January 2013 Prompts

Happy January Friends & Fellow Project Lifers!!

The new year is here, with a slew of whole new projects to go with it!

No messing around!  We're jumping right into prompts for the year!


52 Lists in 52 Weeks:

•  Goals for 2013
• Things That 2012 Taught Me
• My Favorite Ways to Stay Warm 
• Books I Could Read Over & Over
• 10 Random Facts About Me
• Right Now I LOVE (this is one that I repeat every 3-4 months)

One Little Word:
My word for this year is "Breathe".  With so much going on this year, it just seemed like the perfect word for me.  I need an occasional reminder to stop & actually enjoy some of the craziness or I'm afraid that I'm going to wake up at age 80 & not know where the time went. 

I plan to create am 8x8 page with the definition of my word & a couple of photos that symbolize it for me, as well as some journaling explaining why I chose it.   I will try to post this LO once it gets done.


Project Life:
Monthly Themes:

• Winter:  Look for signs of winter-- outdoors, in your home (decor, boots by the door, a snow shovel in the garage, salt on the steps), in your closet (warm sweaters, cozy sweatpants, darker colors), in your kitchen (stews & soups, hot cocoa mugs, etc.)  
• Blue:  Look for blue in your environment-- the color blue, some blue emotions, bluesy music selections, how ever you choose to interpret it!
• New: Look for all things new this month-- new goals, new outlook, new attitude, "new toys" (holiday gifts & gadgets), new Word, new routines, new anything.
• Joy Germ Month: Document anything & everything that brings you joy!

Other monthly themes to consider--  These are monthly "holidays" that I thought might give you something to try, something to journal, something to change, something to think about.

January is:

• Be Kind To Food Servers Month
• International Creativity Month
• National Self-Defense Month
• National Soup Month
• National volunteer Blood Donor Month
• National Rising Star Month

Weekly Themes:

• Celebration of Life Week-- The Mayans were wrong!  We LIVED! What can you do this week to celebrate the fact that you are alive in a brand new year?
• New Year's Resolutions Week-- Document your resolutions or goals for the year & what you are doing TODAY to bring them to fruition.
• Women's Self-Empowerment Week-- We all know some amazing women.  How do they do what they do?  Why are they so fantastic?  Maybe this is a good week to find out.
• Intimate Apparel Week-- This one frankly scares the crap out of me, I'm not gonna lie.  (Being 7+ months pregnant, it's a little worse than usual!)  What can I do this week to become friends with my undies?  Maybe it's time to clean out the drawer & chunk all but the pretty ones.  Maybe it's time to do some leg lifts so they look a little nicer on me.  Document how you and your bras & panties can become buds.  If you already are, this is a good chance to document your collection & how it makes you feel.
• National Take Back Your Time Week-- document some things that will help you reclaim a bit of your free time in the new year.  Maybe it's a few activities that you are cutting out, or an invitation that you are refusing or a new route to & from work that gets you home a few minutes earlier.  

