYD, project life tips. I have so many ideas now. However, still airing on the side of keeping it simple, with low expectations - but expectations none the less.

To start with, I am going to complete my week in the life project. Then, maybe
start my "plan" with the rest of October, I think. And I'm going to see how I like it. I really like the idea of quarterly "segments" because I'd like to print and have something to look at, in my hands. I think that is Rebecca's method, and it's stuck with me since mentioned it when she was discussing joining our WITL project.

Already, I've noticed myself saying "that'd be cool to put in my album" "I want to force myself to remember that".

Another side of my brain is like, "are you serious? ANOTHER project?" So, I know that I can't treat it as a quarter mile sprint, but it has to be a 12 mile run... so.... focusing a little at a time, I'm going to decide what I perceive will be "essential" for my project, and beg the designers I CT for to create what I don't have already. Lololol.

 

[klee73010]

My #1 tip would be: Know why you're doing this and what you want to accomplish.

In the beginning, I was super torn by the pressure to do fancy, fabulous pages. As time progressed, I really focused in on the fact that I'm doing this to tell our story and to have real live books to look through.

Um, Other tips? ...

* You do NOT have to take a photo every day. Or every week.
* On the flip side of that, don't forget about taking photos... even of the mundane... the things you don't even think are 'things' right now... because they will change and not be a thing some day, and you will be glad it's in your album.
* Get a cheap planner book or a free app or something that you can use to jot down super quick notes for the day - not necessarily every day, but enough that you can get a picture of what your week was about. That way, if you do get "behind", you can have something to jog your memory later. I super regret not doing this for the first few years that I attempted PL.

I have the notebook I started when I was doing P 52 12. Lol! I know I only managed to stay on it for like 6 weeks, but having those notes still makes me laugh! Great tips. Thank you!

 

[klee73010]

Oh, and in case anyone wanted to know what I decided my "plan" is... monthly highlights spread, and a 16 on the 16th spread. That's it! Keeping it simple! While I figure out what it is I really want out of the month, or any weekly spreads. I'm not limiting myself by saying I won't ever do them, but I'm certainly not putting any commitment on doing them, either. And because this is totally different than my "usual" scrapping, it may be just enough of a "challenge" for me to do these. My other scrapping is most definitely not going away. I even already have journal card templates for blending things to help them feel artsy for me. Lol!

 

[scrapsandsass]

You made me laugh with the Aaron comment.

I totally agree with the font thing. I just wish I could remember and do it that way. I think I will write it down moving forward, so I keep that part consistent. I also keep a composition book where I write things down each week and try to keep track so I don't forget (my brain disorder wreaks havoc with my memory).

My main piece of advice would be to avoid doing PL as your CT commitments unless you are uber flexible. I am torn because I love doing pocket pages way more than regular pages these days (for the most part), but when I have to fit a certain kit around my pages, it can become difficult. Luckily, I never keep up with my year, so I have multiple years to work on at any given time and can usually find something that fits what I'm working with on my teams, but it is way harder than it should be to do it that way. And then I get all whiny because everything looks different from month to month. LOL.

My first year, I did do the same thing of keeping the same template most of the way through my pages. It did make things easy, and made the pages look consistent.

I like that you are putting your own spin on it and that is so important. After almost three "years" of doing PL (yeah right, lol), I still haven't figured out what I'm doing and it changes every week. Getting it simplified seems to be key. I have had challenging weeks without *enough* photos, and other challenging weeks where there are *too many* photos. It will never be perfect. Live with it.

I'm excited to see your pages and what everyone else will be up to in the coming months.

 

[krscraps]

I haven't done a traditional PL album in a while, but I also like having one set of calendar cards and one set of by the week (or month) cards so that much is at least uniform. I know there are a couple of products in the store that are great for that kind of thing.

I second (or third) the keeping it simple idea. The first time i tried I made it through August, but it took me hours to do a two page spread because of the minute details I tried to cram in (and looking back on those pages I don't even really like the extras I added). A little bit of embellishment goes a long way.

I wanted to start PL again in October, but it got away from me (I'm working on 3 different projects at the moment, plus real life) and it got pushed to the wayside.

And the most important tip I have is to have fun with it. (=

 

[klee73010]

I am finding (right now) I'm more focusing on having consistent information in my spreads, than the template. Is that weird? Haha

Also, I started daily notes in Evernote yesterday. And have a plan, when I am on the actual computer, to start a PL folder on my hard drive....