I finished my 2012 Project Life album last night. I had doubts it would ever get done, as two weeks ago I was only up to late September.

My album looks like it’s going to explode (I included a LOT of inserts), so I’m a little afraid to leaf through it too much, lest the rings pop open and the page protectors come loose and I cry a million tears.

In all honesty, there were a few times when I regretted starting this project; it requires a chunk of dedicated time when you get behind (and I got significantly behind several times), and I’d create quite a mess when working on it.

But now that it’s finished, I am SO glad I took the plunge. It’s amazing to look back at pictures of Harry from just this spring. 2012 was definitely the year he went from looking like a baby to looking like a little boy, and I’m grateful to have it all documented.

I waffled on whether to do it again, but Aaron encouraged me to go for it. He loves looking at it as much as I do, I think.

So since I didn’t blog too much about my spreads or my process, I thought I’d do a short recap — what worked; what didn’t, and what I plan to do differently in 2013.

(You can see the few spreads I did blog about here.)

A few things that worked:

• Include non-photo items

When my team and I went to Dallas in July, I made sure to pick up a few post cards, specifically for my Project Life album. I love the way this one looks cut across two 4×3 slots. (And please y’all, Don’t Mess with Texas.)

I also included screen caps of things like my lock screen (12:12 pm on 12/12/12!) and several of the She Reads Truth weekly memory verses.

Jessica at The Mom Creative has a great list of “bits of life” items you can include in your album. I always meant to include more of Harry’s daycare art in the book, but only ended up doing that once or twice. Really, you can include anything!

• Place Instagram pictures on 4×6 backgrounds

You can see how I did that in the above spread as well. Since IG photos are 4×4, you can’t print them at drugstore labs or even CostCo, without either letting them get randomly cropped or manipulating them in some way. So, in Lightroom (but you could use any photo editing software), I’d create a 4×6 template and then place my Instagram picture on it. That way I could still send photos to Walgreen’s to print without worrying about my IG pics getting randomly cropped. This also allowed me white space to write or add letters or washai tape or whatever.

• Persnickety Prints!

Persnickity Prints is an online lab I discovered through Becky Higgins (the creator of Project Life) just last month. I wish I’d found them sooner! They print 4×4, 3×4, AND they will round corners for you. They’re a little more expensive than Walgreen’s or CostCo, but when you get behind, just having the corners already rounded can be a time saver. (And the print quality is better.)

Below are two spreads with some 4×4 prints. I just glued the images onto some 4×6 card stock and put them in the page protector.

• Write ON your pictures

I use either a black Sharpie or a white paint-pen Sharpie to write directly on my images. I just like the way it looks, and it adds a little extra interest to the page without a lot of extra work or effort.

• Include a lot of pictures

The great thing about Project Life is you can really make it your own. I see some albums out there that are heavy on the journalling and light on the photos or heavy on graphics and digital elements or whatever. I take a lot (a lot a lot) of pictures, and I wanted to make sure I used as many as I could. (However, this is also one of the things I’m going to be better about in 2013, which leads me to my next piece of advice.)

What I’m going to do differently:

• Cull your photos!

This year I’m going to be more mindful of WHAT pictures I print, rather than just printing whatever pictures I took that week and then sorting through them. For week 1 2013, I mapped out ahead of time what images I wanted as what sizes (what as a 4×3 and what as a 4×6) and just printed those. I’m hoping this cuts down on waste (both time and paper).

• Be judicious with the use of inserts.

I also had way way too many inserts in 2012, and I’d like to reduce those both for time and the sake of the binder!

[For inserts, I just trim down a 12x12 page protector. I like Design C and Design F for inserts the most, probably.]

I mean, this one week this fall I had THREE inserts. (We went to a pumpkin patch and also Up North, so there was a lot to cover, but still.)

• Stay current!

Say it with me everyone: don’t get behind.

In 2013 …

I am using the Clementine kit this year.

I’m going to try to rely more on the kit, because I had a few 4×6 cards and LOTS of journalling cards left over in 2012.

I’m waiting on my prints for our title page + week 1 right now, so hopefully by next Tuesday I’ll be able to show you the start of my second Project Life album!

Happy memory keeping everyone!