Daily Ideas: 
Jan 1: Ellis Island Day- document how your heritage is represented in your life
Jan 2: National Motivation & Inspiration Day-- What are you inspired to do today?  OR What are you lacking inspiration to do?
Jan 3: JRR Tolkien Day - This is a perfect chance to go see the new Hobbit movie!  Make sure you get a pic & save the ticket stub!
Jan 4: Trivia Day-- photograph your family's favorite trivia game or show
Jan 5: George Washington Carver's Birthday- what is your fav Peanut butter brand and/or recipe?  
Jan 6: Get a beginning of the year self-portrait
Jan 7: National I'm Not Going To Take It Anymore Day-- document something that you are getting out of your life (a negetive person, clutter, extra stuff, what ever).  Make sure you journal aobut why.
Jan 8: National Earth's Rotation Day-- I think this is a perfect opportunity do document  A Day In The Life.
Jan 9: First School For Seeing Eye Dogs Established in 1929-- document how your pets help make your life better
Jan  10: National Cut Your Energy Costs Day-- Note what you do to keep costs down
Jan 11: International Thank You Day-- Make a point of saying Thank You to someone (or everyone) in your life- document it.
Jan 12: Take an ink hand-print from every member of your family today.  (This would be fun to repeat yearly to document each member of your household.)
Jan 13: Poetry Break Day-- Instead of a photo, print (or create) a quote from your favorite poem
Jan 14: Dress Up Your Pet Day-- Do you dress up your dog in sweaters or your cat in tutus?  Why or why not?
Jan 15: Martin Luther King, Jr's Birthday-- document a dream you have for the future.  Start your journaling with "I have a dream..."
Jan 16:  Do Nothing Day-- today you have my permission to do absolutely nothing.  Have someone snap a pic of you doing nothing.  
Jan 17: Rid The World of Fad Diets & Gimmicks Day-- document some of the popular diets that you have tried. Have they worked?
Jan 18:  Muhammed Ali's Birthday-- He said "I float like a butterfly & sting like a bee."  Use this opportunity to create a catch-phrase of your own.
Jan 19:  National Popcorn Day-- document how your family likes to eat popcorn.  We are huge popcorn fans in my house, so this will be a big ol' journaling block for me!
Jan 20: Inauguration Day-- Use a screen shot to document Obama's second term.  Did you vote for him?  Why or why not?
Jan 21:  National Hugging Day-- get a hug on film
Jan 22:  Answer Your Cats Questions Day-- What questions do you think your kitty would ask if he/she could?
Jan 23:  John Hancock Day-- Have every member of your family do a signature card for your album.  (Another one that would be fun to repeat yearly)
Jan 24:  Belly Laugh Day-- catch someone mid-laugh
Jan 25:  A Room of One's Own Day-- document your personal space in your home
Jan 26: Mozart's Birthday (tomorrow)-- document your classical music collection
Jan 27:  Fun At Work Day: Get pics of the things you do to make your work day more fun
Jan 28:  Data Privacy Day-- What things are you super careful to protect & why?
Jan 29:  National Puzzle Day-- What kind of puzzles (jigsaw, crossword, trivia?) does your family like to do?
Jan 30:  Bubble Wrap Appreciaition Day-- Make an art journal block or filler piece using bubble wrap.  Make a mess. Be creative.  Have fun with it.  
Jan 31:  Inspire Your Heart With Art Day-- document some of the art you have in your home, where you got it, why you love it, what memories it brings back to you, etc.


I hope that this list gives you some things to try.  I would love love love to see you post a link to your project in the comments section!

Happy snapping!


******This will serve as your friendly monthly reminder to BACK UP YOUR PHOTOS!! Everything else can be replaced, but photos can not.  ******

Project Life: Me, Myself & I

HAPPY NEW YEAR! 

We made it!  It's a whole new year, with new opportunities & new experiences & new challenges to keep us going.  It's not something I often think about, but this year, I've got a whole lot of "NEW" on the horizon & I want to make sure I don't miss a minute of it.  

Which is why I want to continue doing Project Life.  If you aren't familiar, you can read all about it HERE, on Becky Higgin's blog.  In a nutshell, the idea is to take a photo per day & make a few notes about why this is your POTD (picture of the day).  It can be anything, but I like to use it as a way to record the small, seemingly insignificant things that our everyday life is made of.    

Before you say "But my life is so boring." try to think about how fascinated you would be to have a similar account from your mother's life or your grandmother's, or your cousin in another state. You are not boring.  Your life has meaning, in all of the little tiny details, and your story deserves to be recorded.  

That's also where these posts come in.  I am hoping that each month I can provide you with some inspiration to keep you going on the days that seem to not have too much going on.

My process:

I've posted about this before, but every year it seems to change just a little, so I thought it wouldn't hurt to write it all up again. (The typing process also helps me kinda re-focus on it for the coming year.)  But if you've hear this all before, feel free to skip down a few paragraphs.

 
I do not use a "Week 1", "Week 2", "Week  3" format.  It just doesn't work for me.  I start my album on January 1 and keep going until the end of the month.  I use Becky's Tabbed Dividers to separate the months.  (This year I bought the dividers that coordinate with the Cobalt Kit, but last year, I used these plain ones & jazzed them up myself.)

I use this monthly format because I do not necessarily do a photo every single day. I try, but I don't beat myself up if I don't get one.  I also don't hesitate to use 3, or 6, or 18 pictures from 1 day if that's what I feel represents that day.  I keep my little P&S in my purse, I use my camera phone a LOT & I have a fan-frickin-tastic new DSLR that Steve got me for my birthday this year.  Some days I take tons & tons of pictures, but sometimes I just forget.  And that's ok, because that's life too.  

