#Week in the Life

I'm pretty excited to be participating in the Week in the Life project this year along with many others in the Ali Edwards Design community. I've always been a wee bit intimidated in the past to participate in this week long creative venture as I was worried that it was something that I would quit halfway through when I got to the days of the week that were busier than others. I'm always saying to my family however that I wish I could get into the habit of bringing my camera with me everywhere I go so that I take more pictures. So I'm hoping the discipline I will have to have to bring my camera with me all week long wherever I go will help me along with keeping that aforementioned goal in mind.
This week I'm doing a little pre-planning (I'm starting this project this coming Sunday) which I'm hoping will help me feel more organized and less stressed. So far I've spread out the supplies that I'm planning on using for the project in my work space. I'm such a visual person, I need to touch things and play around with them to see what I like or what I think will work for the final project. I like to know that I have a plan in place even if that plan changes throughout the creative process. It's great to have a starting off point for me.

I've also printed off these downloadable daily sheets from Ali to help with the day to day stories and keeping track of what happens each day and what I may want to share in my album along with the photos that I take. This project is just meant to be a snapshot of what life looks like right now. So, again - I'm trying not to make this stressful or more complicated than it needs to be. I want it to be fun!

I've also been looking online at other people's past WITL projects to get a feel for how others have approached this. Both by google searches and on Instagram (looking up the tag). Several individuals it seems choose to follow a format that uses plastic sleeved pocket pages to put their photos, papers and embellishments in and on. For me, having a pre-set size that I have to work with kind of stresses me out. So I'm opting to use an album that I already had on hand in my stash (an old blank chipboard one from Creative Imagination back when I designed for them) which I've already painted black and will just be creating pages to size as I want them to be (for me, it's looking like 6 x 8.5 is the magic size) and I'll also be including some clear page dividers in a 4.5 x 8.5 size.

Other things that I'm doing to prepare...I'm making sure that my camera is charged and ready to go and that there is plenty of room for photos on my SD card. That I have consumable supplies ready to go (adhesives, paper, etc.). That my scrap place is somewhat clear and ready for this project. I'm also thinking about what I know I have going on this coming week and how it is that I can work around and include the busy days without adding additional chaos to my day. I'm thinking about the stories that I want to tell and how best it may be that I can tell them through the lens of my camera and my words, perspective, etc. Some things that I am thinking about when I'm thinking of the themes that I will be trying to capture throughout the days of this project are: family, play, everyday, nature, enjoy and work. Those themes seem to pretty much sum up what it is that I hope to share.

I'm super excited to see how this all pans out. I haven't decided yet if I'm going to share the photos that I'm taking as I go here on the blog or if I'm going to just wait and share the finished project when I'm done.

XO,

Jen