Project Life Update ~ 8.26.14

Well, it's finally happened.  I knew it would eventually -- but I had no idea the mix of emotions that this would cause...

I am up to date with my photos!  Well, to be specific -- I have a few current photos to put in the books... but, I am caught up on my fall-2010 through July 2014 photos!  !

I am:

• relieved beyond belief to have this off of my plate (and if I am honest, to this I will add guilt-free.  Yes, I confess, I was experiencing a bit of guilt for letting these memories sit so long)
• excited that scrappin' no longer feels like a burden, but has become totally manageable
• a little bit sad that the big push to catch up is over
• happy that I have found a workable answer in moving forward

Hmmmm, who knew?  And with that -- here are today's catch-up pages:

As I've mentioned before, every event is not a two-page spread for me.  Case in point: the photo below.  The left-hand page has a few different summer-time events, and the right-hand page starts a photo-heavy section for our son's graduation party.

WooHoo!  What a party!

I love these photos of the next day, too -- a gathering of six cousins.  I loved photographing this girl-time.  Love these sweet faces!  This is another photo-heavy spread, but I did manage to cut a title card in half to use in the smaller pockets for a little journaling.

More adventures around town.  We happened to see the blimp out one day, and followed it to the hangar, where it landed, and took off, and landed.  Lots of cars pulled into the parking lot to watch.  The blimp was pretty awesome -- and HUGE up close and personal!  Additional photos are from a trip to Amish Country.  I love the cards on this page.  They are from the "Hi Sunshine" Value Kit.

Most summer Saturdays, we get in the car and drive somewhere.  Sometimes we know where we're headed, and sometimes we don't.  {I think my hubby "knows" most of the time, but doesn't let on that he has a plan.}  Here's a perfect example... we headed to a car show that I [yes, it was me this time] read about on-line, but ended up driving some country roads, and getting some other fun pictures.  Cards on this page are from the "Road Trip" themed kit.  Perfect!

Off to Hershey-country, where bottles of Hershey's chocolate syrup are as big as... well, BIG!  These pages use only title cards from the "Road Trip" kit and  the "Hi Sunshine" kit.

These pages wrap up the previous ones, and move on to all-things-fall: football and apple orchards!  Cards are from the "Family" and "Fall" themed kits -- and the football cards are homemade with bits and scraps that I already had.  I shared those with you on previous pages.

You can see that I have a couple of tendencies:

1. I have photo-heavy pages.  As much as I love the Project Life cards -- THEY do not tell my stories... my photos do.  I use the cards to fill in the visual blanks, and to help tell my stories with journaling.  In most cases, I do not use them to stretch a few photos to an entire one or two pages.  I said most cases.  I have a weakness for beautiful fall pictures, and I love our fall adventures.  Upon occasion, I do a more traditional two-page spread.  Spreading the photos out over two pages, I use the cards more decoratively, or in a pattern to fill in the blanks.  You can see some examples of that style of page in this older post.
2. Additionally, I am committed to NOT letting this type of scrapbooking stress me out in any way.  It is such a fun process for me, and I want to keep it that way.  That said, I may scrap my photos one way one week, and totally different the next week.  Sometimes I edit my pictures down to fit in a certain area.  Other times, I let extra photos spill over onto the next page.  This is my family's story, and we understand the flow of these pictures -- and that's all that really matters.  Below, you'll see a perfect example of this.  My fall photos spilled over from the previous pages, but didn't fill the space -- and I only had a few pictures of homecoming.  The homecoming shots just fit in the last quarter-section of the two-page spread.
3. Overall, I think I lean more towards an old-fashioned "scrap-as-it-happens" technique rather than prim and proper layouts.  Of course, just when I say that, I find myself breaking that "rule."  ha! FLEXIBILITY IS THE KEY!!

One thing I am learning through this process: stick with horizontal pictures!!  {Or, at least until I change my mind about using different style pocket pages.}

Stay tuned!  More's comin'!  *wink