I  also don't hesitate to use fillers.  Sometimes I find a quote or screenshot or other thing that fits my day better than a photo.  I have a Pintrest board HERE filled with quotes that I like.  Some are inspiring, some funny, some downright smartass-ish, but they work for me.  I find that often times including a quote does even more to convey that day's mood than a photo would.  Screen shots snipped from your local weather forecast, news page, sports page or whatever also make great fillers on days that you don't have a photo.  

Speaking of Pintrest-- I have a board HERE that has links to lots & lots of PL inspiration.  Some are other PLers who blog their weekly layouts (I will note here that I do not do this, at Steve's request. I post some of my pages, but just a few), and some are links to printable fillers & journal cards, some free, some paid.  I use them all!   

My Supplies:
I use a little bit of everything.  

I started last year thinking I would just use the Cobalt Kit (You can find all things PL HERE on Amazon.), but I got bored with that pretty quickly.  So I bought the Turquoise Kit & started mixing that in.  Then I started finding printable journal cards & they started showing up on my pages.  Then I bought the Clementine Kit & later, the Cherry Kit.  I can't help it.  I love to mix & match the kits to what is going on in my photos.  I have also picked up some patterned paper that was pre-printed with quotes or journal spots.  Then I discovered Pintrest & it was all over.  

 I use a lot of Ali Edwards stamps in my projects.  I belong to her monthly stamp club through Technique Tuesday & find that they make great additions to my album.  (You can find all things AE HERE.  She even  has some cute journaling cards for sale that are new this year, as she is on BH's PL design team) If you have any Photoshop-type skills, I think you can purchase a lot of Ali's stamp designs in digital form HERE.  Having almost ZERO Photoshopping skills myself, that is not something I am able to give much insight on.  

I also use a lot of random stuff in my PL.  Cute 6x6 paper pads, random leftover stickers, rolling stamps, $1 stamps (remember those?  We all bought dozens and dozens of them & then discovered that they were too small to actually DO anything with! Well, small is a good thing in this format-- pull them out & see if you can finally make some use of them!)

I will try to post in the next few days how I organize all this stuff.


This year I am going to do our yearly PL as well as one for the new baby. I mean, come on.  Have you seen those Baby PL Kits?  How could I not make him one?  They are cute as cute can be!!!  He gets his own album for the first year, then everything goes in the family album.  


Other Projects:

This past year I also participated (I use this term loosely, as life got in the way of completing either project) in 2 other projects.  Ali Edwards' One Little Word and a 52 Lists in 52 Weeks album.  (I got about 20 lists completed, but only blogged a few.  You can see them HERE if you're interested in this project.)  I took Ali's OLW class over at Big Picture Classes and LOVED it. (If you are considering online classes this year, I highly recommend it!)   I didn't make it all the way through the album, but I have printed all of the prompts to re-use with this year's word.  

This year, I am planning to incorporate all 3 of these projects into 1 album. That way, I might actually finish them!  I'm all about finding ways to make it happen this year.  I will add some list & word inspiration to each month's PL post, for those of you also planning on participating in these projects. 



What you can expect:

 On the first of the month, I will publish a post with inspiration for all 3 projects.  

52 Lists in 52 Weeks:  I will post the 4-5 lists that I am planning on making for that month & maybe a couple of extras in case one doesn't appeal to you.

One Little Word:  I will NOT be posting anything resembling the class content that I received from my BPC class.  I will simply be posting my own thoughts on how I want to incorporate my word this month. 

Project Life:

I will post

• Daily Ideas: most of these based on the seasonal goings on and little-known holidays.  (I tried to stay away from the big holidays.  Those are easy.  You don't need me to tell you that Feb 14 is Valentine's Day & to take a picture with your DH/SO/Valentine.)  I tried to find things that would appeal to a broad range of folks & maybe be something that you might not otherwise think of.   Some of them are more journaling prompts than photo ops, but there's nothing wrong with filling up a 4x6 spot with journaling instead of a photo if you want to.  Some of them are random things that popped into my head.  You'll just have to bear with me on those occasions. 
• For those of us that have been doing this project for a while, I thought some of you might want to take a slightly different approach, just for a change of pace.  For those folks interested, I thought we might try themes.  The idea being that for that week/month, you can try to make all of your photos relate to your theme.  I will post 4 monthly themes to choose from, as well as 4-5 weekly themes.  You could choose 1 or 2 or a combination of however many you feel like tackling at the time.

Okie dokie, friends.  We're off!  It's a new year & you can do it!

Can't wait to see what you come up with!