I did it. I finished all of my pages for Project Life, Year Twenty-Fourteen.
Now what?
Okay, I should back up. Next, of course, will be getting a bound book made but as I was exporting all of my PSDs to JPEGs, I realized, “Oh crap! I need to have a cover for this book?” And I’ll be honest. I thought, “Noooo! Not another thing for it. Really?”
So for today’s post, I do not have a cover ready to show you. But I can remind you where I started.
Sigh. It seems like just 52 weeks ago, doesn’t it? I used this set (updated for 2015) and I am probably going to use it again in some form for this coming year. What am I doing for 2015? I’ll get to that in just a sec. For now, the final weeks of my album. And yes, they are all single pages.
As you may recall about mid-year I stopped adding extra stuff in and just stripped it all down. And because I did that, I feel like it helped me to actually get this sucker done.
I’m still not sure where I will print my book but I will report back as soon as I design the cover for this album.
And what am I doing for this coming year? I’m not completely sure.
Part of me wants to do the same thing. I love this simple approach. I love the idea of a digital book. I also love the idea of a single page per week. Considering we’re already in Week 2, I suppose I should commit already. One thing I know I will do is to set up my iPhoto for 2015 using Smart Folders by week. That has been the single best organization approach for me. It makes going back to play catch up so, so much easier.
So for today, I share the final pages. I’m going to be working on the cover and will share that when it’s ready.
My goal for memory keeping in 2015 is two-fold: simple and real. That’s it.
I recently was a guest storyteller in Ali Edwards’ new StoryKit™ subscription/classroom. True, I was asked to use her products, but I found myself completely inspired by a) focusing on a story theme and b) not using my own products in a promotional aspect. Does that make sense? It wasn’t about adding to my bottom line (and believe me, business is down from previous years), but it was about telling a story I wanted to tell, one that I didn’t even know I needed to share.
I have much to share with you in the coming days about goals and hopes and methods and the like.
Today, we wrap up Project Life.
Much more to come, people. So much more.
SUPPLIES:
RitaQ says
Thanks for sharing these final pgs. Was wondering where you were in the process & how you were documenting/capturing the week while being so immersed in Dec Daily. Like most others, I am rethinking PL. Unlike you, I am so far behind (as usual with most of my projects) but am determined to finish it up. I’m fine with the weekly capture in a ‘normal’ week. Where I get tripped up is when there is a bigger event. How much do I document/include? Where does it go? Blah blah blah. I am so looking forward to seeing your ‘new’ approach. And I so loved your contribution to Ali’s story kit. No surprise that the FIRST layout I did was using your template. You ABSOLUTELY need to continue with this Ali collaboration. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE! 🙂
Bonnie says
I always love your pages Cathy, both PL and traditional. Mine look different (I NEED color), but I also use a pretty basic approach. I love my pages and I get them done pretty quickly. I don’t know what to do in 2015. I think I’m getting a little burned out on the weekly thing. But I love how the little stories get told in PL when they often get missed in traditional scrapbooking. Maybe a monthly setup instead? I’ll figure it out eventually.
Abby P says
Hmmmmm, thinking of changing-up PL myself. Can’t wait to see how you’ll roll. Happy New Year, and thanks for all the inspiration and products you bring to life!
Linda says
Hoping you decide to do something different from PL this year. While I love and appreciate the PL idea, YOU are the one who converted me to 8.5×11 8 years ago. Since January 2007 I have done “a page a week” album in that format. I am amazed that I have kept it up in the past 7 years. I love these albums that are like a journal with photos. And I have populated them mainly by scrap lifting your designs. So during the years you have done PL and not posted as many traditional layouts, I have had to re-cycle layouts/sketches or try to be the designer myself. I am getting very good at the former and and making progress at the latter. But I’m really hoping of some great new CZ layouts to copy for my upcoming 2015 album.
Looking forward to see what you do — I am sure it will inspire me.
Jocelyn Thompson says
Yea! I am so glad there is much more to come! I love your products from Designer Digitals and all your clean & simple style! Keep up the great work! I did PL in a monthly format last year and for me that really worked!
Thanks Cathy for always keeping it real!
Judi says
YEs, Cathy, I love your clean and simple approach to scrapping. Your book, “Clean and Simple” was the first book I bought and I refer to it on a regular basis. I am always interested in the fancy designs with mega-embellishments, but it is not me. I love the idea of a digital book, because, seriously, how does one store 100 regular albums? I need to tweak my methods going forward. You are a huge inspiration to me. You are real.
summer82 says
Just finished a walk through of 15 years of pages and thanks to you, the ones in the last couple of years look professional and tell the stories more completely. My pages have a better balance, sharper and coordinated colors, uncluttered design and just a “look at me” feel. Thanks again. DO hope business picks up for you. I do my part!
Cathy Zielske says
Thank you! 🙂 I appreciate my customers so much!
Stephanie says
Cathy, this is just a thought…. why not use your title page as your cover page… that’s what I actually thought it was until I read further… I think it would look totally awesome!!!
