Week In The Life | 2011 Supplies & Design Plan

Week In The Life 2011 is quickly approaching and I'm starting to get really, really excited.

I hope you're considering joining me from July 25th through July 31st - it's so much more fun and motivating when there's a bunch of people all doing it at the same time. This year I'll be including link widgets at the end of each of my daily posts so we can all share our photos and words and encourage each other throughout the week.

One of the big things I do to get ready each year is map out my design plan. I like to know in advance where I'm going with all the content I'm collecting, even though I won't be doing any of this part until the week after I document our days. Some people like to do it all at once (the documenting and the design) but I've found that I like to focus on the documenting (taking the photos and writing down the stories) during the seven-days and then focus on bringing it all together the next week.

There's so many different ways this project can come together. Any of the different foundation plans I've used the last couple of years would work great. If you've been following along and participating with me in this project in the past you'll see lots of things that are the same: size, divided page protector, enlarged photo on the first page for each day, etc. When I find something I like I stick with it - or tweak it just a bit as you'll see with my design for 2011.

Here are links to my design plans from the last couple of years (lots of good info there about getting ready):

• 2010 Design Plan & Product Suggestions




• 2008 Formula And Supplies

This year my focus, besides documenting our everyday stories and routines, is thinking about numbers and time. You'll see that reflected in the products I'm choosing to work with and in my journaling.

There are so many numbers involved in our daily lives - the number of times we do something, days, minutes, time, etc. I like having a little something that's underlying my documentation this year.

Here's a look at what I'll be using this year:

3-RING ALBUM | We Are Memory Keepers Vanilla (lots of additional colors are available through Scrapbook.com). I'll be doing this project in 8.5x11.

EXTRA SET OF PAGE PROTECTORS | We Are Memory Keepers 8.5x11 - you'll need an extra set if you want a spread for each day.

8.5x11 9-POCKET DIVIDED PAGE PROTECTORS | We Are Memory Keepers 9-pocket or other baseball card sized page protectors - this goes in the middle of the spread for each day.

LAYERED TEMPLATES | This is basically the guide I'll be using to create my spreads each day. Available at Designer Digitals in both 8.5x11 and 12x12 sizes (12x12 is coming soon), this package includes an intro page, seven daily pages (labeled Monday through Sunday) and seven photo collage with journaling pages. You can see where focusing on the time of day becomes reality - I'll be using that as a design element as well as something to focus on with my journaling.

I'm not sure yet whether I'll be printing these pages here at home or uploading to a printing service. Right now I think I'll be using these layered templates, printing them, and then slipping them into an album (I won't be making a photo book because I want to use the pocket pages for each day).

I might also do something similar to what I did with my layered templates for December Daily last year where I printed them on photo paper to get the photos and cardstock to get the journaling and title portions. You can read more about that approach here (and I'll post more about that if I decided to go that route in the coming weeks).

JOURNAL CARDS | Available at Designer Digitals - the set includes PNG cards and PDF printable files with crop marks. The package includes four PDF's: red, yellow, blue, and gray. These will go inside the 9-pocket divided page protectors each day. I've also included a PSD file if you'd like to customize them further.

Here's a look at one of these printed and placed inside the divided page protector:

I'm planning to mix up the colors in my album (rather than doing all one or the other). Lots of options. I'll be adding photos and maybe some pattern papers - all that really depends on the number of stories and photos I collect.

ORMOLU DAY OF THE WEEK EMBELLISHMENTS | 2-Day Hooray Days of the Week Button Embellishments - when you purchase these buttons you also get a coordinating set of tags to print. These are going to be placed on top of a piece of Hambly patterned transparencies.

PATTERN PAPER | This year I'm looking for anything with numbers. Most likely these will be added here and there in the divided page protector pockets as a bit of decoration. So far I've got these ones set aside include:

• Cosmo Cricket Odds And Ends Junk Drawer ( Two Peas | Scrapbook.com )




• My Mind's Eye Lime Twist Fly A Kite Genuine Bingo ( Two Peas )




• My Mind's Eye Lime Twist Out Of The Blue Playful Number ( Two Peas )




• Cosmo Cricket Chaplin ( Two Peas | Scrapbook.com )

FONT | Alte Haas Grotesk. This is the font I used for my titles and times in the layered template set. It's a free download available here.

And so far, that's it.

My focus, as usual, will be on the words and the photos and getting all those wonderful, routine everyday life details documented. It's totally possible that I'll grab other things when I actually put the album together but these are the basics.

Elle’s Studio has just release some brand new items in their shop, including tags for summer, everyday, 2012 calendars and more! They even have some tags perfect for your “Project Life” albums and the upcoming “Week In the Life" project. This week only, use coupon code summer to receive free shipping on any order over $40 (offer includes international shipping and expires 07/18/2011).