*** warning: this is going to be one mighty long post, but since this was my first week of Project Life, I want to jot down a few notes about the process, lessons learned, etc. ***

But let’s start with an overview picture of my Week 1:

I have completed Week 1 of Project Life, so far so good! 🙂 It has been quite a journey though. Ever since getting my kit and completing the title page, I’ve been waiting to have enough pictures to start working on the first spread. So last Wednesday afternoon I sat in front of my binder, trying to figure out how to fit the bits of the kit in the protector. I quickly realized that there are no 4″x6″ inserts that would work for me. So I went back to the computer and picked out a few digital supplies. I recolored at will, to match my pictures. I started out with my Happy New Year 2012 card design.

My weeks go from Monday through Sunday, and since Jan. 1st was a Sunday, I used that day’s picture of DH and me in the title page, but it felt a bit weird to write “Week 1 – Jan. 2-Jan. 8”, leaving out Jan. 1st. So, as with all the big issues in my life, I went to DH with this quandary; he looked it up, and found that, by an ISO convention, the first week of the year is the first full week that includes a Thursday. So all is good in my world! 🙂 I included a little insert that came with my snow shoes (I’ve had them for a few months since my mom brought them last spring, but this was my first time wearing them), but other than that there are no memorabilia this week. Not surprising, since I stayed home most of the time. 🙂 The color scheme was picked from the picture of the two bowls (which I adore and are from Anthropologie, BTW). I’m not sure I will be able to match colors in the future, but it worked this week and I went with it.

I had an identity crisis during the weekend and, while I’d started out with the firm conviction that I was going to round corners because that’s the look I was going for, I realized suddenly that I like the square corners better. So I stopped rounding corners. I have a feeling I might be going back and forward on this decision, especially as I include more bits from the kit, since they have rounded corners. I will likely mix up, which is always good in my book. 🙂

Once again, it’s all digi supplies recolored and printed out, with the exception of a journaling card sprayed with my Mr. Huey mists. Another thing I’ve noticed is that all of the journaling cards in the Clementine kit have journaling lines in portrait orientation, so I’ll have to print out my own or use the grid journaling cards for the horizontal slots. Or just forget about writing on the lines and use them anyway. 🙂

Thoughts about the process

• I definitely over thought things this week but it was to be expected, since it was my first week. I promise not to try to match colors so hard in the future, or I’ll go crazy.
• I love love love love love sitting down with my pen and my journaling cards and just write. That alone for me is worth doing a  physical PL album.
• Lili’s 4×6 multiple photo templates (see them in action on the bottom left pocket above) are a huge time saver. I know I will be using them a lot. In fact, I have started using them as a blogging tool too (see below) and I love them!
• I messed up a lot with photo printing this week. My printer has a 6″x4″ photo tray that I had never used before (and it shows…). First, I printed on the wrong side of the photo paper. 🙂 Then, I forgot to select the photo tray, so I printed with photo quality on copy paper. :-/ Finally, I put way too much photo paper in the tray, so the paper was fed incorrectly and it printed all wonky. But apart from these mishaps, I am loving the quality of the prints. I am using Canon photo paper (with an HP printer 😉 ) and I love it (and no, I didn’t pay it nearly as much – I got it at Staples during one of their frequent 50% off offers).
• I am glad I bought the big variety pack of photo protectors. I like to change things up, and I enjoy the freedom of having the left side set and being able to choose the design I want for the right side, based on the pictures I have.
• The 4×6 slots are perfect to mix photos and journaling. I love the look and I will continue to do that.

Here are a couple of my favorite details of the week (and yay, I have indeed mastered my sewing machine! 😉 Look for a post later this week.):

I’ll finish up sharing a little funny detail (well, it wasn’t funny at all last night…). I finished up my spread last night and was feeling very proud, so I insisted that DH admire it. Well, he didn’t admire it one bit, but he did – grudgingly – look at it, and readily pointed out that I had stamped 2011 on all the pages instead of 2012. Ugh!! And I was feeling so accomplished about using the date stamp! 😛 Well, so I had to stamp out new 2012 dates and paste them to cover the wrong ones. Not a big deal, but I’m glad he caught it before I took pictures, or went on with the new week. 🙂 Who knows when I’d have noticed otherwise! 🙂

Here are the supplies (I tried to list them in order, left to right, top to bottom).
Week 1
Left page:
New Year’s Eve kit and word art by Sahlin Studio and Valorie Wibbens (recolored)
Cavallini & Co. paper Christmas tape
Paper and hearts from Note to Self by Jenn Barrette and Kristin Cronin-Barrow
Winter wonderland word strip from Snow Bunny by Jenn Barrette
Paper and journaling card from Conversation Piece no. 5 by Paislee Press
Right page:
paper from Photobooth by Paislee Press
hearts from Note to Self by Jenn Barrette and Kristin Cronin-Barrow
4×6 Photo Collages by Designs by Lili
Journaling card from Conversation Piece no. 5 by Paislee Press
Becky Higgins Project Life journaling card and Clementine kit arrow stickers
Other supplies:
Becky Higgins Project Life journaling card
Mr. Huey mists
Smash date stamp K&C company
Pen: Micron 03