Cathy Zielske says
That’s not a bad idea at all! 🙂
Shawn says
I agree!
Pedroza says
I love your designs and layouts, can’t wait to also see what you come up with.
Verity says
I was a little bit over the weekly format I had done in the past couple of years so in 2014 I put together monthly layouts. True, there is a bit less detail but seriously, do we really need to remember every-single-thing? Some months have more pages than others. Sometimes I even start a month on the right hand page. Shock horror. I had to put my anal side to one side. Weird but strangely liberating. Sometimes I even used a slightly different template if I wanted to add more pics. It was all oddly liberating.
Cathy Zielske says
Yes! I hear you. I feel like I’m leaning towards monthly, and to just tell a few stories and make another digital book. I’m working on my book file right now at AdoramaPix.com and I think it’s going to be really cool. But I don’t know if I want to spend this much money on a book. Trying to justify it. It will be over $200 without a coupon. So, we shall see!
bdaiss says
Oh Cathy…will you come to my house and finish mine? I’m soooooo far behind. I’ve set myself a goal for 2015: Get it done, each and every week. I’m setting aside Sunday afternoons for scrapping. (I’ll probably still be saving up photos for mass printings, but if all the places are assigned, photos loaded, and extras added, then adding photos in should go quickly when I hit the $0.99 sale at Snapfish.) I’ll be tackling a few pages of 2014 each Sunday as well. I’ve given up on the idea of spending a day or two cranking it out and decided a couple weeks of 2014 each Sunday will be a better approach. Here we go…
kybarb says
I’m sure you’ve probably mentioned this before but I’m in the process of organizing photos and wonder if all your photos are in one library of iPhoto? I have so many photos that I think it is slowing down my program. I have opened a new iPhoto library for 2015. And am planning to move the old library to an EHD. I downloaded a program called iPhoto manager which is supposed to help get iPhoto better organized to duplicate and move. Any thoughts on too many photos in iPhoto?
Cathy Zielske says
Hey Barb, I just have the one library. And 48K images!
Shannan says
I’ve just purchased your templates and plan to do a printed book this year too after havign a look through your pages for 2014 – love the clean style. I did a few years with the actual paper kits, a year of digital with individual pages printed and last year did a 6×8 hybrid book. I’m looking forward to going fully digital again and simplifying things. I also wanted to note that having gone through your old pages, your first and last pages both feature cookies!
Cathy Zielske says
Ha! Didn’t realize that! I guess it shows my priorities.
Cathy Zielske says
I have one library, so I can’t really speak to multiples. 🙂 I have 48,000 images. I need to cull!
price halford says
Cathy, would you elaborate on your above mentioned Smart Folder system for iPhoto. I need help getting started to select photos.
thanks.
Price
Cathy Zielske says
Price, yes! I did a post and video last year outlining this! See it here: https://www.cathyzielske.com/2013/12/my-best-tips-for-digital-project-life-2014.html
Gail Finke says
I have been a fan for years but have never dropped a note to say so, consider this long overdue. Love your clean, simple, graphic style — love to LOOK at it, but apparently my style is messier because no matter how often I start to emulate it, mine gets more complicated.
Project Life has been a godsend for me, because a family member developed a major illness a few years ago and my favorite hobby of scrapbooking fell by the wayside. I ended up with boxes of “to scrap” pictures (organized, at least!) an the thought of tackling them became a chore instead of a joy. When I first saw the PL product, I knew I could scrapbook again! Every once in a while I go to one of the old, in-progress books and make a PL style page (I just cut the pix to size and glue them on 12 x 12 paper) — so much easier than trying to create each page individually, especially as they can bring back painful memories even when the page subjects themselves are happy,
2914 was my first full year of PL and 2015 was my first with a standard (more or less) style. I did weekly pages or spreads, and it’s all DONE!!! Now I am going through blogs and sites to figure out how to do it better, easier, and more creatively. I spend a lot of time at my computer for work and want to keep a lot of paper crafting in my layouts, because it’s a fun break from the keyboard.
Anyway, thanks for the inspiration!
Cathy Zielske says
Hey Gail, thanks for leaving a comment today! 🙂
Mandy Hartley says
Hi Cathy, not sure if it’s ok to ask a technical question here but..
I love the look of your PL pages and I’m planning to move this direction for 2015. I’ve got all the supplies I need but I’ve only been using PSE for a few months and I’m not sure how you’ve gotten the fade/wash/whatever you call it on your title cards. Can you help a sister out?
Cathy Zielske says
Yes! A few things have to happen.
First: change the fill of the card in question to white! (My templates usually have a placeholder color in there. So, click on the PHOTO mask layer, go to Edit > Fill Layer and choose White from the drop down menu.
Second: clip in your photo.
Third: click on the photo layer (your actual photo, not the layer mask) and change the Opacity of the layer using the slider in the upper right of the Layers Palette. 🙂