In order to stay caught up, I’m having to take the easy route here and rely on the Colbalt Kit, and do these quick and dirty.

Week of June 3-9, whole spread (two Design As):

Left side:

Right side:

I use a Sharpie to write directly on the print (on the prints with a lot of white space).

Week of June 10-16, whole spread (two Design As with a Design F, cut in half, for an insert):

Left side of the spread:

Front of the insert:

Back of the insert:

Right side of the spread:

I think I finally have my routine now. I upload my pictures on Saturday night, and combine iPhone shots onto 4×6 templates in Lightroom. (Or put just a single Instagram photo on a 4×6 template.) Send them to Walgreen’s, and then I spend about an hour or two putting them in the page protectors.

I’m really glad that I started this project, because it makes me not only more intentional about taking pictures, but also about getting them printed. And when I stay caught up, I actually remember things to journal about.

I’d love to see your spreads if you’re doing this project!

Y’all, I was more than five weeks behind, but I got caught up like a BOSS. I can’t believe I’m actually done with the week we just lived! Huge relief. (Never let your hobbies stress you out; it’s a good life rule. I’ll let you know if I ever manage it.)

The past month and a half of spreads are nothing fancy, but they are d-o-n-e and that’s all that matters.

I leaned heavily on pieces from the Colbalt Kit, because, again, I needed easy.

For this week, I included an insert, because I had a lot of iPhone/Instagram pictures from being in Wisconsin on a work trip for two nights.

The left side of the spread + the front of the insert (design F that I trimmed down):

Close up of the left side:

Front of the insert:

Back of the insert:

Right side of the spread:

Back of the insert + right side of the spread:

I mostly use Design A, but I really liked using the Design F page protector. Since the majority of the pictures I take are vertical iPhone pictures, it worked really well.

Whew. Back to trying to be creative next week!

If you’re doing Project Life, I’d love to see your spreads!

[If you're here from The Mom Creative, welcome! If you'd like to get to know These Prices, please click on the "About" link above. I am new to Project Life. This is my second week blogging my progress. Week One here.]

The first week of April was a busy one, and with all the Easter activities I had to include TWO Design G inserts.

I also didn’t use anything from the Cobalt kit this week. I used an Easter sheet from Jillibean and cards from a 4×6 pack from W R Memory Keepers. I I wanted something springy, and the Jillibean sheet had a lot of cute little add ons.

Left side of the spread with Design G insert:

Left side of the spread:

On the bottom left is a piece of daycare artwork. It was an 8.5×11 sheet, so I clipped out a piece. I’ve been wanting a way to keep the occasional take-home art project, and I think Project Life is going to be a great way to hang on to some of Harry’s masterpieces.

First page of the insert:

Last Friday Harry and I met up with some friends at a local community egg hunt. I took a lot of pictures!

Inside of the two inserts:

I used little Smash sticky tabs on the sides of the inserts. (I love that picture with the bucket on his head! Such a goof.)

Back of the second insert + right page of the spread:

I liked that one picture of Harry in the ring sling that I included it twice! (In different crops.)

Right page of the spread:

The top left is the mailer that our church sent out about Easter services. The chevron paper is from the envelope. I loved it, and thought this was a nice way to preserve it. (And get some pretty pattern and color into the page.) The scripture card is from the program for Easter service (which we attended on Saturday afternoon).

I’m still getting my footing, but I’m really enjoying it. It’s such a simple (or can be!), easy way to memory keep a week at a time. And I like that it has forced me to start printing images. Even if they’re “just” camera photos, they’re your memories, so print them!

There is a shelf in our basement full of scrapbooks. Books overflowing with college memories and scenes from my first few years out of school. They are mostly just snapshots glued to pages with inside jokes scribbled in marker, but they are priceless treasures all the same.

But in recent years, it’s been hard to find the time. I have a half finished scrapbook of a mission trip I took in 2006, and I’ve only made headway on our wedding scrapbook because of two dedicated Saturdays within the last few months. (Our fourth anniversary is in May.) I have a bin in an upstairs closet with mementos and prints of Harry’s first year, just waiting for the time.

So when I saw some of my favorite bloggers like Kayla Aimee posting images of something called “Project Life, it mostly went by me without much notice. Until I saw some samples of pages on Kathleen’s blog, snapshots of her life in that moment, put down on paper and in page protectors for posterity, and I realized—I can do that. I can print pictures and keep track of things a week at a time.

So here we are, already April, but I’m getting on this train.

(I was going to just start and move forward and not worry about the previous 12 weeks, but after thinking about it, I’m starting my book with the week of Feb. 25, because that was when we went up North, and I wanted to have that trip recorded. But I’m working backward slowly, so this post is the most current week.)

What I am using:

• Cobalt Kit
• Variety Pack of Becky Higgins page protectors (because Design A is sold out)
• Design G inserts (which are 10×12 instead of 12×12)
• A whole mess of assorted letters and papers that I’ve collected over the years
• Photos printed via Snapfish at Walgreen’s

My first spread:

Left page of the spread:

Since I mostly take pictures with my phone and upload to Instagram, I had to be creative with printing. The picture of Eller (our bulldog) on the top right is what an IG photo looks like if you just send it to Walgreen’s. They just randomly crop it to make the aspect ratio 4×6. It worked for that image, but for most of them it wouldn’t. So for the middle row of photos, I made a 4×6 diptych in Lightroom and then cut them in half. Because IG pictures are square, it leaves white space, but I like the faux Polaroid look, and it leaves room for captions. For the bottom pictures, I placed one IG image on a 4×6 template. In the “roar” picture, I cut the image out and placed it on an insert from the kit.

I actually did have quite a few real-camera photos this week, since we went to the zoo on Sunday. So I used a Design G insert to include them.

Front of the Design G insert:

Back of the insert:

Back of the insert + right page of the spread:

Right page of the spread:

My main goal with starting this project is to get photos to print, and to document our life in print and on paper, not just electronically. (And to use up the bin full of scraps and assorted papers and letters I have from when I scrapbooked regularly!)

So my pages will never be the fanciest, or the most creative. But if they get me an (almost) year’s worth on memories on paper and in a book, then I will have succeeded!

Linking up with Jessica at The Mom Creative: