I Couldn't Stop Myself

This sounds like a perfect plan and one I can definitely follow. I have had trouble setting up a "plan" when this is all supposed to be fun. The plan wasn't helping me tell my story and I couldn't tell the story because of the plan. Now it's on to telling the stories... The new stories, the old stories, the weird stories, their stories, my stories. However I feel like, wherever they end up going. Thanks Ali!!
(BTW.... Since I have so many old photos to do something with, I have taken a line from my favorite tv show, Parenthood, as a theme for the year. "I Remember This Day". Look at the photo the way they were doing on the show and tell the story I feel about what was going on. Seems like an easy approach without all the planning and organizing that I hate.)

Love it and know exactly what you mean in this post. Enjoy it.

Having fun with your memory keeping is the most important !!! Whatever the system !!

I did the EXACT SAME THING. I even wrote out a blogpost saying I wasn't going to do the weekly thing but I'm stuck. It's funny how something you feel like might be restricting you is exactly what you turn to when push comes to shove haha

I just finished my WITL (um...yeah), and I so loved that process. I don't do Project Life but loving the WITL project I can understand wanting to do Project Life. I don't think I can make PL work for me, though I am thinking about it. Anyway, I love your photos, awesome. And your stories, wonderful. Michelle t

I've missed your PL posts! They give me so much inspiration.

Love it, Love it, LOVE IT! You make me feel so much better. There was a lot of discussion in my head if I wanted to do another year of PL. But....just looking back through 2014's book with my little 2 year old grandson who had asked to see the "Big Book"(PL) and the "Little Book"(Dec Daily), I knew that I wanted to continue. I think some entries will be on a weekly basis and others a more extended time basis. I may just put the starting date on the card and wait to see how far I go before starting a new section. Love the freedom of this. Love your work! (also love the fact that the pictures have a home and not sitting in boxes in the basement forgotten like so many years before I began this project!)

I decided to do a pocket album for 2015 because I wanted that immediacy, and I think I've scrapbooked one story for 2014 so far. I realize I need to get the photo printer set up so that I can print as I go, rather than waiting for photos to come back from Persnickety. I like your attitude! Just do what you want. Loose and easy.

And I really love that you are bringing "rad" back. :)

I'm just glad to see someone else still has a Christmas tree up!!!!!

Love the pictures of Anna and Aaron. Also love #thankful #goodman. You deserve it Ali!

Love the artwork incorporated

Well shit. You know, I just got my full year book back from Adorama Pix and it's so stinking cool (and BIG). I still think I'm doing the monthly, but I totally hear you on this.

I am so relieved to hear this! I have been struggling too and finally decided to go back to weekly layouts and Design A page protectors, but feeling guilty that I wasn't able to break out of the mold and so something different. I may change it up a bit here and there but for the most part I'm going with what has been working for me for several years. If it ain't broke, don't fix it, right?

yes and yes! I love that you are doing what makes you happy, regardless of what you planned or publicly announced. I haven't worked up a "plan for PL" blog post yet b/c I've still been tweaking things and just plain playing around. But I'm loving the weekly too. Haven't really fully embraced it in the past because I couldn't keep up. I needed the flexibility of a monthly approach. Either way though is awesome. And the story approach is great too.

The way I look at it, if you can find an "easy" process for it, weekly or monthly can be an incredible source for those longer stories. It can be a home for the random, the bits and pieces, the everyday. It doesn't have to be "the album" to end all albums. It's just another piece in my story / memory keeping. Just like Week in the Life or December Daily. It's just a little bigger than those, yes, but it's still just another album. I think your "one story per day" idea of December Daily has really helped me with Project Life this year. I collect photos through the week but when I go to put it together I think, "what are the main stories/events this week?" if I can represent a few of those I am happy. Some weeks there aren't main stories so it is a sprinkling of the random everyday photos and the theme is "everyday life." I guess that's how I view the entire album--it's just our "things we do" album in my overall Library of Memories system. Anyways, it is working for me and I am loving it right now. I am also using the PL app which is really helping too! :) Have fun with it! I missed your PL pages :)

Ali, it's okay to do whatever the heck you want. I know that you have a huge following that wants to see you do things one way or another, but you have to ENJOY it! If you don't enjoy it, it shows. And really I want to see stuff that you loved making because that's inspiring...to me :)

This is my first year doing PL after about 1 year of collecting core kits and STUFF (seriously). So this weekend I tackled the first 2 weeks of January and it was HARD! I admire anyone who can keep up. So many decisions, so many concerns about making it look "pretty" and having the right color combination. I can now understand why people would begin to feel overwhelmed. So I will remind myself of why I'm doing it instead of stressing over making sure I picked the right card or if I embellished it enough. I will try.--Desiree

I'm in the same boat Ali. I haven't focused on taking photos over the past couple months and so PL has become...empty. But I miss it. Starting today I am re-dedicatin myself to the project. Yay!

I'm really liking the look of non-rounded corners. I think I'll start switching to that.

I came to the same conclusion last year. I tried the non-structured way and missed having the structure. Then life got crazy and PL was put on the back burner for a while. Six months later, I looked through my old albums and realized I really liked the week per spread format. It was simple and it makes sense to me. (Isn't that just it? You just have to do what makes sense to YOU.) I didn't even mind if I skip weeks or months. I just love that I even have something to look back on and that's enough. Yey for figuring it out and making adjustments as we go! :)

Hi, Ali - I'm glad to see that you are going to continue with the weekly Project Life . . . whenever you feel like it. I have been inspired by your weekly layouts and was a little disappointed when you said you were going a different way. So, here's to Project Life, however we get it done!

I LOVE these pages! So colourful and happy. Personally I don't think I can stop PL.