Day in the Life – March 2016

Hi friends!

Today I’m sharing my completed Day in the Life pages with you all. This was my first attempt at doing Day in the Life and it definitely won’t be my last. I learned some things and will do some things a bit differently next time, but I’ll talk about that in a bit.

 

I decided to use four 4×6 page protectors to insert my photos + stories in. I felt like it was the best way to include it into my Project Life album and then I also had some extra page protectors that I wanted to use and so it was the perfect time to do it.

The first page of my Day in the Life insert is a DESIGN 2 6×8 page protector. I used the “TODAY” card from Ali Edwards’ DITL kit and stamped the date on it with my Project Life date stamp. I slipped it into the top to start off the day.

I then included a 4×6 photo of my first photo that I documented that day. I used the time stamp that was included in Ali’s DITL kit and stamped the time on it and then added a the round chipboard to it as well. That’s from the kit, too. Can I just pause a minute to say just how much I love the time stamp? Um. I’m obsessed with it. THAT is more accurate. You’ll see in a minute just how much I loved it. I think I need to time stamp EVERYTHING from here on out. I need an intervention, folks. Ha!

On the back of this page protector is the back of the previous card, which I loved and then I included another 4×6 card from the kit and briefly talked about the hard stuff and easy stuff from the day. I love how Ali uses the 2 inch Avery tabs (I started using them last year when I did Week in the Life for the first time) and so I added one as well. I wrote Tuesday on it and then stamped the back with the date again. Totally copied Ali, but I’m telling you folks, she’s just AMAZING. She inspires me SO much. STILL my favorite life documenter after all of these years. I also love how the tabs help you turn the pages and really set it apart from the other pages once in the Project Life album.

The next page is another 6×8 page full of 2×2 photos. I think it was extra from the Week in the Life kit that I got last year. I had ALMOST enough photos to fill it and so I thought it would be the best way to incorporate all of the photos from the day, plus I love the 2×2 size. :) So I printed all of my photos out from the day and inserted them into the slots. I, of course, time stamped them all (see – totally obsessed) and added a round chipboard to the middle of the page.

On the back, there’s more 2×2 photos and I was ONE photo short and so I just kept one box empty and placed a round chipboard in the middle. Sometimes ya just gotta do what you have to do. I’ll talk more about that in a minute. ;)

The next page was a 6×8 page protector with four 3×4 slots. I used cards from the DITL kit – two filler cards and then two of the journaling cards to write a bit about our morning and our evening. I added a chipboard to the middle of the dotted filler card and then added another avery tab stamped with “Remember this” on the front and “So, so good” on the back. :) Oh, and as you can see – I STINK at stamping and on the “hello morning” card I totally forgot to change the time stamp back to AM. Whoops. I just went with it and embraced imperfection. Life’s not perfect, right friends?!

 

On the back of the page I chose to include the “hello afternoon” card because I had a few more pictures from outside to include. I thought it would be the best way to get those included and journal a bit more about it. :) I also time stamped those pictures as well. :)

The last 6×8 page protector has four 4×6 slots in it. I included a journaling card at the top to write more about our day and then added one last photo from our day below it; time stamped, of course. Ha! I also added another super cute chipboard piece to the photo.

 

 

On the back, there’s the back of the card from the front, which I loved and so I kept and then I included another filler card for the bottom with a chipboard and the word “currently” stamped.

Ok, so here is what worked for me when doing this project:

• Taking pictures with my phone. I do love my DSLR, but let’s face it – the phone is just more convenient and so for this day project I just used my phone. I kept it close to me all day (it normally is anyway, ha) and I was happy with it. I also shared MOST of the photos in my Instagram account and then included the time and the journaling about the photo and so that made things super easy to document and remember.

• Using the DITL kit that Ali offered.  It was super easy to have the supplies dedicated for it and all coordinated. Also, the time stamp. Did I mention how awesome that sucker is? It helped give me a theme and direction for my project and it took the guesswork out of it for me and keeping it simple is what I’m all about. I think if you invest in the kits for these projects – then it’ll save you a lot of time and you’ll find that you can worry less about how you’ll going to pull it all together and concentrate more on the photos and stories you want to tell.  You can still get this kit digital HERE. There are some more DITL goodies HERE, too!

• Using the 6×8 page protectors. I knew that I wanted to include it directly into my Project Life album and so using the smaller page protectors not only kept it simple, but it really will set it apart that week in my album so it doesn’t get “lost” in it all. I love that.

Some things that didn’t work for me doing this project:

• I didn’t take enough photos. Yep, I only took 28 photos, folks. Now, that’s pretty good, but I honestly could have used a handful more to help fill my pages and tell more stories from the day, but I’m not going to beat myself up about it. 28 is still darn good and I’m happy with it, but just want to try to be better about taking MORE next time.

• I need to still be better with writing down the stories behind the photos. I am doing better, but even in this project, I didn’t include the MEAT of it all, ya know? I am just a lover of photographs more still, but I want to marry that love with the love of words, too. I love both, but when putting together these projects I always seem to focus more on the pictures and while pictures can tell a story too, I really want to do better getting down into words what I am feeling and what the pictures are telling. Room for improvement there for sure.

• Mistakes. I totally used too thick of a Sharpie on a couple of the journaling cards, whoops, and that bugs me a bit, but I didn’t have any duplicates of those cards and so I just went with it. Same goes for the mistake that I made when stamping the time. Things happen and well – the project can’t be perfect, but it’s just a great reminder that LIFE is not perfect. I’m not going to lie and say those things don’t bug me because, oh they DO, but I am looking past them and I know it’s not worth it to invest time in fixing them or money into purchasing the digital kit so that I can print those cards out again and fix it all! Hahahaha! Learning to let it go and embrace the imperfection all the while telling the story and completing the project. We’ve gotta be easier on ourselves, right?

Overall I am SO happy that I participated in “Day in the Life” and I plan on doing it a couple more times this year. I really love how it helps me to focus on our every day life and although I capture A LOT of photos, it’s always neat to see the perspective of a DAY in our lives over time. I think it’s a super cool way to document my family’s life and I’m so thankful for Ali for creating such cool kits and for coming up with such a cool idea. It challenges me, helps me grow as a life documenter and really is so fulfilling. I can’t say enough great things about it, so if you haven’t tried it yet, I highly encourage you do.

You can check out Ali’s website HERE to see more of what she’s up to and get a heads up on the next DITL that is scheduled (although you can do it whenever you’d like!).

XO!