As Slingshot’s birth approached, I knew I wanted to be a little more intentional about documenting his life for a baby scrapbook. Â I have a baby book for The Little Apple, but I was never really good about filling it out.
I started reading about Project Life last year. Â I am NOT a scrapbooker (though I do have a few from junior high and high school). Â Many years ago, I bought a whole bunch of scrapbooking supplies, but all of the paper, the cutting and arranging and adding embellishments just completely overwhelmed me. Â So at first I was skeptical about Project Life. Â But as I read about it more and more, I realized that it is intended to simplify scrapbooking. Â You can add all that fussy stuff if you want, but you can also keep it super simple with just pictures and a note or memory. Â You can just put your pictures and notes in the plastic protectors and be done with it.
The ultimate goal of Project Life is to document the every day. Â To remember all of the little things. Â But also to live your life. Â And as a busy mom of two young boys, I absolutely LOVE that. Â Through this blog, I have documented some stuff. Â Big projects around the house. Â Fun things I do with the kids (crafts and activities). Â Big events like birthdays. Â My passion for cooking and baking. Â But what about all of the day to day? Â The things The Littlest Apple says. Â What shows we watch, the books we read, the music we listen to. Â The errands we run. Â Our daily routines. Â Our fun family bonding times. Â The mundane and ordinary parts of our days. Â I’d love to be able to look back in 15 years and reminisce about those little things. Â So that’s what Project Life is to me.
I decided that not only did I want to make a Project Life album to document Slingshot’s first year, but I’m also making a Family album that is for all 4 of us (mostly from my perspective, of course). Â It’s hard to decide how to document the kids…do they each get their own album every year? Â Do they each get a baby album (for the first year or so) and then just the Family Albums? Â I’m still figuring it all out right now, especially what I want to do with The Little Apple’s first 4 years.
But for now, I’m jumping in. Â I’m doing a page for each week. Â Since I’m still learning about the process, I’m keeping it super simple right now. Â Pictures (many of which were taken from an iPhone) and notes on the journaling cards popped in to the plastic protectors. Â Every once in a while I’ll throw in a receipt, keepsake paper, or other bit of ephemera. Â Maybe a few stickers. Â No real embellishing or fancy papers or fancy cuts.
Just memories, plain and simple.
Here is Week 7 completed…. (since these are pictures of the pages protectors, there’s a bit of reflection in places)
Slingshot’s Album:
Close-up of the left side….
Close-up of the right side…
Family Album:
(Yes, I used that picture of the boys in both albums. Love that one!)
Close-up of the left…
Close-up of the right…
And here is a page from Slingshot’s second weeks. Â Even though he’s only 7 weeks old (today!), I’m already finding myself forgetting the little things from those first few weeks of his life. Â And I don’t want to forget! Â It’s so nice to be able to look back at these pages and remember it all. Â THIS is exactly why I’m doing Project Life.
Do you scrapbook? Â Are you doing Project Life? Â Did you make a baby book for your kids?
Disclaimer: Becky Higgins, creator of Project Life, has no idea who I am. Â She isn’t paying me for this post. Â This is just an amazing product that I wanted to share with you!!