What is Project Life? It’s a memory keeping system designed by Becky Higgins. My favorite thing about this system is the page protectors with lots of little pockets for slipping in photos, journaling cards, and other papers. She has lots of lovely products available. I love the simplicity of dropping things into pockets as opposed to making traditional scrapbooking layouts.

Why do I want to do this project? There are so many reasons. I remember my days and favorite moments later when I have documented them. I want a place to put all of the papers, photos and doodles that I collect. I want to fall in love with printed photographs again. This process helps me remember all of the good things in my life. It makes me happy.

Basics: I’ll be making a mini album (about 6×8″) using Russell + Hazel mini binders and Photo Pocket Pages cut down to size (Design A and Design F). I’ll be doing one layout a week, Monday – Sunday, and likely a monthly wrap-up/favorite photos page.

Here is a sample of one of my pages from November 2012. And below it, I’ve made a list of seven things I’m going to do to help stay on track in 2013. Drop a link to your blog in the comments if you’ll be working on Project Life in 2013!

01. Keep it Contained. Last year I had scraps of paper and ephemera floating around my art desk, bedroom, living room, purse, etc. When I actually wanted to work on Project Life I had to track down all of these bits of paper first. This was a major deterrent to getting started. This year I have one plastic magazine holder that I’m going to drop everything into throughout the week. I have an envelope in my purse that I can empty out at the end of the week. I also have a small plastic bin that has all of my Project Life supplies so that I can easily start working when I have the time.

02. Keep a Planner/Journal. I have a small Moleskine notebook that I plan to jot down notes in during the week. It’s easy to forget what happened throughout the week if I don’t write it down. I’ll also use this notebook to plan layouts and photo placement.

03. Project Life E-mail Address. I created a Gmail account for Project Life. I’ve forwarded this new e-mail address to my regular e-mail account, and have it filtered to a folder for Project Life. I’m planning on using this to e-mail photos, texts, and cc e-mails that have stories I want to save.

04. Print Photos at Home My awesome boyfriend bought me an Epson PictureMate Charm printer as a Christmas gift. I think this will probably be the biggest factor in me being able to stay current with Project Life. I hated the process of uploading photos to Walgreens and picking them up last year, so I only did it about once a month. I’m so excited to be able to print photos at home whenever I want to. I’m impressed by the quality of the prints, and how tiny the printer is. The printer comes with glossy paper, but I’ll be picking up some of the matte paper with my next order.

05. Blog Layouts Weekly. I’m going to be sharing my layouts on Thursdays to help me stay on track with finishing weekly.

06. Keep it Simple. Last year I made it too complicated with adding text to photos in Photoshop, choosing lots of different fonts, and making complex journal cards. This year I want to make it easy. I want my journal cards to be made out of cardstock (black, white, kraft), index cards, and Project Life grid journaling cards. I’ve chosen a few fonts that I’ll rotate. I also want to write on top of photos more (easy!). I want this to be about simply saving photos and stories.

07. Make it Mine. There are lots of great products out there. Awesome patterns, embellishments and stamps are everywhere. Sometimes the choices are overwhelming. But what I really want is for this project to be full of the things I make. I want it to have my own patterns, artwork, handwriting. I want it to look uniquely mine.